Apr 11 Fri - Why was Mary at the foot of the Cross?

 

Apr 11 Fri
Why was Mary at the foot of the Cross?
Within a week we shall see Jesus Christ embracing his Cross to redeem us, Our Lady is with Him. Today, we should immerse ourselves in Mary's Immaculate Heart, which suffered so much because of our sins.

From the words of Simeon, Mary learned that God had a role for her, next to her Son, in the work of redemption, which would demand suffering and sacrifice: “Behold, a sword will pierce your own soul also." Yet Our Lady placed herself unreservedly at the service of God's plan.

Now, “we realize that the supernatural value of our life does not depend on accomplishing the great undertakings suggested to us by our overactive imagination. Rather it is to be found in the faithful acceptance of God's will, and in welcoming generously the opportunities for small, daily sacrifice."

How often our Lady must have meditated on the mission she was called to carry out at Christ's side! ‘But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.’ “Let us try to imitate her, talking to our Lord, conversing like two people in love about everything that happens to us, even the most insignificant incidents."

That is the way Mary lived during the thirty years of Jesus' hidden life: thirty long years of simple, ordinary life, just like that of any other home in a small village in Galilee, but years filled with ever-increasing fervor as she carried out God's will. In these years Mary shows herself as the teacher of the sacrifice that is hidden and silent.

One day, when Jesus was about thirty, He said goodbye to his Mother and left the house of Nazareth. He was beginning his public life. From then on, until the moment of the Passion, our Lady practically disappears from the Gospel scenes: “See her, nearly always in the background, cooperating with her Son; she knows, yet keeps silence."

We must learn from our Mother how to sacrifice ourselves gladly, and without attracting attention, filled with supernatural hope. “What a contrast between our Lady's hope and our impatience! So often we call upon God to reward us at once for any little good we have done. No sooner does the first difficulty appear than we start to complain. Often, we are incapable of sustaining our efforts, of keeping our hope alive." Contemplating Mary's life will help us to rectify our outlook, and make it more supernatural.

On the Cross, Jesus wanted to have her at his side, and Mary assented. “What could she do? She united herself fully with the redemptive love of her Son, and offered to the Father her immense sorrow, which pierced her pure heart like a sharp-edged sword."

On the Cross, “Jesus looks at her, and then turning his gaze to John he exclaims, Woman, this is your son. Then he said to the disciple, This is your Mother. In the person of John, Christ is entrusting all to his Mother, and especially his disciples: those who were to believe in him."

“Mother, my Mother - yours, because you are hers on many counts - may your love bind me to your Son's Cross; may I not lack the faith, nor the courage, nor the daring, to carry out the will of our Jesus."

Apr 10 Thu - All Salvation is Local.

 

Apr 10 Thu
All Salvation is Local.
The Speaker of the U.S. House, Tip O'Neill, is often credited with the saying, "All politics is local." While I may not be particularly interested in the political aspect of that statement, I find it relevant to my line of work. You could say that our struggle for holiness must be local, focused on the ordinary events of each day. All salvation is local; it takes place within individual souls. And you can't get any more local than that.

Our struggle for salvation—yours and mine—does not take place out there, in some distant location, or in someone else’s life. It isn’t found in the media or the latest gossip, whether online or otherwise. It doesn’t depend on our knowing the latest political intrigue or celebrity news. It depends on our personal and interior adherence to the Lord now, and external fight to remain so.

Sometimes we are afraid of this. We fear that God is too close, too personal. Too demanding. Too local. So, we distract ourselves by looking elsewhere, to other people, places, and things. But salvation doesn’t happen somewhere else. It happens locally, where we are, in the simple duties of our life. And we shouldn’t choose to fight it elsewhere.

In the Gospel (Luke 13:1-9), the crowd shared a recent news story with Jesus about Galileans whose blood Pilate mixed with their sacrifices. The account included elements of politics, religion, violence, and death.

The people wrongly believed that bad things only happen to evildoers, giving them a false sense of moral superiority. They thought, "We're not as bad as the Galileans," but the real issue was their misplaced focus.

Yes, there’s an ugliness to the gossip. But what is worse, by paying attention elsewhere, they created an obstacle to the Gospel. They lacked the necessary attention, and reflection to hear our Lord.

So, He corrects them. ‘I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!’ ‘Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them – do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!’

While we may not agree with the belief that disasters only happen to the wicked, we share a fascination with events unrelated to us. Our media thrives on our desire for distraction and the intimate details of celebrities, and we eagerly participate in it.

Our technology gives us the constant ability to flee reality. We can always be somewhere else, distracted from the here and now, not present to ourselves or Him.

And much of this distraction is picking through the lives of strangers. Because it’s much easier to pore over the sins of others than to repent of our own. Plus, we can enjoy a little moral outrage and superiority. We omit any reflection on our faults because those people over there have done worse.

All salvation is local. To us, as to people of his day, our Lord says, ‘If you do not repent, you will all perish!’ It’s no excuse to say that I am better than many others, or I’m basically a good person. The call to repentance is local and personal. I must fight!
Illustration The Tower of Siloam by Tissot. Some excerpts from Fr. Paul D. Scalia.

Apr 9 Wed - Why do we genuflect in church?

 

Apr 9 Wed
Why do we genuflect in church?

Catholics genuflect as a gesture of reverence, humility, and worship, particularly in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. By bending one knee to the ground, we acknowledge God's divine majesty and our faith in His presence.

It's a physical act that reflects an inner attitude of devotion and respect, performed when passing in front of the tabernacle where the Eucharist is kept.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, explained this expression of reverence we make in church — genuflection — and why we make this sign in the liturgy.

“When we come into a church, we look for the tabernacle, where the real presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament is reposed, and we genuflect!” the archbishop of New York explained.

“We go down on one knee. We genuflect. Why? That’s the ancient sign of adoration, the ancient sign of esteem, the ancient sign of worship,” he continued.

The cardinal pointed out that “when you hear the name of Jesus, every knee on earth and in heaven should bend, as St. Paul taught. That’s genuflection — we do it to Jesus, really and truly present in the most Blessed Sacrament.”

Dolan recalled that “St. Thomas Aquinas said: ‘You know what? Satan doesn’t have knees because he genuflects to no one.’ Well, we do. We genuflect to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.”

The General Instruction of the Roman Missal specifies “a genuflection, made by bending the right knee to the ground, signifies adoration, and therefore it is reserved for the most Blessed Sacrament, as well as for the holy cross” on Good Friday.

During the Mass, we genuflect at certain moments. The liturgy gives us a foretaste of and a share in the song which the Angels and Saints sing in the glory of heaven, and which we are called to sing one day. Praise the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever! Who can utter the mighty doings of the Lord, or show forth all his praise?

We must have a great love for the liturgy, because our whole life is centered on the Holy Mass, the summit of all the Church's liturgical actions. And it is in the Mass that we can establish a living relationship with the Blessed Trinity, with our Mother the Blessed Virgin, and with the Angels and Saints.

St. Josemaría taught us the value of piety in the Holy Liturgy! “I was not at all surprised when someone told me a few days ago, talking about a model priest who died recently: ‘What a saint he was!’ ‘Did you know him very well?’ I asked. ‘No,’ he said, ‘but I once saw him saying the Mass’.”

“Don't forget that the liturgical life is a life of love - love for God the Father, through Jesus Christ, in the Holy Spirit; together with the whole Church, which you are part of."

Our life must be influenced by the liturgy, and filled with liturgical spirit. The prayers and petitions of the liturgical acts can become a theme for our aspirations throughout the day. And our contact with God in the Mass must be prolonged in visits to the Blessed Sacrament and other acts of piety.

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Apr 8 Tue - What is the main task of the Church?

 

Apr 8 Tue
What is the main task of the Church?

The main mission of the Church, as articulated in various Church teachings, is fundamentally centered on evangelization and the proclamation of the Gospel. This mission is rooted in the command of Jesus Christ and is essential to the Church's identity and purpose in the world.

The Church's mission is not only about spiritual salvation but also encompasses the integral well-being of individuals and communities. It aims to free people from sin and the influence of evil, leading them into a loving relationship with God. This involves teaching moral principles and promoting justice, which are integral to the Gospel message.

What topic, then, should the world’s Church leaders be discussing?
How about this: How to confront the reality that a steadily growing number of Catholics—and especially young Catholics—aren’t much interested in anything the Church says. For a truly missionary Church, this is the crucial challenge of our time.

Rather than spending years discussing how the Church should change (a perfect example of “self-referential” Church) why not concentrate on how the Church might change the world?

And thus, we come, on March 17, to a timely look at St. Patrick, and what he did—and didn’t—do in Ireland.

St. Patrick’s is not all about leprechauns, shamrocks, and green beer. He was an influential saint who, 1,500 years ago, brought Christianity to the little country of Ireland. He was born about 385 in Great Britain; he was carried off, while still very young, and sold as a slave during a raid on Roman Britain by the Irish.

Six years later, he managed to escape to Europe, became a monk, and was ordained a priest. He then returned to Ireland to preach the Gospel. During his thirty years of missionary work, he covered Ireland with churches and monasteries. In 444 he founded the metropolitan see of Armagh. St. Patrick died in 461. After fifteen centuries, he remains the great bishop whom all Irishmen venerate as their father in the Faith.

He could have given up his missionary ambitions, figuring that the pagan culture was not ready for the Gospel. He might have compromised with that culture, finding ways to make common cause with the pagan Druids. He might have called together the few Druids, too, to discuss how the Gospel message could be tailored to the day's tastes.

Instead, St. Patrick jumped into that pagan culture and society, and preached the Gospel without apology, consecrating over 300 other bishops, and converting an entire nation. The story of St. Patrick gave proof—not for the first time—that the Gospel message sells. People crave the Good News: the item itself, not the talk about how it is packaged and delivered. Christ never sent His disciples out to host meetings to make others feel included; He sent His disciples out to preach the Gospel so fully and effectively as to prompt repentance—to change hearts.

I do not imagine St. Patrick closing a parish church in Ireland; he was far too busy opening new ones. Nor can I imagine that St. Patrick would have had the patience to endure years of talk about “preparatory workshops and assemblies for discussion,” when there is so much work to be done to bring the world to a knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Some excerpts from Phil Lawler.

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Apr 7 Mon - Can I change the World with pure (not impure) thoughts?

 

Apr 7 Mon
Can I change the World with pure (not impure) thoughts?

Sometimes our thoughts are holy and fruitful. Other times they are shameful and destructive. We can change the world by accomplishing our good thoughts: one thought, word, and deed at a time.

St. Francis of Assisi threw himself into a thorn bush to resist the temptation of impure thoughts.

Today a massive Internet pornography industry thrives. Acts of violence in movies often immediately follow impure scenes. Social scientists observe that impure imagery prepares some viewers to fulfill impure thoughts with acts of violence.

More than one modern ideological agenda is rooted in impure thoughts. An impure thought is not a harmless “victimless” sin. Impure thoughts disfigure human relationships and entire societies, just as Jesus said: “Everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Jesus uses the dismemberment metaphor to stress an impure thought's gravity. “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell...” (Mt. 5:28-30)

St. Paul reinforces the teachings of Jesus (cf. Phil. 3:17-21). The enemies of the Cross are devoid of self-control: “Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame.” He quickly promises our transfiguration in Jesus: “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it, we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body.”

The account of the Transfiguration gives Peter, James, and John a foretaste of heavenly glory and strengthens them for the turmoil of the Passion. But the Transfiguration isn’t only for them. The three Apostles accompanying Jesus represent the Church. Moses and Elijah—representing the Law and the Prophets—are in communion with Jesus. The entire history of Israel, and the world, is transfigured in Jesus.

The Mass re-presents the Transfiguration. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass fulfills, elevates, and transfigures the worship of the synagogue and the sacrifice of the Temple. The New and Everlasting Covenant fulfills and replaces the Old Covenant. Every imperfection is purified. All that is worldly and disfigured is transfigured in Jesus.

The thoughts and words of the Mass will help us to reject impure thoughts, as these gradually become our thoughts and words. Jesus teaches us His way during the Liturgy of the Word. We are at the foot of the Cross with Jesus during the Consecration. Through Holy Communion, Jesus transfigures us with His resurrected glorified body. Our encounter is individual and communal. The Mass unites us with the history of mankind transfigured in His love.

Our transfiguration begins with our thoughts and continues with our words and deeds. Prayerful thoughts of our transfiguration in Jesus—with words and deeds rooted in our worship—take flesh within our hearts, families, communities, and nations.

Our thoughts—transfigured by the grace of Jesus at Mass and the Sacraments—will change the world. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Mt 5:16)
Excerpts from Fr. Jerry Pokorsky

Apr 6 Sun - Is there a remedy for my interior disgrace?

 

Apr 6 Sun
Is there a remedy for my interior disgrace?
When our Lord received the news of Lazarus' illness, He stayed two days longer in the place where He was. Was He ignoring Lazarus?

“This could sometimes happen to us. Lord, see, I am sick. Lord, you died on the Cross out of love for me: come and heal me. And it seems as though Jesus does not hear our prayer. Trust, my child, and persevere in calling upon that loving Heart. See what He tells his disciples: ‘Lazarus sleeps, our friend is sleeping.’ Our Lord understands that we can fall asleep. He wants us to trust in him. No matter what happens, he can bring us back to life." St. Josemaría

At other times, Jesus does not wait for us to tell him anything. It is enough for us to be humble, and weep over our wretchedness and the fact that we are made of clay. “Our Lord's mercy is infinite and his immense Wisdom knows all our good desires, all our love for him.

“He also knows that everything, all those divine things, are carried in a clay vessel that can easily break. What happens then? We do what is usually done to a broken clay vessel: the pieces are put back together, and once the staples that hold the pieces together are in place, it takes on a special charm. The clay vessel continues to be useful."

