Saint Francis of Assisi: “You shall love the Lord"

"In her Magisterial teaching of the faith and in the witness of her saints, the Church has never forgotten that 'sinners were the authors and the ministers of all the sufferings that the divine Redeemer endured.' Taking into account the fact that our sins affect Christ himself, the Church does not hesitate to impute to Christians the gravest responsibility for the torments inflicted upon Jesus, a responsibility with which they have all too often burdened the Jews alone:

"We must regard as guilty all those who continue to relapse into their sins. Since our sins made the Lord Christ suffer the torment of the cross, those who plunge themselves into disorders and crimes crucify the Son of God anew in their hearts (for he is in them) and hold him up to contempt. And it can be seen that our crime in this case is greater in us than in the Jews. As for them, according to the witness of the Apostle, 'None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.' We, however, profess to know him. And when we deny him by our deeds, we in some way seem to lay violent hands on him. (Roman Catechism)
"Nor did demons crucify him; it is you who have crucified him and crucify him still, when you delight in your vices and sins." (St. Francis of Assisi)

-- CCC 598

Art: Tempera on wood, Cosentini, 2002, MCITL collection.

Guardian Angels: "become like children"

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones,
for I say to you that their angels in heaven
always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.”

-- Mt 18:1-5, 10

The Church venerates the angels who help her on her earthly pilgrimage and protect every human being.

-- CCC 352

S Therese of Lisieux: "the greatest in the kingdom"

... is the one who serves the rest.

Saint Therese described her role in service to the Church, as a member of the Body of Christ, as being of the heart, which the Church must have if it is indeed true body in the world. She said, "In the heart of the Church I will be love".

Her teaching ogfspiritual childhood, known as the Little Way, was founded on Scriptural truth such as this:

"The greatest in the Kingdom of God is the one who makes himself as little as this little child." - Matthew 18: 1-5

To become a child in relation to God is the condition for entering the kingdom. For this, we must humble ourselves and become little. Even more: to become "children of God" we must be "born from above" or "born of God". Only when Christ is formed in us will the mystery of Christmas be fulfilled in us. Christmas is the mystery of this "marvelous exchange":
O marvelous exchange! Man's Creator has become man, born of the Virgin. We have been made sharers in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share our humanity.

-- CCC 526

S Hieronymi / Saint Jerome: “Follow me.”

“No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God.”

-- Lk 9:57-62

To this first reply Jesus adds a second: "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." This reply does not do away with the first: following Jesus Christ involves keeping the Commandments. The Law has not been abolished, but rather man is invited to rediscover it in the person of his Master who is its perfect fulfillment. In the three synoptic Gospels, Jesus' call to the rich young man to follow him, in the obedience of a disciple and in the observance of the Commandments, is joined to the call to poverty and chastity. The evangelical counsels are inseparable from the Commandments.

-- CCC 2053

Art: Giovanni Battista Pittoni, The Apotheosis of Saint Jerome with Saint Peter of Alcántara and an Unidentified Franciscan, about 1725, National Gallery of Scotland.

Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time: "If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead."

“If someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent."

The rich man begged to go back and warn those he loved in life to repent of sin and come back to a Godly way of life so that they would not suffer as he did, watching the poor man Lazarus enjoying heavenly bliss from his place of torment as he was forced to do.

What a grace it would be for us to be given a vision of hell and its torments so that our desire to not go there would motivate us to love God more so as to be with Him for eternity! But God is love, and love must be free in order to be itself. This is one reason why we have the sacred liturgy of the Mass: together as God’s people and one with Christ we learn to love God and to be love by Him more and more throughout our lives. Come to holy Mass faithfully on Sundays and on other occasions if able.

 Jesus Christ is the one risen “from the dead” to whom we listen, especially as He speaks in love through the sacrament of the Eucharist, now and forever.

Then Abraham said, 'If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.'" 

The Dedication of the Basilica of St. Michael the Archangel: "Archangele Michael, constitui te principem super omnes animas suscipiendas."

"Stetit Angelus iuxta aram templi, habens thuribulum aureum in manu sua."

"Dum praeliaretur * Michael Archangelus cum dracone, audita est vox dicentium: Salus Deo nostro. Alleluia."

"Angeli, Archangeli, Throni, et Dominationes, Principatus, et Potestates, Virtutes caelorum, laudate Dominum de caelis. Alleluia."

"Angeli Domini Dominum benedicite in aeternum."

"No servant can serve two masters": Choose your home, eternal or temporary

"Home is where, if you have to go, they have to take you in."

All joking aside, there are some, like the steward in the Gospel, have no where to go.He was soon to be out on his ear for having squandered his master's money but used his position fraudulently one last time to give hope that he might have refuge after losing his position.

‘What shall I do, now that my master is taking the position of steward away from me? I am not strong enough to dig and I am ashamed to beg. I know what I shall do so that, when I am removed from the stewardship, they may welcome me into their homes.’

He learned the hard way that love money cannot buy happiness because after all was said and done he had no friends as well, it seems, as no family either.

Family is the first place where we learn the value of the person, that persons are more important than things. Have you seen siblings put inanimate toys aside as of no interest in order to play with each other for long hours? People are fascinated with other people when life is in balance.

Sin and love of money takes the balance out of life and causes unhappiness. It can cause unhappiness forever of one is not converted by love of Jesus Christ to reject money and the material things of this world as idols which enslave. Jesus Christ alone brings the freedom to love our dignity enough to reject the alternatives which enslave as had done

the dishonest steward.

"The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones." The small things with which the Lord entrusts us now are the keeping on the Commandments, the task of learning that we cannot hope to return His love without Jesus Christ.

I tell you, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings."