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Fr. Angelo contends that The Nativity Story by New Line Cinema is a good Protestant film which was the intent of the film. His only question is why so many well educated Catholic movie reviewers are calling it a good *Catholic* film.

Read a Review of the Movie by Fr. Angelo Mary Geiger

Resources:

• Early Review and Discussion
• Discussion of Labor Pains
• CCC 499 On the Perpetual Virginity
• John Paul II on the Perpetual Virginity
• Quoting John Paul II on Physical Integrity
• The Nativity Story Blog

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The post Standing Fast #1 – New Line Cinema’s The Nativity Story and the Virgin Birth first appeared on AirMaria.com.

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Fr. Angelo preaches to a packed chapel on Gaudete Sunday. Many FI 3rd Order members were present for their meeting, which was held later in the day.? Christmas and the Nativity were covered.

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The post Video – Fr. Angelo – Homily #2 – Gaudete Sunday first appeared on AirMaria.com.

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The keystone friars set-up the creche at Our Lady of Guadalupe Chapel in this time-lapse video set to “O Little Town of Bethlehem” sung by the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate. Merry Christmas!

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The post Video – Fi News #1 – Setting-up the Creche first appeared on AirMaria.com.

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Silent Night Christmas carol is sung by the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate with animated slide show of Our Lady of Guadalupe Friary and Chapel at night. This is dedicated to Patrick Wroe December 16, 1986 – December 22, 2006 beloved son of Dave and Peggy Wroe who were so instrumental in getting Airmaria started.

Ave Maria!

The post Video – FiNews #2: Silent Night at Our Lady of Guadalupe Friary first appeared on AirMaria.com.

September 8th: Nativity of Mary,

the CAUSE OF OUR JOY

Causa nostrae laetitiae, ora pro nobis

Cause of Our Joy, may my greatest happiness be to possess the love and grace of God; my greatest glory to be a disciple of Jesus and a child of yours. I rejoice in this happiness and exult in this glory. Let not human pride and worldly desires keep me from perfect devotion to you and your Son.

PRAYER

Lord Jesus Christ, Father of mercies and God of all consolation, grant in Your loving kindness that we who joyfully venerate on earth Mary, Your most pure Mother, as our comforter, may deserve to enjoy with her the unending happiness of heaven. Who live and reign forever. Amen.

Fr. Lawrence Lovasik

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“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will.” (Lk. 2:14)

MEDITATION

At Bethlehem the angels announced two things: Glory to God and peace to men; the one corresponds to the other. No one glorifies God as much as that little Babe lying on the straw. He alone, being the eternal Word, can give God the perfect, infinite praise that is worthy of Him. And no one more than Jesus, our Savior, brings peace to men; making reparation for sin, He reconciles man with his Creator and establishes a new covenant between them: the Creator will become Father, and man, will become a son.

Something similar is verified in our daily life.  Those who obey God’s law enjoy peace; observing the divine law they also glorify God. The glory of God corresponds perfectly to the peace of men. But we are treating of that peace which comes only from Jesus, from His grace, peace which we will seek in vain elsewhere.

Peace is the tranquility of order. Order is established by the law and will of God. Those who respect this order fully possess the plenitude of interior peace; those who depart from it, even in a slight degree, lose their peace in proportion to their deviation from it. Peace is the refreshment and repose of the soul in the midst of the struggles and sorrows of life, but this is not the only reason for which we should try to obtain and possess it. We should desire it above all because it gives glory to God.

The angels promised peace “to men of good will”. Our will is “good” when it is upright, docile and resolute.  It is upright when it is sincerely and entirely oriented toward good; docile when it is always ready to follow every indication of God’s will; resolute when it is prompt to adhere to the will of God, even though difficulties and obstacles arise, and sacrifices are required. The Lord is continually urging us to generosity and abnegation in all the circumstances of life, even the smallest ones. We must give ourselves to God without hesitation, certain that if God asks anything of us, He will also give us the strength to carry out His wishes. Such was the conduct of the shepherds; as soon as they heard the message of the angel, they left all, their flocks and their rest, and “came with haste [to Bethlehem] where they found … the Infant lying in the manger” (Lk. 2:16). They were the first to find Jesus and to taste His peace.

