June 30 Fri
Today, the Church celebrates the memory of the First Roman Martyrs. They were chosen by God at the first hour, and paid with blood for their faith in Christ. They were ordinary persons and citizens of the capital of the Roman empire. They were living faithfully to our Lord in the midst of earthly affairs. Each community of the faithful gathered persons of all the social strata and of all backgrounds. They were people converted to the faith of Christ, which kept them together.

All the professions were represented in these communities: there were doctors such as Luke; lawyers such as Zela; financiers such as Erastus; academics such as Apollo; craftsmen such as Alexander; businessmen small and great, jail wardens and their families; soldiers and officials; a proconsul -Sergius Paulus, etc. They were poor and rich; slaves and freemen; civilians and even military men, like Sebastian.

Like them, we seek sanctity in the middle of the world. St Josemaría: “Our Christian spirit is both old as the Gospel and like the Gospel, new. The very nature of our vocation, our way of seeking sanctity and of working for the Kingdom of God, prompts us to speak of divine things in the very language of ordinary men, to uphold the same wholesome social customs as everyone else, and to share the same honest mentality. God can never be a cold or distant model, to be admired but not loved.”

The first Christians were not enclosed in convents. They remained in the midst of their equals in society. This is our situation too, since we ought not differentiate ourselves in any way from our companions and fellow citizens.

Moreover, we must be Christ's leaven in the 'bread' of society.  We are ordinary Christians, co-equal citizens who live a life like that of the first Christian faithful, in all sectors of society, with an individual, silent, and almost invisible apostolate.

And we, ordinary men in the street, would say to the rest – to our working companions, brothers or children, to our students or teachers – Now is the time to awaken (Rom 13:11). Let us walk in the newness of life (Rom 6:4).

Let us go to the Blessed Virgin like the disciples, who persevered in prayer close to her. “This is the origin of our happiness, of our peace, of our serenity, and therefore of our supernatural effectiveness.”

June 29 Thu
Today is the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul. “I have become all things to all men, that I may save all.” St Paul's great-heartedness and limitless availability were a far cry from the racial exclusion he had lived before. He had a universal concern for all souls, something which our Christian vocation arouses in us. A correct love of our own country is not weakened, but rather fortified by it.
St Josemaría: “Love your country. Patriotism is a Christian virtue. But if patriotism is converted into a nationalism which leads one to scornful alienation – without Christian charity or justice – towards other people or nations, then it is a sin.”

“Before God, differences of nationality, race, social class or status do not exist... Each one of us has been reborn in Christ, in order to become a new creation, a child of God. We are all brothers, and that is how we should behave towards each other: fraternally!”

True love for one's country is a virtue which calls for great-heartedness towards all nations. “To be 'Catholic' means to love your country, and to be second to no one in that love. And at the same time, to hold as your own the noble aspirations of other lands.”

“The reality of this united, Christian charity must be shown with deeds, in every social milieu. There can be no class distinctions, much less castes or sectarianism.
“Achieving such a unity and making it last is a difficult task. It is nourished by acts of humility, by self-renunciation, by silence, by knowing how to listen and understand, by really taking an interest in others' welfare, by forgiving as often as necessary... in a word, by knowing how to love, truly, with deeds.”

No one should outdo us in patriotic love. At the same time, we ought to have a universal outlook, as Sts. Peter and Paul did.

I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.

Through our Lady's intercession, we ask our Lord to enlarge our heart to be like that of St Paul; so that we learn to love and have a real concern for people of all races and nationalities.
St Paul dazzled by the light by Caravaggio

 June 28 Wed
“Only Christ has ‘the words of eternal life,’, as St Peter exclaimed. Without faith in Jesus’ word, it is impossible to please God. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists, and that he rewards those who seek him.” Faith is absolutely necessary for salvation. For as long as we live on earth, it is through faith that we know God, supernaturally, but at the same time somewhat in darkness. Pope Paul the Sixth goes on to ask: “But why should there be this darkness? That is the secret design of God: we cannot grasp his ways. God wants to test our faith during this life, and our salvation depends on whether we accept his design.”

At the same time, faith is a light that lifts our understanding far beyond its natural capacity, and enables it to accept the highest truths revealed by God, which the human mind could never even have suspected. “By the light of faith and by meditating on the word of God, we can always and everywhere recognize God, in whom ‘we live and move and have our being,’ seek his Will in every event, see Christ in everyone, whether he be a relative or a stranger, and make correct judgements about the true meaning and value of temporal things both in themselves and in their relation to man's final goal.”

We need God’s grace to have faith, because nothing in nature can impel anyone to embrace the faith. “We believe that what God has revealed is true, the Church states, not because the things we are told are self-evident, by the natural light of reason, but on the authority of God who reveals them, who can neither deceive nor be deceived.”

Faith also refers to “the content of faith,” the truths that we have to believe as revealed by God, summarized in the Catechism and the Symbol of Faith or Creed.

We have a great task to accomplish in the world of ideas, to break down people's prejudices. We have to prepare the ground by uprooting materialism and the false exaltation of man, so that the seed of God's word can then take root in full, with all its consequences.

And then pray and attract people by our example, because faith is lived out in our whole life. We can obtain faith by calling on God in humility, and by means of our good deeds; through prayer, and a clean way of life.
I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us, and we change things.
The Crucifixion of St Peter (upside down) by Caravaggio

June 27 Tue
“Your Christian vocation requires you to be in God and, at the same time, to be concerned with the things of the earth, using them objectively, just as they are: to give them back to Him.”

Everything has to be ordered towards God, as a requirement of its very existence. We serve the Church in the heart of civil society, by giving life to all human work. This is the specific mission of the lay faithful.
 
St Josemaría: “With the apostolate of the Opus Dei, lay people don't act simply to fill a gap, but take full and responsible possession of the specific field God has shown them as the place for their mission in the Church, and carry out an apostolate whose specializations can't be mapped out beforehand, because they are one with the possibilities of human work and social development Devoid of rigidity, this apostolate is open to all the structural changes that may take place in time, in the nature of society.