“Do not let your past falls, nor the possibility of future mistakes, worry you. Let us entrust ourselves to God's loving hands. Let's present him with those desires of holiness and apostolate that are the common aim of us all, and which have made us members of this supernatural family. And then the vase will not break; and even if it does, it will be mended; and it will acquire a new charm and will continue being useful in a marvelous way, both for our holiness and for the apostolate too."

The resurrection of Lazarus shows us that everything has a remedy.
A large stone covered the entrance to the tomb. Lazarus was dead and decaying. The air was foul. “Don't you see? Apparently, there was no more that could be done. How often have I told you that our faithfulness is forged out of the struggle of every moment, with all our wretchedness and errors! Woe, pity those who do not fight! They lose their interior life, and it's very difficult to raise a dead person to life. Nevertheless, you have seen how the dead do come back to life when they hear the voice of God: Lazarus, come out."

“If earthly things don't move you, at least let Christ's voice move you. Lazarus came back to life because he heard God's voice and he wanted to get out of that state. If he had not wanted to move, he would not have come back to life. And what about you? Do you want to?"

As the eternal God raised Lazarus from the dead. In His love for us, He will lift us to everlasting life.

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Apr 5 Sat - Does my mortification facilitate my prayer?

 

Apr 5 Sat
Does my mortification facilitate my prayer?
One especially appropriate time for true penance is Lent, with its urgent call for purification, atonement, and reparation.

We need to be purified from the remains of past and present faults, and this we do by penance and mortification. These make us freer from attachment to sin, cleaner in God's eyes, and less burdened for our journey along the road to holiness.

Jesus frees us from the yoke of sin, making us capable of sharing in the divine intimacy of the Trinity, and becoming children of God.

“Lent is, then, a time of penance; this is not something negative. Lent should be lived in the spirit of filiation, which Christ has communicated to us and is alive in our souls. Our Lord calls us to come nearer to him, to be like him: ‘Be imitators of God as his dearly beloved children’, cooperating humbly but fervently in the divine purpose of mending what is broken, of saving what is lost, of bringing back order to what sinful man has put out of order, of leading to its goal what has gone astray, of re-establishing the divine balance of all creation."

Through penance, we atone to the Lord for our guilt, and through mortification, we remove the obstacles to our inner growth.
 
The more we purify ourselves, the more our interior life will progress, because mortification makes it easier for us to be friends with God. If we wish our prayers to penetrate the heavens, let us take care to purify our minds of all vices or over-human thoughts. Mortification purifies the eyes and ears of the soul. As a result, we can see the Lord more easily and be attentive to his words, in an ongoing conversation that characterizes our lives as contemplative souls.

“Just think about the wonder of God's love. Our Lord comes out to meet us, he waits for us, He is by the roadside, we cannot fail to see him. He calls each of us personally, speaking to us about our own things - which are also his. He stirs us to sorrow, and opens our conscience to be generous. He encourages us to want to be faithful, so that we can be called his disciples... Our Lord has not forgotten us during all the time in which, through our fault, we did not see him. Christ loves us with all the inexhaustible charity of God's own heart."

If we did not practice mortification, which is the prayer of the senses, and if we failed to subject our body and its inclinations to voluntary servitude, how difficult it would be for us to hear God speaking to us!

We must fight against our wretchedness to rise up to God and to hear and understand his words. Generous small mortifications help our inner recollection, enabling us to pray at all times. To attain the inner silence we need, we have to mortify our external senses, and also our imagination and memory.

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Apr 4 Fri - Charity without truth?

 

Apr 4 Fri
Charity without truth?
Pointers from the Encyclical ‘Caritas in Veritate’ of Benedict XVI.

Without truth, charity degenerates into sentimentality. Love becomes an empty shell, to be filled arbitrarily. In a culture without truth, this is the fatal risk facing love. (no. 3).

Fideism: thinking that faith is independent of reason.
Truth frees charity from the slavery of emotionalism; Fideism deprives Truth of human and universal breathing space. (no. 3).

Charity without God.
A Christianity of ‘charity without truth’ would be more or less a pool of good sentiments, helpful for social cohesion, but of little relevance. Thus, there would no longer be any real place for God in the world. (no. 4).

The Church does not go into politics.
The Church does not have technical solutions to offer, and does not claim “to interfere in any way in the politics of States.” She does, however, have a mission of truth to accomplish, in every time and circumstance, for a society that is attuned to man, to his dignity, to his vocation…. This mission of truth is something that the Church can never renounce. (no. 9).

The Church is for man’s true progress.
Progress, in its origin and essence, is first and foremost a vocation: “In the plan of God, every man is called upon to develop and fulfill himself, for every life is a vocation.” This is what gives legitimacy to the Church's involvement in the whole question of development.” (no. 16).

Intellectual property.
On the part of rich countries, there is excessive zeal for protecting knowledge through an unduly rigid assertion of the right to intellectual property, especially in the field of health care. (no. 22)

Integral progress.
Progress of a merely economic and technological kind is insufficient. Development needs, above all, to be true and integral. The mere fact of emerging from economic backwardness, though positive in itself, does not resolve the complex issues of human advancement. (no. 23).

Job insecurity.
When the uncertainty over working conditions, caused by mobility and deregulation, becomes endemic, tends to create new forms of psychological instability, giving rise to difficulty in forging coherent plans for one’s life, including marriage. This leads to situations of human decline, to say nothing of the waste of social resources. (no. 25).

Man, the first asset.
I would like to remind everyone, especially governments engaged in boosting the world's economic and social assets, that the primary capital to be safeguarded and valued is man, the human person in his or her integrity: “Man is the source, the focus and the aim of all economic and social life” (no. 25).

Fight against hunger.
In the global era, the elimination of world hunger has also become a requirement for safeguarding the peace and stability of the planet. Hunger is not so much dependent on lack of material things as on shortage of social resources, the most important of which are institutional. (no. 27).

Life and development.
Openness to life is at the center of true development. When a society moves towards the denial or suppression of life, it ends up no longer finding the necessary motivation and energy to strive for man's true good. (no. 28).

New forms of slavery.
When man is far from God, he is unsettled and ill at ease. The new forms of slavery like drugs and the lack of hope into which so many people fall, can be explained not only in sociological and psychological terms but also in essentially spiritual terms. The emptiness of a soul that feels abandoned, despite the availability of many therapies for body and mind, leads to suffering.
There cannot be holistic development and universal common good unless people's spiritual and moral welfare is taken into account, considered in their totality as body and soul. (n. 76).

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Apr 3 Thu - Can I have a conversation with God?

 

Apr 3 Thu
Can I have a conversation with God?

Among the highest gifts we may receive from God is being able to pray and have a conversation with Him, because it means that we are in His company and in union with Him.

When light enters our eyes, our eyesight is activated and sharpened; when a person is listening to God, God’s inextinguishable light shines into him and his soul becomes bright and clear. I am talking, of course, of prayer that comes from the heart and not from routine. We may pray regularly every day, but prayer may be had continuously by day and by night.

Indeed, the soul should not only turn to God at times of scheduled prayer. Whatever we are engaged in, whether it is care for others, regular professional work, or some act of generosity, we should also remember God and say something to Him, internally.

