November 2007 Archives
To read it direcly from the Vatican's official website go HERE.
To read a summary of the Encyclical on the Catholic News Agency website you can go HERE.
My favorite quote:
Under the heading:
Eternal Life: What is it?
The Holy Father says:
I would like to begin with the classical form of the dialogue with which the rite of Baptism expressed the reception of an infant into the community of believers and the infant's rebirth in Christ. First of all the priest asked what name the parents had chosen for the child, and then he continued with the question: “What do you ask of the Church?” Answer: “Faith”. “And what does faith give you?” “Eternal life”. According to this dialogue, the parents were seeking access to the faith for their child, communion with believers, because they saw in faith the key to “eternal life”. Today as in the past, this is what being baptized, becoming Christians, is all about: it is not just an act of socialization within the community, not simply a welcome into the Church. The parents expect more for the one to be baptized: they expect that faith, which includes the corporeal nature of the Church and her sacraments, will give life to their child—eternal life.
The name "Andrew" (Gr., andreia, manhood, or valour), like other Greek names, appears to have been common among the Jews from the second or third century B.C.
St. Andrew, the Apostle, son of Jonah, or John (Matthew 16:17; John 1:42), was born in Bethsaida of Galilee (John 1:44). He was brother of Simon Peter (Matthew 10:2; John 1:40). Both were fishermen (Matthew 4:18; Mark 1:16), and at the beginning of Our Lord's public life occupied the same house at Capharnaum (Mark 1:21, 29).
From the fourth Gospel we learn that Andrew was a disciple of the Baptist, whose testimony first led him and John the Evangelist to follow Jesus (John 1:35-40). Andrew at once recognized Jesus as the Messias, and hastened to introduce Him to his brother, Peter, (John 1:41). Thenceforth the two brothers were disciples of Christ. On a subsequent occasion, prior to the final call to the apostolate, they were called to a closer companionship, and then they left all things to follow Jesus (Luke 5:11; Matthew 4:19-20; Mark 1:17-18).
Finally Andrew was chosen to be one of the Twelve; and in the various lists of Apostles given in the New Testament (Matthew 10:2-4); Mark 3:16-19; Luke 6:14-16; Acts 1:13) he is always numbered among the first four. The only other explicit reference to him in the Synoptists occurs in Mark 13:3, where we are told he joined with Peter, James and John in putting the question that led to Our Lord's great eschatological discourse. In addition to this scanty information, we learn from the fourth Gospel that on the occasion of the miraculous feeding of the five thousand, it was Andrew who said: "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fishes: but what are these among so many?" (John 6:8-9); and when, a few days before Our Lord's death, certain Greeks asked Philip that they might see Jesus, Philip referred the matter to Andrew as to one of greater authority, and then both told Christ (John 12:20-22). Like the majority of the Twelve, Andrew is not named in the Acts except in the list of the Apostles, where the order of the first four is Peter, John, James, Andrew; nor have the Epistles or the Apocalypse any mention of him.
From what we know of the Apostles generally, we can, of course, supplement somewhat these few details. As one of the Twelve, Andrew was admitted to the closest familiarity with Our Lord during His public life; he was present at the Last Supper; beheld the risen Lord; witnessed the Ascension; shared in the graces and gifts of the first Pentecost, and helped, amid threats and persecution, to establish the Faith in Palestine.
When the Apostles went forth to preach to the Nations, Andrew seems to have taken an important part, but unfortunately we have no certainty as to the extent or place of his labours. Eusebius (H.E. III:1), relying, apparently, upon Origen, assigns Scythia as his mission field: Andras de [eilechen] ten Skythian; while St. Gregory of Nazianzus (Or. 33) mentions Epirus; St. Jerome (Ep. ad Marcell.) Achaia; and Theodoret (on Ps. cxvi) Hellas. Probably these various accounts are correct, for Nicephorus (H.E. II:39), relying upon early writers, states that Andrew preached in Cappadocia, Galatia, and Bithynia, then in the land of the anthropophagi and the Scythian deserts, afterwards in Byzantium itself, where he appointed St. Stachys as its first bishop, and finally in Thrace, Macedonia, Thessaly, and Achaia. It is generally agreed that he was crucified by order of the Roman Governor, Aegeas or Aegeates, at Patrae in Achaia, and that he was bound, not nailed, to the cross, in order to prolong his sufferings. The cross on which he suffered is commonly held to have been the decussate cross, now known as St. Andrew's, though the evidence for this view seems to be no older than the fourteenth century. His martyrdom took place during the reign of Nero, on 30 November, A.D. 60); and both the Latin and Greek Churches keep 30 November as his feast.