“Therefore, we can say that there weighs upon us the concern and responsibility for all the holy Church, and not of this or that sector of it… Our service to the whole Church has a professional character; it is the service rendered by citizens who take the Christian witness of example and doctrine to the furthest corners of civil society.”

This apostolic action in the heart of society will be more effective if we have recourse to our Blessed Lady. “In the middle of the rejoicing at the feast in Cana, only Mary notices that they are short of wine. A soul will notice even the smallest details of service if like her, it is alive with a passion for helping its neighbor, for God.” St Josemaría

Think of this: A life not lived for the others is not a life.

We fear the future because we are wasting today.

I alone cannot change the world, but I want to be like a stone cast across the waters to create many ripples.

Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.

 Jun 26 Mon
The goal of sanctity, the fullness of life in union with God, is totally beyond our capabilities. For us, men, this is impossible, but for God all things are possible. God himself is engaged in building up the edifice of our sanctity; he says, ‘Without me, you can do nothing.’ Thus, if discouragement were ever to threaten us in our struggle, because of some difficulty we encountered, we would have to ask ourselves whether we were not trying to sanctify ourselves by sheer will-power alone. We can never manage on our own. The more keenly we feel this helplessness, the more docile we will be to God's grace.

Just put yourself in God's hands like a small child in his father's arms. It is a surrendering of oneself to him that requires hope, faith, confidence and love.

We must never forget that we can do nothing supernatural without the aid of grace. No one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit.

But feeling the power of God's hand in our lives is not enough. We have to make sure we respond by stretching out our hand to grasp his hand. When God's finger, his grace, meets with a full response, he works wonders.

And how can we respond more fully? With the help of prayer. It is true that we have nothing, and our strength is insufficient. But we are children of God , and that is the best possible guarantee and the firmest pledge for our hope. If we pray, our Father God will hear us. And so, we turn to prayer with confidence. We do not pray in order to make our needs and wishes known to God, but in order to realize for ourselves how much we need his help.

Together with prayer we must do penance. We say, ‘Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ But to identify our will with God's Will, we need to be purified by means of mortification, to get rid of whatever separates us from him. In this way, our life will be effective, with a fruitfulness which God will produce through us, in spite of our personal nothingness.

Life is a song, sing it. Life is a struggle, accept it.
True love is love that causes us pain, that hurts, and yet brings us joy. That is why we must pray to God and ask Him to give us the courage to love.

 Jun 25 Sun
Eight Modern Errors Every Catholic Should Know and Avoid
These masquerade as wisdom and balance.  

1. Mercy without reference to repentance – For some, “mercy” means, “God is fine with what I am doing.” But, true mercy does not overlook sin; it offers a way out of sin. The opening words of Jesus’ ministry were “Repent and believe the Gospel!”

2. Fear of the Cross – A strong hesitation to recognize that sometimes we have to go through hard choices. Many Catholics are fearful realizing the demands of moral issues, such as chastity, euthanasia, abortion, and divorce and remarriage. St. Paul understood that Christ crucified is a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.

3. Universalism – The belief that most, if not all people are going to be saved in the end, no matter what. This is directly contrary to our Lord’s words; he attests that “many” are on the road that leads to destruction and “few” are on the narrow and difficult road that leads to salvation (See Matthew 7:14, Luke 13:23-30). Seldom we hear sermons that warn of judgment or the possibility of hell.

4. Deformed dialogue – The term “dialogue” has come to mean an almost endless conversation, without a clear goal to bring someone close to the truth. It usually means just “talk.”
 “Dialogue” is a tool, not a goal; it is a method, not a destination. Yet it is true, we seek to win souls, not arguments.

5. Equating love with kindness – Kindness is an aspect of love. But so is rebuke; so is punishment; as is praise. Yet many today think of love only as kindness, affirmation, approval, encouragement, and other positive attributes. Yet true love is, at times, willing to punish, to insist on change, and to rebuke error, instead of sacrificing the truth.

6. Wrong idea of tolerance – Most people today equate tolerance with approval of their error. But tolerance refers to the non-interference with beliefs, or practices that one considers to be wrong. Otherwise, we cannot speak of “toleration” but of “indifference” or “affirmation;” forms of indifferentism and subjectivism. Many demand tolerance from us, Catholics, but they have no intention of extending it to us.

7. Anthropocentrism – The tendency to have man at the center of everything, and not God. Thus, the liturgy becomes more about us than adoring God. Some parents too seem focused exclusively on the temporal wellbeing of children, on their academic standing and so forth, but less concerned with their spiritual life.

8. Role reversal – Jesus said that the Holy Spirit, whom he would send to us, will convict the world (see John 16:8). And thus, the proper relationship of a Catholic to the world is to test it. St. Paul says, “Test all things. Hold fast to what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.” (1 Thess 5:21-22).
But too often Catholics put the Word of God and the teachings of the Church on trial, judging them with the rules of the world.
All of this amounts to a tragic role reversal wherein the world and its ideas overrule the gospel. They put God himself in the role of accused. Yet do not be deceived; God will not be mocked. Whatever a man sows, he will reap in return.

 Jun 24 Sat
Mother Teresa said: "If you have no Mary, you can have no Jesus; if you have no heart, you can have no devotion to the heart of Mary. And, you cannot understand the greatness of the love of the Heart of Jesus.”

“The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.”

On one occasion, Mother Teresa was walking next to a very tall priest, and that priest told her: “Mother, you are getting smaller and smaller every day, you are getting shorter.”

Mother Teresa, listening to this comment of the priest, replied: "Father, yes, by getting smaller and smaller, every day, more and more, it will be easier for me to enter the Heart of Jesus, the Sacred Heart of Jesus."

The priest then quoted some of the questions that the Lord Jesus asked the saint that day: "Are you afraid to take one more step for your Spouse, for Me, for souls? Has your generosity cooled down just for a second? Didn’t I die for souls?... Seeing widespread sin, Was your heart never drowned in sadness as was my Mother's? We both gave everything for souls and for you".

The love St. Teresa of Calcutta had for Jesus was embodied in her mission, which is also the mission of every Christian, to remind all, and to give back to humanity its dignity and the meaning of its life, so that all would know that there is a God who loves us and who calls us to be happy.