Thus, the love of God becomes as salt is to food, turning anything we do into a perfect dish offered to the Lord of all things. Then it is right that we should receive the reward for our actions, to be enjoyed through all eternity, if we offer everything to Him every day of our lives.

Prayer is the light of the soul, true knowledge of God, and a link between God and men. Prayer lifts the soul into the heavens hugging God in an embrace beyond description. The soul seeks food from God like a starving person on the hunt for a meal. It fulfills its commitments and receives in exchange gifts better than anything that can be seen or imagined.

Prayer is a go-between linking us to God. It gives joy to the soul and calms its emotions. I warn you, though: do not imagine that prayer is simply words. Prayer is the desire for God, leading to commitment, not given by man but brought about by God’s grace. As St Paul says: For when we cannot choose words to pray properly, the Spirit intercedes on our behalf in a way that could never be put into words.

If God gives you the gift of such prayer, it is a gift of permanent riches, a heavenly food that satisfies the spirit. Whoever tastes that food catches fire and his soul glows forever with desire for the Lord.

To begin on this path, start by adorning your house –your soul– with purity and humility. Make it shine brightly with the light of justice. Decorate the walls with the gold leaf of good works, with the crystal chandeliers of faithfulness and greatness of heart. Finally, to make the house perfect, place a solid roof above it all, with the satellite dish of prayer.

Thus, you will have prepared a clean and sparkling house for the Lord. Receive the Lord into this royal and splendid mansion — in other words: receive –by his grace– His image into the temple of your soul, become another Christ.

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Apr 2 Wed - For what reason should I be happy?

 

Apr 2 Wed
For what reason should I be happy?
“What a strange capacity man has to forget even the most wonderful things, to become used to mystery! Let's remind ourselves, this Lent, that the Christian cannot be superficial. While being fully involved in his everyday work, among other men, his equals; busy, under stress, the Christian has to be at the same time totally involved with God, for he is a child of God.”

Christ taught us to act as children do before their Father.
At the most important times of his life on earth, Christ wished to show us his attitude of prayer to his Father: such as when he raised Lazarus to life, when he multiplied the loaves and fishes, or when he instituted the Eucharist, or in the loneliness of Gethsemane, or on Calvary when he prayed: Father, into your hands I commend my spirit!

Our presence of God, and our conversation with God our Lord, should not be based on feelings or imagination; they should be deep-rooted habits that lead us to please God and seek to fulfill his will in everything.

“A man of God is never alone. He has no reason for boredom, since he is always in the presence of his Beloved. The Lord is waiting for us at every moment. He takes an interest in everything that happens to us. God is beside us, full of loving care, like a mother and a father, always ready to listen to our words, always responding to our love. He watches over us and wants us to turn to him, confidently, asking for help, knowing that He will never fail to hear us.”

This is presence of God: we should never lose it. Filiation is union: and sanctity consists in union.

The fruit of presence of God is cheerfulness, which makes the path of sanctity pleasant.
“Let us be happy. I am happy. I shouldn't be, looking at my life, making that personal examination of conscience that Lent requires. But I do feel happy, for I see that the Lord is seeking me again, that the Lord is still my Father. I know that you and I will surely see, with the light and help of grace, what things must be burned and we will burn them; what things must be uprooted, and we will uproot them; what things have to be given up, and we will give them up.”

“Without joy, we cannot serve. Can you imagine someone serving you with weeping and wailing?”

Therefore, if we ever feel sad, we must see if we are struggling hard to live in God's presence. “Are you unhappy? Think: there must be an obstacle between God and me. You will seldom be wrong.” God our Father wants us to be happy; thus, He wants us to be in his presence, always trying to fulfill his will. St. Josemaría tells us: “Use the same method as I do. I forget that I exist. I can’t have any personal problems because I can’t think about my affairs - I don’t have time to.”

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Apr 1 Tue - Why did Our Lord allow the Devil to tempt him?

 

Apr 1 Tue
Why did Our Lord allow the Devil to tempt him?

“Hear, O God, my petition, listen to my prayer." Who is speaking? An individual, it seems. Let’s see if it is an individual: “I cried out to you from the ends of the earth while my heart was in anguish." Now it is no longer one person; it is one in the sense that Christ is one, and we are all his members. But what single individual can cry from the ends of the earth? The one who cries from the ends of the earth is none other than the Son’s inheritance. Jesus was told by his Father: “Ask of me, and I shall give you the nations as your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as your possession." This possession of Christ, this inheritance of Christ, this body of Christ, is the one Church of Christ. She cries from the ends of the earth because we all form a single family.

What does she cry? She says: “Hear, O God, my petition, listen to my prayer; I cried out to you from the ends of the earth." She cries from every part of the world.

How does she cry? With her heart in anguish. The speaker shows that the Church is present among all the nations of the earth not in a state of exalted glory but in a condition of severe trial.

Our pilgrimage on earth cannot be exempt from hardship. We progress through suffering. No one gets to know himself except through trial, receives a crown except after victory, or grows stronger except by fighting the temptations of the enemy.

The body of the Church crying from the ends of the earth is in anguish but is not left on its own. Christ chose to go ahead of us, who are his body, using his body, in which he died, rose, and ascended into heaven. Now, the members of his body may hope to follow where their Head has gone before.

He made you one with him when He chose to be tempted by Satan. You have heard in the gospel how the Lord Jesus Christ was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. Certainly, Christ was tempted by the devil. Thus, you and I are also tempted. Christ received his flesh from our human nature, but by his own power gained salvation for you. He suffered death in your nature, but by his own power gained glory for you. Thus, He suffered temptation in your human nature, and by his own power gained victory for you.

If, like Christ, you are tempted, in him and with him, you can overcome the devil. Do you think only of Christ’s temptations and fail to think of his victory? If you see yourself as tempted like him, see yourself as victorious with him. He could have kept the devil away from himself; but if He had not been tempted, he could not teach you how to overcome temptations.

Thus, since Christ suffered temptation, united to Him, and with him, we overcome the Devil.
Excerpts from St Augustine

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Mar 31 Mon - Why do some run away from God?

 

Mar 31 Mon
Why do some run away from God?
“Two wrongs these people of mine committed; they deserted me, the fountain of living water, and then they dug water reservoirs of their own, leaking cisterns, that could not keep or give them water.” Jeremiah 2:13.

Open your eyes for a moment and you will see your God in tears. Open your eyes and you will see the utter confusion of this age we live in. In all the history of humanity has there ever been worse chaos? Men and women, young and old, rich and poor, have all run away from their God. They have removed from their shoulders the sweet yoke of the Almighty and thrown it far away. The nations of the earth have rebelled against their Lord and His Christ.

Perhaps, like the prophet, we think that only the uncultured and the illiterate are ignorant of the ways and precepts of Yahweh. We turn to men of influence, men of power: we speak to them of God. Surely, they, at least, will know His commandments. "And these I found conspiring, as none other, to throw off the yoke, to break through their bonds."