St. Andrew's relics were translated from Patrae to Constantinople, and deposited in the church of the Apostles there, about A.D. 357. When Constantinople was taken by the French, in the beginning of the thirteenth century, Cardinal Peter of Capua brought the relics to Italy and placed them in the cathedral of Amalfi, where most of them still remain. St. Andrew is honoured as their chief patron by Russia and Scotland.With thanks to New Advent
323 D Street SW
Ephrata, WA 98823
Mass is offered every Sunday at 12:30 PM
Daily Mass schedule as follows:
Monday 7 AM
Tuesdays and Thursdays 9 AM
Please note weekday Masses are held at the Chapel located at
560 Nat Washington Way
Ephrata, WA 98823
Please call Fr. Milich with any questions: 509-754-3640
Dom Jean-Baptiste Chautard from "The Soul of the Apostolate,"
Reverence can be described. Reverence can be advocated but I believe it is only by imitation that Reverence can be taught. It is the reverence of the priest as he says the Traditional Mass that makes reverence substantially real. The actions of the priest as he bows, professes the Faith, prays for forgiveness of sins, offers himself as a representative of the people and an Alter Cristus conveys a deep humility, respect and adoration of God in His real True Presence on the altar.With thanks to "Keeping Cathoics Catholic"
SAINT CATHERINE LABOURÉ
Virgin, Visionary
(1806-1876)
Saint Catherine Zoé Labouré was born in a small village of France in 1806, the daughter of a well-to-do farmer who had at one time wanted to become a priest, and his very Christian wife. Catherine, the ninth of the eleven living children, lost her mother when she was only nine years old and had to abandon school to go to live with an aunt, accompanied by her younger sister. Two years later she was recalled to take charge of the household, because the older children had all left, one to become a Sister of Saint Vincent de Paul, the others to marry or seek a living elsewhere.
She made a vow of virginity when still very young, desiring to imitate the Holy Virgin, to whom she had confided herself when her mother died. She longed to see Her, and she prayed, in her simplicity, for that grace. She spent as many hours as possible in the Chapel of the Virgin in the village church, without, however, neglecting the work of the household. She talked to Our Lady as to a veritable mother, and indeed the Mother of Christ and ours would prove Herself to be such. Catherine wished to become a nun, without having opted for any particular community; but one day she saw a venerable priest in a dream, saying Mass in her little village church. He turned to her afterwards and made a sign for her to come forward, but in her dream she retreated, walking backwards, unable to take her gaze from his face. He said to her: “Now you flee me, but later you will be happy to come to me; God has plans for you.” The dream was realized and, as a postulant in the Community of Saint Vincent de Paul, she assisted at the translation of his relics to a nearby church of Paris. She had indeed recognized his picture one day in one of the convents of the Sisters of Charity, and obtained her father’s consent to enter that Congregation when her younger sister was old enough to replace her at home.
Catherine’s interior life was alimented by the visions she frequently had of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, where once she saw Him as Christ the King. And the designs of God for this humble novice began to be fulfilled, after Our Lady appeared to her in July of 1830, and confided to her the mission of having a Medal struck according to the living picture she saw one night, when a little Angel led her to the convent Chapel, and there she knelt at the Virgin’s feet to hear the words which would be the motivating force of her forty-six years of religious life.
Once more — insofar as we know — she would see the Blessed Mother, on November 27th of the same year, when one afternoon while at prayer with her Sisters, she beheld Her to one side of the chapel, Her feet poised on a globe, on which was prostrate a greenish serpent; the hands of the Virgin were holding a golden globe at the level of the heart, “as though offering it to God,” said Catherine later, in an attitude of supplication, Her eyes sometimes raised to heaven, sometimes looking down at the earth, and Her lips murmuring a prayer “for the entire world.” The face of the Virgin was of incomparable, indescribable beauty, with a pleading expression which plunged the Sister into ravishment, while she listened to Her prayers. The Immaculate Virgin, after having offered to God Her Compassion with the suffering Christ, prayed for all men and for each one in particular; she prayed for this poor world, that God might take pity on its ignorance, its weakness and faults, and that by pardoning He would hold back the arm of Divine Justice, raised to strike. She prayed the Lord to give peace to the universe.
For many years Catherine kept her secrets from all save her confessor, Father Aladel, priest of the Mission of Saint Vincent, who, wanting to be able to continue with his penitent, saw to it that she was not sent far from Paris, after he had fulfilled the first mission of having the Medal struck. He died, however, before having the statue made according to this second vision, as Our Lady desired. Catherine suffered much from her inability to accomplish the second part of her mission. When she finally confided this second desire of Our Lady to her Sister Superior, a statue of Our Lady, Queen of the World and Mediatrix of all Graces, was made for two Chapels of the nuns.
Saint Catherine died in 1876, after spending her life in the domestic and agricultural duties associated with the kitchen and garden, and in general caring for the elderly of the Hospice of Enghien at Reuilly, only about three miles southeast of Paris. Among her writings recounting the apparitions, we read: “Oh, how beautiful it will be to hear it said: Mary is Queen of the universe. That will be a time of peace, joy and happiness which will be long... She will be borne like a banner and will make a tour of the world.” The Virgin foretold that this time would come only after “the entire world will be in sadness... Afterwards, peace.”
Fr. Michael Kerper
The
old Missal’s rubrical micromanagement made me feel like a mere machine,
devoid of personality; but, I wondered, is that really so bad? I
actually felt liberated from a persistent need to perform, to engage,
to be forever a friendly celebrant. When
I saw a photo of the old Latin Mass in our local newspaper, I suddenly
recognized the rite’s ingenious ability to shrink the priest. Shot from
the choir loft, I was a mere speck of green, dwarfed by the high altar.
The focal point was not the priest but the gathering of the people. And
isn’t that a valid image of the church, the people of God?
With thanks to Fr. Philip Powell, O.P.
1209 Bush Creek Rd
Taylor, SC 29687
864-268-4352
December 2, 2007 at 11 AM
In the future please call the parish for additional Traditional Mass times and dates.
THE MIRACULOUS MEDAL
(1830)
The Miraculous Medal comes directly from the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and our Mother; it is a gift from heaven which has never ceased to effect marvels of grace throughout the entire world. This medal is a very simple and very efficacious means to benefit from the protection of Mary in all our necessities, both spiritual and temporal.
