Blessed Sacrament | AirMaria.com

Video – FiNews #13: Neil Babcox – Protestant Pastor becomes Catholic #2

apostolate — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 15:34:07 +0000

FI News #13 – Neil Babcox drawn to the Roman Catholic Church because of the Holy Eucharist>>> Play

Ave Maria!

In this continuation to Neil Babcox’s previous video he describes how after being a Protestant Pastor for over 30 years, he leaves all to receive the pearl of great price, the Most Blessed Sacrament. Neil entered the Catholic Church and received his first Holy Communion with great joy on the Solemnity of All Saints, November 1, 2006. Now he radiates faith in the Real Presence and love for His eucharistic Lord. For his first Easter in the Catholic Church, Neil made a retreat at Mount St. Francis Hermitage run by the Franciscans of the Immaculate and shared his love for the Blessed Sacrament with AirMaria.com. Don’t miss Neil’s upcoming appearance on EWTN, Marcus Grodi’s The Journey Home on May 21st at 8pm.

Links:

EWTN, Marcus Grodi, The Journey Home??upcoming guest Neil Babcox

Conversion story of Neil Babcox

Ave Maria!

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Video – F.I. News #20: 2007 Corpus Christi Procession

apostolate — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 14:19:33 +0000

FI News #20 – June 10, 2007, Procession in New Bedford, MA (17min) >>> Play

Ave Maria!

Once a year, the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate take the Good News to the streets, literally as it were, as they process Our Blessed Lord through New Bedford, Massachusetts, on the Feast of Corpus Christi. The procession begins downtown at Our Lady’s Chapel and winds through the city to 3 different churches before finishing again at the friar’s chapel. This year we had wonderful weather and a wonderful turnout of approximately 275 faithful souls.

This video condenses the 3+ hour procession down to 17 minutes and features beautiful music of the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration (Mother Angelica’s nuns), the Northern RI Sancte Ceciliae (a homeschool family from Rhode Island), and songs of benediction from the various churches we and Our Lord visited on our journey.

Ave Maria!

The post Video – F.I. News #20: 2007 Corpus Christi Procession first appeared on AirMaria.com.

St. John Neumann and the 40 Hours Devotion

Sr. JosephMary f.t.i. — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 16:00:57 +0000

Ave Maria Meditations

This incredible holy bishop did so many wonderful things but one of my favorite stories concerns the promotion of the 40 Hours Devotion of Adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. His Feast Day is January 5th.

At the time of his episcopate there was a strong anti-Catholic sentiment in Philadelphia and having had two churches burned and another barely saved, priests were advising the Bishop, John Neumann, not to proceed with introducing the 40 Hours of continual adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, believing it would somehow increase the hostility already directed against the Church.

The Bishop had a decision to make and then something happened to make up his mind to proceed with the devotion of the 40 Hours of Adoration:

One night, he was working very late at his desk and fell asleep in his chair. The candle on the desk burnt down and charred some of the papers, but they were still readable. He awoke, surprised and thankful that a fire had not ignited. He fell on his knees to give thanks to God for protection, and heard His voice saying, “As the flames are burning here without consuming or injuring the writing, so shall I pour out my grace in the Blessed Sacrament without prejudice to My honor. Fear no profanation, therefore; hesitate no longer to carry out your design for my glory.”

He introduced the practice of 40 Hours Devotion at the first diocesan synod in April, 1853, and the first devotions began at St. Philip Neri Parish, an appropriate place since that St. Philip had begun that very devotion in the city of Rome. The holy Bishop then introduced the program for the whole diocese, so that each parish would have Forty Hours Devotion during the course of the year. He wrote a booklet for the devotions and obtained special indulgences for the faithful attending them. The Forty Hours Devotion was so successful it spread to other dioceses. At the Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1866, the Forty Hours Devotion was approved for all Dioceses of the United States.

(Let us ask St. John Neumann, lover of the Blessed Sacrament, to pray for us now and that we will again see the 40 Hours Devotion of Adoration grow and flourish in our country and throughout the world, and even to expand to perpetual adoration of Jesus in the most Blessed Sacrament.)

St. John was also most zealous in the promotion of Catholic education and worked diligently to establish parochial schools. Within a year of his becoming Bishop of Philadelphia, the student population in parochial schools increased from 500 to more than 5,000. After two years, it had reached more than 9,000.

St. John Neumann was the fourth bishop of Philadelphia, and held that position from 1852 to 1860. He was the first male canonized saint from the United States. St. John lived from 1811 to 1860. The St. John Neumann feast day is January fifth. Known for a lifetime of pastoral work, especially among poor German immigrants, Bishop John Neumann was the first American man to be named saint.