Look at them all running madly from God. And then in their wild, irrational flight they suddenly stumble against the Cross standing dark and lonely in their path. They keep on, escaping from this Cross, leaving it behind alone and forgotten. A great army of determined creatures united in their hatred of the Creator. And the mad torrent of those who hate Him carries away those indifferent and lukewarm.

Where are they going? They have left God far behind, and now they go about searching for something worth believing in, something to quench their thirst. Now it is the turn of unbelieving men, nailed to the false cross of their own unbearable lives, to cry "I thirst" also, because they do not know where to look for water. The earth for them is a hateful place, and heaven is very far off. But where are they going?

They seek new gods and new creeds to believe in. They all, whether it be in their nation, or their race, or money . . ., seek something that neither nation nor race nor money can give. They try to replace the divinity of God, who is our Father, by adoring His creatures in the filthy mire of their evil ways.

The ancient cry of the Holy Spirit is woeful and still new: They abandoned me, the fountain of living water, and sought water where there was none.

And nowadays it is these leaking reservoirs-makers who shape the destinies of the nations of the earth. They know only hate, nothing of love. The education and formation of the men of tomorrow are in their dirty hands, crooked and deformed from fondling their money.

They talk of peace and try to console the victims of war, and the injured. These are the leaders in the present disorder and they vainly promise order and prosperity.

They speak of a great brotherhood to unite the rich with the poor, masters with their servants, children with their parents, and soldiers with statesmen. They speak of this great union that ignores Christ and laughs at His Church.

What shall we do?
Let’s go on. Continue our journey straight ahead, undeterred by the barking dogs we meet along. "Will. — Energy. — Example. — What has to be done, is done . . . without hesitation …, without more worrying …

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Did Jesus have likes and dislikes?

 

Did Jesus have likes and dislikes?

One way to tell whether one person knows another well is whether he is familiar with what that other person likes and does not like.  Aristotle said it was a mark of friendship to like and dislike the same things.  Maybe those who do can spend more time together, with less conflict.  At very least, to know what someone likes is a test of friendship.  Country music or classical?  Fast cars or punting on a lazy river?  Ethnic food or mac n’ cheese?

Therefore, if we are friends with Jesus, we should have an idea of what He likes and dislikes. I mean, in His human nature – those likes and dislikes which have the character of tastes, or visceral reactions.  Jesus loved mercy and hated sin, of course.  Did He react viscerally to sin, in His human nature?  Presumably so. And yet perhaps, even here, He did so more viscerally to some sins than to others.

He had to have had likes and dislikes, like all of us, if He assumed a genuine human nature.

When we think of such things, we often begin with food.  Let’s start there.  Do we know anything about the food He liked?  Newman said that He preferred simplicity.  After the Resurrection, on the shore, when Peter and His friends were in the boat fishing, He could have prepared for Himself, by His infinite might, any meal that He wished.  It was an Easter meal, after all.  You or I might have chosen filet mignon and fine wine.  Yet Jesus roasted one small fish and some bread over a charcoal fire. (Jn 21:9)

On the other hand, He had a taste for fine wine, “thou hast kept the good wine until now.” (Jn 2:10) And with magnanimity, He recognized the place for it, in abundance, at the celebration of a wedding.

In clothing, He seemed to despise luxury, “But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are clothed in soft garments, are in the houses of kings.” (Mt. 11:8) And yet He loved good workmanship, because He wore next to Himself an exquisite garment, so well-wrought that even coarse soldiers declined to tear it. (Jn 19:23)

He must have liked to walk.  Hundreds of miles of journeys on foot are attributed to Him in the Gospels.  He loved being outdoors for days on end.  From His teachings, we know he loved nature, flowers, birds, fish in the sea, the seasons, and the sky.  He liked climbing mountains.  He liked the solitude and quiet of nature.

His earthly father, Joseph, picked where He was to grow up.  But in doing so, Joseph was only following the Lord’s providence.  It was Jesus who selected the place of His childhood.  What did He like?  Not a city, but a small village on a lake, remote from any city, a full two days’ journey from Jerusalem.   The lake is beautiful and self-contained, a place that a small boy can easily view as his home.

He loved going through life with family and relatives.  He could have told them to stay behind but He invited them to follow Him around.  He liked hospitality; His was an open household.  We think of His instructions to the Apostles, “You find them something to eat,” in the face of the 5,000 and 4,000, as a special test of their faith.  But what if He was merely saying what He usually said when many guests would be joining them for dinner?

In politics, His government was a mixture of monarchy (Peter), aristocracy (the Apostles), and timocracy (the seventy or so other disciples).  The only time a crowd is depicted as having a say is when it demanded the release of Barabbas and clamored for His own crucifixion.  His parables refer to lords, masters, and kings.  He liked doing things through mediators.  As a practical matter, He seemed to adopt the approach of His earthly father, who simply avoided conflict with bad rulers such as Herod: “When they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another.” (Mt. 10:23)

He liked logic, wrangling, defining terms, drawing distinctions, disputation, and argument – no 12-year-old boy places himself in a crowd of doctors, carrying on with them, who doesn’t.  “They found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, hearing them, and asking them questions.” (Lk 2:46)  

He loved to read, memorized Scripture, and in His own speech imitated the poetry of Scripture, its cadence, tone, and imagery.  He seems to have liked the book of Isaiah and the Psalms best of all.

I am making surmises here, not taking myself to be in any way authoritative, and inviting you to do the same.

What about personalities?  These seem different from virtues and vices.  Is smugness a virtue or a vice?  Sincerity?  Snark? There are three personalities He disliked very much.  He disliked hardness of heart (Mk. 3:5); hypocrisy (Lk. 12:1); and esteeming oneself as righteous (Jn 9:41). There are theological reasons for hating these traits, but for Him it seemed visceral as well. If you want Jesus to “take a liking” to you, avoid them.  He will love you nonetheless, but do you want His love to be overcoming a repulsion?

He liked the opposite of these.  These likings, it seems, help to explain His choice of Apostles.  John had an evident tenderness of heart.  In his old age, Jerome reports, John would simply repeat, over and over again, “Little children, love one another.” In Nathaniel, there was no guile, deceit, or hypocrisy (Jn 1:47). Peter seems always aware of his weakness and sin, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” (Lk. 5:8)

God loves us, for sure.  And yet, an idea for Lent: become someone Jesus really likes.
By Michael Pakaluk

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Mar 30 Sun - Does sin separate me from God?

 

Mar 30 Sun
Does sin separate me from God?
We have been constituted children of God. As children, we are also heirs, heirs of God, and co-heirs with Jesus Christ.

This is a promise of incalculable gains and limitless happiness, which only in heaven will reach its fullness and complete achievement. Until then, we have the possibility of misusing the inheritance: this is what the younger prodigal son did. Like him, we could go away from our father’s house and waste all our wealth.

A Christian, as long as he is a pilgrim on earth, can dispose of his life freely; he can choose to be holy, serving in his father’s house, or he can choose to be a sinner, far away from it. The consequences are not similar.