On November 27, 1830, in a residence of the Daughters of Charity, at the Chapel of the Rue du Bac in Paris, the Most Blessed Virgin appeared to Saint Catherine Labouré (1806-1876) for the second time. On this day the Queen of Heaven was seen with a globe under Her feet and holding in Her hands, at the level of the heart, another smaller globe, which She seemed to be offering to Our Lord in a gesture of supplication. Suddenly, Her fingers were covered with rings and beautiful jewels; the rays from these streamed in all directions...
The Blessed Virgin looked down on the humble novice who was contemplating Her. “Behold,” She said, “the symbol of the graces that I bestow on those who ask Me for them. The jewels which remain in the shadows symbolize the graces that one forgets to ask Me for,” the Virgin continued. And Catherine Labouré wrote later, “She made me understand how generous She is towards persons who pray to Her, how many graces She grants those who ask Her for them, and what joy She has to bestow them!” Then there formed around the Mother of God an oval background on which was written in gold letters:
O Mary, conceived without sin,
pray for us who have recourse to Thee.
In a gesture which invited recourse and confidence, the hands of Mary descended and were extended as we see them represented on the medal.
Sister Catherine Labouré beheld this vision with happiness. A voice said to her: “Have a medal struck on this model; the persons who will wear it will receive great graces, especially if they wear it around the neck. These graces will be abundant for those who wear it with confidence.” The picture seemed to turn around, and Sister Catherine saw, on its reverse side, the letter M surmounted by a little cross, and below it the holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary, the first surrounded by a crown of thorns, and the second transfixed by a sword. Twelve stars surrounded the monogram of Mary and the two holy Hearts.
Sister Catherine faithfully accomplished the mission Heaven had entrusted to her. In 1832 the medal was struck and immediately underwent a extraordinary diffusion throughout the world, accompanied by unceasing prodigies of cures, protection and conversion. Thus it came to be known as the Miraculous Medal. Let us wear this medal of the Most Blessed Virgin with respect, and often repeat with confidence and love, the invocation by which Our Heavenly Mother desires that we implore favors: O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee.
Source: A leaflet on the Miraculous Medal (Editions Magnificat: St. Jovite, 1999). - image and text from magnificat.ca
(excerpted from the book by St. Leonard of Port Maurice)
Section 7. But if the intrinsic wonder and glory of the sacrifice move you not, be moved at least by the extreme necessity for its existence.
If there were no sun to shine on the world, what would it be? All darkness, horror, barrenness, and misery supreme. And if there were not holy Mass in the world? O unhappy race! We should then be vessels empty of every good, and full of evil to the brim; we should be a mark for all the thunders of the wrath of God.
Jesuit Seminarian
(1599-1621)
Born in 1599 in Diest, a town of northern Belgium near Brussels and Louvain, this angelic young Saint was the oldest of five children. Two of his three brothers became priests, and his father, after the death of John’s mother when he was eleven years old, entered religion and became a Canon of Saint Sulpice.
John was a brilliant student from his most tender years, manifesting also a piety which far exceeded the ordinary. Beginning at the age of seven, he studied for three years at the local communal school with an excellent professor. And then his father, wanting to protect the sacerdotal vocation already evident in his son, confided him to a Canon of Diest who lodged students aspiring to the ecclesiastical vocation. After three years in that residence, the family’s financial situation had declined owing to the long illness of the mother, and John was told he would have to return and learn a trade. He pleaded to be allowed to continue his studies. And his aunts, who were nuns, found a solution through their chaplain; he proposed to take John into his service and lodge him.
Saint John was ordinarily first in his classes at the “large school,” a sort of minor seminary, even when he had to double his efforts in order to rejoin his fellow students, all of excellent talent, who sometimes had preceded him for a year or more in an assigned discipline. He often questioned his Superiors as to what was the most perfect thing to say or do in the various circumstances in which he found himself. Such was the humility which caused the young to advance without ceasing on the road to heaven. Later he continued his studies at Malines, also not distant from Diest, under the tutelage of another ecclesiastic, who assigned to him the supervision of three young boys of a noble family. In all that John did he sought perfection, and he never encountered anything but the highest favor for his services, wherever he was placed.
He found his vocation through his acquaintance with the Jesuits of that city, and manifested his determination to pursue his course, although his father and family opposed it for a time. It had been decided that he would continue his studies at the Jesuit novitiate of Malines, with about 70 other novices. With another young aspirant, he was waiting in the parlor to be introduced, when he saw in the garden a coadjutor Brother turning over the ground in the garden. He proposed to his companion to go and help him, saying: “Could we begin our religious life better than with an act of humility and charity?” And with no hesitation, both went to offer their assistance. How many young persons in that situation would have thought of such an offer? This incident reveals the profound charity and interior peace which characterized this young religious at all times.
As a novice he taught catechism to the children in the regions around Malines. He made his instructions so lively and interesting that the country folk preferred his lessons to the ordinary sermons. The children became attached to him, and in a troop would conduct him back to the novitiate, where he distributed holy pictures, medals and rosaries to them. At the end of his novitiate in 1619 he was destined to go to Rome to begin serious application to philosophy, but his superiors decided to send him home for a few days first. A shock awaited him at the train station of Malines, where he was expecting to meet his father; he had died a week earlier. John was given time to take the dispositions necessary to provide for the younger brothers and sister. When he departed, it was apparently with a premonition that he would perhaps never see them again, for he said in a letter to the Canon of Diest with whom he had dwelt, to tell the younger ones for him: “Increase in piety, in fear of God and in knowledge. Adieu.”
