I posted this thread awhile ago and decided to transfer it to this blog. Instead of trying to rack my brain for my password, I decided to create a new user ID. I really enjoyed posting this thread and hope to add to it as I can. Hopefully these catholic meditations we'll give brethen a better understanding of your Catholic brothers and sisters. A hot topic has been Mary in the life of a Catholic so here's two meditations to begin: 1) Bishop Fulton Sheen on Mary, and 2) Mary seen through the eyes of Mother Teresa of calcutta(taken from a meditation on priestly celibacy) Bishop Sheen: Article
THE WOMAN I LOVE
by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
I think one of the major defects in world religions has been the absence of the feminine. The absence becomes more striking in a study of Christian sects where so little attention is paid to the Mother of Christ. It would be strange to visit a friend's home and yet never hear him speak of his mother. Why are pulpits which resound with the name of Christ, so silent about His Mother, who was chosen for such a dignity in the agelessness of eternity? Hymns abound in praise of her Son, but not a verse to her who brought timelessness into time. True, in the course of history, there have been exaggerations in devotion to Mary, but it was not the Church who made her important; it was Christ Himself. The Church has never adored Mary, because only God may be adored. But she, of all creatures, was closest to God. Without her as the key, it is difficult to discover the treasures in the vault of the Faith.
God Who made the sun also made the moon. The moon does not take away from the brilliance of the sun. The moon would be a burned-out cinder floating in the immensity of space, if not for the sun. All its light is reflected from that glowing furnace. In like manner, Mary reflects her Divine Son, without Whom she is nothing. On dark nights we are grateful to the moon; when wee see it shining, we know there must be a sun. So, in this dark night of the world, when men turned their backs on Him Who is the Light of the World, we look to Mary to guide our feet while we await the sunrise.
"It is not good for man to be alone." That verse of Genesis applies just as much to a priest as to the laity. There must be a Woman in the life of a priest. That Woman came into my life at birth. When I was baptized as an infant, my mother laid me on the altar of the Blessed Mother in Saint Mary's Church, El Paso, Illinois, and consecrated me to her. As an infant may be unconscious of a birthmark, so I was unconscious of the dedication - but the mark was always there. Like a piece of iron to the magnet, I was drawn to her before I knew her, but never drawn to her without Christ. When I made my first Holy Communion at the age of twelve, I made the conscious dedication of myself to Mary. Though I cannot recall the exact words of my prayer, it was certainly similar to the motto which I chose for my coat of arms as bishop: Da per matrem me venire (Grant that I may come to Thee through Mary). My First Communion book with its mother-of-pearl cover contained the Litany of the Blessed Virgin, which I began reciting every night as a boy and have continued to this hour.
The call to the priesthood was always in my mind; it was her intercession I sought, to make myself worthy and to be protected from great falls. While I was still in the first grade, a suggestion was made by a good nun that we put at the top of every page the initials J.M.J., standing for dedication to "Jesus, Mary and Joseph." In the course of my life I have written tens of thousands of pages. I do not believe I ever set my pen or pencil to paper without first having put that seal of dedication on my work. The practice continued even automatically when I was on television and used a blackboard. I did not so much advert to the fact; it was already a lifetime habit. Thousands of letters poured in asking for the explanation.
When I was ordained, I took a resolution to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Eucharist every Saturday to the Blessed Mother, renewing my feeble love of her and invoking her intercession. All this makes me very certain that when I go before the Judgment Seat of Christ, He will say to me in His Mercy: "I heard My Mother speak of you."
During my life I have made about thirty pilgrimages to the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes and about ten to her shrine at Fatima. One of the first pilgrimages to Lourdes was while I was a university student at Louvain. I had just enough money to go to Lourdes but not enough to live on once I arrived. I asked my brother Tom if he had any money, but he was a typical university student too - no money. I said to him: "Well, if I have faith enough to go to Lourdes to celebrate the fifth anniversary of my Ordination, it is up to the Blessed Mother to get me out."
I arrived in Lourdes "broke." I went to one of the good hotels -though by no means would any hotel in Lourdes ever be considered in the luxury class. I decided that if the Blessed Mother was going to pay my hotel bill, she could just as well pay a big one as a little one. I made a novena - nine days of prayer - but on the ninth morning nothing happened, the ninth evening nothing happened. Then it was serious. I had visions of gendarmes and working out my bill by washing dishes.
I decided to give the Blessed Mother another chance. I went to the grotto about ten o'clock at night. A portly American gentleman tapped me on the shoulder: "Are you an American priest?" "Yes." "Do you speak French?" "Yes." "Will you come to Paris with my wife and daughter tomorrow, and speak French for us?" He walked me back to the hotel; then he asked me perhaps the most interesting question I have ever heard in my life: "Have you paid your hotel bill yet?" I outfumbled him for the bill. The next day we went to Paris and for twenty years or more after that, when I would go to New York on weekends to instruct converts, I would enjoy the hospitality of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Farrell, who had become the agents of the Blessed Mother to save me from my creditors. When I finished my university studies, I made another pilgrimage to Lourdes. I was deeply concerned that perhaps I would not be permitted to return to Mary's Shrine again, for I knew not to what task the bishop would assign me. I asked the Blessed Mother to give me some sign that despite the odds of returning to Lourdes, she would do what seemed impossible. The sign I asked for was this: that after I offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and before I would reach the outer gate of the shrine, a little girl aged about twelve, dressed in white, would give me a white rose. About twenty feet from the gate I could see no one. I remember saying: "You had better hurry, there is not much time left." As I arrived at the gate a little girl aged twelve, dressed in white, gave me the white rose.