To do so by finding a place in the heart of Jesus, which is open to all of us. This task is to be done each in his own place and status (married, single, religious or lay person), sanctifying every minute of the day. Be happy at this moment; that’s enough. Each moment is all we need, not more.

‎Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.
God doesn't require you to succeed, he only requires that you try.
And pray. Prayer is not just asking. Prayer is putting yourself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His voice in the depth of your heart.

 Jun 23 Fri
1. From Henry Kissinger: Behind the success of every man there is a woman…it is an old saying.
– I do not believe it. Rather, behind the success of every person (man or woman) there is always a beautiful relationship.

How is the quality of your main relationships?
Our basic relation should be with the Three divine Persons, present in the Sacrifice of the Altar. There, we learn how to personalize our relationship with the most Blessed Trinity, one God in three Persons.

“What other advice do I have for you? Well, simply to do what the Christians who have really tried to follow Christ have always done, and to use the same means employed by the first ones who felt prompted to follow Jesus: developing a close relationship with our Lord in the Eucharist, a childlike recourse to the Blessed Virgin, humility, temperance, mortification of the senses ("it is not good to look at what it is not licit to desire", was St Gregory the Great's warning) and penance.” St Josemaría

Once this vertical relationship is strong, all other relationships (conjugal, paternal, filial…) become strong and stable.

“Even as I have loved you, love one another,” Christ said. His love is the model for ours. And Jesus, perfect God and perfect man, has shown both divine and human love for us. “Jesus is your friend. -The Friend. -With a heart of flesh, like yours. -With eyes, which look so lovingly, which wept for Lazarus...
-And as much as he loves Lazarus, he loves you.”

2. From Pope Francis:  Real love is about loving… and letting yourself be loved.  
It is easier to love than to let yourself be loved.
That is why it is very difficult to have a perfect love of God.

3. From Blessed Alvaro: St Josemaría once said that the worst it can happen is that our love for the others may become not noticeable.
Therefore, let it be noticed; loving each other with supernatural charity and natural affection; with all our heart, without doing strange things.

 June 22 Thu
When God is insulted… the LOS ANGELES Archbishop’s response to the DODGERS (excerpts)

We gather to celebrate the beauty of God’s love and pray that our hearts might be conformed to his, which burns with love for all people.

As Our Lord hung on the Cross, the Sacred Heart of Jesus was pierced by a Roman soldier; it is the most perfect sign of God’s love for each and every one of us.

Out of his pierced heart flows the living waters that make us clean, and the Precious Blood that redeems us from our sins, and sets us free.

The Sacred Heart is a Person’s Heart opened for you and for me, and for every one of our neighbors.

From out of his pierced Heart, Jesus speaks to every human heart, saying: “This is how much I love you; this is how much you are worth to me.”

St Josemaría said: “Love can only be paid back with love.”

That is true. We can repay his love, only by loving Jesus as he has loved us.

This is what it means to be a Catholic. The Catholic religion is the religion of love.

And we believe that Jesus calls us to spend our lives on earth spreading the good news of his love.

Catholics share God’s love not only when we speak and worship. We prove our love through works of charity and mercy for all. We prove our love by working for peace and justice for every person.

That is why so many of us are offended by the decision to honor a group that insults Jesus, and mocks Catholic believers.

When God is insulted, when the beliefs of any of our neighbors are ridiculed, it diminishes all of us.

When we reward such acts, it hurts our unity as one city and one nation, as one family under God.

Jesus was meek and humble of heart.

Jesus gave his Church the mission to proclaim the good news of his love to every human heart, to the ends of the earth, until the day he returns.

That is our mission as Catholics.

So, let us go to Jesus and learn from him. Let us ask him to make our hearts more like his own.

Jesus commands us to forgive those who trespass against us, and to pray for those who persecute us. And he taught us to oppose what is wrong and ugly, with what is beautiful and true. Just as he did.

We ask him today to give us the strength to do that.

We entrust our lives, and our city and country, to the tender heart of Holy Mary, the Mother of God and the mother of each of us. Our Lady, Queen of the Angels, pray for us!

 Jun 21 Wed
Christian spiritual wisdom tells us that the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh feed each other. That the concupiscence of the eyes inflames the concupiscence of the flesh, and vice versa.

St. Augustine offers in his “Confessions” a first step to understanding why the consumption of internet pornography can easily lead to the slow destruction of moral self-possession. "The truth," he writes, "is that disordered lust springs from a perverted will; when lust is procured, a habit is formed; when habit is not checked, it hardens into compulsion. These are like interlinking rings forming what I have described as a chain, and my harsh servitude kept me under coercion."

When concupiscence is indulged and habituated, it gathers such strength that it becomes a kind of necessity that compels the will in such a way that the personal attribute "free" becomes increasingly meaningless.

What seems most characteristic of the compulsive consumption of pornography is that the consumer no longer finds any pleasure in looking at the images. All he has left, when the act is completed, is a craving for stimulating a desire for more that will always remain unsatisfied.

What is to be learned from the testimonies of pornography's users is that the lust of the eyes is not a "hot" but rather a "cold" vice. It arises from the roaming curiosity of the spirit rooted in a spiritual boredom that, again, despairs of and eventually comes to resent the very state of grace in which the dignity of the human person has its roots.

The lust of the eyes that feeds on Internet pornography does not inflame but rather freezes the soul and the heart in a cold indifference to the human dignity of others and leads to repugnance of oneself.

The consumption of internet pornography harms the one who does the consuming; those whose dignity, health, and often lives are consumed in the production of pornography; and those who have to suffer from the ending of conjugal and familial bonds of fidelity, intimacy, and trust.
It immerses all who are involved in the illusion of a fantasy world. It is a grave offense.

Let us promise our Immaculate Mother to fight. I choose you this day, for my Mother and Lady. I surrender and consecrate to you, as your child, my body and soul, my possessions. Keep on helping me to fight the good fight.

 Jun 20 Tue
In his revelations to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, the Lord made known to her 12 promises for the devotees of his Sacred Heart.
"The Heart of Jesus is very much pleased with the services of the little ones and the humble of heart, and repays their labors with blessings," said the saint.

