Homily #130214 ( 11min) Play –

Fr. George preaches on the faith of the Centurion and warns us how easy it is to sin against faith and lose it altogether. If you reject one teaching of the Catholic Church, you lose the grace of faith altogether  The Gospel warns that those who lose faith will be “cast into the outer darkness” where there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth”, that is, those who fall away from the Catholic Faith will go to Hell. We must pray this Lent for our perseverance and increase in faith, and for all the fallen-away Catholic who have lost their faith. After all, if we don’t, who will?

Ave Maria!
Mass: Thursday after Ash Wednesday – Ferial – Form: EF, Dum Clamarem
Readings: 
1st: isa 38:1-6
Gsp: mat 8:5-13

Audio (MP3)

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How perfect the story is of Our Lady at Cana. So gently she reminds her son: “They have no wine” (Jn 2:3). In the course of our Christian lives, we often run out of things, maybe even the faith that would let us tell God about it ourselves. But she is there, still present at his side, “they have no love, they have no faith, they have no humility ….”

In the Church we are all living off one another’s faith in this way, but especially off the faith of Mary. It was her faith that made our redemption possible. In a very literal sense her faith is the source of the Church’s faith, for without her faith Christ would not have been born. From all eternity God had prepared her to make that act of faith from which all salvation would flow. This is why we call Mary our Mother, and this is also why it is meaningful for us to regard the Church as our Mother.

Faith never means simply your faith or my faith. In one of the prayers of the Mass we say “look not on our sins, but on the faith of your Church”. To invite God to look simply upon our individual faith might be little better than offering him our splendid virtue! It is not our faith, but the faith of the Church that we present before him, and that means the faith of Mary, the faith of all those many people who have made the Body of Christ healthy and glorious; we, when we are weak and poor, can live off their faith. “Jesus, looking upon their faith, said to the man, “Son, your sins are forgiven”.

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Father Simon Tugwell, O.P

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“To serve God is to seek a way to human hearts, to serve God is to speak out about evil as a sickness which should be brought to light so it can be cured. To serve God is to condemn evil in all its manifestations…

Government means service. The first love of the authorities should be for those whom they govern. And if this really were the case, if this basic Christian truth became part of real life, if the authorities were moral, if Christian ethics dominated the principles of government, how different our lives would be…

The whole activity of Jesus Christ was aimed at making people realise that they were created for the freedom of the children of God. God created man in his image, so he is free; indeed man can accept or reject his Creator…

Let us be strong through love, praying for our brothers who have been misled, without condemning anybody but condemning and unmasking evil. Let us pray with the words Christ spoke from the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do (Lk 23:34). And give us, O Christ, an ever greater awareness that love is stronger than violence or hatred…

The yearning for freedom cannot be stopped by violence, as violence is the weapon of those who do not possess the truth. Man can be crushed by violence, but not enslaved…

A Christian fulfils his duty only when he is stalwart, when he professes his principles courageously, when he is neither ashamed of them nor renounces them because of fear or material needs. Woe betide a society whose citizens do not live by fortitude. They cease to be citizens and become more like slaves. It is fortitude which creates citizens, for only a courageous man is conscious of all his rights and duties. If a citizen lacks fortitude, he becomes a slave and causes immeasurable harm not only to himself but to his family, his country and the Church…Fortitude is an essantial part of one’s life as a citizen. That is why fortitude is, for a Christian, the most important duty after love.

In order to remain spiritually free men, we must live in truth. To live in truth means to bear witness to it to the outside world at all times and in all situations. The truth is unchangeable. It cannot be destroyed by any decree or law…Courageous witnessing to the truth leads directly to freedom. A man who witnesses to the truth can be free even though he might be in prison…We can overcome fear only if we accept suffering in the name of a greater value. If the truth becomes for us a value, worthy of suffering and risk, then we shall overcome fear – the direct reason for our enslavement.”

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St. Margaret Clitherow, martyr.  Feast Day is March 26th.