When I was assigned to a parish in Peoria, I told the pastor I would be going to Europe the following year to visit Lourdes. He justly retorted: "I have been a pastor for fifteen years and have not been to Europe once; as a curate, you expect to go at the end of one year?" "Yes, but I do not know how it is going to happen, except that it will happen." At the end of a year's service in the parish, the Bishop told me I was assigned as a teacher to the Catholic University and that I could go to Europe to begin immediate preparations for my course. So I visited the shrine of Our Lady again that summer.
If anyone thinks that prayers are never answered, let him offer a prayer to the Lord that some suffering be sent to save a soul. At the end of this particular pilgrimage to Lourdes, I had made reservations to take a night train back to Paris, the train leaving about 9 p.m. As lovers are reluctant to say goodbye, I sought to prolong my visit until the last minute. At about eight in the evening, I hurried to the grotto and asked the Blessed Mother to send me some kind of trial and suffering or a splinter from the Cross to help a soul. I hurried to the hotel and ran up three flights of stairs, two steps at a time, to my room. I noticed someone was running up the stairs after me. I turned around and saw a young Dutch girl of about twenty-one. "Are you following me?" "Yes," she said, "but I do not know why. I saw you in the procession this afternoon and decided that I should talk to you." When I asked if she was in Lourdes to make a pilgrimage, she said: "No, I am an atheist." "You are not an atheist," I insisted, "otherwise you would not be here. More likely you have lost your faith." I then told her: "I believe you are an answer to my prayer. I asked for some trial and suffering to save a soul; you are that soul."
I purposely missed my train and stayed in Lourdes three days until she made her confession and was restored to the life of the Church. Then my troubles began. It took me three more days to get back to Paris. Though I could speak the language, conductors told me my tickets were inadequate; they put me off the train at odd stops; and it was impossible to find a restaurant or an inn. After seventy-two hours and multiplied inconveniences, sleeplessness and inadequate food, I finally arrived in Paris. There is a price tag on every soul - some are cheap, others are expensive. As it is possible to transfuse blood from one member of society to another to cure an anemic condition, and it is possible to graft skin from one part of the body to another to restore pristine elegance, so it is also possible for any cell-member of Christ's Mystical Body to apply his splinter of the Cross to some other soul in need.
Spiritual aid to needy souls has not kept pace with the material aid we gather for needy bodies. No want of collections exists to help those in body need, but there is a lessened sense of reparation for the spiritually starving. "If one member suffers anything, all the members suffer with it." If there are eye banks for the blind and blood banks for the anemic, why should there not be prayer banks for the fallen and self-denial banks for sinners? Many a spiritually wounded traveler is without the Good Samaritan to pour the oil of intercession and the wine of reparation into his weary soul.
Devotion to the Blessed Mother brought me to the discovery of a new dimension in the sacredness of suffering. I do not believe that I ever said to the Good Lord: "What did I do to deserve all these trials?" In my own heart I knew that I received fewer blows than I deserved. Furthermore, if Christ the Lord had summoned His Mother, who was free from sin, to share in the Cross, then the Christian must scratch from his vocabulary the word "deserve." When she brought her Divine Child to Simeon she was told He would be a "sign of contradiction" and a "sword would pierce her heart too." His Mother was the first to feel it - not in the sense of an unwilling victim, but rather one whose free act of resignation made her united to Him as much as a creature could be united with Him in the act of redemption. If I were the only person who had eyes in a world full of blind people, would I not try to be their staff? If I were the only one in a battlefield who was unwounded, would I not try to bind sores? Then shall virtue in the face of sin be dispensed from cooperation with Him Who even paid in advance for her gift of being immaculately conceived?
When I had open-heart surgery, only gradually did it dawn on me during my first four months in the hospital, that the Blessed Mother not only gives sweets, but she also gives bitter medicine. Too striking to be missed was that on three feast days of Our Lady I was brought to the door of death, and endured great suffering. The first was the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, July 16, when the doctors stayed with me all day and night trying to preserve the small flickering spark of life. Then came another operation on the Feast of her Assumption, August 15, and the implanting of a pacemaker. By this time I was beginning to feel a kind of holy dread of what might happen on September 8 when the Church celebrates her birthday. Sure enough, a kidney infection developed which, over a period of several weeks, made me feel some new tortures.
As I reflected on this concomitance of the Church festivals of Mary and my enforced solidarity with the Cross, I took it as a sign of the special predilection of Mary. If the Lord called her, who "deserved" no pain, to stand at the foot of the Cross, why should He not call me? If I had expressed a love for her as the Mother of the Priesthood, why should she not, in maternal love, make me more like her Son by forcing me to become a victim? If she did not despise this conformity with Him on Calvary, why should she, whom I recognize as Heavenly Mother, be less solicitous about seeing the image of her Son stamped more indelibly on my soul? If my own earthly mother laid me on her altar at birth, why should not my Heavenly Mother lay me at His Cross as I come to the end of life? (cont)
Last edited by cw7777; 14th July 2007 at 10:48 AM.