The 12 promises of the Sacred Heart of Jesus are:

1. To the souls consecrated to my Heart, I will give the graces necessary for their state.
2.  I will give peace to families.
3.  I will console them in all their afflictions.
4.  I will be their refuge and safe haven during life, and especially at the hour of death.
5.  I will pour abundant blessings upon their undertakings.
6.  Sinners shall find in my Heart the fountain and infinite ocean of mercy.
7.  The lukewarm souls will become fervent.
8.  Fervent souls will quickly rise to great perfection.
9.  I will bless the houses in which the image of My Sacred Heart is exposed and honored.
10.  I will give priests the grace to move hardened hearts.
11.  Persons who propagate this devotion will have their name written in my Heart and it will never be erased from it.
12.  To all those who receive communion on nine continuous first Fridays of the month, the omnipotent love of my Heart will grant the grace of final perseverance.

Conditions for obtaining the graces promised by the Sacred Heart of Jesus:

1. To receive Holy Communion without interruption for nine consecutive First Fridays.
2. To have the intention of honoring the Sacred Heart of Jesus and of attaining final perseverance.
3.  To offer each Holy Communion as an act of expiation for offenses committed against the Blessed Sacrament.

Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

O God, who in the heart of your Son,  
wounded for our sins,  
have deposited infinite treasures of charity;  
we ask that, in rendering him the homage of our love,  
we may offer him a full reparation.  
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  
Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in You!

 Jun 19 Mon
What is the vocation of the laity? First of all, it is not equivalent to lay ecclesial ministry. To fulfill your vocation as a lay person, you do not have to become a lector or an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion or a catechist for the religious education program. Those are some ways of helping the priest to fulfill his mission in the Church, but they are not typical ways of fulfilling your mission as a lay person in the Church.

Don’t get me wrong; priests often need help with various things around the parish in order to fulfill their mission, and they are tremendously grateful for the assistance that lay people can provide.

But assisting the clergy is not the primary vocation of the laity. The laity have their own mission in the Church and in the world, for which they are better equipped than the clergy or the religious. That mission is to sanctify, evangelize, and Christianize the secular world:

“The laity, by their very vocation, seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and by ordering them according to the plan of God. They live in the world, that is, in each and in all of the secular professions and occupations.

"They live in the ordinary circumstances of family and social life, from which the very web of their existence is woven.

“They are called there by God, that by exercising their proper function and led by the spirit of the Gospel, they may work for the sanctification of the world from within as a leaven.

“In this way, they may make Christ known to others, especially by the testimony of a life resplendent in faith, hope, and charity.

“Therefore, since they are tightly bound up in all types of temporal affairs, it is their special task to order and to throw light upon these affairs, in such a way that they may come into being and then continually increase according to Christ, to the praise of the Creator and the Redeemer” (Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium 31).

 Jun 18 Sun
The Gospel of the Mass tells us (Mt 9:36-10:8) that the Lord was filled with compassion when he saw the crowds, because they were mistreated and dejected like sheep without a shepherd, deeply disoriented. Their shepherds, instead of guiding and caring for them, led them astray and behaved more like wolves than shepherds. Jesus said to the apostles: The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

As today, the laborers are few in proportion to the task: so many disoriented people, empty of God and filled only with material goods or the desire to have them. There is an urgent need for joyful, effective, simple Christians, faithful to the Church, aware of what they have in their hands. Today we can ask ourselves: what have I done today to make God known? to whom have I spoken about Christ today? am I concerned about the salvation of those around me? am I aware that many would come to the Lord if I were bolder and more exemplary in the fulfillment of my duties?

There are many excuses for not bringing others to Christ: lack of means, insufficient preparation, lack of time, or the enormity of the distances of the big city in which we live. Yet we should all fulfill what depends on us. And we want to be faithful to the Lord: to carry out what is in our hands. "Prayer is the most effective means of winning new apostles" (St Josemaría), of getting many to discover the Christian vocation to which God is calling them. The eagerness for vocations must be translated, in the first place, into a continuous, confident and humble petition. And if we turn to the Lord in petition for committed vocations, we ourselves will feel called to participate much more boldly in this apostolic work, in addition to obtaining from the Lord workers for his field.

Jesus’ arrival, all apostolic work, is to be prepared by those who have been sent, by those who already follow him. The Lord, who could do everything personally, wants to need disciples like you who go before him to the cities, to the villages, to the factories, to the universities. We cannot forget that God calls many. Let us ask the Lord for the grace to know how to promote and encourage many to follow him, people we see every day. Let us ask Our Lady, Queen of Apostles, to help us formulate a concrete intention to be an instrument so that many may correspond to the call of her Son.

June 17 Sat
Let us then with confidence come closer to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. The Church gives us a particularly lovable feast to celebrate today, that of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to encourage us to trust in our Blessed Lady at all times. She is a fount of grace and mercy, a Mother who is able to give her children the grace they need for their journey at every stage of their lives.

During his life on earth, our Lord taught us that the good man out of his good treasure brings forth good. Our Lady's heart is filled to overflowing with love for God; it is the home of the Holy Spirit, and is moved by the very sentiments that move Christ's own Heart. From her heart, then, comes a flood of mercy and forgiveness. We read, “I am the Mother of Fair Love, of fear, of wisdom and of holy hope. In me is all grace for the way and the truth, in me is all hope of life and virtue. Come to me, all you who desire me, and fill yourselves with my fruits. For my spirit is sweeter than honey, my inheritance sweeter than the honeycomb.”

From Mary’s heart, says St Bernardine of Siena, “as from a furnace, does the Virgin bring forth good words, aflame with divine love, and thoughts of glowing hot charity. From a jar full of good wine, only good wine can be poured; from a furnace, only a raging fire can issue; so too, from Christ's Mother, nothing can come but sentiments of radiant love for God.”

Our Mother's Immaculate Heart shows us the true feelings we should have in our own. She encourages us to open our soul fully to God's grace, so that her Son, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, can come and make their home in it.

 June 16 Fri
As with Eve from Adam’s rib, Divine Providence determined that the Church should be formed from the open side of Christ crucified and that the words of the Scriptures be fulfilled: “They shall look upon Him whom they have pierced” — a soldier’s lance opened the sacred chest of Jesus. Or rather, my sins did it.

