Homily #140430b ( 05min) Play – Fr. Elias on the life of Pope St. Pius V who lived from 1504 – 1572 and did much to reform the Church at the time of Renaissance and Protestant Reformation that was challenging the Pope’s authority. He also asked the entire Church to pray the Rosary in order that the Christian naval fleet would be victorious over the Muslims at the Battle of Lepanto.
Ave Maria!
Mass: St. Pius V – Opt Mem – Form: OF
Readings: Wednesday 2nd Week of Easter
1st: act 5:17-26
Resp: psa 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
Gsp: joh 3:16-21

Audio (MP3)

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Today we all must be dunces for Christ!

That’s right. Saturday, November 8th, is Bl. John Duns Scotus’ feast day from whom the term “dunce” was derisively coined by both Protestants (with their God-alone doctrine) and Renaissance Humanists (with their man-alone doctrine). Centuries earlier, Scotus taught a both/and synthesis of the two, the Absolute Primacy of Christ, focusing on the importance of the Incarnation of Jesus as true God and true man. In doing so, he strikes a quintessentially Catholic balance between these perennial extremes. In fact, he taught that the entirety of God’s plan to create our universe revolved around His desire to be incarnated in the human family, which then put a special spotlight on Mary, His mother, and thus formed the basis for Scotus’ theological defense of her Immaculate Conception. The Protestants and Humanists could not refute the pesky Franciscan so they resorted to name calling.

Did you catch some of the connections to our order here, Bl. John Duns Scotus, the Franciscan theologian who successfully defended the Immaculate Conception? Just in case you were wonder why we Franciscans of the Immaculate are making such a big fuss about him. So, yes, please pray that we FI’s can be good “dunces” today for Jesus and Mary!

Stephen Beale at Catholic Exchange writes a great summary of four important things to know about Scotus’ teachings:

1. The Immaculate Conception. His enduring theological defense of the Immaculate Conception based on his teaching of the Absolute Primacy of Christ.
2. The Necessity of the Incarnation. Again, his doctrine of the Absolute Primacy of Christ, that Jesus would have come even if Adam had not sinned.
3. Divine Being as Infinity. That infinity is the primary attribute of God and how he gives many beautiful insights to the significance of this.
4. Will and intellect. That loving God is more important than knowing Him (although both are necessary).

via Catholic Exchange  Four Things You Need to Know about John Duns Scotus:

Every faithful Catholic—if they don’t already—should get to know John Duns Scotus, the 13th [Century] Franciscan whose brilliant flights to the heights of speculative theology earned him the nickname the “Subtle Doctor.”

John Duns Scotus, whose feast day is Saturday, may have earned a permanent place in the pantheon of Catholic theologians if for no other reason than the mark he left on Marian dogma, but his reflections on the nature of divine being and the necessity of the Incarnation—that’s with or without original sin—compel our curiosity. Here are four reasons it’s worth getting to know Scotus.

1. The Immaculate Conception. Perhaps his lasting contribution to the faith and devotion of the Church is in the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. To be sure the Church had long believed that Mary had lived a sinless life. (St. Augustine famously declared that “When sin is treated, there can be no inclusion of Mary in the discussion.”) But the question of original sin was a thornier one. Many of the greatest saints of the Church—like St. Bernard of Clairvaux and St. Thomas Aquinas—found themselves caught between a theological rock and a hard place. While wanting to affirm her exceptional purity as Mother of God they also did not want to exempt anyone from the need for salvation through Christ.

More at Four Things You Need to Know about John Duns Scotus.

The post Four Things You Need to Know about John Duns Scotus first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Homily #150526b ( 14min) Play – Fr. Alan on the life of St. Philip Neri who used a positive approach to address the many troubles of his times brought on by the Renaissance and the reactionary Protestant Reformation. He encouraged all the good elements of the Renaissance, redirecting it in a more constructive direction and fostering a solid program for teaching the truths of the Catholic faith to combat Protestantism.
Ave Maria!
Mass: St. Philip Neri – Mem – Form: OF
Readings: Tuesday 8th Week of Ordinary Time
1st: sir 35:1-12
Resp: psa 50:5-6, 7-8, 14, 23
Gsp: mar 10:28-31

Audio (MP3)

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The post May 26 – Homily – Fr Alan: St. Philip Neri for Troubled Times first appeared on AirMaria.com.

For the homily on the memorial of St. Philip Neri (May 26), Fr.  Alan relates the example of the saint’s childlike humor and humility to today’s Gospel truth: “whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.”

Ave Maria!