John Nepomucene Neumann was born on March 28, 1811 in Bohemia, the Czech portion of the present Czechoslovakia. He graduated from a nearby college in Bohemia and then applied to theseminary. John distinguished himself not only in his theological studies, but also in the natural sciences. Besides mastering Latin, Greek and Hebrew, he learned to speak fluently at least eight modern languages, including various Slavic dialects.

On the morning of February 8, 1836, he left his native home and made the trip across Europe on foot. Several months later, he set sail for New York aboard a 210-foot, three-masted ship loaded to capacity with emigrants. Six weeks later, the ship entered the harbor of New York. A few days after arriving in New York, John Neumann sought out and met the bishop, John Dubois. Bishop Dubois had only 36 priests to care for 200,000 Catholics living in all of New York State and half of lower New Jersey. In June of 1836, the bishop ordained John Neumann as a sub-deacon, a deacon, and as a priest, all within on week’s time.

Father John Neumann devoted himself to the pastoral care of all the outlying places in the parish of Buffalo for four years. From his headquarters near Buffalo, he made frequent journeys on foot in all kinds of weather to points ten or twenty miles distant, visiting the settlers on their scattered farms.

Later St. John was attracted to the Redemptorist Order and so was the first novice of the Redemptorists in the United States and, in 1847, he became the head of the American Redemptorists. He also wrote several German Language Catechisms and a German Bible history.

In 1852, he was nominated for the position of Bishop of Philadelphia and he accepted the appointment only because Pope Pius IX commanded him to do so. The Diocese of Philadelphia was at this time the largest in the country, comprising eastern Pennsylvania, western New Jersey, and all of Delaware.

Bishop Neumann was the first in the United States to introduce the Forty Hours Devotion in his diocese. From the beginning, he promoted the establishment of parochial schools. There were only two such schools in 1852, but by 1860 they numbered nearly 100. Through his work with the schools, he helped the Notre Dame Sisters of Munich to become firmly established in the United States.

Though Bishop Neumann had suffered from frequent illnesses, his sudden death, at the age of 48, was wholly unexpected. On January 8, 1860, he went out in the afternoon to attend to some business matters and was walking back when he suffered an apoplectic stroke.

The cause of his beautification was begun in 1886. Ten years later, he received the title of “Venerable.” In February, 1963, Pope John XXIII issued the procamation for his beautification, but the ceremony was delayed by the death of Pope John and Pope Paul VI beautified him on October 13th. His canonization followed in June of 1977.

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I Have Loved You With An Everlasting Love

Sr. JosephMary f.t.i. — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 19:00:24 +0000

Ave Maria Meditations

Dearest Jesus: You loved me from all eternity, therefore you created me.

You loved me after You created me, therefore You became Man for me.

You loved me after You became man for me, therefore you lived and died for me.

You loved me after You had died for me therefore You went to prepare a place for me.

You loved me after You had prepared a place for me, therefore You came back to me.

You loved me after You came back to me, therefore you desired to enter into me and be united to me.

This is the meaning of the most Blessed Sacrament : The Mystery of His Love.

(Archbishop Goodier)

…I wish you would be there. We could maybe have adoration everyday and so bring and weave our lives with the Bread of Life. No greater love not even God could give than in giving Himself as Bread of life-to be broken, to be eaten so that you and I may eat and live-may eat and so satisfy our hunger for love. And He seemed yet not satisfied for He too was hungry for love. So He made Himself the hungry One, the Thirsty One, the Naked One, the Homeless [One] and kept on calling: I was hungry, naked, homeless. You did it to Me…The Bread of life and the Hungry One-but one love–only Jesus. His humility is so wonderful. I can understand His majesty, His greatness because He is God, but His humility is beyond my understanding, because He makes Himself Bread of Life so that even a child as small as I can eat Him and live. The greatness of [the] humility of God! Really no greater love-no greater love than the love of Christ.

(from a letter of Mother Teresa to a priest)

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May 30 – Homily – Fr Angelo: The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

apostolate — Fri, 30 May 2008 12:51:40 +0000

Homily #080530 ( 12min) Play – The Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus has always been connected with the Solemnity of Corpus Christi. It is exactly in the Blessed Sacrament that we find God’s Love for us, that we find the Wounded, Victim Love of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Ave Maria! Mass readings +++

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Franciscan Saint of the Confessional: St. Leopoldo Mandic

Sr. JosephMary f.t.i. — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:00:09 +0000

AVE MARIA MEDITATIONS

July 30^th: St. Leopoldo Mandic

A Saint of the Confessional and a Saint for the Cause of Unity

The august Mother of God is in truth co?redemptress of the human race and source of all grace. In fact on the one hand we have in her the most perfect obedience to God?s laws and, after her Son, the most perfect innocence: He impeccable by His nature, she impeccable by grace. On the other hand we see her as Our Lady of Sorrows, as He was the Man of Sorrows. If, therefore, by eternal decree of God, the Immaculate Virgin was the moral victim of sorrow as her Son was the physical victim, and if God?s avenging justice found no shadow of fault in them, it follows inevit?ably that they were paying the price of the sins of others, that is of mankind.

