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Aug 10 – Homily – Fr Bonaventure: True Treasure of St Lawrence

apostolate — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:55:44 +0000

Homily #090810 ( 07min) Play – St Lawrence the Martyr points to the true treasures of the Catholic Church who are weak and suffering Christians and then adds to this treasury his own sufferings, being grilled alive for his faith by the Romans.
Ave Maria! Mass readings

Audio (MP3)

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Cost of Conscience

Sr. JosephMary f.t.i. — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 19:00:10 +0000

Ave Maria Meditations

But the souls of the just are in the hand of God and no torment

shall touch them. They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be

dead and their going forth from us, utter destruction. But they

are in peace…chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed

because God tried them and found them worthy of Himself.

(Wisdom, chapter 3)

In this day and age , perhaps in every day and age, there are opportunities to stand for what our conscience dictates what is right. How is ‘what is right’ determined? It must be something within the natural law, the commandments, and the teachings of the Catholic Church. To stand up for these things will generally mean being a sign of contradiction in this world. From the time St. Joseph and Our Blessed Lady presented Jesus in the temple, they knew from the words of holy Simeon : Behold this child is set for the fall and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted; and thy own soul a sword shall pierce…(Lk.2″34-35). Our Lord would both warn and comfort His disciples with these words: These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have distress: but have confidence, I have overcome the world.(Jn.16:33-34). He warned them also with these words: If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.(Jn.15:20) But in every trial Jesus promised not to leave us orphans and also that our hearts are not to be troubled or afraid (cf Jn.14).

As it is now, I myself am aware of people whose job situations and livlihood are on the line for their conscientious objections. One friend lost her job when she said something that a homosexual co-worker, a former Catholic, took offense to. They had been friends and it was a comment made in private as they discussed a return to the faith; it was reported and my friend is no longer in this position. A pro-life doctor with five children of my acquaintance is having difficulty in finding a niche in accord with his conscience. Pharmacists are losing their jobs not only for not dispensing contraceptives but now for refusing to give or receive shots and vaccinations. One pharmacist was forced to resign after 15 years on the job. She was told there was nothing wrong in her service but that this new arena for pharmacy is now mandated. There is much profit in these injections, by the way. Another pharmacist is presently working as a baker at a salary only a fraction of what was earned in the medical field because a safe niche has not been found in the practice of pharmacy according to conscience. I am sure there are nurses and others facing some decisions as more procedures that contradict conscience are asked of them.

Where do we draw the line? Where do we say that we will go so far and no farther? Sometimes the cost may be more than the loss of a job or career. I am reminded of two Franciscan Tertiaries who chose martyrdom rather than deny what their conscience told them what was right.

One is well known in the martyr St. Thomas More. His family and others begged him to go along with the king and the new religion; what could it hurt? Look even the bishops are going along. The family would also suffer for his stance; surely God would understand that the price was too high for he looked at the price of his very life. He paid that price. Another martyr of more recent times is Blessed Franz Jagerstatter. He was martyred in 1943, beheaded like St. Thomas More, for refusing to serve in the Nazi army. His family, his priests, even bishops told him he could do so. After all so many others were serving and he had a family to consider. He stood fast against the pressure and he is the one now beatified. He paid the greatest price and gave the greatest witness to God.

Donald deMarco wrote the following on Bl. Franz:On March 11, 1938, Hitler’s forces crossed into Austria and two days later incorporated it into Grossdeutschland. In due time, the invaders presented Jägerstätter, and all the other able-bodied men of St. Radegund, their orders to swear allegiance to Hitler and serve in the Nazi army. Jägerstätter, alone, refused to comply. He was a Catholic, and in conscience could neither honor nor serve the evil purposes of an intrinsically immoral regime. He refused, knowing that his refusal would cost him his life. The drama, in the words of Professor Zahn, was “nothing less than a repetition of an old story, the ever-recurring confrontation between Christ and Caesar.”

Jägerstätter was also married and father to three little girls. He was urged by many of his neighbors to be “prudent” and not risk his life by offending the Nazis. But Jägerstätter was resolved. While in prison and awaiting execution, he wrote: “Again and again people stress the obligations of conscience as they concern my wife and children. Yet I cannot believe that just because one has a wife and children, he is free to offend God by lying (not to mention all the other things he would be called upon to do). Did not Christ Himself say, ‘He who loves father, mother, or children more than Me is not deserving of My love?’” Just a few hours before his death, he stated in a letter to his family, “I will surely beg the dear God, if I am permitted to enter heaven soon, that He may also set aside a little place in heaven for all of you.”

On August 9, 1943, in a Berlin prison, Franz Jägerstätter, like St. Thomas More, was beheaded.

