St. Peter Canisius

A short break now, from the mountain of books (ah the horror, lol, not so terrible, not so terrible) :). O Beautiful Cross! Deo gratias et Mariae, One more major one to go, I am so glad biostats, cell bio and nutrition are over. My brain is utterly squeezed dry of its ability to retain any memory whatsoever though, haha, but, Deo volente, its alright! :)

I'll be typing a little - on St. Peter Canisius, Confessor, Doctor of the Church, whose blessed feast day this 27th of April is.

Peter Kanis (or Canisius), born at Nimeguen in Holland, after brilliant studies at Cologne and Louvain, entered the Company of Jesus, of which he is one of the chief glories. The wisdom of his controversy, his eloquent preaching, his instructive writings (for example, the first catechism) caused him to be called the Hammer of Protestantism. He died at Fribourg in Switzerland in 1597.

As taken from the 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal

And here's something really really beautiful that my patron saint, St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face wrote in one of her poems:

Here on earth,

to live for love,

does not mean settling on Thabor;

it means climbing Calvary with Jesus

and looking on the Cross as a treasure.

How beautiful is that. :)

Saint Thérèse, Ora pro nobis!

Jesus, Mary, I Love Thee; Save Souls!

Regina Caeli, Laetare, Alleluia!

p/s: do you hear the beautiful gregorian chant when you get into this page? :) Deo gratias et Mariae, I found out how to put music on this blogpage. Now playing is the beautiful Regina Caeli, which is said during Paschal Time. Link to the full prayer is as above. :) God Bless.

i cannot wait ...

i cannot wait for the exams to end :) its still a long way more (to me) ... haha (and time doesn't seem to fly for this one lol) please do pray for me. Deo gratias et Mariae!

But,

For this,

it is in this, a little prayer, so beautifully shown:

Creator of all things, alas

that here below

I see Thee but as in a glass,

as a faint glow;

The glass is all too often dimmed

by earthly dust,

The emblems haplessly are rimmed

with matter's crust!

But one day, in Thy glory's light

I shall behold

unveiled Thy Count'nance bright

'mid bliss untold:

a drop afloat in the vast Sea

of consciousness

of the all-beauteous Deity ...

in timelessness!

G. Gezelle, Pr. (translated)

i really really cannot wait! :)

Jesus, Mary, I Love Thee; Save Souls!

Regina Caeli, Laetare, Alleluia!

O Mary, Cause of Our Joy!

A short break from my revision for the exams now, I am here typing a little, on the Feast of St. Anselm.

This saint, St. Anselm, he composed a very beautiful prayer, the Prayer of St. Anselm to Our Lord and Our Lady:

O Good Son, by the love, by which Thou lovest Thy mother, give me, I pray Thee, to love her truly, as truly Thou lovest her and will to love her.

O Good Mother, by the love by which thou lovest thy Son and want Him to be loved, obtain for me, I pray thee, to love Him truly as thou lovest Him and willest Him to be loved

St. Anselm, Bishop, Confessor and Doctor of the Church, was born in 1033 AD at Piedmont. He is one of the famous medieval philosophers (namely, after the Patristic Period, St. Augustine, St. Bonaventure, St. Albert the Great, St. Thomas Aquinas :), etc). "I do not attempt, O Lord, to penetrate Thy profundity, for I deem my intellect in no way sufficient thereunto, but I desire to understand in some degree Thy truth, which my heart believes and loves. For I do not seek to understand, in order that I may believe; but I believe, that I may understand. For I believe this too, that unless I believed, I should not understand." (The Credo, ut intelligam attitude)

Faith and Reason go hand in hand. They are not mutually exclusive or independent of each other as what some may make us believe in this horribly modern world we live in.

Beautiful, O, So Beautiful! :)

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Alone with God
By Father J. Heyrman, S.J.

Saturday, the First Week after Easter

MARY – ‘CAUSE OF OUR JOY’

1. More than any other human being Mary has participated in her Son’s resurrection: she alone enjoys the full fruit of redemption: she has entered body and soul into the joy of the Lord. Applied to her the words, which Jesus spoke to the Apostles, must be taken unreservedly, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be filled” (John 15:11). Of this fullness, poured over into her soul by her divine Son, we have all received. Behold her enthroned in the resplendent glory and joy of her Son.

2. Petition: The grace to turn in all our troubles and trials with childlike confidence to Mary “cause of our joy”, that she may lead us to the prime source of all joy and delight, Jesus.

I. Mary’s Beauty, Cause of Our Joy

All beauty, being an irradiation of God’s Beauty’ engenders joy. Mary is the “All-Beautiful”, unspotted even in the sight of God; immaculate and full of grace. How could she not be wholly well-pleasing to the eyes of the Lord? The liturgy makes her cry out, “All ye that love the Lord, rejoice with me; for when I was little I was pleasing to the Most High.” As Dante sings, “With a single glance of her eyes she, who is loved and revered by God, obtains for us all graces.”

We, children of Adam, conscious of our sinfulness, gaze in wonder at this marvel of spotless beauty; we congratulate her, and we exult in the Lord, because one of our race has been endowed with so much grace that she was deemed worthy to be the Mother of God. Enraptured we sing with the Church, Thou art all-beautiful, O Mary; thou art the glory of Jerusalem, the joy of Israel, the honour of our people. Thou art the Advocate of sinners, O Mary, Virgin most prudent, Mother of Love; pray for us, and intercede for us with our Lord, Jesus Christ.

II. Mary Our Mother, Cause of Our Joy

To every man his mother is a sacred source of noble and unalloyed joy. In the supernatural order, too, God has given us a Mother. So has the Church understood the words, which at the hour of His death Jesus addressed to Mary, “Woman, behold thy son;” and to John, “Behold thy mother.” These were simple, solemn, divine, creative words.

In the beginning God said, “Be light made, and light was made” (Gen. 1:3). On the cross God said, “Behold thy mother,” and she was made our Mother; “Behold thy son”, and he was made her son. At that moment Mary became the Mother of all those that would believe in Jesus and through Baptism would be incorporated into Him.

When she was about to become the Mother of Jesus, Mary by her Fiat gave her full consent to whatever that motherhood would imply; here there was no need of renewal of that consent. She was the Mother of God’s Son, and as such she became the Mother of all those who, in Christ, have been made children of God.

Can aught be closer to Mary’s heart than this last charge committed to her by her dying Son? And to us, what a cause of joy it is, to know that we have received from Jesus Himself His own Mother as our Mother too. When such a Son commends us to such a Mother, how safe we feel and how happy! “To thy protection we fly, O Holy Mother!”

III. Mary’s Divine Motherhood, a Cause of Our Joy

Mary was the first to hear “the good tidings”; and “the great joy that shall be to all the people”, which the angel announced to the shepherds, filled first the heart of Mary when “the Holy” was born as her child.

Through Mary the Father gave us His Son, and with Him all things. When the Holy Ghost “came upon her”, she conceived in her womb the prime Fountain of all bliss and all grace, of all joy and all peace, on earth and in heaven. Rightly do we greet Mary as the “Cause of our joy”; for she has borne, nourished, and given birth to Him who was to say, “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6).