St. Leopoldo had a great love of Our Lady, a love that sustained him though his life of suffering, was light to his mind and warmth and comfort to his heart. Not even those who lived with him could describe accurately the extent and depth of this love. The tone of when he spoke of her, his expression when he looked at a picture or statue of her, cannot be described: one had to experience them to the ardor of his love

?Fr. Leopoldo,? someone once remarked to him, ?you have heard so much that noth?ing can surprise you now.? ?On the contrary, my son, I am con?stantly astonished by the way people put their immortal souls in jeopardy for the most frivolous and futile reasons,?

Fr. Leopoldo lived the Mass and always tried to instill into others a vivid faith in what he rightly considered to be the source of all grace and blessings. Probably every priest who came to him to confession was frequently exhorted to celebrate Mass well and to make central point of his spiritual life.

?I recommend daily Communion?, he wrote to a penitent, ?You?ll see what a marvelous effect it has.?

Jesus told the Jews that if they kept His commandments they would know the truth, and the truth would set them free. This truth is none other than the grace of the Holy Ghost, the grace promised by Christ to the Samaritan woman under the simile of the living water. Let us therefore approach God, Who is Truth and Light, and we shall be illuminated. Before the splendor of this Light, satan, who is darkness, will be put to flight, and the kingdom of Gad and the Gospel of Christ will be safe within us.

Great was the mystic joy with which Fr. Leopoldo held the Sacred Host in his hands and consumed It. But this did not last long. After Mass he folded his arms across his breast as though trying to retain the treasure of which he had partaken, but before long the Sacramental Species lost their identity and the Real Presence dissolved with them. Jesus, truly present in Body and Blood was, however, not far off: He was always still there in the tabernacle, and it was to the tabernacle that Fr. Leopoldo now turned his attention, never turning it away. Whatever he did during the day, wherever he might go, his heart remained in adoration before God. He was constantly aware of call of the tabernacle and the necessity of it in the spiritual life.

At any time when he was free of other duties, he went immediately to, the Blessed Sacrament altar and plunged into adoration. In spite of acute arthritic pains in his legs, he always knelt upright without the support of the bench, and very often on the bare floor. He remained completely immobile, like a statue, and his face, turned to the tabernacle

Even in his genuflections when passing before the altar, one could see that here was no routine gesture, no everyday acknowledgement of a belief however firmly held, but a genuine, almost spontaneous act of adoration. From his great devotion to the Blessed Sacrament stemmed a desire to ensure that, as far as he was concerned, everything to do with the tabernacle should be perfect.

Aware that in the Holy Eucharist was the inexhaustible source of all good, Fr. Leopoldo, moved .by his ardent charity, did everything in his power to persuade others to approach the Blessed Sacrament. He often included a visit to the Blessed Sacrament in the penances he gave, and was always recommending frequent Communion as a sov?ereign aid to perfection.

As Christ our Redeemer redeemed mankind through His sufferings and cross and death, so He wishes his followers to apply His merits to redeemed mankind by use of the same means of suffering, sorrow and sacrifice, united with and sanctified by His sufferings as priest and eternal victim. Every member of the faithful is called upon to cooperate with the divine plan in this manner for the benefit of mankind, for to all of them was given the command to pray one for another and to be a cause of salva?tion one to another.

Profile:

Physically malformed and delicate of health, Bogdan early showed signs of great spiritual strength and integrity. He entered the Capuchin Franciscan Order and was ordained on September 20th, 1884.

He wanted to be a missionary to in Eastern Europe, torn apart by much religious strife, but was denied by his superiors because of his frailty and general ill-health. Posted to Padua, Italy in 1906 where, except for a year spent in a prison camp in World War I because he would not renounce his Croat nationality, he remained for the rest of his life. He became a Confessor and Spiritual Director for almost forty years.

The life of Saint Leopold Mandic is a contrast between his physical frailty and his spiritual strength. Four foot five inches tall, and born physically weak, his health became worse as he grew older. He had a stammer, suffered abdominal pains, and was gradually deformed by chronic arthritis, making his frame stooped, his hands gnarled, and causing much pain. He offered his suffering for unity in the Church and for souls.

His strong faith was communicated to others when they came to Fr. Leopold for spiritual advice. He would exclaim: ?Have faith! Everything will be alright. Faith, Faith!?