Despite the risk of discovery, Margaret had a “priest hole” built in her home, where visiting clergy could hide if a raid should occur. She further built a hidden cupboard to hide vestments, missals, Eucharist and blessed wine. In Margaret’s attic, still preserved for the visiting faithful to see, a hole was cut between her home and the neighbor’s home, to allow an escape route for priests, should it come to that. Margaret stated, in defiance of the laws of the time, “by God’s grace all priests shall be more welcome to me than ever they were, and I will do what I can to set forward God’s Catholic service.” She organized celebrations of Mass, and hired a Catholic tutor for neighborhood children of the faith. It was through this tutor that she came to be discovered.

One afternoon, while the tutor was instructing the children, the police raided the house. The tutor escaped, and the authorities found children studying, but convinced of treason, they questioned the children until one broke down in tears, revealing the cupboard of hidden items. Margaret was immediately arrested, and the children were removed from their homes, placed with devout Protestant families. Margaret would never see her children again. Moved by her life, however, her younger son became a priest, and her daughter, a nun.

Margaret was taken before the court and accused of treason. It was customary for those accused to plead guilty, resulting in a less severe penalty. Margaret, however, refused to plead, both out of conviction that she had done nothing wrong and concern that her children might have to testify in a trial. She stated, “I know of no offense whereof I should confess myself guilty. Having made no offense, I need no trial.” The court was outraged, and sentenced her to the maximum penalty for failing to plead guilty—death via crushing.

Prior to her execution, visited by a friend in prison, Margaret remained faithful and eager to meet her Maker. She said to her friend, “The sheriffs have said that I am going to die this coming Friday; and I feel the weakness of my flesh which is troubled at this news, but my spirit rejoices greatly. For the love of God, pray for me and ask all good people to do likewise.”

Saint Margaret Clitherow was a practical woman, remembered for her humility, hospitality and her humanity. She was a wife and mother, she worked in her husband’s butcher shop, she was concerned with the education of her children. Margaret was also a fearless protector of the faith, risking her life to instill in her children the message of Christ.

from the website: http://365rosaries.blogspot.com/2010/03/march-26-saint-margaret-clitherow.html

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“You know not what you ask”

Let us imagine our confusion when we appear before God and understand the reasons why he sent us the crosses we accept so unwillingly. The death of a child will then be seen as its rescue from some great evil had it lived, separation from the woman you love the means of saving you from an unhappy marriage, a severe ill­ness the reason for many years of life afterwards, loss of money the means of saving your soul from eternal loss.

So what are we worried about? God is looking after us and yet we are full of anxiety! We trust ourselves to a doctor because we suppose he knows his business. He orders an operation which involves cutting away part of our body and we accept it. We are grateful to him and pay him a large fee because we judge he would not act as he does unless the remedy were necessary, and we must rely on his skill. Yet we are unwilling to treat God in the same way! It looks as if we do not trust his wisdom and are afraid he cannot do his job properly. We allow ourselves to be operated on by a man who may easily make a mistake – a mistake which may cost us our life – and protest when God sets to work on us. 

If we could see all he sees we would unhesitatingly wish all he wishes. We would beg him on bended knees for those afflictions we now ask him to spare us. To all of us he addresses the words spoken to the sons of Zebedee: You know not what you ask! (O blind of heart, your ignorance saddens me. Let me manage your affairs and look after your interests. I know what you need better than you do yourselves. If I paid heed to what you think you need you would have been hope­lessly ruined long ago.)

+St. Claude de la Colombiere

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Variety #231 – 14th Annual Rosary Procession around Lake Monger, Perth ( 8 min) >>> Play

Ave Maria!

This is a video summary of the 14^th Annual Rosary Procession around Lake Monger in Perth, Australia in honour of Our Lady of Lourdes. The Rosary Procession is organized by the local Legion of Mary.

Audio (MP3)

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Jesus, my Lord, my God, my all,

How can I love Thee as I ought?

And how revere this wond’rous gift,

So far surpassing hope or thought.

Sweet Sacrament, we Thee adore.

O make us love Thee more and more!

O make us love Thee more and more!

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Had I but Mary’s sinless heart,

To love Thee with, my dearest King;

O with what bursts of fervent praise,

Thy goodness, Jesus, would I sing!

Sweet Sacrament, we Thee adore.

O make us love Thee more and more!

O make us love Thee more and more!

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O, see, within a creature’s hand,

The vast Creator deigns to be,

Reposing infant-like, as though

On Joseph’s arm, on Mary’s knee.