She is the Alma Redemptoris Mater, the fostering Mother of the Redeemer, though only a creature, the “handmaid of the Lord”, herself redeemed, but sublimely redeemed. In her first of all was poured the fullness of salvation and of joy; then of that over-fullness we have received. From her we have received Him as our Brother in manhood; from Him we have received her, as our Mother in the divine scheme of redemption. And one day she will “show us the fruit of her womb” and introduce us into the eternal joy of her Son our Lord.

Prayer:

O Mother blest, whom God bestows
On sinners and on just
What joy, what hope thou givest those
Who in thy mercy trust!
O Mother blest, for me obtain,
Ungrateful though I be,
To love that God, who first could deign
To show such love to me.

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A small request from your humble blogger: please do pray for me, horrible (just joking ;)) exams are on next week until the end of April. Deo gratias et Mariae!

Jesus, Mary, I love Thee, Save Souls!

Regina Caeli, Laetare, Alleluia!

Our Faith, It is the Victory that overcometh the world

"For whatsoever is born of God
overcometh the world, and this is the victory, which overcometh the world, our
FAITH"

- 1 John 5:4

"Love not the world, nor the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world is the (1)concupiscence of the flesh, and the (2)concupiscence of the eyes, and the (3)pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world.

And the world passeth away, and the concupiscence thereof."

- 1 John 2:15-17

And that world is powerful; it offers man immediate tangible enjoyment, it stimulates his ambition, his thirst for power. Once Satan tried to make use of these three allurements against Jesus Himself, but he was ignominiously defeated. Now the fight continues in this world around us, and in the heart of every man.

BUT, take heart! For it was Jesus who Himself said:

"In this world you shall have distress; but have confidence I have overcome the world."

- John 16: 33

We know how He has overcome the world: by suffering and death He entered upon His glory. We have a High Priest who knows our infirmities, and has compassion on them; His Heart also was troubled and He was afraid in the hour of His agony, but He offered up prayers and supplications and was heard for His reverence (Hebrews 5:7), and so He overcame, by the tree of the Cross.

Until the end of time Christ will suffer affliction in His Church, but against her the gates of hell shall not prevail: they may persecute her, close or "disaffect" her sacred edifices, torture her children (and this we have seen happening in our own day on a vaster scale than ever before), but never shall they destroy her.

Whether they refer to the struggle between the "Two Cities", which is raging throughout the world, or to the fierce duel between good and evil which is being fought within our own soul, these words of Jesus must always comfort us: "Have confidence, I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). "Abide in me, and I in you" (John 15:4), "He who abides in me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for without me you can do nothing." (John 15:5-6).

(Adapted from Alone with God, by Fr. Heyrmann SJ)

and it is HIM - Dearest Jesus, that we receive in Holy Communion. He IS present, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. It is Him alone that desires us (desidero desideravi), giving Himself to us so wholeheartedly, so lovingly, so mind-boggling (that a God would give Himself as food - all for love) since Deus caritas est, infinitus!, and we, inately - though sometimes we feel otherwise, desire Him too, as captured so nicely in St. Augustine's (d. 430 AD) exclamation: "Our Hearts were made for Thee, O Lord, and it finds no rest till it rests in Thee."

Jesus, Mary, I Love Thee, Save Souls!

Regina Caeli, Laetare, Alleluia!

Low Sunday

Greetings dear readers! :)

Here's a short post on the gospel reading on this, Low Sunday from Alone with God by Fr Heyrman SJ, aptly named to end the octave of the feast of Easter (Easter Week) when contrasted to High Sunday (Easter Sunday - last week) - dear me, time flies fast! (and we must remember again that time is ETERNITY - we shouldn't waste it).

p/s: please do remember me in your prayers. Thank you. Examinations ahoy!

This blog will have sporadic posts from now till the end of April.

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Alone with God
By Father J. Heyrman, S.J.

Low Sunday – Dominica in Albis (Octave of Easter)

APPARITION TO THOMAS AND THE OTHER APOSTLES
(Jn. 20: 24-29)

1. On the eighth day after Easter, the Apostles once again were gathered together in the Cenacle, and this time Thomas was with them. Notwithstanding the unanimous testimony of his brethren he stubbornly refused to believe in the Resurrection. Suddenly Jesus stood in their midst, and straight away addressed Thomas.

2. Petition: The grace to be, and ever to remain, one of those whom Jesus called blessed because they have not seen and have believed.

I. The Obstinacy of Thomas

We do not know why, but Thomas was not with the other Apostles when, on the evening of Easter day, Jesus appeared to them in the Cenacle. On his return to the group the others told him, “We have seen the Lord! But he said to them, Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails and my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

These challenging words where prompted by the disappointment of a headstrong man. Thomas lacked neither generosity nor courage. When Lazarus lay sick, and Jesus spoke of returning to Judea, where their lives were in danger, it was he who had said to the others, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him” (John 11:16). And now he is the only one who has not seen the risen Master; and this arouses his resentment. There might have been lamentable consequences if Jesus had not intervened.

Don’t we all know of such occasions, when we have made a mistake and, though in out heart of hearts we know better, we take shelter behind pretexts and sophistry; we are discontented, we know we are wrong but we are too proud to confess that we have erred? The sooner we plead guilty, in such cases, the better it will be for us.

II. Jesus Rescues Thomas

Just as in the case of the disciples of Emmaus, so here our Lord acts as the Good Shepherd who goes in search of the straying sheep and carries it back to the fold.

“And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Jesus cometh, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said, Peace be to you. Then He said to Thomas, put in thy finger hither, and see my hands; and bring hither thy hand and put it into my side; and be not faithless but believing. Thomas answered and said to him, My Lord and my God.” (Dominus meus, et Deus meus!)

No sooner had Thomas beheld Jesus looking at him with infinite love than his obstinacy vanished. The Master’s invitations to “lay his finger into the place of the nails” made him feel profoundly humble; he cast himself at the feet of Jesus and from the depths of his contrite heart uttered the most sublime profession of faith found in the Gospel, “My Lord and my God.” (Dominus meus, et Deus meus!)

Admire our Lord’s way: how, knowing Thomas thoroughly, He reached out, through the apostle’s flimsy armour of resentment, to his true nature so fundamentally generous and faithful.

III. The Last Beatitude

“Jesus saith to him, Because thou hast seen me, Thomas, thou hast believed; blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed.”

Thomas ought to have believed on the testimony of his companions without laying down any conditions. Far more meritorious had been the faith of John who, seeing the sepulchre empty and the linen cloths laid aside in an orderly manner, “saw and believed” that Jesus was risen.

“Because thou hast seen me, Thomas, thou hast believed.” On those words St. Augustine comments, “What he saw and what he touched was the man; what he acknowledged was the Divinity which he did not see and touch. But what he saw and touched destroyed his doubts, and made him believe in the Divinity.”