Time passes and does not return. God has assigned to each of us a definite time in which to fulfill His divine plan for our soul; we have only this time and shall have no more. Time ill spent is lost forever. Our life is made up of this uninterrupted, continual flow of time, which never returns. In eternity, on the contrary, time will be no more; we shall be established forever in that degree of love and glory (that we have attained at life’s end). If we possess only a slight degree of love, that is all we shall have throughout eternity. No further progress will be possible when time has ended.

Therefore, while we have time, let us work good to all men. We must give every moment its full amount of love, and make each passing moment eternal, by giving it value for eternity, This is the best way to use the time given us by God. Charity allows us to adhere to God’s will with submission and love and thus at the close of life we shall have realized God’s plan for our soul; we shall have reached the degree of love which God expects from each one of us and with which we shall love and glorify Him for all eternity.

(Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D.)

Look at Christ Jesus. All His life is consecrated to the glory of His Father Whose will He always accomplishes: “I seek not My own will but the will of Him that sent me”(Jn.5:30, 6:38).  He seeks only that. At the moment of achieving His life here below, He says to His Father that He has fulfilled His mission: “I have glorified Thee on the earth” (Jn 17:4).  The desire of His Divine Heart is that we too should seek the glory of His Father.

(Blessed Columba Marmion)

Gloria in altissimis Deo, et super terram pax in hominibus bonae voluntatis.

Gloria in excelsis Deo
et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis
Laudamus te
Benedicimus te
Adoramus te
Glorificamus te
Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam
Domine Deus, Rex caelestis, Deus Pater omnipotens
Domine fili unigenite, Jesu Christe
Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Filius patris
Qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis
Qui tollis peccata mundi suscipe deprecationem nostram
Qui sedes ad dexteram patris miserere nobis
Quoniam tu solus sanctus
Tu solus Dominus
Tu solus Altissimus, Jesu Christe
Cum Sancto Spiritu in gloria Dei Patris.
Amen.

English:
Glory to God in the highest
and on earth peace to people of good will
We praise you
We bless you
We adore you
We glorify you
We give thanks to you for your great glory
Lord God, Heavenly King, God Almighty Father
Lord Only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ
Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father
You who take away the sins of the world have mercy on us
You who take away the sins of the world hear our prayer
You who sit at the Father’s right hand, have mercy on us
For you alone are holy
You alone, Lord
You alone the Most High, Jesus Christ
With the Holy Spirit in the glory of God the Father.
Amen.

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The contemplation of the mysteries of Jesus will only produce such great fruit in us as we bring thereto certain dispositions which can be summed up into three: faith, reverence and love. Faith is the primordial disposition for placing us in vital contact with Christ. We celebrate mysteries, that is to say human and visible signs of a divine and hidden reality. To comprehend, to touch this reality, faith is needed. Christ appears as both man and God in each of these mysteries; often even, as in the Nativity and in the passion, the divinity is more than ordinarily hidden; in order to grasp it, to pierce the veil and reach to it, to see God in the child lying in the manger, or in the One who was “made a curse for us”, hanging on the gibbet of Calvary, or again in His Eucharistic appearances, faith is needed: Faith, for all defects supplying, where the feeble senses fail…

Without faith we shall never penetrate into the depths of the mysteries of Jesus; but with it, we have no need to envy Christ’s contemporaries. We do not see Our Lord as those who lived with Him, but it is given to us by faith to contemplate Him, to dwell with Him, and be united to Him in a no less efficacious way than it was for those who  

were His contemporaries. We sometimes say: Oh, if I had lived in His time, if I might have followed Him with the multitude, with the disciples; if I might have served Him like Martha, or knelt listening to His words like Magdalene! But He has said: “Blessed are they that have not seen; and have believed”. If we have faith, we will remain as united Jesus as could those who saw Him with their eyes or touched Him with their hands.

I will even add this: it is the measure of this faith that for our part, determines the degree of our participation in the grace of Jesus contained in His mysteries. See what took place during His terrestrial life: those who lived with Him, who were in material contact with Him, like the Shepherds and Wise Men at the manger, the Apostles and all who sought Him during the years of His public life, St. John and St. Mary Magdalene at the foot of the Cross, the disciples who saw Him risen and ascending to Heaven, all received grace according to the degree of their faith. It is always to faith that He grants the miracles asked of Him; every page of the Gospel shows us that He nade faith an indispensable condition for receiving His grace.        

We cannot now see Jesus with bodily sight. Christ has ascended to Heaven. But faith takes the place of sight; and the degree of this faith, as was the case with Christ’s contemporaries, is, with love, the degree of our union with Him. Let us never forget this important truth: Christ Jesus without Whom we can do nothing, and of Whose full­ness we must all receive, will only give us a share in His grace according to the meas­ure of our faith. St. Augustine says it is not in walking that we approach Christ, but it is in believing. Thus the stronger and deeper is our faith in Jesus, the Incarnate Word, the Son of God, the nearer we approach Christ.

Moreover faith gives birth within us to two other sentiments which must enter into the attitude of the soul in the presence of Christ. These are reverence and love. We must approach Christ with inexpressible reverence. For Christ Jesus is God, that is to say the Almighty; the Infinite Being Who possesses all wisdom, all justice, all per­fections; the Sovereign Master of all things; the Creator of all that is and the Last End of all that exists; the source of all beatitude. Wherever He may be, Jesus is always God, even when He gives Himself with the most benignity and liberality, He ever remains the One before Whom the highest angels veil their faces. In the manger, He allows Himself to be touched; the Gospel tells us that the multitude thronged Him on every side; and during His Passion, He lets Himself to be struck in the face, smitten and insulted; but He is ever God. Even when He is scourged, and spat upon, when He is nailed upon the Cross, it is ever He Who created heaven and earth by His power and governs them by His wisdom; and therefore whatever be the page of the Gospel that we read or the mystery of Jesus that we celebrate, we must adore Him. When we have a living faith, this reverence is so deep that it makes us fall at the feet this God-Man to adore Him. “Thou art Christ, the Son of the Living God”.

Adoration is the first impulse of the soul drawn to Christ by faith: Love is the second.  Love underlies all Christ’s mysteries. The humility of the manger, the obscurity the hidden life, the fatigues of the public life, the torments of the Passion, the glory the Resurrection, all is due to love: Having loved his own, He loved them unto the end.  It is love, above all, that is revealed and shines out in the mysteries of Jesus. And it is above all by love that we understand them: We have believed the charity.

If we want our contemplation of Christ’s mysteries to be fruitful, we must contemplate them with faith, with reverence, but above all with love – the love that seeks give itself, to yield itself up to the divine good pleasure in order to accomplish it. ­It is then that the contemplation of the mysteries of Jesus bears fruit. “If anyone love Me,” says our Lord, “I will manifest Myself to him”. What does that mean? If anyone loves Me in faith, contemplates Me in My humanity, in the different states of My Incarnation, to him I will discover the secrets of My Divinity.

Happy, thrice happy, is the soul in whom so magnificent a promise is fulfilled! Christ Jesus will reveal “the gift of God” to her; by His Spirit “Who searcheth … the deep things of God”, He will make this soul penetrate into the sanctuary of this mystery hidden  which His mysteries are; He will open to her those “store­rooms” of the King  of which the Canticle of Canticles speaks, where she will be inebriated with truth and joy. Doubtless, this intimate manifestation of Jesus to the soul, while she is here below, will not reach to the Beatific Vision, which remains the privilege of the blessed in heaven; but it will fill her with divine enlightenment, fortifying her in her ascension towards God: to know the charity of Christ which surpasseth all knowledge.