Sweet Sacrament, we Thee adore.

O make us love Thee more and more!

O make us love Thee more and more!

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Thy body, soul, and Godhead, all–

O mystery of love divine!

I cannot compass all I have,

For all Thou hast and art are mine.

Sweet Sacrament, we Thee adore.

O make us love Thee more and more!

O make us love Thee more and more!

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Sound, sound His praises higher still,

And come ye Angels to our aid;

‘Tis God, ’tis God, the very God,

Whose power both man and angels made.

Sweet Sacrament, we Thee adore.

O make us love Thee more and more!

O make us love Thee more and more!

Fr. Frederick Faber

O SACRAMENT MOST HOLY

O JESUS, WE ADORE THEE, WHO IN THY LOVE DIVINE CONCEAL THY MIGHTY GODHEAD, IN FORMS OF BREAD AND WINE.

Refrain: O SACRAMENT MOST HOLY, O SACRAMENT DIVNE ALL PRAISE AND ALL THANKSGIVING, BE EVERY MOMENT THINE!

O JESUS, WE ADORE THEE, OUR VICTIM AND OUR PRIEST, WHOSE PRECIOUS BLOOD AND BODY, BECOME OUR SACRED FEAST.

Refrain: O SACRAMENT MOST HOLY, O SACRAMENT DIVNE ALL PRAISE AND ALL THANKSGIVING, BE EVERY MOMENT THINE!

O JESUS, WE ADORE THEE, OUR SAVIOUR AND OUR KING AND WITH THE SAINTS AND ANGELS, OUR HUMBLE HOMAGE BRING.

Refrain: O SACRAMENT MOST HOLY, O SACRAMENT DIVNE ALL PRAISE AND ALL THANKSGIVING, BE EVERY MOMENT THINE!

O JESUS WE ADORE THEE: COME LIVE IN US WE PRAY, THAT ALL OUR THOUGHTS AND ACTIONS BE THINE ALONE TODAY.

Refrain: O SACRAMENT MOST HOLY, O SACRAMENT DIVNE ALL PRAISE AND ALL THANKSGIVING, BE EVERY MOMENT THINE!

O COME ALL YOU WHO LABOR, IN SORROW AND IN PAIN.  COME, EAT THIS BREAD OF HEAVEN, YOUR PEACE AND STRENGTH REGAIN.

Refrain: O SACRAMENT MOST HOLY, O SACRAMENT DIVNE ALL PRAISE AND ALL THANKSGIVING, BE EVERY MOMENT THINE!

(By Irvin Undulutsch OFM)

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“From the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is Sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation: for my name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts.”(Malac. 1:11)

Reflections of a priest on the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass: “O wondrous exchange: The Creator of the human race taking to Himself a living body, deigned to be born of a virgin, and coming forth a man without the concurrence of man, bestows on us men His divinity.”

That, dear Lord, is love – for it is You! And that, dear Lord, is exactly what everyone should see when he looks at Mass. It is the Holy Trinity’s Second Person whom you meet in Mass. He is divine. He is “God of God, true God of true God,” as we sing in the Credo of the Mass.

But He is not there as Omnipotence, though His omnipotence is truly there. Hence, you need never shrink before His power when Mass is being offered; for Almighty God is not there as The Almighty. Nor need you cringe before His infinite majesty, though that majesty is there in all its infinite­ness. Nor is there any call for that fear which one may feel in the presence of a judge who is to pass a sentence from which there is no appeal,Christ, who is Mass, will one day be our Judge; but He does not come as Judge in Mass; He comes only in one guise ­that of a Lover.

You meet God in Mass. Never forget that. You meet Him in Person, but garbed in that personality, if you will allow the word, of the Good Samaritan, the Good Shepherd, or the Father of the Prodigal. Actually jt is in the personality of the One who, with His dying gaze, looked upon those who had just driven spikes through His hands and feet to affix Him to that awful cross, that gibbet of shame, then lifted His voice in prayerful plea to His Father, asking Him to “forgive them,” saying that “they do not know what they are doing” (Lk 23: 34). That is the personality in which you meet God in Mass.