With a fellow novice he began the two months’ journey on foot to Rome, by way of Paris, Lyons and Loreto, where the two assisted at the Christmas Midnight Mass. Both of these two young Jesuits would die within three years’ time, his companion in a matter of several months. John had time during these three years to give unceasing proofs of his already perfected sanctity; nothing that he did was left to chance, but entrusted to the intercession of his Heavenly Mother, to whom his devotion continued to increase day by day. He made an extraordinary effort during an intense heat wave in the summer of 1621, participating splendidly in a debate, which took place at a certain distance from the Jesuit residence, despite the fact he did not feel well. Two days later he was felled by a fever, which continued implacably to mine his already slight resistance, and he died in August of that year, after one week of illness. The story of his last days is touching indeed; in a residence of several hundred priests and students, there was none who did not follow with anxiety and compassion the progress of his illness. When the infirmarian told his patient that he should probably receive Communion the next morning — an exception to the rule prescribing it for Sundays only, in those times — John said, “In Viaticum?” and received a sad affirmative answer. He himself was transported with joy and embraced the Brother; the latter broke into tears. A priest who knew John well went to him the next morning and asked him if there was anything troubling or saddening him, and John replied, “Absolutely nothing.”
He asked that his mattress be placed on the floor, and knelt to receive his Lord; when the Father Rector pronounced the words of the Ritual: “Receive, Brother, in viaticum, the Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ,” all in attendance wept. Their angelic, ever joyous and affectionate young novice was called to leave them; no clearer tribute than their tears could have been offered to the reality of his sanctity, his participation in the effusive goodness of the divine nature. Devotion to his memory spread rapidly in Belgium; already in 1624 twelve engraving establishments of Anvers had published his portrait. He was canonized in 1888 by Pope Leo XIII, at the same time as two other Jesuits who lived during the first century of that Society’s existence, so fruitful in sanctity — Peter Claver and Alphonsus Rodriguez.
SAINT CATHERINE of ALEXANDRIA
Virgin, Martyr
Patroness of Students and Young Girls
(† Fourth Century)
Catherine was a noble virgin of Alexandria, born in the fourth century. Before her Baptism, she saw in a dream the Blessed Virgin asking Her Son to receive her among His servants, but the Divine Infant turned away, saying she was not yet regenerated by the waters of Baptism. She made haste to receive that sacrament, and afterwards, when the dream was repeated, Catherine saw that the Saviour received her with great affection, and espoused her before the court of heaven, with a fine ring. She woke with it on her finger.
She had a very active intelligence, fit for all matters, and she undertook the study of philosophy and theology. At that time there were schools in Alexandria for the instruction of Christians, where excellent Christian scholars taught. She made great progress and became able to sustain the truths of our religion against even very subtle sophists. At that time Maximinus II was sharing the empire with Constantine the Great and Licinius, and had as his district Egypt; and this cruel Christian-hater ordinarily resided in Alexandria, capital of the province. He announced a gigantic pagan sacrifice, such that the very air would be darkened with the smoke of the bulls and sheep immolated on the altars of the gods. Catherine before this event strove to strengthen the Christians against the fatal lures, repeating that the oracles vaunted by the infidels were pure illusion, originating in the depths of the lower regions.
She foresaw that soon it would be the Christians’ turn to be immolated, when they refused to participate in the ceremonies. She therefore went to the emperor himself, asking to speak with him, and her singular beauty and majestic air won an audience for her. She said to him that it was a strange thing that he should by his example attract so many peoples to such an abominable cult. By his high office he was obliged to turn them away from it, since reason itself shows us that there can be only one sovereign Being, the first principle of all else. She begged him to cease so great a disorder by giving the true God the honor due Him, lest he reap the wages of his indifference in this life already, as well as in the next. The consequences of her hardy act extended over a certain time; he decided to call in fifty sophists of his suite, to bring back this virgin from her errors. A large audience assembled to hear the debate; the emperor sat on his throne with his entire court, dissimulating his rage.
Catherine began by saying she was surprised that he obliged her to face, alone, fifty individuals, but she asked the grace of him, that if the true God she adored rendered her victorious, he would adopt her religion and renounce the cult of the demons. He was not pleased and replied that it was not for her to lay down conditions for the discussion. The head of the sophists began the orations and reprimanded her for opposing the authority of poets, orators and philosophers, who unanimously had revered Jupiter, Juno, Neptune, Minerva and others. He cited their writings, and said she should consider that these persons were far anterior to this new religion she was following. She listened carefully before answering, then spoke, showing that the ridiculous fables which Homer, Orpheus and other poets had invented concerning their divinities, and the fact that many offered a cult to them, as well as the abominable crimes attributed to them, proved them to be gods only in the opinion of the untutored and credulous. And then she proved that the prophecies of the Hebrew Scriptures had clearly announced the time and the circumstances of the life of the future Saviour, and that these were now fulfilled. Prodigy; the head of the sophists avowed that she was entirely correct and renounced his errors; the others said they could not oppose their chief. Maximinus had them put to death by fire, but the fire did not consume their remains. Thus they died as Christians, receiving the Baptism of blood.
The story of Saint Catherine continues during the time of the emperor’s efforts to persuade her to marry him; he put to death his converted wife and the captain of his guards who had received Baptism with two hundred of his soldiers. He delivered Catherine up to prison and then to tortures as a result of her firmness in refusing his overtures. The famous wheel of Saint Catherine — in reality several interacting wheels — which he invented to torment her, was furnished with sharp razor blades and sharp points of iron; all who saw it trembled. But as soon as it was set in movement it was miraculously disjointed and broken into pieces, and these pieces flew in all directions and wounded the spectators. The barbaric emperor finally commanded that she be decapitated; and she offered her neck to the executioner, after praying that her mortal remains would be respected.
