Venerate; Reading 1, Wisdom 2:17-20; Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 54:3-4, 5, 6-8; Reading 2, James 3:16--4:3; Gospel and Lectio Divina: Mark 9:30-41; Pope Francis Angelus; Inspirational Hymns - Gregorian Chants; Our Lady of Medjugorje Message; Jesus 2018 Locutions; Direction For Our Times Features; Saint of the Week - Saint Padre Pio; Snippet I -Stigmata; Snippet II - Five Holy Wounds ; 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 8 Chapter 1 and 2 The Persecution of Herod and The Will of God Made Known To Mary and The Council of the Apostles; Catholic Catechism - Part One - Profession of Faith, Section Two - The Profession of Christian Faith - The Creeds - Paragraph 2 - The Father; 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 - 25th 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
September 2, 2018 message from Our Lady of Medjugorje:
"Dear children, my words are simple but are filled with motherly love and care. My children, all the more the shadows of darkness and deception are being cast over you, and I am calling you to the light and truth - I am calling you to my Son. Only He can transform despair and suffering into peace and clarity; only He can give hope in the deepest pain. My Son is the life of the world. The more that you come to know Him - the more that you come close to Him - all the more you will love Him, because my Son is love. Love changes everything; it makes most beautiful that which, without love, seems insignificant to you. That is why, anew, I am saying to you that you must love a lot if you desire to grow spiritually. I know, apostles of my love, that it is not always easy, but, my children, also the painful paths are paths which lead to spiritual growth, to faith, and to my Son. My children, pray - think of my Son. In all the moments of the day, raise your soul to Him, and I will gather your prayers as flowers from the most beautiful garden and give them as a gift to my Son. Be true apostles of my love; spread the love of my Son to everyone. Be gardens of the most beautiful flowers. With your prayers help your shepherds that they may be spiritual fathers filled with love for all people. Thank you." ~ 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
July 28, 2018 message from Jesus:
"There are many men and women who serve me. I thank each one of them. My gratitude is made known in their detachment from worldly goals. There can be a balance between the two, heavenly goals and earthly goals, but with my true servants, the side of Heaven always carries the day. I am offering these few words to my friends because I am looking for courage. My dear friends offer me many days of their life or many moments in their days. Many have offered me gifts of great value and also gifts of small value but which are exceedingly valuable to me. All of your gifts console me and fill me with hope about the future of our faith presence in the world. My friends, when I ask for courage, I am asking for a quiet and firm disposition toward unity in our Church. There must be no divisive conversation. There must be no pretence that one accepts a side that is against unity. If one sees a side against unity in our Church, then one is seeing the side of my enemy. My enemy is personal, but also universal. He is your enemy. If you believe that you can turn a spirit to its opposite disposition then I am telling you today that you must leave that to me.
I am asking you for courage and I am also asking you to stand down from conversations with those who seek to divide our Church. You may wonder why I make two seemingly conflicting requests. I will tell you.
Courage is needed to advance the development of our Church. There must be total and intense focus on the developments I am seeking. Hard work is needed to move our religion of love into a dynamic force which will maintain God at its centre. My friends, I can see the risk in distraction. I can see the threat in energy directed against growth. You must listen to me with humility. You need not have answers that are beyond you or that you do not require today. It is often enough for you to have instructions and direction. With those, you may proceed, confident that with your small effort I can achieve large movements. I take your effort and combine it with the small effort of another, perhaps a person you will not know on Earth, and I obtain the outcome I desire. You must trust me. My wisdom is quietly filling those who’s humility will entertain it. My wisdom works steadily and often the events which are the most meaningful to my effort, seem almost insignificant to you. This thought is lovely for you. You will be on Earth for a short time, even in a long life, but there are those who will come after you and in a certain day in the future, they will need what you offer in the present. Do you understand what I am saying to you? My plans are far reaching. My plans construct a movement of love that acts like a magnet for the Father. People cannot resist love because they were created to be loved. Let us focus together, with the greatest courage, on fashioning a true faith that most accurately reflects the Father’s force of love.
Be courageous if you are called to serve in the development of this movement of love. Ask yourself this question. ‘What do these words mean for me, in my life and in my work?’ Sit quietly with this question and my wisdom will come to you. When I bring you the courage you need, accept it, and you will be amongst the bravest men and women on Earth."
May 14, 2018 message from Jesus:
"There are many men and women who serve me. I thank each one of them. My gratitude is made known in their detachment from worldly goals. There can be a balance between the two, heavenly goals and earthly goals, but with my true servants, the side of Heaven always carries the day. I am offering these few words to my friends because I am looking for courage. My dear friends offer me many days of their life or many moments in their days. Many have offered me gifts of great value and also gifts of small value but which are exceedingly valuable to me. All of your gifts console me and fill me with hope about the future of our faith presence in the world. My friends, when I ask for courage, I am asking for a quiet and firm disposition toward unity in our Church. There must be no divisive conversation. There must be no pretence that one accepts a side that is against unity. If one sees a side against unity in our Church, then one is seeing the side of my enemy. My enemy is personal, but also universal. He is your enemy. If you believe that you can turn a spirit to its opposite disposition then I am telling you today that you must leave that to me.
I am asking you for courage and I am also asking you to stand down from conversations with those who seek to divide our Church. You may wonder why I make two seemingly conflicting requests. I will tell you.
Courage is needed to advance the development of our Church. There must be total and intense focus on the developments I am seeking. Hard work is needed to move our religion of love into a dynamic force which will maintain God at its centre. My friends, I can see the risk in distraction. I can see the threat in energy directed against growth. You must listen to me with humility. You need not have answers that are beyond you or that you do not require today. It is often enough for you to have instructions and direction. With those, you may proceed, confident that with your small effort I can achieve large movements. I take your effort and combine it with the small effort of another, perhaps a person you will not know on Earth, and I obtain the outcome I desire. You must trust me. My wisdom is quietly filling those who’s humility will entertain it. My wisdom works steadily and often the events which are the most meaningful to my effort, seem almost insignificant to you. This thought is lovely for you. You will be on Earth for a short time, even in a long life, but there are those who will come after you and in a certain day in the future, they will need what you offer in the present. Do you understand what I am saying to you? My plans are far reaching. My plans construct a movement of love that acts like a magnet for the Father. People cannot resist love because they were created to be loved. Let us focus together, with the greatest courage, on fashioning a true faith that most accurately reflects the Father’s force of love.
Be courageous if you are called to serve in the development of this movement of love. Ask yourself this question. ‘What do these words mean for me, in my life and in my work?’ Sit quietly with this question and my wisdom will come to you. When I bring you the courage you need, accept it, and you will be amongst the bravest men and women on Earth."
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 Families
Heaven Speaks- A Guide to Comtemplative Prayer
**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’s Angelus in Lithuania: fight temptation to dominate by serving others
Pope
Francis recited the Marian “Angelus” prayer at the end of the Mass in
Kaunas and shared a reflection on how to fight the ungodly temptation of
dominating others.
By Robin Gomes
In his “Angelus” message at the end of the Mass at Santakos Park in Kaunas, Pope Francis urged Lituhuanians to fight the ungodly temptation of dominating others with the antidote offered by Jesus – by being the last of all and the servant of all.
Pope Francis explained that the ungodly who claim to believe that “power is the norm of justice”, dominate the weak, use their power to impose a way of thinking, an ideology, a prevailing mindset. Recalling the 1943 destruction of the ghetto of Vilnius, that was the climax of 2 years of the killing of the Jews. The Holy Father lamented that in the ungodly, evil is always trying to destroy good.
The Pope said, Jesus offers us an antidote against the temptation of the desire for primacy and domination over others, which can dwell in our heart or in the heart of any society or country. Jesus asks us “to be the last of all and the servant of all; to go to the place where no one else wants to go, where no one travels, the furthest peripheries; to serve and come to know the lowly and the rejected.” “We could allow the Gospel of Jesus Christ to reach the depths of our lives, then the 'globalization of solidarity' would be a reality."
At the end, the Pope said that in the afternoon he would stop at the monument of the Vilnius Ghetto to pray on the 75th anniversary of its destruction. He invoked God’s blessing on dialogue and common commitment for justice and peace.
In his “Angelus” message at the end of the Mass at Santakos Park in Kaunas, Pope Francis urged Lituhuanians to fight the ungodly temptation of dominating others with the antidote offered by Jesus – by being the last of all and the servant of all.
Pope Francis explained that the ungodly who claim to believe that “power is the norm of justice”, dominate the weak, use their power to impose a way of thinking, an ideology, a prevailing mindset. Recalling the 1943 destruction of the ghetto of Vilnius, that was the climax of 2 years of the killing of the Jews. The Holy Father lamented that in the ungodly, evil is always trying to destroy good.
Antidote against temptation to dominate
He urged Lithuanians to watch out against the resurgence of that “ pernicious attitude” of dominating others, saying any trace of it can taint the heart of generations that have not gone through those times.The Pope said, Jesus offers us an antidote against the temptation of the desire for primacy and domination over others, which can dwell in our heart or in the heart of any society or country. Jesus asks us “to be the last of all and the servant of all; to go to the place where no one else wants to go, where no one travels, the furthest peripheries; to serve and come to know the lowly and the rejected.” “We could allow the Gospel of Jesus Christ to reach the depths of our lives, then the 'globalization of solidarity' would be a reality."
Hill of Crosses
Recalling Lithuania’s famous Hill of Crosses, where thousands have planted their crosses, the Pope asked the faithful to implore the Blessed Virgin to help them all plant their own crosses of service and commitment to the needs of others, on that hill where the poor dwell, where care and concern are needed for the outcast and for minorities. In this way, he said, “we can keep far from our lives and our cultures the possibility of destroying one another, of marginalizing, of continuing to discard whatever we find troublesome or uncomfortable.”At the end, the Pope said that in the afternoon he would stop at the monument of the Vilnius Ghetto to pray on the 75th anniversary of its destruction. He invoked God’s blessing on dialogue and common commitment for justice and peace.
Reference:
- Vatican News. From the Pope. © Copyright 2018 Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Accessed - 09/23/18
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Today's Word - venerate [ven-uh-reyt]
word origin: 1615–25; < Latin venerātus, past participle of venerārī to solicit the goodwill of (a god), worship, revere, verbal derivative of vener-, stem of venus, presumably in its original sense “desire”; see Venus)
- to regard or treat with reverence; revere.
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Today's Reading 1 - Wisdom 2:17-20
17 Let us see if what he says is true, and test him to see what sort of end he will have.18 For if the upright man is God's son, God will help him and rescue him from the clutches of his enemies.
19 Let us test him with cruelty and with torture, and thus explore this gentleness of his and put his patience to the test.
20 Let us condemn him to a shameful death since God will rescue him -- or so he claims.'
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Today's Psalms - Psalms 54:3-4, 5, 6-8
3 Arrogant men are attacking me, bullies hounding me to death, no room in their thoughts for God.4 But now God is coming to my help, the Lord, among those who sustain me.
5 May their wickedness recoil on those who lie in wait for me. Yahweh, in your constancy destroy them.
6 How gladly will I offer you sacrifice, and praise your name, for it is good,
7 for it has rescued me from all my troubles, and my eye has feasted on my enemies.
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Today's Reading 2 - James 3:16--4:3
16 Wherever there are jealousy and ambition, there are also disharmony and wickedness of every kind;17 whereas the wisdom that comes down from above is essentially something pure; it is also peaceable, kindly and considerate; it is full of mercy and shows itself by doing good; nor is there any trace of partiality or hypocrisy in it.
18 The peace sown by peacemakers brings a harvest of justice.
1 Where do these wars and battles between yourselves first start? Is it not precisely in the desires fighting inside your own selves?
2 You want something and you lack it; so you kill. You have an ambition that you cannot satisfy; so you fight to get your way by force. It is because you do not pray that you do not receive;
3 when you do pray and do not receive, it is because you prayed wrongly, wanting to indulge your passions.
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Today's Gospel and Lectio Divina - Mark 9: 30-41
The greatest in the Kingdom.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. Mediatio
a) A key to the reading:
The text of the Gospel for the liturgy of this Sunday presents us with the second foretelling of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus. As in the first foretelling (Mk 8:31-33), the disciples are scared and overcome by fear. They do not understand anything about the cross, because they are not capable of understanding nor of accepting a Messiah who becomes the servant of His brethren. They still dream of a glorious messiah (Mt 16:21-22). There is a great discrepancy among the disciples. While Jesus proclaims His Passion and Death, they discuss who will be the greatest among them (Mk 9:34). Jesus wishes to serve, but they only think of ruling! Ambition makes them want to take a place next to Jesus. What is it that stands out in my life: competitiveness and the desire to rule or the desire to serve and encourage others?
Jesus’ reaction to the demands of the disciples helps us understand a little concerning the fraternal pedagogy used by him to form His disciples. It shows us how He helped them to overcome “the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod” (Mk 8:15). Such leaven has deep roots. It springs up again and again! But Jesus does not give up! He constantly fights against and criticizes the wrong kind of “leaven”. Today, too, we have a leaven of the ideologies: liberalism, commerce, consumerism, novels, games, all deeply influencing our way of thinking and acting. Like the disciples of Jesus, we too are not always capable of keeping up a critical attitude towards the invasion of this leaven. Jesus’ attitude of formator continues to help us.
b) A division of the text to help us in our reading:
Mark 9:30-32: the proclamation of the Passion
Mark 9:33-37: a discussion on who is the greatest
Mark 9:38-40: the use of the name of Jesus
Mark 9:41: the reward for a cup of water
c) The Gospel Mark 9:30-41:
Jesus and his disciples left from there and began a journey through Galilee, but he did not wish anyone to know about it. He was teaching his disciples and telling them, “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men and they will kill him, and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise.” But they did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to question him. They came to Capernaum and, once inside the house, he began to ask them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” But they remained silent. They had been discussing among themselves on the way who was the greatest. Then he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.” Taking a child, he placed it in their midst, and putting his arms around it, he said to them, “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me.”
3. Oriatio
A moment of prayerful silence so that the Word of God may penetrate and enlighten our life.
Some questions to help us in our personal reflection. a) Which words pleased you most or drew your attention?
b) What attitude did the disciples take in each of the passages: vv 30-32; vv 33-37; vv 38-40? Is it the same attitude in the three passages?
c) What is Jesus’ teaching in each episode?
d) What does the phrase “Anyone who is not against us is for us” mean for us today?
Mark 9:30-32: The proclamation of the Cross.
Jesus was going across Galilee, but He did not want the people to know this, because He was concerned with the formation of His disciples. He talks to them about “The Son of Man” who must be handed over. Jesus draws His teaching from the prophecies. In the formation of His disciples He uses the bible. The disciples listen, but they do not understand. Yet they do not ask for explanations. Perhaps they are afraid to show their ignorance!
Mark 9:33-34: A competitive mentality.
When they return home, Jesus asks: What were you arguing about on the road? They do not reply. It is the silence of those who feel guilty, because they had been arguing which of them was the greatest. The “leaven” of competitiveness and prestige, which characterized the society of the Roman Empire, had infiltrated among the small community still in its beginnings! Here we see the contrast! While Jesus is thinking of being the Messiah-Servant, they were thinking about which of them was the greatest. Jesus tries to descend while they try to ascend!
Mark 9:35-37: To serve and not to rule.
Jesus’ reply is a resume of the witness He has given from the very beginning: If anyone wants to be first, he must make himself last of all and servant of all! And the last gains nothing. He is a useless servant (cf. Lk 17:10). The use of power is not to ascend or rule, but to descend and serve. This is the point that Jesus stresses most and on which He bases His witness (cf. Mk 10:45; Mt 20:28; Jn 13:1-16).
Jesus takes a little child. Someone who only thinks of ascending and ruling has no time for the little ones, for children. But Jesus turns everything upside down! He says: Anyone who welcomes one of these little children in My name welcomes Me; and anyone who welcomes Me welcomes not Me but the one who sent Me! He identifies Himself with the children. Anyone who welcomes the little ones in the name of Jesus welcomes God Himself!
Mark 9:38-40: A restricted mentality.
Someone who did not belong to the community was using the name of Jesus to cast out devils. John, the disciple, sees him and stops him: Because he was not one of us we tried to stop him. John stops a good action in the name of the community. He thought he owned Jesus and wanted to stop others from using Jesus’ name to do good. This was the restricted and old mentality of the “Elect”, “the separate people!” Jesus replies: You must not stop him! Anyone who is not against us is for us! (Mk 9:40). What is important for Jesus is not whether the person is or is not part of the community, but whether the person does or does not do the good deeds that the community should be doing.
Mark 9:41: A cup of water deserves a reward.
Here we have an inserted phrase used by Jesus: If anyone gives you a cup of water to drink just because you belong to Christ, then I tell you solemnly, he will most certainly not lose his reward. Let us consider two thoughts: 1) If anyone gives you a cup of water: Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem to give His life. The gesture of a grand gift! But He does not despise small gestures of gifts in daily life: a cup of water, a welcome, a word, so many other gestures. Even the smallest gesture is appreciated.
2) Just because you belong to Christ: Jesus identifies Himself with us who wish to belong to Him. This means that for Him we are of great worth.
b) Further explanations in order to better understand the text
• Jesus, the “Son of Man”
This is Jesus’ favorite name. It appears quite frequently in the Gospel of Mark (Mk 2:10-28; 8:31-38; 9:9-12.31; 10:33-45; 13:26; 14:21.41.62). This title comes from the Old Testament. In the book of Ezekiel, he presents the human condition of the prophet (Ez 3:1.10.17; 4:1 etc.). In the book of Daniel, the same title appears in an apocalyptic vision (Dn 7:1-28), where Daniel describes the empires of the Babylonians, the Medes, the Persians and the Greeks. In the prophet’s vision, these four empires appear as “monstrous animals” (cf. Dn 7:3-8). They are beastly empires, brutal, inhuman, that persecute and kill (Dn 7:21-25). In the prophet’s vision, after two inhuman reigns the Kingdom of God appears in the form not of an animal but that of a human figure, the Son of Man. It is a kingdom with the appearance of people, a human kingdom, that promotes life and that humanizes (Dn 7:13-14).
In Daniel’s prophecy, the figure of the Son of Man represents, not an individual, but as he says, the “people of the Saints of the Most High” (Dn 7:27; cf Dn 7:18). It is the people of God that will not allow itself to be cheated or manipulated by the dominant ideology of the beastly empires. The mission of the Son of Man, that is, of the people of God, consists in realizing the Kingdom of God as a human kingdom. A kingdom that does not destroy life, but rather builds it up! It humanizes people.
When Jesus presents Himself to His disciples as the Son of Man, He assumes as His the mission that is the mission of the whole People of God. It is as though He were saying to them and to us: “Come with Me! This mission is not only Mine, but of all of us! Together, let us accomplish the mission that God has entrusted to us: to build the human and humanizing Kingdom of His dream! Let us do what He did and lived throughout His life, above all, in the last three years of His life. Pope Leo the Great used to say: “Jesus was so human, so human, as only God can be!” The more human it is, the more divine it becomes. The more we are “son of man” so much more will we be “son of God”. Everything that makes people less human draws people away from God, even in religious life, even in Carmelite life! This is what Jesus condemned and He placed the good of the human person above the law and the Sabbath (Mk 2:27).
• Jesus, the Formator
“To follow” was a term that was part of the system of education at that time. It was used to indicate the relationship between disciple and master. The relationship between disciple and master is different from that of teacher and student. Students follow the lessons of the teacher on some particular subject. Disciples “follow” the master and live with Him all the time.
It is during this period of “living together” for three years that the disciples will receive their formation. A formation in the “following of Jesus” was not just the passing on of some decorative truths, but the communication of a new experience of God and of the life that shone from Jesus for the disciples. The very community that grew around Jesus was the expression of this new experience. This formation led people to see things differently, to different attitudes. It created in them a new awareness concerning the mission and respect for self. It made them take the side of the excluded. It produced a “conversion”, the consequence of having accepted the Good News (Mk 1:15).
Jesus is the axle, the center, the model, the point of reference of the community. He shows the road to follow, He is “the way, the truth and the life” (Jn 14:6). His attitude is proof and an exposition of the Kingdom: He makes the love of the Father transparent and incarnates and reveals it (Mk 6:31; Mt 10:30; Lk 15:11-32). Jesus is a “meaningful person” for them, who will leave on them a permanent mark. Many small gestures mirror this witness of life that Jesus gave by His presence in the life of the disciples. It was His way of giving human form to the experience He had of the Father. In this way of being and sharing, of relating to people, of leading the people and of listening to those who came to Him, Jesus is seen:
* as the person of peace, who inspires and reconciles: “Peace be with you!” (Jn. 20:19; Mt 10:26-33; Mt 18:22; Jn 20:23; Mt 16:19; Mt 18:18);
* as a free person and one who liberates, who awakens freedom and liberation: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mk 2:27; 2:18-23);
* as a person of prayer, whom we see praying at all important moments of His life and who inspires others to prayer: “Lord, teach us to pray!” (Lk 11:1-4; Lk 4:1-13; 6:12-13; Jn 11:41-42; Mt 11:25; Jn 17:1-26; Lk 23:46; Mk 15:34);
* as a loving person who arouses reactions full of love (Lk 7:37-38; 8:2-3; Jn 21:15-17; Mk 14:3-9; Jn 13:1);
*as a welcoming person who is always present in the lives of the disciples and who welcomes them when they come back from the mission (Lk 10:7);
* as a realistic and observing person who arouses the attention of the disciples in matters of life by teaching them in Parables (Lk 8:4-8);
* as a caring person always paying attention to the disciples (Jn 21:9), who looks after their rest and who wishes to stay with them so that the may rest (Mk 6:31);
* as someone preoccupied with the situation even to forgetting that His tiredness and His rest when He sees people who are looking for Him (Mt 9:36-38);
* as a friend who shares everything, even the secrets of His Father (Jn 15:15);
* as an understanding person who accepts the disciples just as they are, even when they flee from Him, in spite of their denial and their betrayal of Him, without ever breaking with them (Mk 14:27-28; Jn 6:67);
* as a committed person who defends His friends when they are criticized by their adversaries (Mk 2:18-19; 7:5-13);
* as a wise person who knows the fragility of human beings, knows what happens in the heart of a person, and thus insists on vigilance and teaches them to pray (Lk 11:1-13; Mt 6:5-15).
