Tuesday, November 27, 2012

"one who looked like a son of man"

"See that you not be deceived,
for many will come in my name, saying,
'I am he,' and 'The time has come.'
Do not follow them!
 

Being seated at the Father's right hand signifies the inauguration of the Messiah's kingdom, the fulfillment of the prophet Daniel's vision concerning the Son of man: "To him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed." After this event the apostles became witnesses of the "kingdom [that] will have no end".
-- CCC 664

Tuesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Monday, November 26, 2012

"there was the Lamb standing"

and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand
who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads.

The book of Revelation of St. John, read in the Church's liturgy, first reveals to us, "A throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne": "the Lord God." It then shows the Lamb, "standing, as though it had been slain": Christ crucified and risen, the one high priest of the true sanctuary, the same one "who offers and is offered, who gives and is given." Finally it presents "the river of the water of life . . . flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb," one of most beautiful symbols of the Holy Spirit.
-- CCC 1137

Monday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Sunday, November 25, 2012

"My kingdom is not of this world": sharing the victory of Life Eternal through humble witness to the truth



Mexico. 1927. A priest is brought before a uniformed military firing squad.  As he walks from his cell to the courtyard and the firing squad, he blesses the soldiers, kneels and briefly prays quietly. Declining a blindfold, he faces his executioners with a crucifix in one hand and a rosary in the other and holds his arms out in imitation of the crucified Christ and shouts out, "May God have mercy on you! May God bless you! Lord, Thou knowest that I am innocent! With all my heart I forgive my enemies!" [5] Before the firing squad were ordered to shoot, the priest raises his arms in imitation of Christ and shouts the defiant cry of the Cristeros, the Christian rebels, "Viva Cristo Rey!" -"Long live Christ the King!".[5] When the initial shots of the firing squad fail to kill him, a soldier shoots him point blank.

Who is this priest and why was he considered such a threat to powerful men that he had to be gotten out of the way?  The priest is Blessed Father Miguel Pro, arrested and executed for doing what priests do: saying Mass and saving souls.

You see, the government had passed laws making it virtually illegal for Catholics to practice their faith and for priests and other religious leaders to make themselves known in public.  Masses and other forms of religious expression had to be done privately if at all by those who had not already given up the practice of the faith out of fear.

“An assassination attempt by bombing against Álvaro Obregón (which only wounded the ex-president) in November 1927 provided the state with a pretext to capture Pro and his brothers Humberto and Roberto. A young engineer who was involved and confessed his part in the assassination testified the Pro brothers were not involved.[7] Miguel and his brothers were taken to the Detective Inspector's Office in Mexico City.

“On November 23, 1927, Fr. Pro was executed without trial.[8][5] President Calles gave orders to have Pro executed under the pretext of the assassination, but in reality for defying the virtual outlawing of Catholicism.[5] Calles had the execution meticulously photographed, and the newspapers throughout the country carried them on the front page the following day. Presumably, Calles thought that the sight of the pictures would frighten the Cristero rebels who were fighting against his troops, particularly in the state of Jalisco. However, they had the opposite effect.
Today we call Father Pro a “blessed” of the Church for his intrepid witness of the Faith in the face of certain death, a hero to us all.  What does his life and death say to us?  He had declared Christ his King and he went to his death with that cry on his lips.  In our Church around the world today we acclaim Christ our King in our public worship.  Do our lives reflect that Jesus Christ is Lord and King?

Before we can answer these questions we must first know what kind of Kingdom it is that Jesus Christ rules over.  In the Gospel He declares that His Kingdom is “not of this world” and that it is of “truth”.  Blessed Miguel Pro seemed to our human eyes to have met defeat at the hands of his enemies and persecutors just as it seemed for so many on Calvary at the foot of the Cross 2,000 years ago.

To our eyes a man dying under a violent death at the hands of his enemies seems lost, abandoned, defeated.  But not so for Christ and those of His Kingdom; not if such a death is as the result of humble witness to the Truth.  In that witness, whether our Sunday worship here, our lives during the week or the death of martyr Miguel Pro, we share in the victory of God whose Kingdom grows in our midst as we thus love and serve Him. 