The story of Saint Catherine continues with the discovery of the intact body of a young and beautiful girl on Mount Sinai in the ninth century, that is, four centuries later. The Church, in the Collect of her feast day, bears witness to the transport of her body. A number of proofs testified to the identity of her mortal remains found in the region of the famous monastery existing on that mountain since the fifth century. Her head is today conserved in Rome.With thanks to Lives of the Saints.
Young Catholics Are Leading a Resurgence of the Traditional Mass
By Jacqueline L. Salmon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 24, 2007; Page B09
P arts of it are 1,500 years old, it's difficult to understand, and it's even more challenging to watch. And it's catching on among young Catholics.
It's the traditional Latin Mass, a formal worship service that is making a comeback after more than 40 years of moldering in the Vatican basement.
In September, Pope Benedict XVI relaxed restrictions on celebrating Latin Mass, frequently called the Tridentine Mass, citing "a new and renewed" interest in the ancient Latin liturgy, especially among younger Catholics.
(1542-1591)
Saint John of the Cross was born near Avila in Spain. As a child, he was playing near a pond one day. He slid into the depths of the water, but came up unharmed and did not sink again. A tall and beautiful Lady came to offer him Her hand. “No,” said the child, “You are too beautiful; my hand will dirty Yours.” Then an elderly gentleman appeared on the shore and extended his staff to the child to bring him to shore. These two were Mary and Joseph. Another time he fell into a well, and it was expected he would be retrieved lifeless. But he was seated and waiting peacefully. “A beautiful lady,” he said, “took me into Her cloak and sheltered me.” Thus John grew up under the gaze of Mary.
One day he was praying Our Lord to make known his vocation to him, and an interior voice said to him: “You will enter a religious Order, whose primitive fervor you will restore.” He was twenty-one years old when he entered Carmel, and although he concealed his exceptional works, he outshone all his brethren. He dwelt in an obscure corner whose window opened upon the chapel, opposite the Most Blessed Sacrament. He wore around his waist an iron chain full of sharp points, and over it a tight vestment made of reeds joined by large knots. His disciplines were so cruel that his blood flowed in abundance. The priesthood only redoubled his desire for perfection. He thought of going to bury his existence in the Carthusian solitude, when Saint Teresa, whom God enlightened as to his merit, made him the confidant of her projects for the reform of Carmel and asked him to be her auxiliary.
John retired alone to a poor and inadequate dwelling and began a new kind of life, conformed with the primitive Rules of the Order of Carmel. Shortly afterwards two companions came to join him; the reform was founded. It was not without storms that it developed, for hell seemed to rage and labor against it, and if the people venerated John as a Saint, he had to accept, from those who should have seconded him, incredible persecutions, insults, calumnies, and even prison. When Our Lord told him He was pleased with him, and asked him what reward he wished, the humble religious replied: “To suffer and to be scorned for You.” His reform, though approved by the General of the Order, was rejected by the older friars, who condemned the Saint as a fugitive and an apostate and cast him into prison, from which he only escaped, after nine months’ suffering, with the help of Heaven and at the risk of his life. He took refuge with the Carmelite nuns for a time, saying his experience in prison had been an extraordinary grace for him. Twice again, before his death, he was shamefully persecuted by his brethren, and publicly disgraced.
When he fell ill, he was given a choice of monasteries to which he might go; he chose the one governed by a religious whom he had once reprimanded and who could never pardon him for it. In effect, he was left untended most of the time, during his last illness. But at his death the room was filled with a marvelous light, and his unhappy Prior recognized his error, and that he had mistreated a Saint. After a first exhumation of his remains, they were found intact; many others followed, the last one in 1955. The body was at that time found to be entirely moist and flexible still.
Saint John wrote spiritual books of sublime elevation. A book printed in 1923 which has now become famous, authored by a Dominican theologian,* justly attributed to Saint John and to Saint Thomas Aquinas, whom the Carmelite Saint followed, the indisputable foundations for exact ascetic and mystical theology. He was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1926 by Pope Pius XI.
*Rev. Father Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., Perfection chrétienne et contemplation, selon S. Thomas d’Aquin et S. Jean de la Croix (Éditions de la vie spirituelle: Saint-Maximin, 1923).
Source: magnificat.ca - Vie des Saints pour tous les jours de l’année, by Abbé L. Jaud (Mame: Tours, 1950).
“Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia. For example, if a Catholic were at odds with the Holy Father on the application of capital punishment or on the decision to wage war, he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion. While the Church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace, not war, and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse to capital punishment. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia.”
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI), Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion: General Principles, n. 3, memo to Cardinal McCarrick, 2004 ~
[Emphasis mine]
Associate Chaplain Fr. Seamus O’Kielty, in accordance with the Pope’s recent Motu Proprio allowing for a more generous celebration of the Mass of Blessed John XXIII (Tridentine or 1962 Latin Mass), offered the extraordinary form of the Mass on November 2 in the College’s Chapel of Christ the King, a first in College history.
Fr. O’Kielty was ordained prior to the Vatican II changes in the Mass, and as such, spent his beginning years as a priest celebrating the Tridentine Mass. During the first two months of school this semester, he worked with the altar servers and reviewed the extraordinary form of the rite so that he could properly offer this great gift to the College family. The Mass of Blessed John XXIII continues to be offered each Friday morning.