Mass: St. Philip Neri – Mem

Readings: Saturday 7th Week of Ordinary Time
1st: Jas 5:13-20
Resp: Ps 141:1-2, 3, 8 0
Gsp: Mk 10:13-16

More on the Readings: http://dev.airmaria.com/r?m=1080&r=1606

See also the Taizé article: “Children: What does it mean to ‘welcome God’s kingdom like a child’?” (https://www.taize.fr/en_article3260.html)

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The post Childlike Humility, Kingdom’s Key – May 26 – Homily – Fr Alan first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Recent restoration work by Heritage England found that the supposed copy is a 15th-century original.

Researchers have discovered a painting once believed to be a copy of a Botticelli work is an original from the artist’s workshop in Florence. Entitled Madonna of the Pomegranate (ca. 1487), the circular canvas depicts the Virgin Mary, flanked by angels, holding baby Christ and a pomegranate. Florence’s Uffizi Gallery has a larger painting of the same subject from circa 1483.

After removing a thick coat of yellow varnish that had obscured much of the canvas and concealed skillful brushstrokes, restorators were able to confirm the painting’s authenticity. And while a number of metrics—including infrared examination, X-ray testing, and pigment analysis—pointed to the painting’s elevated status as an original, English Heritage’s senior collections conservator Rachel Turnbull told The Guardian it was the halo on the Christ child that gave it away. When they decided to remove the later halo, they found a pattern of the original halo beneath it. “I thought, ‘Bingo, we’ve got it.’ It absolutely looks like other things of that from his workshop,” Turnbull said.

Source: A painting long thought to be a copy of a Botticelli came from the artist’s workshop.

The post A painting long thought to be a copy of a Botticelli came from the artist’s workshop. first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Fr Terrance gives the homily at Bloomington, IN on Feb 06, 2023, and continues his series on Franciscan Spirituality as he explains the three general types of spirituality, God-centered, Christ-centered and Man-centered and how the Franciscan takes the central, Christ-focused path.

Three points of departure for theology and spirituality
Theocentric God-centered, glory
Christocentric, Christ-centered, love, charity
Anthropocentric, man-centered, reward

Theocentric – mainly from first millennium, oriented toward God in his adoration and fear of salvation, prayer penance, and the ascetical practices, desert fathers, Orthodox split off at about this time at the height of the theocentric theology spirituality and liturgy and have not changed much since

Christocentric – started with Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, 11th century focus on the necessity to pass through Christ, the one mediator between God and man, this was not ignored but not emphasized by theocentric. Need to be united with Christ and Grace to be in his body, the church.
Perfect love casts out fear.
Started with Clairvaux but was fully adopted by the Franciscans, who gave it its theological basis with the Absolute Primacy of Christ

Anthropocentric started in the 1500s with a Renaissance, which means to be reborn, as in the rebirth of the Roman and often pagan and secular thinking and culture. It focuses on humanity, man is the measure of all things. The interior life was considered in regard to humanity as far as the need to perfect oneself and the need to have the human initiative to put humanity in accord with the will of God with the help of His grace. The point of departure is man the point of arrival is God. Ignatian spirituality is this type

Franciscan it is Christo-centric between theocentric and anthropocentric. Christ is the God-man so he is in between, the mediator between God and man. Christ is at the center of our piety and our thinking. The absolute primacy of Christ. Christ is predestined from the very beginning, and all of creation is brought about for Christ and by means of him. Christ recapitulates, sums up, and completes all of creation and brings it all back to the Father. He is the universal mediator of nature, grace, and glory.

Franciscan spirituality is effective, focuses on feelings but it’s also involving theology and objectivity. Just as God comes to us by means of Jesus Christ, so too do we have to go back to God through Christ.

As Franciscans of the Immaculate, Christ came to us through Mary, so too do we go back to him through her in return.

We acknowledge Christ’s sovereignty over all things and we unite ourselves to him by means of love in order to relive his life in us.

When you add Marian consecration, according to St Maximilian Kolbe, it completes the family picture.

This is a continuation of his series of homilies on Franciscan Spirituality – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNN151zTIO4&list=PLejh_e0-LN4xgMllKrzSasL2Hljd5BHom

The material for this series comes primarily from Ciccarelli, Marciano M., “I capisaldi della spiritualità francescana” in Italian, which translates as “The Cornerstones of Franciscan Spirituality”. No English translations exist at the time of this recording.

Ave Maria!

Mass: St. Paul Miki and companions – Mem
Readings: Monday 5th Week of Ordinary Time – http://usccb.org/bible/readings/020623.cfm
1st: gen 1:1-19
Resp: psa 104:1-2, 5-6, 10, 12, 24, 35
Gsp: mar 6:53-56

More on the Readings: http://dev.airmaria.com/r?m=1031&r=1383

Also on Facebook: https://fb.watch/iwRds1Etz3/
and YouTube: https://youtu.be/KIrmZ2moXsI

The post Franciscan Spirituality #3: Intro, part 3- Feb 06 – Homily – Fr Terrance first appeared on AirMaria.com.