“O Lord Jesus Christ, I entreat you to give me two graces before I die: first, that in my lifetime I may feel in body and soul as far as possible the pain you endured, dear Lord, in the hour of your most bitter suffering… and second, that I may feel in my heart as far as possible that excess of love by which you, O Son of God, were inflamed to undertake so cruel a suffering for us sinners.” — St. Francis of Assisi
Archive for the ‘Saints and Prophets’ Category
Quote for the Day
Thursday, July 8th, 2010Turn Back to the Lord
Sunday, July 4th, 2010St. Cyril of Jerusalem wrote this in his catechism (my translation of the Italian text I use):
The present time is a time for conversion. Confess what you have done in word and deed, whether in the day or in the night. Convert in the favorable time, and on the day of salvation you will receive heavenly treasure. Clean once again the vessel of your soul so you may receive grace in abundant measure. In fact, forgiveness is given equally to all, but sharing in the Holy Spirit is given in proportion to the faith of each person. If you have labored little, you will receive little; if however you have done much, much will be the award. ” St. Cyril of Jerusalem
My homily next weekend will be about returning to the Lord. As St. Cyril reminds us, now is the time for conversion, for returning to the Lord. Our turning, our journey back, our approaching of the Lord once again begins with confession — confession of our sins and confession of our faith. The Lord assures us of complete forgiveness. We are all forgiven completely when we ask for this forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The real question is, how open, how receptive is our soul to the workings of the Holy Spirit, to grace? How disposed are we to receive in abundance the pouring out of the Holy Spirit in our lives? We are more and more disposed, open and receptive, the more we dedicate ourselves to the works of Jesus in our daily lives.
Let us return to the Lord with all our hearts, minds, souls and bodies. Let us once again love with the Lord!
St. Ephrem, Deacon and Doctor
Wednesday, June 9th, 2010Today is the memorial of St. Ephrem, deacon and doctor of the Church. He was born around 306 in Nisbis, Mesopotamia, to a Christian family. He later fled to Edessa where he was ordained a deacon. He founded a biblical school there that was very well known. He declined ordination to the priesthood, and avoided ordination to the episcopacy. He was a great scholar, especially of the Scriptures.
He would take the songs of heretical groups and using their melodies would write hymns embodying orthodox teaching. He was one of the first to introduce song into the Church’s liturgy as a means of catechesis.
One of his titles was, “Harp of the Holy Spirit.”
He died around 373 AD.
Deacons, let us imitate our ancient brother. Let us aspire only to our calling as servants of the Lord, and use every means available to us to preach and teach the Word of God, especially to those who may be misled or who may have left the Church but inwardly yearn for the truth.
Quote for the Day
Monday, June 7th, 2010“Prayer is the cup for drinking the grace of the Holy Spirit from the abundant fountain of delight, the Blessed Trinity.” — St. Bonaventure, OFM
Quote for the Day
Tuesday, June 1st, 2010“Live always in the truth, that you may die in obedience.” — St. Francis of Assisi
Quote for the Day
Thursday, May 20th, 2010“If we want to profit by our reading about God and His saints we must read with reverence. We must appreciate.” — Ven. Solanus Casey, OFM Cap.
Quote for the Day
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010“The Lord be with you always and be you with Him always and in every place.” — St. Clare of Assisi
St. Gregory of Nyssa on Church Unity
Saturday, May 15th, 2010St. Gregory in today’s Office of Readings has some beautiful words on the unity of faith in the Christian community. Here is an excerpt (my translation from the Italian text I use):
“But among all the words that he (Jesus) speaks and all the graces that he bestows, there is one that is the greatest of all and brings together all the others. It is with these words that Christ admonishes his disciples to always find themselves united in the answers to questions and in their evaluations as to what is good to do; to experience themselves united in one heart and one spirit and to esteem this unity as the one good; to bind themselves in the unity of the Holy Spirit with the bond of peace; to build one body and one spirit; to work together with one calling, animated by the same hope….. The bond of this unity is authentic glory.” — St. Gregory of Nyssa, “Homily on the Canticle of Canticles”; Hom. 15; PG 44, 1115-1118
One of the things I admired about Pope John Paul II was his untiring efforts toward reconciliation between the Churches, especially between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches. But also the efforts he made to reach out to our Jewish brothers and sisters, and to the Protestant communities.
It seems to me though that most of the hard work of bringing back together into one flock of Christ all people who call Jesus the Son of God will be done at the local level. Perhaps even at the level of our own families. Our Holy Father has an indispensable role as the successor of Peter and the Vicar of Christ on earth. He leads and enters into aspects of this only he can enter in communion with the other bishops of the world. We the People of God will do most of the legwork.