(†100)
Saint Clement is a Roman of noble birth, the son of the Senator Faustinian. Saint Paul speaks of him in his Epistle to the Philippians, chapter 4, assuring that Clement had worked with him in the ministry of the Gospel, and that his name was written in the Book of Life. Later Saint Clement was consecrated bishop by Saint Peter himself. He succeeded in the supreme office to Saint Linus, the immediate successor to Saint Peter, and the Liber Pontificalis says that “he reigned nine years, two months and ten days, from 67 to 76, ...until the reign of Vespasian and Titus.”
It was, we may say, with the words of the Apostles still resounding in his ears that he began to rule the Church of God; he was among the first, as he was among the most illustrious, in the long line of those who have held the place and power of Peter. Living at the same time and in the same city with Domitian, persecutor of the Church, and having to face not only external foes but to contend with schism and rebellion from within, his days were not tranquil. The Corinthian Church was torn by intestine strife, and its members were defying the authority of their clergy. It was then that Saint Clement intervened in the plenitude of his apostolic authority, and sent his famous Epistle to the Corinthians. He reminded them of the duties of charity, and above all of submission to the clergy. He did not speak in vain; peace and order were restored. Saint Clement had done his work on earth, and shortly after sealed with his blood the Faith which he had learned from Peter and taught to the nations.
Sources: magnificat.ca - Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 13; Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler’s Lives of the Saints and other sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894).
From Sermons for Every Sunday in the Year by Rev. B. J. Raycroft, A. M. Published by Fr. Pustet & Co. Copyright 1900 by Rev. B. J. Raycroft
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. (St. Math. xxiv.-30.)
My Dear Friends: The General Judgment will be an event of awful import to the human race. Any trial is troublesome. When you have a lawsuit, you are anxious for a decision favorable to yourselves. You make every preparation, you leave nothing undone which may jeopardize your cause. On the day of trial you are feverish with anxiety and excitement, lest the case may be declared against you. But in the last trial, during which the Son of God will sit in judgment, there are involved decisions of the greatest importance. Whether you consider the vast number of persons concerned, the appalling consequences, or the eternal reward, you cannot find anything comparable to the General Judgment.
Upon that decision depends everlasting misery, or endless happiness; ceaseless tears, or incessant joys; a life with Jesus forever, or a continuous privation of the presence of God. A skeptic may say: "Oh, this idea of a General Judgment is all bosh. I don't believe anything of the kind. Time and again people have deceived themselves about this same topic. They imagined the end of the world near at hand. Some prophesied the day, but it came not. Away with the notion! "
You must not, my Christian friends, overlook the fact that the Son of God has foretold the Judgment, and He says in this very chapter: "The heavens and the earth will pass away, but My words shall not pass away." Which shall you believe; upon which will you rely-our Saviour, or a scoffer?
Moreover, while Noe was building the ark according to the command of God, undoubtedly people were amazed at his work, and thought him foolish for constructing such a huge refuge from temporal dangers. They must have laughed at the notion. The whole earth was to be destroyed, together with every living thing, except this insane builder and his family and the animals sheltered in the ark. This vast building was to float on the waters, to rise above the highest mountains. Why, where would all this water come from? Such, my dear friends, we may suppose were the remarks made by the unbelievers in the days of Noe. Indeed, the remarks upon this occasion were probably more rash and foolish than anything we could imagine. But the flood came as God had predicted, and the wicked were consumed in the angry waters.
Thus also the General Judgment will come, although many may consider it a myth. As sure as you and I are here today, we shall stand in the presence of the Son of God to receive the sentence of condemnation, or the reward of heaven. And what an awful spectacle of black despair and of sublime glory will commingle in that scene. The angels of the Lord will go forth with a great trumpet to summon the elect from the four winds, from the farthest parts of the heavens to the utmost bounds of them. What a stupendous gathering of people shall be there! How various in form, how different in soul! All the great ones of the earth; the kings and rulers of every age and nation, the scholar of every clime, pope and priest, rich and poor, all will there be collected. For what? For judgment!
The monarch at whose beck millions bowed, will be present. But where is the blaze of royalty? He is alone. No richly decorated retinue attends him. The crown and the throne are absent. His will was mighty. He was a god on earth; but there he stands as humbled as the humblest. The beggar is as great as he, perhaps greater; for all that elevates a person then are his good works. His head is not bedecked with the diadem, but visible upon his brow are all the acts of tyranny, debauchery, and cruelty of his infamous reign. The rights of his subjects were considered as naught. He spoke, and they trembled; he rebuked, and they suffered imprisonment or death. He fancied there was none so great as he; but now behold him, shorn of his pomp and power! How low, how disregarded! In the presence of his God, he sinks into insignificance. His condition is shared by all those who were mighty or ruled, but who abused their power or governed with haughtiness and injustice.
In that vast throng, where are the cruel wealthy arrayed? You would not know them were it not for all the sins of which opulence was the cause. The wail of the orphan, the widow and the wronged rises to the Throne of Justice against them. How many burning tears they have caused to be shed! How many have they oppressed? Wealth was might, and might was right. But the curses which an outraged people heaped upon them were heard by the Avenger of the weak and the lowly. Where now is their power, where their riches, where their pride and ostentation? All have perished. They are unattended. They learn that God alone is great.