The Blood mingled with water, which poured out from that pierced side, was the price of our salvation. Flowing from the hidden fount of Jesus’ Sacred Heart, it gave to the sacraments their power of giving us the life of grace. And to those already living in Christ it gave them water from the living fount, constantly gushing forth to strengthen and comfort them along the road to eternal life.

Arise, therefore, do not cease your prayer; come to drink, that you may draw water from the Savior’s fountain. Oh, how good and how pleasant it is to dwell in this most Sacred Heart.

See the contrast, Jesus is surrounded with blackness...your sins, my sins.
And yet he shows us his heart ready to forgive.
The red and gold roses is the love of Jesus, overpowering everything.

Your Heart, Jesus, is the great treasure, the precious jewel which we will find in the dug field of your sacred Body. Why would I throw away this treasure? Never will I sin again. Rather I would throw away all my own treasures, my possessions, my thoughts and my affections, and love your Sacred Heart, which will nourish me without fail forever.

I beg you, sweet Jesus, my God, listen to my prayer and answer them. Draw me wholly into your Heart. Lord, your side was pierced to keep an entrance open for us. For this reason, your Heart was wounded, that detached from worldly uproar, we would be able to enter and dwell with you.

But above all, your Heart was wounded so that the visible scar would enable us to see the invisible wound of your love. Lord, how could the intensity of your love be better shown than by this, that not only your Body but even your very Heart was pierced with a lance? Truly the wounds of the flesh showed forth the wounds of the spirit.

Who is there who would not love One so loving? Let us pray that the Sacred Heart may wound and soften our heart still so hard, still so impenitent, and bind it with the sweet bonds of His love.

 June 15 Thu
On the Eucharist, St. Thomas Aquinas: “The Eucharist is the sacrament of love: It signifies love, it produces love. The Eucharist is the consummation of the whole spiritual life.”

St. John Chrysostom: “It is not the man who is responsible for what is happening on the altar, as the bread and the wine become Christ’s Body and Blood. It is Christ himself, who was crucified for us. The looks of the standing figure belong to the priest, who speaks these words. The power and the grace belong to God. ‘This is my Body,’ he says. And these words transform the offerings.”

St. Maximilian Kolbe: “If angels could be jealous of men, they would be so for one reason: Holy Communion.”

St. John Vianney: “I throw myself at the foot of the tabernacle like a dog at the foot of his master.”

St. Pio of Pietrelcina: “A thousand years of enjoying human glory is not worth even an hour spent sweetly receiving communion and talking to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.”

St. Josemaria Escriva: “Think of the human experience of two people who love each other, and yet are forced to part. They would like to stay together forever, but duty — in one form or another — forces them to separate. They are unable to fulfill their desire of remaining close to each other, so man’s love — which, great as it may be, is limited — seeks a symbolic gesture. People who make their farewells exchange gifts or perhaps a photograph with a dedication so ardent that it seems almost enough to burn that piece of paper. They can do no more, because a creature’s power is not so great as its desire.

“What we cannot do, our Lord is able to do. Jesus Christ, perfect God and perfect man, leaves us, not a symbol, but a reality. He himself stays with us. He will go to the Father, but he will also remain among men. He will leave us, not simply a gift that will make us remember him, not an image that becomes blurred with time, like a photograph that soon fades and yellows, and has no meaning except for those who were contemporaries. Under the appearances of bread and wine, he is really present, with his body and blood, with his soul and divinity.”

 Jun 14 Wed
We are united through sharing in the Holy Spirit. If we stop living as mere animals, if we surrender ourselves wholly to the laws of the Spirit, by effectively denying our own life and taking upon ourselves the transcendent likeness of the Holy Spirit who is joined to us, we become transformed into another nature, divinized. We are no longer mere men, but sons of God and citizens of Heaven, through becoming partakers of the divine nature.

  We are all, therefore, one in the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; we are one because we have the same relationship, we are one because we live the same life of holiness, and we are one in receiving the holy flesh of Christ and in sharing the one Holy Spirit. (St Cyril of Alexandria)

The first operation of the Holy Spirit in the Church is the election of its members. This right of “election” is so especially His prerogative, that, as we learn from the Scriptures, it was “by the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:2) that Jesus chose the apostles, who were to be the pillars of His Church. We have seen how this Holy Spirit began His mission on the day of Pentecost, by the election of three thousand Jews. A few days after, five thousand were added to the number, being converted by the preaching of Peter and John. (Acts 3:4, 4:4).

The original name of the Church, Ecclesia, in Greek and Latin (Iglesia in Spanish) means "those who have been called."

The gentiles, also, were called to the Church; and the Holy Spirit, having led Peter to Cornelius the centurion, descended upon this Roman and his household, thus declaring them to be elected as candidates for holy baptism. To think that the Holy Spirit has “elected” me to be holy!

 June 13 Tue
“Now, and always, every single person will have to fight his own personal battle, knowing that everything depends on how he responds, and that God our Lord always gives us the means to conquer. So, let's fight those battles, my daughters and sons! Let's win them all, with a lot of love; and if we should lose any, let's get up straight away and resume fighting again. Especially as we are fed every day on the Bread of Heaven, the Bread of Angels, which is not to be thrown to the dogs ...” St Josemaría

In the sacrament of the Eucharist, Jesus comes to you to make permanent his sacrificial offering, provoking your own offering.

Your Christian life may be summarized thus; it is the reciprocal, permanent offering of your own life to God the Father, united to Jesus Christ, moved by the Holy Spirit.

The Eucharist is a constant provocation of Jesus to turn your life into an offering to God for the service of others.

Your sign of identity as a Christian is fraternal love, which springs from eating the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist.

Jesus is in our midst, from the moment of consecration in the Holy Mass, and he comes to stay. Yet an ordained priest is indispensable for this great marvel to happen. And we need so many of them…

Then, in front of the Blessed Sacrament, we confess the truth of the Eucharistic faith, and abandon ourselves to God's will, in silence and with simple praise. In adoration, we "consent to God", not just "feel God."