We speak the truth even though everyone around us may seem to have given in to lies and falsehoods, or false gods and empty creeds.  We live a daily martyrdom that refuses to betray God for any rewards this world may offer for those who live as though He and His Kingdom do not exist.

On the day of Father Pro's funeral the man responsible for his death, President “Calles is reported to have looked down upon a throng of 40,000 people which lined Pro's funeral procession and another 20,000 waited at the cemetery where he was buried without a priest present, his father saying the final words. The Cristeros became more animated and fought with renewed enthusiasm, many of them carrying the newspaper photo of Pro before the firing squad.” These are but a foretaste and promise of the may throngs of heavenly beings who now intercede for us in the Kingdom of Heaven, gathered as they are around the throne of Christ our King, Blessed Miguel Pro and all the holy saints and after a life of humble witness to the truth in this world.


Before we depart today we will proclaim our Faith through the words of the Creed, then we will come forth in procession to receive Jesus Christ whose Kingdom is not of this world.  And we will be empowered by His grace to return our lives in worship to Him each day as humble witnesses of Him by lives of truth, justice and love, thus dying to ourselves and our own will so as to live with Him in His Kingdom forever.  Amen.

Praised be Jesus Christ our King, now and forever.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

"My kingdom is not of this world": the Lord's Day is foretaste and promise of eternal life

"the one like a Son of man received dominion, glory, and kingship; all peoples, nations, and languages serve him"

One of the things that priests are responsible for in this life is to preach, teach, equip with grace and send out all of our Catholic faithful to transform the world into a more perfect foretaste and promise of God's Kingdom.  The results of that mission will be subject to the judgment of Jesus Christ, the King of the Universe, when He comes back to judge the living and the dead, but until then we must always follow our consciences and try with the Lord's grace to do the Father's holy will in all things through the Holy Spirit who strengthens us.

Those of you who battled long lines at the stores this weekend because you believed the advertising promises that you would find door-busting deals at the stores perhaps, in some cases, came away disappointed.  Some of you may have come away from your so-called "Black Friday weekend" experiences feeling that it felt more like the traffic jams of a daily commute to work than a step forward in preparation for Christmas gift-giving.

"My kingdom does not belong to this world."

As people of faith, we are called to recognize the role of God in all that we do through the power of that grace.  With all of the details that fill our earthly lives, we are called at the same time to be people bound for heaven, "in the world, but not of the world".  Our beautiful liturgical celebration of the universal kingship of Jesus Christ at our Masses today is a reminder of the presence of this kingdom in the world primarily because of the Church, the Body of Christ, into which we have all been baptized.

The Lord's Day is God's invitation every week to renew ourselves and our baptismal call to be active members of the Kingdom by desire and intention, to orient all that we do toward the eternal life to come because of who we know ourselves to be by Faith and baptism.

Next Sunday we will begin the season of Advent.  It will be a fresh start in the life of grace.  Have you been letting shopping and other optional things get in the way of the one thing that will last?  Make a fresh start, especially by observing the Father's will on the Lord's Day each week, restoring relationshiops with God and others by celebrating holy Mass here with the Kingdom in our midst, and avoiding less important activities in order to spend more time at home with the family.

Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever.


Thanksgiving Day: "Pray constantly, always and for everything giving thanks"

I give thanks to my God always on your account for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus, that in him you were enriched in every way, with all discourse and all knowledge, as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you, so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

"Pray constantly . . . always and for everything giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father." St. Paul adds, "Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance making supplication for all the saints." For "we have not been commanded to work, to keep watch and to fast constantly, but it has been laid down that we are to pray without ceasing." This tireless fervor can come only from love. Against our dullness and laziness, the battle of prayer is that of humble, trusting, and persevering love. This love opens our hearts to three enlightening and life-giving facts of faith about prayer.
-- CCC 2742

Art: Norman Rockwell, Thanksgiving.

Friday, November 23, 2012

"My house shall be a house of prayer"

And every day he was teaching in the temple area.
 
When Jesus prays he is already teaching us how to pray. His prayer to his Father is the theological path (the path of faith, hope, and charity) of our prayer to God. But the Gospel also gives us Jesus' explicit teaching on prayer. Like a wise teacher he takes hold of us where we are and leads us progressively toward the Father. Addressing the crowds following him, Jesus builds on what they already know of prayer from the Old Covenant and opens to them the newness of the coming Kingdom. Then he reveals this newness to them in parables. Finally, he will speak openly of the Father and the Holy Spirit to his disciples who will be the teachers of prayer in his Church.
 
-- CCC 2607

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary: "the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks"

They throw down their crowns before the throne, exclaiming:

"Worthy are you, Lord our God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things;
because of your will they came to be and were created."
--Rv 4:1-11

In the New Testament the word "liturgy" refers not only to the celebration of divine worship but also to the proclamation of the Gospel and to active charity. In all of these situations it is a question of the service of God and neighbor. In a liturgical celebration the Church is servant in the image of her Lord, the one "leitourgos"; she shares in Christ's priesthood (worship), which is both prophetic (proclamation) and kingly (service of charity):

The liturgy then is rightly seen as an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ. It involves the presentation of man's sanctification under the guise of signs perceptible by the senses and its accomplishment in ways appropriate to each of these signs. In it full public worship is performed by the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, that is, by the Head and his members. From this it follows that every liturgical celebration, because it is an action of Christ the priest and of his Body which is the Church, is a sacred action surpassing all others. No other action of the Church can equal its efficacy by the same title and to the same degree
-- CCC 1070

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

"I know your works":

For you say, 'I am rich and affluent and have no need of anything,'
and yet do not realize that you are wretched,
pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich,
and white garments to put on
so that your shameful nakedness may not be exposed,
and buy ointment to smear on your eyes so that you may see.
Those whom I love, I reprove and chastise.
Be earnest, therefore, and repent.
 
Angels and men, as intelligent and free creatures, have to journey toward their ultimate destinies by their free choice and preferential love. They can therefore go astray. Indeed, they have sinned. Thus has moral evil, incommensurably more harmful than physical evil, entered the world. God is in no way, directly or indirectly, the cause of moral evil. He permits it, however, because he respects the freedom of his creatures and, mysteriously, knows how to derive good from it:
"For almighty God. . ., because he is supremely good, would never allow any evil whatsoever to exist in his works if he were not so all-powerful and good as to cause good to emerge from evil itself."
-- CCC 311
(Tuesday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time)

Monday, November 19, 2012

"Lord, please let me see."

 When they saw this, all the people gave praise to God.

Faith makes us taste in advance the light of the beatific vision, the goal of our journey here below. Then we shall see God "face to face", "as he is". So faith is already the beginning of eternal life:

When we contemplate the blessings of faith even now, as if gazing at a reflection in a mirror, it is as if we already possessed the wonderful things which our faith assures us we shall one day enjoy.
-- CCC 163
 
Monday of the Thirty-third Week, Ordinary Time

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Sunday 33B: Rejecting presumption and defending our Faith with true piety and deep devotion

As many of you know I served on active duty in the Navy for a number of years and for three of those years aboard the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D Eisenhower, the "IKE", as Catholic chaplain.

With all of the ship's crew and air squadrons aboard, the population of the ship numbered about 5,000 men and women: a veritable "city at sea".  The mission?  Catch and launch aircraft.  In order to accomplish that mission all hands of the ship's company had to be employed in serving the needs of the ship, in protecting the ship.  As a member of the ship's company I was expected, just like everyone else, to report to my battle station when necessary following the proper route in the required amount of time and reporting for whatever mission was necessary to defend and protect the ship.  My prayers, the Mass, all of my duties as a priest had to be deferred in the event the needs of the ship and her mission required my cooperation in a fire drill, a man overboard drill or a damage control scenario.  The contours, the rhythms, all of the aspects of our lives were determined by the needs of the ship because we were on board for that purpose.