Assembled for judgment are parents who hurl maledictions upon the heads of their offspring. It was he who worked his father's or mother's ruin. The child in turn utters imprecations against the parent. Ah! Had my parents trained me to habits of virtue; had they kept me from bad company; had they taught me to pray; had they led me on the path to heaven ...I would not now be seen on the way to hell. The husband will curse the wife, and the wife will curse the husband; for they have been each others spiritual ruin.
But, oh, the awful thought! What will be the punishment for those who have murdered their unborn offspring; who were cruel enough to destroy life with a mother's hand? A mother, who should die for her child; a mother, the ideal of affection, heartlessly besmearing her hand with the blood of the helpless, is an appalling thought.
In that numberless assembly will be those who will crave for vengeance to be inflicted upon the heads of monsters of impurity, which doomed them to a life of shame on earth, and effected the eternal damnation of their souls. Pure she was and innocent when first he seduced her to sin. Her aspirations were lofty. The future was promising. The smiles of health and beauty were on her countenance; on her brow, sincerity, modesty, and honor. Life was budding into summer--a summer of happiness, peace, and innocence. But, alas! From all this she turned away, to listen to the flattery of him who meditated her ruin. She fell; perhaps rose again, only to sink deeper into the meshes of impurity; she had broken away from the anchor of innocence. There was soon no restraint.
In turn, she allured others into sin. Thousands were destroyed by her fall, and now she invokes maledictions upon her malicious destroyer. She sees how much is lost and nothing gained, save that she will continue during eternity to curse the scoundrel whose bewitching tongue and bland smiles robbed her of peace and affected her wretchedness. She thought him honorable. He had a suave demeanor. It was the subtlety of the serpent. He gloried in his conquest. Among his associates he boasted of his damnable deeds. He was not one who had struggled with temptations, fought them back, and prayed in order to conquer; or in an unprotected moment fell a victim to allurements of mighty temptations. No; his ambition was to pollute purity; his greatest glory, the destruction of others.
But on the other hand is the young man who was ensnared by a false woman's charms. He was a noble youth, ignorant of the infernal way of the bad. The pride of his parents and his friends, his every motive was stamped with the seal of honor and manliness. The emotions of the heart stimulated to high resolve. He was ambitious; but his ambition was worthy of a great-minded, noble-hearted young man. Fortune caressed him; a bright future beckoned him on. But there he stands now a picture of despair and remorse. He had magnificent talents, but he abused them. His soul was once spotless, but now it is tarnished with the foulness of crime. Dejected and alone he stands. Misery has claimed him for her own. He knows his fate, and bitterly laments his awful misfortune.
Around about him is a hideous group. Drunkards who died in their sins, cursing God they breathed their last breath; nor have they ceased to blaspheme His holy name. There is the murderer with his dagger reeking with the blood of his helpless victim. It was an instrument of destruction, now it is a witness of His horrible crime. His victim is in his presence. The death wound pleads with irresistible eloquence for justice. With more than human power it tells of the fatal blow. How he prayed for pity and for life, but both were denied him. He was cut off in his sin. Now he is damned, and torture gives vehemence to his appeals. How can the murderer expect mercy? He gave none. His victim's doom is sealed. Can he expect pardon, who deprived a human being of life and despoiled him of the opportunities of repentance and salvation?
All, however, are not bad who are gathered there. The saints and martyrs and all those who lived a pious life, rejoice in the happiness to be possessed for eternity. The martyrs' wounds are now their glory. These are proofs of noble lives and heroic deaths; all of the virtuous are overjoyed. Their suffering on earth is now considered nothing. Their trials and sufferings and anguish are to be rewarded with an endless life with their Creator. The palm of victory is theirs, and the crown of immortality is the compensation for their tireless efforts in the service of God.
It is beyond my power to describe to you the heavenly enthusiasm with which they will be filled upon that occasion. But it is important for us to ponder well the consequences of this last trial, as the interests of the entire human race are involved, and ask ourselves: On what side shall we be after the irrevocable decree goes forth? We shall surely be present, but what will be the sentence? Will it be: Come forth, ye blessed of My Father; or, Depart, ye cursed ones? While all are awaiting the close of the final act in the great drama of human existence, the sun grows pale, the moon is darkened, the stars fall from the heavens, and all Nature seems convulsed at the overawing scene to be enacted. In the midst of this consternation the Son of God appears with great power and majesty. Not weak and haggard as He was on Calvary, but surrounded with all the glory of heaven.
The good will move to welcome Him Who is the source of all their joy, and for Whom they bore all wrongs, insults, and even death, with remarkable fortitude. The very damned will admit His goodness and love for the human race. Their greatest torture will be the consciousness of the loss of One Who had an infinite attachment for all mankind. They will acknowledge their damnation is to be attributed to none but themselves; and will curse themselves on account of their ingratitude toward the fountain of all mercy and charity.
As the Saviour of mankind looks out upon that immense concourse of people, and sees so many who have blasphemed against Him, who have wronged themselves and others; in a word, as He beholds all who have violated His laws and spurned His mercies, He pronounces the sentence of endless joy and everlasting sorrow.