The Eucharist is a precious invention of Jesus; with it, he has succeeded in making himself a contemporary of us, of all men, through the sacrament.

Your life is worth very little, and it will disappear like water in a basket; it passes like a sigh. However, offered every day with Jesus Christ, it acquires an infinite value.

 June 12 Mon
“God's love is a jealous love. He is not satisfied if we come with conditions. He longs for us to give ourselves completely, without keeping dark corners in our heart, where the joy and happiness of grace and the supernatural gifts cannot reach. Perhaps you are thinking, ‘If I say “yes” to this exclusive Love, might I not lose my freedom?

“Each one of us has at some time or other experienced that serving Christ our Lord involves suffering and hardship; to deny this would imply that we had not yet found God. A soul in love knows, however, that when such suffering comes it is only a fleeting impression; the soul soon finds that the yoke is easy and the burden light, because Jesus is carrying it upon his shoulders as he embraced the wood of the Cross when our eternal happiness was at stake.

“But there are people who do not understand. They rebel against the Creator, in a sad, petty, impotent rebellion, and they blindly repeat the futile complaint recorded in the Psalms: Let us break away from their bondage, rid ourselves of their toils.

"They shrink from the hardship of fulfilling their daily task with heroic silence and naturalness, without show or complaint. They have not realized that even when God's Will seems painful and its demands wounding, it coincides perfectly with our freedom, which is only to be found in God and his plans.” St Josemaría

June 11 Sun
Today, on the feast of Corpus Christi, we should make atonement to our Lord ... “We should tell him, in a robust way but at the same time with great love, how much we appreciate the faith he has given us. Tell him again and again that we believe in his Real Presence in the Sacred Host, where we know that he is hidden under the sacramental species with his Body, with his Blood, with his Soul, and with his Divinity. And thank the Blessed Trinity for deciding that the Son of God should take flesh in the most pure womb of our Blessed Lady, our Mother.”

There will always be the need to offer atonement to God for the offences he suffers in the adorable Sacrament of the Altar. And we have to respond as St Josemaría suggests: “We should each try to be more faithful to God, and tell him so. This is something very human, my children, and we are creatures of flesh and blood. If I tell you that, with our Lord's grace, I love you dearly, doesn't that make you happy? Well, it makes God happy too. So, let's tell him often that we love him and that we are grateful to him. Let's ask him to forgive our weakness, our failings, and our mistakes; in a word, all the sins we've committed - we're not going to be ashamed to call things by their name. And say sorry to him for the sins of the whole world, and beg him to have mercy on mankind and on the Church.

“About the personal aspirations that we each make up for ourselves. This is what they are: a word of praise, a cry of wonder, of joy, affection, enthusiasm - a cry of love! - that darts out from our soul like an arrow. It's a way of "chatting up" our Lord, without any of the unpleasant connotations that phrase may have. It's always a matter of love and self-giving.

“See, our Lord is always there in the tabernacle. He doesn't seem to hear us, but really, he's listening to us with such enormous love, with the affection of a father and a mother, concealing his Divinity and Humanity alike. Our Lord speaks when he wants to, when we least expect it, and he says very definite things. And then he stops speaking, because he wants to see how our faith and loyalty will respond...”

Illustration What you can see: the monstrance.
and behind the cloud,
What you cannot see: Jesus, real and sacramentally present.

 June 10 Sat
Christ was asked one day: “Which commandment is the first of all?” He answered with words from the Old Testament. His reply can be fully understood in the light of God's appeal: “My son, give me your heart.”

God has the right to ask us for our heart, our love and affection, because he created us, he keeps us in being, he has redeemed us from sin at the cost of his Son's blood, and he watches over us constantly. He has called us by our name, and “he loves each one of us more than all the mothers in the world can love their children.” Because of all this, he wants us to give him our body with all its senses; our soul, with all its faculties; he asks us for our very intimacy, our heart.

We must surrender our heart so as to live in universal fraternal charity, without distinctions. The total surrender of our heart actually helps us in our fraternal charity, because it eliminates the danger of self-seeking and prevents our love for one another from being based simply on human reasons.

If our heart is set on God alone, and on all souls for his sake, we will readily be able to follow St Augustine's advice: “Love, and do what you like. If you keep quiet, keep quiet out of love ...; if you correct, correct out of love; if you forgive, forgive out of love. Make sure this root of charity is there in your soul, for nothing but good can come of it.”

The love of God will lead us to love everyone equally, in spite of whatever differences there may be in character, tastes, and temperaments. St Josemaría warns us “against being inclined to like people because of similarity of character, being related to them, coming from the same place, having been friends for long, studying the same subject, and so on, which is normally the way these possible errors start.”

Let us make the resolution to detach our heart from any disordered affection so as to have it set only on God our Lord, in what really leads us to God. “His Love ... is well worth any love!” Let us ask our blessed Mother in heaven to purify your heart, and she will obtain this grace for us from our Father God.

Jun 9 Fri
When the Lord told his disciples to go and teach all nations and baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, he conferred on them the power of giving men new life in God.

When the Son of God became the Son of Man, the Spirit also descended upon Him. Thus, the Holy Spirit became accustomed to dwelling with the human race, to living in men and to inhabiting God’s creation. The Spirit gave them new life in Christ.

The Holy Spirit was to prepare us as an offering to God. Like dry flour, which cannot become one lump of dough, one loaf of bread, without moisture, we who are many could not become one in Christ Jesus without the water that comes down from heaven. And like parched ground, which yields no harvest unless it receives moisture, we, who were once like a waterless tree, could never have lived and borne fruit without this abundant rainfall from above. Through the baptism that liberates us from change and decay we have become one in body; through the Spirit we have become one in soul.