This is truly the fountain of living water springing up for us unto life everlasting; for is not everlasting life to know God and His Divine Son, to confess with our lips and our lives that Jesus is the beloved Son in Whom the Father has placed all His delight, and in Whom He wills that we should find all things?

There is a third reason, one deeper and more intimate. Christ did not come only for the inhabitants of Judea, His contemporaries, but for us all, for all men of any nation and century. Do we not sing in the Credo: For us and for our salvation, He came down from heaven?  The “fullness of time” is not yet ended; it will endure as long as there shall be souls to save.  For it is the Church that Christ, since His Ascension, has left the mission of bringing Him forth in souls. “My little children“, said St. Paul the Apostle of Christ Jesus among nations, “of whom I am in labor again, until Christ be formed in you”.

It is this grace of a new birth that the Incarnate Word merited for us by His Birth at Bethlehem. However, we should remember that if Christ was born, and lived and died for us all, the application of His merits and the distribution of His graces are made according to the measure of the dispositions of each soul. Consequently we shall only share in the abundant graces that Christ’s Nativity should bring to us in proportion to our dispositions. The Church knows this perfect­ly and therefore she neglects nothing that can produce in our souls that inward attitude required by the coming of Christ within us. Not only does the Church say by the mouth of the Precursor: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, for “He is near”, but she herself, like a Bride attentive to the wishes of her Bridegroom, like a mother careful for her children’s good, suggests to us and gives us the means of making this necessary preparation. If we allow ourselves to be guided by her, our dispositions will be perfect, and the so­lemnity of the Birth of Jesus will produce within us all its fruits of grace, of light and life.

Our Lady:

Purity of heart.  Who was the best disposed for the coming of the Word to earth? Without any doubt, it was the Blessed Virgin Mary. At the moment when the Word came into this world, He found Mary’s heart perfectly prepared, and capable of receiving the Divine riches which He willed to heap upon her what were the dispositions of her soul?

Assuredly she possessed all the most perfect dispositions; but there is one which shines with particular brilliancy: that is her virginal purity. Mary is a virgin. Her vir­ginity is so precious to her that it is her first thought when the angel proposes to her the mystery of the divine maternity. Not only is she a virgin, but her soul is stainless. The liturgy reveals to us that God’s special design in granting to Mary the unique privilege of the Immaculate Concep­tion was to prepare for His Word a dwelling place worthy of Him:  O God who by the Im­maculate Conception of the Virgin, didst PREPARE a worthy habitation for Thy Son.

Mary who was to be the Mother of God; and this eminent dignity required not only that she should be a virgin, but that her purity should surpass that of the angels and be a reflection of the holy splendor wherein the Father begets His Son in the brightness of the saints. God is holy, thrice holy; the angels, the arch­angels, the seraphim hymn His infinite purity: Holy, Holy, Holy.  The bosom of God, of an infinite purity, is the dwelling-place of the Only-begotten Son of God. The Word is ever in the bosom of the Father  but, in becoming Incarnate, He also willed, in ineffable condescension, to be in the bosom of His Mother, the Virgin Mary. It was necessary than the tabernacle that Our Lady offered Him should recall, by its incomparable pu­rity, the indefectible brightness of the light eternal where as God He ever dwells. Thus the first disposition that attracts Christ is a great purity. But as for ourselves, we are sinners. We cannot offer to the Word, to Christ Jesus, that immaculate purity which He so much loves. What is there that will rake the place of it in us? It is humility.

