Fortitude; Reading 1, Wisdom 1:13-15, 2:23-24; Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11, 12, 13; Reading 2, Second Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15; Gospel and Lectio Divina - Mark 5:21-43: Pope Francis Angelus; Inspirational Hymns - Gregorian Chants; Our Lady of Medjugorje Message; Jesus 2018 Locutions; Direction For Our Times Features; Feast Day of Saint Thomas the Apostle; Snippet I - The Jesus Trail Pilgrimage; 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 7 Chapter 3 - Baptism of Converts, The First Mass, and Perpetual Presence of the Holy Spirit in Blessed Mother Mary; Catholic Catechism - Part One - Profession of Faith, Section One - I Believe, We Believe, Chapter Three - Mans Response to God, Article 2 - We Believe ; RECHARGE: Heaven Speaks to Young Adults
Consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ Zarya Parx 2018
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: B - Gospel of Mark - 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time
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.
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
**Copyright Disclaimer - Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research under the term "fair use", which is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational, and personal use also tips the balance in favor of fair use.
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Our Lady of Medjugorje Monthly Messages
June 25, 2018 message from Our Lady of Medjugorje:
“Dear children! This is the day that the Lord gave me to give Him thanks for each of you, for those who have converted and have accepted my messages and have set out on the way of conversion and holiness. Rejoice, little children, because God is merciful and loves you all with His immeasurable love and leads you to the way of salvation through my coming here. I love you all and give you my Son that He may give you peace. Thank you for having responded to my call.” ~ Our Lady of Medjugorje. Blessed Mother Mary, Queen of Peace, Mother of Jesus, Mother of the Church
June 15, 2018 message from Our Lady of Medjugorje:
Our Lady of Medjugorje message to the world through Ivan's Apparition tonight on Apparition Hill. June 15, 2018. in commemoration of the 37th Anniversary of our Lady of Medjugorje.
Dear Children,
Also today in a special way I desire to call you to the Eucharist. Let the Mass be the center of your life. Especially dear Children, let the Eucharist be in your families. The family must attend Holy Mass and worship Jesus. Jesus must be the center of your lives. Therefore dear children, renew family prayer and go with Jesus. Thank you dear children also today for having responded to my call. ~Blessed Mother Mary, Queen of Peace, Mother of Jesus, Mother of the Universe, Mother of the Church
Dear Children,
Also today in a special way I desire to call you to the Eucharist. Let the Mass be the center of your life. Especially dear Children, let the Eucharist be in your families. The family must attend Holy Mass and worship Jesus. Jesus must be the center of your lives. Therefore dear children, renew family prayer and go with Jesus. Thank you dear children also today for having responded to my call. ~Blessed Mother Mary, Queen of Peace, Mother of Jesus, Mother of the Universe, Mother of the Church
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Jesus's 2018 Messages to the World through locution apparition
to Lay Apostle Anne of Ireland. Imprimatur. 2018
"My blessings rain down on our Church on earth. Always, I send blessings of the most sublime and powerful nature. The graces sent through the Sacraments possess the power to heal and to sanctify in a way that is absolutely unique to the person receiving the graces. Only through the Sacraments can a person receive the power of Heaven directly in this way.
Direction For Our Times
2018 Locutions From Jesus
Jesus's 2018 Messages to the World through locution apparition
to Lay Apostle Anne of Ireland. Imprimatur. 2018
May 14, 2018 message from Jesus:
"My blessings rain down on our Church on earth. Always, I send blessings of the most sublime and powerful nature. The graces sent through the Sacraments possess the power to heal and to sanctify in a way that is absolutely unique to the person receiving the graces. Only through the Sacraments can a person receive the power of Heaven directly in this way.
Can it be true that people do not want these graces? Is it possible that any person would reject what is available to them in the Sacraments? No. It is not the case that people understand what Heaven offers and refuse it. It is more accurate to say that people have become distracted from the power of the Sacraments and that they have been prompted to believe that some are more worthy of these graces than others. No one can be worthy of what God sends freely. Man is the recipient of the Father’s exceptional benevolence. Man is the recipient of the Father’s hope, not for one man but for all men created by Him. Do you understand?
Each person must receive Sacramental graces and grow in confidence. The Father loves each person. Accepting this reality is paramount to growth, for the individual and also the Universal Church. Do you receive these Sacramental graces with confidence? Are you certain of your Father’s love for you? Do you accept that the Father wishes to communicate this same love to every person you encounter?
Beloved children of the one Father, if the graces in the Sacraments are leading you to serve others, then I know that you are accepting them with a disposition of humility. If you believe the graces in the Sacraments are leading you to create division, then I know that you are in error. You, too, must accept that you are in error. If you refuse to accept that My goal is unity in the Church, as well as constant development in the Church, then you must withdraw yourself from conversations about the Church, as opposed to offending me personally by furthering efforts aimed at disunity. Efforts at division are not sanctioned by Me.
Read these words carefully. I am with you as you read them. I wish you joy and peace and love throughout every day of your life on earth. I want you to trust Me, Jesus Christ, to guide you. I am guiding you to humility and service and I am guiding My Church to humility and service. I am guiding you to trust that My overall goals for the Church are in sight and that if we work together, in harmony, these crucial and timely goals will be achieved.
Turn back from conversations or actions which lead away from My goals. I am asking you directly to work for harmony and unity in My Church on earth. I am asking you to work with Me." ~Jesus
April 5, 2018 message from Jesus:
Each person must receive Sacramental graces and grow in confidence. The Father loves each person. Accepting this reality is paramount to growth, for the individual and also the Universal Church. Do you receive these Sacramental graces with confidence? Are you certain of your Father’s love for you? Do you accept that the Father wishes to communicate this same love to every person you encounter?
Beloved children of the one Father, if the graces in the Sacraments are leading you to serve others, then I know that you are accepting them with a disposition of humility. If you believe the graces in the Sacraments are leading you to create division, then I know that you are in error. You, too, must accept that you are in error. If you refuse to accept that My goal is unity in the Church, as well as constant development in the Church, then you must withdraw yourself from conversations about the Church, as opposed to offending me personally by furthering efforts aimed at disunity. Efforts at division are not sanctioned by Me.
Read these words carefully. I am with you as you read them. I wish you joy and peace and love throughout every day of your life on earth. I want you to trust Me, Jesus Christ, to guide you. I am guiding you to humility and service and I am guiding My Church to humility and service. I am guiding you to trust that My overall goals for the Church are in sight and that if we work together, in harmony, these crucial and timely goals will be achieved.
Turn back from conversations or actions which lead away from My goals. I am asking you directly to work for harmony and unity in My Church on earth. I am asking you to work with Me." ~Jesus
April 5, 2018 message from Jesus:
"I am looking at mankind with eyes of hope. Who will help me? That is the question that I ask in every time. I search tirelessly for people who recognize My call to holiness. There are those who serve the Church, but they forget that the call to holiness comes before the call to preach the Gospel message. Who will help me? I ask that question and look for those who are working to become holier each day. Without a commitment to personal holiness, a person’s ability to impact others decreases. The Gospel message is compelling. It is timeless. It is full of love and hope. But, my beloved friends, when people relax their efforts to become holier, they lose the force needed to convict others. You may believe that My call is unfair, given its requirement of personal sacrifice. You may believe that the cost is too high for you to pay. To remain faithful to Me, you must sometimes put yourself and your personal plans in the second place and My plan in the first place. You are no different than any other follower in any other time. On earth, I put My father’s plan before My own desires. Would I have asked for a different experience for My mother? Can you imagine that I wanted her to suffer? I did not want her to suffer, anything, ever. She was the greatest joy of My life. But I subordinated my human wishes for her to the eternal plan of the Father and she wanted this for Me. She wanted the Father’s will for her life and for mine, too. Do you understand? We were both willing to sacrifice what was temporary for what was eternal. You must be willing to do, so, too. I did not suffer alone in the sense that she accompanied Me to My death. You do not suffer alone, either, in the sense that we are with you. Our mother, Mary, wishes to assert her feminine strength in this time. She looks at mankind with eyes of hope, too. Who will help her? Who will help Me? This is the question we ask of you. Do not count personal cost, My friends, because you will be rewarded far beyond your ability to give. We reward you in sublime ways. I have great hope for mankind and part of that hope must be realized through My Church. Will you help me to establish and maintain unity in the Church? Will you be a person who follows in My footsteps? With humility? Will you trust Me to protect the Church and her earthly mission? I am asking you directly. Will you help Me?" ~ Jesus Christ
February 26, 2018 message from Jesus:
"How does My Passion speak to people of every age, in every time? People can be confused by the events of their time. People can become distracted by the events of their time. People, however, recognize love. Love is a universal language, a constant communication of God. Who, around you, loves? That person represents Me in that when you see love you will know that I am near. Who speaks of love? Who offers actions that communicate love? Who stands for love and remains aloof to distraction and despair? Love, sometimes only love, changes hearts, prompts repentance and frees a person from defensiveness enough to acknowledge his or her guilt in relation to the failure to love. Do you see what I am telling you? We will not bring people to the Father through anything but love. And so, my friends, are you studying love? Are you trying to become more perfect in love? Do you love yourself in the sense that you understand that your wounds are important to Me. Your suffering is visible to Me. Just as you gaze at My Passion and feel determination to remain faithful to Me, I gaze at your sufferings and I remain determined to comfort you. There are times when I spare you suffering, supernaturally, because it will not benefit you or others. If you are not spared suffering, and you are carrying a cross, remember that I allow it for your growth and for the salvation of those who need help. Your suffering, like Mine, is allowed by the Father in a temporary way so that we can offer sacrifice for others. These crosses we carry with determination are proof of our commitment to our Creator, who never pauses in pulsing love into the world. Our Father was able to send pulsations of love through Me. Is He able to send them through you? Do not ask yourself if the person you are thinking of is worthy of love. That person IS loved. And that is all you must know. The Father loves all of His children and so must we. Today, ask yourself if you are actively loving people. ‘Am I active in my obligation to love?’ That is your question. Every day I spent on earth, I loved actively. So must you. We must love as a decision, with such force that the world changes. Love does change people. You know this because you have already changed because of My love for you. Focus on offering My love to others and you will live a life truly following Me, Jesus Christ." ~Jesus Christ
March 10, 2018 message from Jesus:
"What do I need from the people of My Church? I need fidelity. Many claim they are faithful but they make war on the Church. When an enemy comes directly to one’s door, from the outside, one is prepared. When an enemy emerges from within one’s home, one is more vulnerable. My children, I do not wish you to become an enemy in My earthly home, the Church. Follow the leadership I have arranged for you, in a manner that is humble and determined, and you will see My Spirit blossoming in a way that is both fresh and compelling. Where are My beloved children? Why do they flee from our assembly? Is it I? Have I changed or demanded that they leave our Church? No. It is not I. I have watched in pain as many people have been made to believe that they are somehow less worthy than the unworthy, that they are not welcome or not received by Me. The truth is that sinners do not cause Me to fret. You are all sinners and you are all welcome. Who is driving God’s children from our Church? Ask yourself that question and do not point to the man I have chosen to lead My Church. He is in My care and I am pleased that he is following My direction. Do you wish to argue with the Holy Spirit in him? Then you must look to Me, and do so silently in prayer. Perhaps I can help you to see that the people in every assembly are unworthy. God did not create you to be perfectly worthy on earth but to be loved and to grow and grow in holiness and happiness. Would you say that every person starts at the same point? Do you believe you can judge? You are attempting to usurp My role if you believe this and you are also damaging My Church. Stop. I am asking you to stop pretending that you are Me. I am the judge. You are the ones who will be judged. I am looking deeply into your heart. If you are dissuading people from belief and total trust in My mercy, then I am asking you to stop." ~Jesus Christ
"How does My Passion speak to people of every age, in every time? People can be confused by the events of their time. People can become distracted by the events of their time. People, however, recognize love. Love is a universal language, a constant communication of God. Who, around you, loves? That person represents Me in that when you see love you will know that I am near. Who speaks of love? Who offers actions that communicate love? Who stands for love and remains aloof to distraction and despair? Love, sometimes only love, changes hearts, prompts repentance and frees a person from defensiveness enough to acknowledge his or her guilt in relation to the failure to love. Do you see what I am telling you? We will not bring people to the Father through anything but love. And so, my friends, are you studying love? Are you trying to become more perfect in love? Do you love yourself in the sense that you understand that your wounds are important to Me. Your suffering is visible to Me. Just as you gaze at My Passion and feel determination to remain faithful to Me, I gaze at your sufferings and I remain determined to comfort you. There are times when I spare you suffering, supernaturally, because it will not benefit you or others. If you are not spared suffering, and you are carrying a cross, remember that I allow it for your growth and for the salvation of those who need help. Your suffering, like Mine, is allowed by the Father in a temporary way so that we can offer sacrifice for others. These crosses we carry with determination are proof of our commitment to our Creator, who never pauses in pulsing love into the world. Our Father was able to send pulsations of love through Me. Is He able to send them through you? Do not ask yourself if the person you are thinking of is worthy of love. That person IS loved. And that is all you must know. The Father loves all of His children and so must we. Today, ask yourself if you are actively loving people. ‘Am I active in my obligation to love?’ That is your question. Every day I spent on earth, I loved actively. So must you. We must love as a decision, with such force that the world changes. Love does change people. You know this because you have already changed because of My love for you. Focus on offering My love to others and you will live a life truly following Me, Jesus Christ." ~Jesus Christ
Reference : Direction For Our Times, New Locutions.
https://www.directionforourtimes.com/new-locutions-jesus/#.Wt-CLZdOnIW
Direction For Our Times Book Store
(Print • Audio • Digital Media)
Direction For Our Times Book Store
(Print • Audio • Digital Media)
Direction For Our Times Book Store
(Print • Audio • Digital Media)
https://www.directionforourtimes.com/new-locutions-jesus/#.Wt-CLZdOnIW
Featured Books of the Month
Volume One- Thoughts On Spirituality
Heaven Speaks- To Those Who Have Been Away From the Church
Heaven Speaks- To Those Who Have Been Away From the Church
Heaven Speaks- To Those Who Have Been Away From the Church
**Fair Use/Copyright Disclaimer - Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research under the term "fair use", which is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational, and personal use also tips the balance in favor of fair use.