Even more, the inclination to sin is in each person. The Vatican II tells us: “What divine Revelation makes known to us agrees with our experience. Examining his heart, man finds that he has inclinations toward evil. … Man is split within himself. As a result, all of human life, whether individual or collective, shows itself to be a dramatic struggle between good and evil, between light and darkness."

The temptation of grabbing the goods and going away can appear at any moment in life.

Mortal sin is the greatest tragedy that can happen to the Christian. It is so grievous this evil, that all mortal sins, even those of thought, turn men into sons of wrath and enemies of God.

Through sin, we lose sanctifying grace, which makes us children of God, remain subject to the devil, and become guilty of eternal damnation. “Don't forget, my son, that, for you, on earth, there is but one evil, which you must fear and avoid with the grace of God: sin."
 
And that day, when that young man went away from home, he considered himself very lucky, away from the limitations of his father.

Soon he began to suffer want. Outside God, man becomes a lonely and hungry being. He sinned to obtain a certain material pleasure; that pleasure was over and done, and sin remained. Joy vanished, and the chain remained. Satisfaction ended shortly and remorse took over. What a hard slavery!

He had to go to tend swine, the most shameful thing for a Jew.

But he “came to himself.” He examined his conscience and acknowledged his sin. This is the beginning of conversion: repentance. When one ignores or justifies his sin, conversion is blocked.

And, he decided to return to his father’s house. This is what a faithful man does after a big or small fall. When we stumble, we must stand up at once, with humility, without blaming others or the environment.

How close to God is the man who confesses his sin! Yes, God does not spurn a contrite heart. A humble person feels the need to ask God for pardon many times a day.

“God is waiting for us, like the father in the parable, with open arms, even though we don't deserve it. It doesn't matter how great our debt is. Just like the prodigal son, all we have to do is open our heart, to long for our Father's house, to wonder at and rejoice in the gift that God makes us, that of being his children, even though our response to him has been so poor."

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Mar 29 Sat - How can I keep walking along the straight road?

 

Mar 29 Sat
How can I keep walking along the straight road?
If you say "enough", you are lost. Go further, keep going. Don't stay in the same place, don't go back, don't go off the road.

Our struggle must not be vague. Thus, we must know ourselves thoroughly. We need a clear awareness of our weaknesses and sins to tackle them effectively and improve. We must examine our conscience daily. St Basil recommends: “Examine yourself to find what you are. Do everything possible to know yourself."

Perhaps we try to keep close to Jesus Christ, and want to seek Him in all our actions, but we often fail.

With our examination of conscience, we discover faults and omissions in fulfilling our commitment of love as Christians, and our duties as citizens. We see that we are still not humble enough, that our heart is attached to material things, and that our concern for others is scant. Why is this so? What is the reason for so much carelessness?

We must remain vigilant. Probably you remember friends, good Christians, but they got lost. Do not imagine that they fell victim to a sudden failure. No, each went astray by neglecting his soul for a long spell, so that the firmness of his virtues was gradually undermined and his vices grew little by little, and so he came to a wretched downfall.

Through the examination of conscience, we get to know ourselves as we are, as sinners. Then we decide on the human and supernatural means we need to improve on the next day.

We must not delay this self-knowledge for some unspecified time in the future. It is urgent, today and now. On it depends our making the best use of the time our Lord gives us. We cannot forget that we know neither the day nor the hour when we will have to render an account to God. If we wish to stand at Jesus Christ's right hand on that day, we must fight now.

Our examination of conscience should yield specific resolutions for the following day: to improve in one Norm of piety, to conquer ourselves in a particularly difficult point of struggle, or to live better our consideration for others.

When we get up the next day, we should review our resolutions. Along with offering the day, we tell our Lord, I will serve!

“We must decide. It's wrong to have two candles lit - one to St Michael and another to the devil. We must snuff out the devil's candle: we must spend our life completely in the service of the Lord. If our desire for holiness is sincere, if we are docile enough to place ourselves in God's hands, everything will go well. For He is always ready to give us his grace, especially at a time like this - grace for a new conversion, a step forward in our lives as Christians."

“We cannot regard this Lent as just another liturgical season which has happened to come around again. It is a unique time: a divine help that we should accept. Jesus is passing by and He expects us to take a great step forward - today, now."

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Mar 28 Fri - Today, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the priestly ordination of St. Josemaría.

 

Mar 28 Fri
Today, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the priestly ordination of St. Josemaría.

All human beings have been redeemed by Christ the Priest. “The Word was made flesh to save men, to make them one with Him: this is why He came into the world."

Moreover, God made some men sharers in his ministerial priesthood, consecrating them and dedicating them to that service through the Sacrament of Orders.

St Paul says: “Because Jesus Christ lives forever and his Priesthood remains for all eternity." It is eternal and it is made eternal in us, his priests. Thus, when the priest consecrates, when he renews the Holy Sacrifice, he consecrates the Body and the Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and he can say: ‘This is my Body’: the Body of Christ. ‘This is my Blood’: the Blood of Christ. The priest is another Christ."

If all Christians are ‘alter Christus’, other Christs, due to the marvelous and unique fact of having been baptized, the priest is another Christ also in a sacramental way, by the priestly ordination which configures him with Christ the Head of the Mystical Body. It enables him to act in Christ's name, with the power to renew the eucharistic Sacrifice, to forgive sins, and to preach the Word of God with authority. For this reason, the ministerial priesthood requires sanctity of life, a love able to stand up to all sacrifices, and an unconditional dedication to his mission.

St. Josemaría wrote, “What was God asking of me? He was asking for fidelity to his plans, for generous correspondence to his desire to open up the divine pathways of the earth. He was asking for a loving and firm fortitude, so that his Will would find an opening among men. Thus, I feel the grave responsibility to correspond to the mercies of God with an attitude of vigilant and loving firmness, so that nothing and no one will be able to force, to disfigure, the specific features that God has wanted to impress in this way of ours, which is a new way in the life of the Church."

The Church asks her children to pray for the sanctity of priests and an increase in priestly vocations. It is a duty of all the Christian faithful. St. Josemaría reminded us of it in his catechesis to thousands of people: “You must pray very much, so that we priests will be extremely faithful all over the world because every day, when we go up to the altar, we lend our Lord our body and our voice. It would be very sad if we betrayed the fidelity we owe Him, because we are Christ himself."

Priests are instruments of grace, despite their personal limitations. St Augustine explains, “The spiritual power of the sacrament is like light: it arrives pure to the objects it illuminates, and it is not stained even though it passes through a dirty medium. Nonetheless, ministers should be holy, and they should not seek their own glory, but rather that of the One they serve."

Thus, we should pray and mortify ourselves for them, so that they will be as God wants: faithful servants of Christ and stewards of God's mysteries.

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Mar 27 Thu - Is purity of heart a thing for everyone?

 

Mar 27 Thu
Is purity of heart a thing for everyone?
The Church invites us to consider the life of the holy Patriarchs of the Old Testament, so that by reading their story we may follow their footsteps, and tread the path of sanctity they went through with their efforts. St Ambrose tells us: Today we come to the story of Joseph. He had many virtues, but his chastity stands out most. We have learned about unshakeable faith from Abraham, about the purity of a sincere heart from Isaac, and about marvelous patience in difficulties from Jacob. It is only natural that Joseph should now be offered to us as a model of chastity.