The night before the execution, a Fr. Jochmann visited Jägerstätter in his cell. The priest found the prisoner, who had already received the last sacraments earlier that day, completely calm and prepared. The opportunity to avoid death was still available. On the table before him lay a document that Jägerstätter had only to sign in order to have his life spared. When the priest called his attention to it, Jägerstätter provided a simple explanation: “I cannot and may not take an oath in favor of a government that is fighting an unjust war.”

On 9 August, before being executed, Franz wrote: “If I must write… with my hands in chains, I find that much better than if my will were in chains. Neither prison nor chains nor sentence of death can rob a man of the Faith and his free will. God gives so much strength that it is possible to bear any suffering…. People worry about the obligations of conscience as they concern my wife and children. But I cannot believe that just because one has a wife and children, a man is free to offend God”.

Jägerstätter remained calm and composed as he walked to the scaffold. On that very same evening, in the company of a group of Austrian nuns, Fr. Jochmann said: “I can only congratulate you on this countryman of yours who lived as a saint and has now died a hero. I say with certainty that this simple man is the only saint that I have ever met in my lifetime.”

Jägerstätter died convinced that his manner of death would pass unnoticed by the world and would completely fade from human memory with the passing of the handful of people who had known him personally. He was a martyr, not a prophet. In December 1984, responding to a nationwide petition, the president of Austria formally issued a special posthumous Award of Honor to Franz Jägerstätter. He was beatified on October 27, 2007.

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Jan 16 – Homily – Fr Ignatius: St Berard and Comp

apostolate — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 12:47:19 +0000

Homily #100116 ( 05min) Play – St Berard and Companions were the first martyrs in the Franciscan Order when they were killed after having preached to the Mohammedans. Father explains that martyrdom is the ideal in that it is the ultimate sacrifice and so the ultimate love and sanctity. He further explains that we are all called to martyrdom but more to the martyrdom by “slow fire”.
Ave Maria! St Berard and Comp – Mass: EF – Readings: 1st: 1co 4:9-14 – Gsp: mat 10:16-22

Audio (MP3)

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Mary Vitamin – Scourging at the Pillar

apostolate — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:32:08 +0000

Mary Vitamin for July 28th

Topic: The Second Sorrowful Mystery – Scourging at the Pillar
In honor of the Month of the Precious Blood

Quote:
[Pilate said] “I am innocent of this man’s blood. Look to it yourselves.” And the whole people said in reply, “His blood be upon us and upon our children.” Then he released Barabbas to them, but after he had Jesus scourged, he handed him over to be crucified. MT 27:24-26

Meditation:
Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity
“The Virgin kept all these things in her heart”: her whole history can be summed up in these few words! It was within her heart that she lived, and at such a depth, that no human eye can follow her….This Queen of virgins is also Queen of martyrs; but again it was in her heart that the sword pierced, for with her everything took place within! Oh! How beautiful she is to contemplate during her long martyrdom, so serene, enveloped in a kind of majesty that radiates both strength and gentleness… She learned from the Word Himself how those must suffer whom the Father has chosen as victims, those whom He has decided to associate with Himself in the great work of redemption, those whom He “has foreknown and predestined to be conformed to His Christ,” crucified by love.
The Complete Works, Volume I (ICS Publications) “Last Retreat” #40.

Resolution:
Today, I will embrace one pain in order to imitate Our Lady’s interior dispositions during the scourging at the Pillar. I will say Our Lady of Fatima’s prayer, “For the love of God, the conversion of sinners, and sins against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”
(St. Therese says, “For one pain endured with joy, we shall love the good God more forever.”)

Marian Vow:
St. Francis
Brothers, kissing your feet, and with all the charity of which I am capable, I beg all to use daily all possible reverence and honor toward the most Holy Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Letter To The General Chapter).

I give this resolution to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Thanks be to God for graces received.

Related sites: Castle of the Immaculate

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Mary Vitamin is a daily Email support for Marian mental prayer. Each day (Monday through Friday) members will receive a brief Marian quote with a corresponding Marian meditation and resolution. The Mary Vitamin is designed to make mental prayer a little simpler and bring Our Lady into your day in a systematic way.

