Dominica X Post Pentecosten: "Self-righteousness"

 

From the Holy Gospel according to Luke

Luke 18:9-14
At that time: Jesus spoke this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the Temple to pray, the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. And so on.

Homily by St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo
Serm 36 of the Word of the Lord
"The Pharisee might at least have said: "I am not as many men are." But what meaneth "other men"? All other men except himself. "I," said he, "am righteous; others are sinners." "I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers," and then he took occasion, from the neighborhood of the publican, to plume himself "or even," quoth he, "as this publican." "I am alone," he thought, "that publican" is one of the others. Mine own righteousness maketh the gulf between me and the wicked, such as he is."

I once worked on active duty in the military with a young, fundamentalist ex-Catholic Marine officer who refused to pray the "Our Father". Can you imagine? However, he had the most self-righteous of reasons: he did not want to repeat himself, thus violating Scripture. He refused, however, to entertain my objection that he was also violating the Lord's command imparted when He taught the prayer to His Apostles for the first time: "when you pray, say..."

My fellow officer was puffed up with the certainty of his own righteousness before God while at the same time violating the letter of the Lord's teaching, and I told him so. He was building on sand.

Our righteousness "must exceed that of the pharisees" and Sadducees, as our Lord made clear. In order for that to happen we must rely not on ourselves, be "self-righteous". That unfortunately is what very quickly happens when we reject or refuse the humility necessary to obey the Magisterium in matters of faith and morals: what we believe, and what we do as a result.

Catholics happily pray the Our Father at every Mass, with the holy rosary and in numerous other contexts. We do so in obedience to the Lord who Himself gave us those words to utter in speaking to the heavenly Father. And, of course, we do not fear to offend God in doing so. This is for the reason that we depend wholly upon the righteousness of God, and not our own.

 “And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him." (Matthew 6, 7-8)

We know that we do not violate the Lord's will in the previous injunction because He follows it immediately with the recommended alternative:

"Pray then like this: 'Our Father who art in heaven, ...'" (Mathhew 6, 9 ff)

We do what the Church does, pleasing Our heavenly Father, addressing Him with the words of His Incarnate Son. And we do so whenever we pray "the prayer Our Lord Himself taught us."

Collect
V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.
O God, You manifest Your power, particularly in forbearance and pity, show us Your mercy again and again, so that hastening toward Your promises we may become partakers of the blessings of heaven.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
R. Amen.

Praised be Jesus Christ our King, now and forever.

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: "Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture."

Image: Fresco in Catacombs of Saint Callistus, Rome

"The word “woe” in the Greek is “ouai” and is more than just an expression of a feeling. Woe is a judgment as we read in the Book of Revelation (chapters 8. 9, 11, and 12). It means “alas” or almost like “oh no!” When the word woe is used, it is quite possibly signifying impending doom, condemnation and/or the wrath of God so it is never used to only emphasize something in the sentence in which it is used." (Patheos)

"Therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of Israel,
against the shepherds who shepherd my people:
You have scattered my sheep and driven them away.
You have not cared for them,
but I will take care to punish your evil deeds." (Jer 23, 2)

An archbishop in the crosshairs of the Vatican has this critique to offer about a particular Shepherd whom he accuses as guilty of these failings enumerated by Our Lord in the Gospel.

"It is necessary for the Episcopate, the Clergy and the People of God to seriously ask themselves whether it is consistent with the profession of the Catholic Faith to passively witness the systematic destruction of the Church by its leaders, just as other subversives are destroying civil society.

Globalism calls for ethnic substitution: (the Shepherd) promotes uncontrolled immigration and calls for the integration of cultures and religions. Globalism supports LGBTQ+ ideology: (the Shepherd) authorizes the blessing of same-sex couples and imposes on the faithful the acceptance of homosexualism, while covering up the scandals of his protégés and promoting them to the highest positions of responsibility. Globalism imposes the green agenda: (the Shepherd) worships the idol of the Pachamama, writes delirious encyclicals about the environment, supports the Agenda 2030, and attacks those who question the theory of man-made global warming.

"He goes beyond his role in matters that strictly pertain to science, but always and only in one direction: a direction that is diametrically opposed to what the Church has always taught. He has mandated the use of experimental gene serums, which caused very serious damage, death and sterility, calling them “an act of love,” in exchange for funding from pharmaceutical companies and philanthropic foundations.

"His total alignment with the Davos religion is scandalous. Wherever governments at the service of the World Economic Forum have introduced or extended abortion, promoted vice, legitimized homosexual unions or gender transition, encouraged euthanasia, and tolerated the persecution of Catholics, not a word has been spent in defense of the Faith or Morals that are threatened, or in support of the civil battles of so many Catholics who have been abandoned by the Vatican and the Bishops. Not a word for the persecuted Catholics in China, with the complicity of the Holy See, which considers Beijing’s billions more important than the lives and freedom of thousands of Chinese who are faithful to the Roman Church.

"In the “synodal church” presided over by (the Shepherd), no schism is recognized among the German Episcopate, or among the government-appointed Bishops who have been consecrated in China without the mandate of Rome. Because their action is consistent with the destruction of the Church, and therefore must be concealed, minimized, tolerated, and finally encouraged. In these eleven years of “pontificate” the Catholic Church has been humiliated and discredited above all because of the scandals and corruption of the leaders of the Hierarchy, which have been totally ignored even as the most ruthless Vatican authoritarianism raged against faithful priests and religious, small communities of traditional nuns, and communities tied to the Latin Mass."

As is true with the words of every prophet, if the shoe fits ...

But one thing is certainly true of those priests and bishops who would be good shepherds: they must make plain in word and action the errors of the bad or evil shepherds in order that the flock may not be scattered, but rather gathered by the Lord into the sheepgate of salvation by the true teachings of his holy Church.

Praised be Jesus Christ our King, now and forever.

Dominica IX post Pentecosten: “Quod a flente Dómino”

Titus Destroying Jerusalem by Wilhelm von Kaulbach (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

From the Holy Gospel according to Luke

Luke 19:41-17
At that time: When Jesus was come near to Jerusalem, He beheld the city, and wept over it, saying If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. And so on.

Homily by Pope St. Gregory the Great.
39 on the Gospels.
No man that hath read the history of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman Princes Vespasian and Titus, can be ignorant that it was of that destruction that the Lord spoke when He wept over the ruin of the city. It is these Princes that are pointed at where it is said "For the days shall come upon thee that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee." The truth of what followeth: "They shall not leave in thee one stone upon another" is even now fulfilled in the change of site of the city, which hath been re-built round about that place without the gates, where the Lord was crucified, while the ancient city hath been, as I am told, rooted up from the very foundations.

What the sin of Jerusalem was which brought upon her the punishment of this destruction, we find written after: "Because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." The Maker of men, through the mystery of His Incarnation, was pleased to visit her, but she remembered not to fear and to love Him. Hence also the Prophet Jeremiah, rebuking the hardness of man's heart, calleth the birds of the air to testify against it, saying "The stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed time and the turtle, and the swallow, and the crane, observe the time of their coming but my people know not the judgment of the Lord." viii. 7.

Let us pray.
May Your merciful ears be open, O Lord, to the prayers of those who humbly entreat You; grant that they may ask for what pleases You so that You may fulfill their desires.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
R. Amen.

July 11: Saint Pius I

                      15th century portrayal of Pope Pius I
                                  by Pietro Perugino

Pius I., the son of Rufinus, was from Aquilia, and was a Priest of the holy Roman Church when he was made Supreme Pontiff, he lived under the Emperors Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius, he held five ordinations in the month of December, wherein he ordained twelve Bishops and eighteen Priests. There remain several eminent ordinances of his, notably that which ruleth that the Resurrection of the Lord be not observed upon any day of the week save the Lord's Day. He turned the house of Pudens into a church, and on account of its eminence above the other churches, as being that where the Bishop of Rome dwelt, he dedicated it under the name of the Shepherd. Here he often celebrated, and baptized and numbered among the faithful many converts to the faith. While he strove to do the work of a good shepherd he shed his blood for his sheep, and for the chief Shepherd Christ. He was crowned with martyrdom upon the 11th day of July, and buried upon the Vatican Hill.

Let us pray.
Look forgivingly on thy flock, Eternal Shepherd, and keep it in thy constant protection, by the intercession of blessed Pius thy Martyr and Sovereign Pontiff, whom thou didst constitute Shepherd of the whole Church.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
℟. Amen.

- Breviarium Romanum 

House of Pudens, Domus Pudentiana, Roma

Also known as Santa Pudenziana

Mosaic in apse of Christ entroned between the apostles and Ss Pudenziana and Prassede, church of S Pudenziana

The Kingdom of God: The treasure in the field

Parable of the Hidden Treasure by Rembrandt(c. 1630).

From the Holy Gospel according to Matthew

Matt 13:44
At that time Jesus spake unto His disciples this parable ‘The kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field.’ And so on.

Homily by Pope St Gregory the Great

11th on the Gospels
Dearly beloved brethren, the kingdom of heaven is likened unto the things of earth, to the end that by the mean of things which we know, our mind may rise to the contemplation of the things which we know not by the example of things which are seen, may fix her gaze on things which are not seen by the touch of things which she useth, may be warmed towards the things which she useth not; by things which she knoweth and loveth, to love also the things which she knoweth not. For, behold, "the kingdom of heaven is likened unto treasure hid in a field, the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and, for joy thereof, goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth that field."

And herein we must remark that the treasure, when once it hath been found, is hidden to keep it safe. He whose intimate yearnings after God are not hidden from the praise of men, is open thereby to the attacks of evil spirits. In this life we are, as it were, journeying homewards on a road beset by evil spirits who are like highwaymen. He therefore inviteth robbery who carrieth his treasure ostentatiously. Doubtless our neighbour should be able to see our good works, as it is written: "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." But this is not to be understood to mean that we are to seek the praise of men by what we do. Rather, let us in such wise work in the open that the inner intention of devotion is not advertised. So we shall give an example to our neighbour, and yet keep hidden, except from the sight of God, our purpose of pleasing him.

The treasure is the desire for heaven, the field wherein it is hidden is the earnest observance wherewith this desire is surrounded. Whosoever turneth his back upon the enjoyments of the flesh, and by earnest striving heavenward, putteth all earthly lusts under the feet of discipline, so that he smileth back no more when the flesh smileth at him, and shuddereth no more at anything that can only kill the body whosoever doth thus, hath sold all that he had, and bought that field.

FOURTEENTH Sunday of the Year: "and they took offense at him."

Ezekiel 2, 2-5; Psalm 123; 2 Corinthians 12, 7-10; St. Mark 6, 1-6

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

"And on the sabbath [Jesus] began to teach in the synagogue; and many who heard him were astonished, saying, "Where did this man get all this? What is the wisdom given to him? What mighty works are wrought by his hands! And they took offence at him. And he could do no mighty work there... And he marvelled because of their unbelief." (Mark 6: 2.3.5)

Jesus is saddened by the "lack of faith" of his own neighbors and the little faith of his own disciples (Cf. Mark 6:6; Matthew 8:26) (CCC 2610)

The miracles and signs withheld from the people because of their lack of faith are a portent only of the more dire effect of the impossibility of salvation without the virtue of faith.

Believing in Jesus Christ and in the One who sent him for our salvation is necessary for obtaining that salvation. (Cf. Mark 16:16; John 3:36; 6:40 et al.) "Since 'without faith it is impossible to please [God]' and to attain to the fellowship of his sons, therefore without faith no one has ever attained justification, nor will anyone obtain eternal life 'but he who endures to the end.' " (Dei Filius 3:DS 3012; cf. Matthew 10:22; 24:13 and Hebrews 11:6; Council of Trent: DS 1532.) (CCC 161) Faith is necessary for salvation. The Lord himself affirms: "He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned" (Mark 16:16) (CCC 183)

Just as all faith comes through the graces of the Church, so also the Church, through which comes the faith by which we are saved, is necessary for salvation. The Catechism discusses the oft-quoted and much-misunderstood teaching: "outside the Church there is no salvation."

How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers? (Cf. Cyprian, Ep. 73.21: PL 3, 1169; De unit.: PL 4, 509-536.) Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body: Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it. (LG 14; cf. Mark 16:16; John 3:5) (CCC 846)

Some mistakenly take this for a blanket condemnation of anyone who is not a "card-carrying" Catholic. Nothing could be further from the truth. No one is condemned for sincerely following his conscience, for this itself is a grace from God.

This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church: Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience-those too may achieve eternal salvation. (Lumen Gentium 16; cf. DS 3866-3872) (CCC 847)

We would do well to remember the words of St. Thomas More when, implored by his friend the Duke of Norfolk to consent with him to the headship of the Church by, and the divorce and remarriage of, King Henry VIII "for fellowship's sake" he responded, "When you go to heaven for following your conscience and I go to hell for not following mine, will you come along with me for fellowship's sake?"

I look forward to meeting you here again next week as, together, we "meet Christ in the liturgy", Father Cusick

Meeting Christ in the Liturgy (Publish with permission.)

Dominica VII post Pentecosten: “Beware of false prophets”

Luca Signorelli, “The devil whispers to the anti-Christ”, fresco in Duomo di Orvieto

From the Holy Gospel according to Matthew

Matt 7:15-21
At that time, Jesus said unto His disciples: Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. And so on.

Homily by St. Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers.
Comment. on Matth. ch. vi.
The Lord here warneth us that we must rate the worth of soft words and seeming meekness, by the fruits which they that manifest such things bring forth in their works, and that we should look, in order to see what a man is, not at his professions, but at his deeds. For there are many in whom sheep's clothing is but a mask to hide wolfish ravening. But "Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit." Thus, the Lord teacheth us, is it with men also evil men bring not forth good fruits, and hereby are we to know them. Lip-service alone winneth not the kingdom of heaven, nor is every one that saith unto Christ: "Lord, Lord," an heir thereof.

What use is there in calling the Lord, “Lord?” Would He not be Lord all the same, whether or not we called Him so? What holiness is there in this ascription of a name, when the true way to enter into the kingdom of heaven is to do the will of our Father, Who is in heaven? 

"Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy Name?’” Already here doth the Lord rebuke the deceit of the false prophets, and the feigning of the hypocrites, who take glory to themselves because of the power of their words, their prophesying in teaching, their casting out of devils, and such-like mighty works.

Saint Leo the Great: the Lord “doth lose none of his dignity even in an unworthy successor.”

The Meeting between Leo the Great (painted as a portrait of Leo X) and Attila | Raphael | Vatican Museums 

From the Holy Gospel according to Matthew
Matt 16:13-19

At that time: When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And so on. 

In the universal Church it is as if Peter were still saying every day: Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. For every tongue which confesseth the Lord is taught that confession by the teaching of Peter. This is the Faith that overcometh the devil and looseth the bonds of his prisoners. This is the Faith which maketh men free of the world and bringeth them to heaven, and the gates of hell are impotent to prevail against it. This is the rock which God hath fortified with such ramparts of salvation, that the contagion of heresy will never be able to infect it, nor idolatry and unbelief to overcome it. And therefore, dearly beloved, we celebrate today’s festival with reasonable obedience, that in my humble person he may be acknowledged and honoured who doth continue to care for all the shepherds as well as sheep entrusted unto him, and who doth lose none of his dignity even in an unworthy successor.

- from a homily by S Leo the Great

Let us pray.
Look forgivingly on thy flock, Eternal Shepherd, and keep it in thy constant protection, by the intercession of blessed Leo thy Sovereign Pontiff, whom thou didst constitute Shepherd of the whole Church.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
℟. Amen.

In Visitatione Beatæ Mariæ Virginis

The Visitation, 1643–48; Philippe de Champaigne, 1602–1674; born Brussels, Belgium; died Paris, France. Oil on canvas.

From the Holy Gospel according to Luke

Luke 1:39-47
And Mary arose in those days and went into the hill-country with haste, into a city of Judah. And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elizabeth. And so on.

Homily by St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan
Bk. ii Comm. on Luke i
We must here consider that the greater cometh unto the lesser, Mary unto Elizabeth, Christ unto John. And again afterwards, to hallow the baptism of John, the Lord came unto him to be baptized. It was soon that the blessings of the coming of Mary and of the Presence of God were made manifest. Have regard here to the distinction made, and to the special weight of every word. Elizabeth was the first to hear the voice of Mary's salutation, but John was the first to receive grace. She heard naturally, but he leaped mystically. She hailed the coming of Mary, he that of the Lord, Mary and Elizabeth spake words full of grace, but Jesus and John worked, and commenced their mystery of godliness from their mothers' beginnings, and so by twin miracles the mothers prophesied from the spirit of their unborn offspring. The babe leaped, and the mother was filled with the Holy Ghost. The mother was not filled before the son, but when the son was filled with the Holy Ghost, he filled his mother also.

From ther sermons of St John Chrysostom, Patruarch of Constantinople

But do thou tell us, O John, how it came to pass that while thou wast still in the darkness of thy mother's womb, thou didst see and hear? How didst thou behold the things of God? How didst thou leap and bound for joy? Great, saith John, is the mystery of that which taketh place here, far from the understanding of men are these doings. It is meet that I should do a new thing in nature for the sake of Him Who is making new things which are beyond nature. I see in the womb, because I see the Sun of righteousness in a womb. I hear, because I am coming as the herald of the Great Word. I cry out, because I espy the Only-begotten Son of the Father clad in Flesh. I bound for joy, because I see that He by Whom all things were made, hath taken upon Him the form of a servant. I leap, because I think of the Redeemer of the world being made Flesh. I run before His coming, and herald His approach unto you with this, as it were, my confession.

Shepherds in the Lord’s image must love and feed the flock as His, and not as their own

Jesus as the Good Shepherd, mosaic, 5th c. Galla Placidia Mausoleum, Ravenna, Italy.

In Vigilia Ss. Petri et Pauli Apostolorum

Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to John

John 21:15-17
At that time: Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? And so on, and that which followeth.

A Homily by St. Augustine the Bishop
Tractatus 123 in Joannem. in medio
To the threefold denial there is now appended a threefold confession, that his tongue may not yield a feebler service to love than to fear, and imminent death may not appear to have elicited more from his lips than present life. Let it be the office of love to feed the Lord's flock, if it was the signal of fear to deny the Shepherd. Those who have this purpose in feeding the flock of Christ, that they may have them as their own, and not as Christ's, are convicted of loving themselves, and not Christ, from the desire either of boasting, or wielding power, or acquiring gain, and not from the love of obeying, serving and pleasing God.

Against such, therefore, there standeth as a wakeful sentinel this thrice inculcated utterance of Christ, of whom the Apostle complaineth that they seek their own, not the things that are of Christ Jesus. For what else signifieth the words: Lovest thou me? Feed my sheep: than if it were said: If thou lovest me, think not of feeding thyself, but feed my sheep as mine, and not as thine own; seek my glory in them, and not thine own; my dominion, and not thine; my gain, and not thine; lest thou be found in the fellowship of them that belong to the perilous times, lovers of their own selves, and all else that is joined on to this beginning of evils.

With great propriety, therefore, is Peter addressed: Lovest thou me? and found replying: I love thee; and the command applied to him: Feed my lambs, and this a second and a third time. We have it also demonstrated here that love (amor) and liking (dilectio) are one and the same thing; for the Lord also in the last question said not: Dost thou like me? (Diligis me?): but: Dost thou love me? (Amas me?) Let us, then, love not ourselves but him; and in feeding his sheep, let us be seeking the things which are his, not the things which are our own. For in some inexplicable way, I know not what, every one that loveth himself, and not God, loveth not himself; and whoever loveth God, and not himself, he it is that loveth himself. For he that cannot live by himself will certainly die by loving himself; he therefore loveth not himself that loveth himself to his own loss of life.

"Depart from me": the Father comes ever closer to us in His Son

Dominica IV post Pentecosten

Luke 5:1-11

Today, Father's Day, we encounter in our Gospel God the Father – also in the 16 new priests ordained yesterday for the Archdiocese, along with thousands more during this season around the world.

We encounter the holiness of the Father in His Son as recounted by the Gospel today.

What is our response?

Is it like that of Peter? “Depart from me.”

God does the opposite: He comes ever closer.

In Jesus Christ we see the Father – the Holiness of the Father in the Son

In the priesthood of Jesus Christ, ordained men, Peter, the Apostles, their successors and all men who are priests, bring Him so close to us as to be our Food.

The Holy Eucharist is the Father’s response to our fear in which we might be moved to cry out in self loathing, “depart from me”.

What happens to you and me when we discover we are so very different and far from God?

He excites love in us where there was once even perhaps dread – dread to come into His presence knowing as we do so well our sinful nature.

But in Christ, who gives us the Father, we have a wonderful mystery and reality of the Father’s love.

Grace, both in mercy to forgive us and in the Eucharist to enable us to grow more and more supernaturally to His image and likeness.

The same holiness which in Christ caused Peter, the first pope, to seek escape is our antidote to distance from God which we discover in our repentance for and repugnance of sin. He makes us like Himself, so that we no longer seek escape. We seek Him. We can love in ourselves that which is of Him while growing more distant from the past, that in ourselves which once caused dread and loathing.

But for this to happen something is required of us. Peter's change of attitude was evident in his life.

"And Jesus said to Simon, 'Do not be afraid; henceforth you shall catch men'. And when they had brought their boats to land, they left all and followed Him."

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Among the wonderful developments of sacred teaching and piety, by which the plans of the divine Wisdom are daily made clear to the Church, hardly any is more manifest than the triumphant progress made by the devotion of the most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Very often indeed, during the course of past ages, Fathers, Doctors, and Saints have celebrated our Redeemer's love: and they have said, that the wound opened in the side of Christ was the hidden fountain of all graces. Moreover, from the Middle Ages onward, when the faithful began to show a more tender piety towards the most sacred Humanity of the Saviour, contemplative souls became accustomed to penetrate through that wound almost to the very Heart itself, wounded for the love of men. And from that time, this form of contemplation became so familiar to all persons of saintly life, that there was no country or religious order in which, during this period, witnesses to it were not to be found. Finally, during recent centuries, and most especially at that period when heretics, in the name of a false piety, strove to discourage Christians from receiving the most Holy Eucharist, the veneration of the most Sacred Heart began to be openly practised, principally through the exertions of St. John Eudes, who is by no means unworthily called the founder of the liturgical worship of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

But in order to establish fully and entirely the worship of the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, and to spread the same throughout the whole world, God himself chose as his instrument a most humble virgin from the order of the Visitation, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, who even in her earliest years already had a burning love for the Sacrament of the Eucharist, and to whom Christ the Lord had very many times appeared, and was pleased to make known the riches and the desires of his divine Heart. The most famous of these apparitions was that in which Jesus revealed himself to her in prayer before the blessed Sacrament, shewed her his most Sacred Heart, and, complaining that in return for his unbounded love, he met with nothing but outrages and ingratitude from mankind, he ordered her to concern herself with the establishment of a new feast, on the Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christi, on which his Heart should be venerated with due honour, and that the insults offered him by sinners in the Sacrament of love should be expiated by worthy satisfaction. But there is no one who knoweth not how many and how great were the obstacles which the handmaid of God experienced, in carrying out the commands of Christ; but, endowed with strength by the Lord himself, and actively aided by her pious spiritual directors, who exerted themselves with an almost unbelievable zeal, up to the time of her death she never ceased faithfully to carry out the duty entrusted to her by heaven.

At length, in the year 1765, the Supreme Pontiff Clement XIII approved the Mass and Office in honour of the most Sacred Heart of Jesus; and Pius IX extended the feast to the universal Church. From then on the worship of the most Sacred Heart, like an overflowing river, washing away all obstacles, hath poured itself forth over all the earth, and, at the dawn of the new century, Leo XIII, having proclaimed a jubilee, decided to dedicate the whole human race to the most Sacred Heart. This consecration was actually carried out with solemn rites in all the churches of the Catholic world, and brought about a great increase of this devotion, leading not only nations but even private families to it, who in countless numbers dedicated themselves to the Divine Heart, and submitted themselves to its royal sway. Lastly, the Sovereign Pontiff Pius XI, in order that, by its solemnity, the feast might answer more fully to the greatly widespread devotion of the Christian people, raised the feast of the most Sacred Heart of Jesus to the rite of a double of the first class, with an octave; and moreover, that the violated rights of Christ, the supreme King and most loving Lord, might be repaired, and that the sins of the nations might be bewailed, he ordered that annually, on that same feast-day, there should be recited an expiatory form of prayer in all the churches of the Christian world.

- From the Roman Breviary for the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Most sublime of all mysteries: the Holy Trinity

The Feast of the Holy Trinity celebrates the foundation of our Catholic Faith, belief in the Triune God. From this truth springs the various sacraments for the sanctification and salvation of mankind, particularly of baptism.

This festival is celebrated on the Sunday after Pentecost, because as soon as the apostles were instructed and consoled by the Holy Ghost, they began to preach openly that which Christ had taught them.

Why do we celebrate this festival?

That we may openly profess our faith in the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, which is the first of Christian truths, the foundation of the Christian religion, and the most sublime of all mysteries; and that we may render thanks, to the Father for having created us, to the Son for having redeemed us, and to the Holy Ghost for having sanctified us.

In praise and honor of the most Holy Trinity, the Church sings at the Introit of this day's Mass: 

INTROIT Blessed be the holy Trinity and undivided Unity: we will give glory to him, because he hath shown his mercy to us: (Tob. XII.) O Lord, our Lord, how wonderful is thy name in all the earth! (Ps. VIII. 1.) Glory be to the Father, etc.

COLLECT Almighty, everlasting God, who hast granted to Thy servants, in the confession of the true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of Thy, majesty, to adore the Unity: grant that, by steadfastness in the same faith, we may ever be defended from all adversities. Thro'.

EPISTLE (ROM XI. 33-36.) O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are his judgments, and how unsearchable his ways! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and recompense shall be made him? For of him, and by him, and in him, are all things: to him be glory forever. Amen.

EXPLANATION St. Paul's exclamations, in this epistle, are caused by the inscrutable judgment of God in rejecting the Jews and calling the Gentiles. The Church makes use of these words to express her admiration for the incomprehensible mystery of the most Holy Trinity, which surpasses our understanding, and yet is the worthy object of our faith, hope and love. Although neither angels nor men can fathom this mystery, it cannot be difficult for the sound human intellect to believe it, since it is indubitably and evidently revealed by God, arid we, in many natural and human things, accept for true and certain much that we cannot comprehend. Let us submit our intellect, there fore, and yield ourselves up to faith; as there was indeed a time when men were martyred, when even persons of all ages and conditions preferred to die rather than to abandon this faith, so let us rather wait until our faith is changed to contemplation, until we see the Triune God, face to face, as He is, and in the sight of that countenance become eternally happy. Thither should all our hopes, wishes,' and desires be directed, and we should cease all fruitless investigations, endeavoring by humble faith and active love, to prove worthy of the beatific vision; for if we do not love Him who is our all, our last end and aim, and lovingly desire Him, we will have to hope of one day possessing Him.

ASPIRATION O incomprehensible, Triune God! O Abyss of wisdom, power, and goodness! To Thee all glory and adoration! In Thee I lose myself; I cannot contain Thee, do Thou, contain me. I believe in Thee, though I cannot comprehend Thee; do Thou increase my faith; I hope in. Thee, for Thou art the source of all good; do Thou enliven my hope; I love Thee, because Thou art worthy, of all love; do Thou inflame ever more my love, that in Thy love I may live and die. Amen.

GOSPEL (Matt. XXVIII. 18-20.) At that time Jesus said to His disciples: All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. Going, therefore; teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.

EXPLANATION Christ being God had from all eternity the same power that His Father had; being man, He had this same power by the union of His divinity with His humanity, and on account of the infinite merits of His passion. In virtue of this power, He said to His apostles, before the ascension, that, as His Heavenly Father had sent Him, even so He sent them to all nations, without exception, to teach all that He had commanded, and to receive them, by means of baptism, into the Church; at the same time He promised to be with them to the end of the world, that is, that He would console them in suffering, strengthen them in persecution, preserve them from error, and always protect them and their successors, the bishops and priests, even unto the consummation of the world.

(See Instruction on the doctrine of the infallibility of the Church for the first Sunday after Easter.)

ASPIRATION Be with us, O Lord, for without Thee our pastors cannot produce fruit, nor their hearers profit anything from their words. Be with us always, for we always need Thy help. All power is given to Thee, Thou bast then the right to command, and we are bound to obey Thy commands which by Thy Church Thou bast made known to us. This we have promised in baptism, and now before Thee we renew those vows. Grant now that those promises which without Thee we could not have made, and without Thee cannot keep, may be fulfilled in our actions. Leave us not to ourselves, but be Thou with us, and make us obedient to Thee, that by cheerful submission to Thee true may receive happiness.

The Descent of the Holy Ghost: Meditation and Prayer

 

The Descent of the Holy Ghost

 

CONSIDERATION Ten days after His Ascension, and on the fiftieth day after Easter, Jesus ful­filled the promise He had so often made to His Apostles of sending them His Holy Spirit. We read in the second chapter of the Acts that "when the days of the Pente­cost were accomplished, they were altogether in one place: and suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them: and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to speak with diverse tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak." It is in these few and simple words that St. Luke re­cords the great and mysterious event which substituted the Christian feast of Pentecost for the Jewish one; an event which changed the Apostles in one moment from carnal and ignorant into spiritual and eloquent men, eminent both in wisdom and holiness, gifted with an invincible zeal and courage, and thenceforward fully capable of executing their great commission of evan­gelizing mankind and changing the whole face of the earth. APPLICATION. We celebrate today the anniversary of this great event, and that not only by commemorating it as we commemorate our Lord's resurrection at Easter, but by seeking to renew it within ourselves. In this respect the feast of Pentecost differs from all others; for others are feasts of gratitude for past mercies, whereas in this we celebrate a mystery which is con­tinually renewed in the Church, and which will be renewed in the souls of the faithful, even to the end of the world. At this very day we may venture, according to the promise of Jesus Christ, to ask, and to expect with the same confidence as the Apostles, the descent of the Holy Ghost upon ourselves, and the communi­cation of His gifts.

Already now, we can enjoy God through the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ within us - by the presence of His Spirit within us. We must enjoy the presence of God within us. And particularly through the sacraments, which maintain the presence of Our Lord within us - and especially the Holy Eucharist. That is the result of Pentecost. It is a source of consolation which the pagans do not know, and that is why we must desire to be missionaries and want to spread around us the good news of the coming of our Lord amongst us; to want to communicate His Spirit through the sacrament of baptism to all souls who surround us - to all souls whom we know and who are still far away from our Lord Christ. That is the missionary spirit of the Church. That was the missionary spirit of the apostles. See how they went out to cross the world – twelve apostles, a tiny and insignificant little group. They brought the fire of love to the four corners of the world. They transformed the world. That should also be our thought, our desire.

Prayer for the Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost

 

O Lord Jesus Christ, Who, before ascending into heaven, didst promise to send the Holy Ghost to finish Thy work in the souls of Thy Apostles and Disciples, deign to grant the same Holy Spirit to me, that He may perfect in my soul the work of Thy grace and Thy love. Grant me the Spirit of Wisdom that I may despise the perishable things of this world and aspire only after the things that are eternal, the Spirit of Understanding to enlighten my mind with the light of Thy divine truth, the Spirit of Counsel that I may ever choose the surest way of pleasing God and gaining Heaven, the Spirit of Fortitude that I may bear my cross with Thee, and that I may overcome with courage all the obstacles that oppose my salvation, the Spirit of Knowledge that I may know God and know myself and grow perfect in the science of the Saints, the Spirit of Piety that I may find the service of God sweet and amiable, the Spirit of Fear that I may be filled with a loving reverence towards God, and may dread in any way to displease Him. Mark me, dear Lord, with the sign of Thy true disciples and animate me in all things with Thy Spirit. Amen.