In a word, Jesus shows Himself to be a human person, very human, so human as only God can know to be human! Son of Man.
I will extol Thee, O Lord,
for thou hast drawn me up,
and hast not let my foes rejoice over me.
O Lord my God, I cried to Thee for help,
and Thou hast healed me.
O Lord, Thou hast brought up my soul from Sheol,
restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.
Sing praises to the Lord, O You His saints,
and give thanks to His holy name.
For His anger is but for a moment,
and His favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.
As for me, I said in my prosperity,
"I shall never be moved."
By thy favor, O Lord, Thou hadst established me as a strong mountain; Thou didst hide thy face, I was dismayed.
To Thee, O Lord,
I cried; and to the Lord I made supplication:
"What profit is there in my death,
if I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise Thee?
Will it tell of Thy faithfulness?
Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me!
O Lord, be Thou my helper!"
Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing;
Thou hast loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness,
that my soul may praise Thee and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to Thee for ever.
Reference:
b) What attitude did the disciples take in each of the passages: vv 30-32; vv 33-37; vv 38-40? Is it the same attitude in the three passages?
c) What is Jesus’ teaching in each episode?
d) What does the phrase “Anyone who is not against us is for us” mean for us today?
4. Contemplatio
A key to the reading for those who wish to go deeper into the text.
a) CommentMark 9:30-32: The proclamation of the Cross.
Jesus was going across Galilee, but He did not want the people to know this, because He was concerned with the formation of His disciples. He talks to them about “The Son of Man” who must be handed over. Jesus draws His teaching from the prophecies. In the formation of His disciples He uses the bible. The disciples listen, but they do not understand. Yet they do not ask for explanations. Perhaps they are afraid to show their ignorance!
Mark 9:33-34: A competitive mentality.
When they return home, Jesus asks: What were you arguing about on the road? They do not reply. It is the silence of those who feel guilty, because they had been arguing which of them was the greatest. The “leaven” of competitiveness and prestige, which characterized the society of the Roman Empire, had infiltrated among the small community still in its beginnings! Here we see the contrast! While Jesus is thinking of being the Messiah-Servant, they were thinking about which of them was the greatest. Jesus tries to descend while they try to ascend!
Mark 9:35-37: To serve and not to rule.
Jesus’ reply is a resume of the witness He has given from the very beginning: If anyone wants to be first, he must make himself last of all and servant of all! And the last gains nothing. He is a useless servant (cf. Lk 17:10). The use of power is not to ascend or rule, but to descend and serve. This is the point that Jesus stresses most and on which He bases His witness (cf. Mk 10:45; Mt 20:28; Jn 13:1-16).
Jesus takes a little child. Someone who only thinks of ascending and ruling has no time for the little ones, for children. But Jesus turns everything upside down! He says: Anyone who welcomes one of these little children in My name welcomes Me; and anyone who welcomes Me welcomes not Me but the one who sent Me! He identifies Himself with the children. Anyone who welcomes the little ones in the name of Jesus welcomes God Himself!
Mark 9:38-40: A restricted mentality.
Someone who did not belong to the community was using the name of Jesus to cast out devils. John, the disciple, sees him and stops him: Because he was not one of us we tried to stop him. John stops a good action in the name of the community. He thought he owned Jesus and wanted to stop others from using Jesus’ name to do good. This was the restricted and old mentality of the “Elect”, “the separate people!” Jesus replies: You must not stop him! Anyone who is not against us is for us! (Mk 9:40). What is important for Jesus is not whether the person is or is not part of the community, but whether the person does or does not do the good deeds that the community should be doing.
Mark 9:41: A cup of water deserves a reward.
Here we have an inserted phrase used by Jesus: If anyone gives you a cup of water to drink just because you belong to Christ, then I tell you solemnly, he will most certainly not lose his reward. Let us consider two thoughts: 1) If anyone gives you a cup of water: Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem to give His life. The gesture of a grand gift! But He does not despise small gestures of gifts in daily life: a cup of water, a welcome, a word, so many other gestures. Even the smallest gesture is appreciated.
2) Just because you belong to Christ: Jesus identifies Himself with us who wish to belong to Him. This means that for Him we are of great worth.
b) Further explanations in order to better understand the text
• Jesus, the “Son of Man”
This is Jesus’ favorite name. It appears quite frequently in the Gospel of Mark (Mk 2:10-28; 8:31-38; 9:9-12.31; 10:33-45; 13:26; 14:21.41.62). This title comes from the Old Testament. In the book of Ezekiel, he presents the human condition of the prophet (Ez 3:1.10.17; 4:1 etc.). In the book of Daniel, the same title appears in an apocalyptic vision (Dn 7:1-28), where Daniel describes the empires of the Babylonians, the Medes, the Persians and the Greeks. In the prophet’s vision, these four empires appear as “monstrous animals” (cf. Dn 7:3-8). They are beastly empires, brutal, inhuman, that persecute and kill (Dn 7:21-25). In the prophet’s vision, after two inhuman reigns the Kingdom of God appears in the form not of an animal but that of a human figure, the Son of Man. It is a kingdom with the appearance of people, a human kingdom, that promotes life and that humanizes (Dn 7:13-14).
In Daniel’s prophecy, the figure of the Son of Man represents, not an individual, but as he says, the “people of the Saints of the Most High” (Dn 7:27; cf Dn 7:18). It is the people of God that will not allow itself to be cheated or manipulated by the dominant ideology of the beastly empires. The mission of the Son of Man, that is, of the people of God, consists in realizing the Kingdom of God as a human kingdom. A kingdom that does not destroy life, but rather builds it up! It humanizes people.
When Jesus presents Himself to His disciples as the Son of Man, He assumes as His the mission that is the mission of the whole People of God. It is as though He were saying to them and to us: “Come with Me! This mission is not only Mine, but of all of us! Together, let us accomplish the mission that God has entrusted to us: to build the human and humanizing Kingdom of His dream! Let us do what He did and lived throughout His life, above all, in the last three years of His life. Pope Leo the Great used to say: “Jesus was so human, so human, as only God can be!” The more human it is, the more divine it becomes. The more we are “son of man” so much more will we be “son of God”. Everything that makes people less human draws people away from God, even in religious life, even in Carmelite life! This is what Jesus condemned and He placed the good of the human person above the law and the Sabbath (Mk 2:27).
• Jesus, the Formator
“To follow” was a term that was part of the system of education at that time. It was used to indicate the relationship between disciple and master. The relationship between disciple and master is different from that of teacher and student. Students follow the lessons of the teacher on some particular subject. Disciples “follow” the master and live with Him all the time.
It is during this period of “living together” for three years that the disciples will receive their formation. A formation in the “following of Jesus” was not just the passing on of some decorative truths, but the communication of a new experience of God and of the life that shone from Jesus for the disciples. The very community that grew around Jesus was the expression of this new experience. This formation led people to see things differently, to different attitudes. It created in them a new awareness concerning the mission and respect for self. It made them take the side of the excluded. It produced a “conversion”, the consequence of having accepted the Good News (Mk 1:15).
Jesus is the axle, the center, the model, the point of reference of the community. He shows the road to follow, He is “the way, the truth and the life” (Jn 14:6). His attitude is proof and an exposition of the Kingdom: He makes the love of the Father transparent and incarnates and reveals it (Mk 6:31; Mt 10:30; Lk 15:11-32). Jesus is a “meaningful person” for them, who will leave on them a permanent mark. Many small gestures mirror this witness of life that Jesus gave by His presence in the life of the disciples. It was His way of giving human form to the experience He had of the Father. In this way of being and sharing, of relating to people, of leading the people and of listening to those who came to Him, Jesus is seen:
* as the person of peace, who inspires and reconciles: “Peace be with you!” (Jn. 20:19; Mt 10:26-33; Mt 18:22; Jn 20:23; Mt 16:19; Mt 18:18);
* as a free person and one who liberates, who awakens freedom and liberation: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mk 2:27; 2:18-23);
* as a person of prayer, whom we see praying at all important moments of His life and who inspires others to prayer: “Lord, teach us to pray!” (Lk 11:1-4; Lk 4:1-13; 6:12-13; Jn 11:41-42; Mt 11:25; Jn 17:1-26; Lk 23:46; Mk 15:34);
* as a loving person who arouses reactions full of love (Lk 7:37-38; 8:2-3; Jn 21:15-17; Mk 14:3-9; Jn 13:1);
*as a welcoming person who is always present in the lives of the disciples and who welcomes them when they come back from the mission (Lk 10:7);
* as a realistic and observing person who arouses the attention of the disciples in matters of life by teaching them in Parables (Lk 8:4-8);
* as a caring person always paying attention to the disciples (Jn 21:9), who looks after their rest and who wishes to stay with them so that the may rest (Mk 6:31);
* as someone preoccupied with the situation even to forgetting that His tiredness and His rest when He sees people who are looking for Him (Mt 9:36-38);
* as a friend who shares everything, even the secrets of His Father (Jn 15:15);
* as an understanding person who accepts the disciples just as they are, even when they flee from Him, in spite of their denial and their betrayal of Him, without ever breaking with them (Mk 14:27-28; Jn 6:67);
* as a committed person who defends His friends when they are criticized by their adversaries (Mk 2:18-19; 7:5-13);
* as a wise person who knows the fragility of human beings, knows what happens in the heart of a person, and thus insists on vigilance and teaches them to pray (Lk 11:1-13; Mt 6:5-15).
In a word, Jesus shows Himself to be a human person, very human, so human as only God can know to be human! Son of Man.
5. Psalm 30 (29)
Thanksgiving after some mortal dangerI will extol Thee, O Lord,
for thou hast drawn me up,
and hast not let my foes rejoice over me.
O Lord my God, I cried to Thee for help,
and Thou hast healed me.
O Lord, Thou hast brought up my soul from Sheol,
restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.
Sing praises to the Lord, O You His saints,
and give thanks to His holy name.
For His anger is but for a moment,
and His favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.
As for me, I said in my prosperity,
"I shall never be moved."
By thy favor, O Lord, Thou hadst established me as a strong mountain; Thou didst hide thy face, I was dismayed.
To Thee, O Lord,
I cried; and to the Lord I made supplication:
"What profit is there in my death,
if I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise Thee?
Will it tell of Thy faithfulness?
Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me!
O Lord, be Thou my helper!"
Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing;
Thou hast loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness,
that my soul may praise Thee and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to Thee for ever.
6. Final Prayer
Lord Jesus, we thank You 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:
Feast Day: St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio)
Feast Day: September 23
Patron Saint: Pietrelcina, Italy
Francesco Forgione was born to Grazio Mario Forgione (1860–1946) and Maria Giuseppa de Nunzio Forgione (1859–1929) on May 25, 1887, in Pietrelcina, a farming town in the southern Italian region of Campania. His parents made a living as peasant farmers He was baptized in the nearby Santa Anna Chapel, which stands upon the walls of a castle. He later served as an altar boy in this same chapel. Restoration work on this chapel was later undertaken by the Padre Pio Foundation of America based in Cromwell, Connecticut. His siblings were an older brother, Michele, and three younger sisters, Felicita, Pellegrina, and Grazia (who was later to become a Bridgettine nun). His parents had two other children who died in infancy. When he was baptized, he was given the name Francesco, which was the name of one of these two. He stated that by the time he was five years old he had already made the decision to dedicate his entire life to God. He also began inflicting penances on himself and was chided on one occasion by his mother for using a stone as a pillow and sleeping on the stone floor. He worked on the land up to the age of 10, looking after the small flock of sheep the family owned. This delayed his education to some extent.
Pietrelcina was a highly religious town (feast days of saints were celebrated throughout the year), and religion had a profound influence on the Forgione family. The members of the family attended daily Mass, prayed the Rosary nightly, and abstained from meat three days a week in honor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Although Francesco's parents and grandparents were illiterate, they memorized the Scriptures and narrated Bible stories to their children. It is asserted by his mother that Francesco was able to see and speak with Jesus, the Virgin Mary and his guardian angel, and that as a child, he assumed that all people could do so.
As a youth Francesco reported that he had experienced heavenly visions and ecstasies. In 1897, after he had completed three years at the public school, Francesco was drawn to the life of a friar after listening to a young Capuchin friar who was, at that time, seeking donations in the countryside. When he expressed his desire to his parents, they made a trip to Morcone, a community 13 miles (21 km) north of Pietrelcina, to find out if their son was eligible to enter the Capuchin Order. The Friars there informed them that they were interested in accepting Francesco into their community, but he needed more educational qualifications.
Francesco's father went to the United States in search of work to pay for private tutoring for his son, so that he might meet the academic requirements to enter the Capuchin Order. It was in this period that Francesco received the sacrament of Confirmation on 27 September 1899. He underwent private tutoring and passed the stipulated academic requirements. On January 6, 1903, at the age of 15, he entered the novitiate of the Capuchin Friars at Morcone where, on January 22nd, he took the Franciscan habit and the name of Fra (Friar) Pio, in honor of Pope St. Pius V, the patron saint of Pietrelcina. He took the simple vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.
Priesthood
To commence his six-year study for priesthood and to grow in community life, he traveled to the friary of St. Francis of Assisi by oxcart. Three years later on January 27, 1907, he made his solemn profession. In 1910, Brother Pio was ordained a priest by Archbishop Paolo Schinosi at the Cathedral of Benevento. Four days later, he offered his first Mass at the parish church of Our Lady of the Angels. His health being precarious, he was permitted to remain with his family until early 1916 while still retaining the Capuchin habit.On September 4, 1916, Father Pio was ordered to return to his community life. Thus he was moved to an agricultural community, Our Lady of Grace Capuchin Friary, located in the Gargano Mountains in San Giovanni Rotondo in Foggia. At that time, with Father Pius the community numbered seven friars. He stayed at San Giovanni Rotondo until his death, except for his military service.
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| Bodgan, 2010 |
A strong believer in Christian meditation, Padre Pio stated: "Through the study of books one seeks God; by meditation one finds him".
Padre Pio then became a spiritual director, guiding many spiritually, considering them his spiritual daughters and sons. He had five rules for spiritual growth, namely, weekly confession, daily Communion, spiritual reading, meditation, and examination of conscience.
He compared weekly confession to dusting a room weekly, and recommended the performance of meditation and self-examination twice daily: once in the morning, as preparation to face the day, and once again in the evening, as retrospection. His advice on the practical application of theology he often summed up in his now famous quote, "Pray, Hope and Don’t Worry". He directed Christians to recognize God in all things and to desire above all things to do the will of God.
Poor health
According to the diary of Father Agostino da San Marco, his spiritual director in San Marco in Lamis, the young Francesco Forgione was afflicted with a number of illnesses. At six he suffered from a grave gastroenteritis, which kept him bedridden for a long time. At ten he caught typhoid fever. At 17, he suddenly fell ill, complaining of loss of appetite, insomnia, exhaustion, fainting spells, and terrible migraines. He vomited frequently and could absorb only milk and cheese.The hagiographers say that it was during this time, together with his physical illness, that inexplicable phenomena began to occur. According to their stories, one could hear strange noises coming from his room at night – sometimes screams or roars. During prayer, brother Pio remained in a stupor, as if he were absent. One of Pio's fellow friars claims to have seen him in ecstasy, levitating above the ground.
In June 1905, Padre Pio's health was so weak that his superiors decided to send him to a mountain convent, in the hope that the change of air would do him some good. His health got worse, however, and doctors advised that he return to his home town. But, even there, his health continued to worsen.
In addition to his childhood illnesses, throughout his life Padre Pio suffered from "asthmatic bronchitis". He also had a large kidney stone, with frequent abdominal pains. He further suffered from a chronic gastritis, which later turned into an ulcer. He also suffered from inflammations of the eye, of the nose, of the ear and of the throat, and eventually formed rhinitis and chronic otitis.
In the summer of 1915, in spite of poor health, he was drafted into the army. But after 30 days he was sent home on leave because of bad health. He returned to military service, and was put on leave again, this time for six months at a friary in a mountain village, San Giovanni Rotondo, where the weather was relatively cool, even in the summer. After six months in this friary he returned to military service, but was sent home again two months later. On his return he was declared fit for service, and sent to the Sales barracks in Naples, where he remained until March 1917, at which time he was found to have pulmonary tuberculosis, certified by a radiological exam. He was then discharged from the army.
In 1925, Padre Pio was operated on for an inguinal hernia, and shortly after this a large cyst formed on his neck and which had to be surgically removed. Another surgery was required to remove a malignant tumor on his ear. After this operation Padre Pio was subjected to radiological treatment, which was successful, it seems, after only two treatments.
In 1956, he came down with a serious case of "exudative pleuritis". The diagnosis was certified by Professor Cataldo Cassano, who personally extracted the serous liquid from the body of Padre Pio. He remained bedridden for four consecutive months. In his old age Padre Pio was tormented by arthritis.
Spiritual suffering
Padre Pio stated that he believed the love of God is inseparable from suffering and that suffering all things for the sake of God is the way for the soul to reach God. He felt that his soul was lost in a chaotic maze, plunged into total desolation, as if he were in the deepest pit of hell. During his period of spiritual suffering, his followers believe that Padre Pio was attacked by the Devil, both physically and spiritually. His followers also believe that the Devil used diabolical tricks in order to increase Padre Pio's torments. These included apparitions as an "angel of light" and the alteration or destruction of letters to and from his spiritual directors. Padre Augustine confirmed this when he said:The Devil appeared as young girls that danced naked without any clothes on, as Christ Crucified, as a young friend of the friars, as the Spiritual Father or as the Provincial Father; as Pope Pius X, a Guardian Angel, as St. Francis and as Our Lady.
Now, twenty-two days have passed since Jesus allowed the devils to vent their anger on me. My Father, my whole body is bruised from the beatings that I have received to the present time by our enemies. Several times, they have even torn off my shirt so that they could strike my exposed flesh.Fr. Gabriele Amorth, senior exorcist of Vatican City stated in an interview that Padre Pio was able to distinguish between real apparitions of Jesus, Mary and the Saints and the illusions created by the Devil by carefully analysing the state of his mind and the feelings produced in him during the apparitions. In one of Padre Pio's letters, he states that he remained patient in the midst of his trials because of his firm belief that Jesus, Mary, his Guardian Angel, St. Joseph and St. Francis were always with him and helped him always.
Transverberation and visible stigmata
Based on Padre Pio's correspondence, even early in his priesthood he experienced less obvious indications of the visible stigmata for which he would later become famous. In a 1911 letter, Padre Pio wrote to his spiritual advisor, Padre Benedetto from San Marco in Lamis, describing something he had been experiencing for a year:Then last night something happened which I can neither explain nor understand. In the middle of the palms of my hands a red mark appeared, about the size of a penny, accompanied by acute pain in the middle of the red marks. The pain was more pronounced in the middle of the left hand, so much so that I can still feel it. Also under my feet I can feel some pain.His close friend Padre Agostino wrote to him in 1915, asking specific questions such as when he first experienced visions, whether he had been granted the stigmata, and whether he felt the pains of the Passion of Christ, namely the crowning of thorns and the scourging. Padre Pio replied that he had been favoured with visions since his novitiate period (1903 to 1904). He wrote that although he had been granted the stigmata, he had been so terrified by the phenomenon he begged the Lord to withdraw them. He did not wish the pain to be removed, only the visible wounds, since at the time he considered them to be an indescribable and almost unbearable humiliation. The visible wounds disappeared at that point, but reappeared in September 1918. He reported, however, that the pain remained and was more acute on specific days and under certain circumstances. He also said that he was indeed experiencing the pain of the crown of thorns and the scourging. He was not able to clearly indicate the frequency of this experience, but said that he had been suffering from them at least once weekly for some years.
These experiences are alleged to have caused his health to fail, for which reason he was permitted to stay at home. To maintain his religious life as a friar while away from the community, he said Mass daily and taught at school.
St. John of the Cross describes the phenomenon of transverberation as follows:
The soul being inflamed with the love of God which is interiorly attacked by a Seraph, who pierces it through with a fiery dart. This leaves the soul wounded, which causes it to suffer from the overflowing of divine love.World War I was still going on, and in July 1918, Pope Benedict XV, who had termed the World War "the suicide of Europe," appealed to all Christians urging them to pray for an end to the World War. On 27 July of the same year, Padre Pio offered himself as a victim for the end of the war. Days passed and between 5 August and 7 August, Padre Pio had a vision in which Christ appeared and pierced his side.[2][9] As a result of this experience, Padre Pio had a physical wound in his side. This occurrence is considered as a "transverberation" or piercing of the heart indicating the union of love with God.
As a side-note, a first-class relic of Padre Pio, which consists of a large framed square of linen bearing a bloodstain from "the wound of the transverberation of the heart" in Padre Pio's side, is exposed for public veneration at the St. John Cantius Church in Chicago.
With his transverberation began another seven-week long period of spiritual unrest for Padre Pio. One of his Capuchin brothers said this of his state during that period:
During this time his entire appearance looked altered as if he had died. He was constantly weeping and sighing, saying that God had forsaken him.In a letter from Padre Pio to Padre Benedetto, dated 21 August 1918, Padre Pio writes of his experiences during the transverberation:
While I was hearing the boys’ confessions on the evening of the 5th [August] I was suddenly terrorized by the sight of a celestial person who presented himself to my mind’s eye. He had in his hand a sort of weapon like a very long sharp-pointed steel blade which seemed to emit fire. At the very instant that I saw all this, I saw that person hurl the weapon into my soul with all his might. I cried out with difficulty and felt I was dying. I asked the boy to leave because I felt ill and no longer had the strength to continue. This agony lasted uninterruptedly until the morning of the 7th. I cannot tell you how much I suffered during this period of anguish. Even my entrails were torn and ruptured by the weapon, and nothing was spared. From that day on I have been mortally wounded. I feel in the depths of my soul a wound that is always open and which causes me continual agony.On 20 September 1918, accounts state that the pains of the transverberation had ceased and Padre Pio was in "profound peace." On that day, as Padre Pio was engaged in prayer in the choir loft in the Church of Our Lady of Grace, the same Being who had appeared to him and given him the transverberation, and who is believed to be the Wounded Christ, appeared again and Padre Pio had another experience of religious ecstasy. When the ecstasy ended, Padre Pio had received the Visible Stigmata, the five wounds of Christ. This time, however, the stigmata were permanent and would stay on him for the next fifty years of his life.
In a letter from St. Padre Pio to Padre Benedetto, his superior and spiritual advisor, Padre Benedetto from San Marco in Lamis dated October 22, 1918, Padre Pio describes his experience of receiving the Stigmata as follows:
On the morning of the 20th of last month, in the choir, after I had celebrated Mass I yielded to a drowsiness similar to a sweet sleep. I saw before me a mysterious person similar to the one I had seen on the evening of 5 August. The only difference was that his hands and feet and side were dripping blood. This sight terrified me and what I felt at that moment is indescribable. I thought I should have died if the Lord had not intervened and strengthened my heart which was about to burst out of my chest. The vision disappeared and I became aware that my hands, feet and side were dripping blood. Imagine the agony I experienced and continue to experience almost every day. The heart wound bleeds continually, especially from Thursday evening until Saturday. Dear Father, I am dying of pain because of the wounds and the resulting embarrassment I feel deep in my soul. I am afraid I shall bleed to death if the Lord does not hear my heartfelt supplication to relieve me of this condition. Will Jesus, who is so good, grant me this grace? Will he at least free me from the embarrassment caused by these outward signs? I will raise my voice and will not stop imploring him until in his mercy he takes away, not the wound or the pain, which is impossible since I wish to be inebriated with pain, but these outward signs which cause me such embarrassment and unbearable humiliation.He quoted, "the pain was so intense that I began to feel as if I were dying on the cross."
Though Padre Pio would have preferred to suffer in secret, by early 1919, news about the stigmatic friar began to spread in the secular world. Padre Pio’s wounds were examined by many people, including physicians.[2] People who had started rebuilding their lives after World War, began to see in Padre Pio a symbol of hope.[9] Those close to him attest that he began to manifest several spiritual gifts including the gifts of healing, bilocation, levitation, prophecy, miracles, extraordinary abstinence from both sleep and nourishment (one account states that Padre Agostino recorded one instance in which Padre Pio was able to subsist for at least 20 days at Verafeno on only the Eucharist without any other nourishment), the ability to read hearts, the gift of tongues, the gift of conversions, and the fragrance from his wounds.
Controversies
It is claimed that no more than Anecdotal evidence supports Pio’s alleged mystical abilities, some of his bilocations are consistent with hallucinations and the supposed odor of sanctity was purported to be Eau de Cologne. He was never watched continuously to ensure that chemicals like carbolic acid or iodine were not used to prevent wounds healing, as has been claimed. Pio over many years wore fingerless gloves which concealed his wounds or prevented him having to tend the wounds, yet near his death Pio avoided covering his hands and there was no sign of injury.The founder of Milan's Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, friar, physician and psychologist Agostino Gemelli, who met Padre Pio once, for a few minutes, but was unable to examine his stigmata, concluded Padre Pio was "an ignorant and self-mutilating psychopath who exploited people's credulity." In short, he was accused of infractions against all three of his monastic vows: poverty, chastity and obedience. Agostino Gemelli also speculated that Padre Pio kept his wounds open with carbolic acid. As a result of the Gemelli assessment, the wounds were wrapped in cloth. According to believers, the bleeding continued for some 50 years until they closed within hours of his death.
On 29 July 1960, an Italian monsignore, Carlo Maccari, later to become the archbishop of Ancona, began yet another investigation on behalf of Pope John XXIII and the Holy Office. The 200-page report he compiled, though never published in full, is said to be devastatingly critical. Vatican gossip long had it that the “Maccari dossier” was an insuperable obstacle to Padre Pio’s sainthood. According to official Capuchin literature, however, Maccari later recanted and prayed to Padre Pio on his deathbed.
In 1940, Padre Pio began plans to open a hospital in San Giovanni Rotondo, to be named the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza or "Home to Relieve Suffering"; the hospital opened in 1956. Barbara Ward, a British humanitarian and journalist on assignment in Italy, played a major role in obtaining for this project a grant of $325,000 from the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA). In order that Padre Pio might directly supervise this project, Pope Pius XII, in 1957 granted him dispensation from his vow of poverty. Padre Pio's detractors used this project as another weapon to attack him, charging him with misappropriation of funds.
Padre Pio was subject to numerous investigations. Fearing local riots, a plan to transfer Padre Pio to another friary was dropped and a second plan was aborted when a riot almost happened. In the period from 1924 to 1931 the Holy See made various statements denying that the happenings in the life of Padre Pio were due to any divine cause. At one point, he was prevented from publicly performing his priestly duties, such as hearing confessions and saying Mass.
By 1933, the tide began to turn, with Pope Pius XI ordering the Holy See to reverse its ban on Padre Pio’s public celebration of Mass. The Pope said, "I have not been badly disposed toward Padre Pio, but I have been badly informed." In 1934, he was again allowed to hear confessions. He was also given honorary permission to preach despite never having taken the exam for the preaching licence. Pope Pius XII, who assumed the papacy in 1939, encouraged devotees to visit Padre Pio. According to a recent book, Pope John XXIII (1958–1963) apparently did not espouse the outlook of his predecessors, and wrote in 1960 of Padre Pio’s “immense deception." However, it was John XXIII's successor, Pope Paul VI, who, in the mid-1960s, firmly dismissed all accusations against Padre Pio.
Alleged supernatural phenomena
Padre Pio celebrating mass. His Mass would often last hours, as the
mystic received visions and experienced sufferings. Note the coverings
worn on his hands to cover his stigmata.
In 1947, Father Karol Józef Wojtyła, a young Polish priest who would later go on to become Pope John Paul II, visited Padre Pio, who heard his confession. Austrian Cardinal Alfons Stickler reported that Wojtyła confided to him that during this meeting Padre Pio told him he would one day ascend to "the highest post in the Church though further confirmation is needed." Cardinal Stickler further went on to say that Wojtyła believed that the prophecy was fulfilled when he became a Cardinal, not Pope, as has been reported in works of piety. (John Paul's secretary, Stanisław Dziwisz, denies the prediction, while George Weigel's biography Witness to Hope, which contains an account of the same visit, does not mention it)
According to oral tradition Bishop Wojtyła wrote to Padre Pio in 1962 to ask him to pray for Dr. Wanda Poltawska, a friend in Poland who was thought to be suffering from cancer. Later, what was thought to be Dr. Poltawska's cancer was found to be in Spontaneous remission; medical professionals were unable to offer an explanation for the phenomenon (see frequency of spontaneous remission).
Because of the unusual abilities Padre Pio possessed, the Holy See twice instituted investigations of the stories surrounding him. However, the Church has since formally approved his veneration with his canonization by Pope John Paul II in 2002.
In the 1999 book, Padre Pio: The Wonder Worker, a segment by Irish priest Malachy Gerard Carroll describes the story of Gemma de Giorgi, a Sicilian girl whose alleged blindness some believe was corrected during a visit to the Capuchin priest. Gemma, who was brought to San Giovanni Rotondo in 1947 by her grandmother, was born without pupils. During her trip to see Padre Pio, the little girl reportedly began to see objects including a steamboat and the sea. Gemma's grandmother did not believe the child had been healed.[ After Gemma forgot to ask Padre Pio for Grace during her Confession, her grandmother reportedly implored the priest to ask God to restore her sight. Padre Pio, according to Carroll, told her, "The child must not weep and neither must you for the child sees and you know she sees." The section goes on to say that oculists were unable to determine how she gained vision.
Padre Pio is alleged to have waged physical combat with Satan and his minions, similar to incidents described concerning St. John Vianney, from which he is said to have sustained extensive bruising. He is said to communicate with angels and grant favors and healings before any written or verbal request.
On the day of his death, mystic and Servant of God Maria Esperanza de Bianchini from Caracas, Venezuela reported that Padre Pio appeared to her in a vision and stated "I have come to say good-bye. My time has come. It is your turn." It is reported that her husband then watched as his wife's face transfigured into that of Padre Pio. On the following day, they heard of the death of Padre Pio. Witnesses claim to have seen Esperanza herself levitating during Mass and engaging in bilocation Padre Domenico da Cese a fellow Capuchin stigmatist reported that on Sunday, September 22, 1968 he saw Padre Pio kneeling in prayer before the Holy Face of Manoppello, although it was known that Padre Pio hadn't left his room.
Stigmata
Padre Pio showing the stigmata
His stigmata, regarded by some as evidence of holiness, was studied by physicians whose independence from the Church is not known. The observations were reportedly unexplainable and the wounds never became infected. His wounds healed once but reappeared. They were examined by Luigi Romanelli, chief physician of the City Hospital of Barletta, for about one year. Dr. Giorgio Festa, a private practitioner also examined them in 1920 and 1925. Professor Giuseppe Bastianelli, physician to Pope Benedict XV agreed that the wounds existed but made no other comment. Pathologist Dr. Amico Bignami of the University of Rome also observed the wounds but could make no diagnosis. Both Bignami and Dr. Giuseppe Sala commented on the unusually smooth edges of the wounds and lack of edema. Dr. Alberto Caserta took X-rays of the hands in 1954 and found no abnormality in the bone structure.
It was reputed, however, that his condition caused him great embarrassment, and most photographs show him with red mittens or black coverings on his hands and feet where the bleedings occurred. At Padre Pio's death in 1968, his body appeared unwounded, with no sign of scarring. Allegedly, there was a report that doctors who examined his body found it empty of all blood.
Those who have accused Padre Pio of faking his stigmata, both religious and non-religious, such as historian Sergio Luzzatto and others, claim that Padre Pio used carbolic acid to self-inflict the wounds. The sole piece of evidence for this is a single document found in the Vatican's archive — the testimony of a pharmacist at the San Giovanni Rotondo, Maria De Vito, from whom he ordered 4 grams of the acid. This letter was amongst the material gathered by those who disputed Padre Pio's stigmata at the time. According to De Vito, Padre Pio asked her to keep the order secret, saying it was to sterilise needles (he also asked for other things, such as Valda pastilles). The document was examined but dismissed by the Catholic Church during Padre Pio's beatification process.
One commentator expressed the belief that the Church likely dismissed the claims based on witnesses that stated the acid was in fact used for sterilization: "The boys had needed injections to fight the Spanish Flu which was raging at that time. Due to a shortage of doctors, Padres Paolino and Pio administered the shots, using carbolic acid as a sterilizing agent.”
Death
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| St. Pio of Pietrelcina Chapel, San Giovanni Rontondo, Italy |
Early in the morning of 23 September 1968, Padre Pio made his last confession and renewed his Franciscan vows. As was customary, he had his rosary in his hands, though he did not have the strength to say the Hail Marys aloud. Till the end, he repeated the words "Gesù, Maria" (Jesus, Mary). At around 2:30am, he said, "I see two mothers" (taken to mean his mother and Mary). At 2:30 a.m. he breathed his last in his cell in San Giovanni Rotondo with his last breath whispering, "Maria!"
His body was buried on 26 September in a crypt in the Church of Our Lady of Grace. His Requiem Mass was attended by over 100,000 people. He was often heard to say, "After my death I will do more. My real mission will begin after my death." The accounts of those who stayed with Padre Pio till the end state that the stigmata had completely disappeared without even leaving a scar. Only a red mark "as if drawn by a red pencil" remained on his side which then disappeared.
St. Pio of Pietrelcina is currently known as the patron saint of civil defense volunteers, after a group of 160 of them petitioned the Italian Bishops’ conference. The Bishops forwarded the request to the Vatican, which gave its approval to the designation. He is also “less officially” known as the patron saint of stress relief and the “January blues,” after the Catholic Enquiry Office in London proclaimed him as such. They designated the most depressing day of the year, identified as January 22, as Don’t Worry Be Happy day, in honor of Padre Pio’s famous advice: “Pray, hope, and don’t worry.”
Sainthood and later recognition
In 1982, the Holy See authorized the Archbishop of Manfredonia to open an investigation to discover whether Padre Pio should be considered a saint. The investigation went on for seven years, and in 1990 Padre Pio was declared a Servant of God, the first step in the progression to canonization.Beginning in 1990, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints debated how heroically Padre Pio had lived his life, and in 1997 Pope John Paul II declared him venerable. A discussion of the effects of his life on others followed, including the cure of an Italian woman, Consiglia de Martino, which had been associated with Padre Pio's intercession. In 1999, on the advice of the Congregation, John Paul II declared Padre Pio blessed.
After further consideration of Padre Pio's virtues and ability to do good even after his death, including discussion of another healing attributed to his intercession, the Pope declared Padre Pio a saint on 16 June 2002. Three hundred thousand people were estimated to have attended the canonization ceremony.
Padre Pio is one of only two saints who were priests living after the Second Vatican Council; the other being Saint Josemaria Escriva. Both priests had permission from the Pope to offer the traditional Latin Mass without any of the liturgical reforms that stemmed from the Council.
On 1 July 2004, Pope John Paul II dedicated the Padre Pio Pilgrimage Church in San Giovanni Rotondo to the memory of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina. A statue of Saint Pio in Messina, Sicily attracted attention in 2002 when it reportedly wept tears of blood. Padre Pio has become one of the world's most popular saints. There are more than 3,000 "Padre Pio Prayer Groups" worldwide, with three million members. There are parishes dedicated to Padre Pio in Vineland and Lavallette, New Jersey and Sydney, Australia, and there is a St. Padre Pio Shrine in Buena, New Jersey. A 2006 survey by the magazine Famiglia Cristiana found that more Italian Catholics pray to Padre Pio than to any other figure. This prayer, more properly understood as a request, is not to be confused with worship which the Catholic Church teaches is due only to God himself.
A statue of Padre Pio will be built on a hill near the town of San Giovanni Rotondo in the southern province of Puglia, Italy, close to the town where he is commemorated. The project will cost several million pounds, with the money to be raised from his devotees around the world. The statue will be coated in a special photovoltaic paint which will enable it to trap the sun's heat and produce solar energy, making it an "ecological" religious icon.
On 3 March 2008, the body of Saint Pio was exhumed from his crypt, 40 years after his death, so that his remains could be prepared for display. A church statement described the body as being in "fair condition". Archbishop Domenico D'Ambrosio, Papal legate to the shrine in San Giovanni Rotondo, stated "the top part of the skull is partly skeletal but the chin is perfect and the rest of the body is well preserved". Archbishop D’Ambrosio also confirmed in a communiqué that “the stigmata are not visible.” He went on to say that St. Pio's hands "looked like they had just undergone a manicure". It was hoped that morticians would be able to restore the face so that it will be recognizable. However, because of its deterioration, his face was covered with a lifelike silicone mask.
Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, prefect for the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, celebrated Mass for 15,000 devotees on 24 April at the Shrine of Holy Mary of Grace, San Giovanni Rotondo, before the body went on display in a crystal, marble, and silver sepulcher in the crypt of the monastery. Padre Pio is wearing his brown Capuchin habit with a white silk stole embroidered with crystals and gold thread. His hands hold a large wooden cross. 800,000 pilgrims worldwide, mostly from Italy, made reservations to view the body up to December 2008, but only 7,200 people a day were able to file past the crystal coffin. Officials extended the display through September, 2009.
Saint Pio's remains were placed in the church of Saint Pio, which is beside San Giovanni Rotondo. In April 2010 they were moved to a special golden "Cripta".
References
- Ruffin, Bernard C. (1991). Padre Pio: The True Story. Our Sunday Visitor. pp. 444. ISBN 978-0-87973-673-6
- Gerhold, Ryan (2007-02-20). "The Second St. Francis". The Angelus: 12–18."Padre Pio the Man Part 1". http://www.ewtn.com/padrepio/man/biography.htm. Retrieved 2012-09-19
- Peluso, Paul (2002-06-17). "Back to Pietrelcina". Padre Pio Foundation. http://www.padrepio.com/app19.html. Retrieved 2012-09-20
- olan, Geraldine. Padre Pio A living Crucifix. Our Lady of Grace Capuchin Friary Editions. http://www.padrepio.org.uk/padrepiointro.html#EarlyYears. Retrieved 2012-09-19
- Pelletier, Joseph A (2007-02-20). "PADRE PIO, MARY, AND THE ROSARY". Garabandal. http://www.garabandal.us/padre_maryrosary.html. Retrieved 2012-09-19
- Michael Freze (1989). They Bore the Wounds of Christ: The Mystery of the Sacred Stigmata. OSV Publishing. pp. 283–285. ISBN 0-87973-422-1.
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St. Francis of Assisi is the first recorded stigmatic in Christian history.
In 1224, two years before his death, he embarked on a journey to Mt. La
Verna for a forty day fast. One morning near the feast of the
Exaltation of the Cross, a six winged angel allegedly appeared to
Francis while he prayed. As the angel approached, Francis could see that
the angel was crucified. He was humbled by the sight, and his heart was
filled with elation joined by pain and suffering. When the angel
departed, Francis was purportedly left with wounds in his hands, feet,
and side as if caused by the same lance that pierced Christ’s side. The
image of nails immediately appeared in his hands and feet, and the wound
in his side often seeped blood.
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Today's Snippet I: Stigmata
Stigmata (singular stigma)
are bodily marks, sores, or sensations of pain in locations
corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ, such as the
hands and feet. In some cases, rope marks on the wrists have accompanied
the wounds on the hands.
The term originates from the
line at the end of Saint Paul's Letter to the Galatians where he says,
"I bear on my body the marks of Jesus." Stigmata is the plural of the Greek word στίγμα stigma,
meaning a mark or brand such as might have been used for identification
of an animal or slave. An individual bearing stigmata is referred to as
a stigmatic or a stigmatist.
Stigmata
are primarily associated with the Roman Catholic faith. Many reported
stigmatics are members of Catholic religious orders.
St. Francis of Assisi was the first recorded stigmatic in Christian
history. For over fifty years Padre Pio of Pietrelcina of the Order of
Friars Minor Capuchin
reported stigmata which were studied by several 20th century
physicians, whose independence from the Church is not known. The
observations were reportedly unexplainable and the wounds never became
infected.
A high percentage (perhaps over 80%) of all stigmatics are women. In his Stigmata: A Medieval Phenomenon in a Modern Age, Edward Harrison suggests that there is no single mechanism whereby the marks of stigmata were produced.
Stigmata Description
Reported cases of stigmata take various forms. Many show some or all of five Holy Wounds that were, according to the Bible,
inflicted on Jesus during his crucifixion: wounds in the wrists and
feet, from nails, and in the side, from a lance. Some stigmatics display
wounds to the forehead similar to those caused by the Crown of Thorns.
Stigmata as crown of thorns appearing in the 20th century, e.g. on
Marie Rose Ferron have been repeatedly photographed. Other reported
forms include tears of blood or sweating blood, and wounds to the back
as from scourging.
Many
stigmata show recurring bleeding that stops and then starts, at times
after receiving Holy Communion and a large percentage of stigmatics have
shown a high desire to frequently receive Holy Communion. A relatively high percentage of stigmatics also exhibit Inedia,
living with minimal (or no) food or water for long periods of time,
except for the Holy Eucharist, and some exhibit loss of weight.
The ecstasy and sufferings usually began for the Saints who suffered
stigmata starting on Thursday and ending on Friday afternoon around 3 or
4 o' clock. All the recipients of this mystical wounding suffered
dreadfully. Many of the stigmatics experienced cruel rejection and
suspicion before their wounds were authenticated. Saints who suffered
stigmata were carefully watched day and night so that tampering with the
wounds could not be performed. When these methods were used, a number
of false stigmatics were exposed. Sometimes this stigmata became
invisible on express request and prayers by the Saints who suffered
them.
Some stigmatics claim to feel the pain of wounds with no external
marks; these are referred to as invisible stigmata. In other claims,
stigmata are accompanied by extreme pain. Some stigmatics' wounds do not
appear to clot, and stay fresh and uninfected. The blood from the
wounds is said, in some cases, to have a pleasant, perfumed odor, known
as the Odour of Sanctity.
Odour of sanctity
The odour of sanctity or odor of sanctity,
according to the Catholic Church, is commonly understood to mean a
specific scent (often compared to flowers) that emanates from the bodies
of saints, especially from the wounds of stigmata.
The odour of sanctity can be understood to mean two things:
- An ontological state (a state of being), not usually related to an actual olfactory sensation, indicating that the individual possessing it is in a state of grace (i.e., a state characterized by the absence of mortal sin). Usually refers to the state of an individual's soul at the time of death. Some canonized saints are said to have died in an odour of sanctity.
- An actual odour (scent or aroma) present at the time of death and for some time thereafter.
The term "odour of sanctity"
appears to have emerged in the Middle Ages, at a time when many saints
were raised to that status by acclamation of the faithful. In the
absence of carefully written records, either by or about the individual,
evidence of a saintly life
was attested to only by personal recollections of those around him or
her. It appears that the odour of sanctity occurring at the person’s
death carried some weight in convincing the local ecclesiastical
authority to "canonize" the saint – to allow the faithful to venerate
and pray to him or her.
Religious ecstasy
Individuals who have obtained the stigmata are many times described as
ecstatics. At the time of receiving the stigmata they are overwhelmed
with emotions. No case of stigmata is known to have occurred before the
thirteenth century, when the depiction of the crucified Jesus in Western
Christendom emphasized his humanity.
Religious ecstasy is an altered state of consciousness
characterized by greatly reduced external awareness and expanded
interior mental and spiritual awareness which is frequently accompanied
by visions and emotional/intuitive (and sometimes physical) euphoria. Although the experience is usually brief in time,
there are records of such experiences lasting several days or even
more, and of recurring experiences of ecstasy during one's lifetime.
Subjective perception of time, space and/or self may strongly change or
disappear during ecstasy.
In his paper Hospitality and Pain, Christian theologian Ivan Illich
states: "Compassion with Christ... is faith so strong and so deeply
incarnate that it leads to the individual embodiment of the contemplated
pain." His thesis is that stigmata result from exceptional poignancy of
religious faith and desire to associate oneself with the suffering Messiah.
