Quote of the Day – 1 July
“Whenever anything disagreeable or displeasing happens to you, remember Christ crucified and be silent.”
St John of the Cross – Doctor of the Church
Quote of the Day – 1 July
Category: CATHOLIC Quotes
One Minute Reflection – 1 July
One Minute Reflection – 1 July
“I have betrayed innocent blood!”………..Matthew 27:4
REFLECTION – “The Blood of Christ is His sacrifice applied to us; it enters the souls of the redeemed; it is the inextinguishable source of all heroism!”……St John XXIII
PRAYER – Lord Jesus, You became Man in order by your Passion and Death and the draining of your Blood on the Cross, might prove to us how much You, our God, love us. Protect us, dear Jesus, from ever running away from the sight of blood. Strengthen our weak human wills so that we will not only not run away from the cross but welcome every opportunity to shed our blood in spirit in union with your Precious Blood, so that, dying to ourselves in time we might live with You in Eternity. Amen
Saint of the Day – 1 July – St Junipero Serra O.F.M., Apostle of California – 1 July
Saint of the Day – 1 July – St Junipero Serra O.F.M., Apostle of California- 1 July – Priest, Religious Friar, Missionary, Theologian, Philospher, Teacher, Evangelist – (born Miguel Jose 24 November 1713 at Petra, Spanish Majorca as Miguel Jose Serra – 28 August 1784 of tuberculosis at Mission San Carlos, California of natural causes). His remains are buried at Carmel, Monterey, California. Patronages – Vocations, Hispanic Americans, California. Attributes Franciscan habit, wearing a large crucifix, or holding a crucifix accompanied by a young Native American boy.
Miguel Jose Serra was born in Majorca, Spain. At the young age of 16, he entered into service to God, joining the Order of Saint Francis and taking the name Junipero—in honour of Saint Juniper, the saintly friar companion of Saint Francis. Ordained at age 24, Junipero studied in Parma, the capital of Majorca and taught philosophy and theology at the monastery of San Francisco at Lullian University for over a decade. Serra was known as a brilliant, articulate scholar — a moving speaker and a clear, precise writer — but he did not remain long in academic life. In 1749, at the age of 37, Junipero answered the call for missionaries and left Europe, heading to the New World Western mission territories.
Junipero left Cadiz, Spain and sailed for Vera Cruz, Mexico. During the voyage, he suffered an insect bite which led to significant physical difficulties with his leg– an ailment which remained for the rest of his life. Upon arrival in the New Work, he traveled by foot (as would become his custom, despite his physical limitations) to Mexico City to dedicate his mission vocation at the shrine of Mexico’s Our Lady of Guadalupe. He then received his first assignment—the rugged, mountainous region of Mexico known as Sierra Gorda. Friar Junipero embraced his mission work, learning the language of the native Pame Indians and translating the Catechism for them. He remained at Sierra Gorda for nine years, strengthening and building missions.
Soon, word of Blessed Junipero’s commitment and skill spread and he was re-assigned. His next mission was to journey from Mexico City into the coastal villages and mining camps. Again, despite his continuously infected and now ulcerated leg, he walked over 6,000 miles over eight years, preaching, converting, baptising and establishing missions. Before he was finished, Junipero would establish and oversee construction of 21 missions in California and Mexico. He was appointed Superior of Baja California and later “padre president” of the region. He linked his 21 missions—each a one-day 30 mile walk from each other—by a dirt road, named “El Camino Real.”
Throughout his mission work, Father Serra sought to protect the native peoples, who were often ill-treated by the Spanish settlers and rulers. He struggled valiantly with military leaders, eventually becoming instrumental in the establishment of the “Regulations”—effectively, the first “bill of rights” for native peoples in the New World. He also spent time with the indigenous of the region, learning their language, teaching European farming techniques, animal husbandry, and arts and crafts. During his homily at Serra’s beatification, Pope John Paul II said: “Relying on the divine power of the message he proclaimed, Father Serra led the native peoples to Christ. He was well aware of their heroic virtues—as exemplified in the life of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha [July 14]—and he sought to further their authentic human development on the basis of their new-found faith as persons created and redeemed by God. He also had to admonish the powerful, in the spirit of our second reading from James, not to abuse and exploit the poor and the weak.”
Despite constant setbacks, ill health, cold, hunger and threat of bodily harm from military leaders and native Indians, Blessed Junipero never turned from his mission task. He kept with determination to his watchword, “Always to go forward and never to turn back.”
Numerous miracles were attributed to the intercession of Friar Serra, recorded by his biographer, Palau:
“When he [Serra] was traveling with a party of missionaries through the province of Huasteca [in Mexico], many of the villagers did not go to hear the word of God at the first village where they stopped; but scarcely had the fathers left the place when it was visited by an epidemic, which carried away sixty villagers, all of whom, as the curate of the place wrote to the reverend father Junípero, were persons who had not gone to hear the missionaries. The rumour of the epidemic having gone abroad, the people in other villages were dissatisfied with their curates for admitting the missionaries; but when they heard that only those died who did not listen to the sermons, they became very punctual, not only the villagers but the country people dwelling upon ranchos many leagues distant.
Their apostolic labours having been finished, they were upon their way back and at the end of a few days’ journey, when the sun was about to set, they knew not where to spend the night, and considered it certain that they must sleep upon the plain. They were thinking about this when they saw near the road a house, whither they went and solicited lodging. They found a venerable man, with his wife and child, who received them with much kindness and attention and gave them supper. In the morning, the Fathers thanked their hosts and taking leave, pursued their way. After having gone a little distance they met some muleteers, who asked them where they had passed the night. When the place was described, the muleteers declared that there was no such house or ranch near the road, or within many leagues. The missionaries attributed to Divine Providence the favour of that hospitality and believed without doubt that these hosts were Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, reflecting not only about the order and cleanness of the house (though poor) and the affectionate kindness with which they had been received, but also about the extraordinary internal consolation which their hearts had felt there.”
At the age of 70, and after traveling 24,000 miles, Father Junípero Serra died at Mission San Carlos Borromeo and is buried there under the sanctuary floor. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 25 September1988 and is Canonised by Pope Francis on 23 September 2015 in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. The zeal with which Blessed Junipero lived his life inspires us each to serve the Lord with the entirety of our hearts, souls and lives. What a difference we might make in the world if we were to embrace our apostolic calling with the same vigour and commitment that Blessed Junipero did!
Quote of the day – 30 June
Quote/s of the Day – 30 June
“Of the many questions I ask myself none preoccupies me as much as the conundrum that so many evolving human beings, proud and confident of their progress, are turning their backs on God. It is disturbing that in an age of such remarkable progress in all sorts of fields we should be faced with denial and belittlement of God like a rampant infectious disease. How has the image of God become so eclipsed that so many are no longer moved by it? Does the fault lie only with them? Or is something required of us to make it shine on the world once more in all its radiance, and dare we hope that study of the God concept will at least alleviate this greatest of all needs?”
“He who wants to win the world for Christ,must have the courage, to come in conflict with it.”
Blessed Titus Brandsma
One Minute Reflection – 30 June
One Minute Reflection – 30 June
Just as we have a share in Christ’s many sufferings, so also through Christ, we share in his great help……2 Cor 1:4-5
REFLECTION – “Christians celebrate the memory of the martyrs with religious ceremony in order to arouse emulation and in order that they may be associated with their merits and helped by their prayers. But to none of the martyrs do we erect altars as we do to the God of martyrs; we erect altars at their shrines. For what bishop standing at the altars over the bodies of martyrs ever said: We offer to Peter or Paul or Cyprian?
Mass is offered to God who crowned the martyrs, at the shrine of the martyrs, so that the very spot may remind us to arouse in ourselves a more fervent charity toward those whom we imitate and toward Him who gives us the power to do so.”……..St Augustine
PRAYER – Lord God, you consecrated with the blood of the martyrs the fertile beginnings of the Roman Church. Grant us the grace to rejoice at the martyrs’ victory and strengthen us with firm courage as we remember their endurance of such a trial. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, in union with the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Holy Martyrs of the early Church of Rome, Pray for us, amen.
Quote/s of the Day – 29 June
Quote/s of the Day – 29 June
“Where Peter is,
there is the Church.
Where the Church is,
there is Jesus Christ.
Where Jesus Christ is,
there is eternal salvation.”
St Ambrose (340-397)
One of the original four Doctors of the Church
“There must be general rejoicing, dearly beloved,
over this holy company whom God has appointed
for our example in patience and for our confirmation in faith.
But we must glory even more in the excellence of their fathers,
Peter and Paul, whom the grace of God has raised
to such a height among all the members of the Church
that He has set them like twin lights
of eyes in that Body whose head is Christ.”
St Pope Leo the Great (400-461) Doctor of the Church’s Unity
One Minute Reflection – 29 June
One Minute Reflection – 29 June
“Their sound has gone out into all the earth and their words to the ends of the world” ……….Psalm 19
REFLECTION – “There is one day for the passion of two apostles. But these two also were as one; although they suffered on different days, they were as one. Peter went first, Paul followed. We are celebrating a feast day, consecrated for us by the blood of the apostles. Let us love their faith, their lives, their labours, their sufferings, their confession of faith, their preaching.”………St Augustine
PRAYER – Almighty God, whose blessed Apostles Peter and Paul glorified you by their martyrdom: grant that your Church, instructed by their teaching and example and knit together in unity by your Spirit, may ever stand firm upon the one foundation, which is Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Sts Peter and Paul, pray for us and for the universal Church, amen.
One Minute Reflection – 28 June
One Minute Reflection – 28 June
Everyone who looks upon the Son
and believes in him shall have eternal life………….John 6:40
REFLECTION – “The Father made God visible to human beings through numerous mysteries to prevent them from losing everything – even their very lives. For the glory of God is the living person and the life of a person is the vision of God.”………..St Irenaeus – Father of the Church
PRAYER – Heavenly Father, You left us Your Church and Your Vicar the Holy Father our Pope, to insure our contact with You. Let me always cling to Your Church and follow its teachings in every detail and with all my heart. St Irenaeus, please pray for us all the members of Body of Christ, the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, amen.
Quotes of the Day – 28 June
Quotes of the Day – 28 June
“Our way of thinking is attuned to the Eucharist
and the Eucharist in turn, confirms our way of thinking.”
“It is not you that shapes God.
It is God that shapes you.
If then you are the work of God
await the Hand of the artist who does
all things in due season.
Offer Him your heart,
soft and tractable
and keep the form in which the artist
has fashioned you.
Let the clay be moist
lest you go hard
and lose the imprint of His Fingers.”
“The preaching of the Church truly continues
without change and is everywhere the same.
It has the testimony of the Prophets
and Apostles and all their disciples.”
“Being obedient she (Mary)
became the cause of salvation for herself
and for the whole human race.
The knot of Eve’s disobedience was untied
by Mary’s obedience:
what the virgin Eve bound through her disbelief,
Mary loosened by her faith.”
“As long as any one has the means
of doing good to his neighbours
and does not do so,
he shall be reckoned a stranger
to the love of the Lord.”
St. Irenaeus (c130-c202), pray for us!
Thought for the Day – 27 June – The Memorial of St Cyril of Alexandria (376-444) Father and Doctor of the Incarnation
Thought for the Day – 27 June – The Memorial of St Cyril of Alexandria (376-444) Father and Doctor of the Incarnation
Theotokos is the official name of Mary and it is well to remember the great battle that was fought (and to my mnd, continues to fought today) over this title. SHE IS the Mother of God – the Son of God was born of her in His human nature, without ceasing to be God. The whole mystery of the Incarnation is bound up in Mary and she is at the very heart of the work of Jesus’ Redemption of mankind!
St Cyril of Alexandria’s battle raged over the combined front of the Divinity of Christ and therefore, Mary the Mother of the Divinity, is summed up thus: “Only if it is one and the same Christ who is consubstantial with the Father and with men can He save us, for the meeting ground between God and man is the flesh of Christ. Only if this is God’s own flesh can man come into contact with Christ’s divinity through His humanity, through his earthy mother, Mary. Because of our kinship with the Word made flesh we are sons of God. The Eucharist consummates our kinship with the word, our communion with the Father, our sharing in the divine nature—there is very real contact between our body and that of the Word.”
St Cyril of Alxandria, pray for us.
Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.
Quote/s of the Day – 27 June – Memorial of St Cyril of Alexandria (376-444) Father and Doctor
Quote/s of the Day – 27 June – Memorial of St Cyril of Alexandria (376-444) Father and Doctor
“He who receives Communion is made holy and divinised in soul and body
in the same way that water, set over a fire, becomes boiling…
Communion works like yeast that has been mixed into dough
so that it leavens the whole mass;
…Just as by melting two candles together you get one piece of wax,
so, I think, one who receives the Flesh and Blood of Jesus
is fused together with Him by this Communion
and the soul finds that he is in Christ and Christ is in him.”
“Indeed the mystery of Christ runs the risk
of being disbelieved – precisely because
it is so incredibly wonderful.”
“It is like employing a small tool on big constructions,
if we use human wisdom
in the hunt for knowledge of reality.”
“Our Saviour went to the wedding feast
to make holy the origins of human life.”
ST CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA
One Minute Reflection – 27 June
One Minute Reflection – 27 June
Do you not see that your bodies are members of Christ?………..1 Cor 7:15
REFLECTION – “All of us are united with Christ inasmuch as we have received Him Who is one and indivisible in our bodies. Therefore, we owe the service of our members to Him rather than to ourselves.”………. St Cyril of Alexandria (376-444) Doctor and Father of the Church (Saint of the Day)
PRAYER – Almighty God and Father, help me to put all my faculties at the disposal of Christ so as to be His link to others and with the world around me. Let me give myself wholly to Him this day and every day. St Cyril of Alexandria, defender of the divinity of Christ and the Mother of God, intercede for us, amen.
Thought for the Day – 26 June
Thought for the Day – 26 June
Opus Dei, which means Work of God, emphasizes that men and women can become holy by performing their daily duties with a Christian spirit. In his homily, Pope John Paul II emphasised the importance of every believer following God’s will, as had the newly sainted founder of Opus Dei. “The Lord has a plan for each one of us. Saints cannot even conceive of themselves outside of God’s plan: they live only to fulfill it.”
St Josemaria is a good example of what one person with conviction can do. Granted, we all have differing personalities and talents but still each of us can do great things with the grace of God and, let us never forget “we are all called to be saints! – a saint is a person who lets the light shine through.”
Let us go forth! St Josemaria, Pray for us!
Quote/s of the Day 26 June
Quote/s of the Day 26 June
“A man who fails to love the Mass fails to love Christ. We must make an effort to ‘live’ the Mass with calm and serenity, with devotion and affection. And this is why I have always suspected that those who want the Mass to be over with quickly show, with this insensitive attitude, that they have not yet realised what the sacrifice of the altar means.” AND “Many Christians take their time and have leisure enough in their social life (no hurry here). They are leisurely, too, in their professionally activities, at table and recreation (no hurry here either). But isn’t it strange how those same Christians find themselves in such a rush and want to hurry the priest, in their anxiety to shorten the time devoted to the most holy sacrifice of the altar?”
“You don’t know how to pray? Put yourself in the presence of God, and as soon as you have said, ‘Lord, I don’t know how to pray!” you can be sure you have already begun.”
“When you approach the tabernacle remember that he has been waiting for you for twenty centuries.”
“To defend his purity, Saint Francis of Assisi rolled in the snow, Saint Benedict threw himself into a thorn bush and Saint Bernard plunged into an icy pond… You – what have you done?” …………………May I give you some advice for you to put into practice daily? When your heart makes you feel those low cravings, say slowly to the Immaculate Virgin: Look on me with compassion. Don’t abandon me. Don’t abandon me, my Mother! – And recommend this prayer to others.”
“If you have so many defects, why are you surprised to find defects in others?”
One Minute Reflection – 26 June
One Minute Reflection – 26 June
If you live in me and my words stay part of you, you may ask what you will – and it will be done for you………John 15:7
REFLECTION – “Turn your gaze constantly to Jesus who, without ceasing to be God, humbled Himself and took the nature of a slave, in order to serve us………..May you seek Christ, may you find Christ, may you love Christ………..Conversion is the task of a moment; sanctification is the work of a lifetime. To begin is for everyone, to persevere is for saints!”…….St Josemaria Escriva
PRAYER – Enable me loving Father, to live a life of purity that will make me live in You. Let me be so united with You that whatever I might ask will be in total accord with Your will for me. St Josemaria, your inspiration and teachings help and show us the way to sanctification, please intercede for us all, amen.
Saint of the Day – 26 June – Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer y Albás
Saint of the Day – 26 June – Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer y Albás – (9 January 1902 at Barbastro, Spain Died– 26 June 1975 of natural causes in his office in Rome, Italy; his body is interred at Prelatic Church of Our Lady of Peace at Viale Bruno Buozzi 75, Rome, Italy) – Priest, Founder Writer, Teacher, Doctor of Civil Law and Theology – known as “The Saint of Ordinary Life”.; St Josemaria was Beatified on 17 May 1992 by Pope John Paul II: the beatification miracle involved the cure in 1976 of Carmelite Sister Concepcion Boullon Rubio from the nearly-fatal cancerous form of lipomatosis following prayers by her family for the intercession of Father Josemaria and was Canonised on 6 October 2002 by Pope John Paul II: the canonization miracle involved saving a surgeon’s hands from a career-ending disease. Patron of Opus Dei and of Ordinary Life.
St Josemaria founded Opus Dei, an organization of laypeople and priests dedicated to the teaching that everyone is called to holiness by God and that ordinary life can result in sanctity. He was canonised during 2002 by Pope John Paul II, who declared Saint Josemaría should be “counted among the great witnesses of Christianity.”
His principal work was the initiation, government and expansion of Opus Dei. Escrivá’s best-known publication is The Way, which has been translated into 43 languages and has sold several million copies.
St Josemaria Escrivá and Opus Dei have aroused controversy, primarily concerning allegations of secrecy, elitism, cult-like practices and political involvement with right-wing causes, such as the dictatorship of General Franco in Spain (1939–1975). After his death, his canonisation attracted considerable attention and controversy, by some Catholics and the worldwide press. Several journalists who have investigated the history of Opus Dei, among them Vatican analyst John L. Allen, Jr., have argued that these accusations are unproven or have grown from allegations by enemies of Escrivá and his organization. Cardinal Albino Luciani (later Pope John Paul I), John Paul II, Benedict XVI, Francis, Oscar Romero and many Catholic leaders have endorsed Escrivá’s teaching concerning the universal call to holiness, the role of laity and sanctification of ordinary work. According to Allen, among Catholics, Escrivá is “reviled by some and venerated by millions more”.
Early life
José María Mariano Escrivá y Albás was born to José Escrivá y Corzán and his wife, María de los Dolores Albás y Blanc on 9 January 1902, in the small town of Barbastro, in Huesca, Aragon, Spain, the second of six children and the first of two sons. José Escrivá was a merchant and a partner of a textile company which eventually became bankrupt, forcing the family to relocate during 1915 to the city of Logroño, in the northern province of La Rioja, where he worked as a clerk in a clothing store. Young Josemaría first felt that “he had been chosen for something”, it is reported, when he saw footprints left in the snow by a monk walking barefoot.
With his father’s blessing, Escrivá prepared to become a priest. He studied first in Logroño and then in Zaragoza, where he was ordained as deacon on Saturday, 20 December 1924. He was ordained a priest, also in Zaragoza, on Saturday, 28 March 1925. After a brief appointment to a rural parish in Perdiguera, he went to Madrid, the Spanish capital, during 1927 to study law at the Central University. In Madrid, Escrivá was employed as a private tutor and as a chaplain to the Foundation of Santa Isabel, which comprised the royal Convent of Santa Isabel and a school managed by the Little Sisters of the Assumption.
Mission as the founder of Opus Dei
A prayerful retreat helped him to discern more definitely what he considered to be God’s will for him and, on 2 October 1928, he “saw” Opus Dei (English: Work of God), a way by which Catholics might learn to sanctify themselves by their secular work. He founded it during 1928 and Pius XII gave it final approval during 1950. According to the decree of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, which contains a condensed biography of Escrivá, “[t]o this mission he gave himself totally. From the beginning his was a very wide-ranging apostolate in social environments of all kinds. He worked especially among the poor and the sick languishing in the slums and hospitals of Madrid.”
During the Spanish Civil War, Escrivá fled from Madrid, which was controlled by the republicans, via Andorra and France, to the city of Burgos, possessed by the nationalist forces of General Francisco Franco. After the war ended during 1939 with Franco’s victory, Escrivá was able to resume his studies in Madrid and complete a doctorate in law, for which he submitted a thesis on the historical jurisdiction of the Abbess of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas.
The Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, affiliated with Opus Dei, was founded on Sunday, 14 February 1943. Escrivá relocated to Rome during 1946. The decree declaring Escrivá “Venerable” states that “in 1947 and on Monday, 16 June 1950, he obtained approval of Opus Dei as an institution of pontifical right. With tireless charity and operative hope he guided the development of Opus Dei throughout the world, activating a vast mobilization of lay people … He gave life to numerous initiatives in the work of evangelisation and human welfare; he fostered vocations to the priesthood and the religious life everywhere… Above all, he devoted himself tirelessly to the task of forming the members of Opus Dei.”\
Later years
According to some accounts, at the age of two he suffered from a disease (perhaps epilepsy) so severe that the doctors expected him to die soon but his mother had taken him to Torreciudad, where the Aragonese locals venerated a statue of the Virgin Mary (as “Our Lady of the Angels”), thought to date from the 11th century. Escrivá recovered and as the director of Opus Dei during the 1960s and 1970s, promoted and oversaw the design and construction of a major shrine at Torreciudad. The new shrine was inaugurated on 7 July 1975, soon after Escrivá’s death and to this day remains the spiritual center of Opus Dei, as well as an important destination for pilgrimage. By the time of Escrivá’s death during 1975, the members of Opus Dei numbered some 60,000 in 80 countries. As an adult, Escrivá suffered from type 1 diabetes and, according to some sources, also epilepsy.
During 1950, Escrivá was appointed an Honorary Domestic Prelate by Pope Pius XII, which allowed him to use the title of Monsignor. During 1955, he received a doctorate of theology from the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome. He was a consultor to two Vatican congregations (the Congregation for Seminaries and Universities and the Pontifical Commission for the Authentic Interpretation of the Code of Canon Law) and an honourary member of the Pontifical Academy of Theology. The Second Vatican Council (1962–65) confirmed the importance of the universal call to holiness, the role of the laity, and the Mass as the basis of Christian life.
During 1948 Escrivá founded the Collegium Romanum Sanctae Crucis (Roman College of the Holy Cross), Opus Dei’s educational center for men, in Rome. During 1953 he founded the Collegium Romanum Sanctae Mariae (Roman College of Saint Mary) to serve the women’s section (these institutions are now joined into the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.) Escrivá also established the University of Navarre, in Pamplona, and the University of Piura (in Peru), as secular institutions affiliated with Opus Dei. Escrivá died on 26 June 1975, aged 73.
Three years after Escrivá died, the then Cardinal Albino Luciani (later Pope John Paul I) celebrated the originality of his contribution to Christian spirituality. The Statue below is at St Peter’s the Vatican.
St Josemaria and the Blessed Virgin Mary
Pope John Paul II stated on Sunday, 6 October 2002, after the Angelus greetings: “Love for our Lady is a constant characteristic of the life of Josemaría Escrivá and is an eminent part of the legacy that he left to his spiritual sons and daughters.” The Pope also said that “St. Josemaría wrote a beautiful small book called The Holy Rosary which presents spiritual childhood, a real disposition of spirit of those who wish to attain total abandonment to the divine will”.
When Escrivá was 10 or 11 years old, he already had the habit of carrying the rosary in his pocket. As a priest, he would ordinarily end his homilies and his personal prayer with a conversation with the Blessed Virgin. He instructed that all rooms in the offices of Opus Dei should have an image of the Virgin. He encouraged his spiritual children to greet these images when they entered a room. He encouraged a Marian apostolate, preaching that “To Jesus we go and to Him we return through Mary”. While looking at a picture of the Virgin of Guadalupe giving a rose to San Juan Diego, he commented: “I would like to die that way.” On 26 June 1975, after entering his work room, which had a painting of the Virgin of Guadalupe, he slumped on the floor and died.
Teachings and legacy
The significance of Escrivá’s message and teachings has been a topic of debate, by Catholics and others. The Protestant French historian Pierre Chaunu, a professor at the Sorbonne and president of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, said that “the work of Escrivá de Balaguer will undoubtedly mark the 21st century. This is a prudent and reasonable wager. Do not pass close to this contemporary without paying him close attention”. The Catholic theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar, who was appointed cardinal by Pope John Paul II (but died during 1988 before his investiture), dismissed Escrivá’s principal work, The Way, as “a little Spanish manual for advanced Boy Scouts” and argued that it was quite insufficient to sustain a major religious organization. However, the monk and spiritual writer Thomas Merton declared that Escrivá’s book “will certainly do a great deal of good by its simplicity, which is the true medium for the Gospel message”.
Critics of Opus Dei have often argued that the importance and originality of Escrivá’s intellectual contributions to theology, history and law, at least as measured by his published writings, has been grossly exaggerated by his devotees. However, various officials of the Catholic church have spoken well of Escrivá’s influence and of the relevance of his teachings. In the decree introducing the cause of beatification and canonisation of Escrivá, Cardinal Ugo Poletti wrote during 1981: “For having proclaimed the universal call to holiness since he founded Opus Dei during 1928, Msgr. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, has been unanimously recognized as the precursor of precisely what constitutes the fundamental nucleus of the Church’s magisterium, a message of such fruitfulness in the life of the Church.” Sebastiano Baggio, Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, wrote a month after Escrivá’s death: “It is evident even today that the life, works, and message of the founder of Opus Dei constitutes a turning point, or more exactly a new original chapter in the history of Christian spirituality.” A Vatican peritus or consultor for the process of beatification said that “he is like a figure from the deepest spiritual sources”. Franz König, Archbishop of Vienna, wrote in 1975:
“The magnetic force of Opus Dei probably comes from its profoundly lay spirituality. At the very beginning, in 1928, Msgr. Escrivá anticipated the return to the Patrimony of the Church brought by the Second Vatican Council … [H]e was able to anticipate the great themes of the Church’s pastoral action in the dawn of the third millennium of her history.”
The “absolutely central” part of Escrivá’s teaching, says American theologian William May, is that “sanctification is possible only because of the grace of God, freely given to his children through his only-begotten Son and it consists essentially in an intimate, loving union with Jesus, our Redeemer and Saviour.”
Escrivá’s books, including Furrow, The Way, Christ is Passing By and The Forge, continue to be read widely and emphasize the laity’s calling to daily sanctification (a message also to be found in the documents of Vatican II). Pope John Paul II made the following observation in his homily at the beatification of Escrivá:
“With supernatural intuition, Blessed Josemaría untiringly preached the universal call to holiness and apostolate. Christ calls everyone to become holy in the realities of everyday life. Hence work too is a means of personal holiness and apostolate, when it is done in union with Jesus Christ.”
John Paul II’s decree Christifideles omnes states: “By inviting Christians to seek union with God through their daily work — which confers dignity on human beings and is their lot as long as they exist on earth — his message is destined to endure as an inexhaustible source of spiritual light regardless of changing epochs and situations” St Josemaria pray for us!
Quote of the Day – 25 June
Quote of the Day – 25 June
“DIE before you die
there is no chance after.”
Prof C S Lewis
One Minute Reflection – 25 June
One Minute Reflection – 25 June
Blessed be God the Father . who gave us a new birth to a living hope…..to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you………1 Peter 1:3-4
REFLECTION – “You have within you, everything that you need to purchase the kingdom of heaven.
Joy will be purchased by your sorrow,
rest by your labour,
glory by your humiliation
and eternal life by your passing death.”………………….St Augustine
PRAYER – Loving Father,. teach me how to make every event on earth lay up treasures for me in heaven. Help me to endure sorrows, labour, humiliations, pain and death willingly so as to attain heaven with You, in unity with Your Son, Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. St William of Vercelli, your life was a focused gift to God, pray for us that we too may join you in eternal life. Amen
Celebrating the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus – 23 June 2017
Celebrating the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus – 23 June 2017
Excerpts from “To Be Loved by a Sacred Heart” – St Josemaria Escriva
“Christ is Passing By,” no. 162
“That Christ has come to us with a heart made of flesh tells us a lot about how the Sacred Heart loves us and about the kind of love we need. We are loved by any number of hearts during our earthly lives but one alone among them we call Sacred. We know how it feels to be loved by fallen people—by those who try but cannot love perfectly. But what it is to be loved by a Sacred Heart?
At the outset of the last supper, the Lord gets down on His hands and knees and washes the feet of His disciples. “Do you understand this?” He asks them. Before He tells the Apostles about union with Him, about the great commandment of love, about His joy, Jesus first shows them what it all “looks” like.
“Do you understand this?” This is perhaps the ultimate question as we reflect on what it means to be loved by the Sacred Heart. Perhaps the answer will be an honest, “No, Lord, I do not understand your love for me,” and that could be nearer the truth than anything. “I don’t understand what God is doing on His hands and knees wiping the dirt off of my feet. If I were Jesus, I wouldn’t treat me like He treats me. I wouldn’t be so tolerant and forgiving. I wouldn’t keep on loving someone like me.”
But to spend our lives in contemplation of His love for us, as the apostles surely did, is what will bring us ever closer to the source of the Love that constantly reaches into our lives, showing itself to be subtle, selfless and inexhaustible. If the fire, thorns and blood are the divinely revealed gauge of divine love in a human heart, then the more I welcome His tireless forgiveness, His unflinching friendship in the face of my infidelity, the more I will appreciate the mystery of divine charity which the Sacred Heart reveals.
Now we see imperfectly, in part but the part we do see should teach us why He needed to come to us with a heart of flesh, like ours.”
Quote/s of the Day – The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ
Quote/s of the Day – The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ
“How I loved the feasts!….
I especially loved the processions in honour
of the Blessed Sacrament. What a joy it was
for me to throw flowers beneath the feet of God!…
I was never so happy as when I saw my roses
touch the sacred Monstrance…”
– from St. Therese’s Autobiography Story of A Soul
“It is invaluable to converse with Christ
and leaning against Jesus’ breast like His beloved disciple,
we can feel the infinite love of his Heart.
We learn to know more deeply the One who gave Himself totally,
in the different mysteries of His divine and human life,
so that we may become disciples and in turn enter into
this great act of giving, for the glory of God
and the salvation of the world. Through adoration,
the Christian mysteriously contributes to the
radical transformation of the world and to the sowing of the Gospel.
Anyone who prays to the Saviour draws the whole world with him
and raises it to God. Those who stand before the Lord
are therefore fulfilling an eminent service.
They are presenting to Christ all those who do not know Him
or are far from Him; they keep watch in His presence on their behalf!”
– from St Pope John Paul II’s 1996 letter to the Bishop of Liege,
written on the occasion of the 750th anniversary of the first celebration of the Feast of Corpus Christi
“When you have received Him,
stir up your heart to do Him homage,
speak to Him about your spiritual life,
gazing upon Him in your soul where He is present
for your happiness; welcome Him as warmly as possible,
and behave outwardly in such a way, that your actions
may give proof to all of His Presence.”
– St. Francis de Sales
One Minute Reflection – 18 June – Feast of Corpus Christi
One Minute Reflection – 18 June – Feast of Corpus Christi
He who abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing……John 15:5
REFLECTION – “Eternal happiness begins now for the Christian who is comforted with the definitive manna of the Eucharist. The old life has gone forever. Let us leave everything behind us so that everything will be new, “our hearts, our words and our actions.” This is the Good News. News, because it speaks to us of a deep love which we never could have dreamed of. Good, because there is nothing better than uniting ourselves to God, the greatest Good of all. It is Good News, because in an inexplicable way it gives us a foretaste of heaven.”……….St Josemaria Escriva (Christ is passing By – On the Feast of Corpus Christ No 153)
PRAYER – In response to Your Presence, O Lord,
I offer You my presence.
In response to Your silence,
I offer You my silence.
In response to the gaze of Your Eucharistic Face,
I offer You my eyes.
In response to Your Eucharistic Heart,
I offer You every heartbeat of mine.
In response to the mystery of Your Eucharistic poverty,
I offer You my poverty.
My one desire is to remain before You
even as You remain before me
in this the Sacrament of Your Love.
(Benedictines of Perpetual Adoration)
Blessed and Holy Feast of Corpus Christi! 18 June 2017
Blessed and Holy Feast of Corpus Christi! 18 June 2017
“The solemnity of Corpus Christi originated within a very precise cultural and historical context. Its aim was to proclaim openly the faith of the People of God in Jesus Christ’s real, living presence in the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist.”
Pope Benedict XVI explains the history of this feast, which dates back to the 13th century, as follows:
St Juliana of Cornillon had a vision which “presented the moon in its full splendour, crossed diametrically by a dark stripe. The Lord made her understand the meaning of what had appeared to her. The moon symbolised the life of the Church on earth, the opaque line, on the other hand, represented the absence of a liturgical feast (…) in which believers would be able to adore the Eucharist so as to increase in faith, to advance in the practice of the virtues and to make reparation for offences to the Most Holy Sacrament. (…)
Jacques Pantaléon of Troyes was also won over to the good cause of the Feast of Corpus Christi during his ministry as Archdeacon in Lièges. It was he who, having become Pope with the name of Urban IV in 1264, instituted the Solemnity of Corpus Christi on the Thursday after Pentecost as a holiday of obligation for the universal Church.
Until the end of the world
Detail of the reliquary containing the corporal with traces of the Eucharistic miracle that occurred in Bolsena in 1263. It is kept in the Cathedral of Orvieto, Italy.
In the Bull of its institution, entitled Transiturus de hoc mundo, (11 Aug. 1264), Pope Urban even referred discreetly to Juliana’s mystical experiences, corroborating their authenticity. He wrote: “Although the Eucharist is celebrated solemnly every day, we deem it fitting that at least once a year it be celebrated with greater honour and a solemn commemoration.
“Indeed we grasp the other things we commemorate with our spirit and our mind but this does not mean that we obtain their real presence. On the contrary, in this sacramental commemoration of Christ, even though in a different form, Jesus Christ is present with us in his own substance. While he was about to ascend into Heaven he said ‘And lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age’ (Matthew 28:20).”
The Pontiff made a point of setting an example by celebrating the solemnity of Corpus Christi in Orvieto, the town where he was then residing. Indeed, he ordered that the famous Corporal with the traces of the Eucharistic miracle which had occurred in Bolsena the previous year, 1263, be kept in Orvieto Cathedral — where it still is today.
While a priest was consecrating the bread and the wine he was overcome by strong doubts about the Real Presence of the Body and Blood of Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist. A few drops of blood began miraculously to ooze from the consecrated Host, thereby confirming what our faith professes.
Texts that move the heart
Urban IV asked one of the greatest theologians of history, St Thomas Aquinas — who at that time was accompanying the Pope and was in Orvieto — to compose the texts of the Liturgical Office for this great feast. They are masterpieces, still in use in the Church today, in which theology and poetry are fused. These texts pluck at the heartstrings in an expression of praise and gratitude to the Most Holy Sacrament, while the mind, penetrating the mystery with wonder, recognizes in the Eucharist the Living and Real Presence of Jesus, of His Sacrifice of love that reconciles us with the Father and gives us salvation.
In the words of St. Thomas:
“How inestimable a dignity, beloved brethren, divine bounty has bestowed upon us Christians from the treasury of its infinite goodness! For there neither is nor ever has been a people to whom the gods were so nigh as our Lord and God is nigh unto us.
“Desirous that we be made partakers of His divinity, the only-begotten Son of God has taken to Himself our nature so that having become man, He would be enabled to make men gods. Whatever He assumed of our nature He wrought unto our salvation. For on the altar of the Cross He immolated to the Father His own Body as victim for our reconciliation and shed His blood both for our ransom and for our regeneration. Moreover, in order that a remembrance of so great benefits may always be with us, He has left us His Body as food and His Blood as drink under appearances of bread and wine.
“O banquet most precious! O banquet most admirable! O banquet overflowing with every spiritual delicacy! Can anything be more excellent than this repast, in which not the flesh of goats and heifers, as of old, but Christ the true God is given us for nourishment? What more wondrous than this holy sacrament! In it bread and wine are changed substantially, and under the appearance of a little bread and wine is had Christ Jesus, God and perfect Man. In this sacrament sins are purged away, virtues are increased, the soul is satiated with an abundance of every spiritual gift. No other sacrament is so beneficial. Since it was instituted unto the salvation of all, it is offered by Holy Church for the living and for the dead, that all may share in its treasures.
“My dearly beloved, is it not beyond human power to express the ineffable delicacy of this sacrament in which spiritual sweetness is tasted in its very source, in which is brought to mind the remembrance of that all-excelling charity which Christ showed in His sacred passion? Surely it was to impress more profoundly upon the hearts of the faithful the immensity of this charity that our loving Savior instituted this sacrament at the last supper when, having celebrated the Pasch with His disciples. He was about to leave the world and return to the Father. It was to serve as an unending remembrance of His passion, as the fulfillment of ancient types — this the greatest of His miracles. To those who sorrow over His departure He has given a unique solace.”
“Eucharistic springtime”
I would like to affirm with joy that today there is a “Eucharistic springtime” in the Church. How many people pause in silence before the Tabernacle to engage in a loving conversation with Jesus! It is comforting to know that many groups of young people have rediscovered the beauty of praying in adoration before the Most Blessed Sacrament.
John Paul II said in his Encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia: “In many places, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is also an important daily practice and becomes an inexhaustible source of holiness. The devout participation of the faithful in the Eucharistic procession on the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ is a grace from the Lord which yearly brings joy to those who take part in it. Other positive signs of Eucharistic faith and love might also be mentioned” (no. 10).
In remembering St Juliana of Cornillon let us also renew our faith in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. As we are taught by the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “Jesus Christ is present in the Eucharist in a unique and incomparable way. He is present in a true, real and substantial way, with his Body and his Blood, with his Soul and his Divinity. In the Eucharist, therefore, there is present in a sacramental way, that is, under the Eucharistic Species of bread and wine, Christ whole and entire, God and Man” (no. 282).
Dear friends, fidelity to the encounter with Christ in the Eucharist in Holy Mass on Sunday is essential for the journey of faith but let us also seek to pay frequent visits to the Lord present in the Tabernacle! In gazing in adoration at the consecrated Host, we discover the gift of God’s love, we discover Jesus’ Passion and Cross and likewise his Resurrection.
Source of joy
It is precisely through our gazing in adoration that the Lord draws us towards Him into His mystery in order to transform us as He transforms the bread and the wine.
The Saints never failed to find strength, consolation and joy in the Eucharistic encounter. Let us repeat before the Lord present in the Most Blessed Sacrament the words of the Eucharistic hymn Adoro te devote, “Devoutly I adore Thee: Make me believe ever more in you, Draw me deeply into faith, into Your hope, into Your love”.
BENEDICT XVI, General Audience, November 17, 2010
Quote of the Day – 17 June
Quote of the Day – 17 June
“To keep me from sin and straying from Him,
God has used devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
in the Blessed Sacrament.
My life vows destined to be spent
in the light irradiating from the tabernacle
and it is to the Heart of Jesus that I dare go
for the solution of all my problems,”
– Pope John XXIII
One Minute Reflection – 17 June
One Minute Reflection – 17 June
“Do not store up for yourselves
treasures on earth,
where moth and decay destroy
and thieves break in and steal.
But store up treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor decay destroys,
nor thieves break in and steal.
For where your treasure is,
there also will your heart be.”….Matthew 6:19-21
REFLECTION – Reflecting on his own priestly vocation, Pope John Paul II wrote in 1996 that Brother Albert had played a role in its formation …..“because I found in him a real spiritual support and example in leaving behind the world of art, literature and the theater and in making the radical choice of a vocation to the charity” ………..St John Paul speaking of St Albert Chmielowski (Gift and Mystery: On the Fiftieth Anniversary of My Priestly Ordination)
PRAYER – Father of goodness, make me realise and understand that each and all of my brothers represent the face of Jesus and that He is the only way to You for us all! Help me to extend all of myself to my neighbour in loving imitation of Your Son. St Albert Chmielowski, pray for us that we too may be a light in the darkness of this world, to all who call out to us in their pain and suffering. And please pray for us! Amen
Thought for the Day – 16 June
Thought for the Day – 16 June
“How consoling it is to think that in the very moment of the Eucharist’s eternal birth I was present to the mind of God and He foreknew the number of times I would allow Him to come to me in Holy Communion; that, even then, His tender love thankfully appreciated my hospitality, as if not I, a miserable creature of one day but He Himself were to be the favoured beneficiary.
“It was in the beginning . . . ” What, then, will be the duration of His “eucharistic life”?
Christ’s eucharistic life will last till the consummation of the world because until then will men have to eat His flesh to have life everlasting. When He said to His Apostles: “Behold, I am with you all days, even unto the consummation of the world,” He doubtlessly meant not only His divine and spiritual presence and His moral assistance but also His eucharistic presence.
His enemies may refuse Him rights they would not deny even the lowest pariah, imprisoning Him within the narrow limits of His temples; they may subject Him to the most abominable outrages, thereby making His mystic passion in the Eucharist in some way exterior and visible. Those who call themselves His friends may multiply the traitor’s kiss, deny Him and His works and abandon Him who showered upon them the tokens of His love. But Jesus will stay. His promise and His love keep Him enchained. As long as there will be on earth a tear to wipe away, a sorrow to share and a sinful man in need of His expiatory sacrifice, the Eucharist will continue to pulsate in the silence of our tabernacles.”
“The Holy Eucharist” by Fr Jose Guadalupe Trevino
Quote of the Day – 16 June
Quote of the Day – 16 June
“Can you feel the fragrance of Paradise
which diffuses Itself from the Tabernacle?”
St Philip Neri
Saint of the Day – 16 June – St Lutgarde of Aywières (1182-1246 –The first known woman stigmatic of the Church and one of the first promoters of devotion to the Sacred Heart
Saint of the Day – 16 June – St Lutgarde of Aywières (1182-1246 –The first known female stigmatic of the Church and one of the first promoters of devotion to the Sacred Heart – Religious, Mystric, Miracle-Worker, Stimatist, Visionary (1182 at Tongres, Limburg, Belgium – 16 June 1246 at Aywieres (modern Awirs), Belgium of natural causes, just as night office began on the Saturday night following Feast of the Holy Trinity) Her relics were transferred to Ittre, Belgium on 4 December 1796 to avoid destruction in the French Revolution. Patronages – birth, childbirth, blind people, againts blindness, disabled, handicapped of physically challenged people, Belgium, Flanders, Belgium. Attributes – • woman with Christ showing her His wounded side, blind Cistercian abbess, Cistercian nun being blinded by the Heart of Jesus, Cistercian to whom Christ extends his hand from the cross, woman in attendance when Christ shows his Heart to the Father
When Lutgarde was twelve, her parents placed her in the care of the Benedictine sisters at St. Catherine’s monastery near Liège, Belgium. The convent allowed visitors and young men came to court the beautiful young woman. Once when an ardent fellow and Lutgarde were talking, Christ appeared to her. Opening His garment, Christ showed Lutgarde the wound in His side bleeding as if recently opened and He said to her, “Do not seek any longer the caresses of unseemly love. Contemplate here what you should love and why you should love it. Here, I pledge to you are the delights of total purity, which will follow it.” When the confused young man tried to resume their conversation, Lutgarde chased him off. “Get away from me, you fodder of death,” she said, “for I have been overtaken by another lover.”
St. Lutgarde made unusually rapid progress in the spiritual life. She opened herself fully to Christ in prayer and He favoured her with an intimate experience of His presence. He gave her gifts of healing and of understanding the convent’s Latin prayers. But she asked him to take them back because both kept her from focusing on loving Him. Then the Lord said to her, “What do You want?” “I want Your heart,” she said. “No, rather it is Your heart that I want,” replied the Lord. “So be it, Lord,” said Lutgarde, “so long as Your heart’s love is mingled with mine and I have and hold my heart in You. For with You as my shield, my heart is secure for all time.”
St Lutgarde spent nine years in St. Catherine’s convent and she was elected to be Superioress of the community there. The year was 1205, when the saint was twenty-three years old. Far from being flattered or pleased by her elevation to this dignity, Lutgarde regarded it as a disaster. Indeed, it seems to have moved her to look elsewhere and to seek some other Order. She thought St. Catherine’s could provide her with sufficient opportunities for living as a contemplative as long as she was an obscure member of the community but not when she took her place at its head. While taking up her role as Superior, it was natural that her thoughts should turn to the austere Cistercian nuns, commonly known as Trappists, who had by this time, many flourishing convents in the Low Countries.
She asked the advice of a learned preacher of Liege, Jean de Lierre, who urged her to give up her post as prioress and leave the Benedictine Order for the Cistercian convent of Aywieres, (Awirs) which had recently been founded near Liege but had been transferred to a site in Brabant, near the village of Lillois. She was very reluctant to accept this particular choice because French was spoken in Brabant and she felt it would be unwise to enter a convent where she would not understand the language of her superiors or spiritual directors. Meanwhile, Christ Himself intervened and spoke the following words to her: “It is My will that you go to Aywieres, and if you do not go, I will have nothing more to do with you.”
As if this were not enough, Lutgarde was also admonished by a saintly friend, who has since been venerated as St. Christine “the Admirable” who told her to go to Aywieres and so with no further possibility of doubt as to the convent of the Cistercian Order to which she was called, Lutgarde left St. Catherine’s without consulting her community and went to Aywieres.
When the nuns of St. Catherine’s discovered their loss, they were inconsolable, but it was too late to do anything about it. Lutgarde, in her turn, prayed earnestly for the peace of the community she had left and was assured by the Blessed Virgin that her prayers would be answered. Indeed, Thomas of Cantimpre ends the first book of his life of St. Lutgarde with the comment: “The indubitable effect of these prayers is to be seen even today [some fifty years later] in the community of St. Catherine’s. For this particular convent continues to grow in fervour more than ever, and to increase, at the same time, in temporal prosperity.”
Three times she fasted for periods of seven years, subsisting only on bread and liquids. The saint dedicated each fast for the Lord’s purposes: once for Lutgarde of Aywières the conversion of heretics, a second time for the salvation of sinners and a final time for Emperor Frederick II, who was threatening the church. Before her death she prophesied the latter’s demise, which occurred in 1250.
St Lutgardis is considered one of the leading mystics of the 13th century.[ A life of Lutgardis, Vita Lutgardis, was composed less than two years after her death by Thomas of Cantimpre, a Dominican friar and a theologian of some ability. Lutgardis was venerated at Aywières for centuries and her relics were exhumed in the 16th century. Works of art depicting the saint include a baroque statue of Lutgardis on the Charles Bridge by Matthias Braun in Prague and a painting by Goya.
Thomas Merton, in his biography of the Saint, reports that she had a particular devotion to St. Agnes, the Roman virgin martyr. She was one day praying to St. Agnes when “suddenly a vein near her heart burst, and through a wide open wound in her side, blood began to pour forth, soaking her robe and cowl.” She then sank to the floor and “lost her senses.” She was never known to have been wounded in this way again but it is known that she kept the scar until the end of her life. This took place when she was twenty-nine years old. Witnesses to this event were two nuns, one named Margaret, the other Lutgarde of Limmos, who washed the Saint’s clothes.
Thomas Merton also tells that on many occasions, this saintly Cistercian, in meditating on Christ’s Passion, would fall into ecstasy and sweat blood. A priest who had heard of this sweat of blood watched for an opportunity to witness it himself. One day he found her in ecstasy, leaning against a wall, her face and hands dripping with blood. Finding a pair of scissors, he managed to snip off a lock of the Saint’s hair which was wet with blood (he did so thinking to have proof of the event and also to have the lock of hair as a relic) As he stood marveling at the blood on the lock of hair, the Saint suddenly came to herself. Instantly the blood vanished; not only from her face and hands but also from the lock in his hands and also the blood that was on his hands! Thomas Merton writes “At this, the priest was so taken aback that he nearly collapsed from astonishment.”
St. Lutgarde spent four decades at Aywières entirely devoted to the heart of Christ. Five years before her death, that is, in 1241, St. Lutgarde received the revelation that she would enter heaven on the third Sunday after Pentecost, when the Gospel of the Great Marriage Feast would be sung. She died in 1246.
Read further about St Lutgarde here : http://www.mysticsofthechurch.com/2015/09/st-lutgarde-of-aywieres-first-known.html
Thought for the Day – 15 June
Thought for the Day – 15 June
Why is the Sacred Heart the Holy Eucharist?
It is impossible to identify the Holy Eucharist too closely with Jesus Christ. We should remember He is in the Holy Eucharist not merely with His substance. I have corrected many of my students over the years who tell me “Transubstantiation means that the substance of bread and wine become the substance of Jesus Christ.” I reply, “No, transubstantiation means the substance of bread and wine are no longer there. The substance of bread and wine is replaced not only by the substance of Christ’s Body and Blood. What replaces the substance of bread and wine is Jesus Christ!” Everything that makes Christ, Christ replaces what had been the substance of bread and wine. The substance of bread and wine become the whole Christ.
Therefore, Christ in the Holy Eucharist is here with His human heart. Is it a living heart? Yes! That is why the revelations our Lord made to St. Margaret Mary about promoting devotion to the Sacred Heart were all made from the Holy Eucharist.
Why do we equate the Sacred Heart with the Holy Eucharist? Because the Holy Eucharist is the whole Christ with His human heart. According to St. Margaret Mary, the Sacred Heart is the Holy Eucharist. So it follows that devotion to the Sacred Heart is devotion to the Holy Eucharist. It is infinite Love Incarnate living in our midst in the Blessed Sacrament.
Servant of God Fr John A Hardon SJ
Quote of the Day – 15 June
Quote of the Day – 15 June
“The Eucharist is a fire
which inflames us.”
St John Damascene (675-749) – Doctor of the Church
One Minute Reflection – 15 June
One Minute Reflection – 15 June
Teach me your paths, my God,
make me walk in your truth………..Psalm 24:4-5
REFLECTION – “Gluttony should be destroyed by self-control; unchastity by desire for God and longing for the blessings held in store; avarice by compassion for the poor; anger by goodwill and love for all men; worldly dejection by spiritual joy; listlessness by patience, perseverance and offering thanks to God; self-esteem by doing good in secret and by praying constantly with a contrite heart; and pride by not judging or despising anyone in the manner of the boastful Pharisee, and by considering oneself the least of all men.”………..St John Damascene (675-749) – Doctor of the Church
PRAYER – Heavenly Father, teach me Your paths and help me to walk always in Your truth, following ever more closely the way set before me by Your Divine Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. May Your Grace and Your Spirit fill my heart with the love, courage, zeal and strength I need to overcome the world and be a light to my neighbour. Amen
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