The cause of this joy or this despair is largely due to our own conduct. It is ourselves who compel Him, according to justice, an attribute of His nature, to declare us guilty, if guilty we be. And on that solemn occasion we shall, no doubt, understand this better than we do now, although now we are not ignorant of the fact that God cannot save us without our own cooperation. Let us strive then to follow Jesus faithfully through life, that on the Last Day we may have the inexpressible pleasure of following Him to His eternal mansion. Let us, too, invoke the prayers of Mary that she may lift us when we fall, and by
During the evening of the wedding day, with the music of the nuptial feast still in the air, Cecilia, this intelligent, beautiful, and noble Roman maiden, renewed her vow. When the new spouses found themselves alone, she gently said to Valerian, “Dear friend, I have a secret to confide to you, but will you promise me to keep it?” He promised her solemnly that nothing would ever make him reveal it, and she continued, “Listen: an Angel of God watches over me, for I belong to God. If he sees that you would approach me under the influence of a sensual love, his anger will be inflamed, and you will succumb to the blows of his vengeance. But if you love me with a perfect love and conserve my virginity inviolable, he will love you as he loves me, and will lavish on you, too, his favors.” Valerian replied that if he might see this Angel, he would certainly correspond to her wishes, and Cecilia answered, “Valerian, if you consent to be purified in the fountain which wells up eternally; if you will believe in the unique, living and true God who reigns in heaven, you will be able to see the Angel.” And to his questions concerning this water and who might bestow it, she directed him to a certain holy old man named Urban.
That holy Pontiff rejoiced exceedingly when Valerian came to him the same night, to be instructed and baptized; his long prayer touched the young man greatly, and he too rejoiced with an entirely new joy in his new-found and veritable faith, so far above the religion of the pagans. He returned to his house, and on entering the room where Cecilia had continued to pray for the remainder of the night, he saw the Angel waiting, with two crowns of roses and lilies, which he would place on the head of each of them. Cecilia understood at once that if the lilies symbolized their virginity, the roses foretold for them both the grace of martyrdom. Valerian was told he might ask any grace at all of God, who was very pleased with him; and he requested that his brother Tiburtius might also receive the grace he had obtained; and the conversion of Tiburtius soon afterwards became a reality. The two brothers, who were very wealthy, began to aid the families which had lost their support through the martyrdom of the fathers, spouses, and sons; they saw to the burial of the Christians, and continually braved the same fate as these victims. In effect they were soon captured, and their testimony was such as to convert a young officer chosen to conduct them to the site of their martyrdom. He succeeded in delaying it for a day, and took them to his house, where before the day was ended he had decided to receive Baptism with his entire family and household.
The two brothers offered their heads to the sword; and soon afterward the officer they had won for Christ followed them to the eternal divine kingdom. It was Cecilia who saw to the burial of all three martyrs. She then distributed to the poor all the valuable objects of her house, in order that the property of Valerian might not be confiscated according to current Roman law, and knowing that her own time was close at hand.
She was soon arrested and arraigned, but having asked a delay after her interrogation, she assembled those who had heard her with admiration and instructed them in the faith; the Pontiff Urban baptized a large number of them. The death appointed for her was suffocation by steam. Saint Cecilia remained unharmed and calm, for a day and a night, in the calderium, or place of hot baths, in her own palace, despite a fire heated to seven times its ordinary violence. Finally, an executioner was sent to dispatch her by the sword; he struck with trembling hand the three blows which the law allowed, and left her still alive. For two days and nights Cecilia would lie with her head half severed, on the pavement of her bath, fully sensible and joyfully awaiting her crown. When her neophytes came to bury her after the departure of the executioner, they found her alive and smiling. They surrounded her there, not daring to touch her, for three days, having collected the precious blood from her wounds. On the third day, after the holy Pontiff Urban had come to bless her, the agony ended, and in the year 177 the virgin Saint gave back her glorious soul to Christ. It was the Supreme Pontiff who presided at her funeral; she was placed in a coffin in the position in which she had lain, as we often see her pictured, and interred in the vault prepared by Saint Callixtus for the Church’s pontiffs. The authentic acts of her life and martyrdom were prepared by Pope Anteros in the year 235. When the tomb was opened in 1599 her body was entirely intact still.
Image & Test Source - Magnificat.ca - Les Petits Bollandistes: Vie des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral; Paris, 1882). The account is based on a Histoire de Sainte Cécile, by Dom Guéranger, Abbot of Solemnes.
The pope has named a new director of pontifical liturgical celebrations. He has also dropped Pope John Paul II's practice of using singers from Catholic churches around the world for the St. Peter's choir, The Daily Telegraph reports.
It is an ancient and very trustworthy tradition that the Blessed Virgin was thus solemnly offered in the Temple to God at the age of three by Her parents, Saint Anne and Saint Joachim. The Gospel tells us nothing of the childhood of Mary; Her title Mother of God, eclipses all the rest. Where, better than in the Temple, could Mary be prepared for Her mission? Twelve years of recollection and prayer, contemplation and sufferings, were the preparation of the chosen one of God. The tender soul of Mary was adorned with the most precious graces and became an object of astonishment and praise for the holy Angels, as well as of the highest complacency for the adorable Trinity. The Father looked upon Her as His beloved Daughter, the Son as One set apart and prepared to become His Mother, and the Holy Ghost as His undefiled Spouse.
Here is how Mary’s day in the Temple was apportioned, according to Saint Jerome. From dawn until nine in the morning, She prayed; from 9:00 until 3:00 She applied Herself to manual work; then She turned again to prayer. She was always the first to undertake night watches, the One most applied to study, the most fervent in the chanting of Psalms, the most zealous in works of charity, the purest among the virgins, Her companions, the most perfect in the practice of every virtue. On this day She appears as the standard-bearer for Christian virginity: after Her will come countless legions of virgins consecrated to the Lord, both in the shadow of the altars or engaged in the charitable occupations of the Church in the world. Mary will be their eternal Model, their dedicated Patroness, their sure guide on the paths of perfection.
Image and Informatioin obtained with thanks from magnificat.ca