The Apostle Paul exhorts us: Be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is fitting among saints.

Anything that could tarnish holy purity, a virtue for everyone, must be kept far from our souls. “When I remind you now that Christians must keep perfect chastity, I am referring to everyone: to the unmarried, who must practice complete continence; and to those who are married, who practice chastity by fulfilling the duties of their state in life."

“If one has the spirit of God, chastity is not a troublesome and humiliating burden, but a joyful affirmation. Will-power, dominion, and self-mastery do not come from the flesh or from instinct They come from the will, especially if it is united to the will of God. To be chaste (and not merely continent or decent) we must subject our passions to reason, but for a noble motive, namely, the promptings of Love."

We have to go through life with love, with a love that is whole and entire, untarnished by anything. We must struggle to keep our integrity, never dialoguing with those foul things that continually seem to boil and rise within us.

To be chaste and clean, we depend on the knowledge of our weakness and our love for God and his purest Mother; they never deny us their help.

Let us learn to be humble, St. Josemaría insists. “We need prudence to protect our Love. We must keep a careful watch and not be overcome by fear. Many of the classical spiritual authors compare the devil to a mad dog tied down by a chain. If we do not go near him, he cannot bite us, no matter how much he barks. If you foster humility in your souls, you will certainly avoid the occasions of sin, and you will react by having the courage to run away from them. You will have daily recourse to the help that comes from heaven and you will make lively progress along this path of true love."

Humility will also bring us to use another very effective means, which is sincerity. Always be sincere. Be sincere with your spiritual mentor and with the priest. Finally, be very sincere with yourselves.
Holy purity is a virtue for everyone; it is a joyful "yes" from the fullness of love.

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Mar 26 Wed - What is Montse Grases’s prayer of closeness?

 

Mar 26 Wed
What is Montse Grases’s prayer of closeness?

The 17-year-old girl Montse Grases died with a reputation of sanctity after a long illness caused by bone cancer on March 26, 1959, precisely on Holy Thursday.

Pope Francis acknowledged her heroic virtues on April 26, 2016, and, since then, Masses for the dead have become Masses of thanksgiving as she is already considered by the Church as a model of holiness and virtues. Undoubtedly, those who knew her have an indelible memory of her. Her school friends, now octogenarians, continue to gather to remember Montse's smile and good humor that has served as a stimulus in their lives.

Pope Francis declared the need for new models of next-door saints, neighborhood saints. “She had that girl-next-door charm. She was effortlessly approachable. She was one of us; just like family", exclaimed Montse's school friends quite naturally.

All the saints, especially the young ones, proposed as models of holiness, have in common the “prayer of solidarity,” of trust or companionship and closeness to God.
What is that?

You see, there are two modes of prayer in the Church of God: first, the prayer of mercy. We go to God with simplicity and humility to ask for his help in our needs, appealing to his infinite compassion. "God does not tire of forgiving, it is we, who tire of asking for forgiveness". Jesus’ merciful heart does not get tired of paying attention to our supplications and needs.

Secondly, God gives special grace to some saints and shares with them a divine and human “solidarity” or close companionship. These saints trust God, enjoy His trust, and do what He wants.
I can have a prayer of solidarity by loving God today and here, trusting and having Him close, accompanying me in what I am doing right now, and sharing with Him my life in the simple circumstances of my life.

Since she became aware of God's call to Opus Dei, Montse Grases tried to seek intimacy with Jesus, to study with Him, to talk a lot with Him even while playing, and to share little joys and worries. She would internally talk with God while enjoying time with her friends, helping her mother at home with house duties – she was the oldest of nine siblings – or going on excursions.

The key to Montse's life, what led her to heroic holiness, was to accept God's daily invitation to companionship and dialogue with Him, as constantly and truly as possible, for, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church affirms:
“If you knew the gift of God!” The wonder of prayer is revealed beside the well where we come seeking water: there, Christ comes to meet every human being. He first seeks us and asks us for a drink. Jesus thirsts; his asking arises from the depths of God’s desire for us. Whether we realize it or not, prayer is the encounter of God’s thirst with our thirst. God thirsts that we may thirst for him.

This thirst she quenched in conversation with God while living with him the ordinary activities of everyday life.
Excerpts from José Carlos Martín de la Hoz

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Mar 25 Tue - How did Mary accept the mission announced to her by the Archangel?

 

Mar 25 Tue
How did Mary accept the mission announced to her by the Archangel?

The whole of creation had long yearned for that moment; the mystery we commemorate today: the Incarnation of the Word, who comes into the world to free us from sin and eternal death, and to make us children of God.

Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you. At the announcement of Gabriel, Mary was greatly troubled... and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. The whole history of our salvation depended on her reply. “Open your heart to faith, O Blessed Virgin,” exclaims St Bernard, “your lips to consent, your pure womb to the Creator. See how the one Desired by all peoples is calling at your door. What a calamity if you should delay in opening to him and he should pass on, and afterward you should go back in sorrow to look for the beloved of your soul! Rise, make haste, open. Rise by your faith, make haste by your devotion, open by your consent!”

There is not a shadow of doubt in the words of our Lady when she questions the Archangel, but rather only the desire to know with certainty what the Will of God was, in order to put it into practice. Likewise, our Christian vocation leads us to fulfill the divine Will with the same generous self-giving we see in the Blessed Virgin.

As laypeople, we must listen to the voice of God amid our daily concerns. “We are contemplative souls, because in the middle of our work, our heart escapes to God, it goes often to the oratory, and we tell him, without anyone hearing us, without doing anything strange: ‘My Jesus, I love you.’ Don't be afraid to call him Jesus, to call him that often."

The response of Mary to the announcement of Gabriel expresses her immutable decision to fulfill the Will of God exactly as it has been made known to her. In the words of our Lady, there is a tone of resolve, of firmness, of something finished, definitive. She does not respond with a mere yes to the divine Will, but with a fiat! - let it be done! - which expresses an active and total conformity to what God is asking of her. It is much more than a mere giving of permission. It is a resolute adherence to the plan of God, a commitment of her whole life without wavering.

Before the example of Mary, we can consider whether our dedication to God is also total, full of faith, cheerful, and unquestioning, without the slightest hesitation. “Ask Jesus: Lord, how is my dedication? Has there been some look of displeasure, something that can hurt you, Lord, my love?"

Remember, “God has chosen us from all eternity; He has called us by our name. It is not we who have chosen him, but rather He who has chosen us first to do something specific on earth."

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Mar 24 Mon - Should I fight against my uncontrolled passions?

 

Mar 24 Mon
Should I fight against my uncontrolled passions?
The Old Testament tells the story of Naaman, a Syrian, who caught leprosy. A maidservant had told him about a prophet in Samaria who could cure him. Naaman came and halted at the door of Elisha's house. And Elisha sent a messenger to him saying, "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh will be restored, and you shall be clean.”
Like Naaman's leprosy, our passions need healing.