Specific cases
St. Francis of Assisi
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| St Francis Assisi with Stigmata, Murillo C1680 |
St. Francis' first biographer, Thomas of Celano, reports the event as follows in his 1230 First Life of St. Francis:
"When the blessed servant of God saw these things he was filled with wonder, but he did not know what the vision meant. He rejoiced greatly in the benign and gracious expression with which he saw himself regarded by the seraph, whose beauty was indescribable; yet he was alarmed by the fact that the seraph was affixed to the cross and was suffering terribly. Thus Francis rose, one might say, sad and happy, joy and grief alternating in him. He wondered anxiously what this vision could mean, and his soul was uneasy as it searched for understanding. And as his understanding sought in vain for an explanation and his heart was filled with perplexity at the great novelty of this vision, the marks of nails began to appear in his hands and feet, just as he had seen them slightly earlier in the crucified man above him. His wrists and feet seemed to be pierced by nails, with the heads of the nails appearing on his wrists and on the upper sides of his feet, the points appearing on the other side. The marks were round on the palm of each hand but elongated on the other side, and small pieces of flesh jutting out from the rest took on the appearance of the nail-ends, bent and driven back. In the same way the marks of nails were impressed on his feet and projected beyond the rest of the flesh. Moreover, his right side had a large wound as if it had been pierced with a spear, and it often bled so that his tunic and trousers were soaked with his sacred blood."
Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
A young Padre Pio showing the stigmata.
For
over fifty years, Padre Pio of Pietrelcina reported stigmata which were
studied by several 20th century physicians, whose independence from the
Church is not known. The observations were reportedly unexplainable and
the wounds never became infected. His wounds healed once, but
reappeared. The wounds
were examined by Luigi Romanelli, chief physician of the City Hospital
of Barletta, for about one year. Dr. Giorgio Festa, a private
practitioner, also examined them in 1920 and 1925. Professor Giuseppe
Bastianelli, physician to Pope Benedict XV, agreed that the wounds
existed but made no other comment. Pathologist Dr. Amico Bignami of the
University of Rome also observed the wounds, but could make no
diagnosis. Both Bignami
and Dr. Giuseppe Sala commented on the unusually smooth edges of the
wounds and lack of edema. Dr. Alberto Caserta took X-rays of the hands
in 1954 and found no abnormality in the bone structure.
Notable stigmatics
- Saint Paul the Apostle
- Blessed Lucia Brocadelli of Narni
- Saint Catherine of Ricci
- Saint Catherine of Siena
- Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich
- Saint Francesco di Assisi
- Saint Gemma Galgani
- Saint Veronica Giuliani
- Saint John of God
- Saint Faustina Kowalska
- Saint Marie of the Incarnation
- Marie Rose Ferron
- Marcelline Pauper, member of the Sisters of Charity of Nevers
- Marthe Robin
- Therese Neumann
- Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
- Saint Rita of Cascia
- Zlatko Sudac
- Natuzza Evolo
References
- Saint Francis of Assisi by Jacques Le Goff 2003 ISBN 0-415-28473-2
- Harrison, Ted (1994-10). Stigmata: A Medieval Phenomenon in a Modern Age. St Martins Press. ISBN 0-312-11372-2.
- Poulain, A. (1912). Mystical Stigmata. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved September 21, 2012 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14294b.htm
- Thurston, Herbert (2007-02-01). The Physical Phenomena of Mysticism. Roman Catholic Books. ISBN 1-929291-91-4, 9781929291915..
- Michael Freze, 1989, They Bore the Wounds of Christ: The Mystery of the Sacred Stigmata, OSV Publishing ISBN 0-87973-422-1
- Living Miracles - Stigmata, Zentropa Real ApS. & Wonders Unlimited, 2005.
- Sadaputa Dasa, Religion and Modern Rationalism: Shifting the Boundary Between Myth and Science, ISKCON Communications Journal #1.2, July/December 1993.
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The Five Holy Wounds or Five Sacred Wounds
refer to what are believed to be the five piercing wounds that was
suffered during the crucifixion of Jesus. These wounds are not
explicitly mentioned in any of the canonical Gospels until the
Resurrection, although John the Evangelist states that no bones were
broken. In the course of His Passion, Jesus suffered other wounds as
well, such as those from the crown of thorns and from the flagellation.
On the Crucifix recite:
Oh JESUS, Divine Redeemer, be merciful to us and to the whole world. Amen.
Strong God, Holy God, Immortal God, have mercy on us and on the whole world. Amen
On the each decade:
Recite Mystery and Hail Mary followed by "My Jesus, pardon and mercy, through the merits of Your Holy Wounds" and a Glory Be.
On the large beads between each decade:
Recite an Our Father followed by "Eternal Father, I offer You the Wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ. To heal the wounds of our souls."
Conclude:
Recite three additional Hail Mary's are said in honor of Our Lady of Sorrow's Tears. Amen.
THE 17 PROMISES OF OUR LORD OF CHAPLET DEVOTION:
1. At each word that you pronounce of the Chaplet of the Holy Wounds, I allow a drop of My Blood to fall upon the soul of a sinner.
2. Each time that you offer to My Father the merits of My Divine Wounds, you win an immense fortune.
3. Souls that will have contemplated and honored My crown of thorns on earth, will be My crown of glory in Heaven!
4. I will grant all that is asked of Me through the invocation of My Holy Wounds. You will obtain everything, because it is through the merit of My Blood, which is of infinite price. With My Wounds and My Divine Heart, everything can be obtained.
5. From My Wounds proceed fruits of sanctity. As gold purified in the crucible becomes more beautiful, so you must put your soul and those of your companions into My sacred Wounds; there they will become perfected as gold in the furnace. You can always purify yourself in My Wounds.
6. My Wounds will repair yours. My Wounds will cover all your faults. Those who honor them will have a true knowledge of Jesus Christ. In meditation on them, you will always find a new love. My Wounds will cover all your sins.
7. Plunge your actions into My Wounds and they will be of value. All your actions, even the least, soaked in My Blood, will acquire by this alone an infinite merit and will please My Heart.
8. In offering My Wounds for the conversion of sinners, even though the sinners are not converted, you will have the same merit before God as if they were.
9. When you have some trouble, something to suffer, quickly place it in My Wounds, and the pain will be alleviated.
10. This aspiration must often be repeated near the sick: "My Jesus, pardon and mercy through the merits of Thy Holy Wounds!" This prayer will solace soul and body.
11. A sinner who will say the following prayer will obtain conversion: "Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ to heal those of our souls."
12. There will be no death for the soul that expires in My Holy Wounds; they give true life.
13. This chaplet is a counterpoise to My justice; it restrains My vengeance.
14. Those who pray with humility and who meditate on My Passion, will one day participate in the glory of My Divine Wounds.
15. The more you will have contemplated My painful Wounds on this earth, the higher will be your contemplation of them glorious in Heaven.
16. The soul who during life has honored the Wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ and has offered them to the Eternal Father for the Souls in Purgatory, will be accompanied at the moment of death by the Holy Virgin and the Angels; and Our Lord on the Cross, all brilliant in glory, will receive her and crown her.
17. The invocations of the Holy Wounds will obtain an incessant victory for the Church.
Snippet II:
The Five Holy Wounds
 |
| Crucifixon 13th Century, Monastery |
Two
of the wounds were through either his hands or his wrists, where nails
were inserted to fix Jesus
to the cross-beam of the cross on which he was crucified. According to
M.D., Ph.D Frederick T. Zugibe, the most plausible region for the nail
entry site in the case of Jesus is the upper part of the palm angled
toward the wrist since this area can easily support the weight of the
body, assures no bones are broken, marks the location where most people
believed it to be, accounts for where most of the stigmatists have
displayed their wounds and it is where artists through the centuries
have designated it and lastly it would result in apparent lengthening of
the fingers of the hand because of nail compression. Two were through
the feet where the nail(s) passed through both to the vertical beam.
The final wound was in the side of Jesus' chest, where, according to the New Testament, his body was pierced by the Holy Lance in order to be sure that he was dead. The Gospel of John states that blood and water poured out of this wound (John 19:34).
The Roman Catholic tradition includes specific prayers that focus on the Holy Wounds. An example is the Rosary of the Holy Wounds (also called the Chaplet of Holy Wounds),
a rosary devotion directed to Jesus, rather than the Virgin Mary. Like
some other rosary based prayers (such as the Chaplet of Divine Mercy) it
uses the usual rosary beads, but does not include the usual Mysteries
of the Rosary. The Rosary of the Holy Wounds was first introduced
at the beginning of the 20th century by the Venerable Sister Mary
Martha Chambon, a lay Roman Catholic Sister of the Monastery of the Visitation Order in Chambéry, France as a focus on the Holy Wounds of Jesus.
Marie Martha Chambon (1841 – March 21, 1907) was a lay Roman Catholic nun known for introducing the Rosary of the Holy Wounds. She was a member of the Monastery of the Visitation Order who lived in Chambéry, France. She is in the process of canonization by the Roman Catholic Church. She died on March 21, 1907, and the cause for her beatification was introduced in 1937. She began to report visions of Jesus in 1866, telling her to contemplate the Holy Wounds, although it is said that she had received her first vision when only five years old. These were visions of Jesus Christ appearing to her and teaching her specific prayers and meditations on His wounds. She reported that she was told to pray to and invoke the Holy Wounds unceasingly. Her mother superior kept a chronicle of her life which was published in 1923 and sold widely. The next year the Vatican granted an indulgence to those who said the following prayer, based on her reported visions: "Eternal Father I offer the wounds of Our Lord Jesus Christ, to heal those of our souls."
She reported that Jesus asked her to unite her sufferings with His in the Rosary of the Holy Wounds as an Act of Reparation for the sins of the world. She reported that Jesus told her that "[w]hen you offer My Holy Wounds for sinners, you must not forget to do so for the souls in Purgatory, as there are but few who think of their relief... The Holy Wounds are the treasure of treasures for the souls in Purgatory."
According to Ann Ball, Chambon was told to revive the Holy Wounds devotion. Part of this devotion can be a Chaplet of Mercy of the Holy Wounds of Jesus, which was based on Chambon's private revelations. This chaplet was approved for the Institute of Visitation in 1912, and was extended to all the faithful at large by the Sacred Penitentiary in 1924. According to Liz Kelly, the Rosary of the Holy Wounds was revealed to Chambon and is prayed on a standard five decade rosary.
The final wound was in the side of Jesus' chest, where, according to the New Testament, his body was pierced by the Holy Lance in order to be sure that he was dead. The Gospel of John states that blood and water poured out of this wound (John 19:34).
Holy Wounds Devotion
Venerable Marie Martha Chambon.
Marie Martha Chambon (1841 – March 21, 1907) was a lay Roman Catholic nun known for introducing the Rosary of the Holy Wounds. She was a member of the Monastery of the Visitation Order who lived in Chambéry, France. She is in the process of canonization by the Roman Catholic Church. She died on March 21, 1907, and the cause for her beatification was introduced in 1937. She began to report visions of Jesus in 1866, telling her to contemplate the Holy Wounds, although it is said that she had received her first vision when only five years old. These were visions of Jesus Christ appearing to her and teaching her specific prayers and meditations on His wounds. She reported that she was told to pray to and invoke the Holy Wounds unceasingly. Her mother superior kept a chronicle of her life which was published in 1923 and sold widely. The next year the Vatican granted an indulgence to those who said the following prayer, based on her reported visions: "Eternal Father I offer the wounds of Our Lord Jesus Christ, to heal those of our souls."
She reported that Jesus asked her to unite her sufferings with His in the Rosary of the Holy Wounds as an Act of Reparation for the sins of the world. She reported that Jesus told her that "[w]hen you offer My Holy Wounds for sinners, you must not forget to do so for the souls in Purgatory, as there are but few who think of their relief... The Holy Wounds are the treasure of treasures for the souls in Purgatory."
According to Ann Ball, Chambon was told to revive the Holy Wounds devotion. Part of this devotion can be a Chaplet of Mercy of the Holy Wounds of Jesus, which was based on Chambon's private revelations. This chaplet was approved for the Institute of Visitation in 1912, and was extended to all the faithful at large by the Sacred Penitentiary in 1924. According to Liz Kelly, the Rosary of the Holy Wounds was revealed to Chambon and is prayed on a standard five decade rosary.
Chaplet of the Five Holy Wounds
The Chaplet of the Holy Wounds is recited on a standard rosary.On the Crucifix recite:
Oh JESUS, Divine Redeemer, be merciful to us and to the whole world. Amen.
Strong God, Holy God, Immortal God, have mercy on us and on the whole world. Amen
Grace and Mercy, O my Jesus, during present dangers; cover us with Your Precious Blood. Amen.
ETERNAL
Father, grant us mercy through the Blood of Jesus Christ, Your only
Son; grant us mercy we beseech You. Amen, Amen, Amen
The first three beads of
the Rosary recite:
Bead 1: Strong God, holy God, immortal God, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
Amen.
Bead 2: Grace and mercy, O my Jesus, during present dangers; cover us with Your Precious Blood. Amen. Bead 3: Eternal Father, grant us mercy through the Blood of Jesus Christ, Your only Son; grant us mercy, we beseech You. Amen.
Bead 2: Grace and mercy, O my Jesus, during present dangers; cover us with Your Precious Blood. Amen. Bead 3: Eternal Father, grant us mercy through the Blood of Jesus Christ, Your only Son; grant us mercy, we beseech You. Amen.
On the each decade:
Recite Mystery and Hail Mary followed by "My Jesus, pardon and mercy, through the merits of Your Holy Wounds" and a Glory Be.
On the large beads between each decade:
Recite an Our Father followed by "Eternal Father, I offer You the Wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ. To heal the wounds of our souls."
Conclude:
Recite three additional Hail Mary's are said in honor of Our Lady of Sorrow's Tears. Amen.
THE 17 PROMISES OF OUR LORD OF CHAPLET DEVOTION:
1. At each word that you pronounce of the Chaplet of the Holy Wounds, I allow a drop of My Blood to fall upon the soul of a sinner.
2. Each time that you offer to My Father the merits of My Divine Wounds, you win an immense fortune.
3. Souls that will have contemplated and honored My crown of thorns on earth, will be My crown of glory in Heaven!
4. I will grant all that is asked of Me through the invocation of My Holy Wounds. You will obtain everything, because it is through the merit of My Blood, which is of infinite price. With My Wounds and My Divine Heart, everything can be obtained.
5. From My Wounds proceed fruits of sanctity. As gold purified in the crucible becomes more beautiful, so you must put your soul and those of your companions into My sacred Wounds; there they will become perfected as gold in the furnace. You can always purify yourself in My Wounds.
6. My Wounds will repair yours. My Wounds will cover all your faults. Those who honor them will have a true knowledge of Jesus Christ. In meditation on them, you will always find a new love. My Wounds will cover all your sins.
7. Plunge your actions into My Wounds and they will be of value. All your actions, even the least, soaked in My Blood, will acquire by this alone an infinite merit and will please My Heart.
8. In offering My Wounds for the conversion of sinners, even though the sinners are not converted, you will have the same merit before God as if they were.
9. When you have some trouble, something to suffer, quickly place it in My Wounds, and the pain will be alleviated.
10. This aspiration must often be repeated near the sick: "My Jesus, pardon and mercy through the merits of Thy Holy Wounds!" This prayer will solace soul and body.
11. A sinner who will say the following prayer will obtain conversion: "Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ to heal those of our souls."
12. There will be no death for the soul that expires in My Holy Wounds; they give true life.
13. This chaplet is a counterpoise to My justice; it restrains My vengeance.
14. Those who pray with humility and who meditate on My Passion, will one day participate in the glory of My Divine Wounds.
15. The more you will have contemplated My painful Wounds on this earth, the higher will be your contemplation of them glorious in Heaven.
16. The soul who during life has honored the Wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ and has offered them to the Eternal Father for the Souls in Purgatory, will be accompanied at the moment of death by the Holy Virgin and the Angels; and Our Lord on the Cross, all brilliant in glory, will receive her and crown her.
17. The invocations of the Holy Wounds will obtain an incessant victory for the Church.
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Snippet III: Devotion to The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
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| Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Scapular |
The Sacred Heart (also known as Most Sacred Heart of Jesus) is one of the most famous religious devotions to Jesus' physical heart as the representation of his divine love for humanity.
This devotion is predominantly used in the Catholic Church and among some high-church Anglicans and Lutherans. The devotion especially emphasizes the unmitigated love, compassion, and long-suffering of the heart of Christ towards humanity. The origin of this devotion in its modern form is derived from a French Roman Catholic nun, Marguerite Marie Alacoque, who said she learned the devotion from Jesus during a mystical experience. Predecessors to the modern devotion arose unmistakably in the Middle Ages in various facets of Catholic mysticism.
In the Roman Catholic tradition, the Sacred Heart has been closely associated with Acts of Reparation to Jesus Christ. In his encyclical Miserentissimus Redemptor, Pope Pius XI stated: "the spirit of expiation or reparation has always had the first and foremost place in the worship given to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus". The Golden Arrow Prayer directly refers to the Sacred Heart. Devotion to the Sacred Heart is sometimes seen in the Eastern Catholic Churches, where it remains a point of controversy and is seen as an example of Liturgical Latinisation.
The Sacred Heart is often depicted in Christian art as a flaming heart shining with divine light, pierced by the lance-wound, encircled by the crown of thorns, surmounted by a cross and bleeding. Sometimes the image shown shining within the bosom of Christ with his wounded hands pointing at the heart. The wounds and crown of thorns allude to the manner of Jesus' death, while the fire represents the transformative power of divine love.
The Feast of the Sacred Heart has been in the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar since 1856, and is celebrated 19 days after Pentecost. As Pentecost is always celebrated on Sunday, the Feast of the Sacred Heart always falls on a Friday.
History of Devotion
Early devotion
 |
| Sacred Heart of Jesus Ibarrará, 1896 |
From the time of John the Evangelist and Paul of Tarsus there has always been in the Church something like devotion to the love of God, but there is nothing to indicate that, during the first ten centuries of Christianity, any worship was rendered to the wounded Heart of Jesus. It is in the eleventh and twelfth centuries that the first indications of devotion to the Sacred Heart are found. It was in the fervent atmosphere of the Benedictine or Cistercian monasteries, in the world of Anselmian or Bernardine thought, that the devotion arose, although it is impossible to say positively what were its first texts or who were its first devotees. It was already well known to St. Gertrude, St. Mechtilde, and the author of the Vitis mystica (previously ascribed to St. Bernard, now attributed to St. Bonaventure).
From the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries, the devotion was propagated but it did not seem to have developed in itself. It was everywhere practised by individuals and by different religious congregations, such as the Franciscans, Dominicans, Carthusians, etc. It was, nevertheless, a private, individual devotion of the mystical order. Nothing of a general movement had been inaugurated, except for similarities found in the devotion to the Five Wounds by the Franciscans, in which the wound in Jesus's heart figured most prominently.
In the sixteenth century, the devotion passed from the domain of mysticism into that of Christian asceticism. It was established as a devotion with prayers already formulated and special exercises, found in the writings of Lanspergius (d. 1539) of the Carthusians of Cologne, the Louis of Blois (Blosius; 1566), a Benedictine and Abbot of Liessies in Hainaut, John of Avila (d. 1569) and St. Francis de Sales, the latter belonging to the seventeenth century.
The historical record from that time shows an early bringing to light of the devotion. Ascetic writers spoke of it, especially those of the Society of Jesus. The image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was everywhere in evidence, largely due to the Franciscan devotion to the Five Wounds and to the habit formed by the Jesuits of placing the image on their title-page of their books and the walls of their churches.
Nevertheless, the devotion remained an individual, or at least a private, devotion. Jean Eudes (1602–1680) made it public, gave it an Office, and established a feast for it. Père Eudes was the apostle of the Heart of Mary; but in his devotion to the Immaculate Heart there was a share for the Heart of Jesus. Little by little, the devotion to the Sacred Heart became a separate one, and on August 31, 1670, the first feast of the Sacred Heart was celebrated in the Grand Seminary of Rennes. Coutances followed suit on October 20, a day with which the Eudist feast was from then on to be connected. The feast soon spread to other dioceses, and the devotion was likewise adopted in various religious communities. It gradually came into contact with the devotion begun at Paray, and resulting in a fusion of the two.
Visions of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque
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| St Margaret Mary Alacoque, Giaquinto 1765 |
The most significant source for the devotion to the Sacred Heart in the form it is known today was Visitandine Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647–1690), who claimed to have received visions of Jesus Christ. There is nothing to indicate that she had known the devotion prior to the revelations, or at least that she had paid any attention to it. The revelations were numerous, and the following apparitions are especially remarkable:
- On December 27, probably 1673, the feast of St. John, Margaret Mary reported that Jesus permitted her, as he had formerly allowed St. Gertrude, to rest her head upon his heart, and then disclosed to her the wonders of his love, telling her that he desired to make them known to all mankind and to diffuse the treasures of his goodness, and that he had chosen her for this work.
- In probably June or July, 1674, Margaret Mary claimed that Jesus requested to be honored under the figure of his heart, also claiming that, when he appeared radiant with love, he asked for a devotion of expiatory love: frequent reception of Communion, especially Communion on the First Friday of the month, and the observance of the Holy Hour.
- During the octave of Corpus Christi, 1675, probably on June 16, the vision known as the "great apparition" reportedly took place, where Jesus said, "Behold the Heart that has so loved men ... instead of gratitude I receive from the greater part (of mankind) only ingratitude ...", and asked Margaret Mary for a feast of reparation of the Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi, bidding her consult her confessor Father Claude de la Colombière, then superior of the small Jesuit house at Paray. Solemn homage was asked on the part of the king, and the mission of propagating the new devotion was especially confided to the religious of the Visitation and to the priests of the Society of Jesus.
A few days after the "great apparition", Margaret Mary reported everything she saw to Father de la Colombière, and he, acknowledging the vision as an action of the Spirit of God, consecrated himself to the Sacred Heart and directed her to write an account of the apparition. He also made use of every available opportunity to circulate this account, discreetly, through France and England. Upon his death on February 15, 1682, there was found in his journal of spiritual retreats a copy in his own handwriting of the account that he had requested of Margaret Mary, together with a few reflections on the usefulness of the devotion. This journal, including the account and an "offering" to the Sacred Heart, in which the devotion was well explained, was published at Lyons in 1684. The little book was widely read, especially at Paray. Margaret Mary reported feeling "dreadful confusion" over the book's contents, but resolved to make the best of it, approving of the book for the spreading of her cherished devotion. Outside of the Visitandines, priests, religious, and laymen espoused the devotion, particularly the Capuchins, Margaret Mary's two brothers, and some Jesuits. The Jesuit Father Croiset wrote a book called The Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a book which Jesus is said to have told Margaret to tell Fr. Croiset to write, and Fr. Joseph de Gallifet, also a Jesuit, promoted the devotion.