When I was in the second year of high school, the Brothers of Mary who were our teachers asked us to say three Hail Marys every day to St. Joseph for the grace of a happy death. I have continued that practice daily, but in the last twenty years have added a prayer to the Blessed Mother that I would die on a Saturday which is dedicated to her, or on one of her feast days. In recent conversation with Malcolm Muggeridge, the famous British journalist and former editor of Punch, he told me that it was wrong to pray for death on a certain day. He said: "I so long for death that I welcome it at any time. Whether we live long or short on this earth is merely a nuance." I do not know whether the Blessed Mother will grant me my wish, but it is really not important. I trust in her intercession to provide as direct a route as is possible to Christ, for "she knows the way."
Devotion to the Mother of Christ has been one of the principal safeguards of celibacy in my priesthood. Celibacy is surrounded on every side by hucksters of an erotic civilization where even automobiles are advertised as having "sex appeal." The celibate is bound to feel lonely in that atmosphere, but it is a different kind of loneliness that plagues the erotic. The former is tempted because, in the natural order, he is without a partner; the other is lonely even when he has his partner, for as St. Augustine reflected: "Our hearts were made for Thee, O Lord, and they cannot rest until they rest in Thee." The loneliness of one who seeks the Infinite is different from the loneliness of him who seeks the finite as the Infinite.
The role the Mother of Christ plays in this drama of the incompleteness of man is that she is the ideal Woman. As she was loved in the Eternal Mind before she was ever born in time, the celibate is bidden to love an ideal before he loves in fact. How often the young meet hundreds of friends until one day there comes the certitude: "Here is the one I have been looking for," or "She satisfies my ideal." Every person carries within his heart a blueprint of the one he loves; what appears to be "love at first sight" is often the fulfillment of a desire and the realization of a dream. Life becomes satisfying the moment the dream is seen walking and the person appears as the incarnation of the one that is loved. Whether that always is true of man, it is certainly true that God loves an ideal before He loves in fact.
An act of love is not only an affirmation, but a negation. When a husband affirms love of his wife, he negates his love of other women. Respect for womanhood increases with the love of the ideal. Furthermore, because there has been a dedication to this Beautiful Lady, she protects her lovers - even when they fall. Though sinless, she knows what sin is, namely, separation from God. She lost her Divine Son for three days and thus came to know vicariously the alienation and separation which tortures the heart of a sinner. Besides, she chose as her companion at the Cross Mary Magdalene, adding merit to her title as the "Mother of Sinners." Above all else, Christ the Son of God on the Cross commended to her all His disciples and faithful in the world as He said to John: "This is your Mother."
Though Mary is the ideal Woman in every truly Christian life, I cannot express how real she has been in my life. As a mother carrying a child often feels the kicks of the young, so Mary has felt my rebellion, but still sought to form Christ in my soul as she formed Him in her womb. Despite the unglutted beast that strains in the body of every priest, she held onto the leash to tame its madness. Even the beast has a heart and by mysterious and intangible touches of love, she kept that inner immured plot for God. She changed eros to agape, the water of my life into wine, and helped provide those tears to wipe Blood from wounds that caped on the Cross. In my mind's eye I have gazed on her beauty, a beauty which leaves all other beauty plain. My heart thrilled a thousand times at her gentle hand's caress, knowing full well that she was content with the little I had to give, for at the Cross she took the son of Zebedee as a son for the Son of God. After many years of courtship, the deep conviction pervades my soul: she really loves me - and if she can love me, Christ is with me.
For years in sermons and often in lectures I quoted a poem about this Ideal Lady who became so real to me. The poem is about a child's thoughts concerning her. Since we can enter the Kingdom of Heaven only by reversing age and becoming like a child, I fittingly close this article about "The Woman I Love" with child-talk.
Lovely Lady dressed in blue Teach me how to pray God was just your little Boy Tell me what to say!
Did you lift Him up, sometimes Gently on your knee? Did you sing to Him the way Mother does to me?
Did you hold His hand at night Did you ever try Telling Him stories of the world? O, and did He cry? Do you really think He cares If I tell Him things - Little things that happen? And Do Angel's Wings make a noise?
Can He hear me if I speak low? Does He understand me now? Tell me, for you know!
Lovely Lady dressed in blue Teach me how to pray! God was just your little Boy And, you know the way!1
1 "To Our Lady" reprinted with the permission of Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc. from The Child on His Knees by Mary Dixon Thayer. Copyright 1926 by Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., renewed 1954 by Mary D.T. Fremont-Smith.
Priestly celibacy: Sign of the charity of Christ Mother Teresa of Calcutta
We read in the Scriptures how Jesus came to proclaim the Good News that God loves us. He wants us today to be that love. Jesus said: "You did it to me": I was hungry, naked, homeless and lonely and you did it to me. I call this — the Gospel on five fingers.
Everyone is called to love God with their whole heart and soul and mind and strength and to love their neighbour out of love for God. But on the night, before he died, Jesus gave us two great gifts: the gift of himself in the Eucharist and the gift of the priesthood to continue his living presence in the Eucharist.
Without priests, we have no Jesus. Without priests, we have no absolution. Without priests, we cannot receive Holy Communion.
Just as God our Father prepared a worthy dwelling place for his Son in the immaculate womb of a virgin — so it is fitting that a priest prepares himself to take the place of Jesus, the Son of God, by freely choosing priestly celibacy. Marriage and procreation are miracles of God’s love by which men and women become his co-workers, to bring new life into the world. But Jesus has clearly spoken to something even greater than that, when he said that in heaven people neither marry nor are given in marriage but live like the angels; and that there are some who have renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of God.