Reference :
Direction For Our Times. https//:www.directionforourtimes.org
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Papam Franciscus
(Pope Francis)
Pope Francis's Angelus
(Vatican Radio)
Pope at Angelus: ‘no one is an intruder in Jesus’s heart’
Addressing the faithful in St.
Peter’s Square on Sunday, Pope Francis reflected on the Gospel reading
of the day and said that in order to gain access to Jesus’s heart one
must entrust oneself to Him and feel the need for healing
By Linda BordoniPope Francis on Sunday reflected on Jesus as the source of life, of He who restores life to those who trust in Him.
Taking his cue from the Gospel of Mark that tells of two miracles in which a girl is raised from death and a woman is healed, the Pope said faith is at the center of both of them and he highlighted that no one is excluded from the Lord’s saving love.
No one is an intruder
"Nobody should feel that they are an intruder, illegal, or someone who is not entitled to have access to Jesus’ heart” he said: “there is only one requirement, and that is to feel in need of healing and to entrust oneself fully to Him”.Jesus, the Pope explained, recognizes the people in the crowd who have faith and yearn for healing and he “removes them from anonymity, frees them from the fear of living and daring”.
He does so with a word or with a glance, he said, putting them back on the path after so much suffering and humiliation.
The death of a hardened heart
And urging the faithful not to be afraid of physical death, the Pope said the only death one should fear is that of “a hardened heart”.He recalled the Gospel passage in which the woman who suffered from bleeding was healed "as soon as she touched Jesus’ cloak” and said that faith leads to salvation.
“The faith of this woman attracted the divine salvific power that exists in Christ" he continued, and commenting on the episode of the little girl whom everyone believed to be dead, the Pope said “Jesus said: “the child is not dead, she is asleep” and He said to her: "Little girl, I say to you: arise!”.
Sin is never the last word
In this page of the Gospel, Francis pointed out, “the themes of faith and new life" that Jesus comes to offer us all are interwoven”:Jesus is the Lord, and for Him physical death is like sleep: there is no reason to despair. The death to be afraid of is a different one: it is that of the heart hardened by evil! But even sin, for Jesus, is never the last word, because He brought us the infinite mercy of the Father. And even though we may have fallen down, his tender and strong voice reaches us saying: "I say to you: arise!
Pope Francis concluded his catechesis with the words: “Let us ask Our Lady to accompany us on our journey of faith and concrete love, especially towards those in need.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Papal Works of Mercy:
Pope Francis surprises poor and homeless at new cardinal’s dinner
As new Cardinal Konrad Krajewski,
the pope’s alms giver, was treating the poor and homeless of Rome to a
dinner Friday night, Pope Francis surprised them with a visit and joined
their celebration as a guest.
There was great celebration on Friday in the Vatican when
some 280 poor people were invited to a dinner by new Cardinal Konrad
Krajewski, the official almsgiver of the Pope, who was made cardinal by
Pope Francis at the Consistory the previous day, June 28th.
Pope Francis surprised Cardinal Krajewski, his guests and volunteers with a visit and joined them at table at the Vatican employees’ canteen. "I came for the poor, not for you," a smiling Pope told Cardinal Krajewski, popularly known as Fr. Corrado (instead of Konrad) to the poor he serves on behalf of the Pope.
The Holy Father dined with the poor and spent about two hours chatting with them as if in a family, listening to their stories that often told of suffering but also of hope.
There were about 60 volunteers serving dinner to the poor, including Carlo Santoro of the Community of Sant'Egidio of Rome, who collaborates with Cardinal Krajewki’s Office of Papal Charities, to assist the homeless in Rome.
"It was a specially warm visit because it was a dinner of the new cardinal with the poor,” Santoro said. “To the surprise of all, the Holy Father arrived. We thought it was a simple greeting and he would be off soon,” he said. The new cardinal turned to Santoro asking him to make room close to him for the Pope.
Santoro said the Pope greeted everyone with great affection. At the Pope’s table were several Syrian refugees who had arrived through the efforts of the Sant'Egidio Community. One of them travelled to Rome with the Pope after his visit to the Greek island of Lesbos on April 16, 2016. The man told the Pope he is now working and is integrated in Italy.
Santoro heard the Pope saying that several times in recent months he has met refugees from Lebanon and was struck by the fact that children were the first to speak Italian. For the Pope, integration is fundamental which is not just welcome. Where there is no job, the Pope said, there is no integration because without job there is no future.
Santoro said that at the table there was another refugee who narrated to the Pope how he arrived in Italy. It was an 11-month journey through the desert, a journey full of dangers and pitfalls. He has been in Italy for some years and he too has been integrated.
Another guest from Senegal, a Muslim, told him that this was the third time at a meal with the Pope. He had been with both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI for lunch, and this was the third time. Pope Francis jokingly told him, “Make a collection of Popes!”
Santoro said that they introduced to the Pope some of the homeless who sleep around St. Peter’s Square at night and collaborate with them every day. Santoro said the Pope was very affectionate to his neighbours. Cardinal Krajeswki explained to the Pope that they collaborate a lot such as for the funeral of someone who dies in the streets.
The volunteer of Sant’Egidio Community noted the Pope was touched by and enjoyed the presence of children around him. The Pope blessed a Syrian baby girl, born a few months ago, who was baptized on June 28. Talking with the volunteers, the Holy Father expressed his worry over the issue of children being separated from their mothers in Texas, United States.
The Pope repeated that Europe was on the verge of suicide because by not accepting immigrants and not having children gave the continent no hope for the future. He noted this worrying trend in other parts of the world, particularly in the US.
Santoro, the Sant’Egidio Community volunteer said the Pope also talked to some former prisoners, repeating something that he has often said: “But why not me?”, meaning he could have been in their shoes.
When the volunteers told Pope Francis the story of a homeless, alcoholic man, the Holy Father said, “Alcohol could affect any of us because it's an evil that kidnaps you, an evil that doesn't leave you, it's an evil that you can only get out of with the help of others.” Our problem, even as a Church, is to help people come out of difficult situations and do so together, the Pope said.
The Holy Father was very moved to hear that many homeless people help the volunteers help others like them. The Pope heard how during severe cold snap early this year, many a homeless helped in distributing blankets.
The Pope's surprise visit
Pope Francis surprised Cardinal Krajewski, his guests and volunteers with a visit and joined them at table at the Vatican employees’ canteen. "I came for the poor, not for you," a smiling Pope told Cardinal Krajewski, popularly known as Fr. Corrado (instead of Konrad) to the poor he serves on behalf of the Pope.
The Holy Father dined with the poor and spent about two hours chatting with them as if in a family, listening to their stories that often told of suffering but also of hope.
Volunteers of Sant’Egidio
There were about 60 volunteers serving dinner to the poor, including Carlo Santoro of the Community of Sant'Egidio of Rome, who collaborates with Cardinal Krajewki’s Office of Papal Charities, to assist the homeless in Rome.
"It was a specially warm visit because it was a dinner of the new cardinal with the poor,” Santoro said. “To the surprise of all, the Holy Father arrived. We thought it was a simple greeting and he would be off soon,” he said. The new cardinal turned to Santoro asking him to make room close to him for the Pope.
Santoro said the Pope greeted everyone with great affection. At the Pope’s table were several Syrian refugees who had arrived through the efforts of the Sant'Egidio Community. One of them travelled to Rome with the Pope after his visit to the Greek island of Lesbos on April 16, 2016. The man told the Pope he is now working and is integrated in Italy.
Talking with refugees
Santoro heard the Pope saying that several times in recent months he has met refugees from Lebanon and was struck by the fact that children were the first to speak Italian. For the Pope, integration is fundamental which is not just welcome. Where there is no job, the Pope said, there is no integration because without job there is no future.
Santoro said that at the table there was another refugee who narrated to the Pope how he arrived in Italy. It was an 11-month journey through the desert, a journey full of dangers and pitfalls. He has been in Italy for some years and he too has been integrated.
Another guest from Senegal, a Muslim, told him that this was the third time at a meal with the Pope. He had been with both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI for lunch, and this was the third time. Pope Francis jokingly told him, “Make a collection of Popes!”
The Pope's neighbours
Santoro said that they introduced to the Pope some of the homeless who sleep around St. Peter’s Square at night and collaborate with them every day. Santoro said the Pope was very affectionate to his neighbours. Cardinal Krajeswki explained to the Pope that they collaborate a lot such as for the funeral of someone who dies in the streets.
Pope worry for children in Texas
The volunteer of Sant’Egidio Community noted the Pope was touched by and enjoyed the presence of children around him. The Pope blessed a Syrian baby girl, born a few months ago, who was baptized on June 28. Talking with the volunteers, the Holy Father expressed his worry over the issue of children being separated from their mothers in Texas, United States.
The Pope repeated that Europe was on the verge of suicide because by not accepting immigrants and not having children gave the continent no hope for the future. He noted this worrying trend in other parts of the world, particularly in the US.
Ex-prisoners, alcoholics
Santoro, the Sant’Egidio Community volunteer said the Pope also talked to some former prisoners, repeating something that he has often said: “But why not me?”, meaning he could have been in their shoes.
When the volunteers told Pope Francis the story of a homeless, alcoholic man, the Holy Father said, “Alcohol could affect any of us because it's an evil that kidnaps you, an evil that doesn't leave you, it's an evil that you can only get out of with the help of others.” Our problem, even as a Church, is to help people come out of difficult situations and do so together, the Pope said.
Poor helping poor
The Holy Father was very moved to hear that many homeless people help the volunteers help others like them. The Pope heard how during severe cold snap early this year, many a homeless helped in distributing blankets.
Reference:
- Vatican News. From the Pope. © Copyright 2018 Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Accessed - 07/01/2018
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Today's Word - fortitude [fawr-ti-tood]
Dictionary Definition:
word origin: 1175–1225; 1350–1400; Middle English < Latin fortitūdō strength, firmness, courage, equivalent to forti(s) strong + -tūdō -tude
noun
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Today's Reading 1 - Wisdom 1:13-15, 2:23-24
13 For God did not make Death, he takes no pleasure in destroying the living.14 To exist -- for this he created all things; the creatures of the world have health in them, in them is no fatal poison, and Hades has no power over the world:
15 for uprightness is immortal.
23 For God created human beings to be immortal, he made them as an image of his own nature;
24 Death came into the world only through the Devil's envy, as those who belong to him find to their cost.
~Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11, 12, 13
2 Yahweh, my God, I cried to you for help and you healed me.
4 Make music for Yahweh, all you who are faithful to him, praise his unforgettable holiness.
5 His anger lasts but a moment, his favour through life; In the evening come tears, but with dawn cries of joy.
6 Carefree, I used to think, 'Nothing can ever shake me!'
11 You have turned my mourning into dancing, you have stripped off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.
12 So my heart will sing to you unceasingly, Yahweh, my God, I shall praise you for ever.
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Today's Psalms - Psalms 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11, 12, 13
2 Yahweh, my God, I cried to you for help and you healed me.4 Make music for Yahweh, all you who are faithful to him, praise his unforgettable holiness.
5 His anger lasts but a moment, his favour through life; In the evening come tears, but with dawn cries of joy.
6 Carefree, I used to think, 'Nothing can ever shake me!'
11 You have turned my mourning into dancing, you have stripped off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.
12 So my heart will sing to you unceasingly, Yahweh, my God, I shall praise you for ever.
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Today's Reading 2 - Second Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15
7 More, as you are rich in everything-faith, eloquence, understanding, concern for everything, and love for us too -- then make sure that you excel in this work of generosity too.9 You are well aware of the generosity which our Lord Jesus Christ had, that, although he was rich, he became poor for your sake, so that you should become rich through his poverty.
13 It is not that you ought to relieve other people's needs and leave yourselves in hardship; but there should be a fair balance-
14 your surplus at present may fill their deficit, and another time their surplus may fill your deficit. So there may be a fair balance;
15 as scripture says: No one who had collected more had too much, no one who collected less had too little.
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Today's Gospel and Lectio Divina - Mark 5:21-43
Jesus heals two women
To conquer the power of death and
open a new way to God
To conquer the power of death and
open a new way to God
1. Opening prayer
Lord Jesus, send your Spirit to help us to read the Scriptures with the same mind that you read them to the disciples on the way to Emmaus. In the light of the Word, written in the Bible, you helped them to discover the presence of God in the disturbing events of your sentence and death. Thus, the cross that seemed to be the end of all hope became for them the source of life and of resurrection.Create in us silence so that we may listen to your voice in Creation and in the Scriptures, in events and in people, above all in the poor and suffering. May your word guide us so that we too, like the two disciples from Emmaus, may experience the force of your resurrection and witness to others that you are alive in our midst as source of fraternity, justice and peace. We ask this of you, Jesus, son of Mary, who revealed to us the Father and sent us your Spirit. Amen.
2. Reading
a) A key to the reading:In this 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time, the Church asks us to meditate on two of Jesus’ miracles worked for two women. The first miracle is worked for a woman considered impure because she suffered from a haemorrhage for twelve years. The second is worked for a twelve-year-old girl who has just died. According to the thinking of the times, any person who touched blood or a dead body was considered impure. Blood and death were factors that excluded people! Thus these two women were marginalized, excluded from taking part in the community. Today, too, we have categories of people who are excluded or who feel excluded from taking part in the Christian community. What are the factors today that cause people to be excluded, both from the Church and from society?