He was truly an apostle; though he did not go to the mission territory, his long service in the confessional proved to be his own distinct apostolate. For nearly forty years, twelve hours a day, he received, counselled, and absolved thousands of penitents, working as a herald of God?s love and forgiveness. And his human weakness highlights the gift of spiritual strength which enabled him to carry out this untiring apostolate.

Early in his Capuchin life, Leopold Mandic was asked to surrender his missionary aspirations and personal preference, and to work as Confessor and Spiritual Advisor. Looking back on this decision, he once said: ?I am like a bird in a cage, but my heart is beyond the seas.?

St. Leopoldo was born Mary 12, 1866 at Castelnuovo, Dalmatia (Bosnia-Hercogovina) and died on July 30, 1942 at the Friary in Padua, Italy of esophogial cancer. He was beatified in 1976 and canonized in 1983.

We have in heaven the heart of a mother, The Virgin, our Mother, who at the foot of the Cross suffered as much as possible for a human creature, understands our troubles and consoles us.

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A Week of Eucharistic and Marian Saints

Sr. JosephMary f.t.i. — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 20:00:40 +0000

Ave Maria Meditations

A week of Eucharistic and Marian Saints

August 1st: St. Alphonsus Liguori

Bishop and Doctor of the Church

INTRODUCTORY PRAYER (To be said before each Visit to the Most Blessed Sacrament)

My Lord Jesus Christ, I believe that you are really here in this sacrament. Night and day you remain here compassionate and loving. You call, you wait for, you welcome everyone who comes to visit you. Unimportant though I am, I adore you. I thank you for all the wonderful graces you have given me. But I thank you especially for having given me yourself in this sacrament, for having asked your own Mother to mother me, for having called me here to talk to you.

I am here before you today to do three things: to thank you for these precious gifts, to make up for all the dis?respect that you receive in this sacrament from those who offend you, to adore you everywhere in the world where you are present in this living bread but are left abandoned and unloved.

My Jesus, I love you with all my heart. I know I have displeased you often in the past; I am sorry. With your help I promise never to do it again. I am only a miser?able sinner, but I consecrate myself to you completely. I give you my will, my love, my desires, everything I own. From now on do what you please with me. All I ask is that you love me, that you keep me faithful to the end of my life. I ask for the grace to do your will ex?actly as you want it done.

I pray for the souls in purgatory-especially for those who were close to you in this sacrament and close to your Mother Mary. I pray for every soul hardened in sin. My Savior, I unite my love to the love of your di?vine heart, and I offer them both together to your Fa?ther. I beg him to accept this offering in your name. Amen.

FIRST VISIT

You are kneeling before a fountain. From its calm depths a voice whispers: If you are thirsty, come to me. It is Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. From this foun?tain of love he pours out upon the world all the merits of his sufferings. From it the saints drink deeply. The prophet predicted it: You shall drink with joy from the Savior?s fountain.

A Spanish Poor Clare loved to make long visits to the Blessed Sacrament. The other nuns asked what she did during those long silent hours. “I could kneel there forever,” she answered. “And why not? God is there. You wonder what I do in the presence of my God? I marvel, I love, I thank, I beg. What does a tramp do when he meets a millionaire? A sick man when he sees a doctor? A starving man when he sees food? What does a dry-throated hiker do at a drinking fountain?”

My Jesus: You are my Life, my Hope, my Treasure, my soul’s only Love. A cruel death was the price you paid to be here in this sacrament today. And even now you suffer insults from those who ignore you. Yet, you remain because you want our love. Come, my Lord, implant yourself in my heart. Lock its door forever. I want nothing cheap to enter it and take away the love that belongs to you. You alone must run my life. If I swerve from you, steer me straight once more. Make me search for one pleasure: the pleasure of pleasing you. Make me yearn for one joy: the joy of visiting you. Make me crave for one delight: the delight of receiving your body. So many people chase after such hollow things! But all I care about is your love, and I am here to beg it from you today. Let me forget myself and keep you ever be?fore my mind. Amen.

SPIRITUAL COMMUNION (To be said after each Visit)

My Jesus, I believe you are really here in the Blessed Sacrament. I love you more than anything in the world, and I hunger to feed on your flesh. But since I cannot receive Communion at this moment, feed my soul at least spiritually. I unite myself to you now as I do when I actually receive you. Never let me drift away from you.

VISIT WITH MARY

We have another fountain to drink from too … our Mother Mary. Saint Bernard said that Mary is so rich in graces that everybody shares in them: “Of her fullness we have all received.” Mary was literally filled with grace, as the angel said when he greeted her. God filled her with such tremendous riches so that she could share them with her children. Cause of our joy, pray for us!

