This morning during Matins I was struck by the second reading by St. Leo the Great, so I thought I would share it with you. The bold sections are the sections that really struck me as being important points to come to realize in our own spiritual life.

True reverence for the Lord’s passion means fixing the eyes of our heart on Jesus crucified and recognizing in him our own humanity.

The earth—our earthly nature—should tremble at the suffering of its Redeemer. The rocks—the hearts of unbelievers—should burst asunder. The dead, imprisoned in the tombs of their mortality, should come forth, the massive stones now ripped apart. Foreshadowings of the future resurrection should appear in the holy city, the Church of God: what is to happen to our bodies should now take place in our hearts.

No one, however weak, is denied a share in the victory of the cross. No one is beyond the help of the prayer of Christ. His prayer brought benefit to the multitude that raged against him. How much more does it bring to those who turn to him in repentance. Ignorance has been destroyed, obstinacy has been overcome. The sacred blood of Christ has quenched the flaming sword that barred access to the tree of life. The age-old night of sin has given place to the true light.

The Christian people are invited to share the riches of paradise. All who have been reborn have the way open before them to return to their native land, from which they had been exiled. Unless indeed they close off for themselves the path that could be opened before the faith of a thief.

The business of this life should not preoccupy us with its anxiety and pride, so that we no longer strive with all the love of our heart to be like our Redeemer, and to follow his example. Everything that he did or suffered was for our salvation: he wanted his body to share the goodness of its head.

First of all, in taking our human nature while remaining God, so that the Word became man, he left no member of the human race, the unbeliever excepted, without a share in his mercy. Who does not share a common nature with Christ if he has welcomed Christ, who took our nature, and is reborn in the Spirit through whom Christ was conceived?

Again, who cannot recognize in Christ his own infirmities? Who would not recognize that Christ’s eating and sleeping, his sadness and his shedding of tears of love are marks of the nature of a slave?

It was this nature of a slave that had to be healed of its ancient wounds and cleansed of the defilement of sin. For that reason the only-begotten Son of God became also the son of man. He was to have both the reality of a human nature and the fullness of the godhead.

The body that lay lifeless in the tomb is ours. The body that rose again on the third day is ours. The body that ascended above all the heights of heaven to the right hand of the Father’s glory is ours. If then we walk in the way of his commandments, and are not ashamed to acknowledge the price he paid for our salvation in a lowly body, we too are to rise to share his glory. The promise he made will be fulfilled in the sight of all: Whoever acknowledges me before men, I too will acknowledge him before my Father who is in heaven.

Holy Week Is Near: Go To Confession

Trust

The other day during my Holy Hour I came across a prayer written by Fr. Louis Merton (aka Thomas Merton). It reflected quite beautifully and honestly some of my own feelings as I near the end of my time here at the Liturgical Institute and my return to my diocese. That being the case I thought I would share it with you.

My Lord God,

I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself,

And the fact that I think I am following

your will does not mean that I am

actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please

you does in fact please you.

And I hope that I have that desire in all

that I am doing.

I hope that I will not do anything

apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this, you

will lead me by the right road

though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore, I will trust you always

though I may seem to be lost

and in the shadow of death, I will

not fear, for you are ever with me

and you will never leave me

to face my perils alone.

Thursday of the Second Week of Lent

The collect from today's Mass in the new translation of the Roman Missal is:

O God, who delight in innocence and restore it,

direct the hearts of your servants to yourself,

that, caught up in the fire of your Spirit,

we may be found steadfast in faith

and effective in works.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

In a world where a lack of innocence is praised we hear in in the Liturgy that God delights in innocence. In other words, contrary to what we hear from the world, innocence is a virtue to be cultivated and not a vice to be quickly discarded. It seems rather obvious to me, and surely to you as well, that innocence is a virtue that is greatly lacking in our world. Even in schools, where innocence should be protected, children are being taught about things that are not so innocent at a very young age. Instead of cultivating innocence for as long as possible, it is widely believed that the sooner we teach them about "real life" the better. Now surely, sometimes discussions that might impinge upon a child's innocence will be necessary, but lets not overdo it.

But what about us, who have already lost our innocence? Well, there is hope. Today's collect points out the God restores our innocence. But how? Well, I think he restores our innocence first and foremost through the Sacraments, particularly the Sacrament of Penance/Confession and the Holy Eucharist. In confession the Blood of the Innocent Victim is applied to our souls so cleanse us of our sins, and in the Holy Eucharist we receive the innocent Lamb of God Himself. What could be a greater restorer of innocence than that? For our part, we can help the process of purification along through prayer, self-denial, purification of the senses, and being vigilant about what we put into our minds via sight and hearing.