Mark describes the two miracles quite vividly. The text is long. As you read, think that you are among the crowd around Jesus on the way to Jairus’ house. As you walk in silence, try to pay attention to the many attitudes of the people involved in the miracles: Jairus, the girl’s father, the crowd, the woman suffering from the haemorrhage, the disciples and the girl. Ask yourself what would be your attitude.
b) A division of the text as a help to the reading:
Mark 5:21-24: The point of departure: Jairus loses his daughter. Jesus goes with him and the crowd follows
Mark 5:25-26: The situation of the woman suffering from an irregular haemorrhage
Mark 5:27-28: The woman’s reasoning in the presence of Jesus
Mark 5:29: The woman succeeds in what she wants and is healed
Mark 5:30-32: The reaction of Jesus and of the disciples
Mark 5:33-34: The conversation between Jesus and the woman healed because of her faith
Mark 5: 35-36: The conversation between Jesus and Jairus
Mark 5:37-40: The arrival at Jairus’ house and the reaction of the crowd
Mark 5:41-43: The raising of the girl back to life
c) The text:
Mark 5:21-4321 When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered round him and he stayed by the lake. 22 Then the president of the synagogue came up, named Jairus, and seeing him, fell at his feet 23 and begged him earnestly, saying, 'My little daughter is desperately sick. Do come and lay your hands on her that she may be saved and may live.' 24 Jesus went with him and a large crowd followed him; they were pressing all round him.
25 Now there was a woman who had suffered from a haemorrhage for twelve years; 26 after long and painful treatment under various doctors, she had spent all she had without being any the better for it; in fact, she was getting worse. 27 She had heard about Jesus, and she came up through the crowd and touched his cloak from behind, thinking, 28 'If I can just touch his clothes, I shall be saved.' 29 And at once the source of the bleeding dried up, and she felt in herself that she was cured of her complaint.
30 And at once aware of the power that had gone out from him, Jesus turned round in the crowd and said, 'Who touched my clothes?' 31 His disciples said to him, 'You see how the crowd is pressing round you; how can you ask, "Who touched me?" ' 32 But he continued to look all round to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman came forward, frightened and trembling because she knew what had happened to her, and she fell at his feet and told him the whole truth. 34 'My daughter,' he said, 'your faith has restored you to health; go in peace and be free of your complaint.'
35 While he was still speaking some people arrived from the house of the president of the synagogue to say, 'Your daughter is dead; why put the Master to any further trouble?' 36 But Jesus overheard what they said and he said to the president of the synagogue, 'Do not be afraid; only have faith.' 37 And he allowed no one to go with him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. 38 So they came to the house of the president of the synagogue, and Jesus noticed all the commotion, with people weeping and wailing unrestrainedly. 39 He went in and said to them, 'Why all this commotion and crying? The child is not dead, but asleep.' 40 But they ridiculed him. So he turned them all out and, taking with him the child's father and mother and his own companions, he went into the place where the child lay. 41 And taking the child by the hand he said to her, 'Talitha kum!' which means, 'Little girl, I tell you to get up.' 42 The little girl got up at once and began to walk about, for she was twelve years old. At once they were overcome with astonishment, 43 and he gave them strict orders not to let anyone know about it, and told them to give her something to eat.
3. A moment of prayerful silence so that the Word of God may penetrate and enlighten our life.
4. Some questions to help us in our personal reflection.
a) What pleased you or touched you most in this text? Why?
b) What is the attitude of the woman who touched Jesus? What gives her the strength to touch him?
c) Why were the disciples unable to understand what was going on between Jesus and the crowd?
d) Who was Jairus? What is Jesus’ attitude towards Jairus, his wife and daughter?
e) A woman is healed and integrated into the life of the community. A girl is raised from her deathbed. What do these actions of Jesus teach us today for our life within the family and in community?
5. For those who wish to go deeper into the theme
a) The context of yesterday and of today:
i) Throughout his Gospel, Mark goes on giving information concerning the person of Jesus. He shows how the mystery of the Kingdom is mirrored in the power that Jesus exercises on behalf of his disciples, of the crowd and, above all, on behalf of those excluded and marginalized. However, the more this power is manifested, the less the disciples comprehend and it is clear that they must change their ideas concerning the Messiah. Otherwise, their incomprehension will keep on getting worse and they run the risk of growing apart from Jesus.
ii) In the 70’s, the time when Mark was writing his Gospel, there was a very great tension within the Christian communities between the converted Jews and the converted pagans. Some Jews, especially those who had belonged to the group of Pharisees, continued to remain faithful to the observance of the laws on purity as found in their millennia-old culture and, thus, found it difficult to live with the converted pagans, because they thought that the pagans lived in a state of impurity. Thus, the story of the two miracles worked by Jesus for the two women was of great help in overcoming old taboos.
b) A commentary on the text:
Mark 5:21-24: The point of departure: Jairus loses his daughter. Jesus goes with him and the crowd follows.
The crowd joins Jesus who has just come across from the other side of the lake. Jairus, head of the synagogue, asks Jesus’ help for his daughter who is dying. Jesus goes with him and the crowd follows, pushing him on every side because they all want to be close to Jesus when he is about to work a miracle. This is the point of departure of the two following episodes: the healing of the woman suffering from a haemorrhage for twelve years and the raising of the twelve-year-old girl.
Mark 5:25-26. The situation of the woman suffering from an irregular haemorrhage
Twelve years of haemorrhaging! For this reason, the woman was excluded since in those times blood made a person impure as well as anyone who touched that person. Mark says that the woman had spent all her money on doctors but instead of getting better had got worse. An insoluble situation!
Mark 5:27-28. The woman’s reasoning in the presence of Jesus
She had heard about Jesus. A new hope grew in her heart. She said to herself: “If I can just touch his clothes, I shall be saved”. The catechism of those days said: “If I just touch his clothes, I shall become impure”. The woman thinks the exact opposite! This is a sign of great courage. It is also a sign of the fact that woman did not quite agree with what the authorities taught. The woman goes into the middle of the crowd that was pushing Jesus on all sides and, almost secretly, succeeds in touching Jesus.
Mark 5:29: The woman succeeds in getting what she wants and is healed
At that very moment she feels healed in her body. To this day, in Palestine, on a bend in the road near the lake of Galilee and close to Capharnaum, we can read this inscription on a stone: “Here, in this place, the woman thought to be impure but full of faith, touched Jesus and was healed!”
Mark 5:30-32. The reaction of Jesus and of his disciples
Jesus, too, felt power coming out of him “Who has touched me?” The disciples react: “You see how the crowd is pressing round you; how can you ask, ‘Who touched me?” Here again we have a little disagreement between Jesus and his disciples. Jesus had a sensitivity not seen by the disciples. They react like everyone else and do not understand Jesus’ different reaction: But Jesus does not give up and goes on asking.
Mark 5:33-34. The conversation between Jesus and the woman healed because of her faith
The woman realises that she has been found out. This is a difficult and dangerous moment for her. According to the belief of those days, someone impure who, like this woman, went among the crowd, would contaminate all just by touching her. Such a person made everyone impure before God (Lv 15:19-30). The punishment for this was that she would be taken aside and stoned. In spite of this, the woman has the courage to do what she did. But the woman, fearful and trembling, falls at his feet and tells him the truth. Jesus then pronounces his final judgement: “My daughter…your faith has restored you to health; go in peace and be free of your complaint!” Beautiful and very human words! By saying “My daughter”, Jesus welcomes the woman into the new family, into the community growing around him. What she thought came to pass. Jesus recognises that without the faith of that woman he could not have worked the miracle.
Mark 5:35-36. The conversation between Jesus and Jairus
Just at that moment emissaries from Jairus’ house arrive to tell him that his daughter was dead. There was no need to trouble Jesus further. For them death was the great frontier and Jesus could not cross it! Jesus listens, looks at Jairus and encourages him to be like the woman, namely to believe that faith can achieve whatever a person believes. Jesus says to him: “Do not be afraid; only have faith!”
Mark 5:37-40. Jesus goes to Jairus’ house and the reaction of the crowd
Jesus goes apart from the crowd and allows only some of his disciples to go with him. When they arrive at Jairus’ house, he sees people weeping over the death of the girl. He says: “The child is not dead but asleep”. The people in the house laugh. They know when someone is asleep and when someone is dead. It is the laughter of Abraham and Sara, that is, the laughter of those who cannot believe that nothing is impossible for God!” (Jn 17:17; 18:12-14; Lk 1:37). For them also, death is an obstacle that cannot be overcome. Jesus’ words carry a much deeper meaning. In Mark’s time, the situation of the community seemed to be one of death. They had to hear the words: “You are not dead! You are asleep! Wake up!” Jesus takes no notice of the laughter and enters the room where we find the child, himself, the three disciples and the father of the child.
Mark 5:41-43. The raising of the child
Jesus takes the child by her hand and says: “Talitha kum!” And the child gets up. Much shouting! Jesus stays calm and asks that food be brought to the child. The healing of two women! One twelve-year old and one who suffered from haemorrhage and was excluded for twelve years! The exclusion of the girl begins at the age of twelve because that is when she begins menstruating. She begins to die! Jesus has greater power and raises her: “Get up!”
c) Further information: Women in the Gospels
In New Testament times, women were marginalized for the simple fact that they were women (cf. Lv 15:19-27; 12: 1-5). Women did not take part in the public life of the synagogue and they could not be witnesses. That is why many women put up resistance to such exclusion. Even in Esdra’s time, when the marginalization of women was greater, (cf Esd 9:1-2;10:2-3), resistance grew, as in the cases of Judith, Esther, Ruth, Noemi, Susannah, the Sulamite woman and others. This resistance is echoed in and welcomed by Jesus. Here are some examples of non-conformity and of resistance of women in daily life and Jesus’ acceptance of them:
The prostitute has the courage to challenge the laws of society and religion. She enters the house of a Pharisee to meet Jesus. When she meets him, she meets love and forgiveness and is defended against the Pharisees. The woman bent double does not even hear the shouts of the chief of the synagogue. She wants to be healed, even though it is the Sabbath. Jesus welcomes her as a daughter and defends her against the chief of the synagogue (Lk 13: 10-17). The woman considered impure because she was losing blood, has the courage to go in the middle of the crowd and to think just the opposite of what the official doctrine taught. The official doctrine said: “Anyone who touches her will be impure!” But she said: “If I can just touch his clothes, I shall be saved!” (Mk 5:28). She is not censured and is healed. Jesus says that her healing is the fruit of faith (Mk 5:25-34). The Samaritan woman, who is despised and considered heretical, has the courage to approach Jesus and to change the direction of the conversation started by him (cf. Jn 4:19.25). In John’s Gospel, she is the first person to hear the secret that Jesus is the Messiah (Jn 4:26). The gentile woman from the region of Tyre and Sidon does not accept her exclusion and speaks in such a manner as to make Jesus listen to her (Mk 7: 24-30). The mothers with little children challenge the disciples and are welcomed and blessed by Jesus (Mt 19:13-15; Mk 10:13-16). The women who challenged the authorities and stayed at the foot of the cross of Jesus (Mk 15:40; Mt 27:55-56.61), were also the first to experience the presence of Jesus after the resurrection (Mk 16:5-8; Mt 28:9-10). Among them was Mary Magdalene who was considered to have been possessed by evil spirits and was healed by Jesus (Lk, 8:2). She was given the order to pass on the Good News of the resurrection to the apostles (Jn 20:16-18). Mark says that "they used to follow him and look after him when he was in Galilee. And many other women were there who had come up to Jerusalem with him" (Mk 15:41). Mark uses three important words to define the life of these women: follow, look after, come up to Jerusalem. These three words describe the ideal disciple. They represent the model for the other disciples who had fled!
6. Praying with Psalm 103 (102)
Thanking God for all that he does for us!
Bless Yahweh, my soul,
from the depths of my being, his holy name;
bless Yahweh, my soul,
never forget all his acts of kindness.
He forgives all your offences,
cures all your diseases,
he redeems your life from the abyss,
crowns you with faithful love and tenderness;
he contents you with good things all your life,
renews your youth like an eagle's.
Yahweh acts with uprightness,
with justice to all who are oppressed;
he revealed to Moses his ways,
his great deeds to the children of Israel.
Yahweh is tenderness and pity,
slow to anger and rich in faithful love;
his indignation does not last for ever,
nor his resentment remain for all time;
he does not treat us as our sins deserve,
nor repay us as befits our offences.
As the height of heaven above earth,
so strong is his faithful love for those who fear him.
As the distance of east from west,
so far from us does he put our faults.
As tenderly as a father treats his children,
so Yahweh treats those who fear him;
he knows of what we are made,
he remembers that we are dust.
As for a human person -- his days are like grass,
he blooms like the wild flowers;
as soon as the wind blows he is gone,
never to be seen there again.
But Yahweh's faithful love for those who fear him
is from eternity and for ever;
and his saving justice to their children's children;
as long as they keep his covenant,
and carefully obey his precepts.
Yahweh has fixed his throne in heaven,
his sovereign power rules over all.
Bless Yahweh, all his angels,
mighty warriors who fulfil his commands,
attentive to the sound of his words.
Bless Yahweh, all his armies,
servants who fulfil his wishes.
Bless Yahweh, all his works,
in every place where he rules.
Bless Yahweh, my soul.
7. Final Prayer
Lord Jesus, we thank for the word that has enabled us to understand better the will of the Father. May your Spirit enlighten our actions and grant us the strength to practice that which your Word has revealed to us. May we, like Mary, your mother, not only listen to but also practice the Word. You who live and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
Reference:
Courtesy of Order of Carmelites, www.ocarm.org.
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Saint of the Week:
St Thomas the Apostle
Feast Day: July 3
Patron Saint: Architects
Attributes: The Twin, placing his finger in the side of Christ, spear (means of martyrdom), square (his profession, a builder)
Saint Thomas the Apostle, also called Doubting Thomas or Didymus
(meaning "Twin," or "Thomas" in Aramaic) was one of the Twelve Apostles
of Jesus Christ.
He is best known for questioning Jesus' resurrection after death when
first told of it, followed by his confession of faith as both "My Lord
and my God" on seeing and touching Jesus' tangible and physical wounded
body in Gospel of Saint John 20:28. Traditionally he is said to have
traveled outside the Roman Empire to preach the Gospel, traveling as far
as India.