Our senses are like the doors of the soul. They feed the soul continuously. Therefore, we must guard our senses, to avoid spiritual leprosy getting into our souls.

“Overindulgence. You satisfy your senses and faculties in whatever pool you meet. And you can feel the results: disconcerted purpose, scattered attention, deadened will, and accelerated concupiscence. Subject yourself once again to a serious plan that will make you lead a Christian life. Or you'll never do anything worthwhile."

“We have to fight against our passions by increasing our life of piety daily. Nobody can imagine they lack the necessary means for the fight. If anyone abandons those means, they will fall.”

“It's a clear symptom: when someone's soul is dull, and his life is languid, you can be sure that he abandoned the fight some time ago; that his heart is empty of God and filled instead with selfishness, love of comfort, and the flesh ...So feed your soul on God's love. Give it to him completely!" St. Josemaría

We must love God with our whole being, even with our body and our senses, which must be instruments in his service. This goal is a hard one, because the senses tend towards what is immediately pleasing and gratifying. That is why we must struggle.

St Gregory remarks: “Some want to be humble without being despised. They want to be happy with what they have but without lacking anything. They want to be chaste without mortifying their body ... They try to acquire virtues without the effort that virtue requires. It is as though they hope to win a war by living comfortably in the city, without having anything to do with the combat on the battlefield." Of course, they cannot win in that way.

The conquerors are those who remain awake and vigilant, who battle with the enemy, and who regularly mortify themselves. And these people are precisely the happiest. Because, to achieve happiness, you need a heart that is in love, not an easy life.

Then, “Life recovers shades and tones which impurity blurred. We find ourselves able to care for the needs of others, to share what is ours, to devote our energies to great causes. Temperance makes the soul sober, modest, and understanding. It fosters an attractive character that denotes intelligent self-control. Temperance does not imply narrowness, but greatness of soul.”

“Real deprivation is in the impure heart that gives up self-dominion, only to become enslaved by the first caller who comes along ringing some pathetic, tinny cowbell."

If we appeal lovingly to our Lady, as her children, temperance will bear fruit in us; and our heart, our senses, and our whole life will be filled with God.

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Mar 23 Sun - Why is God’s Name to be respected?

 

Mar 23 Sun
Why is God’s Name to be respected?

In today’s Mass passage of Genesis, God discloses his name: “I AM” or, “I AM WHO AM.”

In obedience to the Second Commandment, the people of Israel showed a profound respect for the holy Name God revealed to Moses. Out of reverence, they would never speak or write that name, substituting a word translated into English in most Bibles as “Lord.” Even today, many Jews won’t even write the word “God,” instead inserting a dash between the two consonants: “G-d.”

We too should give supreme respect to God’s Name – including the name of Jesus Christ. Respect for his name is an expression of the respect owed to the mystery of God himself and to the whole sacred reality it evokes. This respect extends to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the saints, and all holy things.

Respect for God’s name includes oaths and vows.

To take an oath is to call upon God as a witness to a truth or a promise. Therefore, an oath must be taken in truth, only when really required, and with justice.

Perjury is a promise under oath with no intention of keeping it, or when after promising on oath one does not keep it. Pledging oneself by oath to commit an evil deed is contrary to the holiness of the divine name.

A vow is a promise made to God. These promises require commitment, a serious obligation, and should be made with free will to be valid.

Other sins against the Second Commandment are blasphemy and ridicule of the Faith.

Christians must defend and profess faith in God’s Name by reacting peacefully and reasonably to sins against the Second Commandment.

The holiness of the divine name demands that we neither use it for trivial matters. Some people show reverence for Jesus’ name by bowing their heads slightly whenever they say or hear the name Jesus.

Unfortunately, many people curse, and take God’s name in vain many times a day thoughtlessly, out of anger, or frustration, or to get a reaction.

Some people, even children, have gotten into the habit of saying, “Oh my God!” constantly and for trivial reasons, whereas we should only say that as a prayer. We can retrain ourselves or our children to say, “Oh my gosh” or “Oh my goodness.”

When we take God’s name in vain, we can make a silent act of reparation. When we hear others do so, we can also make a silent act of reparation.

Using prudence, we can also correct others; we may say something like this, “I love God very much, and when you say that, it really hurts me.” This would be a peaceful and reasonable way to react to a sin against the Second Commandment.

God calls each one by name. Everyone's name is sacred, and is the icon of the person. It demands respect as a sign of the dignity of man. In Baptism, the Christian receives his name in the Church. Parents, godparents, and the pastor must choose a Christian name. The patron saint provides a model of charity and the assurance of his prayer.

The name one receives is a name for eternity. In the kingdom, the mysterious and unique character of each person marked with God's name will shine forth in splendor.

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Mar 22 Sat - Were the saints “special” people?

 

Mar 22 Sat
Were the saints “special” people?
Some books about saints sometimes overlook the weaknesses of the central characters. Their biographers probably feared that we, readers, would be shocked to see them as normal men and women like us.

And precisely those of us who are not yet as close to our Father God as they are, need to realize - because it will help us greatly - that those who are on the altars were not made of wax or plastic, but, like all mortals, of flesh and blood, suffered pain, and had their burdens. They were ordinary people who had to take pills, slept badly, or needed to be shaken, from time to time, to avoid falling asleep in prayer.

Certain books have put the saints so far away from us that all we can do is admire them. And sometimes not even that. For about one, we are told that he never looked at the ceiling of his cell, out of mortification; of another, that he did not dare to look at his mother to better keep his chastity. And we conclude that the first had the ceiling full of cobwebs, and the second, was full of complexes. And we are friends of cleanliness, and of kissing our mother with affection.

There is no way to imitate these saints. If they are described as walking, they never stop; if climbing, they never get tired; if working, they never rest; if praying, they never get distracted. And we who often break off and sometimes sink! We, who get often distracted and feel the weight of fatigue! And we who stumble in so many things..., and have to say every day: “Forgive us our trespasses"! Will it be that holiness is not for us?

And yet "Let us not deceive ourselves: in our life, if we find courage in ourselves and victories, we must also find weakness and defeats. This has always been the Christian's earthly pilgrimage, including the saints. True biographies of Christian heroes are like our lives: they fought and won, fought and lost. And then, contrite, they returned to the fight".

So... what can we do? Ask for forgiveness, confess, rectify the intention, discard discouragements, and return to the fray. We are never shocked at the bad weeds that grow in our fields, nor fail to pull them up.

We all can and should be saints. We all have to try to achieve this goal. We have the means granted to us by Heaven. Let us struggle to achieve it!

In the lives of the saints, there are supernatural events, clear interventions of God, especially when He makes them do great things on earth with few or no human means.

But, in any case, men attain holiness not just by these actions, which are of the Lord, but also by their generosity in responding to the grace that He gives us to reach the goal.

He who fights to achieve it and helps others to go on...; he who does not hinder the action of God in his soul and tries to fulfill always and in everything the will of the Lord..., that is the real saint!

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