Papal Approvals
The Blessed Mary of the Divine Heart was a nun from Sisters of the Good Shepherd Congregation who requested, in the name of Christ Himself, to Pope Leo XIII that he consecrate the entire World to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The death of Margaret Mary Alacoque on October 17, 1690, did not dampen the zeal of those interested; on the contrary, a short account of her life published by Father Croiset in 1691, as an appendix to his book "De la Dévotion au Sacré Cœur", served only to increase it. In spite of all sorts of obstacles, and of the slowness of the Holy See, which in 1693 imparted indulgences to the Confraternities of the Sacred Heart and, in 1697, granted the feast to the Visitandines with the Mass of the Five Wounds, but refused a feast common to all, with special Mass and Office. The devotion spread, particularly in religious communities. The Marseilles plague, 1720, furnished perhaps the first occasion for a solemn consecration and public worship outside of religious communities. Other cities of the South followed the example of Marseilles, and thus the devotion became a popular one. In 1726 it was deemed advisable once more to importune Rome for a feast with a Mass and Office of its own, but, in 1729, Rome again refused. However, in 1765, it finally yielded and that same year, at the request of the queen, the feast was received quasi-officially by the episcopate of France. On all sides it was asked for and obtained, and finally, in 1856, at the urgent entreaties of the French bishops, Pope Pius IX extended the feast to the Roman Catholic Church under the rite of double major. In 1889 it was raised by the Roman Catholic Church to the double rite of first class.
After the letters of Mother Mary of the Divine Heart (1863–1899) requesting, in the name of Christ Himself, to Pope Leo XIII consecrate the entire World to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Holy Father commissions a group of theologians to examine the petition on the basis of revelation and sacred tradition. This investigation was positive. And so in the encyclical letter Annum Sacrum (on May 25, 1899) this same pope decreed that the consecration of the entire human race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus should take place on June 11, 1899. In this encyclical letter the Pope attached Later Pope Leo XIII encouraged the entire Roman Catholic episcopate to promote the devotion of the Nine First Fridays and he established June as the Month of the Sacred Heart. Leo XIII also composed the Prayer of Consecration to the Sacred Heart and included it in Annum Sacrum.
Pope Pius X decreed that the consecration of the human race, performed by Pope Leo XIII be renewed each year. Pope Pius XI in his encyclical letter Miserentissimus Redemptor (on May 8, 1928) affirmed the Church's position with respect to Saint Margaret Mary's visions of Jesus Christ by stating that Jesus had "manifested Himself" to Saint Margaret and had "promised her that all those who rendered this honor to His Heart would be endowed with an abundance of heavenly graces." The encyclical refers to the conversation between Jesus and Saint Margaret several times[2] and reaffirmed the importance of consecration and reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Finally, Venerable Pope Pius XII, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Pope Pius IX's institution of the Feast, instructed the entire Roman Catholic Church at length on the devotion to the Sacred Heart in his encyclical letter Haurietis aquas (on May 15, 1956). On May 15, 2006, also Pope Benedict XVI sent a letter to Father Peter Hans Kolvenbach, the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, on the 50th Anniversary of the encyclical Haurietis Aquas, about the Sacred Heart, by Pope Pius XII. In his letter to Father Kolvenbach, Pope Benedict XVI reaffirmed the importance of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Worship and Devotion
The Roman Catholic acts of consecration, reparation and devotion were introduced when the feast of the Sacred Heart was declared. In his Papal Bull Auctorem Fidei, Pope Pius VI praised devotion to the Sacred Heart. Finally, by order of Leo XIII, in his encyclical Annum Sacrum (May 25, 1899), as well as on June 11, he consecrated every human to the Sacred Heart. The idea of this act, which Leo XIII called "the great act" of his pontificate, had been proposed to him by a religious woman of the Good Shepherd from Oporto (Portugal) who said that she had supernaturally received it from Jesus. Since c. 1850, groups, congregations, and States have consecrated themselves to the Sacred Heart. In 1873, by petition of president Gabriel García Moreno, Ecuador was the first country in the world to be consecrated to the Sacred Heart, fulfilling God's petition to Saint Margaret Mary over two hundred years later.
Peter Coudrin of France founded the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary on December 24, 1800. A religious order of the Roman Catholic Church, the order is best known for its missionary work in Hawaii. Mother Clelia Merloni from Forlì (Italy) founded the Congregation of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Viareggio, Italy, May 30, 1894. Worship of the Sacred Heart mainly consists of several hymns, the Salutation of the Sacred Heart, and the Litany of the Sacred Heart. It is common in Roman Catholic services and occasionally is to be found in Anglican services. The Feast of the Sacred Heart is a solemnity in the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar, and is celebrated 19 days after Pentecost. As Pentecost is always celebrated on Sunday, the Feast of the Sacred Heart always falls on a Friday.
The Enthronement of the Sacred Heart is a Roman Catholic ceremony in which a priest or head of a household consecrates the members of the household to the Sacred Heart. A blessed image of the Sacred Heart, either a statue or a picture, is then "enthroned" in the home to serve as a constant reminder to those who dwell in the house of their consecration to the Sacred Heart. The practice of the Enthronement is based upon Pope Pius XII's declaration that devotion to the Sacred of Jesus is "the foundation on which to build the kingdom of God in the hearts of individuals, families, and nations..."
Alliance with the Immaculate Heart of Mary
The Alliance of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary is based on the historical, theological and spiritual links in Catholic devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The joint devotion to the hearts was first formalized in the 17th century by Saint Jean Eudes who organized the scriptural, theological and liturgical sources relating to the devotions and obtained the approbation of the Church, prior to the visions of Saint Marguerite Marie Alacoque.
In the 18th and 19th centuries the devotions grew, both jointly and individually through the efforts of figures such as Saint Louis de Montfort who promoted Catholic Mariology and Saint Catherine Labouré's Miraculous Medal depicting the Heart of Jesus thorn-crowned and the Heart of Mary pierced with a sword. The devotions, and the associated prayers, continued into the 20th century, e.g. in the Immaculata prayer of Saint Maximillian Kolbe and in the reported messages of Our Lady of Fatima which stated that the Heart of Jesus wishes to be honored together with the Heart of Mary.
Popes supported the individual and joint devotions to the hearts through the centuries. In the 1956 encyclical Haurietis Aquas, Pope Pius XII encouraged the joint devotion to the hearts. In the 1979 encyclical Redemptor Hominis Pope John Paul II explained the theme of unity of Mary's Immaculate Heart with the Sacred Heart. In his Angelus address on September 15, 1985 Pope John Paul II coined the term The Alliance of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and in 1986 addressed the international conference on that topic held at Fátima, Portugal.
The Miraculous Medal
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| The Miraculous Medal |
The Sacred Heart has also been involved in (and been depicted) in saintly apparitions such as those to Saint Catherine Labouré in 1830 and appears on the Miraculous Medal.
On the Miraculous Medal, the Sacred Heart is crowned with thorns. The Immaculate Heart of Mary also appears on the medal, next to the Sacred Heart, but is pierced by a sword, rather than being crowned with thorns. The M on the medal signifies the Blessed Virgin at the foot of the Cross when Jesus was being crucified.
Religious imagery depicting the Sacred Heart is frequently featured in Roman Catholic, and sometimes Anglican and Lutheran homes. Sometimes images display beneath them a list of family members, indicating that the entire family is entrusted to the protection of Jesus in the Sacred Heart, from whom blessings on the home and the family members are sought. The prayer "O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in Thee" is often used. One particular image has been used as part of a set, along with an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In that image, Mary too was shown pointing to her Immaculate Heart, expressing her love for the human race and for her Son, Jesus Christ. The mirror images reflect an eternal binding of the two hearts.
The Scapular of the Sacred Heart and the Scapular of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary are worn by Roman Catholics.
In Eastern Catholicism
Devotion to the Sacred Heart may be found in some Eastern Catholic Churches, but is a contentious issue. Those who favour purity of rite are opposed to the devotion, while those who are in favour of the devotion cite it as a point of commonality with their Latin Catholic brethren.
Promises of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Jesus Christ, in his appearances to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, promised these blessings to those who practice devotion to his Sacred Heart. This tabular form of promises was not made by Saint Margaret Mary or her contemporaries. It first appeared at 1863. In 1882, an American businessman spread the tabular form of the promises profusely throughout the world, the twelve promises appearing in 238 languages. In 1890, Cardinal Adolph Perraud deplored this circulation of the promises in the tabular form which were different from the words and even from the meaning of the expressions used by St. Margaret Mary, and wanted the promises to be published in the full, authentic texts as found in the writings of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque:
- I will give them all the graces necessary for their state of life.
- I will give peace in their families.
- I will console them in all their troubles.
- I will be their refuge in life and especially in death.
- I will abundantly bless all their undertakings.
- Sinners shall find in my Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.
- Tepid souls shall become fervent.
- Fervent souls shall rise speedily to great perfection.
- I will bless those places wherein the image of My Sacred Heart shall be exposed and venerated.
- I will give to priests the power to touch the most hardened hearts.
- Persons who propagate this devotion shall have their names eternally written in my Heart.
- In the excess of the mercy of my Heart, I promise you that my all powerful love will grant to all those who will receive Communion on the First Fridays, for nine consecutive months, the grace of final repentance: they will not die in my displeasure, nor without receiving the sacraments; and my Heart will be their secure refuge in that last hour.
The last promise has given rise to the pious Roman Catholic practice of making an effort to attend Mass and receive Communion on the first Friday of each month.
Great efficacy of converting people has been attached to the use of the image of the Sacred Heart.
"Even at the hour of death, incredulous, indifferent, hardened souls have been converted by simply showing them a picture of the Sacred Heart, which sufficed to restore these sinners to the life of hope and love, in a word, to touch the most hardened. It would, indeed, be a great misfortune to any apostolic man to neglect so powerful a means of conversion, and in proof of this I will mention a single fact which will need no comment. A religious of the Company of Jesus had been requested by the Blessed Margaret Mary to make a careful engraving of the Sacred Heart. Being often hindered by other occupations, there was much delay in preparing this plate. ' This good father,' writes the saint, 'is so much occupied by Mon- signor d'Autun in the conversion of heretics, that he has neither time nor leisure to give to the work so ardently desired by the Heart of our Divine Master. You cannot imagine, my much-loved mother, how greatly this delay afflicts and pains me. I must avow confidently to you my belief that it is the cause of his converting so few infidels in this town. I seem constantly to hear these words : ' That if this good father had acquitted himself at once of his promise to the Sacred Heart, Jesus would have changed and converted the hearts of these infidels, on account of the joy He would have felt at seeing Himself honoured in the picture He so much wishes for. As, however, he prefers other work, even though to the glory of God, to that of giving Him this satisfaction, He will harden the hearts of these infidels, and the labours of this mission will not be crowned with much fruit.'
Scapular of the Sacred Heart
The devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus also involve the Scapular of the Sacred Heart. It is a Roman Catholic devotional scapular that can be traced back to Saint Margaret Marie Alacoque who herself made and distributed badges similar to it. In 1872 Pope Pius IX granted an indulgence for the badge and the actual scapular was approved by the Congregation of Rites in 1900. It bears the representation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on one side, and that of the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Mother of Mercy on the other side. Prayer, Almighty and everlasting God, look upon the Heart of Thy well-beloved Son and upon the acts of praise and satisfaction which He renders unto Thee in the name of sinners; and do Thou, in Thy great goodness, grant pardon to them who seek Thy mercy, in the name of the same Thy Son, Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with Thee, world without end.
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Featured Item from Litany Lane
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Snippet IV: Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
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| Immaculate heart of Mary Scapular |
The Immaculate Heart of Mary (also known as The Sacred Heart of Mary) is a devotional name used to refer to the interior life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, her joys and sorrows, her virtues and hidden perfections, and, above all, her virginal love for God the Father, her maternal love for her son Jesus, and her compassionate love for all persons. The consideration of Mary's interior life and the beauties of her soul, without any thought of her physical heart, does not constitute the traditional devotion; still less does it consist in the consideration of the heart of Mary merely as a part of her pure body. In 1855 the Mass of the Most Pure Heart formally became a part of Catholic practice. The two elements are essential to the devotion, just as, according to Roman Catholic theology, soul and body are necessary to the constitution of man.
Eastern Catholic Churches occasionally utilize the image, devotion, and theology associated with the Immaculate Heart of Mary. However, this is a cause of some controversy, some seeing it as a form of liturgical instillation. The Roman Catholic view is based on Mariology, as exemplified by Pope John Paul II's Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae which builds on the total Marian devotion pioneered by Louis de Montfort.
Traditionally, the heart is pierced with seven wounds or swords, in homage to the seven dolors of Mary. Consequently, seven Hail Marys are said daily in honor of the devotion. Also, roses or another type of flower may be wrapped around the heart
Veneration and devotion
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| Immaculate Heart Mary, Seven Dolors |
Veneration of the Heart of Mary is analogous to worship of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is, however, necessary to indicate a few differences in this analogy, the better to explain the character of Roman Catholic devotion to the Heart of Mary. Some of these differences are very marked, whereas others are barely perceptible. The Devotion to the Heart of Jesus is especially directed to the "Divine Heart" as overflowing with love for humanity, presented as "despised and outraged". In the devotion to the Mary, on the other hand, the attraction is the love of this Heart for Jesus and for God. Its love for humans is not overlooked, but it is not so much in evidence nor so dominant.
A second difference is the nature of the devotion itself. In devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Roman Catholic venerates in a sense of love responding to love. In devotion to the Heart of Mary, study and imitation hold as important a place as love. Love is more the result than the object of the devotion, the object being rather to love God and Jesus better by uniting one's self to Mary for this purpose and by imitating her virtues. It would also seem that, although in the devotion to the Heart of Mary the heart has an essential part as symbol and sensible object, it does not stand out as prominently as in the devotion to the Heart of Jesus; devotion focuses rather on the thing symbolized, the love, virtues, and sentiments of Mary's interior life.
The Immaculate Heart has also been involved in (and been depicted) in saintly Marian apparitions such as those to Saint Catherine Labouré in 1830 and appears on the Miraculous Medal. On the Miraculous Medal, the Immaculate Heart is pierced by a sword. The Sacred Heart of Jesus also appears on the medal, next to the Immaculate Heart, but is crowned with thorns, rather than being pierced by a sword. The M on the medal signifies the Blessed Virgin at the foot of the Cross when Jesus was being crucified.
Our Lady of Fatima asked that, in reparation for sins committed against her Immaculate Heart, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months the Catholic:
- Go to Confession (within 8 days before or after the first Saturday)
- Receive Holy Communion
- Recite five decades of the Rosary
- Keep me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary
She promised that, whoever would ever do this, would be given at the hour of his death, the graces necessary for salvation.
History of devotion
The history of the devotion to the Heart of Mary is connected on many points with that to the Heart of Jesus. The attention of Christians was early attracted by the love and virtues of the Heart of Mary. The gospels recount the prophecy delivered to her at Jesus' presentation at the temple: that her heart would be pierced with a sword. This image (the pierced heart) is the most popular representation of the Immaculate Heart. The St. John's Gospel further invited attention to Mary's heart with its depiction of Mary at the foot of the cross at Jesus' crucifixion. St. Augustine said of this that Mary was not merely passive at the foot of the cross; "she cooperated through charity in the work of our redemption".
Statue depicting the Immaculate Heart of Mary as described by Sister Lucia of Fátima.
Another Scriptural passage to help in bringing out the devotion was the twice-repeated saying of Saint Luke, that Mary kept all the sayings and doings of Jesus in her heart, that there she might ponder over them and live by them. A few of Mary's sayings, also recorded in the Gospel, particularly the Magnificat (the words Mary is reported to have said to describe the experience of being pregnant with Jesus), disclose new features in Marian psychology. Some of the Church Fathers also throw light upon the psychology of Mary, for instance, Saint Ambrose, when in his commentary on The Gospel of Luke he holds Mary up as the ideal of virginity, and Saint Ephrem, when he poetically sings of the coming of the Magi and the welcome accorded them by the humble mother. Some passages from other books in the Bible are interpreted as referring to Mary, in whom they personify wisdom and her gentle charms. Such are the texts in which wisdom is presented as the mother of lofty love, of fear, of knowledge, and of holy hope. In the New Testament Elizabeth proclaims Mary blessed because she has believed the words of the angel who announced that she would become pregnant with Jesus, although she was still a virgin; the Magnificat is an expression of her humility. In answering the woman of the people, who in order to exalt the son proclaimed the mother blessed, Jesus himself said: "Blessed rather are they that hear the word of God and keep it." The Church Fathers understood this as an invitation to seek in Mary that which had so endeared her to God and caused her to be selected as the mother of Jesus, and found in these words a new reason for praising Mary. St. Leo said that through faith and love she conceived her son spiritually, even before receiving him into her womb, and St. Augustine tells us that she was more blessed in having borne Christ in her heart than in having conceived him in the flesh.
It is only in the twelfth, or towards the end of the eleventh century, that slight indications of a regular devotion are perceived in a sermon by St. Bernard (De duodecim stellis), from which an extract has been taken by the Church and used in the Offices of the Compassion and of the Seven Dolours. Stronger evidences are discernible in the pious meditations on the Ave Maria and the Salve Regina, usually attributed either to St. Anselm of Lucca (d. 1080) or St. Bernard; and also in the large book "De laudibus B. Mariae Virginis" (Douai, 1625) by Richard de Saint-Laurent, Penitentiary of Rouen in the thirteenth century. In St. Mechtilde (d. 1298) and St. Gertrude (d. 1301) the devotion had two earnest adherents. A little earlier it had been included by St. Thomas Becket in the devotion to the joys and sorrows of Mary, by Blessed Hermann (d.1245), one of the first spiritual children of Saint Dominic, in his other devotions to Mary, and somewhat later it appeared in St. Bridget's "Book of Revelations". Johannes Tauler (d. 1361) beholds in Mary the model of a mystical soul, just as St. Ambrose perceived in her the model of a virginal soul. St. Bernardine of Siena (d.1444) was more absorbed in the contemplation of the virginal heart, and it is from him that the Church has borrowed the lessons of the second nocturn for the feast of the Heart of Mary. St. Francis de Sales speaks of the perfections of this heart, the model of love for God, and dedicated to it his "Theotimus."
During this same period one finds occasional mention of devotional practices to the Heart of Mary, e.g., in the "Antidotarium" of Nicolas du Saussay (d. 1488), in Julius II, and in the "Pharetra" of Lanspergius. In the second half of the sixteenth century and the first half of the seventeenth, ascetic authors dwelt upon this devotion at greater length. It was, however, reserved to Saint Jean Eudes (d. 1681) to propagate the devotion, to make it public, and to have a feast celebrated in honor of the Heart of Mary, first at Autun in 1648 and afterwards in a number of French dioceses. He established several religious societies interested in upholding and promoting the devotion, of which his large book on the Coeur Admirable (Admirable Heart), published in 1681, resembles a summary. Jean Eudes' efforts to secure the approval of an office and feast failed at Rome, but, notwithstanding this disappointment, the devotion to the Heart of Mary progressed. In 1699 Father Pinamonti (d. 1703) published in Italian a short work on the Holy Heart of Mary, and in 1725, Joseph de Gallifet combined the cause of the Heart of Mary with that of the Heart of Jesus in order to obtain Rome's approbation of the two devotions and the institution of the two feasts. In 1729, his project was defeated, and in 1765, the two causes were separated, to assure the success of the principal one.
Alliance with the Sacred Heart
The Alliance of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary is based on the historical, theological and spiritual links in Catholic devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The joint devotion to the hearts was first formalized in the 17th century by Saint Jean Eudes who organized the scriptural, theological and liturgical sources relating to the devotions and obtained the approbation of the Church, prior to the visions of Saint Marguerite Marie Alacoque.
In the 18th and 19th centuries the devotions grew, both jointly and individually through the efforts of figures such as Saint Louis de Montfort who promoted Catholic Mariology and Saint Catherine Labouré's Miraculous Medal depicting the Heart of Jesus thorn-crowned and the Heart of Mary pierced with a sword. The devotions, and the associated prayers, continued into the 20th century, e.g. in the Immaculata prayer of Saint Maximillian Kolbe and in the reported messages of Our Lady of Fatima which stated that the Heart of Jesus wishes to be honored together with the Heart of Mary.
Popes supported the individual and joint devotions to the hearts through the centuries. In the 1956 encyclical Haurietis Aquas, Pope Pius XII encouraged the joint devotion to the hearts. In the 1979 encyclical Redemptor Hominis Pope John Paul II explained the theme of unity of Mary's Immaculate Heart with the Sacred Heart. In his Angelus address on September 15, 1985 Pope John Paul II coined the term The Alliance of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and in 1986 addressed the international conference on that topic held at Fátima, Portugal.
Feast days
Fatima Statue of Pope Pius XII, who consecrated Russia and the World: Just as a few years ago We consecrated the entire human race to the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, so today We consecrate and in a most special manner We entrust all the peoples of Russia to this Immaculate Heart...
In 1799 Pius VI, then in captivity at Florence, granted the Bishop of Palermo the feast of the Most Pure Heart of Mary for some of the churches in his diocese. In 1805 Pius VII made a new concession, thanks to which the feast was soon widely observed. Such was the existing condition when a twofold movement, started in Paris, gave fresh impetus to the devotion. The two factors of this movement were, first of all, the revelation of the "miraculous medal" in 1830 and all the prodigies that followed, and then the establishment at Notre-Dame-des-Victoires of the Archconfraternity of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Refuge of Sinners, which spread rapidly throughout the world and was the source of numberless alleged graces. On 21 July 1855, the Congregation of Rites finally approved the Office and Mass of the Most Pure Heart of Mary without, however, imposing them upon the Universal Church.