According to tradition, the Apostle reached Muziris, India in 52 AD and baptized several people who are today known as Saint Thomas Christians or Nasranis. After his murder and death by spear in India, the remaining relics of Saint Thomas the Apostle were enshrined as far as Mesopotamia in the 3rd century, and later moved to various places. In 1258 they were brought to Abruzzo, in Ortona, Italy, where they have been held in the Church of Saint Thomas the Apostle.[5] He is often regarded as the Patron Saint of India, and the name Thomas remains quite popular among Saint Thomas Christians of India.
He speaks again in John 14:5. There, Jesus has just explained that he is going away to prepare a heavenly home for his followers, and that one day they will join him there. Thomas reacts by saying, "Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" (NIV)
John 20:24-29 tells how Thomas was skeptical at first when he heard that Jesus had appeared to the other apostles, saying, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe." (NIV, v.25) But when Jesus appeared later and offered to let Thomas see and touch his wounds, Thomas showed his belief by proclaiming, "My Lord and my God!" (NIV, v.28)
The Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches celebrate his feast day on 6 October [10] (for those churches which follow the traditional Julian Calendar, 6 October currently falls on 19 October of the modern Gregorian Calendar). In addition, the next Sunday of the Easter (Pascha) is celebrated as Sunday of Thomas, in commemoration of Thomas' question to Jesus, which led him to proclaim, according to Orthodox teaching, two natures of Jesus, both human and divine. Thomas is commemorated in common with all of the other apostles on 30 June (13 July), in a feast called the Synaxis of the Holy Apostles.[11] He is also associated with the "Arabian" (or "Arapet") icon of the Theotokos (Mother of God), which is commemorated on 6 September (19 September).[12]
According to The Passing of Mary, a text attributed to Joseph of Arimathaea,[13] Thomas was the only witness of the Assumption of Mary
into heaven. The other apostles were miraculously transported to
Jerusalem to witness her death.
Thomas was left in India, but after her first burial, he was transported to her tomb, where he witnessed her bodily assumption into heaven, from which she dropped her girdle. In an inversion of the story of Thomas' doubts, the other apostles are skeptical of Thomas' story until they see the empty tomb and the girdle.[14]
Thomas' receipt of the girdle is commonly depicted in medieval and pre-Tridentine Renaissance art,[15][16] the apostle's infamous doubting reduced to a metaphorical knot in the Bavarian baroque Mary Untier of Knots.
A Syrian ecclesiastical calendar of an early date confirms the above and gives the merchant a name. The entry reads: "3 July, St. Thomas who was pierced with a lance in 'India'. His body is at Urhai [another name for Edessa or Urfa] having been brought there by the merchant Khabin. A great festival." St. Ephraem, the great doctor of the Syrian Church, noted that relics of Thomas were held in Edessa.[17]
A long public tradition in the church at Edessa honoring Thomas as the Apostle of 'India' resulted in several surviving hymns that are attributed to Ephrem, copied in codices of the 8th and 9th centuries. References in the hymns preserve the tradition that Thomas' bones were brought from 'India' to Edessa by a merchant, and that the relics worked miracles both in 'India' and at Edessa. A pontiff assigned his feast day and a king and a queen erected his shrine. The Thomas traditions became embodied in Syriac liturgy, thus they were universally credited by the Christian community there. There is a legend that Thomas had met the Biblical Magi on his way to 'India'.
According to Eusebius' record, Thomas and Bartholomew were assigned to Parthia and India.[18][19] The Didascalia (dating from the end of the 3rd century) states, “India and all countries condering it, even to the farthest seas...received the apostolic ordinances from Judas Thomas, who was a guide and ruler in the church which he built.”Moreover, there is a wealth of confirmatory information in the Syriac writings, liturgical books, and calendars of the Church of the East, not to mention the writings of the Fathers, the calendars, the sacramentaries, and the martyrologies of the Roman, Greek and Ethiopian churches.[1]
An early 3rd-century Syriac work known as the Acts of Thomas[2] connects the apostle's Indian ministry with two kings, one in the north and the other in the south. According to one of the legends in the Acts, Thomas was at first reluctant to accept this mission, but the Lord appeared to him in a night vision and said,
The Acts of Thomas identifies his second mission in India with a kingdom ruled by King Mahadwa, one of the rulers of a 1st-century dynasty in southern India. It is most significant that, aside from a small remnant of the Church of the East in Kurdistan, the only other church to maintain a distinctive identity is the Saint Thomas Christian congregations along the Malabar Coast of Kerala State in southwest India. According to the most ancient tradition of this church, Thomas evangelized this area and then crossed to the Coromandel Coast of southeast India, where, after carrying out a second mission, he died near Madras. Throughout the period under review, the church in India was under the jurisdiction of Edessa, which was then under the Mesopotamian patriarchate at Seleucia-Ctesiphon and later at Baghdad and Mosul. Historian Vincent A. Smith says, “It must be admitted that a personal visit of the Apostle Thomas to South India was easily feasible in the traditional belief that he came by way of Socotra, where an ancient Christian settlement undoubtedly existed. I am now satisfied that the Christian church of South India is extremely ancient...”.[6]
Thomas is believed to have left northwest India when invasion threatened and traveled by vessel to the Malabar coast, possibly visiting southeast Arabia and Socotra en route, and landing at the former flourishing port of Muziris[citation needed] on an island near Cochin (c.51–52 AD). From there he is said to have preached the gospel throughout the Malabar coast. The various churches he founded were located mainly on the Periyar River and its tributaries and along the coast, where there were Jewish colonies. He reputedly preached to all classes of people and had about 17,000 converts, including members of the four principal castes. Later, stone crosses were erected at the places where churches were founded, and they became pilgrimage centres. In accordance with apostolic custom, Thomas ordained teachers and leaders or elders, who were reported to be the earliest ministry of the Malabar church.
According
to Indian Christian tradition, St. Thomas landed in Kodungallur in 52
AD, in the company of a Jewish merchant Abbanes (Hebban).
St. Thomas was killed in India in 72 AD, attaining martyrdom at St. Thomas Mount near Mylapore (part of Chennai, capital of Tamil Nadu). He was buried on the site of Chennai's San Thome Basilica[20] in the Dioceses of Saint Thomas of Mylapore. The Acts of Thomas and oral traditions (only recorded in writing centuries later) provide weak and unreliable evidence[21] but the tradition is that Thomas, having aroused the hostility of the local priests by making converts, fled to St. Thomas's Mount four miles (6 km) southwest of Mylapore. He was supposedly followed by his persecutors, who transfixed him with a lance as he prayed kneeling on a stone. His body was brought to Mylapore and buried inside the church he had built. The present Basilica is on this spot. It was first built in the 16th century and rebuilt in the 19th.
According to tradition, in 232 AD, the greater part of relics of the Apostle Thomas are said to have been sent by an Indian king and brought from India to the city of Edessa, Mesopotamia, on which occasion his Syriac Acts were written.
The Indian king is named as "Mazdai" in Syriac sources, "Misdeos" and "Misdeus" in Greek and Latin sources respectively, which has been connected to the "Bazdeo" on the Kushan coinage of Vasudeva I, the transition between "M" and "B" being a current one in Classical sources for Indian names.[22] The martyrologist Rabban Sliba dedicated a special day to both the Indian king, his family, and St Thomas.
They were kept in a shrine just outside the city. In August 394, they were transferred in the city, inside the church dedicated to the saint.
In 441, the Magister militum per Orientem Anatolius donated a silver coffin to hold the relics.[23]
King Vira Raghavaa gave a copper plate recording a grant given to Iravi Korttan, a Christian of Kodungallur (Cranganore), with the date estimated at around 744 AD. It is similar to a copper plate given to Joseph Rabbanes, leader of the Jewish community at that time. In 822 AD two Nestorian Persian Bishops, Mar Sapor and Mar Peroz, came to Malabar to occupy their seats in Kollam and Kodungallur, to care for the local Syrian Christians (also known as St. Thomas Christians).
In 1144 the city was conquered by the Zengids and the shrine destroyed.[25]
After a short stay in the Greek island of Chios, on 6 September 1258, the relics were transported to the West, and now rest in Ortona, Abruzzo, Italy.
Marco Polo, the Venetian traveller and author of Description of the World, popularly known as Il Milione, is reputed to have visited South India in 1288 and 1292. The first date has been rejected as he was in China at the time, but the second date is accepted by many historians. He is believed to have stopped in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), where he documented the tomb of Adam. He also stopped at Quilon (Kollam) on the western Malabar coast of India, where he met Syrian Christians and recorded their tradition of St. Thomas and his tomb on the eastern Coromandel coast of the country. Il Milione, the book he dictated on his return to Europe, was on its publication condemned by the Church as a collection of impious and improbable traveller's tales. It became very popular reading in medieval Europe and inspired Spanish and Portuguese sailors to seek out the fabulous, and possibly Christian, India described in it.
A number of early Christian writings written during centuries
immediately following the first Ecumenical Council of 325 mention
Thomas' mission.
In the sixteenth century work Jornada, Antonio Gouvea writes
of ornate crosses “known as Saint Thomas Cross or Mar Thoma Sliba".
These crosses date from the 6th century and are found in a number of
churches in Kerala, Mylapore and Goa. Jornada is the oldest known written document to refer to this type of cross as a St. Thomas Cross.
The original term used is “Cruz de San Thome” which literally
translates as Cross of St. Thomas. Gouvea also writes about the
veneration of the Cross at Cranganore, referring to the cross as "Cross
of Christians.
Besides the Acts of Thomas there was a widely circulated Infancy Gospel of Thomas probably written in the later 2nd century, and probably also in Syria, which relates the miraculous events and prodigies of Jesus' boyhood. This is the document which tells for the first time the familiar legend of the twelve sparrows which Jesus, at the age of five, fashioned from clay on the Sabbath day, which took wing and flew away. The earliest manuscript of this work is a 6th-century one in Syriac. This gospel was first referred to by Irenaeus; Ron Cameron notes: "In his citation, Irenaeus first quotes a non-canonical story that circulated about the childhood of Jesus and then goes directly on to quote a passage from the infancy narrative of the Gospel of Luke (Luke 2:49). Since the Infancy Gospel of Thomas records both of these stories, in relative close proximity to one another, it is possible that the apocryphal writing cited by Irenaeus is, in fact, what is now known as the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. Because of the complexities of the manuscript tradition, however, there is no certainty as to when the stories of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas began to be written down."
The best known in modern times of these documents is the "sayings" document that is being called the Gospel of Thomas, a noncanonical work whose date is disputed. The opening line claims it is the work of "Didymos Judas Thomas" – whose identity is unknown. This work was discovered in a Coptic translation in 1945 at the Egyptian village of Nag Hammadi, near the site of the monastery of Chenoboskion. Once the Coptic text was published, scholars recognized that an earlier Greek translation had been published from fragments of papyrus found at Oxyrhynchus in the 1890s.
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The Incredulity of Saint Thomas (Caravaggio)
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According to tradition, the Apostle reached Muziris, India in 52 AD and baptized several people who are today known as Saint Thomas Christians or Nasranis. After his murder and death by spear in India, the remaining relics of Saint Thomas the Apostle were enshrined as far as Mesopotamia in the 3rd century, and later moved to various places. In 1258 they were brought to Abruzzo, in Ortona, Italy, where they have been held in the Church of Saint Thomas the Apostle.[5] He is often regarded as the Patron Saint of India, and the name Thomas remains quite popular among Saint Thomas Christians of India.
Thomas in the Gospel of John
Thomas speaks in the Gospel of John. In John 11:16, when Lazarus has just died, the apostles do not wish to go back to Judea, where Jews had attempted to stone Jesus. Thomas says: "Let us also go, that we may die with him" (NIV).[1]He speaks again in John 14:5. There, Jesus has just explained that he is going away to prepare a heavenly home for his followers, and that one day they will join him there. Thomas reacts by saying, "Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" (NIV)
John 20:24-29 tells how Thomas was skeptical at first when he heard that Jesus had appeared to the other apostles, saying, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe." (NIV, v.25) But when Jesus appeared later and offered to let Thomas see and touch his wounds, Thomas showed his belief by proclaiming, "My Lord and my God!" (NIV, v.28)
Name and identity
Twin and its renditions
- The Greek Didymus: in the Gospel of John.[11:16] [20:24] Thomas is more specifically identified as "Thomas, also called the Twin (Didymus)".
- The Aramaic Tau'ma: the name "Thomas" comes from the Aramaic word for twin, t'oma (תאומא).
Other names
The Nag Hammadi copy of the Gospel of Thomas begins: "These are the secret sayings that the living Jesus spoke and Didymos Judas Thomas recorded." Early Syrian traditions also relate the apostle's full name as Judas Thomas.[6] Some have seen in the Acts of Thomas (written in east Syria in the early 3rd century, or perhaps as early as the first half of the 2nd century) an identification of Saint Thomas with the apostle Judas, brother of James, better known in English as Jude. However, the first sentence of the Acts follows the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles in distinguishing the apostle Thomas and the apostle Judas son of James. Few texts identify Thomas' twin. In in the Book of Thomas the Contender, part of the Nag Hammadi, it is said to be Jesus himself: "Now, since it has been said that you are my twin and true companion, examine yourself…"[7]Feast Days
When the feast of Saint Thomas was inserted in the Roman calendar in the 9th century, it was assigned to 21 December. The Martyrology of St. Jerome mentioned the Apostle on 3 July, the date to which the Roman celebration was transferred in 1969, so that it would no longer interfere with the major ferial days of Advent.[8] 3 July was the day on which his relics were translated from Mylapore, a place along the coast of the Marina Beach, Chennai (Madras) in India, to the city of Edessa in Mesopotamia. Roman Catholics (in the light of Vatican II follow the liturgical calendar published in 1970) and many Anglicans (including members of the Episcopal Church as well as members of the Church of England, who worship according to the 1662 edition of the Book of Common Prayer)[9], still celebrate his feast day on 21 December.The Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches celebrate his feast day on 6 October [10] (for those churches which follow the traditional Julian Calendar, 6 October currently falls on 19 October of the modern Gregorian Calendar). In addition, the next Sunday of the Easter (Pascha) is celebrated as Sunday of Thomas, in commemoration of Thomas' question to Jesus, which led him to proclaim, according to Orthodox teaching, two natures of Jesus, both human and divine. Thomas is commemorated in common with all of the other apostles on 30 June (13 July), in a feast called the Synaxis of the Holy Apostles.[11] He is also associated with the "Arabian" (or "Arapet") icon of the Theotokos (Mother of God), which is commemorated on 6 September (19 September).[12]
Later traditions
Thomas and the Assumption of Mary
St. Thomas receiving the Virgin Mary's girdle from heaven.
Thomas was left in India, but after her first burial, he was transported to her tomb, where he witnessed her bodily assumption into heaven, from which she dropped her girdle. In an inversion of the story of Thomas' doubts, the other apostles are skeptical of Thomas' story until they see the empty tomb and the girdle.[14]
Thomas' receipt of the girdle is commonly depicted in medieval and pre-Tridentine Renaissance art,[15][16] the apostle's infamous doubting reduced to a metaphorical knot in the Bavarian baroque Mary Untier of Knots.
Thomas and Syria
"Judas, who is also called Thomas" (Eusebius, H.E. 1.13) has a role in the legend of king Abgar of Edessa (Urfa), for having sent Thaddaeus to preach in Edessa after the Ascension (Eusebius, Historia ecclesiae 1.13; III.1; Ephrem the Syrian also recounts this legend.) In the 4th century, the martyrium erected over his burial place brought pilgrims to Edessa. In the 380s, Egeria described her visit in a letter she sent to her community of nuns at home (Itineraria Egeriae):we arrived at Edessa in the Name of Christ our God, and, on our arrival, we straightway repaired to the church and memorial of saint Thomas. There, according to custom, prayers were made and the other things that were customary in the holy places were done; we read also some things concerning saint Thomas himself. The church there is very great, very beautiful and of new construction, well worthy to be the house of God, and as there was much that I desired to see, it was necessary for me to make a three days' stay there.
Thomas and Iran
As per the Acts of Thomas the apostle St. Thomas went from Palestine eastwards to a desert-like country where people were “Mazdei” (Zoroastrian) and have Persian names. It states that Jesus Christ sold his identical twin brother St. Thomas as a slave to a merchant named Abbanes. The Acts further records that Judas Thomas and Abbanes landed at Andropolis after a short sea journey, a royal city somewhere to the east of Jerusalem. Andropolis has been identified as Sandaruck in Balochistan. The Church Fathers Clement of Alexandra, Origen and Eusebius confirm explicitly that he settled in “Parthia”, a part of the Iranian world.Thomas and India
St. Thomas is traditionally believed to have sailed to India in 52 AD to spread the Christian faith among the Jews, some of whom had migrated to Kerala. He is supposed to have landed at the ancient port of Muziris (which was destroyed in 1341 AD due to a massive flood that realigned the coasts) near Kodungalloor. He went to Palayoor (near present-day Guruvayoor), a Hindu priestly community at that time. He left Palayoor in 52 AD for the southern part of what is now Kerala State, where he established the Ezharappallikal, or "Seven and Half Churches". These churches are at Kodungallur, Kollam, Niranam (Niranam Church), Nilackal (Chayal), Kokkamangalam, Kottakkavu (Paravoor), Palayoor (Chattukulangara) and Thiruvithamcode Arappally – the half church.[2]It was to a land of dark people he was sent, to clothe them by Baptism in white robes. His grateful dawn dispelled India's painful darkness. It was his mission to espouse India to the One-Begotten. The merchant is blessed for having so great a treasure. Edessa thus became the blessed city by possessing the greatest pearl India could yield. Thomas works miracles in India, and at Edessa Thomas is destined to baptize peoples perverse and steeped in darkness, and that in the land of India.Eusebius of Caesarea quotes Origen (died mid-3rd century) as having stated that Thomas was the apostle to the Parthians, but Thomas is better known as the missionary to India through the Acts of Thomas, perhaps written as late as ca 200. In Edessa, where his remains were venerated, the poet Ephrem the Syrian (died 373) wrote a hymn in which the Devil cries,
- —Hymns of St. Ephraem, edited by Lamy (Ephr. Hymni et Sermones, IV).
St. Ephraem, the great doctor of the Syrian Church, writes in the forty-second of his "Carmina Nisibina" that the Apostle was put to death in India, and that his remains were subsequently buried in Edessa, brought there by an unnamed merchant.[17]I stirred up Death the Apostles to slay, that by their death I might escape their blows.
- ...Into what land shall I fly from the just?
But harder still am I now stricken: the Apostle I slew in India has overtaken me in Edessa; here and there he is all himself.
There went I, and there was he: here and there to my grief I find him.
- —quoted in Medlycott 1905, ch. ii.
A Syrian ecclesiastical calendar of an early date confirms the above and gives the merchant a name. The entry reads: "3 July, St. Thomas who was pierced with a lance in 'India'. His body is at Urhai [another name for Edessa or Urfa] having been brought there by the merchant Khabin. A great festival." St. Ephraem, the great doctor of the Syrian Church, noted that relics of Thomas were held in Edessa.[17]
A long public tradition in the church at Edessa honoring Thomas as the Apostle of 'India' resulted in several surviving hymns that are attributed to Ephrem, copied in codices of the 8th and 9th centuries. References in the hymns preserve the tradition that Thomas' bones were brought from 'India' to Edessa by a merchant, and that the relics worked miracles both in 'India' and at Edessa. A pontiff assigned his feast day and a king and a queen erected his shrine. The Thomas traditions became embodied in Syriac liturgy, thus they were universally credited by the Christian community there. There is a legend that Thomas had met the Biblical Magi on his way to 'India'.
According to Eusebius' record, Thomas and Bartholomew were assigned to Parthia and India.[18][19] The Didascalia (dating from the end of the 3rd century) states, “India and all countries condering it, even to the farthest seas...received the apostolic ordinances from Judas Thomas, who was a guide and ruler in the church which he built.”Moreover, there is a wealth of confirmatory information in the Syriac writings, liturgical books, and calendars of the Church of the East, not to mention the writings of the Fathers, the calendars, the sacramentaries, and the martyrologies of the Roman, Greek and Ethiopian churches.[1]
An early 3rd-century Syriac work known as the Acts of Thomas[2] connects the apostle's Indian ministry with two kings, one in the north and the other in the south. According to one of the legends in the Acts, Thomas was at first reluctant to accept this mission, but the Lord appeared to him in a night vision and said,
“Fear not, Thomas. Go away to India and proclaim the Word, for my grace shall be with you. ”But the Apostle still demurred, so the Lord overruled the stubborn disciple by ordering circumstances so compelling that he was forced to accompany an 'Indian' merchant, Abbanes, as a slave to his native place in northwest 'India', where he found himself in the service of the Indo-Parthian king, Gondophares. According to the Acts of Thomas, the apostle's ministry resulted in many conversions throughout the kingdom, including the king and his brother.[3]Remains of some of his buildings, influenced by Greek architecture, indicate that he was a great builder. According to the legend, Thomas was a skilled carpenter and was bidden to build a palace for the king. However, the Apostle decided to teach the king a lesson by devoting the royal grant to acts of charity and thereby laying up treasure for the heavenly abode. Although little is known of the immediate growth of the church, Bar-Daisan (154–223) reports that in his time there were Christian tribes in India which claimed to have been converted by Thomas and to have books and relics to prove it.[4] But at least by the year of the establishment of the Second Persian Empire (226), there were bishops of the Church of the East in northwest India (Afghanistan and Baluchistan), with laymen and clergy alike engaging in missionary activity.[5]
The Acts of Thomas identifies his second mission in India with a kingdom ruled by King Mahadwa, one of the rulers of a 1st-century dynasty in southern India. It is most significant that, aside from a small remnant of the Church of the East in Kurdistan, the only other church to maintain a distinctive identity is the Saint Thomas Christian congregations along the Malabar Coast of Kerala State in southwest India. According to the most ancient tradition of this church, Thomas evangelized this area and then crossed to the Coromandel Coast of southeast India, where, after carrying out a second mission, he died near Madras. Throughout the period under review, the church in India was under the jurisdiction of Edessa, which was then under the Mesopotamian patriarchate at Seleucia-Ctesiphon and later at Baghdad and Mosul. Historian Vincent A. Smith says, “It must be admitted that a personal visit of the Apostle Thomas to South India was easily feasible in the traditional belief that he came by way of Socotra, where an ancient Christian settlement undoubtedly existed. I am now satisfied that the Christian church of South India is extremely ancient...”.[6]
Thomas is believed to have left northwest India when invasion threatened and traveled by vessel to the Malabar coast, possibly visiting southeast Arabia and Socotra en route, and landing at the former flourishing port of Muziris[citation needed] on an island near Cochin (c.51–52 AD). From there he is said to have preached the gospel throughout the Malabar coast. The various churches he founded were located mainly on the Periyar River and its tributaries and along the coast, where there were Jewish colonies. He reputedly preached to all classes of people and had about 17,000 converts, including members of the four principal castes. Later, stone crosses were erected at the places where churches were founded, and they became pilgrimage centres. In accordance with apostolic custom, Thomas ordained teachers and leaders or elders, who were reported to be the earliest ministry of the Malabar church.
Death
Martyrdom of St Thomas, Peter Paul Rubens
St. Thomas was killed in India in 72 AD, attaining martyrdom at St. Thomas Mount near Mylapore (part of Chennai, capital of Tamil Nadu). He was buried on the site of Chennai's San Thome Basilica[20] in the Dioceses of Saint Thomas of Mylapore. The Acts of Thomas and oral traditions (only recorded in writing centuries later) provide weak and unreliable evidence[21] but the tradition is that Thomas, having aroused the hostility of the local priests by making converts, fled to St. Thomas's Mount four miles (6 km) southwest of Mylapore. He was supposedly followed by his persecutors, who transfixed him with a lance as he prayed kneeling on a stone. His body was brought to Mylapore and buried inside the church he had built. The present Basilica is on this spot. It was first built in the 16th century and rebuilt in the 19th.
History of the relics
Few relics are still kept in church at Mylapore, Tamil Nadu, India.According to tradition, in 232 AD, the greater part of relics of the Apostle Thomas are said to have been sent by an Indian king and brought from India to the city of Edessa, Mesopotamia, on which occasion his Syriac Acts were written.
The Indian king is named as "Mazdai" in Syriac sources, "Misdeos" and "Misdeus" in Greek and Latin sources respectively, which has been connected to the "Bazdeo" on the Kushan coinage of Vasudeva I, the transition between "M" and "B" being a current one in Classical sources for Indian names.[22] The martyrologist Rabban Sliba dedicated a special day to both the Indian king, his family, and St Thomas.
They were kept in a shrine just outside the city. In August 394, they were transferred in the city, inside the church dedicated to the saint.
In 441, the Magister militum per Orientem Anatolius donated a silver coffin to hold the relics.[23]
Coronatio Thomae apostoli et Misdeus rex Indiae, Johannes eus filius huisque mater Tertia ("Coronation of Thomas the Apostle, and Misdeus king of India, together with his son Johannes (thought to be a latinization of Vizan) and his mother Tertia") Rabban Sliba[22]In 522 AD, Cosmas Indicopleustes (called the Alexandrian) visited the Malabar Coast. He is the first traveler who mentions Syrian Christians in Malabar, in his book Christian Topography. He mentions that in the town of "Kalliana" (Quilon or Kollam) was a bishop who had been consecrated in Persia. Metropolitan Mar Aprem writes, "Most church historians, who doubt the tradition of the doubting Thomas in India, will admit there was a church in India in the middle of the sixth century when Cosmas Indicopleustes visited India."[24]
King Vira Raghavaa gave a copper plate recording a grant given to Iravi Korttan, a Christian of Kodungallur (Cranganore), with the date estimated at around 744 AD. It is similar to a copper plate given to Joseph Rabbanes, leader of the Jewish community at that time. In 822 AD two Nestorian Persian Bishops, Mar Sapor and Mar Peroz, came to Malabar to occupy their seats in Kollam and Kodungallur, to care for the local Syrian Christians (also known as St. Thomas Christians).
In 1144 the city was conquered by the Zengids and the shrine destroyed.[25]
After a short stay in the Greek island of Chios, on 6 September 1258, the relics were transported to the West, and now rest in Ortona, Abruzzo, Italy.
Marco Polo, the Venetian traveller and author of Description of the World, popularly known as Il Milione, is reputed to have visited South India in 1288 and 1292. The first date has been rejected as he was in China at the time, but the second date is accepted by many historians. He is believed to have stopped in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), where he documented the tomb of Adam. He also stopped at Quilon (Kollam) on the western Malabar coast of India, where he met Syrian Christians and recorded their tradition of St. Thomas and his tomb on the eastern Coromandel coast of the country. Il Milione, the book he dictated on his return to Europe, was on its publication condemned by the Church as a collection of impious and improbable traveller's tales. It became very popular reading in medieval Europe and inspired Spanish and Portuguese sailors to seek out the fabulous, and possibly Christian, India described in it.
Tomb
The Indian tradition, in which elements of the traditions of Malabar, Coromandel and the Persian Church intermingled, held that Thomas the Apostle died near the ancient town of Mylapore, where the San Thome Basilica is now sited. In the thirteenth century, what was said to be his relics were moved to the town of Ortona, in Abruzzo, Italy, where they are now buried in the church of St. Thomas the Apostle. On 27 September 2006, Pope Benedict XVI recalled that "an ancient tradition claims that Thomas first evangelized Syria and Persia (mentioned by Origen, according to Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History 3, 1) then went on to Western India (cf. Acts of Thomas 1–2 and 17ff.), from where also he finally reached Southern India."[26]Historical references to Thomas
A 13th-century Armenian illumination, by Toros Roslin.