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Nov 24 – Homily – Fr Bonaventure: Not a Hair on Our Heads

apostolate — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 12:45:24 +0000

Homily #101124 ( 07min) Play – Fr. Bonaventure relates today’s Gospel to the Martyrdom of St. Andre Dung Lac and his companions where “And you shall be hated by all men for my name’s sake. ” They suffered these persecutions but also the hope of resurrection “But a hair of your head shall not perish.”
Ave Maria!
Mass: St. Andre Dung Lac and his companions – Memorial – Form: OF
Readings: Wednesday in the 34th Week in Ordinary Time
1st: rev 15:1-4
Resp: psa 98:1, 2-3, 7-8, 9
Gsp: luk 21:12-19

Audio (MP3)

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Jun 22 – Homily – Fr Agnellus: Sts. John Fisher and Thomas More – Examples of Achievement

apostolate — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 02:10:30 +0000

Homily #120622k ( 10min) Play – How much virtue these saints practiced for many years before their final achievement of martyrdom.
Ave Maria!
Mass: John Fisher & Thomas More – Opt Mem – Form: OF
Readings: Friday 11th Week of Ordinary Time
1st: 2ki 11:1-4, 9-18, 20
Resp: psa 132:11, 12, 13-14, 17-18
Gsp: mat 6:19-23

Audio (MP3)

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Nov 12 – Homily – Fr Elias: St Josaphat, Sacrifice for Unity

apostolate — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 12:26:20 +0000

Homily #121112b ( 10min) Play – Fr. Elias on the life of St. Josaphat and how he was a virtuous bishop, working for unity in the Church despite great dangers to himself, ultimately giving his life for this cause.
Ave Maria!
Mass: St. Josaphat – Mem – Form: OF
Readings: Monday in the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time
1st: tit 1:1-9
Resp: psa 24:1-2, 3-4, 5-6
Gsp: luk 17:1-6

Audio (MP3)

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Feb 08 – Homily – Fr Dominic: Dying For Jesus Christ

Griswold Friars — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 14:10:57 +0000

Homily #130208 ( 06min) Play – Fr. Dominic uses the beheading of St. John the Baptist as an example of being courageous for the faith, living entirely for Jesus, doing anything and everything for God, and even willing to die for the faith, because it may just happen to us one day.
Ave Maria!
Mass: St. Jerome Emiliani – Opt Mem – Form: OF
Readings: Friday 4th Week of Ordinary Time
1st: heb 13:1-8
Resp: psa 27:1, 3, 5, 8-9
Gsp: mar 6:14-29

Audio (MP3)

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To be Condemned to Death

Sr. JosephMary f.t.i. — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 17:00:01 +0000

Ave Maria Meditations

On this memorial of the Martyr Saints Perpetua and Felicity, here are thoughts from a more recent martyr:

“Condemned to death…” Priest Memoir from Nazi Camp

Condemned to death. The thought refuses to penetrate; it almost needs force to drive it home. The thing that makes this kind of death so singular is that one feels so vibrantly alive with the will to live unbroken and every nerve tingling with life. A malevolent external force is the only thing that can end it…

Up to now the Lord has helped me wonderfully. I am not yet scared and not yet beaten. The hour of human weakness will no doubt come, and sometimes I am depressed when I think of all the things I hoped to do. But I am now a man internally free and far more genuine and realized that I was before. Only now have I sufficient insight to see the thing as a whole…

All these long months of misfortune fit into some special pattern. From the first I was so sure everything would turn out well. God always strengthened me in that conviction. These last few days I have doubted and wondered whether my will to live has been sublimated into religious delusions or something like that. Yet all these unmistakable moments of exaltation in the midst of misery; my confidence and unshakable faith even when I was being beaten up, the certain “in spite of it all” that kept my spirits up and made me so sure that they would not succeed in destroying me; those consolations in prayer and in the Blessed Sacrament, the moments of grace; the signs I prayed for that were vouchsafed again and again–must I put them all away from me now?…

But one thing is gradually becoming clear–I must surrender myself completely. This is seed-time, not harvest. God sows the seed, and some time or other he will do the reaping. The one thing I must do is to make sure the seed falls on fertile ground. And I must arm myself against the pain and depression that sometimes almost defeat me. If this is the way God has chosen–and everything indicates that it is–then I must willingly and without rancor make it my way.

+Father Alfred Delp, S.J. ( a German Jesuit priest condemned to death by the Nazis in Berlin, Germany)

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Apr 24 – Homily – Fr Dominic: St. Fidelis and the True Vine

Griswold Friars — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 17:32:14 +0000

Homily #130424 ( 06min) Play – Fr. Dominic preaches about St Fidelis, a Capuchin friar who left a promising career as a lawyer to enter the friary. He prayed daily for the gift of martyrdom. Later, he was sent to Switzerland to preach against the Protestant heresies and obtained that desire when a group of Protestant heretics dragged from his pulpit and beat him to death. He shows us that we must unite everything we do to Jesus, the true vine, if we wish it to bear fruit in this life and the next.
Ave Maria!
Mass: St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen, Martyr – 3rd Cl – Form: EF, Protexisti
Readings: Wis 5:1-5, Jn 15:1-7

Audio (MP3)

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