During the third apparition at Fátima, Portugal on 13 July 1917, the Virgin Mary allegedly said that "God wishes to establish in the world devotion to her Immaculate Heart" in order to save souls from going into the fires of hell and to bring about world peace, and also asked for the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart. Pope Pius XII, in his Apostolic Letter of 7 July 1952, Sacro Vergente consecrated Russia to the Most Blessed Virgin Mary.
On 25 March 1984, Pope John Paul II fulfilled this request again, when he made the solemn act of consecration of the world, and implicitly Russia, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary before the miraculous statue of the Virgin Mary of Fatima brought to Saint Peter's Square in the Vatican for the momentous occasion. Sister Lucia, OCD, then the only surviving visionary of Fatima, confirmed that the request of Mary for the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary was accepted by Heaven and therefore, was fulfilled. Again on 8 October 2000, Pope John Paul II made an act of entrustment of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for the new millennium.
Roman Catholic feast days
Pope Pius XII instituted the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1944 to be celebrated on 22 August, coinciding with the traditional octave day of the Assumption. In 1969, Pope Paul VI moved the celebration of the Immaculate Heart of Mary to the day, Saturday, immediately after the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This means in practice that it is now held on the day before the third Sunday after Pentecost.
At the same time as he closely associated the celebrations of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Pope Paul VI moved the celebration of the Queenship of Mary from 31 May to 22 August, bringing it into association with the feast of her Assumption.
Those who use the 1962 edition of the Roman Missal or an earlier one (but not more than 17 years before 1962) observe the day established by Pius XII.
References:
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.
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Today's Snippet 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
Book 8, Chapter 1
THE
PERSECUTION OF HEROD AND THE WILL OF GOD MADE KNOWN TO MARY OCCASION
HER SOJOURN IN EPHESUS
Describes
the Journey of the Most Blessed Mary with Saint John to Ephesus; the
Death and Chastisement of Herod; the Destruction of the Temple of
Diana; the Return of the Most Blessed Mary from Ephesus to Jerusalem;
the Instructions She gave to the Evangelists; the exalted State of
Her purest Soul before Her death; Her most blessed Transition,
Assumption and Coronation in heaven.
Saint John made preparations for the
journey and embarkation for Ephesus, and on the fourth day, which was
the fifth of January of the year forty, saint John notified Her that
it was time to leave; for there would be a ship and all things had
been arranged for the journey. The great Mistress of obedience,
without answer or delay, knelt down and asked permission of the Lord
to leave the Cenacle and Jerusalem; and then She proceeded to take
leave of the owner of the house and its inhabitants. It can easily be
imagined, how sorrowful they were at this leave–taking; for on
account of her most sweet conversation, and because of the favors and
blessings received at her liberal hands, all were held captives and
prisoners in love and veneration of Her, whereas now all at once they
were to be deprived of her consoling presence and of this rich
Treasure, the well spring of so many blessings. All of them offered
to follow and accompany Her; but as this was not opportune, they
asked Her to hasten her return and not to forsake forever this house,
which was entirely at her disposal. The heavenly Mother thanked them
for these pious and loving wishes by expressing her own humble love,
and She somewhat allayed their grief by giving them hope of her
return.
Then She asked permission of saint
John to visit the holy places of our Redemption and there to worship
and adore the Lord, who had consecrated them by his presence and his
precious blood. With the Apostle She made these sacred stations,
exhibiting incredible devotion and tears of reverent love, and saint
John, deeply consoled at being permitted to accompany Her, exercised
himself in heroic acts of virtue. The most blessed Mother saw at each
of the holy places the angels, who had been deputed to guard and
defend them; and anew She charged them to resist Lucifer and his
demons, lest they destroy or profane by irreverence those sacred
spots, as they desired and intended to do through the unbelieving
Jews. She told the angels to drive away by holy inspirations the bad
thoughts and diabolical suggestions, by which the infernal dragon
sought to excite the Jews and other mortals to blot out the memory of
Christ our Savior in those holy places, and She charged them with
this duty for all the future times, since the wrath of the evil
spirits against the places and the works of the Redemption endures
through all the ages. The holy angels obeyed their Queen and Mistress
in all that She ordained.
Having satisfied her piety, She asked
saint John on her knees to bless her for the journey, just as She had
been wont to do with her divine Son; for She continued to exercise
the same great virtues of obedience and humility toward the beloved
disciple, His substitute. Many of the faithful of Jerusalem offered
Her money, jewels, vehicles and all things necessary for her journey
to the sea and to Ephesus. The most prudent Lady humbly showed her
appreciation to all, but accepted nothing. For her journey to the sea
She made use of an unpretentious beast of burden, on which She was
carried along as the Queen of the virtues and of the poor. She
recollected the journeys and pilgrimages She had made with her divine
Son and with her spouse Joseph, and these recollections together with
the heavenly love, which had induced Her once more to travel,
awakened in her dove–like heart tender and devout affections.
They came to the harbor and
immediately embarked in the ship with other passengers. The great
Queen of the world was now for the first time upon the sea. She saw
and comprehended with clearness the vast Mediterranean and its
communication with the great ocean. She beheld its height and depth,
its length and breadth, its caverns and secret recesses, its sands
and minerals, its ebb and tide, its animals, its whales and fishes of
all sizes, and whatever other portentous animals it enclosed.
When this great panorama of
creatures, in which were reflected, as from a most clear mirror, the
greatness and omnipotence of the Creator, was presented to her
faculties filled with heavenly wisdom, her spirit winged its ardent
flight to the very being of God, so wonderfully reflected in those
creatures, and for all of them, and in all of them, She gave praise
and glory and magnificence to the Most High. With the compassion of a
most loving Mother for those who trusted their lives to the
indomitable fury of the sea in navigating over its waves, She most
fervently besought the Almighty to protect from its dangers all who
should call upon her name and ask for her intercession. The Lord
immediately granted this petition and promised to favor whoever upon
the sea should carry some image of Her and should sincerely look upon
this Star of the sea, most blessed Mary, for help in its perils.
Accordingly it will be understood, that, if the Catholics and the
faithful encounter ill success and perish in navigation, it is
because they ignore the favors to be obtained from the Queen of the
angels, or because on account of their sins they fail to remember Her
in the raging storms, or fail to seek her favors with sincere faith
and devotion; for neither can the word of the Lord ever fail, nor
will the great Mother ever deny assistance to those endangered by the
perils of the sea.
When they landed the great Queen
continued to work miracles equal to those wrought upon the sea. She
cured the sick and the possessed, who, as soon as they came into her
presence, were set free. I will not tarry to relate all these
wonders; for many books would be necessary and much time to describe
all the doings of the most blessed Mary and the favors of heaven,
which She dispensed as the instrument and medium of the omnipotence
of the Most High. I will record only those, which are necessary for
this history and which shall suffice to manifest in some measure the
unknown and wonderful works of our great Queen and Lady. In Ephesus
lived some Christians, who had come from Jerusalem. There were not
many, but on learning of the arrival of the Mother of Christ the
Redeemer, they hastened to pay Her a visit and offer their dwellings
and their possessions for her use. But the great Queen of virtues,
who sought neither ostentation nor temporal commodities, chose for
her dwelling the house of a few retired and poor women, who were
living by themselves free from the companionship of men. By the
intervention of the angels, they lovingly and generously placed their
home at the disposition of the Lady. In it they selected a very
retired room for the Queen and another for saint John, which these
Two occupied during their stay in Ephesus.
‘I’he
most blessed Mary thanked the owners who were to live with Her. Then
She retired to her room and, prostrate upon the ground as was usual
in her prayers, She adored the immutable essence of God, offering to
sacrifice Herself in his service in this
city and saying: “Lord God omnipotent, by the immensity of thy
Divinity Thou fillest all the heavens and the earth (Jer. 23, 34). I,
thy humble handmaid, desire to fulfill entirely thy holy will, on all
occasions, in all places, and at all times, in which thy Providence
shall deign to place me; for Thou art my only Good, my being and my
life, and toward thy pleasure and satisfaction tend all my thoughts,
words and actions.” The most prudent Mother perceived that the
Lord accepted her prayer and her offering, and that He responded to
her desires with divine power, ready to assist and govern Her always.
She continued her
prayer for the holy Church and laid out her plans for the assistance
of all the faithful. She called her angels and sent some of them to
aid the Apostles and disciples, whom She knew to be too much pressed
in the persecutions, raised by the demons through infidel men. In
those days saint Paul fled from Damascus before the attacks of the
Jews, as he himself mentions in the second epistle to the
Corinthians, where he says, that he was let down from the walls of
the city in a basket (IICor. 11, 23). To
defend him from these perils and those with which Lucifer threatened
him on his way to Jerusalem, the great Queen of angels sent her
angels to be his guard and protection; for the wrath and fury of hell
was roused against saint Paul more than against any of the other
Apostles. This is the journey the Apostle himself refers to in his
letter to the Galatians (Gal. 1, 18), where he says, that after three
years he went to Jerusalem to visit saint Peter. These three years
are not to be counted from the time of his conversion, but from the
time he had returned from Arabia to Damascus. This is to be inferred
from the text itself, for after stating that he returned from Arabia
to Damascus, he immediately adds, that after three years, he went up
to Jerusalem. If those three years are counted from the time before
his sojourn in Arabia, the text would occasion much confusion.
With greater clearness this may be
proved by computing the time of the death of saint Stephen and the
journey of the most blessed Virgin to Ephesus. For counting from the
day of his Nativity, saint Stephen died at the end of the
thirty–fourth year of Christ, but counting them from the day of
the Circumcision, as the Church does now, saint Stephen died seven
days before the completion of the thirty–four years, being the
seven days before the first of January. The conversion of saint Paul
happened in the year thirty–six, on the twenty–fifth of
January. If he had come to Jerusalem three years afterwards, he would
have found there the most holy Mary and saint John, while he himself
says, that he had not seen any one of the Apostles there, except
saint Peter and saint James the less, who was called Alpheus. If the
holy Queen and saint John had at that time been in Jerusalem saint
Paul would certainly not have missed seeing them, and he would have
mentioned at least saint John; yet he says, that he had not seen him.
The explanation is, that saint Paul came to Jerusalem in the year
forty, four years after his conversion, and a little less than a
month after the most blessed Mary had departed for Ephesus. Saint
Paul had entered the fifth year of his conversion and the other
Apostles, except the two he saw, had already left Jerusalem and were
preaching the Gospel of Christ, each one in his appointed province.
Conformably with this reckoning we must assume,
that saint Paul spent the first year after his conversion, or the
greater part of it, in journeying to Arabia and preaching the Gospel
there; then, the three following years, in Damascus. Hence the
evangelist Luke, in the ninth chapter of his Acts of the Apostles,
although he says nothing of Paul’s journey to Arabia,
nevertheless says that for many days after his conversion the Jews of
Damascus plotted to take his life, these many days referring to the
four years thus passed. Then he adds, that his disciples, aware of
the plots of the Jews, on a certain night lowered him in a basket
from the city walls and thus despatched him on his journey to
Jerusalem. There, although knowing of his miraculous conversion, the
Apostles and the new disciples, nevertheless retained a certain fear
and suspicion of his not persevering, because he had been such a
professed enemy of Christ, our Savior. Hence they at first held
themselves aloof from saint Paul, until saint Barnaby spoke to them
and introduced him to saint Peter, saint James and other disciples
(Acts 26, 27). Saint Paul prostrated himself at the feet of the vicar
of Christ, kissed them in acknowledgment of his errors and sins, and
begging to be admitted as one of his subjects and as a follower of
his Master, whose holy name and faith he desired to preach at the
cost of his blood.
From the fear and suspicion of saint
Peter and James concerning the perseverance of saint Paul we can
likewise deduct that he arrived in Jerusalem in the absence of the
most blessed Mary and saint John; for he would have presented himself
first of all to Her to allay suspicion against him; and the two
Apostles would likewise have first asked Her, whether they could
trust saint Paul. All of them would have been set at ease by the most
prudent Lady, as She was so solicitous and attentive in consoling and
instructing the Apostles, especially saint Peter. But since the great
Lady had already left for Ephesus, they had no one to assure them of
the constancy of saint Paul, until saint Peter reassured himself of
it at seeing him thus prostrate at his feet. Thereupon he was
received with great joy of soul by saint Peter and the other
disciples. All of them gave humble and fervent thanks to the Most
High, and commissioned saint Paul to preach in Jerusalem. This he
gladly did, to the astonishment of all the Jews who knew him. As his
words were like burning arrows, that penetrated into the hearts of
all that heard him, they were struck with terror; and in two days all
Jerusalem was roused by the news of his arrival, flocking to see him
with their own eyes.
Lucifer and his demons were not
asleep on this occasion, for they were visited by the Almighty with
an increase of torment at the arrival of saint Paul. The divine
power, so evident in him, oppressed and paralyzed the infernal
dragons. But as their pride and malice shall never be extinguished
through all the eternity of their existence (Ps. 73, 23), they were
roused to fury, as soon as they recognized this divine virtue as
flowing from Paul. Lucifer, with incredible rage, called together
many legions of the demons and exhorted them anew to rouse themselves
and exert all the forces of their malice for the entire destruction
of saint Paul, and not to leave any stone unturned in Jerusalem and
in all the world for the attainment of this object. The demons
without delay set about this work, exciting Herod and the Jews
against the Apostle, and directing their attention to the burning
zeal with which he began to preach in Jerusalem.
The great Mistress
of heaven perceived all this from her retirement in Ephesus; for in
addition to the knowledge of all things through her heavenly science,
She received information of all that happened to saint Paul from the
angels She had sent for his defense. As the most blessed Mother
expected the disturbance about to be raised by the malice of Herod
and the Jews, especially against saint Paul, and as, on the other
hand, She knew the importance of preserving his life for the
exaltation of God’s name and the spread of the Gospel, the
great Queen was filled with new solicitude and regret at being absent
from Palestine, where She could have rendered more immediate
assistance to the Apostles. Therefore She sought to furnish it so
much the more abundantly from Ephesus by multiplying her prayers and
petitions, her ceaseless tears and sighs, and by other measures
through the hands of her holy angels. In order to allay her
anxieties, the Lord one day in her prayer, assured Her, that He would
fulfill her petitions and protect the life
of saint Paul in this danger and in these assaults of the devil. And
so He did: for one day saint Paul, while praying in the temple, was
raised to an ecstatic rapture and filled with most exalted
enlightenment and understanding, wherein the Lord commanded him
immediately to leave Jerusalem and save his life from the hatred of
the unbelieving Jews.
Hence saint Paul sojourned in
Jerusalem at that time not more than fifteen days, as he himself says
in his epistle to Galatians (Gal. 1, 18). After some years he turned
thither from Miletus and Ephesus and was taken prisoner, and he
refers to this ecstasy in the temple and to the command of the Lord
to leave Jerusalem in the twenty–second chapter of the Acts. Of
this vision and command he informed saint Peter, as the head of the
apostolic college; and after consultation concerning his mortal
danger, he was secretly sent to Caesarea and Tarsus with orders to
preach indiscriminately to the gentiles, which he did. The most
blessed Mary was the instrument and Mediatrix of all these miraculous
favors. It was through Her that her Divine Son operated them, and
from Her, God received the proper thanks for the graces distributed
to the whole Church.
Having thus been reassured in regard
to the life of saint Paul, the most blessed Mother entertained the
hope that through the assistance of divine Providence She might save
the life of her cousin James, who was very dear to Her and who was
still in Saragossa, protected by the hundred angels She had appointed
for his guardians and companions at Granada. These holy angels
frequently went back and forth, bringing the petitions of the
Apostles to the most blessed Mary and her counsels back to him. In
this way saint James learned of the sojourn of the great Queen in
Ephesus. When he had brought the chapel or small temple of the Pillar
in Saragossa to a sufficient state of completion, he consigned it to
the care of the bishop and the disciples anointed by him here as in
other cities in Spain. Some months after the apparition of the Queen,
he departed from Saragossa, continuing to preach through different
provinces. Having come to Catalonia, he embarked for Italy, where
without much delay, he pursued his journey overland always preaching
until he again embarked for Asia, and ardently desiring to see there
the most blessed Mary, his Mistress and Protectress.
Saint James happily attained his object and
reached Ephesus. There he prostrated himself at the feet of the
Mother of his Creator, shedding copious tears of joy and veneration.
From his inmost heart he thanked Her for the peerless favors obtained
at her hands from the Most High during his travels and his preaching
in Spain and especially for her having visited him and conferred such
blessings upon him during her visits. The heavenly Mother, as
Mistress of humility, immediately raised him from the ground and said
to him: “My Master, remember thou art the anointed of the Lord
and his minister, and that I am an humble wormlet.” With these
words the great Lady fell on her knees and asked the blessing of
saint James as a priest of the Most High. He remained for some days
in Ephesus in the company of the most blessed Mary and of his brother
John, to whom he gave an account of all that had happened to him in
Spain. With the most prudent Mother during those days he held most
exalted colloquies and conferences, of which it will suffice to
record the following.
When the Jews,
through the conviction and conversion of Philetus and Hermogenes, saw
their hope frustrated, they were filled with new anger against the
apostle saint James and they were determined to put an end to his
life. For this purpose they bribed Democritus and Lysias, centurions
of the Roman militia, to furnish them with soldiers
for the arrest of the Apostle.
In order to hide their treachery they
were to raise a feigned quarrel or disturbance on a certain day
during his preaching and thus get him within their power. The
execution of this wicked design was left to Abiator, the high–priest
of that year and to Josias, a scribe of the same mind as the
high–priest. As they had planned, so they executed their
scheme; for, while the saint was preaching to the people about the
mystery of the Redemption, proving it to them with admirable wisdom
from the testimonies of the ancient writings and moving his audience
to tears of compunction, the priest and the scribe were roused to
diabolical fury. Giving the signal to the Roman soldiers, the priest
sent Josias to throw a rope around the neck of saint James and fell
upon him, proclaiming him a disturber of the people and the author of
a new religion in opposition to the Roman empire.
Democritus and Lysias thereupon
rushed up with their soldiers and brought the Apostle bound to Herod,
the son of Archelaus, whose malice had been roused interiorly through
the astuteness of Lucifer and exteriorly by the evil–minded and
hateful Jews. Thus doubly incited, Herod began against the disciples
of the Lord, whom he abhorred, the persecution mentioned by saint
Luke in the twelfth chapter of the Acts and sent his soldiers to
afflict and imprison them. He instantly commanded saint James to be
beheaded, as the Jews had asked. Incredible was the joy of the holy
Apostle at being seized and bound like his Master and at seeing
himself conducted to the place, where he was to pass from this mortal
life to the eternal through martyrdom, as he had been informed by the
Queen of heaven. He offered most humble thanks for this benefit and
publicly reiterated the open profession of his faith in Christ our
Lord. Remembering the petition he had made in Ephesus, that She be
present at his death, he called upon Her from his inmost Soul.
The most holy Mary from her oratory heard these
prayers of her beloved Apostle and cousin; for She was attentive to
all that happened to him and She helped and favored him with her own
efficacious petitions. During this her prayer, She saw a great
multitude of angels and heavenly spirits of all hierarchies
descending from heaven, part of them surrounding the Apostle in
Jerusalem as he was led to the place of execution, while numerous
others approached their Queen at Ephesus. Presently one of them
addressed Her saying “Empress of heaven and our Lady, the most
high Lord and God bids you immediately to hasten to Jerusalem to
console his great servant James, to assist him in his death to grant
all his loving and holy desires.” This favor the most blessed
Mary joyfully and gratefully acknowledged. She praised the Most High
for the protection granted to those who trust in his mercy and put
their lives in his hands. In the meanwhile the Apostle was led to
execution and on the way thereto he wrought great miracles upon the
sick and ailing and on some possessed by the demons. There were a
great number of them, because the rumor of his execution by Herod had
spread about and many of the unfortunates hastened to receive his
last ministrations and counsels. All that applied were healed by the
great Apostle.
In the meanwhile the holy angels placed their
Queen and Mistress upon a most refulgent throne, as they had done on
other occasions, and on it bore Her to Jerusalem and to the place of
the execution of saint James. The holy Apostle fell upon his knees in
order to offer his life to the Most High in sacrifice, and when he
raised his eyes toward heaven, he saw in the air near him the Queen
of heaven, whom he had been invoking in his heart. He beheld Her
clothed in divine splendors and great beauty, surrounded by
multitudes of the angels. At this heavenly spectacle the soul of
James was moved to new jubilee and his heart was seized with the
ardors of a divine love. He wished to proclaim the most blessed Mary
as the Mother of God and the Mistress of all creation. But one of the
sovereign spirits restrained him in this fervent desire and said:
“James, servant of our Creator, restrain within thy own bosom
these precious sentiments and do not manifest to the Jews the
presence and assistance of our Queen; for they are not worthy or
capable of knowing Her, but instead of reverencing Her will only
harden themselves in their hatred.” Thus advised the Apostle
forebore and moving his lips in silence, he spoke to the heavenly
Queen as follows:
“Mother of
my Lord Jesus Christ, my Mistress and Protectress, Thou consolation
of the afflicted and refuge of the needy, in this hour bestow upon
me, my Lady, thy so much desired blessing. Offer for me to thy Son
and Redeemer of the world, the sacrifice of my life, since I am
burning with desire to be a holocaust for the glory of his name. Let
today thy most pure and spotless hands be the altar of my sacrifice,
in order that it may become acceptable in the eyes of Him, who died
for me upon the cross. Into thy hands, and through them into the
hands of my Creator, I commend my spirit.” Having said these
words, and keeping his eyes fixed upon the most holy Mary, who spoke
to his heart, the holy Apostle was beheaded by the executioner. The
great Lady and Queen of the world (O wonderful condescension!)
received the soul of her beloved Apostle and placing it at her side
on the throne, ascended with it to the empyrean heavens and presented
it to her divine Son. As the most blessed Mary entered the heavenly
court with this offering, She caused new joy and accidental glory to
all the heavenly inhabitants and was received with songs of praise.