- The Acts of Thomas, sometimes called by its full name The Acts of Judas Thomas: 2nd/3rd century (c. 180–230)[27][28] Gist of the testimony: The Apostles cast lots as to where they should go, and to Thomas, twin brother of Jesus, fell India. Thomas was taken to king Gondophares the ruler of Indo-Parthian Kingdom as an architect and carpenter by Habban. The journey to India is described in detail. After a long residence in the court at Taxila he ordained leaders for the Church, and left in a chariot for the kingdom of Mazdei. According to the Acts of St. Thomas the Kingdom of Mazdai, in the Southern India, was ruled by King Misdeus. Some Greeks Satraps, the descendents of Alexander the Great, were vassals to the Indo-Parthian Kingdom.[29][30] The king Misdeus was infuriated when St.Thomas converted the Queen Tertia, son Juzanes, sister-in-law princess Mygdonia (a province of Mesopotamia) and her friend Markia. The King Misdeus led St. Thomas outside the city and ordered four soldiers to take him to the nearby hill where the soldiers speared St. Thomas and killed him. Syphorus was elected the first presbyter by the brethren after the death of St. Thomas while Juzanes the prince became the deacon. The names of the King Misdeus, Tertia, Juzanes, Syphorus, Markia and Mygdonia suggest Greek descent or Hellenised Persian descent[31] There, after performing many miracles, he dies a martyr..[32] During the rule of Vasudeva I, the Kushan emperor, the bones of St. Thomas were transferred from the Mylapore to Edessa. These are generally rejected by various Christian religions as either apocryphal or heretical. The two centuries that lapsed between the life of the apostle and recording this work, casts doubt on their authenticity.
- Clement of Alexandria: 3rd century (d.c. 235); Church represented: Alexandrian/Greek Biographical Note : Greek Theologian, b. Athens, 150. Clement makes a passing reference to St. Thomas’ Apostolate in Parthia. This agrees with the testimony which Eusebius records about Pantaenus' visit to India.[citation needed]
- Doctrine of the Apostles[citation needed] 3rd century; Church represented: Syrian [33] “After the death of the Apostles there were Guides and Rulers in the Churches…..They again at their deaths also committed and delivered to their disciples after them everything which they had received from the Apostles;…(also what) Judas Thomas (had written) from India”.
“India and all its own countries, and those bordering on it, even to the farther sea, received the Apostle’s hand of Priesthood from Judas Thomas, who was Guide and Ruler in the Church which he built and ministered there”. In what follows “the whole Persia of the Assyrians and Medes, and of the countries round about Babylon…. even to the borders of the Indians and even to the country of Gog and Magog” are said to have received the Apostles’ Hand of Priesthood from Aggaeus the disciple of Addaeus [34]
- Origen century 3rd century (185–254?), quoted in Eusebius; Church represented: Alexandrian/ Greek Biographical. Christian Philosopher, b-Egypt, Origen taught with great acclaim in Alexandria and then in Caesarea.[35] He is the first known writer to record the casting of lots by the Apostles. Origen original work has been lost; but his statement about Parthia falling to Thomas has been preserved by Eusebius. “Origen, in the third chapter of his Commentary on Genesis, says that, according to tradition, Thomas’s allotted field of labour was Parthia”.[36]
- Eusebius of Caesarea: 4th century (died 340); Church Represented: Alexandrian/Greek Biographical [37] Quoting Origen, Eusebius says: “When the holy Apostles and disciples of our Saviour were scattered over all the world, Thomas, so the tradition has it, obtained as his portion Parthia….” [38]
- Ephrem: 4th century; Church Represented: Syrian Biographical [39] Many devotional hymns composed by St. Ephraem, bear witness to the Edessan Church’s strong conviction concerning St. Thomas’s Indian Apostolate. There the devil speaks of St. Thomas as “the Apostle I slew in India”. Also “The merchant brought the bones” to Edessa.
- In another hymn eulogizing St. Thomas we read of “The bones the merchant hath brought”. “In his several journeyings to India, And thence on his return, All riches, which there he found, Dirt in his eyes he did repute when to thy sacred bones compared”. In yet another hymn Ephrem speaks of the mission of Thomas “The earth darkened with sacrifices’ fumes to illuminate”. “A land of people dark fell to thy lot”, “a tainted land Thomas has purified”; “India’s dark night” was “flooded with light” by Thomas.[40]
- Gregory of Nazianzus: 4th century(died 389); Church Represented: Alexandrian. Biographical Note: Gregory of Nazianzus was born AD 330, consecrated a bishop by his friend St. Basil in 372 his father, the Bishop of Nazianzus induced him to share his charge. In 379 the people of Constantinople called him to be their bishop. By the Orthodox Church he is emphatically called “the Theologian’.[41] “What? were not the Apostles strangers amidst the many nations and countries over which they spread themselves? … Peter indeed may have belonged to Judea; but what had Paul in common with the gentiles, Luke with Achaia, Andrew with Epirus, John with Ephesus, Thomas with India, Mark with Italy?” [42]
- Ambrose of Milan: 4th century (died 397); Church Represented: Western. Biographical Note: St. Ambrose was thoroughly acquainted with the Greek and Latin Classics, and had a good deal of information on India and Indians. He speaks of the Gymnosophists of India, the Indian Ocean, the river Ganges etc., a number of times.[43] “This admitted of the Apostles being sent without delay according to the saying of our Lord Jesus… Even those Kingdoms which were shut out by rugged mountains became accessible to them, as India to Thomas, Persia to Matthew..” [44]
- St. Jerome (342–420). St. Jerome's testimony: “He (Christ) dwelt in all places: with Thomas in India, Peter at Rome, with Paul in Illyricum.”[citation needed]
- St. Gaudentius (Bishop of Brescia, before 427). St. Gaudentius' testimony: “John at Sebastena, Thomas among the Indians, Andrew and Luke at the city of Patras are found to have closed their careers.”[citation needed]
- St. Paulinus of Nola (died 431). St. Paulinus' testimony: “Parthia receives Mathew, India Thomas, Libya Thaddeus, and Phrygia Philip”.[citation needed]
- St. Gregory of Tours (died 594) St. Gregory's testimony: “Thomas the Apostle, according to the narrative of his martyrdom is stated to have suffered in India. His holy remains (corpus), after a long interval of time, were removed to the city of Edessa in Syria and there interred. In that part of India where they first rested, stand a monastery and a church of striking dimensions, elaborately adorned and designed. This Theodore, who had been to the place, narrated to us.’[citation needed]
- St. Isidore of Seville in Spain (d. c. 630). St. Isidore's testimony: “This Thomas preached the Gospel of Christ to the Parthians, the Medes, the Persians, the Hyrcanians and the Bactrians, and to the Indians of the Oriental region and penetrating the innermost regions and sealing his preaching by his passion he died transfixed with a lance at Calamina (present Mylapore),a city of India, and there was buried with honour”.[citation needed]
- St. Bede the Venerable (c. 673–735).St. Bede's testimony: “Peter receives Rome, Andrew Achaia; James Spain; Thomas India; John Asia"[citation needed]
Saint Thomas Cross
Writings attributed to Thomas
Russian Orthodox icon of St. Thomas the
Apostle, with scroll, 18th century (Iconostasis of Transfiguration
Church, Kizhi Monastery, Karelia, Russia).
Let none read the gospel according to Thomas, for it is the work, not of one of the twelve apostles, but of one of Mani's three wicked disciples."In the first two centuries of the Christian era, a number of writings were circulated. It is unclear now why Thomas was seen as an authority for doctrine, although this belief is documented in Gnostic groups as early as the Pistis Sophia In that Gnostic work, Mary Magdalene (one of the disciples) says:
- —Cyril of Jerusalem, Cathechesis V (4th century)
Now at this time, my Lord, hear, so that I speak openly, for thou hast said to us "He who has ears to hear, let him hear:" Concerning the word which thou didst say to Philip: "Thou and Thomas and Matthew are the three to whom it has been given… to write every word of the Kingdom of the Light, and to bear witness to them"; hear now that I give the interpretation of these words. It is this which thy light-power once prophesied through Moses: "Through two and three witnesses everything will be established. The three witnesses are Philip and Thomas and Matthew"An early, non-Gnostic tradition may lie behind this statement, which also emphasizes the primacy of the Gospel of Matthew in its Aramaic form, over the other canonical three.
- —Pistis Sophia 1:43
Besides the Acts of Thomas there was a widely circulated Infancy Gospel of Thomas probably written in the later 2nd century, and probably also in Syria, which relates the miraculous events and prodigies of Jesus' boyhood. This is the document which tells for the first time the familiar legend of the twelve sparrows which Jesus, at the age of five, fashioned from clay on the Sabbath day, which took wing and flew away. The earliest manuscript of this work is a 6th-century one in Syriac. This gospel was first referred to by Irenaeus; Ron Cameron notes: "In his citation, Irenaeus first quotes a non-canonical story that circulated about the childhood of Jesus and then goes directly on to quote a passage from the infancy narrative of the Gospel of Luke (Luke 2:49). Since the Infancy Gospel of Thomas records both of these stories, in relative close proximity to one another, it is possible that the apocryphal writing cited by Irenaeus is, in fact, what is now known as the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. Because of the complexities of the manuscript tradition, however, there is no certainty as to when the stories of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas began to be written down."
The best known in modern times of these documents is the "sayings" document that is being called the Gospel of Thomas, a noncanonical work whose date is disputed. The opening line claims it is the work of "Didymos Judas Thomas" – whose identity is unknown. This work was discovered in a Coptic translation in 1945 at the Egyptian village of Nag Hammadi, near the site of the monastery of Chenoboskion. Once the Coptic text was published, scholars recognized that an earlier Greek translation had been published from fragments of papyrus found at Oxyrhynchus in the 1890s.
References
- ^ a b "Saint Thomas (Christian Apostle) – Britannica Online Encyclopedia". Britannica.com. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
- ^ a b History, Payyappilly Palakkappilly Nasrani family
- ^ "Saint Thomas the Apostle". D. C. Kandathil. Retrieved 2010-04-26.
- ^ "Liturgical Calendar: December'". Latin-mass-society.org. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
- ^ http://www.gcatholic.org/churches/italy/0164.htm
- ^ "... Judas Thomas, as he is called [in the Acta Thomae] and elsewhere in Syriac tradition ...". "St. Thomas the Apostle". Catholic Encyclopedia. 1913.
- ^ Turner, John D. The Book of Thomas(NHC II,7 138,7–138,12). Retrieved on 10 September 2006
- ^ Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vatricana 1969, p. 96
- ^ "Propers for St. Thomas the Apostle". Commonprayer.org. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
- ^ Holy, Glorious Apostle Thomas Orthodox icon and synaxarion for 6 October
- ^ Apostle Thomas—Synaxis of the Holy Apostles
- ^ Icon of the Mother of God Arapet (Arabian) Orthodox icon and synaxarion for 6 September]
- ^ Robinson, J. Armitage (2003). Two Glastonbury Legends: King Arthur and St. Joseph of Arimathea, 1926. Kessinger Publishing, p. 33. ISBN 0-7661-7738-6
- ^ "The Passing of Mary". Ccel.org. 2005-06-01. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
- ^ "St Thomas Receiving the Virgin Mary’s Girdle at her Assumption", Dimus, no. 17 (April 2008)]
- ^ "In imitation of Saint Thomas Aquinas: art, patronage and liturgy within a Renaissance chapel", Online library
- ^ a b MEDLYCOTT, India and the Apostle St. Thomas (London, 1905).
- ^ Ananthakrishnan G, (2006-12-26). "Thomas's visit under doubt". Times of India. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
- ^ "Thomas The Apostole". Stthoma.com. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
- ^ Neill, Stephen (2004). A History of Christianity in India: The Beginnings to AD 1707. Cambridge University Press. p. 29.
- ^ Stephen Neill. A History of Christianity in India: The Beginnings to AD 1707 ISBN 0-521-54885-3
- ^ a b Mario Bussagli, "L'Art du Gandhara", p255
- ^ J.B. Segal, Edessa 'the Blessed City, Gorgias Press LLC, 2005, ISBN 1-59333-059-6, pp. 174–176, 250.
- ^ Mar Aprem, The Chaldean Syrian Church of the East, (Date and place of publication not available.)
- ^ J.B. Segal, Edessa 'the Blessed City, Gorgias Press LLC, 2005, ISBN 1-59333-059-6, pp. 174–176, 250.
- ^ General Audience in St Peter's Square on 27 September 2006 http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2006/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20060927_en.html retrieved 01/05/2011
- ^ Dr. Wright (Ed.), Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, London, 1871 (Syriac Text in Vol.1,
- English translation in Vol. II); Rev. Paul Bedjan, Acta Martyrum et Sanctorum, Vol. III, Leipsic-Paris, 1892.A. E. Medlycott, India and the Apostle Thomas, London 1905, Appendix, pp. 221 -225.
- ^ The Acts of Thomas
- ^ Chandragupta Maurya and his times By Radhakumud Mookerji P.28
- ^ Greek Satrap of Indus Valley. Books.google.co.in. 1966. ISBN 978-81-208-0405-0. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
- ^ "Acts of St.Thomas". Gnosis.org. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
- ^ "Acts of Thomas". Earlychristianwritings.com. 2006-02-02. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
- ^ Cardinal Mai, Scriptorum Veterum Nova Collectio, Rome, 1838. W. Cureton, Ancient Syriac Documents, London, 1864: Latin Translation by A. Assemani; Vindobonae, 1856; Didascalia in Coptic, Ethiopic, and Arabic. Also see Medlycott, p. 33 ff.
- ^ (Cureton, pp. 32, 33, 34). 20th Century Discussions : Medlycott, pp 33–37 alias Menachery, STCEI, II, 20–21, Farquhar, p. 26 ff.
- ^ Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica, 3.1; Patrologia Graeca, Migne Edn., 20.215; Patrologia Latina, Migne, 21.478.