It is that of Him who looked with almost His last glance upon a thief who was dying with Him and said: “I assure you, this very day you will be with me in paradise” (Lk 23:43). It cannot be overstressed that you meet God in Mass, but it must not be under stressed that you meet Him as the One who would not condemn the woman taken in adultery, forgave the Magdalene, stated bluntly that He had “come for sinners,” and summed up His mission in the words: “I have come that they may have life and have it in abundance” (Jn 10:10).

Since that is the guise in which God is met in Mass, you will understand why this aging priest, your present instructor, far from experiencing any lessening of that holy impatience he knew before his first Mass, that sleep-forbidding longing to be vested and to stand holding Him in his hands, knows now an ever greater concen­tration of time. My day seems all of one hour – the hour of Mass.

Every moment leads to my meeting with my God – or away from today’s meeting and on toward tomorrow’s. God is my life! 1 have Him in Mass in the most tangible form possible this side of eternity. Small wonder, then, that Mass is my life! As for you – realize that in Mass you meet God not as your Maker, certainly not as your Judge, in one sense not even as your Redeemer, but only as your Lover. For this is He who said: “I have loved thee with an everlasting love” (Jer 31: 3).

Fr. Raymond O.C.S.O (This is Love)

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ON THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS

The Sacrifice of the Mass is essentially the same as the Sacrifice of the Cross. It is the most pleasing offering we could make to God during an entire eternity. It is, of all things here below, that which procures most joy to the Church Triumphant—most help to the Church Suffering—most profit to the Church Militant.

The Sacrifice of the Mass is a holocaust most perfect, since we render to God an infinite honor in offering to him our Divine Lord.

It is a sacrifice of propitiation, since it is the same as that offered on the Cross, which has effaced all the sins of men by the Blood of Jesus Christ shed thereon ; which has paid with superabundance, all that was due for them to the Divine Justice. We ought then to use with great care this means of obtaining pardon of our sins, and of averting from us the vengeance of God.

The Sacrifice of the Mass is Eucharistic; by it we offer to God thanksgiving worthy of the benefits he bestows upon us. What shall I render to the Lord for all he has done for me ? asks holy David. What can we render for all his benefits? Alas! we have nothing… But, our dear Lord, touched with compassion at the sight of our poverty, has enriched us with all his treasures, has instituted the Sacrifice of the Mass in which he gives Himself to us, that we may take Him and offer Him to God His Father, in gratitude for all He has given to us.

Finally, the Sacrifice of the Mass is impetratory to obtain all goods of body and soul of which we have need; for our Lord is of infinitely greater value than anything we can ask of God.

Holy Mass has the power of obtaining what we ask:

1. Because Jesus Christ offers to his Father in our favor all the merits of His life and death.

2. Because our Lord actually prays in heaven for those who offer the Mass or for whom it is offered.

3. Because of the prayers of the Church which are made at Mass.

4. Because of our own prayers which are then more efficacious than they are at any other time.

The Sacrifice of the Mass obtains for the sinner the grace of repentance: that is, it presses the divine mercy to have pity on him. It obtains for the just, pardon of venial sins; because of the interior acts of virtue it makes him practice, and which acts of themselves efface these sins. It obtains for the just an increase of habitual grace, charity, and all virtues; it obtains great actual graces, particular succors to perform good works, to live in charity and to persevere till death. Finally, we obtain by this Sacrifice all necessary temporal things, as far as God finds it expedient to bestow them for His glory and our own salvation. Let us then always bring to this august Sacrifice the most earnest devotion; let us make an offering of ourselves with Christ to His Eternal Father, let our hearts, thoughts and imaginations be buried in God from the beginning to the end of the Mass : for there is no other act of religion so holy, so divine, so rich in graces and in heavenly blessings.

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Just as the Holy Spirit dwelt in the most holy soul of Christ in order to bring it to God, so He abides in our souls for the same purpose. In Jesus He found a completely docile will, one that He could control perfectly, whereas in us He often meets resistance, the fruit of human weakness; therefore, He desists from the work of our sanctification because He will not do violence to our liberty. He, the Spirit of love, waits for us to co-operate lovingly in His work, yielding our soul to His sanctifying action freely and ardently. In order to become saints, we must concur in the work of the Holy Spirit; but since effective concurrence is impossible without an understanding of the promoter’s actions, it is necessary for us to learn how the divine Paraclete, the promoter of our sanctification, works in us.