Priestly celibacy is that gift which prepares for life in heaven. Jesus calls his priest to be his co-worker in the Church, to fill heaven with God’s children.
One day, two young people came to our house and they gave me lots of money to feed the people, because in Calcutta, as you know, we have many many poor people whom we feed daily. And I asked them where they got so much money. They said: "Two days ago we got married. Before marriage we decided that we were not going to buy wedding clothes, we were not to have a wedding feast, but that, instead, we would give you the money to feed the poor." It was something extraordinary for Hindu high-class people to do that. I asked them again: Why did you do that? and they said: ‘We loved each other so much that we wanted to share the joy of loving with the people you serve.
To me, this beautiful, living story of two people in love with each other is a living sign of that oneness of Jesus and his priest. Here the sacrifice is not money or material things but a higher and better gift — that of priestly celibacy. The greatest gift that one can give to Jesus on the day when one joins the priesthood is a virgin heart, a virgin body. We call it priestly celibacy. It is like the virginal love of Christ for his Church, whom the priest represents. The Church is the body of Christ, it is the spouse of Christ.
Celibacy is not only our ability to give but more our ability to accept God’s gift, God’s choice. Prayerfully reflect how he, the Creator of the universe, has time for you, his little creatures.
Priestly celibacy creates an emptiness to receive that other wonderful gift that only Jesus can offer and give — the gift of divine love. First of all, Jesus offers his precious gift of himself for a life-long, faithful and personal friendship with him, in tenderness and love. Nothing will make him give up his faithfulness. He remains faithful.
Dear co-workers of Christ, you have said ‘Yes’ to Jesus and he has taken you at your word. The word of God became Jesus, the poor one. Your priestly celibacy is the terrible emptiness you experience. God cannot fill what is full, he can fill only emptiness — deep poverty, and your ‘Yes’ is the beginning of being or becoming empty. It is not how much we really ‘have’ to give, but how empty we are — so that we can receive fully in our life and let him live his life in us. In you, today, he wants to relive his complete submission to his Father. Allow him to do so. It does not matter what you feel, but what he feels in you. Take away your eyes from yourself and rejoice that you have nothing, that you are nothing, that you can do nothing. Give Jesus a big smile, each time your nothingness frightens you. This is the poverty of Jesus. You and I must let him live in us and through us in the world. Cling to Our Lady, for she too, before she could become full of grace, full of Jesus, had to go through that darkness. How could this be done? she asked. But the moment she said ‘Yes’ she had need to go in haste to give Jesus to John and his family. Keep giving Jesus to people, not by words, but by your example, by your being in love with Jesus, by radiating his holiness and spreading his fragrance of love everywhere you go. Just keep the joy of Jesus as your strength. Be happy and at peace, accept whatever he gives, and give whatever he takes with a big smile. You belong to him. Tell him, I am yours, and if you cut me to pieces, every single piece will be only all yours. Let Jesus be the victim and the priest in you.
By freely choosing priestly celibacy the priest renounces earthly fatherhood and gains a share in the Fatherhood of God. Instead of becoming father to one or more children on earth, he is now able to love everybody in Christ. Yes, Jesus calls his priest to carry his Father’s tender love for each and every person. For this reason, people call him ‘Father’.
Priestly celibacy is not just not getting married, not to have a family. It is undivided love of Christ in chastity. Nothing and nobody will separate me from the love of Christ. It is not simply a list of don’ts, it is love. Freedom to love and to be all things to all people. And for that we need the freedom and poverty and simplicity of life. Jesus could have everything but he chose to have nothing. We too must choose not to have or to use certain luxuries. For the less we have for ourselves, the more of Jesus we can give, and the more we have for ourselves, the less of Jesus we can give. As priests, you must all be able to experience the joy of that freedom, having nothing, having no one, you can then love Christ with undivided love in chastity. That is why, a priest who is completely free to love Christ, the work that he does in obedience is his love for Christ in action. The precious blood is in his hand, the living bread he can break and give to all who are hungry for God.
Let those who are called to follow Jesus in priestly celibacy and to share in his priesthood, pray and ask for the courage to give — ‘to give until it hurts’. This giving is true love in action and we can do it only when we are one with Jesus, for in him, with him and through him only, Jesus will be able to do great things, even greater things than he himself did.
There is no comparison with the vocation of the priest. It is like a replacing of Jesus at the altar, at the confessional, and in all the other sacraments where he uses his own ‘I’, like Jesus. How completely the priest must be one with Jesus for Jesus to use him in his place, in his name, to utter his words, do his actions, take away the sins, and make ordinary bread and wine into the Living Bread of his own body and Blood. Only in the silence of his heart can he hear God’s word and from the fullness of his heart can he utter these words: "I absolve you" and "This is my body". How pure the mouth of the priest must be and how clean the heart of a priest must be to be able to speak, to utter the words, This is my body, and to make bread into the living Jesus. How pure must be the hand of the priest, how completely the hand of Jesus must be the hand of the priest, if in it, when the priest raises that hand, is the precious Blood of Jesus. A sinner comes to confession covered with sin, and leaves the confessional, a sinner without sin. O how pure, how sacred a priest must be to lift away sin and to utter the words, I absolve you.
For me, the priesthood is the sacredness, the holiness for which Christ has come on earth to become man, to live his Father’s love and compassion, and to wash away sin. We have a wonderful example of that in the experience with our people.
The sisters found a man and did everything possible for him that love could do for a man who has been shut in like that for years. He did not speak for two days. On the second day, he told the sisters, You have brought God in my life, bring Father also. So the sisters went and brought a priest and he made his confession after sixty years. The next morning he died.
This is what the priest is — he is the ‘connecting link’ between humanity and God, just as Jesus was — to take away sin. God had come into this man’s life, but that forgiveness for his sin had to come through the priests to make the connection with God total. This was a miracle of grace that came to that man who had been away from Jesus for so many years, and he expressed it ~ You have brought God into my life, bring Father also. That connecting, that mercy, that washing away of his sins came through the hands of the priest, and the words of the priest.
The priest has also to proclaim Christ. And he cannot proclaim him unless his heart is full of God, and God is love. That is why he needs in the silence of his heart to hear the word of God, for only then, from the fullness of his heart, he can speak the word of God.
You, as God’s priest are to be his living instrument, and so you must ever give him permission to do with you exactly as he wills for the glory of the Father. The same spirit will invite you to live an ever closer oneness with Jesus — in mind, heart and action — so that all you say and do will be for him, with him and to him. As he is one with the Father, so must you be one with Jesus. As it is with his own priesthood that you have been sealed, so he must be the one to live that priesthood within you. Nothing and nobody must separate you from Jesus, so that you can say with St Paul: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me."
Christ made himself bread of life to satisfy our hunger for his love, and then he makes himself the hungry one so that we may satisfy his hunger for our love. When St Paul was going to destroy the Christians in Damascus, he was thrown down, and he heard the voice: "Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute me?" and Paul asked him: "Who art thou, Lord?" Christ did not mention the Christians of Damascus. It is the same thing. Whatever you do to the least of my brethren, you do it me. If in my name you give a glass of water, you give it to Me. If in my name you receive a child, you receive me. And he has made that a condition also, that at the hour of death we are going to be judged on what we have been and what we have done. He makes himself the hungry one, the naked one, the homeless one, the sick one, the lonely one, the unwanted one, the rejected one, and he says: I was hungry and you gave me to eat. Not only for bread, I was hungry for love. I was naked, not only for a piece of cloth, but I was naked for that human dignity of a child of God. I was homeless, not only for a home made of bricks, but I was homeless, rejected, unwanted, unloved, a throw-away of society, and you did it to me.
Jesus in the Eucharist made himself bread of life to satisfy our hunger for God, for we have all been created to love and to be loved. And it is very clear what Jesus meant, because how do we love God? Where is God? God is everywhere. How do we love God? And therefore, he gives us the opportunity to do to others what we would like to do to him. To put our love for him in a living action. So, therefore, every priestly vocation is not just to do this or to do that; a priest has been created to belong totally — body, soul, mind, heart, every fibre of his body, every fibre of his soul — to God because he has called him by his name. A priest is very precious to him, a priest is very tenderly loved by God, by Jesus who has chosen him to be his ‘second self. And the work that the priest has been entrusted to do is only a means to put his tender love for God in living action. And therefore, the work that he does is sacred. And the work must always lead not only himself to God, but must be able to lead souls to God. That is why Jesus said: Let them see your good work and glorify the Father.
You are to be a radiance of Jesus himself. Your look must be his, your words his words. The people are not seeking your talents, but God in you. Draw them to God, but never to self. If you are not drawing them to God then you are seeking yourself, and people will love you for yourself, not because you remind them of Jesus. Your desire must be to give only Jesus in your ministry, rather than self. Remember that it is only your communion with Jesus that brings about communication of Jesus. As Jesus was so united to the Father as to be his splendour and image, so by your union with Jesus, you become his radiance, a transparency of Christ, so that those who have seen you have in some way seen him.
To be able to really be a priest according to the heart of Jesus, you need much prayer and penance. A priest needs to unite his own sacrifice with the sacrifice of Christ, if he really wants to be completely one with Jesus on the altar.
When our Holy Father Paul VI died, I received a trunk call from London asking me what I thought of the death of the Holy Father, and I said: He was holy, he was a loving father. He had a great love for children and the poor and a special love for the Missionaries of Charity. He has gone home to God and now we can pray to him.
What I said was true of the Holy Father because when he was dying, Mass was being said by his secretary by his bedside. Just at the consecration he suffered the fatal heart attack. Connect this with what he said the year before, when somebody said to him that he was suffering so much, that he was continuing the Passion of Christ, that he suffered more from within the Church because of bishops, priests and religious who were leaving the Church. Holy Father did not discuss or explain but expressed one short clear sentence: I am only living my Mass. (cont)
(continue: Mother Teresa) By your life woven with the Eucharist, God’s love in Jesus, hidden under the humble appearances of bread and wine, can be lived in all its greatness and beauty in the humble events of daily life. You must continue your Mass after its daily celebration during the Liturgy, by your sincere fidelity to the little moment-to-moment things of life. Like the drops of oil that feed the sanctuary lamp which burns continually near the living Jesus in the tabernacle, your life must continue as a living extension of the Eucharist that you offer. With this Bread you must be broken for many, with this Cup your life must be poured out. Charity is love in action.