- ^ Farquhar, p. 30. 20th Century Discussions: Perumalil, pp. 50,51.E. R. Hambye, “Saint Thomas and India”, The Clergy Monthly 16 (1952). Comes, S. J., “Did St. Thomas Really come to India?”, in Menachery (Ed.) STCEI, II. Farquhar, pp. 30,31,
- ^ Patrologia Graeca (Migne), 19–24., 20.215.
- ^ J.C. Panjikaran, Christianity in Malabar w.s.r.t. The St. Thomas Christians of the Syro-Malabar Rite, Orientalia Christiana, VI, 2 (23), Roma I, April 1926, p.99 esp. for reference to Pantaenus’ Indian visit.
- ^ Bickell, S. Ephraemi Syri, Caramina Nisibena, Lipsiae, 1866; Monsignor Lamy, S. Ephraemi Syri Hymni et Sermones, (Quarto 4 vols.); Breviary acc. to the Rite of the Church of Antioch of the Syrians, Mosul, 1886–96. Also See Medlycott, pp. 21–32. Alias Menachery (Ed.) STCEI, II, p. 18 ff.
- ^ 20th Century Discussions : Medlycott, pp.21–32 alias Menachery (Ed.), STCEI, II, p. 18 ff.
- ^ Homil. XXXII,xi, Contra Arianos et de seipso. Migne, P.G. 36-228.
- ^ 20th Century Discussions : Medlycott, pp, 42,43; Perumalil pp. 43,44.
- ^ Migne, P-L 140 1143. (Also see 17. 1131, 17.1133, for his Indian knowledge.)
- ^ 20th Century Discussions : Medlycott, pp. 43, 44. Perumalil, pp. 44.45,Perumalil and Menachery (STCEI I, II), Migne Edns.; Wm. A. Jurgens, Faith of the Early Fathers:etc. History of Christianity-Source Materials by M. K. George, CLS, Madras, 1982 and the Handbook of Source Materials by Wm. G. Young.D. Ferroli, The Jesuits in Malabar, Vol. I. Bangalore, 1939, esp. notes and documents p. 71 ff.; W.S. Hunt, The Anglican Church in Travancore and Cochin, Kottayam, 1920, esp. p. 27, p.33 pp. 46–50; G.T. Mackenzie, i.c.s., “History of Christianity in Travancore”, in The Travancore State Manual, Vol-II, Edited by Nagam Aiya, Trivandrum 1906 pp. 135–233; Menachery, STCEI, I, II.
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Today's Snippet I: The Jesus Trail Pilgrimage
The Jesus Trail
is a 65 km (40 mi) hiking and pilgrimage route in the Galilee region of
Israel that traces the route Jesus may have walked, connecting many
sites from his life and ministry.
The main part of the
trail begins in Nazareth and passes through Tzippori, Cana (Kafr Kanna),
the Horns of Hattin, Mount Arbel Cliffs, the Sea of Galilee, Capernaum,
Tabgha, and the Mount of Beatitudes.[1] An alternate return route passes by Tiberias, the Jordan River, Mount Tabor, and Mount Precipice.[2]
The trail was founded in 2007 by two hiking enthusiasts, Maoz Inon, a
Jewish Israeli entrepreneur who has established hostels and guesthouses
in Israel,[3] and David Landis, a Christian American hiking specialist.[4] The actual marking of the trail took place in 2008.[1] It is currently managed and promoted largely by the work of volunteers, and is a non-profit project.[5]
The trail is public and free for anyone who wants to hike and camp
along its course. The Jesus Trail is marked with a blaze of three
stripes painted on rocks along the way (white, orange, and white). When
portions of the Jesus Trail combine with other trails (such as the Israel National Trail),
an additional orange circle is added to the previous trail marker. All
marking of the trail was completed by the public Israel Trails Committee
(ITC) which works in conjunction with the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI).[6]
Trail maintenance and cleaning up has been a combined effort of
international, national, and local organizations including JNF-KKL (The
Jewish National Fund), the Fauzi Azar Inn in Nazareth, village schools,
and international volunteers.[7]
The
biblical reference for the Jesus Trail is based on a verse from the New
Testament Gospel of Matthew wherein at the start of Jesus' public
ministry he is described as moving from his home-town of Nazareth,
located in the hills of the Galilee, down to Capernaum which was a
lakeside fishing village on the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus is described
as gathering his first disciples. The account is also related in the
two other synoptic gospels of Mark and Luke. The reference in the Gospel
of Matthew reads: "Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum
which was by the lake." (Matthew 4:13).
According to the Gospels, Capernaum became the home base for Jesus'
ministry: "And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own
city [referring to Capernaum]." (Matthew 9:1); also: "And when he
returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at
home." (Mark 2:1).
On the official Jesus Trail Homepage Maoz Inon and David Landis
explain the Jesus Trail philosophy: "We hope that travelers of diverse
religious and ethnic backgrounds will gain a new understanding of the
life of Jesus through the people and land that shaped his historical
context along the Jesus Trail. Today, encounters on the trail still
serve as opportunities to extend and receive hospitality with diverse
groups of people. Modern travelers can practice living simply and
traveling light, gaining wisdom from the spirit of Jesus’ words from
Mark 6:8-9: "Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no
bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra tunic."[8]
The Jesus Trail was designed in the tradition of pilgrimage hiking trails around the world, such as the Camino de Santiago de Compostela
(the Way of Saint James) in northern Spain and the Saint Paul Trail in
Turkey. The medieval practice of religious pilgrimage has seen a
resurgence in recent years, with almost 200,000 hikers per year on the Camino de Santiago in the first decade of the 21st century.[9]
Target group
The trail is geared for Christians who seek a pilgrimage route that allows for a more personal experience of the Galilee
and sites from the life of Jesus, but integrates historical sites from
different eras, sites sacred to other religions, nature sites,
breathtaking panoramas and hiking for those who seek a physical
challenge.[10]
The Gospel Trail is a similar hiking path that opened in November 2011
to attract Christian tourism to Israel, which accounts for two-thirds of
all incoming tourism.[10]
Sections of the trail
Mount of Beatitudes and Sea of Galilee
The geography and distances involved naturally allow the Jesus Trail
to be walked as a series of day-hikes for a total of four days, with
each day's hike being between 13 to 19 km (8 to 12 mi) in length.
- Day 1: Nazareth to Cana via Sepphoris – The trail starts in center of Nazareth at the Church of the Annunciation, goes through the Old City of Nazareth and then ascends via steep stairways to the ridge overlooking the city. From there the trail goes out into agricultural fields towards the extensively excavated ancient city of Tsippori (Sepphoris). After passing through the Arab village of Mash'had the trail arrives at Kafr Kanna, the traditional site of the New Testament account of Jesus turning water into wine.
- Day 2: Cana to Kibbutz Lavi – After leaving Cana, the trail goes almost entirely along forests and through natural and cultivated fields to end at the outskirts of the modern Jewish agricultural commune (Hebrew: kibbutz) of Lavi, which is located near the hill of the Horns of Hattin.
- Day 3: Kibbutz Lavi to Moshav Arbel – This hike goes from hilltop to hilltop, from the panoramic view at the Horns of Hattin, past the Druze shrine of Nabi Shu'ayb in the small Arbel Valley, through striking scenery of a historically dense landscape, to end near the Jewish agricultural cooperative (Hebrew: moshav) of Arbel.
- Day 4: Moshav Arbel to Capernaum via Mount of Beatitudes – After ascending Mount Arbel there is a climb down the cliff to come out on a small fertile agricultural plain adjacent to the lake known as the Sea of Galilee (Kinneret). Then the trail arrives at the northern shore of the lake to the church at Tabgha which commemorates the New Testament account of Jesus feeding the multitudes, then to the church and gardens at the Mount of Beatitudes, which commemorates the Sermon on the Mount, and then finally arriving at the ancient lakeside fishing village of Capernaum with its extensive ruins and modern church.
Reference
- ^ Hiking Through Biblical Backcountry, New York Times
- ^ Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (2010). 1:50,000 topographical map #3, "Lower Galilee" (Hebrew language map)
- ^ "Walking with Jesus in the Galilee". BBC. Retrieved 2013-05-22.
- ^ "CNS STORY: In northern Israel, walking from village to village, like Jesus". Catholicnews.com. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
- ^ Vered, Ronit (2011-09-09). "Five Stops in the Galilee - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News". Haaretz.com. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
- ^ "Israel's New Jesus Trail Takes Visitors Into Countryside". Washingtonpost.com. 2009-06-07. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
- ^ Nov 5, 2009 17:15 (2009-11-05). "Monday 9th November KKL-JNF Israel will mark International | People & The Environment | Jerusalem Post". Fr.jpost.com. Retrieved 2012-02-03. Text " Updated Nov 5, 2009 17:22 " ignored (help)
- ^ "Our Philosophy | Galilee, Israel". Jesus Trail. 2010-12-22. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
- ^ "Distribucion De Los Peregrinos". Archicompostela.org. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
- ^ Niemann, Julia (2011-09-09). "Trekking along the Jesus Trail in northern Israel - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News". Haaretz.com. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
Further reading
- Dintaman, Anna; Landis, David (2013). Hiking the Jesus Trail and Other Biblical Walks in the Galilee. Second Edition, Village to Village Press.
- Lewin, Dennis (2012). "The Jesus Trail: Hiking from Nazareth to the Sea of Galilee". Backpacker Magazine.
- Saar, Jacob (2011). Jesus Trail and Jerusalem, Eshkol Publishing.
- Korb, Scott. (2010). Life in Year One: What the World was Like in First-Century Palestine. Riverhead Books.
- Reed, Jonathan L. (2002). Archaeology and the Galilean Jesus: A Re-examination of the Evidence. Trinity Press International.
- Wright, N. T. (1999). The Way of the Lord: Christian Pilgrimage Today. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
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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
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| 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 V: 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 7, Chapter 3
BAPTISM
OF THE CONVERTS. THE FIRST MASS. PERPETUAL PRESENCE OF THE HOLY
SPECIES IN MARY
As the Apostles continued their
preaching and wonders in Jerusalem the number of the faithful
increased and, as saint Luke says in the fourth chapter of the Acts,
after seven days reached five thousand. All of them were busy
catechising the newcomers in preparation for Baptism, though that
work was done principally by the disciples; for the Apostles were
preaching and were conducting some controversies with the pharisees
and sadducees. The Queen, with the assistance of her angels and of
the other Marys, proceeded to prepare and adorn the hall, in which
her divine Son had celebrated the last Supper; and with her own hands
She cleansed it and scrubbed it for his return in the consecration to
be performed on the next day. She asked the owner to furnish it in
the same way as I have described for the Thursday of the Last Supper
and the devout host deferred to her wishes with deepest reverence.
She also prepared the unleavened bread and the wine necessary for the
consecration, together with the same paten and chalice in which the
Savior had consecrated. For the Baptism She provided pure water and
the basins for administering it with ease and reverence. Then the
loving Mother retired and passed the night in most fervent
aspirations, prostrations, thanksgiving and other exercises of
exalted prayer; offering to the eternal Father all that She, in her
heavenly wisdom, knew would help worthily to prepare Herself and all
the rest for the worthy administration of Baptism.
Early the next
day, which was the octave of the coming of the Holy Ghost, all the
faithful and catechumens gathered with the Apostles and disciples in
the house of the Cenacle. Saint Peter
preached to this gathering instructing them in the nature and
excellence of Baptism, the need in which they stood of it and its
divine effects, how they would, through it, be made members of the
mystical body of the Church, receive an interior character; be
regenerated to a new existence as children of God and inheritors of
his glory through the remission of sins and sanctifying grace. He
exhorted them to the observance of the divine law, to which they
subjected themselves by their own free will, and to humble
thanksgiving for this benefit and for all the others,
which they received from the hands of the Most High. He explained to
them also the mysterious and sacred truth of the holy Eucharist,
which was to be celebrated in the consecration of the true body and
blood of Jesus Christ, and he admonished
all those especially, who were to receive holy Communion after their
Baptism.
Through this sermon all the converts
were inspired with additional fervor; for their dispositions were
altogether sincere, the words of the Apostles full of life and
penetration, and the interior grace very abundant. Then the Apostles
themselves began to baptize amid the most devout and orderly
attention of the others. The catechumens entered one door of the
Cenacle and after being baptized, they passed out through another,
while the disciples and other of the faithful acted as ushers. The
most holy Mary was present at the entire ceremony, although keeping
to one side of the hall. She prayed for all of them and broke forth
in canticles of praise. She recognized the effects of Baptism in each
one, according to the greater or less degree of virtues infused in
their souls. She beheld them renewed and washed in the blood of the
Lamb, and their souls restored to a divine purity and spotlessness.
In witness of these effects, a most clear light visible to all that
were present, descended upon each one that was baptized. By this
miracle God wished to authenticate the first beginnings of this
Sacrament in his holy Church, and to console both those first
children and us, who are made partakers of this blessing without much
adverting to it or giving thanks for it.
This
administration of Baptism was continued on that day until all were
baptized, although there were about five thousand to receive it.
While the baptized were making their thanksgiving for this admirable
blessing, the Apostles with all the disciples and the faithful spent
some time in prayer. All of them prostrated
themselves on the ground adoring the infinite and immutable God, and
confessing their own unworthiness of receiving Him in the most august
sacrament of the Altar. In this profound humility and adoration they
prepared themselves more immediately for Communion. And then they
recited the same psalms and prayers which Christ had recited before
consecrating, imitating faithfully that sacred function just as they
had seen it performed by their divine Master. Saint Peter took in his
hands the unleavened bread, and, after raising up his eyes to heaven
with admirable devotion, he pronounced over the bread the words of
consecration of the most holy body of Christ, as had been done before
the Lord Jesus (II Cor. 9, 24). Immediately the Cenacle was filled
with the visible splendor of innumerable angels; and this light
converged in a most singular manner on the Queen of heaven and earth
and was seen by all those present. Then saint Peter consecrated the
chalice and performed all the ceremonies, which Christ had observed
with the consecrated body and blood, raising them up for the
adoration of all the faithful. The Apostle partook himself of the
Sacrament and communicated it to the eleven Apostles as most holy
Mary had instructed him. Thereupon, at the hands of saint Peter, the
heavenly Mother partook of it, while the celestial spirits then
present attended with ineffable reverence. In approaching the altar
the great Lady made three profound prostrations, touching the ground
with her face.
She returned to
her place, and it is impossible to describe in words the effects of
this participation of the holy Eucharist in this most exalted of
creatures. She was entirely transformed and elevated, completely
absorbed in this divine conflagration of the love of her most holy
Son, whom She had now received bodily. She remained in a trance,
elevated from the floor; but the holy angels shielded Her somewhat
from view according to her own wish, in order that the attention of
those present might not be unduly attracted by the divine effects
apparent in Her. The disciples continued to distribute holy
Communion, first to the disciples and then to the others
who had been believers before the Ascension. But of the five thousand
newly baptized only one thousand received Communion on that day;
because not all were entirely prepared or furnished with the insight
and attention required for receiving the
Lord in this great sacrament and mystery of the Altar.
To explain the
rare and prodigious favor, that the sacramental body of Christ in the
sacred species should be preserved continually in the bosom of Mary,
it is not necessary to seek for another cause than that underlying
all the other favors with which God distinguished this great Lady,
namely: that it was his holy will and according to his infinite
wisdom, by which He performs according to measure and weight all that
is befitting (Wis. 11, 21). Christian prudence and piety will be
content to know as a reason, that God had singled this mere Creature
out to be his natural Mother, and that therefore She alone, of all
creatures, deserved this distinction. As this miracle of her
Mothership was unique and without parallel, it would be shameful
ignorance to seek proofs of what the Lord did in Her by comparing it
with what He did or ever will do in other souls; since Mary alone
rises supereminently above the common order of all. Yet, though all
this is true, the Lord nevertheless wishes that by the light of faith
and by enlightenment, we seek the reasons of the propriety and
equity, according to which the powerful arm of the Almighty
wrought these wonders in his most worthy Mother,
so that in them we may know and bless Him in Her and through Her; and
so that we may understand, how secure our salvation, all our hope,
and our lot are in the hands of that powerful Queen, toward whom her
Son has directed all the excess of his love. In accordance with these
truths I will explain what has been made known to me of this mystery.
The heavenly
Mother lived thirty–three years in the company of her Son and
true God; and from the time when He was born of her virginal womb She
never left Him to the time of his death on the Cross. She nursed Him,
served Him, followed Him and imitated Him conducting Herself always
as a Mother, Daughter and Spouse, as a most faithful Servant and
Friend; She enjoyed the sight of Him, his conversation, his doctrine
and the favors, which, by all these meritorious services, She
attained in this mortal life. Christ ascended into heaven, and
the force of love and right reason demanded, that He should take to
heaven with Him his most loving Mother, in order that He should not
be deprived of Her there, nor She in this world of his presence and
company. But the most ardent love which both of Them had for men,
dissolved in a manner these bonds of union, inducing our kindest
Mother to return to the world in order to establish the Church; and
moving the Son to give his consent to her
absence from Him during that time. But as the Son of God was powerful
enough to recompense Her for this privation to a certain extent, it
became for Him an obligation of his love to make such a recompense.
And the fulfillment of this obligation would not have been so
publicly acknowledged or made so manifest, if He denied his blessed
Mother the favor of accompanying Her upon earth, while He remained
seated at the glory of the right hand of his Father. Besides, the
most ardent love of the blessed Mother, having been accustomed and
nourished in the presence of the Lord her Son, would have inflicted
upon Her insufferable violence, if for so many years She was to be
deprived of that kind of presence of Him,
which was possible during her stay in the Church.
From the
understanding which has been given me of the mystery of the love of
Christ the Lord for his most holy Mother and of the force with which
He was drawn toward Her, I would go so far as to say, that if
He had not found this way of remaining with Her in
the sacramental species, He would have come
down from the right hand of the Father to
the world in order to render companionship to his Mother while She
sojourned with his Church. And if it had been necessary that the
heavenly mansions and the celestial courtiers should be deprived of
the presence of the most sacred humanity from that time, He would
have considered that of less importance
than to be deprived of the company of his Mother. It is no
exaggeration to say this, when we all must confess, that in the
purest Mary the Lord found a correspondence and a degree of love more
conformable to his will than in all the blessed combined; and
consequently, his own love for Her exceeded his love for all others.
If the Shepherd of the Gospel leaves the ninety–nine sheep in
order to go in search of only one that is lost, and if we
nevertheless dare not say of Him that He leaves the greater for the
less; it should not cause wonder in us that this divine Shepherd
should leave all the rest of the saints in
order to be in the company of his most sincere Sheep, who clothed Him
with her own nature and raised and nourished Him as a Mother. Without
a doubt the eyes of his beloved Spouse and Mother would attract Him
in swiftest flight from those heights (Cant. 6,
4) to that earth, where He had lived, whither He before this come for
the salvation of the children of Adam, toward whom He was less
attracted, yea rather repelled by their sins and by the necessity of
suffering for them. If now He descended to live with his beloved
Mother, it would not be to suffer and die; but to enjoy the delights
of her company. Fortunately it is not necessary to rob heaven of his
presence; since by descending in sacramental form He could satisfy
both his own love and that of his most blessed Mother, in whose
heart, as in his couch, this true Solomon could take up his rest
without leaving the right hand of his eternal Father (Cant. 3, 7).
WORDS OF THE QUEEN
The Virgin Mary
speaks to Sister Mary of Agreda, Spain
Consider
attentively the common deception of mortals and the woeful damage
they suffer. For in the decisions of their will they ordinarily are
moved solely by what they perceive through the senses, and they
immediately proceed to act upon their choice without further
consideration or counsel. Since the sensible impressions immediately
move the animal passions and inclinations, it is evident that men do
not act according to right reason, but according to the impulse of
passion, excited by the senses and their objects. Hence, he that
considers only the injury and pain caused, is straightway moved to
vengeance; he that follows only his hankering after strange property,
as soon as he lays his eyes upon it, is impelled to injustice. In the
same manner act so many unfortunates, who follow the concupiscence of
the eyes, the movements of the flesh, and the pride of life
because these are the only things offered by the
world and the devil. In their blind deception they follow darkness as
their light, taste the bitter as sweet, take deadly poison for remedy
of their souls, and hold that for wisdom which is nothing but
diabolical and earthly ignorance. Do thou guard thyself against these
pernicious errors, and never resolve on anything, or govern thyself
by anything that is merely sensible or arising from sensible
impressions, nor pursue the advantages held out through them. In thy
actions take counsel first of all from the interior knowledge and
light communicated to thee by God, in order that thou mayest not go
blindly forward; and He shall always grant thee sufficient guidance.
Immediately seek the advice of thy superiors and teachers, if thou
canst do so before making thy choice. And if thy superior or teacher
is not at hand, seek counsel of others, even inferiors; for this is
more secure than to follow thy own will, which may be disturbed and
blinded by passion. This is the rule to be followed especially in the
exterior works, pursuing them with recollection, with secrecy, and
according to the demands of circumstances and fraternal charity as
they occur. In all of them it is necessary not to lose out of sight
the north–star of interior light, while moving in the profound
gulf of the companionship with creatures, where there is continual
danger of perishing.
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Catholic Catechism
PART ONE
Part One: The Profession of Faith
(14 -Those who belong to Christ through faith and Baptism must confess their baptismal faith before men.16 First therefore the Catechism expounds revelation, by which God addresses and gives himself to man, and the faith by which man responds to God (Section One). The profession of faith summarizes the gifts that God gives man: as the Author of all that is good; as Redeemer; and as Sanctifier. It develops these in the three chapters on our baptismal faith in the one God: the almighty Father, the Creator; his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior; and the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier, in the Holy Church (Section Two).)
26 We begin our profession of faith by saying: "I believe" or "We believe". Before expounding the Church's faith, as confessed in the Creed, celebrated in the liturgy and lived in observance of God's commandments and in prayer, we must first ask what "to believe" means. Faith is man's response to God, who reveals himself and gives himself to man, at the same time bringing man a superabundant light as he searches for the ultimate meaning of his life. Thus we shall consider first that search (Chapter One), then the divine Revelation by which God comes to meet man (Chapter Two), and finally the response of faith (Chapter Three).
CHAPTER THREE - MAN'S RESPONSE TO GOD
142 By his Revelation, "the invisible God, from the fullness of his love, addresses men as his friends, and moves among them, in order to invite and receive them into his own company."1 The adequate response to this invitation is faith.
143 By faith, man completely submits his intellect and his will to God.2 With his whole being man gives his assent to God the revealer. Sacred Scripture calls this human response to God, the author of revelation, "the obedience of faith".3
ARTICLE 2 - WE BELIEVE
166 Faith is a personal act - the free response of the human person to the initiative of God who reveals himself. But faith is not an isolated act. No one can believe alone, just as no one can live alone. You have not given yourself faith as you have not given yourself life. The believer has received faith from others and should hand it on to others. Our love for Jesus and for our neighbor impels us to speak to others about our faith. Each believer is thus a link in the great chain of believers. I cannot believe without being carried by the faith of others, and by my faith I help support others in the faith.
167 "I believe" (Apostles' Creed) is the faith of the Church professed personally by each believer, principally during Baptism. "We believe" (Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed) is the faith of the Church confessed by the bishops assembled in council or more generally by the liturgical assembly of believers. "I believe" is also the Church, our mother, responding to God by faith as she teaches us to say both "I believe" and "We believe".
I. "LORD, LOOK UPON THE FAITH OF YOUR CHURCH"
168 It is the Church that believes first, and so bears, nourishes and sustains my faith. Everywhere, it is the Church that first confesses the Lord: "Throughout the world the holy Church acclaims you", as we sing in the hymn "Te Deum"; with her and in her, we are won over and brought to confess: "I believe", "We believe". It is through the Church that we receive faith and new life in Christ by Baptism. In the Rituale Romanum, the minister of Baptism asks the catechumen: "What do you ask of God's Church?" And the answer is: "Faith." "What does faith offer you?" "Eternal life."54
169 Salvation comes from God alone; but because we receive the life of faith through the Church, she is our mother: "We believe the Church as the mother of our new birth, and not in the Church as if she were the author of our salvation."55 Because she is our mother, she is also our teacher in the faith.
II. THE LANGUAGE OF FAITH
170 We do not believe in formulas, but in those realities they express, which faith allows us to touch. "The believer's act [of faith] does not terminate in the propositions, but in the realities [which they express]."56 All the same, we do approach these realities with the help of formulations of the faith which permit us to express the faith and to hand it on, to celebrate it in community, to assimilate and live on it more and more.
171 The Church, "the pillar and bulwark of the truth", faithfully guards "the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints". She guards the memory of Christ's words; it is she who from generation to generation hands on the apostles' confession of faith.57 As a mother who teaches her children to speak and so to understand and communicate, the Church our Mother teaches us the language of faith in order to introduce us to the understanding and the life of faith.
III. ONLY ONE FAITH
172 Through the centuries, in so many languages, cultures, peoples and nations, the Church has constantly confessed this one faith, received from the one Lord, transmitted by one Baptism, and grounded in the conviction that all people have only one God and Father.58 St. Irenaeus of Lyons, a witness of this faith, declared:
173 "Indeed, the Church, though scattered throughout the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, having received the faith from the apostles and their disciples. . . guards [this preaching and faith] with care, as dwelling in but a single house, and similarly believes as if having but one soul and a single heart, and preaches, teaches and hands on this faith with a unanimous voice, as if possessing only one mouth."59
174 "For though languages differ throughout the world, the content of the Tradition is one and the same. The Churches established in Germany have no other faith or Tradition, nor do those of the Iberians, nor those of the Celts, nor those of the East, of Egypt, of Libya, nor those established at the center of the world. . ."60 The Church's message "is true and solid, in which one and the same way of salvation appears throughout the whole world."61
175 "We guard with care the faith that we have received from the Church, for without ceasing, under the action of God's Spirit, this deposit of great price, as if in an excellent vessel, is constantly being renewed and causes the very vessel that contains it to be renewed."62
IN BRIEF
176 Faith is a personal adherence of the whole man to God who reveals himself. It involves an assent of the intellect and will to the self-revelation God has made through his deeds and words.
177 "To believe" has thus a twofold reference: to the person, and to the truth: to the truth, by trust in the person who bears witness to it.
178 We must believe in no one but God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
179 Faith is a supernatural gift from God. In order to believe, man needs the interior helps of the Holy Spirit.
180 "Believing" is a human act, conscious and free, corresponding to the dignity of the human person.
181 "Believing" is an ecclesial act. The Church's faith precedes, engenders, supports and nourishes our faith. The Church is the mother of all believers. "No one can have God as Father who does not have the Church as Mother" (St. Cyprian, De unit. 6: PL 4, 519).
182 We believe all "that which is contained in the word of God, written or handed down, and which the Church proposes for belief as divinely revealed" (Paul VI, CPG § 20).
183 Faith is necessary for salvation. The Lord himself affirms: "He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned" (Mk 16:16).
184 "Faith is a foretaste of the knowledge that will make us blessed in the life to come" (St. Thomas Aquinas. Comp. theol. 1, 2).
54 Roman Ritual, Rite of baptism of adults.
55 Faustus of Riez, De Spiritu Sancto 1,2:PL 62,II.
56 St. Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II,1,2, ad 2.
57 1 Tim 3:15; Jude 3.
58 Cf. Eph 4:4-6.
59 St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 1,10,1-2:PG 7/1,549-552.
60 St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 1,10,1-2:PG 7/1,552-553.
61 St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 5,20,1:PG 7/2,1177.
62 St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 3,24,1:PG 7/1,966.
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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...
Heaven Speaks- To Those Who Have Been Away From the Church
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Reference
- Recharge: Directions For Our Times. Heaven Speaks to Young Adults. recharge.cc.
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