CONCLUDING PRAYER (To be said each day)

Most Holy Immaculate Virgin and my Mother Mary, to you who are the Mother of my Lord, the Queen of the world, the Advocate, the Hope, the Refuge of sin?ners, I have recourse today-I, who am the most miser?able of all. I render you my most humble homage, 0 great Queen, and I thank you for all the graces you have conferred on me until now, particularly for having de?livered me from hell, which I have so often deserved. I love you, 0 most amiable Lady; and for the love which I bear you, I promise to serve you always and to do all in my power to make others also love you. I place in you all my hopes; I confide my salvation to your care.

Accept me for your servant and receive me under your mantle, 0 Mother of Mercy. And since you are so pow?erful with God, deliver me from all temptations, or rather obtain for me the strength to triumph over them until death. Of you I ask a perfect love for Jesus Christ. From you I hope to die a good death. 0 my Mother, by the love which you bear to God, I beseech you to help me at all times, but especially at the last moment of my life. Leave me not, I beseech you, until you see me safe in heaven, blessing you and singing your mercies for all eternity.

Amen. So I hope. So may it be.

(From Visits to the Most Blessed Sacrament and the Blessed Virgin Mary)

August 2nd: St. Peter Julian Eymard

Founder of the Blessed Sacrament Fathers

THE HIDDEN GOD

We can understand why the Son of God loved man enough to become man Himself; the Creator must have been set on repairing the work of His hands. We can also understand how, from an excess of love, the God-Man died on the Cross. But something we cannot understand, something that terrifies those of little faith and scandalizes unbelievers, is the fact that Jesus Christ, after hav?ing been glorified and crowned, after having com?pleted His mission here below, wanted still to dwell with us, and in a state more lowly and self-abasing than at Bethlehem, than on Calvary itself.

With reverence let us lift the mysterious veil that covers the Holy of Holies, and let us try to under?stand the excess of love which our Savior has for us. This veiled condition of existence is the most

glorious one for the Heavenly Father; for thus Jesus renews and glorifies all the states of His mor?tal life. What He cannot do in the glory of heaven, He does on the altar through His state of self-abase?nent. What looks of complacency must not the Heavenly Father cast upon the earth where He sees His Son, Whom He loves as Himself, in a state of poverty, humility, and obedience!

Our Lord has found the means of perpetuating and renewing unceasingly the sacrifice of Calvary. He wants His Father to have constantly before His eyes the heroic deed by which His Son gave Him infinite glory-when He immolated Himself in order to destroy the kingdom of His enemy, satan.

Jesus Christ continues to wage against pride the war that will vanquish it. As there is nothing so repugnant to God as pride, so there is nothing that glorifies Him so much as humility. His Father’s glory is there, the first reason for the hidden state of our Lord in the Eucharist.

JESUS CHRIST is working in His hidden state at the task of my sanctification. In order to be?come a saint I must conquer pride and replace it with humility. In the Eucharist, Jesus gives me the example and the grace of humility. The hidden state of Jesus strengthens me against my weakness. I may draw near to Him, speak to Him, and look upon Him without fear. If His glory were re?splendent, who would dare speak to Jesus Christ, when even the Apostles fell to the ground terror? stricken for having seen a ray of His glory on Tabor? Jesus veils His power which would frighten man; He veils His sanctity, the sublimity of which would discourage our little virtues. A mother lisps with her child and comes down to his level so as to lift him up to her own. In the same way Jesus makes Himself little with the little in order to lift them up to Himself, and through Himself to God.

The Eucharistic veil perfects our faith. Faith is a pure act of the intellect, unhampered by the senses. In the present case, the senses are of no use; there is nothing they can do. This is the only mystery of Jesus Christ in which the senses must be reduced to absolute silence. In every other mystery, for example, in the Incarnation, in the Re?demption, the senses see God as a child, they see Him as a dying God; but here, nothing save an im?penetrable cloud. Faith alone must act, for it is the realm of faith. This obscurity requires of us a very meritorious sacrifice, the sacrifice of our reason and of our in?tellect. We must believe even against the testimony of our senses, against the ordinary laws of nature, against our own personal experience. We must be?lieve on the mere word of Jesus Christ.

—-

LIFE OF ADORATION IN UNION WITH MARY

In considering attentively the reasons that induced our Lord to leave us His Blessed Mother and so separate Himself from her, it seems to me that He did so be?cause He was distrustful of our weakness and inconstancy. Our Lord feared that men, not knowing how to find and adore Him in His Sacrament, would become dis?couraged and would forget Him. The child, as we know, does not search long for some?thing he wants; if he does not find it at once, he gives up and seeks something else. This is what our Lord feared for us; so He left us His Mother whose mission it is to take us by the hand and lead us to His Tabernacle. The Blessed Virgin, then; became our Mother, in view of the Eucharist. To her is entrusted the task of showing us how to find our Bread of Life, of making us appreciate and desire that Heavenly. Food; it is her mission to form us for adoration.