Regaining innocence is a hard but necessary task. Jesus made it clear that unless we become like children we cannot enter the Kingdom. Let us seek to become innocent of heart, so that like children, we will be pure and ready to enter the Kingdom of God.

Saturday After Ash Wednesday

Image of Our Lady of Sorrows atop Mt. Calvary

in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem

Today's collect from the new translation of the Roman Missal:

Almighty ever-living God,

look with compassion on our weakness

and ensure us your protection

by stretching forth the right hand of your majesty.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Today's collect calls to mind an image that used frequently through Sacred Scripture and in the Liturgy of the Church, that of the right hand of God. Surely because God is pure spirit, He doesn't have a right hand, or a left hand for that matter. This phrase is used to describe the power, strength and might of God.

The right hand of God, as it says in this prayer, is stretched forth to us that we might know the protection of God. What are we to be protected from? In this prayer it is from ourselves, from our weakness. I don't know about you, but often times I am my own worst enemy. My bad habits, my tendency toward the easy way (which often is the sinful way), and my self-deception often lead me into sin. I am so weak that yes, I need God to protect me from satan, but I also need God's mighty protection from myself. Now that is a humbling thought.

Friday After Ash Wednesday

St. Josemaria Escriva offering the Holy Mass

The Prayer over the Offerings from the corrected translation of the Roman Missal for today is:

We offer, O Lord, the sacrifice of our Lenten observance,

praying that it may make our intentions acceptable to you

and add to our powers of self-restraint.

Through Christ our Lord.

This prayer over the gifts of bread and wine which will become the very Sacrifice of our redemption, the unbloody re-presentation of the Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross, reminds us of something of great importance. It reminds us that all we are and all that we do, in particular our Lenten observances, can and should be united to the Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

One particularly effective way to do this is to mentally and spiritually place ourselves and our actions upon the paten and in the chalice as the priest offers them at the beginning of the Liturgy of the Eucharist. By doing so, we ourselves become united to Christ, the Lamb of God, the Victim for sin, and are offered to the Father by Christ and with Christ. This is truly the full, active, and conscious participation that the Second Vatican Council called for. When we do this we no longer become merely causal observers, but actual participants in the Paschal Mystery. When we do this our Lenten penances, resolutions, and acts of charity become united with the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ and take on even greater meaning.

Thursday after Ash Wednesday

The Collect for today's Mass:

Prompt our actions with your inspiration, we pray, O Lord,

and further them with your constant help,

that all we do may always begin from you

and by you be brought to completion.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

This prayer reminds us that our good actions during Lent ultimately are the work of the Spirit within us. The Holy Spirit has prompted us to take on certain penances and other charitable actions, and without His continuing help and guidance, these good resolutions will come to nothing.

In many ways, this is a prayer of humility. We know that without God we can do nothing, and so in our weakness we cry out for His inspiration and help to continue fighting against evil in our life, even when the battle becomes tedious and wearisome.

Ash Wednesday

Today we begin our 40 day journey through the prayers of the new translation of the Roman Missal. The collect (opening prayer) for today's Mass is:

Grant, O Lord, that we may begin with holy fasting

this campaign of Christian service,

so that, as we take up battle against spiritual evils,

we may be armed with weapons of self-restraint.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

This prayer, in no uncertain terms, sets the theme for the holy season of Lent. This season is presented to us as a battle, a war, a fierce struggle against the powers of evil. Surely, we find ourselves today in the midst of a great spiritual battle for our souls and the souls of all mankind.

All around us the battle for souls rages, and today we are invited to join this battle. We are called to take part in this "campaign of Christian service" by taking up the "weapons of self-restraint." By restraining our desires, even those desires that are good, we train our will, we build our spiritual muscles, so that when the evil one attacks, we will be able to withstand his fiery arrows of temptation.

Today as we fast and abstain from meat, let us see this self-restraint not as a burden, but as a powerful weapon with which we strike the evil one. Let us see it as a way to strengthen our will to fight against temptation.

Let us pray for one another and support one another in our Lenten penances. We are all brothers and sisters, fellow soldiers in the army of the Great King. We are fighting side by side. We are never alone in battle. We have the greatest King in the Universe, a host of heavenly helpers, an army of saints who have won the victory and urge us on to victory, and the weapons of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Let us take up our weapons and join the battle. Let us fight to win.

Be Perfect!

Today is the memorial of St. Francis DeSales, one of the great spiritual masters of the Church. Here is a quotation from his treatise entitled Introduction to the Devout Life:

When God the Creator made all things, he commanded the plants to bring forth fruit each according to its own kind; he has likewise commanded Christians, who are the living plants of his Church, to bring forth the fruits of devotion, each one in accord with his character, his station and his calling.

I say that devotion must be practiced in different ways by the nobleman and by the working man, by the servant and by the prince, by the widow, by the unmarried girl and by the married woman. But even this distinction is not sufficient; for the practice of devotion must be adapted to the strength, to the occupation and to the duties of each one in particular.

Tell me, please, my Philothea, whether it is proper for a bishop to want to lead a solitary life like a Carthusian; or for married people to be no more concerned than a Capuchin about increasing their income; or for a working man to spend his whole day in church like a religious; or on the other hand for a religious to be constantly exposed like a bishop to all the events and circumstances that bear on the needs of our neighbor. Is not this sort of devotion ridiculous, unorganized and intolerable? Yet this absurd error occurs very frequently, but in no way does true devotion, my Philothea, destroy anything at all. On the contrary, it perfects and fulfils all things. In fact if it ever works against, or is inimical to, anyone’s legitimate station and calling, then it is very definitely false devotion.

The bee collects honey from flowers in such a way as to do the least damage or destruction to them, and he leaves them whole, undamaged and fresh, just as he found them. True devotion does still better. Not only does it not injure any sort of calling or occupation, it even embellishes and enhances it.

Moreover, just as every sort of gem, cast in honey, becomes brighter and more sparkling, each according to its color, so each person becomes more acceptable and fitting in his own vocation when he sets his vocation in the context of devotion. Through devotion your family cares become more peaceful, mutual love between husband and wife becomes more sincere, the service we owe to the prince becomes more faithful, and our work, no matter what it is, becomes more pleasant and agreeable.

It is therefore an error and even a heresy to wish to exclude the exercise of devotion from military divisions, from the artisans’ shops, from the courts of princes, from family households. I acknowledge, my dear Philothea, that the type of devotion which is purely contemplative, monastic and religious can certainly not be exercised in these sorts of stations and occupations, but besides this threefold type of devotion, there are many others fit for perfecting those who live in a secular state.

Therefore, in whatever situations we happen to be, we can and we must aspire to the life of perfection.

Pope Benedict's Letter To Seminarians

Brothers, listen to our shepherd (emphasis added):

Anyone who wishes to become a priest must be first and foremost a “man of God,” to use the expression of Saint Paul (1 Tim 6:11). For us God is not some abstract hypothesis; he is not some stranger who left the scene after the “big bang”. God has revealed himself in Jesus Christ. In the face of Jesus Christ we see the face of God. In his words we hear God himself speaking to us. It follows that the most important thing in our path towards priesthood and during the whole of our priestly lives is our personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ. The priest is not the leader of a sort of association whose membership he tries to maintain and expand. He is God’s messenger to his people. He wants to lead them to God and in this way to foster authentic communion between all men and women. That is why it is so important, dear friends, that you learn to live in constant intimacy with God. When the Lord tells us to “pray constantly”, he is obviously not asking us to recite endless prayers, but urging us never to lose our inner closeness to God. Praying means growing in this intimacy. So it is important that our day should begin and end with prayer; that we listen to God as the Scriptures are read; that we share with him our desires and our hopes, our joys and our troubles, our failures and our thanks for all his blessings, and thus keep him ever before us as the point of reference for our lives. In this way we grow aware of our failings and learn to improve, but we also come to appreciate all the beauty and goodness which we daily take for granted and so we grow in gratitude. With gratitude comes joy for the fact that God is close to us and that we can serve him.

Sermon: 17th Sunday of the Year

Never Give Up

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Indulgence Alert

From the famous Fr. Z (emphasis added by me):

St. Francis, as you know, repaired three chapels. The third was popularly called the Portiuncula or the Little Portion, dedicated to St. Mary of the Angels. It is now enclosed in a sanctuary at Assisi.

The friars came to live at the Little Portion in early 1211. It became the “motherhouse” of the Franciscans. This is where St. Clare came to the friars to make her vows during the night following Palm Sunday in 1212 and where Sister Death came to Francis on 3 October 1226.

Because of the favors from God obtained at the Portiuncula, St. Francis requested the Pope to grant remission of sins to all who came there. The privilege extends beyond the Portiuncula to others churches, especially held by Franciscans, throughout the world.

A plenary indulgence is a mighty tool for works of mercy and weapon in our ongoing spiritual warfare. A plenary indulgence is the remission, through the merits of Christ and the saints, through the Church, of all temporal punishment due to sin already forgiven.

To obtain the Portiuncula plenary indulgence, a person must visit the Chapel of Our Lady of the Angels at Assisi, or a Franciscan sanctuary, or one’s parish church, with the intention of honoring Our Lady of the Angels. Then perform the work of reciting the Creed and Our Father and pray for the Pope’s designated intentions. You should be free, at least intentionally, of attachment to venial and mortal sin, and truly repentant. Make your sacramental confession 8 days before or after. Participate at assist at Mass and receive Holy Communion 8 days before or after.

St. Mary Magdalene, Penitent

When Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and did not find the Lord’s body, she thought it had been taken away and so informed the disciples. After they came and saw the tomb, they too believed what Mary had told them. The text then says: The disciples went back home, and it adds: but Mary wept and remained standing outside the tomb.

We should reflect on Mary’s attitude and the great love she felt for Christ; for though the disciples had left the tomb, she remained. She was still seeking the one she had not found, and while she sought she wept; burning with the fire of love, she longed for him who she thought had been taken away. And so it happened that the woman who stayed behind to seek Christ was the only one to see him. For perseverance is essential to any good deed, as the voice of truth tells us: Whoever perseveres to the end will be saved.

At first she sought but did not find, but when she persevered it happened that she found what she was looking for. When our desires are not satisfied, they grow stronger, and becoming stronger they take hold of their object. Holy desires likewise grow with anticipation, and if they do not grow they are not really desires. Anyone who succeeds in attaining the truth has burned with such a great love. As David says: My soul has thirsted for the living God; when shall I come and appear before the face of God? And so also in the Song of Songs the Church says: I was wounded by love; and again: My soul is melted with love.

Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek? She is asked why she is sorrowing so that her desire might be strengthened; for when she mentions whom she is seeking, her love is kindled all the more ardently.

Jesus says to her: Mary. Jesus is not recognised when he calls her “woman”; so he calls her by name, as though he were saying: Recognise me as I recognise you; for I do not know you as I know others; I know you as yourself. And so Mary, once addressed by name, recognises who is speaking. She immediately calls him rabboni, that is to say, teacher, because the one whom she sought outwardly was the one who inwardly taught her to keep on searching.

-St. Gregory the Great

What a great passage! It gave me some insight into why it is the Lord may make us wait for what we desire.

Sermon: 15th Sunday of the Year

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Get Thee to Sunday Mass

Apparently it is a tradition for the Archbishop of New York to write a letter to his flock on St. Patrick's day. This year Archbishop Timothy Dolan wrote to his people on the topic of Sunday Mass. At one particular point he addresses those who are already going to Mass every Sunday. He encourages them to evangelize their friends on this topic by saying

How about giving this message to someone who no longer does, especially if he or
she has stopped going to Sunday Mass? Get ready for the excuses:

– “Sunday is our only free time together.” (Great, what better way to spend that time than by praying together at Mass).

– “I pray my own way.” (Nice idea. But, odds are, you don’t).

– “The sermon is boring.” (You may have a point).

– “I hate all the changes at Mass.” (see below)

– “I want more changes at Mass.” (see above)

– “Until the church makes some changes in its teaching, I’m staying away.” (But, don’t we go to Mass to ask God to change us, not to tell God how we want Him and His Church to change to suit us?)

– “Everybody there is a hypocrite and always judging me.” (Who’s judging whom here?)

. . . and the list goes on.

And the simple fact remains: the Eucharist is the most beautiful, powerful prayer that we have. To miss it is to miss Jesus — His Word, His people, His presence, His Body and Blood.

Amen! It's high time we share things like this with our friends and family who don't observe the Day of the Lord, so get to it.

Passiontide

Today, the Fifth Sunday of Lent, begins Passiontide. In many parishes the crucifixes and statues will be veiled until the Easter Vigil to remind us that sin separates us from God and from Heaven, and that sin leaves us isolated and alone. These last two weeks of Lent are a time to enter in even more fully into the spirit of the season. If we have not been so faithful to our lenten penances and good works, it's a time to regroup. If we have yet to get to confession during this season, well, it's time to go. If you already have went to confession this Lent, it's time to go again. We can never confess to much or too many times.

Just the other day I was reading a few things about the value of frequent confession in an excellent book entitled Lukwarmness: The Devil in Disguise, by Francis Carvajal. Here is what he said regarding making a good confession:

Classical spiritual authors have handed down to us sixteen characteristics of a good Confession: simple, humble, pure, faithful, frequent, clear, discrete, voluntary, without boasting, integral, secret, sorrowful, prompt, firm, self accusatory, dispoing on to obedience. Normally, our confessions should be concise. We should say what has to be said without becoming unduly wordy. More than anything else, our confessions have to be done with a supernatural spirit. We are asking Christ Himself to forgive our sins. This attitude will help us to put aside that temptation concering what the priest will think of me...

[...]

Confession should make us happy. Our Father God is awaiting us with open arms just like in the parable about the prodigal son. He is ready to run right up to us to prove his infinite paternal love.

My friends, get thee to confession.

Get Thee To Confession!

I read this on Archbishop Timothy Doland's blog today and thought it was worth sharing, so here you go:

A good friend of mine is pastor of a bustling, prestigious parish in a large city. He loves it, and they, him. A couple of years ago he shocked them one Sunday when, in his sermon he announced that, as much as he enjoyed being their pastor, he had asked the archbishop for a transfer. When the congregation gasped, he explained:

‘Well, I don’t think you need me. See, you must all be saints. I was sent to serve sinners. But, apparently there are none here in this parish, because I sit in the confessional with no customers!”

We’re called to be saints, but we’re sure not there yet. And a great help to get there is the sacrament of penance.

And Lent is a grand time to return to it!

Ash Wednesday

Today begins the holy season of Lent. Just yesterday I recieved the multi volume work of Dom Gueranger entitled the Liturgical Year. For today it says, among many other things, this:

Yesterday, the world was busy in its pleasures, and the very children of God were taking a joyous farewell to mirth: but this morning, all is changed. The solemn announcement, spoken of by the prophet has been proclaimed in Sion: The solemn fast of Lent, the season of expiation, the approach of the great anniversaries of our Redemption. Let us, then, rouse ourselves, and prepare for the spiritual combat.

But in this battling of the spirit against the flesh we need good armour. Our holy mother the Church knows how much we need it; and therefore does she summon us to ender into the house of God, that she may arm us for the holy contest.

[ ... ]

We are entering, to-day, upon a long campaign of the warfare spoken of by the apostles: forty days of battle, forty days of penance. We shall not turn cowards, if our sols can but be impressed with the conviction, that the battle and the penance must be gone through. Let us listen to the eloquence of the solemn rite which opens our Lent. Let us go whither our mother leads us...

Let us keep one another in prayer during this Holy Season.

SoulWow

The ShamWow might be a ripoff, but this surely is not:

The Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul

As I was praying the Divine Office today I was struck by the importance of this feast. It reminds us that even the greatest sinners can become even greater saints. It reminds us that the way we treat others is the way we treat Jesus. It reminds us that God wants us for His own and is willing to stop at nothing to have us, if only we open ourselves to Him. In order to help us appreciate this day you will find below a section from a homily by St. John Chrysostom.

Paul, more than anyone else, has shown us what man really is, and in what our nobility consists, and of what virtue this particular animal is capable. Each day he aimed ever higher; each day he rose up with greater ardour and faced with new eagerness the dangers that threatened him. He summed up his attitude in the words: I forget what is behind me and push on to what lies ahead. When he saw death imminent, he bade others share his joy: Rejoice and be glad with me! And when danger, injustice and abuse threatened, he said: I am content with weakness, mistreatment and persecution. These he called the weapons of righteousness, thus telling us that he derived immense profit from them.

Thus, amid the traps set for him by his enemies, with exultant heart he turned their every attack into a victory for himself; constantly beaten, abused and cursed, he boasted of it as though he were celebrating a triumphal procession and taking trophies home, and offered thanks to God for it all: Thanks be to God who is always victorious in us! This is why he was far more eager for the shameful abuse that his zeal in preaching brought upon him than we are for the most pleasing honours, more eager for death than we are for life, for poverty than we are for wealth; he yearned for toil far more than others yearn for rest after toil. The one thing he feared, indeed dreaded, was to offend God; nothing else could sway him. Therefore, the only thing he really wanted was always to please God.

The most important thing of all to him, however, was that he knew himself to be loved by Christ. Enjoying this love, he considered himself happier than anyone else; were he without it, it would be no satisfaction to be the friend of principalities and powers. He preferred to be thus loved and be the least of all, or even to be among the damned, than to be without that love and be among the great and honoured. To be separated from that love was, in his eyes, the greatest and most extraordinary of torments; the pain of that loss would alone have been hell, and endless, unbearable torture.

So too, in being loved by Christ he thought of himself as possessing life, the world, the angels, present and future, the kingdom, the promise and countless blessings. Apart from that love nothing saddened or delighted him; for nothing earthly did he regard as bitter or sweet. Paul set no store by the things that fill our visible world, any more than a man sets value on the withered grass of the field. As for tyrannical rulers or the people enraged against him, he paid them no more heed than gnats. Death itself and pain and whatever torments might come were but child’s play to him, provided that thereby he might bear some burden for the sake of Christ.