Therefore Jesus said: “Blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed.” We and all the generations that were not privileged to see Jesus when He was on earth, are grateful to Him for those words. Thirty years after those events St. Peter, writing to the Christian communities of Asia Minor, all converted Gentiles, said, “Rejoice … that the trial of your faith (much more precious than gold which is tried by fire) will bring you praise and glory and honour at the appearing of Jesus Christ: whom having not seen, you love; in whom also now, though you see him not, you believe: and believing shall rejoice with joy unspeakable and glorified; receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:6-9).

And St. Paul to the Romans, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing” (Romans 15:13).

Here below our happiness consists in loving Him, whom we have not seen.

Prayer:

Thy wounds, as Thomas saw, I do not see;
Yet
Thee confess my Lord and God to be.
Make me believe Thee ever more and more;
In Thee my hope, in Thee my love to store.

Jesus, Mary, I love Thee, Save Souls!

Regina Caeli, Laetare, Alleluia!

Easter Saturday

A short post for today, Holy Saturday from the book, Alone with God by Fr Heyrman S.J.:

Saturday, Easter Week

JESUS APPEARS TO HIS HOLY MOTHER

1. The Gospel mentions no apparition of Jesus to His Holy Mother. Mary could hardly act as an official witness; for she belongs to another sphere since her role is a uniquely intimate one. Yet for many centuries if not from the earliest days of the Church, Christian piety has taken it for granted that in the early dawn of Easter Jesus appeared first of all to His Mother.

(This is my small addition: I read this somewhere: the Gospels when written assumed that we had some common sense, that’s why there was no mention of this in the Gospels. The book, The Mystical City of God by Venerable Mary of Agreda is a very good book of the Divine History and Life of the Virgin Mother of God. Link can be found on one of the side links on this page).

2. Petition: The grace to share the exultation of Mary to whom was given the fullness of the Easter joy. “Mary, cause of our joy, pray for us.”

I. Mary Waits for the Apparition

The Gospel says nowhere that our Lady went to the sepulchre in the company of the pious women who had stood by the cross. To her, at any rate, the grave could not have been the last word. The angel had said to her, “of his kingdom there shall be no end”, which words Mary had always kept in her heart. Nor was she heedless of the prophecy of Jesus, well known to her, that on the third day He would rise again. Mary believed.

Just as at Nazareth she had waited nine months, till He would appear in the “weakness of our flesh”, from her virginal womb, so now she waits and longs for the dawn of that third day, when she will see Him anew in His glorified Body.

We may surmise that, at this moment, whilst with every fibre of her whole being, she adheres to her Fiat, the wonderful events of these last years are passing before her mind: Nazareth, Bethlehem, Egypt, the hallowed years in the carpenter’s cottage, the troubled period of her Son’s ministry, the tragedy of the Passion and Calvary. She has not understood it all, but the hour approaches when she will understand fully.

II. The Apparition

On Easter morning, then, while Mary Magdalene and the other Mary hastened to the sepulchre, to complete the provisional embalming of Friday night, Mary stayed at home. Suddenly Jesus is standing before her, in all His glory! At the departure of her children from this world Holy Church prays, “May the gentle and radiant countenance of Christ Jesus appear to thee”; this wish was fulfilled for Mary in an inexpressible way, when she beheld her risen Son …

“The more smarting the wound, the more delightful the cure,” cries the ancient mystic Hadewych. Old Simeon had prophesied, “Thy own soul a sword shall pierce”; now that she gazes upon the resplendent marks of the wounds in the glorified Body of her Son, the wound in her own heart is changed into a fount of heavenly bliss … Thus did Jesus and Mary, in the words of a devout medieval writer, celebrate that first Easter in delight and jubilation, “Regina caeli, laetare, alleluia; O Queen of Heaven, thrill with joy!”

“And e’en as from His manger bed
He gave Her His first smile;
So now,
while seraphs wait,
He talks with Her a while.” (Keble)

III. Jesus Entrusts a Task to His Mother

It is highly probable that our Lord now enlightened His blessed Mother about the office He had entrusted to her when with His dying breath He said to her, “Woman, behold thy son.” Among the apostles and in the infant Church, which her Son’s mystical body, she had a capital task to fulfill, a mother’s task, delicate and unobtrusive yet universal and permanent in its influence, though subordinate but indispensable co-operation with Himself.

Jesus filled her soul with light and strength for the fulfillment of that task. When He shall have ascended into heaven, His Mother will be the most precious keepsake left by Him to the apostles. When they assemble she is in their midst; around her they persevere in prayer; and she is with them when, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Ghost comes to infuse life into the new-born Mystical Body of Christ, His Church.

For many years Mary still remained on earth: those were years of great solitude and blessed expectation when, even more ardently than St. Paul, she “desired to be dissolved to be with Christ” (Phil. 1:23). May we not piously presume that, on this hallowed Easter morning, Jesus revealed to Mary how, without being “dissolved” she would soon and for ever be with Him. And surely, the sight of His glorified Body gave her a glimpse of the bliss that was to come. She would be the first, and that immediately at the close of her earthly life, to reap the full fruit of the redemption: she was to be assumed into heaven, to be enthroned by the side of her Son; till the end of time she will distribute to us the graves that flow from Christ, the source of all grace.

Prayer: O God, who by the resurrection of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, didst deign to give joy to the world: grant, we beseech Thee, that through His Mother, the Virgin Mary, we may obtain the joys of everlasting life. Through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord. (Prayer after the Regina Coeli.)
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And I just saw this on the sspxasia.com website, on the second tsunami relief project.

Jesus, Mary, I love Thee, Save Souls!

Regina Coeli, Laetare, Alleluia!

Easter Thursday, the Apparition to St. Mary Magdalene

yay, I'm now finally left with only the exams before the semester ends, I just had 3 days of handing up assignments, lab reports/tests(cas) etc. for each of the 5 modules that I'm reading this sem. Deo volente, I survived, Deo gratias et Mariae! :)

Even though the exams are in about a week's time, I feel as if I've completed the sem. lol. Please do pray for me though, I need all the help I can get. :) Deo gratias et Mariae again! =D

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Salve Festa Dies (for Easter)

R. Salve festa dies, (Hail, O festal day,)
Toto venerabilis aevo, (venerable
from all time,)
Qua Deus infernuim vicit et astra tenet. (bis) (by which God
conquers hell and holds the stars.)

Ecce renascentis testator gratia
(Behold, the grace of a world)
Mundi: Omnia cum Domino dona redisse suo.
(rebirthing testifies: All gifts have returned with their Lord.) R.

Namque triumphanti post tristia (For indeed, after hellish sorrows,)
Tartara Christo: Undique fronde (the triumphing Christ, grove with)
Nemus, gramina flore favent. (green and buds with flower everywhere give
laud.) R.

Qui genus humanum cernens (Thou Who, seeing humankind)
Mersisse profundo, Ut hominem (plunged to the deep, that you might)
eriperes, es quoque factus homo. (save man, were also made man.) R.

Redde tuam faciem, videant ut (Turn again Thy face, that the ages)
Saecula lumen; Redde diem qui nos, (may see the Light; restore the Day)
Te moriente, fugit. (which, when as Thou wert dying, fled to night.) R.

Amen. R.

Alone with God
By Father J. Heyrman, S.J.

Thursday, Easter Week

APPARITION TO MARY MAGDALENE
(Jn. 20: 11-17)

1. Early that morning Mary Magdalene, with Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had gone to the sepulchre. They found the stone rolled aside and the tomb empty. At once she hastened back to inform the apostles. Peter and John ran to the tomb, found her statement was correct, and went away. Mary Magdalene came back to the sepulchre after they had left … and lingered there, filled with anxiety, and weeping bitterly. Then Jesus appeared to her.

2. Petition: The grace to understand what Jesus wished to reward in Magdalene and what He wants to find in our own hearts.

I. Mary Magdalene’s Ardent Love

After her conversion she had wholly dedicated herself to the service of the Lord; she had followed Him to Calvary; she had stood near the cross with His Virgin Mother and the beloved disciple; she had seen Him expire; and she had assisted at His burial. And now the taking away of His dead Body made her lose Him a second time: nothing at all was left of Him … The thought that He had perhaps risen from the dead does not seem to have occurred to her for an instant, no more than to the other women, or to the Apostles. What distresses her most profoundly is that His dead Body has been removed and she does not know whither.

St. Augustine rightly remarks, “Whereas the men return home, the weaker sex, because of a stronger love, lingers on about the place. Mary Magdalene’s eyes, which have sought Jesus without finding Him, fill and overflow with tears. That He should have been removed from the tomb causes her greater grief than that He had died on the cross. Alas! Of the dear Master, whom she would never behold alive any more, there were now left no sacred remains whatever!”

How wonderful the workings of God’s grace and God’s love can be in a human heart! “I am still weak in love, and very wanting in holiness … O Lord, make me inwardly sound, worthy to love Thee, brave to suffer, steadfast to persevere” (3 Imitation of Christ 5:2).

II. Magdalene’s Perseverance Is Rewarded

“But Mary Magdalene stood at the sepulchre without, weeping. Now as she was weeping, she stooped own and looked into the sepulchre. And she saw two angels in white, sitting one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been laid. They say to her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith to them, Because they have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have laid him.” Once more she looks into the tomb; she hardly notices the angels and probably is not conscious of having been questioned and having answered: one object only preys on her mind – Where, Oh where is He?

“When she had thus said, she turned herself back and saw Jesus standing; and she knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith to her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou?” And saying this, He comes a little closer, to draw her attention.

“She, thinking that it was the gardener, saith to him. Sir, if thou hast taken him thence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus saith to her, Mary. She, turning, saith to Him, Rabboni (which is to say Master). Jesus saith to her, Do not thus cling to me, for I am not yet ascended to my Father.” These last words are obscure; the rest is clear: Mary hears her name, the affectionate voice, the master. She casts herself at His feet and from her heart comes the cry, one word only: Rabboni, a word that expresses all her love and adoration.

Thus was Mary Magdalene rewarded “because she had loved much”. According to St. Mark, Mary was the first to whom Jesus appeared; and he adds “out of whom He had cast seven devils”. God is wonderful in His saints.

III. The Message Entrusted to Magdalene

Mary Magdalene was privileged to enjoy the presence of her Lord just a little longer than the disciples of Emmaus, out of whose sight He vanished as soon as they knew Him. But only a little. “Do not cling to me thus,” said Jesus, “but go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” How honorable a mission He commits to her! She is to go and announce the glad news to the apostles, “my brethren”.

“My brethren!” these words reveal to us the sentiments of the risen Saviour. When He was still with them, “in the days of His flesh,” He once said to them, “I will not now call you servants, for the servant knoweth not what his lord doth; but I have called you friends, because all things whatsoever I have heard from my Father, I have made known to you” (Jn. 15:15). Now, when He has entered into His glory, He no longer calls them friends, but brothers. He and they have the same Father: He, as the Only-Begotten Son, by nature equal unto God; they, as adopted sons, brothers by the grace of the Son. “I ascend to My Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” How is it that we can be so intimately united with Him, and yet so utterly different from Him? Here we discover the charity of Christ, which surpasseth all knowledge” (Eph. 3:19).

Mary Magdalene arose and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord, and those things he said to me.”

Prayer: O Lord Jesus, who hast so wonderfully rewarded the love of Mary Magdalene, when with tears she searched for Thee; be pleased to pour Thy love into our hearts, a love which in all things seeks Thee alone humbly and confidently, a love that is ready to assume every task and to make every sacrifice in order to preach Thy Holy Name.

Regina caeli, laetare, alleluia!

HAPPY EASTER!

Here's a link to the post I wrote last year on Easter. =D Its really amazing how time flies!

And here's wishing all my blog readers a very Blessed and Joyous Easter, full of God's blessings.

May Mother Mary protect you, your Angel guide you, all the Angels and Saints pray for you!

And during Easter Vigil, before the Mass of the Resurrection at Midnight, there were 4 lessons, shortened from the original 12 that was before the 1950s, I would like to bring your attention to the First Lesson, about the Creation of the World, Man created to the image of God and His likeness and had dominion over all living creatures, taken from Gen 1:1-31, 2:1-2.

Holy Mother Church brings us back to the beginning of all things. Creation and our Origins. We are made by God, nothing and no one else. There is nothing that is not made that is not God's own creation.

And that is something that is under great contention now, with the stupid (I must say and I am only putting it mildly) and un-scientific and ill-logical evolutionist theory flying around and clouding and "corrupting" good scientists' minds.

I can't see why everything is so evolution inclined, I can't see why people don't give full rights to God, to the only King worth giving any attention too. to the only ONE who in the undivided Trinity, made all things, created all things, who loved us right from the start, who loved us even before all eternity, who created us, in our mother's womb - as like the prophet Jeremias (as a pre-figure of Jesus), as like Jesus, who was in Mother Mary's virginal womb - the first tabernacle, as like all of us, in our mother's womb. But Deo volente. Everything in His own time. He will make all things right - in His own time. =)

Here's a sermon by Archbishop Lefebvre, beautiful one, on Easter.

(via: SSPXASIA) The Archbishop Speaks

Sermon delivered by His Grace, the Most Reverend Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre

Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X on Easter Sunday, 26 March 1978

at Ecône, Switzerland

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

"Confidite, nolite timere, ego vinci mundum."

It is Our Lord Who leaves us these words before embarking upon the road of His Passion and Death: "Have confidence, fear not, I have overcome the world." And, in fact, Our Lord has overcome the world, the world such as St. John describes it: "what is the world," he asks, "but the concupiscentia oculorum, concupiscentia carnis, superbia uirae?" What does that mean? Riches, honors, the delights and pleasures of the flesh, that is what the world is. And Our Lord has overcome the world!

It suffices to contemplate Our Lord, attached to His Cross, covered with Blood, crowned with thorns, His side opened, to see that Our Lord has truly conquered the world, the world of riches-is anyone poorer than Our Lord upon His Cross? The world of honors—is there anyone more humble than Our Lord dying as one condemned by common law? Finally, the concupiscence of the flesh-is there a better example of sacrifice, of suffering, of sorrow, and of lacerations of the flesh than Our Lord covered with Blood upon His Cross? Indeed, Our Lord has overcome the world: that which the world loved, Our Lord scorned. And why did Our Lord scorn these things? In order to love! To love His Father, to love God, because one cannot serve two masters: one cannot love the world and love God. And Our Lord upon the Cross died of love: He died of love for His Father, He died of love for God, and His outstretched arms and His opened Heart reveal to us that He died of love for His neighbor as well! There is, therefore, a very great lesson in the Victory of Our Lord over the world.