After our Lord’s Ascension, she gathered about her a community of pious women at Jerusalem; she dwelt with them, sharing with them her treasure of grace and love. Her influence extended to the disciples and to the first Christians. Like a true Mother, she trained her children to be faithful to the duties of their state and to practice virtue. What Mary did then, she will do for us now. She will instruct us, show us our Lord in the Eucharist, causing us to take part in her pious devotion to His Service?for all that a mother possesses belongs to her children. Mary being our Mother, will educate us. Mary will instill into you her method of adoration; she will even make your adoration in and for you, for only she can inspire you with the spirit of true and fervent adoration. It is only a mother’s heart that can make itself perfectly under?stood by her child. The Blessed Virgin will say to you: “Come, adore with me.”

Our Lord has given us Mary to be the bond of union between Him and us. Mary gives us the first attraction to Jesus. Before we knew the Eucharist, we knew the name of our Mother and we already loved her. Mary attracted us to herself: she trained us in the virtues necessary for the Eucharistic life. It was fitting that it should be thus, and it is evi?dent to me that there will be no true voca?tions to the Blessed Sacrament, no real devotion to the Holy Eucharist, except those that have been formed by Mary.

August 4th: St. John Mary Vianney

Patron Saint of Parish Priests

Catechism on the Real Presence

OUR LORD is hidden there, waiting for us to come and visit Him, and make our request to Him. See how good He is! He accommodates Himself to our weakness. In Heaven, where we shall be glorious and triumphant, we shall see him in all His glory. If He had presented Himself before us in that glory now, we should not have dared to approach Him; but He hides Himself, like a person in a prison, who might say to us, “You do not see me, but that is no matter; ask of me all you wish and I will grant it.”

He is there in the Sacrament of His love, sighing and interceding incessantly with His Father for sin?ners. To what outrages does He not expose Him?self that He may remain in the midst of us! He is there to console US; and therefore we ought often to visit Him. How pleasing to Him is the short quarter of an hour that we steal from our occu?pations, from something of no use, to come and pray to Him, to visit Him, to console Him for all the outrages He receives! When He sees pure souls coming eagerly to Him, He smiles upon them. They come with that simplicity which pleases Him so much, to ask His pardon for all sinners, for the outrages of so many ungrateful men. What happiness do we not feel in the pres?ence of God, when we find ourselves alone at His feet before the holy tabernacles!

Ah! If we had the eyes of angels with which to see Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is here present on this altar, and who is looking at us, how we should love Him! We should never more wish to part from Him. We should wish; to remain al?ways at His feet; it would be a foretaste of Heaven: all else would become insipid to us. But see, it is faith we want. We are poor blind people; we have a mist before our eyes. Faith alone can dis?pel this mist. Presently, my children, when I shall hold Our Lord in my hands, when the good God blesses you, ask Him then to open the eyes of your heart; say to Him like the blind man of Jericho, “0 Lord, make me to see!” If you say to Him sincerely, “Make me to see!” you will cer?tainly obtain what you desire, because He wishes nothing but your happiness. He has His hands full of graces, seeking to whom to distribute them.

Catechism on the Blessed Virgin

THE FATHER takes pleasure in looking upon the heart of the most Holy Virgin Mary, as the masterpiece of His hands; for we always like our own work, especially when it is well done. The Son takes pleasure in it as the heart of His Mother, the source from which He drew the Blood that has ransomed us; the Holy Ghost as His tem?ple. The Prophets published the glory of Mary before her birth; they compared her to the sun. Indeed, the apparition of the Holy Virgin may well be compared to a beautiful gleam of sun on a foggy day.

The heart of this good Mother is all love and mercy; she desires only to see us happy. We have only to turn to her to be heard. The Son has His justice, the Mother has nothing but her love. God has loved us so much as to die for us; but in the heart of Our Lord there is justice, which i? an attribute of God; in that of the most Holy Virgin there is nothing but mercy. Her Son being ready to punish a sinner, Mary interposes, checks the sword, implores pardon for the poor criminal. “Mother;’ Our Lord says to her, “I can refuse you nothing. If Hell could repent, you would obtain its pardon.”

The most Holy Virgin places herself between her Son and us. The greater sinners we are, the more tenderness and compassion does she feel for us. The child that has cost its mother most tears is the dearest to her heart. Does not a mother always run to the help of the weakest and the most exposed to danger? Is not a physician in the hospital most attentive to those who are most seri?ously ill? The Heart of Mary is so tender towards us, that those of all the mothers in the world put together are like a piece of ice in comparison to hers

The Ave Maria is a prayer that is never weari?some. The devotion to the Holy Virgin is deli?cious, sweet, nourishing. When we talk on earthly subjects or politics, we grow weary; but when we talk of the Holy Virgin, it is always new. All the saints have a great devotion to Our Lady; no grace comes from Heaven without passing through her hands. We cannot go into a house without speaking to the porter; well, the Holy Virgin is the portress of Heaven. All that the Son asks of the Father is granted Him. All that the Mother asks of the Son is in like manner granted to her. When we have han?dled something fragrant, our hands perfume what?ever they touch: let our prayers pass through the hands of the Holy Virgin; she will perfume them.