  If we are not to be scorched and made unfruitful, we need the dew of God. Since we have our accuser, we need a defender as well. And so, the Lord in his pity for man, who had fallen into the hands of brigands, bound up his wounds. He then left for his care two coins, each bearing the royal image, entrusting him to the Holy Spirit. Likewise, through the Spirit, the image and inscription of the Father and the Son have been given to us, and it is our duty to use the coins committed to our charge and make them yield a rich profit for the Lord.
From the treatise "Against the Heresies" by St Irenaeus

 June 8 Thu
Jesus, being God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, is absolutely wise and free in his decisions. Yet his generous sacrifice should move us to ask, "Why, my Lord, have you granted me my freedom; which I can use to follow in your footsteps, but also to offend you?" Then, we realize that freedom is used properly when we use it towards the good; and that it is misused when we turn away from the Love of loves. Thus, we should say, "What do you want me to do, Lord, so that I may freely do it?"

When I was a young teenager, and I had to go to buy some clothes, my mother chose for me, “This shirt is good for you.” I accepted it; it always suited me. Later, when I had to decide the course of my life, I allowed my Mother Mary to choose for me. I invested my freedom on that choice. And here I am.

"Lord, why have you given us this power? Why the faculty of choosing you or rejecting you? You want us to make good use of this power. Lord, what do you want us to do?" His reply is precise, crystal-clear: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind’.” St Josemaría

Don't you see? Freedom finds its true meaning when placed to the service of God, infinite Love, who liberates us from all forms of slavery.
 
Freedom is not inhibition from decision-taking. On the contrary, God wants us to use our freedom to choose what is best… to accomplish ourselves…to be happy forever.

Jun 7 Wed
“Some people barricade themselves behind their freedom. ‘My freedom! My freedom!’ they cry. They have their freedom, but they don't use it. They look at it, they set it up, a clay idol for their petty minds to worship. Is this freedom? What use is this treasure to them, if there is no commitment guiding their whole life?

“They are left aimless, with no clear path to guide their footsteps on this earth. You and I have met such people. They then let themselves be carried away by childish vanity, by selfish conceit, by sensuality.

“Their freedom turns out to be barren, or produces fruits which even humanly speaking are ridiculous. A person who does not choose, with complete freedom, an upright code of conduct, sooner or later ends up being manipulated by others. He will lead a lazy, parasitic existence, at the mercy of what others decide. He will let himself be blown to and fro by any wind whatsoever, and it will always be others who make up his mind for him.

“These are waterless clouds, carried hither and thither by the winds, autumn trees that bear no fruit, doubly dead and rootless, even though they may try to disguise their lack of character, courage, and honesty behind a smokescreen of constant chatter and excuses.” St Josemaría

We give more glory to God by offering him our best talents as a holocaust, than by making vain use of them. As with the sacrifice of Abel, God is pleased when we offer him the best that we have, what we value most. Nothing is too great to give him.

Since our will is the most personal of our possessions, we ask the Holy Spirit to teach us to put our will totally at God's disposal. This is the best way of exercising our freedom. Our Lord, because he was the Son of God, did not think it beneath him to take the form of a slave; and we too will try to give ourselves unconditionally into the hands of our Father God.

 June 6 Tue
Role of homemaking for women. “For decades now, some thought that women’s unhappiness was because home life demeans us; and the remedy would be for us to despise it in return,” explain Carrie Gress and Noelle Mering, co-authors of “Theology of Home II: The Art of Spiritual Living.”

“Nothing could feel further from the truth. My mother passed away. She did many things in life, but what stands out to me is how beautifully she gave herself as a stay-at-home mom, and how many lives she enriched in this way. That gave her life meaning, and is what she gave to others: namely, her fruitfulness as a woman who made a home for a family.”

“Women are powerful, but power cannot the purpose of our life —it is a mechanism, a means. In the 1960s, our culture took away the notion of fruitfulness, while offering us the promise of power and control.” Home and family went out the window. In came contraception, abortion, and the new image of ‘career’ as everything in a woman’s life… Our educational system and culture reinforce the idea that the pursuit of power is the preeminent business of womanhood.”

 “Despite what the some may tell us, all women—no matter our vocation—have been created and built up for a kind of fruitfulness…” Though, not every woman will become a mother with children.

 “There could be a disconnection; while we love our home, we fail to recognize the importance of a homemaker,” a value that is not in the physical, material home. Rather, it is in the purpose of every home.

 “Home is where we prepare our families for Heaven…Homemaking is not merely an unfortunate but necessary burden; rather, it is an opportunity to acquire something that is difficult to get outside of a home… That something is the capacity to be fruitful.”

“Fruitful living enables our own souls to mature. A homemaker is a person getting a degree in love.”

Living as a Gift to Others. Perhaps you hesitate. Be bold. Have the courage to get a “doctorate or PhD in love.”
Pic of Nuestra Señora de Guía (of Guide), in Magallanes, Cavite. With her hands, Our Lady seems to be indicating the straight path that leads to eternal happiness. “Do whatever He tells you.” Do not look elsewhere, the way is there, in front of you.

 June 5 Mon
Seven essential points on the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. While preserving the mystery, in some way, these points help us to appreciate the gift.

1. With our human reason alone we can grasp only some attributes of God. For example, we can know with certainty that God exists, and what are his fundamental traits.

2. To grasp the other supernatural attributes of God, we need Him, and He has revealed himself to us.

3. There is only one God. Scripture is clear in this teaching, and in that Jesus Christ is God, and that the Holy Spirit is God.

4. Erroneous attempts to explain the mystery have drifted to two extremes.
The first is to speak of the Son and the Holy Spirit simply as 'other manifestations' of the one God, in the manner of a person who changes his dress according to circumstances. The second error is to present the Son and the Holy Spirit as lesser ones, subordinated to the Father, as his 'creatures'.

5. Fundamental concepts. First, nature, substance and essence. In God there is only one essence and one substance; there is one answer to the question, “What is He?” The answer is “He is God.”

6. Second, the concept of 'person' and the 'relations' between the Divine Persons. There are three distinct Persons in God, who answer the question “Who are you?”. The three answers are, “I am The Father,” “the Son,” “the Holy Spirit.”

7. There is no perfect similarity between the being of God and that of any creature. A certain parallel can be established when we think with St. Augustine that the three principal powers of the soul have some resemblance with the Divine Persons.
"Our memory recognizes the power of God the Father; our intelligence seeks to rest in the wisdom of God the Son, and our will tends to love and be loved as is possible only in Love by essence, which is the Holy Spirit".