And because He has overcome the world, it had to follow as well that He win the victory over sin. For that which is at the root of this deviation in which our souls are born, and which we call the world, all that comes to us from original sin, and Our Lord by His Cross has won the victory over sin. Until then, man had not been able to attain Heaven; henceforth, by the Royal Way of the Cross, Heaven is opened, souls can now follow Our Lord and go up to Heaven, sin is overcome! Sin is overcome by the Blood and water which flowed from the side of Our Lord, and which are going to take form in all the Sacraments which Our Lord is going to leave to us, and which will give and apply to us His Blood. In Baptism, particularly: by all the souls which from now on after the death of Our Lord will be baptized, souls which will be delivered from original sin and will be able to aspire towards Heaven, to follow Our Lord. And Our Lord has not only delivered us from original sin, but he delivers us as well from our personal sins by the Sacrament of Penance, by the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, and by the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass—Our Lord truly frees us from our sins!

Nevertheless, are we to think that, delivered from our sins, we may henceforth desist from combat; that there are no more spiritual exercises to realize in our souls? No. Our Lord could have just as well caused that the consequences of original sin vanish from our souls, and consequently removed us from all these false desires, these inordinate desires of the world. Our Lord, however, did not so will it. He willed, as St. Thomas says, that our life be spent in combat, in suffering, in trials, in temptations, in difficulties. Each one of us has his own little drama, his own big drama—the crisis of one's spiritual life, the crisis of one's interior life. Where do we stand vis a vis God, vis a vis Our Lord? Our souls, are they pure, are they full of grace? Are they loving of Our Lord, of our neighbor? Do we accomplish our duties, our duties of state? Are we obedient to the law of God, Who asks us to love both God and our neighbor? Each of us must make the point of knowing where he stands, and fight! In a combat, when there is a truce, the superior officers confer among themselves and ask why a defeat took place in such a location, or they discern where the weak points of the enemy are located, in order that when the combat is resumed, the victory may be won. And likewise with us, we must at times during our life recollect ourselves, make retreats, in order to know where we stand, how to battle, how to battle the enemy, and so carry off the victory with Our Lord. It is capital that we win the victory! It is essential that we fight!

For if Our Lord has overcome the world, if He has overcome sin, He has also overcome the devil. And nevertheless, we witness everyday the bad influences of the spirits which surround us, as St. Paul says, in the very air about us, and which seek our perdition. And, assuredly, Our Lord has truly conquered the devil because before His Passion, before His Death, before His Resurrection the devil reigned over souls from their interior. He had hold over souls, and he still has it when souls are not baptized, as evidenced by the fact that we must pronounce the exorcisms to drive away the devil from souls. But henceforth, thanks to the Passion of Our Lord, thanks to His Victory— and Our Lord Himself has affirmed it—nunc eiicietur princeps huis mundi—"now the prince of this world will be cast out." Indeed, he is cast out of souls who are baptized, it is true, but he still has an influence in this world. Externally, he can tempt us, he can cause tension in our life by every sort of method—you know it well—by every means which this world puts at his disposition. Yet, nonetheless, his defeat is assured. It is up to us to battle to keep vigil, to keep an eye open to all the diabolical influences which surround us, in order to preserve our souls for Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Finally, Our Lord has won the victory over death, for death is the consequence of sin. And, thus, today we celebrate His Resurrection, the consequence of the Victory of Our Lord. We are assured that we ourselves will one day have the joy of the resurrection, if however we follow Our Lord, if we love Him, as did the Blessed Virgin Mary as she stood at the foot of the Cross.

This phrase which I am going to cite for you is located in the Office of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows, on the day of the feast: Dilectus meus candidus et rubiscundus totus spirat amorem, "my Beloved, pure and at the same time rose (by the Blood which flows) in His entirety breathes forth love/' caput inclinatum, "His Head inclined," manus expensae, "His Hands extended," pectus apertum, "His Heart opened."

Yes, let us contemplate Our Lord Jesus Christ upon His Cross just as the Blessed Virgin Mary did, and let us ask Our Lord to give us this love. But in order to have this love, we must sacrifice, we must struggle. Every aspect of the Cross proves it to us. If we do not battle, if we remain passive, if we fall asleep, then the enemy will be all-powerful and will come once more to gain admission into our souls. And, alas, my dear brethren, today this is the great drama of the Church.

This victory which Our Lord has won and which manifests itself today on this feast of the Resurrection, comprises necessarily a gigantic combat against the world, against death, against sin. Our Lord has triumphed, but this combat continues, and the entire history of the Church is but the history of this combat, with its diverse, vicissitudes. And today, are we not in an hour of darkness where the devil reigns once again, where the spirit of the world is everywhere and permeates everywhere? Are we not heading for death, for eternal death? And, alas, in the Church itself they no longer will to fight, one must not talk of combat anymore, no more talking of penance, no more talking of renouncement, no more talking of mortification. Such is the great drama which the Church is undergoing today—they have laid down their arms. Thus the devil finds himself all-powerful, because they do not fight him anymore. The day will soon come when they will say that the devil no longer exists, that the world is not really as bad as one would make it; that this world is full of good intentions! But we know that to be the instrument of the devil to pervert us. If the world has hated Our Lord, as Our Lord Himself said, the world will hate you as well. Thus, if we ourselves happen to love the world, the world will love us, and as a result we will separate ourselves from Our Lord Jesus Christ. Yet today it seems that one is full of complacency for this world-even clerics, even bishops! Yesterday I was reading a declaration made by a cardinal on the "rights of man"—for from now on it is no longer a question of the Decalogue which tells us to love God and our neighbor, it is no longer a question of speaking about our duties vis a vis God, Our Lord, and our neighbor—no, it's only a question of the "rights of man!" And these "rights of man," which are reputedly necessary for human dignity, to what do they reduce themselves? To the sharing of the goods of this world! It is necessary to share the goods of this world, there you have that to which the "rights of man" reduce themselves.

Is that what Our Lord represents to us upon His Cross? Our Lord requires us precisely to scorn the riches of this world, and here you have it that those who ought to teach men to despise these riches, to love the spirit of poverty even if they be rich, to live as poor, poor in spirit, detached from the goods of this world, behold, those who ought to preach these things and preach Our Lord Jesus Christ think only of the allotment of the goods of this world, and thereby arouse once again envy in the hearts of men. Always more, always more than our neighbor, thus fostering jealousy of those who possess a few goods and implanting in the hearts of men this division, this class struggle, which is precisely what the devil wants in order to destroy the world and destroy souls! And will there not be in Brazil this year a meeting of all the delegates of the episcopal conferences to talk of nothing but the "rights of man?" Where is this human dignity? They talk of the "rights of man for human dignity," but to what does it refer? Human dignity consists in loving the truth and loving the good. To the degree that we separate ourselves from the Truth, to the degree that we remove ourselves from the Good, we are no longer worthy of dignity, we shall no longer be worthy of Heaven. Would the devils still be worthy of dignity? Such are the profound errors which have actually entered into the spirits of even those who should preach the truth and who henceforth are prophets of error.