For we are the face of Christ in the immediacy of the human condition to our neighbor next door.
Quote for the Day
Wednesday, April 21st, 2010“Prayer is the cup for drinking the grace of the Holy Spirit from the abundant fountain of delight, the Blessed Trinity.” — St. Bonaventure, OFM
Attention Deacons!
Tuesday, April 20th, 2010“The servant of God cannot know how much patience and humility he has within himself as long as everything goes well for him. But when the time comes in which those who should do him justice do quite the opposite to him, he has only as much patience and humility as he has on that occasion and no more.” – St. Francis of Assisi
We would do well to recall this in our prayer. St. Francis couples patience with humility. In my short time of diaconate ministry, I have found that both virtues are hallmarks of a good deacon. We are not always well-received, nor well-understood. What may be ours in justice does not always come to us, yet in all things we are called to patience endurance and humble service.
Quote for the Day
Monday, April 12th, 2010“Give praise to Him because He is good; exalt Him by your deeds, for He has sent you into the world for this reason: that in word and deed you may bear witness to His voice and bring everyone to know that there is no one who is all-powerful except Him.” — St. Francis of Assisi
Quote for the Day
Thursday, April 8th, 2010“Where there is charity and wisdom there is neither fear nor ignorance.” — St. Francis of Assisi
Remembering Archbishop Oscar Romero
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010Today is the 30th anniversary of the martyrdom of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador. You probably recall that he was shot in the heart while saying Mass. He was a champion of the poor and disenfranchised of that country.
He is reported to have said the following a few days before his death, almost in premonition:
“You can tell the people that if they succeed in killing me, that I forgive and bless those who do it. Hopefully, they will realize they are wasting their time. A bishop will die, but the church of God, which is the people, will never perish.”
He also reported to have said the following, which all of us ordained need well heed:
“A church that suffers no persecution but enjoys the privileges and support of the things of the earth – beware! – is not the true church of Jesus Christ. A preaching that does not point out sin is not the preaching of the gospel. A preaching that makes sinners feel good, so that they are secured in their sinful state, betrays the gospel’s call.”
Finally, the following:
“When the church hears the cry of the oppressed it cannot but denounce the social structures that give rise to and perpetuate the misery from which the cry arises.”
I thank the Collaborative Ministry Office of Creighton University for the information above. Read more at: www.onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/romero.html
Quote for the Day
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010“I gratefully accept both joy and tribulation from our heavenly Father for He knows best what is good for us.” — St. Conrad of Parzham, OFM Cap.
Quote for the Day
Monday, March 15th, 2010“It is Jesus you want to see, to gaze upon, to think about deeply and with desire to imitate.” — St. Clare of Assissi
Quote for the Day
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010“… when sin has taken possession of a man, he can no longer see God.” — St. Theophilus of Antioch
Quote for the Day
Friday, March 5th, 2010“Thank God ahead of time!” — Solanus Casey, OFM Cap.
Quote for the Day
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010“…may (I) feel in my heart as far as possible that excess of love by which you, O Son of God, were inflamed to undertake so cruel a suffering for us sinners.” — St. Francis of Assissi
St. Polycarp
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010Today is the memorial of St. Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, now Izmir, Turkey, and a disciple of St. John the Apostle. He was also the friend of St. Ignatius of Antioch. St. Polycarp (whose name means “many good things” in Greek) was revered in the first half of the second century as a Christian leader. He learned the faith directly from the Apostles and is thus called an Apostolic Father.
In 156 A.D., at age 86, Polycarp was taken to a Smryna stadium to be burned alive. There was a movment at the time to get rid of elderly Christians. When they lit the fire, the flames did not harm him, and he was finally killed by a dagger. His martyrdom is one of the first recorded in detail by eyewitnesses.
Because St. Polycarp was a disciple of the Apostles themselves, his writings take on particular importance in the study of Patrology, which is the study of the writings of the early Church Fathers. He wrote and lived before the New Testament was compiled. He, along with St. Ignatius of Antioch, are examples to us today of the importance of Tradition as a source of Truth in our faith, in addition to Scripture and the Magisterium.
Polycarp and Ignatius handed on the faith that they had directly received from the Apostles. Both men were bishops of the Church, representing of what we call the Magisterium, i.e., the teaching authority of the Church.
It is reported that Polycarp said to his executioners: “For 86 years I have served Christ, and he has done me no harm. How can I deny my King, my Savior?”
When called upon to be witnesses of our faith, let us pray for St. Polycarp’s intercession so the Lord may give us the strength to do so bravely.
Quote for the Day
Monday, February 22nd, 2010“Clearly, what God wants above all is our will which we received as a free gift from God in creation and possess as though our own.” — St. Joseph of Cupertino, OFM Conv.