Consider the Past. Strengthen your Faith: The Blessed Trinity chose to reveal his mystery to us.
Present. Live with charity: The Bl. Trinity lives inside us.
Future. Rejoice in Hope: The Trinity is the foundation of our hope, of returning to our Father, accompanied by the Son, in the unity of the Holy Spirit.

 June 4 Sun
The Holy Spirit comes gently and makes himself known by his fragrance. He is not felt as a burden, for he is light, very light. Rays of light and knowledge stream before him as he approaches. The Spirit comes with the tenderness of a true friend and protector to save, to heal, to teach, to counsel, to strengthen, to console. The Spirit comes to enlighten the mind first of the one who receives him, and then, through him, the minds of others as well.

  As light strikes the eyes of a man who comes out of darkness into the sunshine and enables him to see clearly things he could not discern before, so light floods the soul of the man counted worthy of receiving the Holy Spirit and enables him to see things beyond the range of human vision, things hitherto undreamed of.

A real relationship with the Holy Trinity brings to a soul peace, serenity, and calm. We have good reason to seek them, for we know that habitual serenity and mastery over our passions, in work, in suffering, and in temptation, are indispensable in Christian life. As well as good will, we need fortitude in order to subject everything to him.

The peace which our Lord gives does not consist in the absence of difficulties, but rather in our overcoming them. The calmness, peace and serenity which we ardently desire to receive from the Holy Spirit come from our filial relationship with God, which makes us feel secure and protected. Then we can say: The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? As a result, we are peaceful and calm.

God comes with tranquility, but not with the false serenity of indifference or unconcern. We cannot remain indifferent at the sight of a world which is not Christian and sometimes not even human. For many people have not yet attained the living conditions in the temporal order which permit spiritual development, and others are unaware of anything which is not carnal.

The serenity which God gives us does not mean closing our eyes to reality. It means viewing it with optimism, trusting in the help of our Father in heaven. And joy amid difficulties is a consequence of serenity.

 June 3 Sat
Holiness; the following words of St Josemaría can help us increase our devotion to the Holy Spirit, from which we hope to receive so many graces.
“My children: the children of God must have one exclusive concern. And it is this: to be holy. Realize that our Lord has invited all Christians to holiness. He has said it to us in a special way: ‘He chose us in himself before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his presence.’ There is nothing greater than this! This particular choice which God has made of each one of us has a specific purpose: for us to be holy.

“To live according to the Holy Spirit means to live by faith and hope and charity – to allow God to take possession of our lives and to change our hearts, to make us resemble him more and more. A mature and profound Christian life cannot be improvised, because it is the result of the growth of God's grace in us. In the Acts of the Apostles, we find the early Christian community described in a single sentence, brief but full of meaning: ‘and they continued steadfastly in the teaching of the Apostles and in the communion of the breaking of the bread and in prayers.’
“This is how the early Christians lived, and this is how we too should live: meditating on the doctrine of our faith until it becomes part of us; receiving our Lord in the Eucharist; meeting him in the personal dialogue of our prayer, without trying to hide behind impersonal conduct, but face to face with him. These means should become the very substance of our attitude. If they are lacking, we will have, perhaps, the ability to think in an erudite manner, an activity that is more or less intense, some practices and devotions. But we will not have an authentically Christian way of life, because we will lack that personal relationship with Christ which is a real and living participation in the divine work of salvation.

“This is a teaching that applies to any Christian, because we are all equally called to sanctity. There are no second-class Christians, obliged to practice only a ‘simplified version’ of the Gospel. We have all received the same baptism, and although there is a great variety of spiritual gifts and human situations, there is only one Spirit who distributes God's gifts, only one faith, only one hope, only one love.
“We need to examine our souls during these days to see if we are in danger of setting limits to our sanctification, or subordinating it to other intentions. We must decide to turn our backs on everything opposed to our sanctity.”

 June 2 Fri
Christ is the High and Eternal Priest, Mediator between God and men. However, he is a Priest not for himself but for us, since, in the name of the whole human race, he brings our prayers and petitions to the eternal Father; he is also a victim, but a victim for us, since he substitutes himself for us, sinners.

Thus, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus;” let us try to have the same dispositions as those of the divine Redeemer, who offered himself in sacrifice. Let us foster a humble attitude of mind, and give adoration, honor, praise and thanksgiving to the supreme majesty of God.

As Jesus became the Victim, let us assume in some way the condition of a victim, denying ourselves, as the Gospel commands, and doing penance and satisfaction for our sins.

In a word, let us all undergo with Christ a mystical death on the Cross, without going out of our ordinary duties, so that we can apply to ourselves the words of St Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:19).

Jesus, Anointed of the Father in the Holy Spirit, consecrate your Church in holiness.
Christ, High Priest of the New Covenant, clothe your priests with your holiness, to the glory of God the Father.

In the icon of The Eternal High Priest, his one hand indicates One God. Three fingers, Three Persons. Two fingers, two natures, divine and human, in Jesus.

 June 1 Thu
These are days to pray constantly that we may be docile to the work of the Holy Spirit in our soul, and respond to his gifts generously.

That we may receive the gift of UNDERSTANDING to perceive the riches of the Faith with greater clarity.
That we may receive the gift of KNOWLEDGE to be able to judge created things in an upright manner, and to keep our heart fixed on God, and on other things that lead us to him.
That we may receive the gift of WISDOM to grasp the profound wonder of God, and to seek him in preference to all other things, amid our ordinary work and obligations.
That we may receive the gift of COUNSEL to see clearly the path of holiness open to us, fulfilling God’s Will in our ordinary daily life, and to choose the option that coincides with the glory of God, and the good of our fellow men.
That we may receive the gift of PIETY to treat God with the intimacy with which a child treats his father.
That we may receive the gift of FORTITUDE to be continually strengthened, and be able to overcome the difficulties that we inevitably meet on our journey to God.
That we may receive the gift of FEAR OF THE LORD, to flee the occasions of sin, resist temptation, avoid every evil which could sadden the Holy Spirit, and to fear above all the loss of the One whom we love, and who is the reason of happiness in our life.

Father, your Holy Spirit abide in us with his gifts. Come, Holy Spirit.