And therefore we must, we, my dear brethren, maintain the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ, meditate every day the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and put it everywhere: in our rooms, in our homes, at the crossing of our streets. Let the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ reign and let it be everywhere before our eyes, so that we may have this continual lesson which Our Lord Jesus Christ gives us in such an admirable way! He Who is rich because He is the Creator of all things, and all belongs to Him. He has willed to live poor and die poor. He Who should have had all the honors of the world. He at Whose feet all humanity should have come and prostrated itself to render Him honor and glory. He died as an evildoer! He Who possesses everything and could have offered Himself all the legitimate pleasures which the world can offer, He willed to perish bathed in His Blood! That is the example which Our Lord Jesus Christ gives us if we desire to five truly as Christians. That is what you, my dear friends, will preach in the future: the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ, just as did St. Paul. What does he preach? Jesus, and Jesus crucified. You will preach Jesus crucified for the good of souls. And if you do not, you deceive those to whom you are sent, and you will not lead them to Heaven. And it is for this reason that we must maintain firmly the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and as a consequence His Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It is because the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ is no longer honored, and no longer honored in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in particular, that souls are being lost, that souls are disoriented and no longer know where to find the way to Heaven. The road to Heaven is in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, it is in the Sacrifice of Our Lord, it is in the Cross of Our Lord Who pours out His Blood every day upon our altars. It is by this Cross that we shall go to Heaven, there is no other road, there is no other way of salvation but the Cross of Jesus, Who is the Royal Way of Heaven, Via Regalis Crucis et Caeli That my dearly beloved brethren, is what we must maintain at all cost.

Let us ask the Blessed Virgin Mary to teach us the Cross. She will do so, she will tell us what is truly for us the road of Heaven, and likewise will welcome us when the hour of our death arrives, if we have followed Our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us ask also on this day that spirits be enlightened, that the minds of priests, of those who must preach the truth, be enlightened by the Holy Ghost in order that they truly return to this predication of the Cross which is the throne of glory of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Translated by Joseph Cottins at Ecône—March 1979

V. Regina Caeli, Laetare, alleluia.

R. Quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia.

V. Resurrexit sicut dixit, alleluia.

R. Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia.

V. Gaude et laetare, Virgo Maria, alleluia.

R. Quia surrexit Dominus vere, alleluia.

Oremus,

Deus, qui per resurrectionem Filii tui Domini nostri Jesus Christi, mundum laetificare dignatus es, praesta quaesumus, ut per ejus Genetricem Virginem Mariam, perpetuae capiamus gaudia vitae. Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum.

Amen.

O Holy Mother of Sorrows! What grief!

Oh Mother of Sorrows, who can feel what thou hast felt for thy Son and thy God?

Oh what grief, what sorrow, what pain, what love and what compassion, the most Immaculate and Sorrowful heart of thee, my mother, must have felt, when thou didst stand by the cross of Jesus.

(Stabant autem juxta crucem Jesu Mater ejus) - John, xix.25

Oh what love Jesus must have for you, oh Dearest Mother, a Son who had from eternity chosen you to be His Mother, and had given you a preference in His Love before all mankind and all the angels, and oh what love must you have for Jesus thy Son who was also your God!

O Dearest Mother! Mater Dolorosa!

(What Jesus owes to His Mother)

VEXILLA REGIS PRODEUNT, FULGET CRUCIS MYSTERIUM

BEHOLD, THE ROYAL ENSIGNS FLY, BEARING THE CROSS’S MYSTERY

Alone with God
By Father J. Heyrman, S.J.

Good Friday

1. Today’s liturgical colour is black; yet during the adoration of the cross the Church sings, “By this wood has joy come to the whole world.” While with the entire congregation we pay homage to the cross, we meditate with wonder and gratitude on “the mystery of the cross”.

2. Petition: We pray for the grace to draw light, strength and confidence from the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I. The Mystery of the Cross

This mystery has “the breadth and length, and height, and depth of the charity of Christ which surpasseth all knowledge” (Eph 3: 18, 19). There is superabundant matter for meditation, wonder and grateful praise in the thought that here Good conquered evil through love.

Thy mystery of the cross is a mystery of weakness, of impotence, of consummate failure: Jesus is betrayed, denied, condemned as a blasphemer and sedition-monger, mocked as a fool.

A mystery of God’s power: “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself” (John 12:32). By His death on the cross He overcomes powers which till then had ruled supreme: the prince of the world, sin and death.

A mystery of foolishness: To the Gentiles, who search for wisdom, a crucified God is foolishness; more so His resurrection, which is sheer absurdity.

A mystery of divine Wisdom: “It is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; and the prudence of the prudent I will reject” (1 Cor. 1:19). The wisdom of the Greeks has only scorn for Christian wisdom; yet the day comes when the latter will illumine the former.

A mystery of wickedness: Was it possible that men could treat so ignominiously Him, who not only was absolutely guiltless, but also infinitely good? How could they prefer Barabbas to Him? These were not the deeds of human beings, but the works of the prince of darkness, of Satan himself.

A mystery of righteousness: Man, who had rebelled against God, owed his Creator a debt, which he could not pay. Jesus assumed the burden and paid our debt on the cross. “He blotted out the handwriting of the decree that was against us, which was contrary to us. And he hath taken the same out of the way, fastening it to the cross” (Col. 2:14).

It is a mystery of deadly hatred and of life-giving love.

II. Until the End of Time

Still in our own days the cross is to the world a stumbling block, and utter foolishness (1 Cor. 1:24). To worldlings Christ and His Cross are the enemies of life, the destroyers of earthly enjoyment. Even in many a Christian land the Crucifix is ordered to be removed from schools, judgement halls and hospital wards. In his epistle to the Philippians St. Paul mourned over those Christians who behaved “as enemies of the cross of Christ … whose god is their belly” (Phil. 2:18, 19).

On Good Friday the solemn adoration of the cross is held in all the churches: the whole congregation, the entire family, offer public homage to the cross, which has been just unveiled by the celebrant and is displayed for the veneration of all.

During this moving ceremony we should ponder over the place we give to the cross in our personal life: how eagerly we embrace it, when in the shape of trials, it is offered to us, how patiently we carry it, whether we truly tread the “Royal Road of the Holy Cross”, of which The Imitation of Christ speaks with such unction.

“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9: 23). “He has gone before you, carrying His cross, and died for you upon the cross, that you too might have strength to carry your cross, and be willing to die upon the cross … In the cross is salvation, in the cross is life, in the cross is sure protection from enemies, in the cross is an abundance of heavenly delight, in the cross is courage, in the cross is gladness of heart, in the cross is height of virtue, in the cross is perfection of sanctity.” (Imitation of Christ 12:2).