Today, many priests are becoming involved in social work and social development, and neglecting the work of their priesthood. But there are many people who can do that. What the people need in a priest is a man who will take them to God, who will give them Jesus. They do not need a priest to do social work. There are many good people who can do these things a thousand times better and it is not right for us to take away the work that other people can do so beautifully. No one can do the work of a priest that you are called to do, but only you, as his priest. So, do not substitute any other work, however beautiful it may be, for that of your priesthood.
The Missionaries of Charity Fathers — founded in October 1984 — combine the greatness and power of the priesthood with the charisma of the Missionaries of Charity, and so witness to the truth of the Gospel preached to the poor.
I think many, many priests are being called, even without their realizing it, to give themselves totally to the Lord. Yes, the world is in great need of priests, of holy priests, of priestly celibacy, for the world is in need of Christ. To doubt the value of one’s priesthood and one’s priestly celibacy in today’s world is to doubt the very value of Christ and his mission — for they are one. Christ’s mission is ours.
It is inconceivable how we can turn away from the almighty God and stoop to a creature, however good that creature may be. Is Jesus not the one who can fill you up to the brim with God’s love? It is not surprising then, that married people are questioning the Church. In the Catholic Church, there is no divorce. How is it that the Church cannot divorce a married couple and yet a priest can leave his priesthood? A priest may get dispensation but nobody can take away his priesthood. Once a priest, he is a priest forever. In hell also he remains a priest. The Church however, can withhold the use of his priestly power.
Mary, Mother of priests: Contemplate Our Blessed Lady, the Mother of Jesus standing at the foot of the cross of her Son, our only High Priest — with St John the beloved apostle and priest close by her, to whom Jesus said: "Woman, behold your son and Son, behold your mother." No one could have been a better priest than the Virgin Mother of God, because she really could without difficulty say: This is my body... This is my blood — for it was really and truly her body and blood that she gave to Jesus. And yet she remained only the handmaid of the Lord, so that you and I may always turn to her as our Mother. And she is one of our own, so that we can always claim her, turn to her and be one with her. And of course, that is why she was left behind — to establish the Church, to strengthen the priesthood of the apostles, to be a mother to them, until the Church, the young Church was formed. She was there. For just as she helped Jesus to grow, so she also helped the Church to grow in the beginning. She was left behind for so many years after Jesus ascended to heaven, so that she was the one who helped to form the Church. She is the one who helps to form every priest; and no one can have a greater claim on Our Lady than a priest. And I can imagine she must have had, and she still has, a very tender love and special protection also for every priest, if he only turns to her.
How wonderful then, it is to see that likeness to Mary. We need her. Let us pray to her that she may obtain for us that great and beautiful gift of priestly celibacy, the sign of the charity of Christ. To this God calls you when he calls you by your name, if he has chosen you to be his very own priest, if he has chosen to espouse you with tenderness and love, be not afraid, follow him. She will help you, guide you, love you — that you as priests may make the presence of Jesus even more real in the world of today.
Put your hand in Mary’s hand and ask her to lead you to Jesus. When Jesus came into her life, she went in haste to give him to others. You, as his priest, go with her in haste to give Jesus to others. But remember, you cannot give what you do not have. To be able to give, you need to live that oneness with Christ, and he is there in the tabernacle where you put him. Make it a point that first thing in the morning that Jesus be the centre of your life. During the day, learn to pray your work: work with Jesus, work for Jesus. Always keep close to Mary. Ask her to give you her heart so beautiful, so pure, so immaculate, her heart so full of love and humility that you are able to receive Jesus and give Jesus in the bread of life to others. Love Jesus as she loved him and serve him in the distressing disguise of the poor — for we read in the Bible that one of the signs that Jesus was the Saviour to come was that the gospel is preached to the poor.
Prayer of St. Francis; Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy; O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
St. Francis was born at Assisi in 1182. After a care free youth, he turned his back on inherited wealth and committed himself to God. Like many early saints, he lived a very simple life of poverty, and in so doing, gained a reputation of being the friend of animals. He established the rule of St Francis, which exists today as the Order of St. Francis, or the Franciscans. He died in 1226, aged 44.
St Catherine (1347 -1380) was one of the great Catholic saints. She was said to have taken a sincere and profound interest in every body whom she met. Her saintly nature attracted many people to come to her for guidance. She willing gave solace to people who came with mental and emotional suffering. She once said,
"Strange that so much suffering is caused because of the misunderstandings of God's true nature. God's heart is more gentle than the Virgin's first kiss upon the Christ. And God's forgiveness to all, to any thought or act, is more certain than our own being."
The 25th child of a wool dyer in northern Italy, St. Catherine started having mystical experiences when she was only 6, seeing guardian angels as clearly as the people they protected. Her parents wished her to get married but instead she became a Dominican tertiary when she was 16, and continued to have visions of Christ, Mary, and the saints. St. Catherine was one of the most brilliant theological minds of her day, although she never had any formal education. She persuaded the Pope to go back to Rome from Avignon, in 1377, and when she died she was endeavoring to heal the Great Western Schism. In 1375 Our Lord give her the Stigmata, which was visible only after her death. Her spiritual director was Blessed Raymond of Capua. St, Catherine's letters, and a treatise called "a dialogue" are considered among the most brilliant writings in the history of the Catholic Church. She died when she was only 33, and her body was found incorrupt in 1430.
St. Thomas Becket, (1118-1170) Chancellor of England, Archbishop of Canterbury, martyred by his faith and loyalty to the Church in the Canterbury cathedral.