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A Clear Light of Faith: St. Clare of Assisi

Sr. JosephMary f.t.i. — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 20:00:46 +0000

Ave Maria Meditations

August 11th: St. Clare of Assisi

What is more beautiful to gaze upon than Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament?

St. Clare, patroness of the televised media, pray for us!

Prayers to St. Clare of Assisi
(Patroness of Television Workers
Patroness of Sore Eyes)

O Glorious St. Clare! God has given you the power of working miracles continually, and the favor of answering the prayers of those who invoke your assistance in misfortune, anxiety, and distress. We beseech you, obtain from Jesus through Mary His Blessed Mother, what we beg of you so fervently and hopefully, (mention your petition) if it be for the greater honor and glory of God and for the good of our souls.?? Amen.

God of Mercy, You inspired?Saint Clare with the love of poverty. By the help
of her prayers, may we follow Christ in poverty of spirit and come
to the joyful vision of your glory in the kingdom of heaven. We ask this
through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who lives and reigns with You
and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Dear St. Clare, inspired by St. Francis, you became a poor nun for the sake of Jesus, and established the “Poor Clares.” We are told how greatly you cherished Christ present in the Sacrament of the Altar. Is the Mass not a kind of television of Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross? Help all television workers to broadcast the truth and draw away from falsehood and evil. Amen.

NOVENA TO SAINT CLARE

Dear St. Clare, as a young girl you imitated your mother’s love for the poor of your native Assisi. Inspired by the preaching of St. Francis, who sang enthusiastically of His Lord Jesus and Lady Poverty, you gave your life to Jesus at nineteen years of age, allowing St. Francis to cut off your beautiful hair and invest you with the Franciscan habit. All through your life you offered your great suffering for your Sisters, the Poor Clares, and the conversion of souls. You greatly aided St. Francis with his new order, carrying on his spirit in the Franciscans after his death. Most of all you had a deep love of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament, which fueled your vocation to love and care for the poor. Please pray for me (mention your request) that I will seek to keep Jesus as my first love, as you did. Help me to grow in love of the Blessed Sacrament, to care for the poor, and to offer my whole life to God. Heavenly Father, thank You for the gift of St. Clare. Through her intercession, please hear and answer my prayer, in the name of Jesus Your Son. Amen.

Go forth in peace, for you have followed the good road. Go forth without fear, for he who created you has made you holy, has always protected you, and loves you as a mother. Blessed be you, my God, for having created me.???????? – Saint Clare of Assisi

O wondrous blessed clarity of Clare!
In life she shone to a few;
after death she shines on the whole world!
On earth she was a clear light;
Now in heaven she is a brilliant sun.

O how great the vehemence of the
brilliance of this clarity!
On earth this light was indeed kept
within cloistered walls,
yet shed abroad its shining rays;
It was confined within a convent cell,
yet spread itself through the wide world.

-Pope Innocent IV

St. Clare was born in Assisi on July 16, 1194 and died on August 11, 1253. She is a Founder of the Second Order of St. Francis, the Poor Clares.? Once when her convent was about to be attacked, she displayed the Blessed Sacrament in a monstrace at the convent gates, and prayed before it; the attackers left. thus her patronage of television. She was ever the close friend and spiritual student of St. Francis.

Toward the end of her life, when the was too ill to attend Mass, an image of the service would display on the wall of her cell:;

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Thoughts on the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

Sr. JosephMary f.t.i. — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 19:00:06 +0000

Ave Maria Meditations

Some thoughts on the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass:

The Holy Mass as renewal of the Covenant.

‘Behold, the days are coming?, says the Lord, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.? During the Last Supper, Jesus anticipated what shortly thereafter he was to accomplish in his death. He showed his disciples what he was anxious to do, what he was soon to carry out ?the sacrifice of his Body and Blood for everyone. The Last Supper is an anti?cipation of the sacrifice of the Cross. When, twenty-seven years later, Saint Paul would quote these words of Jesus in the First Letter to the Corinthians: ?This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me?.

The word commemoration harkens back to the Hebrew word which signifies the Jewish feast recalling the flight from Egypt and the Covenant made on Mount Sinai. During this feast the Jews not only remember the past event but they continued it generation after generation. When the Lord commands the Apostles, ?Do this in remembrance of me?, he is not just asking them to remember a single moment. He is asking. them to renew

the sacrifice of Calvary. ???????????