The cross is the symbol of love, of suffering and salvation: “Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven … Then shall all the tribes of the earth see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with much power and majesty” (Mt. 24:30). In what measure “the tribes of the earth” and each individual human being shall have paid homage to, or rejected, Christ and His cross, in that measure they will, on that day and throughout eternity, rejoice or lament.

“The cross stands; the world moves on.” Such is the trustful and triumphal motto of the Carthusian Order.

Prayer: Hail, Cross, our hope, on thee we call, Who keep this mournful festival. Grant to the just increase of grace, And every sinner’s crimes efface. Blest Trinity! We praises sing To Thee, from whom all graces spring; Celestial crowns on those bestow, Who conquer by the Cross below. (Vexilla Regis).

Holy Thursday

Sui Moras incolatus, Miro clausit ordine:
And He closed in solemn order, Wondrously His life of woe. (The Most Blessed Eucharist)
Oh my Jesus, Beneath Thy Cross I stay.

And oh what beauty it is:

Sub diversis speciebus Signis tantum et non rebus Latent res eximiae:

Here beneath these signs are hidden, Priceless things to sense forbidden, Signs, not things are all we see.

From the Lauda Sion - by St. Thomas Aquinas on the Most Blessed Sacrament, Jesus, present body, blood, soul and divinity.

And with what desire Jesus wants to give Himself to us:

et ait illis desiderio desideravi hoc pascha manducare vobiscum antequam patiar - Luke 22.

At Holy Hour today, at the altar of repose:

Today, Holy Thursday, is the day of the Master's last farewells. - A dear full of love, and the start of His agonies. Oh, how His Heart is most sorrowful even unto death. The anguish of an inexpressible sorrow invades the Heart of Jesus. And today, Holy Thursday, is the day He had to say goodbye to His Mother - whom She had, with her most sublime Fiat, begun the salvation of men. Tomorrow, Good Friday, her Fiat which was pronounced in the happy little house of Nazareth, it must be consummated tomorrow on a cross of ignominy and of blood. Her Fiat crushing for a Mother, but sovereign in its redemptive power. Now, night has come, Jesus confides His desolate Mother to His faithful friends of Bethany and to His Angels. Then He leaves, His soul bathed in an agony a thousand times more piercing and more bitter than death itself.

-Adapted from 20 Holy Hours by Fr. Mateo Crawley Boevey, SS.CC.

"Could you not, then, watch one hour with me?" - Matthew 26:40

Oh my Love! What beauty, what mystery! (Sacra Mysterium).

Have a good Good Friday :) Dominus vobiscum, et cum spiritum tuo.

Amor meus crucifixus est. O, parce Domine, parce populo tuo: ne in aeternum irascaris nobis.

Dixit Jesu: Sitio! - John, xix.28 (I thirst!)

O How precious are Thy words, my Jesus.
Words from God, hanging on an infamous tree.

April, the Month of the Eucharist

April, the month dedicated to the Holy Eucharist

J.M.J.

MARTYR OF THE EUCHARIST

How a young Chinese girl inspired Archbishop Fulton Sheen to make a Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament every day.

A couple of months before he died Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen was interviewed on national television. One of the questions he was asked was this: "You have inspired millions of people all over the world. Who inspired you? Was it a pope?" He responded that it was not a pope, cardinal, another bishop, or even a priest or nun, but rather an eleven-year-old Chinese girl.

He explained that when the communists took over China, they imprisoned a priest in his own rectory near the church. After being locked up in his own house, the priest looked out the window and was horrified to see the communists enter the church. Once inside, they went into the sanctuary, broke open the tabernacle and in a hateful act of desecration, threw down the ciborium scattering the Hosts on the floor. The priest knew exactly how many Hosts had been in the ciborium: thirty-two.

When the communists left they either didn't notice, or didn't pay any attention to a small girl praying in the back of the Church who saw everything. That night she returned, and slipping past the guard at the rectory, entered the Church where she made holy hour perhaps of reparation for the desecration she witnessed of the Blessed Sacrament. After her holy hour she went into the sanctuary, and kneeling down, she bent over and received Jesus in Holy Communion with her tongue. Each night, the girl returned to the church to make her holy hour and receive Jesus in Holy Communion on her tongue just as she did the first night. On the thirty-second night, after having consumed the last Host, she accidentally made a noise that awoke the guard who was asleep at his post by the priest's residence.

From his bedroom window, the priest could only watch in horror as the heartrending scene unfolded before his eyes. The girl tried to run away but the guard caught up with her and beat her to death with the butt of his rifle.

When Bishop Sheen heard the story he was so inspired that he promised God he would make a holy hour before the Blessed Sacrament every day for the rest of his life. And he was not only faithful to his promise, but he took every opportunity to spread this devotion of the daily holy hour before the Blessed Sacrament.

We don't know the name of the eleven-year-old Chinese girl of our story, but her heroic act of going to the church every night at the risk of her life to adore and receive Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament serves as a powerful testimony against the attitude of so many Catholics today who show nothing but callous indifference toward the Real Presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.

An excerpt from

TREASURE IN CLAY

The Autobiography of Fulton J. Sheen

"I resolved also to spend a continuous Holy Hour every day in the presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament . . . The Holy Hour. Is it difficult? Sometimes it seemed to be hard; it might mean having to forego a special engagement, or rise an hour earlier, but on the whole it has never been a burden, only a joy . . . . The purpose of the Holy Hour is to encourage a deep personal encounter with Christ. The holy and glorious God is constantly inviting us to come to Him, to hold converse with Him, to ask for such things as we need and to experience what a blessing there is in fellowship with Him . . . I have found that it takes some time to catch fire in prayer. This has been one of the advantages of the daily hour. It is not so brief as to prevent the soul from collecting itself and shaking off the multitudinous distractions of the world. Sitting before the Presence is like a body exposing itself before the sun to absorb its rays. Silence in the Hour is a tete-a-tete with the Lord. In those moments one does not so much pour out written prayers, but listening takes its place.

We do not say: "Listen, Lord, for Thy servant speaks,"but

"Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth."

Jesus, Mary, I love Thee, Save Souls!

Jesus upon the Cross

Oh how beautiful again it is, Crosses are. :)

The Passion and The Death of Jesus Christ
By St, Alphonsus Ligouri

Page 449

III

For Holy Tuesday

Jesus upon the Cross

Jesus, from the cross, asks us not so much for our compassion as for our love; and, if even He does ask our compassion, He asks it solely in order that the compassion may move us to love Him. As being infinite goodness, He already merits all our love; but when placed upon the cross, it seems as if He sought for us to love Him, at least out of compassion.

Ah, my Jesus, and who is there that will not love Thee, while confessing Thee to be the God that Thou art, and contemplating Thee upon the Cross? Oh, what arrows of fire dost Thou not dart at souls from that throne of love! Oh, how many hearts hast Thou not drawn to Thyself from that Cross of Thine!

O wounds of my Jesus! O beautiful furnaces of love! Admit me, too, amongst yourselves to burn, not indeed with that fire of hell which I have deserved, but with holy flames of love for that God who has been willing to die for me, consumed by torments.

O my dearest Redeemer! Receive back a sinner, who, sorrowing for having offended Thee, is now earnestly longing to love Thee. I love Thee, I love Thee, I love Thee, O infinite goodness, O infinite love.