Do not let us forget that the Lord, the Son, only wills what His Father wills. If He becomes incarnate and appears upon earth, it is in order to seek sinners and bring them back to His Father:  “I came not to call the just, but sinners”. This is so true that later Our Lord will often be found, to the great scandal of the Pharisees, in the company of sinners; He will allow Magdalene to kiss His Feet and bathe them with tears.

We have not the Virgin Mary’s purity, but let us at least ask for the humility of Magdalene, a contrite and penitent love. 0 Christ Jesus, I am not worthy that Thou shouldst come to me; my heart will not be for Thee a dwelling-place of purity for misery dwells there. But I acknowledge, I avow this misery; come and relieve me of it. 0 Thou who art mercy itself; come and deliver me, 0 Thou Who art  almighty:

A like prayer, joined to the spirit of penance, draws Christ to us because the humility that abases itself in its nothingness thereby renders homage to the goodness and power of Jesus: him that cometh to me, I shall not cast out.

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PRESENCE OF GOD:

O Mary, my Mother, teach me to live hidden with you in the shadow of God.

MEDITATION:

The liturgy enthusiastically celebrates Mary’s Nativity and makes it one of the most appealing feasts of Marian devotion. We sing in today’s Office: “Thy Nativity, O Virgin Mother of God, brings joy to the whole world, because from you came forth the Sun of Justice, Christ, our God.”

Mary’s birth is a prelude to the birth of Jesus because it is the initial point of the realization of the great mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God for the salvation of mankind. How could the birthday of the Mother of the Redeemer pass unnoticed in the hearts of the redeemed? The Mother proclaims the Son, making it known that He is about to come, that the divine promises, made centuries before, are to be fulfilled. The birth of Mary is the dawn of our redemption; her appearance projects a new light over all the human race: a light of innocence, of purity, of grace, a resplendent presage of the great light which will inundate the world when Christ, “lux mundi ” the Light of the World, appears.

Mary, preserved from sin in anticipation of Christ’s merits, not only announces that the Redemption is at hand, but she bears the first fruits of it within herself; she is the first one redeemed by her divine Son. Through her, all ­pure and full of grace, the Blessed Trinity at last fixes on earth a look of complacency, finding in her alone a creature in whom the infinite beauty of the Godhead can be reflected.

The birth of Jesus excepted, no other was so important in God’s eyes or so fruitful for the good of humanity, as was the birth of Mary. Yet it has remained in complete obscurity. There is no mention of it in Sacred Scriptures and when we look for the genealogy of Jesus in the Gospel, we find only what refers to Joseph; we find nothing explicit about Mary’s ancestry except the allusion to her descent from David. Our Lady’s origin is wrapped in silence, as was her whole life. Thus, her birth speaks to us of humility. The more we desire to grow in God’s eyes, the more we should hide ourselves from the eyes of creatures. The more we wish to do great things for God, the more we should labor in silence and obscurity.

2. In the Gospel the figure of Mary is, as it were, com­pletely overshadowed by that of her divine Son; the Evan­gelists tell us only what is necessary to present the Mother of the Redeemer, and in fact, she enters on the scene only when the narrative of the Incarnation of the Word begins. Mary’s life is confounded with, is lost in, the life of Jesus: truly she lived “hidden with Christ in God.” Let us note, too, that she lived in obscurity, not only during the years of her childhood, but also during the whole period of her divine maternity, yes, even during the triumphal moments in the public life of her Son, even when a certain woman, enthusiastic about the wonderful things that Jesus did, cried out in the midst of the crowd.” Blessed is the womb that bore Thee and the breasts that nursed Thee!” (Lk 11,27).