This Covenant is renewed each and every day throughout the entire world wherever the Holy Mass is celebrated. The priest performing each Mass re-presents, that is to say, he makes present once again, in a mysterious manner, the same sacrifice which Christ offered on Cal?vary. The work of our Redemption takes place here and now. It is as if the twenty centuries separating us from Cal?vary had disappeared. The New Covenant of the Eucharis?tic Sacrifice becomes especially manifest in the moment of Consecration. It is at this moment that we should make heartfelt acts of faith and love.

Let us take advantage of some guidelines given to pri?ests on how to celebrate the Mass, in order to help us live the sacrifice with ever greater devotion: After uttering the words which bring Christ down upon the altar, look at the sacramental species with the eyes of faith. As you kneel, see the legions of angels which surround Christ and adore him with profound reverence. This sight should make you exceedingly humble. In the elevation, contemplate Christ elevated on the Cross. Ask Him to bring all things to Him?self. Make fervent acts of faith, hope, love, adoration, humility, saying with the mind, ‘Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me! My Lord and my God! ?I love you, my God. I adore you with my whole heart and soul?.

You may also renew the intention of the Mass which you are celebrating, offering up the Eucharist according to its four ends. But when you lift up the chalice, make sure to remember in a very contrite way that the blood of Christ

has been shed for you, even though you have oftentimes despised it. Adore him so as to make up for your?past neglect. We have to fortify our faith and love in these moments of the Consecration.

Love for the Holy Sacrifice.

How lovely is thy dwelling place, 0 Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yea, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.

With what love and reverence we should approach Holy Mass! There, in this Holy Sacrifice, is to be found the sublime spring of grace to which every generation will repair for strength as man makes his way towards eternity. There we will find not only grace, but the Author of all grace.

Whenever we prepare to celebrate or participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the altar, we have to do so with an intensity that binds us closer and closer to Jesus Christ, the High Priest. As Saint Paul tells us: ?Have this mind among yourselves, which was in Christ Jesus . We offer the Supreme Sacrifice through him and with him and in him?. We offer up ourselves. ?One detail which will help us foster this union with Jesus Christ in the Mass has to do with our manner of participating in the Liturgy. We need to be serious, pious and active, recollected in spirit, our soul united with our body in prayerful harmony. We have to give our full attention to the readings and the acclama?tions. During the times reserved for silent prayer, we ought to make acts of faith and love. We should ask the Blessed Virgin to teach us how to be lovingly attentive at the moment of the consecration and when we receive Jesus in Communion.? Other details to keep in mind relate to our punctuality and the way we dress.

A man who fails to love the Mass, fails to love Christ!. We must make an effort to ‘live’ the Mass with calm and serenity, with devotion and affection. Those who love acquire a finesse, a sensitivity of soul that makes them notice details that are sometimes very small, but that are important because they express the love of a passionate heart. This is how we should attend the Holy Mass. And this is why I have always suspected that those who want the Mass to be over quickly show, with this insensitive attitude, that they have not yet realized what the sacrifice of the altar means.

Our time of thanksgiving after Mass sums up these very special moments of the day which can have such a decisive influence on our work, on our family life, on our cheerful dealings with others, on our peace and joy. Lived in this fashion, the Mass will never be an isolated event, but instead will serve us as real spiritual nourishment. The Mass will give to our actions an eternal meaning. The Mass will help us to live as children of God and co?redeemers with Christ.

We should try to be at the side of Our Lady during the holy Mass, just as she stood by her Son on Calvary. As we offer up Jesus to the Father, we offer ourselves with him through the intercession of Mary. Most Holy Father, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary I offer you Jesus, your beloved Son. I offer myself through him, with him and in him for all his intentions, in the name of all creatures.

Fr. Francis Fernandez (In Conversation with God)

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O Sacrament Most Holy

Sr. JosephMary f.t.i. — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 19:00:37 +0000

Ave Maria Meditations

A Short Visit to the Blessed Sacrament

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

I place myself in the presence of Him, in whose Incarnate Presence I am

Before I place myself there, I adore Thee, 0 my Savior, present here as God and man, in soul and body, in true flesh and blood.? I acknowledge and confess that I kneel before that Sacred Humanity which was conceived in Mary’s womb and lay in Mary’s bosom; which grew up to man’s estate, and by the Sea of Galilee called the Twelve, wrought miracles, and spoke words of wisdom and peace; which in due season hung on the cross, lay in the tomb, rose from the dead, and now reigns in heaven.

I praise, and bless, and give myself wholly to Him, Who is the true Bread of my soul, and my everlasting joy.

Ven. John Henry Cardinal Newman

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