O Mary, O Mother of beautiful love! Obtain for me a greater measure of love, to consume me for that God who has died consumed of love for me.

O all ye Dearest Angels and Saints, please pray for me!

Amor meus crucifixus est!

Alone with God, Holy Tuesday

Jesus before Caiphas

Here's a meditation for Holy Tuesday, very beautiful:

Alone with God
By Father J. Heyrman, S.J.

Tuesday, Holy Week

JESUS TREADS THE WINE-PRESS ALONE, YET HE WAS IN TOUCH WITH ALL MANKIND

1. The loneliness of Jesus began when His disciples abandoned Him in the Garden to the vengeance of His enemies and it reached its highest point on the Cross, when it tore from His Heart the cry of distress, “My God, my God why hast Thou forsaken me?” (Deus meus! Deus meus! ut quid dereliquisti me?) – Mark 15:34.

2. Petition: That, full of reverence and compassion, we may remain close to Jesus in this “interior banishment”, and find in it the strength to bear with fortitude the trial of loneliness if God sends it to us for our chastisement.

I. One for the Sake of All

Caiphas, the high-priest of that year, had arrived at the conclusion that Jesus must be done away with: From the standpoint of religion as well as of politics He had made Himself intolerable. On the one hand He was undermining authority of the rulers with the people; on the other, He had gained so powerful an influence on the masses that at any moment He could start a rebellion against the Romans.

“If we let Him alone,” the chief priests and the Pharisees said, “all will believe in Him; and the Romans will come and take away our place and nation …” But one of them, named Caiphas, being the high-priest of that year, said to them, You know nothing; neither do you consider that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people and that the whole nation perish not. (And this he spoke not of himself: but being the high-priest of that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation. And not only for the nation, but to gather together in one the children of God that were dispersed)” (John 11: 47-52).

How very true those words have proved to be, “One shall die for the sake of all”! Though the high-priest was not aware of it, his words, dictated by mere politics and evil intention, took on a spiritual and world-wide meaning: they did but promulgate the eternal divine decree which was about to receive its glorious fulfillment.

Puny and short-sighted man frames his own wicked plans: “Why have the Gentiles raged and the people devised vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ … He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh at them, and the Lord shall deride them” (Ps. 2:1,2,4). No man can elude the almighty grasp of the infinitely wise, infinitely good, infinitely merciful God: “To them that love Him, He makes all things work together unto good” (Romans 8: 28).

II. Jesus Bears His Sufferings Alone

Of necessity, Jesus was lonely all His life. “He dwelt amongst us”, but to understand Him was not possible to anyone, not even to His Apostles, nay nor to His Holy Mother (Though She was the closest to Him on this earth). In starker loneliness He suffered, in utter loneliness He died.

During His Agony He had no one to keep watch with Him. From His arrest onward He beheld around Him only faces distorted with hatred and envy. The Liturgy of Matins makes Him say, “I have trodden the winepress alone … and I have looked for one that would grieve with me: but there was no one” (Ps. 68:21). On the way to Calvary one man was found, or rather ‘compelled’, to help Him carry the cross: and the Gospel further mentions “women who bewailed and lamented Him” as He passed carrying His cross. Besides that, Christian piety beholds Veronica boldly making her way through the crowd and wiping the blood, sweat and dirt off His sacred countenance and an ancient tradition permits us to believe that His Mother met Him while He carried His cross. But in His innermost heart, where no one could penetrate, He ever remained totally alone.

Then shortly before He expired on the cross, this abysmal loneliness reached its greatest depths. Before the Passion He had said to His apostles, “Behold, the hour comes that you shall leave me alone, and yet I am not alone; the Father is with me” (John 16:32). But now the hour has struck when even the Father seems to abandon Him: We hear Him crying with a loud voice, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” This is indeed and awful mystery. How close to the brink of eternal banishment did the Father in fact lead His beloved Son, who was “to redeem us from the curse by being made a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13).

III. Jesus in His Sufferings Was Reaching out to All Men

His sufferings benefited all men. Everything in Jesus was “given in partnership” to all men. All He was, all HE had, all He did was given to be imparted to us – without any consideration for Himself; everything without reserve … up to the very last drop of His Blood; His whole human nature, and through His human nature His divine Nature too …

Ruysbroeck calls Him “the lover of each and every man”. “Consider now,” he writes, “how Christ gave Himself to all with complete surrender. His ardent Sacerdotal Prayer was addressed to the Father in favour of all that should be saved. He reached out to the universality of men in His love, His teaching, His rebukes; in solacing gently, in giving liberally, in pardoning mercifully and compassionately. His soul and Body, His life and death, His labours and toil were, and are still being passed on to all. His Sacraments and His graces are dispensed to all. Whenever He as much as partook of food or drink to sustain His Body, He intended thereby to bring profit to the universality of those that shall live, until the end of the world. He considered nothing as His exclusive possession, but whatever was His He made it ours too: His Body and Soul, His Mother and disciples, His garments and cloak. He ate and drank for our sake, He lived and died for our sake … His sorrows and sufferings alone, and His destitution, did He claim for Himself; but all the advantage and the benefit that accrued from them He bestows on us and the glory of His merits shall be shared by all for ever and ever.

Prayer: Grant, Almighty and everlasting God, that we may so celebrate the mysteries of the Passion of our Lord as to deserve to obtain the remission of our sins. Through the same Christ our Lord, who livest and reignest world without end. (Collect, today’s Mass).

Parce Domine, parce populo tuo: ne in aeternum irascaris nobis.

Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday.

Behold, the start of Holy Week, Behold, in a few days time, your Lord and Saviour will be Crucified. Behold, then - what He said in the Gospels: "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to Myself." (John 12: 32). Oh my love. :) This is the start of my favourite and in my opinion, the best time of the Church, in her Holy Week.

From today's Offertory (Ps. 68:21,22):

My Heart hath expected reproach and misery, and I looked for one that would
grieve together with Me, but there was none; I sought for one that would comfort
Me, and I found none; and they gave Me gall for My food, and in My thirst they
gave Me vinegar to drink.

Have a good Holy Week. God Bless. Deo gratias et Mariae.

Jesus, Mary, I love Thee, Save Souls!

Parce Domine, parce populo tuo: ne in aeternum irascaris nobis.

As with St. Bernard: "Go to Mary" O Dearest Mother!

"In periculis, in angustiis, in rebus dubiis, Mariam cogita, Mariam invoces. . . Ipsam sequens, non devias; ipsam rogans, non desperas; ipsam cogitans, non erras; ipsa tenente, non corruis; ipsa protegente, non metuis; ipsa duce, non fatigaris, ipsa propitia, pervenis. . . "

"Amid dangers, difficulties, and doubts, think of Mary, invoke Mary's aid.... If you follow her, you will not stray; if you entreat her, you will not lose hope; if you reflect upon her, you will not err; if she supports you, you will not fall; if she protects you, you will not fear; if she leads you, you will not grow weary; if she is propitious, you will reach your goal...."

Second Homily on the Missus est: PL CLXXXIII, 70-71.