The Most High received the soul of James and placed it in eminent
glory among the princes of his people. The most blessed Mary,
prostrate before the throne of the Almighty, composed a song of
praise and thanksgiving for the triumphal martyrdom first gained by
one of his Apostles. On this occasion the great Lady did not see the
Divinity by intuitive vision, but by an abstractive one, such as I
have described before this. But the blessed Trinity filled Her with
new blessings and favors for herself and for the holy Church, for
which She had made great preparations. All the saints likewise
blessed her and then the holy angels brought Her back to her oratory
in Ephesus, where in the meanwhile an angel had impersonated Her. On
arriving the heavenly Mother of virtues prostrated Herself as usual
in order to give thanks to the Most High for all that
had happened.
The disciples of saint James during
the following night secured his sacred body and secretly brought it
to Jaffa, where by divine disposition they embarked with it for
Galicia in Spain. The heavenly Lady sent an angel to guide and
accompany them to the port, where according to the divine will they
were to disembark. Although they did not see the angel, they felt his
protection during the whole voyage and often in a miraculous manner.
Thus Spain, just as it owed its first instruction in the faith so
rooted in the hearts of its people, to the protection lavished by
most holy Mary upon the Apostle, now also owes to Her the possession
of his sacred body for its consolation and defense. Saint James died
in the year forty–one of our Lord, on the twenty–fifth of
March, five years and seven months after his setting out to preach in
Spain. According to this count and that which I gave above, the
martyrdom of saint James happened seven full years after the death of
our Savior Jesus Christ.
The death of saint James and the
haste of Herod in inflicting it, greatly increased the most impious
cruelty of the Jews; for in the savage brutality of the wicked king
saw a valuable means of pursuing their vengeance against the
followers of Christ the Lord. Lucifer and his demons were of like
opinion; they, by their suggestions, and the Jews, by their insistent
flatteries, persuaded him to seize upon saint Peter, which he readily
did in order to gain the good will of the Jews for his own temporal
ends. The demons stood in great awe of the vicar of Christ on account
of the power emanating from him against them; therefore they secretly
sought to hasten his imprisonment. Saint Peter, bound with many
chains, lay in the dungeon awaiting his execution after the holidays
of the Pasch (Acts 12, 4).
The dangerous crisis impending over the Church was
not unknown to the heavenly Mother, for, from her retreat in Ephesus,
by her clearest interior vision of all things, She saw all things
that passed in Jerusalem. She likewise increased her ardent requests,
her sighs, prostrations and bloody tears, supplicating the Lord for
the liberation of saint Peter and the protection of the holy Church.
These prayers of the blessed Mother penetrated the heavens and
wounded the heart of her Son Jesus our Savior. In response the Lord
descended in person to her oratory, where She was lying prostrate
with her virginal face upon the ground mingling with the dust. The
sovereign King entered and raised Her lovingly from the ground,
saying: “My Mother, moderate thy sorrow and ask whatever thou
wishest; for I shall grant it all and thou shalt find grace in my
eyes to obtain it. I desire that thou act according to thy wishes,
using the powers I have given Thee: do or undo whatever is necessary
for the welfare of my Church, and Thou mayest be sure, that all the
fury of the demons will be turned toward Thee.” She thanked him
for this new favor and offered to undertake the battles of the Lord
for his faithful, saying: “Most High Lord, hope and life of my
soul, prepared is the heart and spirit of thy servant to labor for
the souls bought with thy blood and life. Although I am but useless
dust, I know Thee to be infinite in power and wisdom; with the favor
of thy assistance I fear not the infernal dragon. Thou wishest me to
dispose and act in thy name for the welfare of the Church, I now
command Lucifer and his ministers of wickedness, who are disturbing
the Church, to descend to the abyss and there be silenced until it
shall please thy Providence to permit their return to the earth.”
This command of the Queen of the world in Ephesus was so powerful,
that at the very moment of her issuing it, all the demons in
Jerusalem were precipitated into hell, the whole multitude descending
into the eternal caverns without power of resisting the divine force
exerted through the most blessed Mary.
Lucifer and his companions knew that this
chastisement proceeded from our Queen, whom they called their enemy
because they dared not pronounce her name. They remained in hell,
confounded and dismayed as on other occasions, until they were
permitted to rise in order to battle against Mary, as will be related
further on. During that time they consulted anew about the means of
attaining this end. Having obtained this triumph over the demons the
most blessed Mary bethought Herself of overcoming likewise the
opposition of Herod and the Jews, and therefore She said to her
divine Son: “Now, my Son and Lord, if it is thy will, let one
of thy holy angels be sent to deliver thy servant Peter from prison.”
Christ Our Lord approved of her wish and, at the orders of both these
Sovereigns, one of the heavenly spirits there present hastened to
liberate saint Peter from his prison in Jerusalem.
The angel executed these orders very swiftly.
Coming to the dungeon, he found saint Peter fastened with two chains,
guarded by two soldiers at his side and by a number of other soldiers
at the entrance of the prison. Pasch had already been celebrated and
it was the night before he was to be executed according to the
sentence passed upon him. But the Apostle was so little disturbed
that he was sleeping with as much unconcern as his guards (Acts 12,
6). When the angel arrived, he was obliged to wake him by force and
while saint Peter was still drowsy, said to him: “Arise
quickly; put on thy girdle and thy shoes, take thy mantle and follow
me. Peter found himself free of the chains and, without understanding
what was happening to him and ignorant of what this vision could
mean, followed the angel. Having conducted him through some streets,
the angel told him, that the Almighty had freed him from prison
through the intercession of his most blessed Mother, and thereupon
disappeared. Saint Peter, coming to himself understood the mystery
and gave thanks to the Lord for this favor.
Saint Peter thought it best first to
give an account of his liberation and consult with James the Less and
others of the faithful, before seeking safety in flight. Hastening
his steps he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John, who was
also called Mark. This was the house of the Cenacle, where many of
the disciples had gathered in their affliction. Saint Peter called to
them front the street, and a servant–maid, by the name of
Rhode, descended to see who was calling. As She recognized the voice
of Peter, She left him standing at the door outside and fled
excitedly to the disciples, telling them that it was Peter. They
thought it some foolish misunderstanding of the servant; but she
maintained, that it was Peter; so they, far from guessing the
liberation of Peter, concluded that it might be his angel. During
these questions and answers saint Peter was in the street clamoring
at the door, until they opened it and with incredible joy and
gladness saw the holy Apostle and head of the Church freed from the
sorrows of prison and death. He gave them an account of all that had
happened to him through aid of the angel, in order that they might in
strict secrecy notify saint James and all his brethren. Foreseeing
that Herod would search for hint with great diligence, they
unanimously decided that he leave Jerusalem that very night and not
return, lest he should be taken in some future search. Saint Peter
therefore fled, and Herod, having instituted a search in vain,
chastised the guards, and was roused to new fury against the
disciples. But on account of his pride and impious designs, God cut
short his activity by a severe punishment, of which I shall speak in
the following chapter.
In her anxieties and in her reliance upon the
divine help our Queen labored incessantly in prayers and tears,
travailing in her clamors as I have shown on other occasions. Ever
governed by her most exalted prudence, She spoke to one of the
highest angels of her guard, saying: “Minister of the Most High
and creature of his hands, my solicitude for the holy Church strongly
urges me to seek its welfare and progress. I beseech thee to ascend
to the throne of the Most High, represent to Him my affliction; ask
Him in my name, that I may be permitted to suffer instead of his
faithful servants and that Herod be prevented from executing his
designs for the destruction of the Church.” Immediately the
angel betook himself to the Lord with this message, while the Queen
of heaven, like another Esther, remained in prayer for the liberty
and salvation of her people and of Herself. (Esther 4, 16). The
heavenly ambassador was sent back by the blessed Trinity with the
answer: “Princess of heaven, the Lord of hosts says, that Thou
art the Mother, the Mistress and the Governess of the Church, and
that Thou holdest his power while Thou art upon earth; and He desires
Thee, as the Queen and Mistress of the heaven and earth, to execute
sentence upon Herod.”
In her humility the most blessed Virgin was
somewhat disturbed by this answer, and urged by her charity, She
replied to the angel: “Am I then to pronounce sentence against
a creature who is the image of the Lord? Since I came forth from his
hands I have known many reprobates among men and I have never called
for vengeance against them; but as far as I was concerned, always
desired their salvation if possible, and never hastened their
punishment. Return to the Lord, angel, and tell Him that my tribunal
and power is inferior to and dependent upon his, and that I cannot
sentence any one to death without consulting my Superior; and if it
is possible to bring Herod to the way of Salvation, I am willing to
suffer all the travails of the world according to the disposition of
his divine Providence in order that this soul may not be lost.”
The angel hastened back with this second message of his Queen and
having presented it before the throne of the most blessed Trinity,
was sent back to Her with the following answer: “Our Mistress
and Queen, the Most High says, that Herod is of the number of the
foreknown, since he is so obstinate in his malice, that he will take
no admonition or instruction; he will not cooperate with the helps
given to him; nor will he avail himself of the fruits of the
Redemption, nor of the intercession of the saints, nor of thy own
efforts, O Queen and Lady, in his behalf.”
For the third time
the most holy Mary despatched the heavenly prince with still another
message to the Most High, saying: “If it must be that Herod die
in order to hinder him from persecuting the Church, do thou, O angel,
represent to the Almighty, how in the infinite condescension of his
charity, He has granted me in mortal life to be the Refuge of the
children of Adam, the Advocate and Intercessor of sinners; that my
tribunal should be that of kindness and clemency for the refuge and
assistance of all that seek my intercession; and that all should
leave it with the assurance of pardon in the name of my divine Son.
If then I am to be a loving Mother to men, who are the creatures of
his hands and the price of his life–blood, how can I now be a
severe judge against one of them? Never was I charged with dealing
out justice, always mercy, to which all my heart inclines; and now it
is troubled by this conflict of love with
obedience to rigorous justice. Present anew, O angel, this my anxiety
to the Lord, and learn whether it is not his pleasure that Herod die
without my condemning him.”
The holy messenger
ascended for the third time and the most blessed Trinity listened to
his message with the plenitude of pleasure and complacency at the
pitying love of his Spouse. Returning, the
angel thus informed the loving Mistress: “Our Queen, Mother of
our Creator and my Lady, the almighty
Majesty says that thy mercy is for those mortals who wish to avail
themselves of thy powerful intercession, not for those who despise
and abhor it like Herod; that Thou art the Mistress of the Church
invested with all the divine power, and that therefore it is meet
Thou use it as is opportune: that Herod must die; but it shall be
through thy sentence and according to thy order.” The most
blessed Mary answered: “Just is the Lord and equitable are his
judgments (Ps. 118, 137). Many times would I suffer death to rescue
this soul of Herod, if he himself would not by his own free will make
himself unworthy of mercy and choose perdition. He is a work of the
Most High (Job 10, 8), formed according to his image and likeness
(Gen. 1, 27); he was redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, which taketh
away the sins of the world (Apoc. 1, 5). But I set aside all this
and, considering only his having become an obstinate enemy of God,
unworthy of his eternal friendship, by the most equitable justice of
God, I condemn him to the death he has merited, in order that he may
not incur greater torments by executing the evil he has planned.”
This wonder the Lord wrought for the glory of his
most blessed Mother and in witness of his having constituted Her as
the Mistress of all creatures with supreme power to act as their
Sovereign like her divine Son. I cannot explain this mystery better
than in the words of the Lord in the fifth chapter of saint John,
where He says of Himself: “The son cannot do anything that the
Father does not; but He does the same, because the Father loves Him;
and if the Father raises the dead, the son also raises whom he
pleases, and the Father has given to the Son to judge all, in order
that just as all honor the Father, they may also honor the Son; for
no one can honor the Father without honoring the Son.” And
immediately He adds: that He has given Him the power of judging,
because He is the Son of man, which He is through his most blessed
mother. On account of the likeness of the heavenly Mother to her Son
(of which I have often spoken) the relation or proportion of the
Mother with the Son in this power of judgment must be transferred to
the Mother in the same manner as that of the Son from the Father.
Mary is the Mother of mercy and clemency to all the children of Adam
that call upon Her; but in addition to this the Almighty wishes it to
be understood that She possesses full power of judging all men and
that all should honor Her, just as they honor her Son and true God.
As his true Mother He has given Her the same power with him in the
degree and proportion due to Her as his Mother and a mere creature.
Making use of this
power the great Lady sent the angel to Caesarea, where Herod then
was, to take away his life as the minister of divine justice. The
angel executed the sentence without delay. The evangelist saint Luke
says, that the angel of the Lord struck Herod and, eaten up by worms,
the unhappy man died the temporal and eternal death. The wound of
this stroke was interior and from it sprang the corruption and the
worms that so miserably finished him. From the same, text it appears
that, after having beheaded saint James and after saint Peter had
escaped, Herod descended to Caesarea in order to compose some
differences that had arisen between him and the inhabitants of Sidon
and Tyre (Acts 12, 23). Within a few days, vested in royal purple and
seated upon a throne, he harangued the people with great show of
words. The people, full of vain flattery, proclaimed him as a victor
and as a god; and Herod, in foolish vanity, was pleased with this
adulation of the people. Because he had not given honor to God, but
usurped to himself divine honor in vain pride, as saint Luke
says, the angel of the Lord struck him. Although this was his last
crime, which filled the measure of his iniquity, he merited the
chastisement not only for this, but for so many other crimes
committed by him in persecuting the Apostles, mocking the Lord our
Savior (Luke 23, 11), beheading the Baptist (Mark 6, 27), committing
adultery with his sister–in–law Herodias, and for many
other abominations.
Immediately the
angel returned to Ephesus and gave an account of the execution of the
sentence against Herod. The merciful Mother wept over the loss of
this soul; but praised the judgments of the Lord and gave him thanks
for the benefit, which the Church would derive from his chastisement;
for, as saint Luke says (Acts 12, 24), the Church grew and increased
by the word of God. This was true not only
in Galilee and Judea, where the persecutor
Herod was removed, but, through saint John and the help of the most
holy Mother, the Church was taking root in Ephesus. The science of
the blessed Apostle was full as that of the cherubim, and the love of
his heart was inflamed like that of the seraphim; and he had with him
as his Mother and Teacher, the Mistress of wisdom and grace. On
account of these precious advantages the Evangelist could undertake
great and wonderful works for the
foundation of the law of grace, not only in Ephesus, but in all
neighboring regions of Asia and in the borderlands of Europe.
Arriving at
Ephesus the Evangelist began to preach in
the city, baptizing those whom he converted to the
faith of Christ our Savior and confirming the faith by great miracles
and prodigies, such as had never been witnessed by those gentiles.
Since the Greek schools in those countries turned out many
philosophers and men learned in what, notwithstanding the admixture
of many errors, could be called human sciences, the blessed Apostle
convincingly taught them the true science, making use not only of
miracles and signs, but of argumentation for the credibility of the
Christian faith. All his catechumens he immediately sent to the most
holy Mary and She instructed many; as She knew the interior
inclinations of all, She spoke to the heart of each one and filled it
with heavenly light. She wrought prodigies and miracles for the
benefit of the unfortunate, curing the possessed and the infirm,
succored the poor and the needy and, by the labor of her own hands,
gave assistance to the sick in the infirmaries, attending upon them
in person. In her house the kindest Queen had a supply of clothes for
the most poor and forsaken of her fellowmen. She helped many in the
hour of their death, gaining these souls in their last agony and
bringing them safely through all the assaults of the demon to their
Creator. So many souls did She draw to the path of truth and life
eternal, and so numerous were the wonders She wrought for this end,
that they could not be recorded in many books; for no day passed in
which She did not increase the possessions of the Lord by the copious
and abundant fruit of souls.
WORDS OF THE QUEEN
The Virgin Mary
speaks to Sister Mary of Agreda, Spain
All are the
children of the eternal Father who is in heaven (Matth 23, 9) and all
are obliged to have a care of their brethren according to each one’s
condition. This obligation rests more especially upon the children of
the Church, who can live up to it by their prayers and supplications.
But this duty lies still more directly upon those who have influence,
upon those who are nourished by the Christian faith, and who enjoy
more of the benefits of the liberal hand of the Almighty. Those who
through the law of Christ are favored with temporal advantages and
who make use of them for the service and the delights of the flesh,
are they who, as the powerful, are to be more powerfully tormented
(Matth 23,9). If the pastors and the chiefs of the house of the Lord
seek only a life of ease, without caring to engage in true earnest
labor, they will make themselves accountable for the ruin of the
flock of Christ and for the carnage brought on by the infernal
wolves. O my daughter, into what a lamentable state has the Christian
people been cast by the powerful, by the pastors, and by the wicked
ministers, whom God has given them in his secret judgments! O what
confusion and chastisements await them! Before the tribunal of the
just Judge they will have no excuse; since the Catholic truth
undeceives them, their conscience loudly protests, while they
wilfully remain deaf to all warnings.
The cause of God remains neglected
and without a champion; his possessions, which are the souls, are
left without increase; all as it were look but to their own interest
and preservation, each one according to his own diabolical cunning
and according to his state of life. Truth is obscured, flattery
raises its voice, avarice is unbridled, the blood of Christ is
trodden under foot, the fruits of the Redemption are held in
contempt; no one wishes to risk his own comfort or interest in order
to save what has cost the Savior his blood and life. Even the friends
of God are influenced by the evils; for they do not make use of their
charity and its holy liberty as they ought; and most of them allow
themselves to be overcome by their cowardice and content themselves
with working for themselves alone, forsaking the common cause of the
souls of others. Hence thou mayest understand, my daughter, that now,
after the evangelical Church has been established by my divine Son
and fertilized by his own blood, those unhappy times have come, of
which the Lord himself complains through his holy Prophets, saying:
what the palmerworm hath left the locust has eaten, and what the
locust left the bruchus consumed, and the residue is destroyed by the
mildew; (Joel 1, 4) and in order to gather some fruits from his
vineyard, the Lord goes about like the gleaner after the vintage, who
seeks some remaining grape, or some olive, which is not dried up, or
carried away by the demons (Is. 24, 13).
Tell me now, my
daughter, how is it possible, if thou still hast a true love for my
divine Son and for me, that thou find consolation or rest in thy
heart at the sight of the loss of souls, which He redeemed by his
blood and I have sought with blood–mingled tears? Even today,
if I could shed them, I would begin to do so with new weeping and
compassion; and since it is not possible for me now to weep over the
dangers threatening the Church, I wish that thou do it and that thou
spurn consolation in a misfortune so calamitous and so worthy of
lament. Weep bitterly then, and lose not the merit of such a sorrow;
and let it be so deep, that thou findst no relief except in
affliction for the sake of the Lord whom thou lovest. Think of what I
did, in order to stave off the damnation of Herod and to prevent it
for those who wish to avail themselves of my intercession. In the
beatific vision I pray without ceasing for the salvation of my
clients. Let not the labors and tribulations sent to thee by my
divine Son intimidate thee from helping thy brethren and acquiring
them for the possession of Christ. Amidst the injuries done to Him by
the children of Adam, do thou labor to
recompense them in some measure by the purity of thy soul, which I
desire shall be rather that of an angel than of an earthborn woman
the battles of the Lord against his enemies and in his name and mine,
crush their head, reign over their pride cast them into hell. Do thou
also counsel the ministers of Christ with whom thou conversest, to
use their power in doing the same, to defend the souls in faith and,
in them, the honor and glory of the Lord; for thus shall they repress
and vanquish them with divine power.
Book 8, Chapter 2
COUNCIL
OF THE APOSTLES
After the death of the unhappy Herod
the primitive Church of Jerusalem enjoyed some measure of quiet and
tranquility for a considerable time. The great Lady of the world
merited this favor through her maternal solicitude and care. During
this time saint Barnaby and saint Paul preached with wonderful
success in the cities of Asia Minor, Antioch, Lystra, Perge and
others, is related by saint Luke in the thirteenth and fourteenth
chapter of the Acts of the Apostles and in connection with the
miracles and prodigies performed by saint Paul in those cities and
provinces. The apostle saint Peter, after his liberation from prison,
fled from Jerusalem and retired to another part of Asia not under the
jurisdiction of Herod. From that place he governed the faithful
accruing to the Church in Asia and those that were in Palestine. All
of them acknowledged and obeyed him as the Vicar of Jesus Christ and
head of the Church, believing that all he ordained and enacted upon
earth was confirmed in heaven. With this firm faith they came to him
with all their doubts and difficulties as to their supreme pontiff.
Among other matters they asked him to decide the questions raised by
some of the Jews concerning the doings and teachings of saint Paul
and Barnaby as well in Jerusalem as in Antioch, in opposition to the
circumcision and the law of Moses, as I will relate later on and as
is recorded by saint Luke in the fifteenth chapter of the Acts of the
Apostles.
On this occasion the Apostles and
disciples of Jerusalem begged saint Peter to return to the holy city
to settle these controversies and establish order, so that the
preaching of the faith might not be hindered; for since the death of
Herod the Jews had no one to assist them in their persecutions, and
therefore the Church enjoyed greater peace and tranquillity in
Jerusalem. On the same grounds they also asked him to request the
holy Mother of Jesus to come to that city; for all the faithful
longed for Her with loving hearts, expected to be consoled in the
Lord and hoped for the prosperity of all the affairs of the Church
through her presence. On account of these appeals saint Peter
resolved to return at once to Jerusalem, and before setting out, he
wrote the following letter to the most holy Queen.
Letter of Saint Peter to most holy
Mary.
“To Mary,
the Virgin, Mother of God:
Peter the Apostle of Jesus Christ, thy servant and
the servant of the servants of God.’’
“Lady, among
the faithful some doubts and differences have arisen concerning the
doctrine of thy Son and our Redeemer, whether the ancient law of
Moses is to be observed in conjunction with his teachings. They wish
to know from us what is proper, and that we state to them what we
heard from the mouth of the divine Teacher. In order to consult with
my brethren, the Apostles, I am now setting out for Jerusalem and,
for the consolation and by thy love for the Church, we beseech Thee
likewise to come to that city, where, since the death of Herod, the
Jews are more peaceful and the faithful more at ease. The multitude
of the followers of Christ desire to see Thee and console themselves
in thy presence. When we shall have arrived at Jerusalem, we shall
notify the other cities, and with thy assistance will be established
what shall be conducive to the interests of the holy faith and to the
excellence of the law of grace.”