We must realize that the Holy Spirit is ever active in our souls, from the earliest stages of the spiritual life and even from its very beginning, although at that time in a more hidden and imperceptible way. However, His very precious action was there, and it consisted especially in the preparing and encouraging of our first attempts to acquire perfection. By giving us grace, without which we could have done nothing to attain sanctity, the Holy Spirit inaugurated His work in us: He elevated us to the supernatural state. Grace comes from God; it is a gift from all three Persons of the Blessed Trinity: a gift created by the Father, merited by the Son in consequence of His Incarnation, Passion and death, and diffused in our souls by the Holy Spirit. But is to the latter, to the Spirit of love, that the work of our sanctification is attributed in a very special manner.

When we were baptized, we were justified “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”; nevertheless, Sacred Scripture particularly attributes this work of regeneration and divine filiation to the Holy Spirit. Jesus Himself pointed out to us that Baptism is a rebirth “of … the Holy Spirit” (John 3,5), and St Paul stated: “For in one Spirit were we all baptized” and “the Spirit Himself giveth testimony to our spirit, that we are the sons of God” (1 Corinthians 12, 13 — Romans 8,16). Therefore, it is the Holy Spirit who has prepared and disposed our souls for the supernatural life by pouring forth grace in us.

Besides this, in order to enable us to perform the supernatural acts, the Holy Spirit comes to strengthen our powers — the intellect and the will — by the infused virtues: charity, together with the other theological virtues of faith and hope, and the moral virtues. Thus, through His intervention, we become capable of performing supernatural acts. But the Holy Spirit does not stop there; like a good teacher, He continues to help us in our work, urging us to do good and sustaining our efforts. He invites us by His interior inspirations, as well as by exterior means, especially Sacred Scripture and the teachings of the Church. Sacred Scripture is the word of God, written by men under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It is the divine Paraclete who speaks to us therein, enlightening our intellects with His light and spurring our wills by His motions; hence, meditation on the sacred texts is somewhat like “attending the school” of the Holy Spirit.

Furthermore, the Holy Spirit continually teaches us and stimulates us to do good by the living word of the Church, since all those in the Church who have the mission to teach are under His influence when they expound sacred doctrine to the faithful. If we listen to the inspirations of the divine Paraclete, and accept His invitations, He unites Himself to us, aiding us by actual graces, so that we are able to perform virtuous acts. It is clear, therefore, that even when the spiritual life is in its first stages, and is concentrated on the correcting of faults and acquiring of virtues, the activity of the soul is entirely permeated and sustained by the action of the Holy Spirit. We give too little attention to this truth and therefore, in practice, we tend to ignore the constant work of the divine Spirit in our souls. Let us give thought to this, lest His inspirations and impulses go unheeded. “By the grace of God, I am what I am” said St Paul, and he could add: “His grace in me hath not been void.” (1 Corinthians 15:10).

Colloquy

“O Holy Spirit, divine Guest of our souls, You are the noblest and most worthy of all guests! With the agility of Your goodness and love for us, You fly rapidly to all souls who are disposed to receive You. And who can tell the wonderful effects produced by you when you are welcomed? You speak, but without noise of words, and Your sublime silence is heard everywhere. You are always motionless, yet always in movement, and in Your mobile immobility, You communicate Yourself to all. You are always at rest, yet ever working; and in Your rest You perform the greatest, worthiest and most admirable works. You are always moving, but You never change Your place. You penetrate, strengthen and preserve all. Your immense, penetrating omniscience knows all, understands all, penetrates all. Without listening to anything, You hear the least word spoken in the most secret recesses of our hearts.

“O Holy Spirit, You stay everywhere unless You are driven out, because You communicate Yourself to everyone, except to sinners who do not want to rise from the mire of their sins; in them You can find no place to rest, nor can You endure the evil emanating from a heart which obstinately persists in wrongdoing. But You remain in the creatures who, by their purity, make themselves receptive to Your gifts. And You rest in me by communication, operation, wisdom, power, liberality, benignity, charity, love, purity; Your creature, You Yourself prepare him suitably to receive You.” (St Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi)

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