The Feast which we celebrate today is an invitation to the hidden life, to hide ourselves with Mary in Christ, and with Christ in God. Many times it is God Himself who, through circumstances or the decisions 6f our superiors, makes us live in obscurity. We should be very grateful for this, and take advantage of these opportunities to make more progress in the practice of humility and self-effacement. At other times, however, God gives us responsibilities, offices, apostolic works which bring us into prominence, but even in such circumstances we should try to efface ourselves as much as possible. Certainly we must not refuse the assignment, but we should know how to withdraw as soon as our activity is no longer needed for the success of the work entrusted to us. All the rest-praise, applause, the account of our success or the excuse for our failure-should not concern us. In the face of all this we should strive to remain wholly indifferent. An interior soul should long to hide itself as much as it can under the shadow of God, for, if it has been able to accomplish some little good, it is convinced that in reality all has been the work of God; therefore, it eagerly seeks that all may redound to His glory alone. Let Mary’s humble, hidden life be the model of ours, and if, in emulating her, we have to struggle against our ever-recurrent tendencies to pride, let us confidently seek her maternal aid, and she will help us to triumph over all vainglory.

COLLOQUY:

“When I feel myself tossed about in the sea of this world amidst storms and tempests, I keep my eyes fixed on you, O Mary, shining star, lest I be swallowed up by the waves.

“When the winds of temptation arise, when I dash against the reefs of tribulations, I raise my eyes to you and call upon you, 0 Mary. When I am agitated by the billows of pride, ambition, slander or jealousy, I look to you and I invoke you, O Mary; when anger or avarice or the seductions of the flesh rock the fragile little barque of my soul, I always look to you, 0 Mary. And if I am troubled by the enormity of my sins, troubled in conscience, frightened at the severity of judgment, and if I should feel myself engulfed in sadness or drawn into the abyss of despair, again I raise my eyes to you, always calling on you, O Mary.

“In dangers, in difficulties, in doubts, I will always think of you, O Mary; I will always call on you. May your name, O Virgin Mary, be always on my lips and never leave my heart; in order that I may obtain the help of your prayers; grant that I may never lose sight of the example of your life. Following you, O Mary, I shall not go astray, thinking of you I shall not err, if you support me I shall not fall if you protect me I shall have nothing to fear, if you accompany me I shall not grow weary, if you look upon me with favor, I shall reach the port” (St. Bernard).

Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalene OCD  (Divine Intimacy)

The post Meditation on the Eve of the Nativity of Mary first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Homily #091004 ( 23min) Play – Today is the Feast of St Francis of Assisi (New Advent), the Poverello, who is the founder of the Franciscan Orders and so his feast supersedes Sunday’s liturgy at our Franciscan friary. Fr. Bonaventure explains the importance of the love of poverty that was so central to St. Francis’ spirituality and how this relates to devotion to Christ and Mary and the importance of the incarnation and the bodily death of Christ and to the renewal of the Church in our materialistic times.
Ave Maria!

Audio (MP3)

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The post Oct 04 – Homily – Fr Bonaventure: Feast of the Poverello first appeared on AirMaria.com.

The Tradition of the Christmas Crib

Following a beautiful and firmly-rooted tradition, many families set up their crib immediately after the feast of the Immaculate Conception, as if to relive with Mary those days full of trepidation that preceded the birth of Jesus. Putting up the crib at home can be a simple but effective way of present­ing faith, to pass it on to one’s children. The crib helps us contemplate the mystery of God’s love that was revealed in the poverty and simplicity of the Bethlehem Grotto. Saint Francis of Assisi was so taken by the mystery of the Incarnation that he wanted to present it anew at Greccio in the living nativity scene, thus beginning an old, popular tra­dition that still retains its value for evangelization today. Indeed, the crib can help us understand the secret of the true Christmas because it speaks of the humility and merciful goodness of Christ, who “though he was rich he made himself poor” for us (2 Cor 8: 9). His poverty enriches those who embrace it and Christmas brings joy and peace to those who, like the shepherds in Bethlehem, accept the Angel’s words: “Let this be a sign to you: in a manger you will find an infant wrapped in swad­dling clothes” (Lk 2: 12). This is still the sign for us too, men and women of the third millennium. There is no other Christmas.

Pope Benedict XVI

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