I cannot restrain my wonder and confusion at the
humility and obedience of the most holy Mary in a matter of so small
moment; for only her heavenly prudence could inspire Her, the Mother
of God, with the thought, that it would be more humble and submissive
not to read this letter of the Vicar of Christ except in the presence
and under the obedience of the one to whose guidance She had
submitted Herself as her superior. Her example reproves and
stigmatizes the presumption of inferiors, who try to find excuses and
pretenses for evading the humility and obedience due to their
superiors. But the most holy Mary was a model and a teacher of
holiness in all things, great or small. Having read the letter to
Her, he asked Her, what She thought best to write to the Vicar of
Christ. But also in this She did not wish to give any appearance of
her being his equal or superior, preferring to obey; and therefore
She answered: “My son and master, do thou arrange what ever
shall be proper; for I, as thy servant, will obey.” The
Evangelist replied, that it seemed to him best to obey saint Peter
and return immediately to Jerusalem. “It is right and proper to
obey the head of the Church,” answered the purest lady; “let
us prepare even now for our departure.”
Thus resolved, saint John went out to
seek passage for Palestine and to prepare whatever was necessary for
a speedy departure. In the meanwhile, at the request of the
Evangelist, most blessed Mary called together the women who were her
acquaintances and disciples in Ephesus, in order to take leave of
them and instruct them in what they must do to persevere in their
holy faith.
When the day of departure arrived,
the Humblest of the humble asked saint John for his blessing and they
betook themselves to the ship, having remained in Ephesus two years
and a half. On leaving their dwelling all her thousand angels
manifested themselves in visible human forms, but all of them were
armed for battle and formed into squadrons. This unwonted sight gave
Her to understand, that She was to be prepared to continue her
conflict with the great dragon and his allies. Before reaching the
sea She saw a great multitude of the infernal legions meeting Her in
various dreadful and terrific shapes; in the midst of them came a
dragon with seven heads, so horrible and huge as to exceed the size
of a large ship, and so fierce and abominable as to cause torment by
its mere presence. Against these formidable hosts the invincible
Queen fortified Herself by the most firm faith and fervent love,
repeating the words of Psalms and the sayings from the mouth of her
most holy Son. She ordered her holy angels to assist Her, for those
shapes naturally inspired Her with some human dread and horror. The
Evangelist knew nothing of this conflict until the heavenly Lady
afterwards informed him and gave him an insight into it.
Our blessed Lady embarked with the saint, and the
ship’s sails were set. But it had proceeded only a distance
from the port, when those dragons of hell, making use of the
permission given them, stirred up the sea by a tempest such as had
not been seen before that time nor until now; for the Almighty wished
to exalt the power of his arm and the holiness of Mary and therefore
He permitted such liberty to the malice and powers of the demons in
this battle. The waves rose with terrific roarings, piling themselves
upon the winds and apparently even upon the very clouds, forming with
them mountains of water and foam, as if they were preparing for an
onset to break the bounds of the abysses that imprisoned the ocean
(Ps. 13, 9). The ship was lashed and battered to and fro, and it
seemed a miracle that it was not shattered to splinters at each
shock. Sometimes it was hurled up into the clouds, at others sent to
plow up the sand of the ocean’s abysses; often its sails and
masts were buried in the foaming waves. During some of the onsets of
this unspeakably furious hurricane the ship was held in the air by
the angels in order to save it from some of the vaster billows, which
would inevitably have overwhelmed and sent it to the bottom.
The mariners and
passengers perceived the effects of this assistance, but remained
ignorant of the cause; in their distress they were beside themselves,
bewailing their ruin, which they deemed inevitable. The demons added
to their terror; for, assuming human
shapes, they loudly called upon the mariners as if from neighboring
ships sent to their aid and urged them to forsake their ship and save
themselves in the others. For though all the vessels suffered in this
storm, yet the wrath of the demons and their power of doing harm was
confined principally to the ship on which our Lady sailed and the
distress and peril of the other vessels was not so great. The
malicious designs of the demons were known only to the most blessed
Virgin and not to the sailors, and therefore they believed these
voices as of true passengers and sailors. Thus deceived they at times
gave up caring for their own ship and left it to the fury of the sea,
expecting to save themselves on one of the other ships. But the
angels supplied their place directing and steering it when the
sailors gave it up in despair to the destruction of the waves.
In the midst of this confusion and
distress the most holy Mary preserved her tranquility, serenely borne
up by the ocean of her magnanimity and virtue, but at the same time
practicing all the virtues by acts heroic in proportion to the
exigencies of the occasion and the dictates of her wisdom. As during
this tempestuous voyage She personally experienced the dangers of
navigation, which She had understood on her former voyage by divine
inspiration, She was moved to new compassion for all voyagers at sea
and renewed her former prayers and petitions. The most prudent Virgin
also admired the indomitable forces of the sea and was led to
consider the wrath of divine justice, so well represented by this
insensible creature. And passing from these considerations to that of
the sins of mortals, who drew it upon themselves from the Almighty,
She entered into the most ardent prayers for the conversion of the
world and the increase of the Church. For this She offered up the
hardships of this voyage; since notwithstanding the tranquility of
her soul, She suffered much bodily inconvenience and still greater
affliction at the thought that all her fellow–voyagers were
made to suffer this persecution and tribulation of the demons on her
account.
A large share of this suffering fell to the
evangelist saint John on account of his deep solicitude for his true
Mother and Mistress of the world. To this was added his own actual
suffering. All was so much the more dreadful to him, because at that
time he did know what was passing in the interior of the most blessed
Virgin. He sought a few times to console Her and console himself by
assisting and comforting Her. Although the voyage from Ephesus to
Palestine usually lasted only about six days, this one lasted
fifteen, of which fourteen were tempestuous. One day saint John was
very much disheartened at the continuance of this measureless
hardship and, no longer able to restrain himself, said “My
lady, what is this? Are we to perish at sea? Beseech thy divine Son
to look upon us with the eyes of a Father and to defend us in this
tribulation.” The blessed Mother answered him: “Do not be
disturbed, my son; for we must now fight the battles of the Lord and
overcome his enemies by fortitude and patience.” I shall beg of
Him that no one who is with us shall perish, and that He sleep not,
who watches over Israel (Ps. 70, 4); the strong ones of his court
assist us and defend us; let us suffer for Him who placed Himself
upon the Cross for the salvation of all.” At these words saint
John recovered the necessary courage.
Lucifer and his demons with
increasing fury threatened the powerful Queen by telling Her that She
would perish in this sea and not escape alive. But these and other
threats were but spent arrows and the most prudent Mother despised
them, not even listening to them, or looking upon the demons, or
speaking to them a single word. They themselves on the other hand
could not bear even to glance at her face on account of the virtue of
the Most High shining from it. And the more they strove to overcome
this virtue, the weaker they became and the more were they tormented
by those offensive weapons, with which the Lord had clothed his most
holy Mother.
Saint Paul and
saint Barnaby were aware of the return of the Queen of heaven when
they came to Jerusalem. In his ardent desire of seeing Her saint Paul
with saint Barnaby, at once sought her presence, and they cast
themselves at her feet, shedding abundant tears of joy. Not less was
the joy of the heavenly Mother at meeting these Apostles, toward whom
She bore an especial love in the Lord on account of their zealous
labors for the exaltation of God’s name and the spread of the
faith. The Mistress of the humble desired them to present themselves
first to saint Peter and the rest, and last to Her, judging Herself
to be the least of all creatures. But they,
preserving the proper order in their reverence and love, thought that
none should be preferred to Her who was the Mother of God, the
Mistress of all creation and the beginning of all our happiness. The
great Lady prostrated Herself before saint Paul and Barnaby, kissed
their hands and asked for their blessing. On this occasion saint Paul
was favored with a wonderful ecstatic abstraction, in which were
revealed to him great mysteries and prerogatives of this mystical
City of God, the Blessed Mary, and he saw Her as it were completely
invested with the Divinity.
Saint Peter, as the head of the Church, had called
upon the Apostles and disciples then in and around Jerusalem, and
convoked them to a meeting in the presence of the Mistress of the
world. In order that the most prudent Virgin, in her profound
humility, might not absent Herself from this council, saint Peter had
interposed his authority as Vicar of Christ. All of them being
gathered, saint Peter said: “My brethren and children in Christ
our Savior, it was necessary that we meet in order to solve the
difficulties and decide upon the affairs, which our most beloved
brethren Paul and Barnaby have brought to our notice, and to
determine other matters touching the increase of the holy faith. For
it is proper that we engage in prayer to obtain the assistance of the
Holy Ghost and we shall persevere therein for ten days as is our
custom. On the first and the last day we shall celebrate the
sacrifice of the Mass, by which we shall dispose our hearts to
receive the divine light.” All of them approved of this
arrangement. In order to celebrate the first Mass on the next day the
Queen prepared the hall of the Cenacle, cleaning and decorating it
with her own hands and holding all in readiness for the Communion of
Herself together with the Apostles and disciples during those Masses.
Saint Peter alone celebrated, observing all those rites and
ceremonies which I have described, when speaking of the Masses on
other occasions.
The other Apostles and disciples
communicated at the hands of saint Peter; then the most blessed Mary,
taking the last place. Many angels descended to the Cenacle. All
those present saw them and at the time of the consecration the
Cenacle was filled with a wonderful light and fragrance, through
which the Lord wrought wonderful effects in their souls. Having
celebrated the first Mass, they agreed upon certain hours, in which
they were to persevere together in prayer, as far as they could
without neglecting the necessary ministry of souls. The great Lady
retired to a place, where She remained alone and motionless for those
ten days without eating or speaking to any one. During that time She
experienced such hidden mysteries as to move the angels to
astonishment; and I find myself unable to describe what has been
manifested to me concerning them. I will briefly indicate a small
part of these mysteries, for to state all is impossible. The heavenly
Mother having received holy Communion on the first of the ten days
and retired to pray alone, at the command of the Lord, was
immediately raised up by her angels and others there present to the
empyrean heavens. Since She was taken up body and soul, one of the
angels took her shape in order that the Apostles in the Cenacle might
not become aware of her absence. They bore Her up with the splendor
and magnificence described by me on other occasions, and on this
occasion it was even greater on account of the designs of the Lord.
When Mary arrived in a region of the air far removed from the earth,
the almighty Lord commanded Lucifer and all his hellish hosts to come
into the presence of the Queen into those higher regions. Immediately
all of them came before Her and She saw them and knew them all just
as they were and the condition they were in. The sight was somewhat
painful to her, because the demons are so abominable and disgusting;
but She was armed with divine virtue, so that She could not be harmed
by this horrible and execrable sight. Not so the demons; for the Lord
gave them to understand by an especial insight the greatness and
superiority of that Woman, whom they were persecuting as their Enemy.
They were made to perceive how foolishly presumptuous they had been
in their attempts against Her. To their still greater terror they saw
that She carried in her bosom the sacramental Christ and that the
whole Divinity held Her as it were enveloped in its Omnipotence for
their humiliation, overthrow and destruction.
The demons
moreover heard a voice proceeding from the Deity itself, saying:
“With this shield of my powerful arm, invincible and strong, I
shall always defend my Church. This Woman shall crush the head of the
ancient serpent (Gen. 3, 15), and shall forever triumph over its
haughty pride for the glory of my holy name.” All these and
other mysteries of the most holy Mary the demons perceived and
understood while they were gathered around Her in dismay. So great
was the despair and crushing pain which they felt, that they, with
loudest clamors, said: “May the power of the Almighty cast us
immediately into hell, and let it not keep us in the presence of this
Woman, who torments us more than the fire. O invincible and strong
Woman! Recede from us, since we ourselves cannot fly from thy
presence, where we are bound by the chains of the Almighty. Why dost
Thou also torment us before our time? (Matth. 8, 29).
Thou alone of all human nature art the
instrument of the Omnipotent against us; and through Thee men can
acquire the eternal blessings we have lost. Those that have sunk into
despair of ever seeing God eternally, are now rewarded for the
accredited good works of their Redeemer by the vision of Thee, which
in our hate is to us a torment and chastisement. Release us, almighty
Lord and God; let this new punishment, in which Thou renewest that of
our fall from heaven, cease; for in it Thou executest the punishment
Thou hast threatened us with in this wonder of thy powerful arms.”
During these and other lamentations
of despair the demons were held spellbound in the presence of the
Queen for a long time, and although they made the most violent
efforts to fly, they were not permitted to do it as fast as their
fury urged them on. In order that the terror of the most holy Mary
might strike them so much the deeper and become the more notorious,
the Lord ordained, that She herself should use her authority as
Mistress and Queen in permitting them to leave. At the instant in
which She did this, all of them cast themselves, with all the
swiftness in their power, from the upper regions into the abyss. They
gave forth dreadful howls, terrorizing all the damned souls with new
punishments, and, full of dismay and torments in not being able to
deny their defeat, they proclaimed in their presence the power of the
Almighty and of his holy Mother. Having won this triumph the most
serene Empress proceeded on her way to the empyrean heaven, where She
was received with new and admirable jubilee, remaining there for
twenty–four hours.
She prostrated Herself before the
throne of the blessed Trinity and adored It in the unity of its
undivided nature and majesty. She prayed for the Church, in order
that the Apostles might understand and resolve what was proper for
the establishment of the evangelical law and the termination of the
law of Moses. In answer to these petitions She heard a voice from the
throne, by which the three divine Persons, One after the Other and
each One for Himself, promised to assist the Apostles and disciples
in declaring and establishing the truth, assuring Her, that the
Father would direct its establishment by His Omnipotence, the Son, as
head of the Church, assist it by His Wisdom, and the Holy Ghost, as
its Spouse, by His Love and His enlightening gifts. Then the heavenly
Mother saw, that the most holy humanity of her Son presented to the
Father the prayers and petitions, which She Herself had offered for
the Church, and how, approving of them, He proposed the reasons why
they should be fulfilled, in order that the faith of the Gospel and
his entire holy law might be established in the world in accordance
with the decrees of the divine will and mind.
Immediately, in execution of this will and
proposal of Christ our Savior, the Lady saw issuing forth from the
Divinity and immutable essence of God the form of a temple or Church,
beautiful, clear and resplendent as if built of diamond or the
sparkling crystal, adorned with many enamels and reliefs to enhance
its beauty. The angels and saints saw it and in astonishment
exclaimed: “Holy, holy, holy and powerful art Thou, Lord in thy
works” (Apoc. 4, 8). This Church or temple the most blessed
Trinity placed in the hands of the most holy humanity of Christ, and,
in a manner which cannot be described in words, He united it with
Himself. Thereupon He turned it over to the holy Mother and as soon
as Mary received it, She was filled with new splendor. She
annihilated Herself within Herself and then saw the Divinity, clearly
and intuitively, by eminent and beatific vision.
The great Queen
remained in this joy for hours, truly introduced into the cellar of
fermented wine spoken of in the Canticles (Canticle 8, 2).
Since what She experienced and received there
surpasses created thought or capacity, it suffices here to say, that
anew was ordered in Her love (Cant. 2, 4) and directed with new
fervor toward the Church consigned to Her under the above symbol.
Enriched by these favors, She was borne back by the angels to the
Cenacle, having in her hands the mystical temple She had received
from her divine Son. She remained in prayer during the other nine
days without motion and without interrupting the acts, in which She
had been left by the beatific vision. They fall not within human
thought, and can much less be indicated by human words. Among other
things which She did, was to distribute the treasures of the
Redemption among the children of the Church. Commencing with the
Apostles and going through the different ages, She applied them
separately to the just and the saints, according to the secret
disposition of eternal predestination. The execution of these decrees
her divine Son had consigned to the most holy Mary, giving Her
dominion over the whole Church and the dispensation of all the
graces, that each one earn through the merits of the Redemption.
Regarding a mystery so exalted and hidden, I cannot say more than
this.
On the last of the
ten days saint Peter celebrated the other Mass and all received holy
Communion as in the first. Then, all being gathered in the name of
the Lord, they invoked the Holy Ghost and began to consult about the
solution of the difficulties that had arisen in the Church. Saint
Peter, as the head and the highpriest, spoke first,
then saint Paul and Barnaby, and saint James the Less, as
is related by saint Luke in the fifteenth chapter of the Acts. The
first decision of this council was, that the exact law of the
circumcision and the law of Moses should not be imposed upon the
baptized; since eternal salvation was given through Baptism and faith
in Christ. Although saint Luke principally mentions this decision,
yet there were others, which defined certain matters concerning the
government and the ceremonies of the Church, in order to stop some
abuses introduced by the indiscreet piety of some of the faithful.
This is held to be the first council of the Apostles, although they
had also gathered to establish the Credo and other things as
mentioned before. However, at that only the Apostles had convened,
whereas now also those disciples took part, who could come. Also the
manner of conferring and of resolving was different being a formal
decision, as is clear from the words of saint Luke: “It has
seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us,” etc. (Luke 15, 28).
Couched in these terms the decision
of the council was sent by letter to the faithful and to the churches
of Antioch, Syria and Cilicia; and they remitted these letters
through the hands of saint Paul and Barnaby and of other disciples.
In order that the approbation of the Lord might not be wanting, it
happened, that, both in the Cenacle at coming to their decision, and
in Antioch when the letters were read before the faithful, the Holy
Ghost descended in visible fire, so that all the faithful were
consoled and confirmed in the Catholic truth. The most holy Mary gave
thanks to the Lord for the blessings thus bestowed upon the Church.
She immediately despatched saint Paul and Barnaby with the rest and
for their consolation She gave them as relics part of the clothes of
Christ our Lord and some objects She had still left of the Passion.
Offering them her protection and prayers, She sent them filled with
new consolation and spiritual force upon the labors still awaiting
them. During all these days of the council, on account of the terror
with which most holy Mary had inspired him, Lucifer and his ministers
could not come near the Cenacle; yet they prowled about in the
distance, without being able to execute any of their malice against
its members. Happy age, and fortunate congregation!
WORDS OF THE QUEEN
The Virgin Mary
speaks to Sister Mary of Agreda, Spain
My daughter, in the constancy and
invincible fortitude with which I vanquished the demons, thou hast
one of the most urgent motives for persevering in grace and acquiring
great crowns. The human nature and that of the angels (even though
they be devils) are subject to contrary and opposite conditions; for
the spiritual nature is indefatigable, and that of mortals weak and
so prone to fatigue, that it soon tires and succumbs in labor. As
soon as it finds any difficulty in the practice of virtue it is
discouraged and turns back; what it pursues with pleasure on one day,
it condemns the next; what seemed agreeable today, it finds hard
tomorrow; now it wishes, then again it does not wish; sometimes it is
fervent, sometimes lukewarm. But the demon is never fatigued or
weakened in his efforts at tempting souls. The Almighty, however, is
not wanting in his providence; for He limits and restrains the power
of the demons, so that they cannot pass the measure set for them, nor
exert all their indefatigable powers for the persecution of souls. On
the other hand He supports the weakness of men, giving them grace and
strength to resist and overcome their enemies on the prescribed
battleground.
Hence the inconstancy of souls in
virtuously maintaining their position during temptation and in not
bearing with fortitude and patience the inconveniences of doing good
and fighting against the demons, is not excusable. The bent of
passion, drawing man toward the sensible and pleasurable, suddenly
presents itself across the path of duty and the demons, with
diabolical astuteness, seek to exaggerate the hardship and
disagreeableness of mortification, representing it as dangerous to
health and life. Thus he deludes innumerable souls to precipitate
themselves from one abyss to another. In this Thou hast before thy
eyes, my daughter, a very common aberration of the worldly–minded,
but which is very abominable in the sight of the Lord and myself.
Hence that many men are weak, wavering and indisposed toward the
practice of virtue or penitential mortification for their sins. And
the very ones who are so weak in good, are strong in doing evil. In
the service of the devil they are constant and are ready to undergo
much more difficult and arduous tasks in sinning, than the law of God
commands for the practice of virtue. They show themselves tardy and
imbecile in the work of saving their souls, eager and strong to load
upon themselves eternal damnation.
This damage also those who profess a
life of perfection are wont in part to incur, if they unduly consider
the hardships attached to such a life. Drawn into this deception,
they either hinder their advance in perfection or afford the devil
many victories in temptation. In order that thou, my daughter, mayest
not incur this danger, thou shouldst consider the fortitude and
constancy with which I resisted Lucifer and all hell, and the
magnanimity with which I despised his illusions and temptations, not
permitting myself to be disturbed, or to pay any attention to them;
for this is the best way to overcome his haughty pride. Nor was I
ever led by temptation to remissness in my labors or in my exercises;
but I augmented them, together with my prayers, petitions and tears,
as is necessary in the time of battle with those enemies. Hence I
exhort thee to do the same in eager watchfulness; because thy
temptations are not of the ordinary kind, but are directed against
thee in highest malice and astuteness. Of this I have warned thee
many times and this experience teaches thee.
Since thou hast noticed the great
terror caused to the demons at perceiving the sacramental Lord
resting in my bosom, I wish to call thy attention to two things.
First, that for the overthrow of hell and for causing fear in the
demons, all the holy Sacraments of the Church are most powerful
means; but above all the holy sacrament of the Eucharist. This was
one of the hidden purposes of the Lord my Son, in the institution of
this sovereign mystery and of the other Sacraments. If in our time
men do not ordinarily feel these powerful effects, it is because in
the frequency of the reception of the Sacraments much of the
veneration and estimation in receiving them has been lost. But do not
doubt, that souls who frequent them with devotion and piety, are
formidable to the demons and that they exercise great power and
dominion over them in the same way as thou hast seen and described it
of me. The explanation of this fact is: that this divine fire, in the
pure souls, finds itself as it were in its own element. In me it was
active to the limit of possibility in a mere creature, and therefore
I inspired such terror to the demons
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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).)
THE PROFESSION OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
CHAPTER ONE
I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER
198 Our profession of faith begins with God, for God is the First and the Last,1 the beginning and the end of everything. The Credo begins with God the Father, for the Father is the first divine person of the Most Holy Trinity; our Creed begins with the creation of heaven and earth, for creation is the beginning and the foundation of all God's works.
ARTICLE I - "I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER ALMIGHTY, CREATOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH"
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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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