Some of you may also know that the Church is sometimes called a "ship": the barque of Peter, so called.  This image helps us to situate ourselves in today's Scripture readings which remind us that the world will one day end and God will judge the living and the dead, an article of our Faith which we recite in the Creed at every Mass on the Lord's Day and on other occasions.  Faith can be lost because it is a gift freely given which must be freely received.  Thus the life of Faith is often described as a battle.  We need weapons with which to fight if we are to be successful in the battle for faith and to persevere until the end.

We wage with the Church against the powers of darkness because the Church is the Body of Christ in the world.  The world as we know it is passing away.  We have tragic reminders of this all the time, including the evil reality of war which we see brewing right now in the Holy Land where Jesus lived, died and rose again.  We pray that lovers of peace will prevail in this and in every conflict so that further violence can be averted and lives may be protected from hate, violence and suffering.  But self defense is necessary for nations just as for individuals, hence my mission on the IKE together with all my fellow Sailors on board.

"You will show me the path to life, fullness of joys in your presence, the delights at your right hand forever."

In the Church, though in some ways much like a ship as we journey together from here to eternity, we see a different process at work: we do not live in the Church for the sake of the Church but, rather, the Church exists, as the Body of Christ our Savior in the world, for us: for the sake of our eternal salvation.  Jesus Christ is at work in His Church through the sacramental life and the order of grace to serve our salvation through forgiveness of sins by speaking to us through the Spirit in the Word proclaimed and giving Himself to us truly and substantially present in the Eucharist.  We need only accept the gift of Christ and His mercy in order to prepare with serenity and confidence for that final fateful day when the world will end the Lord will come as judge of the living and the dead.

"... they will see 'the Son of Man coming in the clouds' with great power and glory, and then he will send out the angels and gather his elect"

How do we defend ourselves and the gift of Faith in the best way?  How can we prepare well and grow in the security that comes with God's mercy and holiness? Devotional love and the pious customs of our Church help us to give ourselves and to live our Faith beyond the minimum, investing ourselves in a deeper and more sincere manner and living our Faith in an intense way so that its power through grace will help us in temptation, in doubt, in weakness.

How much is it worth to save a soul?  Every soul, yours and mine, is infinite in worth because every human person is made in God's image and likeness, which includes the gift of an immortal soul.  How then do we effectively protect the infinite gift of the soul in cooperation with the gifts of Christ in His Church?

"But this one offered one sacrifice for sins, and took his seat forever at the right hand of God;
now he waits until his enemies are made his footstool.  For by one offering he has made perfect forever those who are being consecrated."

Many of you already pray the Rosary, kneel in prayer before Mass or help to maintain an atmosphere of quiet and recollection so others may do so, as well as other practices.  Why are these devotions worth keeping and handing on?  Are there others that we can use which will help us?  Prayer after Mass in thanksgiving for the gift of the Lord in the Eucharist, arriving early for Mass with time to better mentally and spiritually prepare before Mass begins, following the prayers of the Mass with care and making an attempt to pray along and to sing, bowing profoundly before receiving Communion if we choose to do so standing, dressing appropriately by avoiding use of our most casual clothing, all of these help us to celebrate the Eucharist worthily, attentively and devoutly.

There is no lack of helps for us through our Faith to prepare well for that great day when we will see the Lord Himself "coming on the clouds of heaven". Growing in love now through greater devotion assures us that we will see him look upon us with mercy because we are no longer strangers but His friends and welcomed as such into the heavenly dwelling place He has prepared for us.

"At that time your people shall escape, everyone who is found written in the book."  Let our names be written in the Book of Life because we have been found willing to defend our Faith with courage and to persevere until the end.  Amen.

Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever.


Wednesday, November 14, 2012

"slander no one"

be peaceable, considerate, exercising all graciousness toward everyone.
Human virtues are firm attitudes, stable dispositions, habitual perfections of intellect and will that govern our actions, order our passions, and guide our conduct according to reason and faith. They make possible ease, self-mastery, and joy in leading a morally good life. The virtuous man is he who freely practices the good.
The moral virtues are acquired by human effort. They are the fruit and seed of morally good acts; they dispose all the powers of the human being for communion with divine love.                               -- CCC 1804
 

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini: "Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it"

but whoever loses it will save it. I tell you, on that night there will be two people in one bed; one will be taken, the other left. And there will be two women grinding meal together; one will be taken, the other left.
Lk 17:26-37

Death puts an end to human life as the time open to either accepting or rejecting the divine grace manifested in Christ. The New Testament speaks of judgment primarily in its aspect of the final encounter with Christ in his second coming, but also repeatedly affirms that each will be rewarded immediately after death in accordance with his works and faith. The parable of the poor man Lazarus and the words of Christ on the cross to the good thief, as well as other New Testament texts speak of a final destiny of the soul -- a destiny which can be different for some and for others.
-- CCC 1021

Monday, November 12, 2012

St Josaphat, bishop and martyr: "grace was given to each of us"

... according to the measure of Christ's gift.
-- Ephesians 4, 1-7, 11-13

Martyrdom is the supreme witness given to the truth of the faith: it means bearing witness even unto death. The martyr bears witness to Christ who died and rose, to whom he is united by charity. He bears witness to the truth of the faith and of Christian doctrine. He endures death through an act of fortitude. "Let me become the food of the beasts, through whom it will be given me to reach God."
-- CCC 2473

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Sunday 32B. The Widow's "Might": the rewards of faith, hope and love for those who give heroically of self for God and others


 "Just now I was collecting a couple of sticks, to go in and prepare something for myself and my son; when we have eaten it, we shall die."

The "backstories" of the widows in today's Scripture readings tie their lives to our own experiences. Tragedies such as the death of a spouse or a child and setbacks such as joblessness, homelessness and other privations in this world such as we see for those who have suffered through another natural disaster this week can serve to be of great value for us despite, and because of, the physical suffering they bring.

The widow is faithful in giving of herself through worship in the temple despite her personal tragedies and trials, an example for family and others.  She could be out collecting sticks, begging or working for food, working very hard to make sure she has some food or money for tomorrow.  Instead, she is in the temple?  Praying?  This is not very practical at all!

"Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury."

Her offering is a symbol, a sign of the greatest gift: that of self which must begin with God before truly available for others. Her faith, hope and love frees her for living authentically: a daily relationship of trust in God's providential care.

We suffer through great betrayals of God and others in this world. Will we learn by these unwanted and distasteful circumstances to put God first through faith?

The widow's mite showed her true "might": she has already learned and lives from what she learned, that "the world as we know it is passing away". She gives to God as if completely unconcerned about the needs of tomorrow not recklessly but in generous love, knowing she already possesses the treasure for her which is more precious than all others, even the sure knowledge of the certainty of another meal.

"For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood."

Will we learn the lesson of the widow, and live with her "might", as strength that comes from God for the sake of self and others, the gifts of faith, hope and love?

"Jesus enjoins his disciples to prefer him to everything and everyone, and bids them 'renounce all that [they have]' for his sake and that of the Gospel. Shortly before his passion he gave them the example of the poor widow of Jerusalem who, out of her poverty, gave all that she had to live on. The precept of detachment from riches is obligatory for entrance into the Kingdom of heaven." (CCC 2544)

We have here a greater gift by far than the worship of the temple: we have the Temple not made by human hands, "destroyed in three days and raised up", the Lord himself, Jesus Christ in Word proclaimed and truly present in Sacrament.  How well can we learn from the example of the widow to love and worship Him here and then to go forth to love and serve him in all of our brothers and sisters, born and pre-born?  This is the spiritual sacrifice He desires and makes possible through the gift of Himself here.  This is the true worship of faith, hope and love that saves!

“The age of casual Catholicism is over, the age of heroic Catholicism has begun. We can no longer be Catholics by accident, but instead be Catholics by conviction.”

St. Leo the Great: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God"


“For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven."



Simon Peter holds the first place in the college of the Twelve; Jesus entrusted a unique mission to him. Through a revelation from the Father, Peter had confessed: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Our Lord then declared to him: "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it." Christ, the "living Stone", thus assures his Church, built on Peter, of victory over the powers of death. Because of the faith he confessed Peter will remain the unshakable rock of the Church. His mission will be to keep this faith from every lapse and to strengthen his brothers in it.