A strong man who wavered for a moment, but then learned one cannot come to terms with evil and so became a strong churchman, a martyr and a saint—that was Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, murdered in his cathedral on December 29, 1170.
His career had been a stormy one. While archdeacon of Canterbury, he was made chancellor of England at the age of 36 by his friend King Henry II. When Henry felt it advantageous to make his chancellor the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas gave him fair warning: he might not accept all of Henry’s intrusions into Church affairs. Nevertheless, he was made archbishop (1162), resigned his chancellorship and reformed his whole way of life!
Troubles began. Henry insisted upon usurping Church rights. At one time, supposing some conciliatory action possible, Thomas came close to compromise. He momentarily approved the Constitutions of Clarendon, which would have denied the clergy the right of trial by a Church court and prevented them from making direct appeal to Rome. But Thomas rejected the Constitutions, fled to France for safety and remained in exile for seven years. When he returned to England, he suspected it would mean certain death. Because Thomas refused to remit censures he had placed upon bishops favored by the king, Henry cried out in a rage, “Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest!” Four knights, taking his words as his wish, slew Thomas in the Canterbury cathedral.
Within three years Thomas was a saint of the Church and his tomb a shrine of pilgrimage. Henry II himself did penance at Thomas’s tomb, but a later Henry (VIII) despoiled that tomb and scattered the saint’s relics. Thomas Becket, however, remains a hero-saint down to our own times.
For our sake Christ offered himself to the Father upon the altar for the cross. He now looks down from heaven on our actions and secret thoughts, and one day he will give each of us the reward his deeds deserve.
It must therefore be our endeavor to destroy the right of sin and death, and by nurturing faith and uprightness of life, to build up the Church of Christ into a holy temple of the Lord.
The harvest is good and one reaper or even several would not suffice to gather all of it into the granary of the Lord. Yet the Roman Church remains the head of all the churches and the source of Catholic teaching. Of this there can be no doubt. Everyone know that the keys of the kingdom of heaven were given to Peter. Upon his faith and teaching the whole fabric of the Church will continue to be built until we all reach full maturity in Christ and attain to unity in faith and knowledge of the Son of God.
Of course many are needed to plant and many to water now that the faith has spread so far and the population become so great. Nevertheless, no matter who plants or waters, God gives no harvest unless what he plants is the faith of Peter, and unless he himself assents to Peter's teaching. All important questions that arise among God's people are referred to the judgment of Peter in the person for the Roman Pontiff. Under him the ministers of Mother Church exercise the powers committed to them, each in his own sphere of responsibility.
Remember then how our fathers worked out their salvation; remember the sufferings through which the Church has grown, and the storms the ship of Peter has weathered because it has Christ on board. Remember how the crown was attained by those whose sufferings gave new radiance to their faith. The whole company of saints bears witness to the unfailing truth that without real effort no one wins the crown. from a letterby Saint Thomas Beckett
What a way to start a marriage! Jane no sooner arrived at her new home then she discovered she might lose it. Her husband, Christophe, had not only inherited the title of baron but enormous debts as well.
But Jane had not come to the marriage empty-handed. She brought with her a deep faith instilled by her father who made daily religious discussion fun, allowing the children to talk about anything -- even controversial topics. She also brought a good-hearted way that made a friend comment, "Even stupid jokes were funny when she told them."
These qualities helped the twenty-year-old French woman take charge by personally organizing and supervising every detail of the estate, a method which not only brought the finances under control but won her employees' hearts as well.
Despite the early financial worries, she and her husband shared "one heart and one soul." They were devoted to each other and to their four children.
One way Jane shared her blessings was by giving bread and soup personally to the poor who came to her door. Often people who had just received food from her would pretend to leave, go around the house and get back in line for more. When asked why she let these people get away with this, Jane said, "What if God turned me away when I came back to him again and again with the same request?"
Her happiness was shattered when Christophe was killed in a hunting accident. Before he died, her husband forgave the man who shot him, saying to the man, "Don't commit the sin of hating yourself when you have done nothing wrong." The heartbroken Jane, however, had to struggle with forgiveness for a long time. At first she tried just greeting him on the street. When she was able to do that, she invited him to her house. Finally she was able to forgive the man so completely that she even became godmother to his child.
These troubles opened her heart to her longing for God and she sought God in prayer and a deepening spiritual life. Her commitment to God impressed Saint Francis de Sales, the bishop who became her director and best friend. Their friendship started before they even met, for them saw each other in dreams, and continued in letters throughout their lives.
With Francis' support, Jane founded the Visitation order for women who were rejected by other orders because of poor health or age. She even accepted a woman who was 83 years old. When people criticized her, she said, "What do you want me to do? I like sick people myself; I'm on their side." She believed that people should have a chance to live their calling regardless of their health.
Still a devoted mother, she was constantly concerned about the materialistic ways of one of her daughters. Her daughter finally asked her for spiritual direction as did may others, including an ambassador and her brother, an archbishop. Her advice always reflected her very gentle and loving approach to spirituality:
"Should you fall even fifty times a day, never on any account should that surprise or worry you. Instead, ever so gently set your heart back in the right direction and practice the opposite virtue, all the time speaking words of love and trust to our Lord after you have committed a thousand faults, as much as if you had committed only one. Once we have humbled ourselves for the faults God allows us to become aware of in ourselves, we must forget them and go forward."
She died in 1641, at sixty-nine years of age.
In Her Footsteps We have been told the secret of happiness is finding: finding yourself, finding love, finding the right job. Jane believed the secret of happiness was in "losing," that we should "throw ourselves into God as a little drop of water into the sea, and lose ourselves indeed in the Ocean of the divine goodness." She advised a man who wrote to her about all the afflictions he suffered "to lose all these things in God. These words produced such an effect in the soul, that he wrote me that he was wholly astonished, and ravished with joy."
Today, when any thoughts or worries come to mind, send them out into the ocean of God's love that surrounds you and lose them there. If any feelings come into your heart -- grief, fear, even joy or longing, send those out into the ocean of God's love. Finally, send your whole self, like a drop, into God. There is no past no future, here or there. There is only the infinite ocean of God.
Prayer: Saint Jane, you forgave the man who killed your husband. Help me learn to forgive a particular person in my life who has caused me harm. You know how difficult it is to forgive. Help me to take the steps you took to welcome this person back into my life. Amen.
If legend were history, the life of St. Sylvester would indeed be interesting. It would be pleasant to recount how St. Sylvester baptized the great Constantine and how Constantine was cured of leprosy by the baptismal waters. But this is a legend which, along with others, grew up around the papal contemporary of the colorful emperor.
Sylvester was a Roman, the son of Rufinus. He was ordained a priest by Marcellinus. Chosen Pope in 314, he continued the work of organizing the peacetime Church so well begun by St. Miltiades. Sylvester saw the building of famous churches, notably the Basilica of St. Peter and the Basilica of St. John Lateran, built near the former imperial palace of that name. It is quite probable too that the first martyrology or list of Roman martyrs was drawn up in his reign.
Towering over all other events of his pontificate, however, was the first ecumenical or general council of the Church. An ecumenical council represents the entire teaching Church as opposed to a diocesan synod or a metropolitan or a national council. The ecumenical council, like the pope, is infallible in matters of faith and morals because it is the voice of the teaching Church.
A heresy had arisen in Alexandria and at that time was making great headway throughout the East, the heresy of Arius, a priest of Alexandria. Arius taught that Jesus Christ was not truly divine, that His nature was not the same as that of the Father but only similar. It was to study this question and to pronounce the true teaching of the Church that bishops from all parts of the empire made their way to Nicaea in 325. The Emperor Constantine, still a catechumen, had at first made light of the matter, but when his eyes were opened to the danger of Arian doctrine by Hosius of Cordova, he became so interested that he went to Nicaea himself.
Pope Sylvester sent two legates to represent him Vitus and Vincentius, and it seems that it was the Pope who suggested the term consubstantial to describe the relation of Christ's nature to the Father. The Council condemned Arius and drew up the famous Nicene Creed. This creed, said in all the Catholic Churches throughout the world, proclaims that Jesus is true God of true God consubstantial with the Father.
St. Sylvester died in 335. He was buried in a church which he himself had built over the Catacomb of Priscilla on the Via Salaria. His feast is kept on December 31.
Saint Lucy - Lucy's name means "light", with the same root as "lucid" which means "clear, radiant, understandable." Unfortunately for us, Lucy's history does not match her name. Shrouded in the darkness of time, all we really know for certain is that this brave woman who lived in Syracuse lost her life in the persecution of Christians in the early fourth century. Her veneration spread to Rome so that by the sixth century the whole Church recognized her courage in defense of the faith.
Because people wanted to shed light on Lucy's bravery, legends grew up. The one that is passed down to us tells the story of a young Christian woman who had vowed her life to the service of Christ. Her mother tried to arrange a marriage for her with a pagan. Lucy apparently knew that her mother would not be convinced by a young girl's vow so she devised a plan to convince her mother that Christ was a much more powerful partner for life. Through prayers at the tomb of Saint Agatha, her mother's long illness was cured miraculously. The grateful mother was now ready to listen to Lucy's desire to give her money to the poor and commit her life to God.
Unfortunately, legend has it, the rejected bridegroom did not see the same light and he betrayed Lucy to the governor as a Christian. This governor tried to send her into prostitution but the guards who came to take her way found her stiff and heavy as a mountain. Finally she was killed. As much as the facts of Lucy's specific case are unknown, we know that many Christians suffered incredible torture and a painful death for their faith during Diocletian's reign. Lucy may not have been burned or had a sword thrust through her throat but many Christians did and we can be sure her faith withstood tests we can barely imagine.
Lucy's name is probably also connected to statues of Lucy holding a dish with two eyes on it. This refers to another legend in which Lucy's eyes were put out by Diocletian as part of his torture. The legend concludes with God restoring Lucy's eyes.
Lucy's name also played a large part in naming Lucy as a patron saint of the blind and those with eye-trouble.
Whatever the fact to the legends surrounding Lucy, the truth is that her courage to stand up and be counted a Christian in spite of torture and death is the light that should lead us on our own journeys through life.
In Her Footsteps: Lucy is the patron saint of the blind. Braille is an important means of communication for those with visual impairment or blindness. Support the teaching of braille in schools and learn about it yourself by calling your local chapter of the National Federation of the Blind.
Prayer: Saint Lucy, you did not hide your light under a basket, but let it shine for the whole world, for all the centuries to see. We may not suffer torture in our lives the way you did, but we are still called to let the light of our Christianity illumine our daily lives. Please help us to have the courage to bring our Christianity into our work, our recreation, our relationships, our conversation -- every corner of our day. Amen
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