-- CCC 552

Friday, November 9, 2012

Dedication of the Lateran Basilica: "I saw water"


 ... flowing out from beneath the threshold of the temple ...

-- Ez 47:1-2, 8-9, 12

The worship "in Spirit and in truth"of the New Covenant is not tied exclusively to any one place. The whole earth is sacred and entrusted to the children of men. What matters above all is that, when the faithful assemble in the same place, they are the "living stones," gathered to be "built into a spiritual house." For the Body of the risen Christ is the spiritual temple from which the source of living water springs forth: incorporated into Christ by the Holy Spirit, "we are the temple of the living God."
 -- CCC 1179

Thursday, November 8, 2012

"we who worship"

... through the Spirit of God, who boast in Christ Jesus and do not put our confidence in flesh
 
Christ's faithful "have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires" (Gal 5:24); they are led by the Spirit and follow his desires.
 
-- CCC 2555
 
(Thursday, 31st Week in Ordinary Time)

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

"obedient"

"...work out your salvation with fear and trembling"

Called to beatitude but wounded by sin, man stands in need of salvation from God. Divine help comes to him in Christ through the law that guides him and the grace that sustains him:
Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
-- CCC 1949
(Wednesday, 31st Week in Ordinary Time)

Friday, November 2, 2012

Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed. "Come to me all you who are burdened': the burden of death is made light by the Lord's Cross and Resurrection

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

There is no burden greater than the death of a loved one.  But as great as this burden is for you and me to bear, greater by far is the heavy weight of the knowledge that everyone must meet and God and undergo the particular judgment that awaits each of us.  Love for the dead, then, must take this heavy weight into account, and express itself in heartfelt and regular prayer for the faithful departed.

 "For my yoke is easy and my burden light."

The weight of the cross which we bear as we face our own death or the death of loved ones is made easy through the mercy of Christ who dies on the Cross for love of us.  His divine graces flow abundantly to us as we approach in sorrow for our sins.  The Mass is the meeting place between the mercy of the Cross and the repentant sinner who knows he must die and take account of his sins.

"The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them."

Thus we are able to confidently approach the throne of God in every holy Mass, in prayer for all who have died, commending them to the infinite mercy of God.

All Souls: "The souls of the just are in the hand of God."

As gold in the furnace, he proved them, and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself.


"We believe that the souls of all who die in Christ's grace . . . are the People of God beyond death. On the day of resurrection, death will be definitively conquered, when these souls will be reunited with their bodies" (Paul VI, CPG § 28).

-- CCC 1052
The Eucharistic sacrifice is also offered for the faithful departed who "have died in Christ but are not yet wholly purified," so that they may be able to enter into the light and peace of Christ:

Put this body anywhere! Don't trouble yourselves about it! I simply ask you to remember me at the Lord's altar wherever you are. (Saint Monica)

Then, we pray [in the anaphora] for the holy fathers and bishops who have fallen asleep, and in general for all who have fallen asleep before us, in the belief that it is a great benefit to the souls on whose behalf the supplication is offered, while the holy and tremendous Victim is present. . . . By offering to God our supplications for those who have fallen asleep, if they have sinned, we . . . offer Christ sacrificed for the sins of all, and so render favorable, for them and for us, the God who loves man.



-- CCC 1371

Art: Purgatory, Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Solemnity of All Saints: "I had a vision of a great multitude."



“These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.”
-- Rv 7:2-4, 9-14

By keeping the memorials of the saints - first of all the holy Mother of God, then the apostles, the martyrs, and other saints - on fixed days of the liturgical year, the Church on earth shows that she is united with the liturgy of heaven. She gives glory to Christ for having accomplished his salvation in his glorified members; their example encourages her on her way to the Father.
-- CCC 1195

For MCITL reflection for the Solemnity of All Saints click here.
Art: Albrecht Duerer(1471 - 1528. The Landauer Altarpiece, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum.