AVE DOMINA ANGELORUM

Resurrectio Domini, spes nostra! The resurrection of Christ is our hope!

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 13:57:00 +0000

Reconciliation - difficult, but indispensable - is a precondition for a future of overall security and peaceful coexistence, and it can only be achieved through renewed, persevering and sincere efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. My thoughts move outwards from the Holy Land to neighbouring countries, to the Middle East, to the whole world. At a time of world food shortage, of financial turmoil, of old and new forms of poverty, of disturbing climate change, of violence and deprivation which force many to leave their homelands in search of a less precarious form of existence, of the ever-present threat of terrorism, of growing fears over the future, it is urgent to rediscover grounds for hope. Let no one draw back from this peaceful battle that has been launched by Christ’s Resurrection. For as I said earlier, Christ is looking for men and women who will help him to affirm his victory using his own weapons: the weapons of justice and truth, mercy, forgiveness and love.

Resurrectio Domini, spes nostra! The resurrection of Christ is our hope! This the Church proclaims today with joy. She announces the hope that is now firm and invincible because God has raised Jesus Christ from the dead. She communicates the hope that she carries in her heart and wishes to share with all people in every place, especially where Christians suffer persecution because of their faith and their commitment to justice and peace. She invokes the hope that can call forth the courage to do good, even when it costs, especially when it costs. Today the Church sings “the day that the Lord has made”, and she summons people to joy. Today the Church calls in prayer upon Mary, Star of Hope, asking her to guide humanity towards the safe haven of salvation which is the heart of Christ, the paschal Victim, the Lamb who has “redeemed the world”, the Innocent one who has “reconciled us sinners with the Father”. To him, our victorious King, to him who is crucified and risen, we sing out with joy our Alleluia!

+++excerpt from Easter 2009

“urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world)

cnsblog.wordpress.com/2009/04/12/pope-benedicts-message-urbi-et-orbi/

Grant that I also may be a comfort to Thee and share the distress of Thy heart...

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 02:22:00 +0000

Excerpt from Padre Pio's meditation on the Agony of Our Lord in the Garden:

O Jesus, how many generous souls wounded by this complaint have kept Thee company in the Garden, sharing Thy bitterness and Thy mortal anguish ... How many hearts in the course of the centuries have responded generously to Thy invitation ... May this multitude of souls, then, in this supreme hour be a comfort to Thee, who, better than the disciples, share with Thee the distress of Thy heart, and cooperate with Thee for their own salvation and that of others. And grant that I also may be of their number, that I also may offer Thee some relief.

+++

Padre Pio: Priest and Victim

by Monsignor Arthur Burton Calkins

(excerpt)

2. Victimhood as consolation to Jesus.

Secondly, there is the note of reparation or consolation offered to Jesus. Padre Pio writes of "alleviating the sufferings of our good Jesus". This is the motive for reparation found especially in the revelations of the Lord to St. Margaret Mary who tells us that he asks for the communion of reparation to his Sacred Heart on the First Friday of the month.

Pope Pius XI also deals with this concept in his magisterial Encyclical Miserentissimus Redemptor on the theology of reparation.
The first and obvious question that comes to mind is this: "Since Jesus is now in glory at the right hand of the Father, how can we offer him 'consolation'?" Pius XI first cited a very apposite quotation from St. Augustine: "Give me one who loves, and he will understand what I say,"

and then gave the following reply:
If, in view of our future sins, foreseen by him, the soul of Jesus became sad unto death, there can be no doubt that by his prevision at the same time of our acts of reparation, he was in some way comforted when "there appeared to him an angel from Heaven" (Lk. 22:43) to console that Heart of his bowed down with sorrow and anguish.

In other words, as Jesus saw the sins of the world in his agony in Gethsemane by virtue of the beatific vision, so He also saw in advance every act of consolation offered to him until the end of time. In effect, the act of reparation which we offer now he could see then.

This second dimension, too, is notably present in Padre Pio's understanding of the reason for his sufferings. Here is an instance where he develops this motivation in a meditation on the words of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, "Could you not watch one hour with me?"

It is fully in line with the theology of Miserentissimus Redemptor which we have just sketched above.

Not surprisingly, even in this meditation which is oriented to consoling Jesus, a reference to cooperating in our own salvation and that of others is not lacking. The two are intertwined in Padre Pio.
www.piercedhearts.org/theology_heart/padre_pio_priest_victim.html

+++

Padre Pio: Priest and Victimby Monsignor Arthur Burton Calkins
I. The Crisis of Identity in the Priesthood
Almost immediately after the Second Vatican Council, a terrible identity crisis of enormous proportions began to overtake the Catholic priesthood and thousands of priests left the active ministry with or without the requisite permission. Still others became genuinely confused about the nature of their priesthood. Unfortunately, the disorientation still remains in many ways. Its causes, no doubt, are quite complex and ultimately we must confess that "An enemy has done this" (Mt. 13:28).
But recognizing a Satanic onslaught against the Lord's anointed ones does not prevent us from also seeking to discover some of the immediate contributing causes of this tragic state of affairs. In this regard Father André Feuillet makes what I believe to be some very astute observations:
Some writers claim that Vatican II is itself partly responsible. As they see it, Vatican II, in its desire to act against Roman centralization and an overemphasis on papal primacy, glossed over the problem of priesthood. In any case, it certainly intended to highlight the role of the college of bishops as successors of the Apostles. Moreover, on the basis of Scripture, it proclaimed a truth that had hitherto been too often overlooked: the sharing of all the baptized in the priesthood of Christ. By these two emphases, the Council seems to have spoken as if the bishop and the people of God were the only necessary elements of a priestly Church. In so doing, it somewhat neglected the place of the simple priest (or presbyter).1
He continues by quoting from a book from D. Olivier, Les deux visages du prêtre: Les chances d'une crise:
The Council indeed maintains the special character of presbyteral priesthood as differing in essence from that of the baptized. But whereas it refers to a half dozen Scriptural texts to confirm the reality of the common priesthood, it cannot adduce a single text in favor of the famous essential difference. The contrast between the two successive passages of the Constitution on the Church is striking: the first, and very welcome one, on the priesthood of the faithful, is based on Scripture, the second is nothing but a theological development based on some texts of Pius XI and Pius XII. The bishop, who continues the mission of the Apostles, easily finds in Scripture the justification for his existence. But the priest can base his own special character only on papal statements.2
Father Patrick J. Dunn, writing almost twenty years after Feuillet, comments in a remarkably similar vein:
Although the Second Vatican Council emphasizes that the common priesthood and the ministerial priesthood "differ from one another in essence and not only in degree" (Lumen Gentium 10), the nature of this distinction has not always been clearly perceived.3
It may well be argued that subsequent documents of the magisterium have continued to make the necessary clarifications. The new Catechism of the Catholic Church, for instance, presents an appropriate elucidation with the following statement:
The ministerial or hierarchical priesthood of bishops and priests, and the common priesthood of all the faithful participate, 'each in its own proper way, in the one priesthood of Christ'. While being 'ordered one to another', they differ essentially. In what sense? While the common priesthood of the faithful is exercised by the unfolding of baptismal grace -- a life of faith, hope and charity, a life according to the Spirit, the ministerial priesthood is at the service of the common priesthood. It is directed at the unfolding of the baptismal grace of all Christians. The ministerial priesthood is a means by which Christ unceasingly builds up and leads his Church. For this reason it is transmitted by its own sacrament, the sacrament of Holy Orders.4
While fully accepting the explanation proffered by the Catechism that "the ministerial priesthood is at the service of the common priesthood", that "it is directed at the unfolding of the baptismal grace of all Christians" and that it "is a means by which Christ unceasingly builds up and leads his Church", I am inclined to believe, with Fulton Sheen and Father Feuillet, that the concept that we have already begun to explore of the ordained minister as called to be "priest and victim" provides an insight and challenge far richer and deeper which has yet to be assimilated in the postconciliar Church's teaching and praxis.
II. Padre Pio: A Model Priest and Victim
What I would like to propose further is that God has set his own seal on this explanation in the person of Padre Pio of Pietrelcina. Is it not significant that even before the great disruption of priestly life in the twentieth century was underway the Lord had already chosen Francesco Forgione to illustrate in a dramatic and extraordinary way the call to embrace victimhood in order to realize fully his vocation to the priesthood? While it is true that no one should aspire to imitate the extraordinary ways of Padre Pio without an explicit call from the Lord confirmed through wise spiritual direction and the appropriate permission when necessary, I believe that the Padre's life nonetheless constitutes a model of what it means to live as "priest and victim", a model that all Christians, but priests in particular, should strive to emulate.
Interestingly, the Trappist Father Augustine McGregor already pointed to Padre Pio as a model of priestly life over twenty years ago. In his book, The Spirituality of Padre Pio, he declared
we shall refer constantly to the priesthood of Padre Pio discovering in his life a rare model of the priestly ideal, an exemplar who revealed in a unique and simple way all the essential features of the priesthood. In short, in an age undergoing transformation in social, cultural and religious spheres we shall look for and find in Padre Pio's priesthood characteristics of permanent value, unmarked by many of today's changing values.5
Even more striking, however, and totally supportive of my thesis is the testimony of Father Vincenzo Frezza with regard to the paradigmatic value of Padre Pio's priesthood. Considering how Padre Pio continually spent himself unflinchingly for souls propels him to state:
Now all of this brings us still another time to the conclusion that his vocation to the priesthood, that the fulfillment of his priestly ministry was in relation to his mission to "co-redeem." I mean that if Padre Pio had not been a priest, he could not have fulfilled his mission: priesthood and mission are identified with each other in Padre Pio. According to a poor interpretation of mine, God did not only want a new victim, but he wanted this victim to be a priest and as such placed in a priestly state like the Incarnate Word.6
Here I would simply add that the last one hundred fifty years have seen the Church benefiting from what seems an unparalleled profusion of victim souls, no doubt a gift that God has given in view of the crisis which the Church is now passing through. By far almost all of these have been women and here the Lord shows us how complementary their vocation to be "co-redeemers" is to the priesthood. But, without in any way wishing to take anything away from their greatness, I would underscore with Father Frezza that in Padre Pio the Lord has done a new thing. Let us listen to him again:
Padre Pio, carrying in himself the unification of the priesthood and the mission to co-redeem, thus demonstrated that the exercise of the priestly ministry goes beyond the sacramental signs. That is, it tends to make a man "like Christ the priest" in every moment and every attitude of his existence. In simple words this means that he must become a victim, an unceasing offering. ...
Therefore, it is this state of priest-victim that colors Padre Pio's priesthood, that makes him exceptional -- I will go even further -- that makes him unique in the Church up to now. Because we meet many victim-souls in Christian spiritual history. We also know many holy priests, holy priests who took more time to say Mass and shed more tears in doing so than Padre Pio did (e.g. St. Laurence of Brindisi). We know holy priests who have made the confessional their chief ministry. We know holy priests gifted with privileged charisms. We know saints who had marked in their bodies, both in their internal and external organs, the signs of the Passion of Christ. We are astonished when faced with mystical souls who have reached the highest degree of union with God, that which we call the "mystical marriage." However, a man that summed up, that both lived and suffered all these charisms, a man that could call himself another Jesus Christ with stronger reason than that for which St. Francis was called such, up to now, only Padre Pio is such a man.7
I would supplement this testimony by simply referring to the fact that Padre Pio is the first priest in the history of the Church to bear the stigmata, which, it seems, constitutes a kind of divine seal on his vocation to be a "priest-victim". Father Gerardo Di Flumeri is of the same conviction. He argues that if Padre Pio
hadn't been a priest, he would never have become a victim; priesthood and victimization in him were identical. God did not want just another victim; He wanted, instead, a new victim who was a priest, who was established in the priestly state like the Word Incarnate.8
Hence I am in full accord with Father Frezza's final conclusion in this regard: "From today on, therefore, we cannot reasonably think of imagining what a priest should be if we do not compare and contrast him with Padre Pio as the model."9
III. Padre Pio's Vocation to Priest-Victimhood
Within the limits of this presentation we can only touch briefly on some of the most obvious testimony which highlights Padre Pio's vocation to priest-victimhood. Already as a young Capuchin he was beset with a host of physical afflictions which defied diagnosis.10 Later these would be coupled with demonic assaults.11 In the midst of all this it is to be noted that the young Pio was conscious of his calling to be a victim. There is clear evidence that he had fully embraced this vocation from at least the time of his priestly ordination on 10 August 1910 in Benevento.12 A remarkable confirmation of this is the fact that he had written for his own personal use the following souvenir of his priestly ordination on the day of his first solemn Mass, 14 August 1910:
O rex, dona mihi animam meam pro qua rogo et populum meum pro quo obsecro [O King, let my life be given me at my petition and my people at my request] (Esther 7:3). Souvenir of my first Mass. Jesus, my heart's desire and my life, today as I raise you up in trembling hands, in a mystery of love, may I be, with you, for the world, Way, Truth and Life, and for you a holy priest, a perfect victim. P. Pio, Capuchin.13
The next evidence that we shall take into consideration is that of his letter of 29 November 1910 to his spiritual director, Padre Benedetto of San Marco in Lamis:
Now, my dear Father, I want to ask your permission for something. For some time past I have felt the need to offer myself to the Lord as a victim for poor sinners and for the souls in Purgatory.
This desire has been growing continually in my heart so that it has now become what I would call a strong passion. I have in fact made this offering to the Lord several times, beseeching him to pour out upon me the punishments prepared for sinners and for the souls in a state of purgation, even increasing them a hundredfold for me, as long as he converts and saves sinners and quickly admits to paradise the souls in Purgatory, but I should now like to make this offering to the Lord in obedience to you. It seems to me that Jesus really wants this. I am sure that you will have no difficulty in granting me this permission.14
The permission was duly communicated by Padre Benedetto in a letter of 1 December 1910.15 It was also evidently prior to this time that Padre Pio first experienced the marks of the stigmata. He does not give us the exact date, but confesses in his letter to Padre Benedetto of 8 September 1911 that "this phenomenon has been repeated several times for almost a year, but for some time past it had not occurred."16 C. Bernard Ruffin indicates that already on 7 September 1910 the young Padre, ordained less than a month, went to see his parish priest in Pietrelcina and "showed him what appeared to be puncture wounds in the middle of his hands."17
In his old age Padre Pio had all but entirely forgotten about what Ruffin calls the "proto-stigmata" and then was eventually able to recall these first manifestations of the Lord's passion in his flesh.18 What I wish to underscore here is that almost immediately upon his priestly ordination Padre Pio had his first experience of the stigmata, eight years before the stigmatization of 20 September 1918 which would remain permanently imprinted upon him for fifty years. Obviously, the Lord who inspired the prayer of the young Capuchin on the day of his first solemn Mass found the petition an extremely pleasing one to which he would not delay in responding. This is also the conclusion of Father Gerardo Di Flumeri who comments on the petition which the newly ordained Padre Pio had written on the holy card on the day of his first solemn Mass:
We believe that the juxtaposition of the two words "priest" and "victim" clearly indicates that Padre Pio's offering of himself as a victim originates with his ordination to the priesthood. We believe, too, that his having received the gift of the "invisible" stigmata only a month later (Sept. 1910), indicates God's acceptance (Letters I:264f).19
Hence we can say that Padre Pio's priesthood is sealed from the very beginning with the sign of victimhood. And, indeed, it is not only a sign that he willingly accepted, but even had asked for.
A. For Love of Jesus and for Souls
From this point onwards Padre Pio renews his self-offering as victim frequently and with great generosity. This offering simultaneously serves a twofold purpose; it is a fulfillment of Saint Paul's words "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church" (Col. 1:24) and it is also an act of reparation to the Lord himself. Here is how he describes it in a letter to his spiritual director, Padre Agostino of San Marco in Lamis, dated 20 September 1912:
We must hide our tears from the One who sends them, from the One who has shed tears himself and continues to shed them every day because of man's ingratitude. He chooses souls and despite my unworthiness, he has chosen mine also to help him in the tremendous task of men's salvation. The more these souls suffer without the slightest consolation, the more the sufferings of our good Jesus are alleviated.20
Less than a month later he writes to Padre Agostino once again emphasizing this double objective i.e., that his victimhood is for souls and as an act of reparation to the Lord:
Believe me, dear Father, I find happiness in my afflictions. Jesus himself wants these sufferings from me, as he needs them for souls. But I ask myself what relief can I give him by my suffering?! What a destiny! Oh, to what heights has our most sweet Jesus raised my soul!21
1. Victimhood for Sinners. Perhaps one of the most striking testimonies about his acceptance of victimhood for sinners is the following transcription of words taken down by Padre Agostino during an ecstasy on 3 December 1911 while the young Padre Pio was having a vision of Christ badly wounded:
My Jesus, forgive and put down that sword ... but if it must fall, let it be only on my head ... Yes, I want to be the victim ... punish me and not the others ... send me even to hell provided that I love you, and that everyone, yes everyone, be saved.22
Several years later, on 17 October 1915, he writes to Father Agostino: "You exhort me to offer myself as a victim to the Lord for poor sinners. I made this offering once and I renew it several times a day."23 From this statement it would seem reasonable to conclude that Padre Pio's acceptance of his manifold sufferings always included intercession for sinners.
2. Victimhood as consolation to Jesus. Secondly, there is the note of reparation or consolation offered to Jesus. Padre Pio writes of "alleviating the sufferings of our good Jesus". This is the motive for reparation found especially in the revelations of the Lord to St. Margaret Mary who tells us that he asks for the communion of reparation to his Sacred Heart on the First Friday of the month.24 Pope Pius XI also deals with this concept in his magisterial Encyclical Miserentissimus Redemptor on the theology of reparation.
The first and obvious question that comes to mind is this: "Since Jesus is now in glory at the right hand of the Father, how can we offer him 'consolation'?" Pius XI first cited a very apposite quotation from St. Augustine: "Give me one who loves, and he will understand what I say,"25 and then gave the following reply:
If, in view of our future sins, foreseen by him, the soul of Jesus became sad unto death, there can be no doubt that by his prevision at the same time of our acts of reparation, he was in some way comforted when "there appeared to him an angel from Heaven" (Lk. 22:43) to console that Heart of his bowed down with sorrow and anguish.26
In other words, as Jesus saw the sins of the world in his agony in Gethsemane by virtue of the beatific vision,27 so He also saw in advance every act of consolation offered to him until the end of time. In effect, the act of reparation which we offer now he could see then.
This second dimension, too, is notably present in Padre Pio's understanding of the reason for his sufferings. Here is an instance where he develops this motivation in a meditation on the words of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, "Could you not watch one hour with me?" It is fully in line with the theology of Miserentissimus Redemptor which we have just sketched above.
O Jesus, how many generous souls wounded by this complaint have kept Thee company in the Garden, sharing Thy bitterness and Thy mortal anguish ... How many hearts in the course of the centuries have responded generously to Thy invitation ... May this multitude of souls, then, in this supreme hour be a comfort to Thee, who, better than the disciples, share with Thee the distress of Thy heart, and cooperate with Thee for their own salvation and that of others. And grant that I also may be of their number, that I also may offer Thee some relief.28
Not surprisingly, even in this meditation which is oriented to consoling Jesus, a reference to cooperating in our own salvation and that of others is not lacking. The two are intertwined in Padre Pio.
B. Specific Applications of Victimhood
Without taking away from the fact that he has already offered himself as a victim for sinners, for the souls in Purgatory, and in reparation, he willingly offers his innumerable physical, mental, emotional and spiritual sufferings together with the demonic assaults which he suffers for specific intentions and persons who are particularly dear to him. Thus we find him writing to his dear Padre Benedetto that
It grieves me very much to learn that you are unwell and I am praying the Lord for your recovery. As there is nothing else I can do for you, I offered myself some time ago to the Lord as a victim for you. Now that I know you are ill, I renew my offering to Jesus very often and with great fervour.29
There are at least two other occasions when he reassures Padre Benedetto that he renews this offering frequently.30 He makes the same offering for his second spiritual father, Padre Agostino, with a kind of loving audacity:
Apart from everything else, you belong to me and I have every right to bargain with Jesus even unknown to you. I have offered myself to him as a victim for you and hence my behaviour cannot but be justified. What is the use of making a sacrifice if its purpose is to be frustrated?31
Likewise he reassures Padre Agostino on another occasion that "I never cease, either, to present to Jesus the offering I once made to him for you."32
He makes the offering of himself in the state of victim similarly for his Capuchin Province,33 and asks Padre Benedetto for permission to do the same on behalf of aspirants for the Province.34 He also informs Padre Benedetto that he has made an offering of himself for the intention which Pope Benedict XV had recommended to the whole Church.35 It is interesting to note that all of these acts of self-oblation were made before the definitive experience of the stigmata which he received on 20 September 1918 and which marked his body for fifty years.
IV. Source of Padre Pio's Priest-Victimhood: Union with Christ
Perhaps it is not inappropriate here to ask some questions about all of these acts of making himself a victim for particular individuals or intentions. How could Padre Pio offer himself totally for more than one person or intention? In a human manner of speaking, would he not lessen the amount of merit available for a particular person or intention the more he multiplied the dedications of his victimhood? How could he multiply virtually to infinity the various purposes for which he suffered? Mathematically speaking, would he not have been reducing the effects of his suffering with every new intention which he took on?
In a real sense, of course, these questions all dissolve into mystery, but a mystery which, in effect, is based upon the infinite merits won by Christ on Calvary. Padre Pio as one man, even an extraordinarily holy man, dwindles into insignificance in the face of the woes of the world and the mystery of evil. But as priest and victim, he is united with the Eternal Priest and Victim and shares in the infinity of Jesus' merits. Let us consider Padre Pio's description of an experience which took place on 16 April 1912 after a fearful assault by the enemy:
I was hardly able to get to the divine Prisoner to say Mass. When Mass was over I remained with Jesus in thanksgiving. Oh, how sweet was the colloquy with paradise that morning! It was such that, although I want to tell you all about it, I cannot. There were things which cannot be translated into human language without losing their deep and heavenly meaning. The heart of Jesus and my own -- allow me to use the expression -- were fused. No longer were two hearts beating but only one. My own heart had disappeared, as a drop of water is lost in the ocean. Jesus was its paradise, its king. My joy was so intense and deep that I could bear no more and tears of happiness poured down my cheeks.
Yes, dear Father, man cannot understand that when paradise is poured into a heart, this afflicted, exiled, weak and mortal heart cannot bear it without weeping. I repeat that it was the joy that filled my heart which caused me to weep for so long.36
This mystical experience which Padre Pio manages to describe as the "fusion" of his heart with the Sacred Heart of Jesus helps us to begin to grasp that Padre Pio's total identification with the victimhood of Jesus made him a sharer and, in a certain sense, a dispenser of those infinite merits.
V. Padre Pio's Priest-Victimhood in the Mass
While the entire earthly life of Jesus constituted a continuous offering of himself to the Father, "nevertheless the victim state of the Lord reaches the sacrificial apex at the immolation at Calvary."37 In an analogous manner we way say that, while the entire priestly life of Padre Pio was lived as a victim, nevertheless his victim state reaches the sacrificial apex at the celebration of the Mass. Let us consider these statements of Padre Pio about his Mass.
I never tire of standing so long, and could not become tired, because I am not standing, but am on the cross with Christ, suffering with Him.
The holy Mass is a sacred union of Jesus and myself. I suffer unworthily all that was suffered by Jesus who deigned to allow me to share in His great enterprise of human redemption.38
Everything that Jesus suffered in His passion I suffer also, inadequately, as much as it is possible for a human being. And through no merit of mine but just out of His goodness.39
This is my only comfort, that of being associated with Jesus in the Divine Sacrifice and in the redemption of souls.40
Not only did Padre Pio experience his greatest suffering during the celebration of the Mass,41 but it was also for him the time of his most intense intercession. As on the cross Jesus could see all of us in the beatific vision,42 so Padre Pio seems to have had a similar gift. According to Father Schug, the Padre once said that
in this absorption in God, especially at the Consecration of the Mass, he saw everyone who had asked his prayers. He told his friends that they could always reach him when he was at the altar. He saw them, actually, in his gaze on God.43
Again, once asked "Padre, are all the souls assisting at your Mass present to your spirit?", he answered "I see all my children at the altar, as in a looking glass."44 Indeed, because the priest is a mediator, it is his responsibility to pray for the people of God. Padre Pio took this as a solemn obligation and, even though the petitions pouring into the friary of San Giovanni Rotondo were countless, he faithfully honored every request for prayer. His intercession was -- and is still -- so powerful precisely because of his priest-victimhood. The seriousness with which he took his role as intercessor should be an admonition to every priest.
VI. Padre Pio and Priests
This brings us to a subject of capital importance: Padre Pio and priests. The Lord has confided to many victim-souls that his priests are "the apple of his eye", yet so often they are so far from fulfilling what he expects of them. Not surprisingly, very early in his state of victimhood, Padre Pio was called to make reparation for priests. Here is an account which he made to Padre Agostino, his spiritual father, on 7 April 1913.
On Friday morning [28 March 1913] while I was still in bed, Jesus appeared to me. He was in a sorry state and quite disfigured. He showed me a great multitude of priests, regular and secular, among whom were several high ecclesiastical dignitaries. Some were celebrating Mass, while others were vesting or taking off the sacred vestments.
The sight of Jesus in distress was very painful to me, so I asked him why he was suffering so much. There was no reply, but his gaze turned on those priests. Shortly afterwards, as if terrified and weary of looking at them, he withdrew his gaze. Then he raised his eyes and looked at me and to my great horror I observed two tears coursing down his cheeks. He drew back from that crowd of priests with an expression of great disgust on his face and cried out: "Butchers!" Then turning to me he said: "My son, do not think that my agony lasted three hours. No, on account of the souls who have received most from me, I shall be in agony until the end of the world. During my agony, my son, nobody should sleep. My soul goes in search of a drop of human compassion but alas, I am left alone beneath the weight of indifference. The ingratitude and the sleep of my ministers makes my agony all the more grievous.
Alas, how little they correspond to my love! What afflicts me most is that they add contempt and unbelief to their indifference. Many times I have been on the point of annihilating them, had I not been held back by the Angels and by souls who are filled with love for me. Write to your (spiritual) father and tell him what you have seen and heard from me this morning. Tell him to show your letter to Father Provincial ..."45
In the annals of the mystics there are no few such plaints recorded as coming from the lips of our Redeemer. The ones from whom Christ looks most of all for consolation, particularly priests, are often precisely the ones who are the most indifferent to his loving plea for reparation. Tragically, some add contempt and unbelief to their indifference.
I believe that this vision which Padre Pio had in the early days of his priesthood was highly prophetic. If it was true in 1913, it can be verified, I believe, much more readily today. Indifference, contempt and unbelief have ravaged tens of thousands of priestly souls, unleashing an extraordinary tide of devastation upon the Church. Have we reached "high tide" yet? Only God knows and only he can respond. What is needed to turn the tide? More than anything else, I believe, are priest-victims.
When one considers the growing impact which the humble friar of the Gargano continues to have even twenty-seven years after his death, can one doubt that a legion of priests who willingly embraced victimhood, as he did, could change the face of the Church? I am convinced that there is no greater need facing the Church today.
VII. Padre Pio and Victims
You may say that I should be talking to priests and, no doubt, I should. But, I speak to you because you are here and because there is also a great need of victim-intercessors for the Church and for priests. Let us listen to a final excerpt from another letter which Padre Pio addressed to Padre Agostino just a short time before the previous letter:
Listen, my dear Father, to the justified complaints of our most sweet Jesus: "With what ingratitude is my love for men repaid! I should be less offended by them if I had loved them less. My Father does not want to bear with them any longer. I myself want to stop loving them, but ... (and here Jesus paused, sighed, then continued) but, alas! My heart is made to love! Weak and cowardly men make no effort to overcome temptation and indeed they take delight in their wickedness. The souls for whom I have a special predilection fail me when put to the test, the weak give way to discouragement and despair, while the strong are relaxing by degrees.
They leave me alone by night, alone by day in the churches. They no longer care about the Sacrament of the altar. Hardly anyone ever speaks of this sacrament and even those who do, speak alas, with great indifference and coldness.
My heart is forgotten. Nobody thinks any more of my love and I am continually grieved. For many people my house has become an amusement centre. Even my ministers, whom I have loved as the apple of my eye, who ought to console my heart brimming over with sorrow, who ought to assist me in the redemption of souls -- who would believe it? -- even by my ministers I must be treated with ingratitude and slighted. I behold, my son (here he remained silent, sobs contracted his throat and he wept secretly) many people who act hypocritically and betray me by sacrilegious communions, trampling under foot the light and strength which I give them continually ..."
Jesus continues to complain. Dear Father, how bad I feel when I see Jesus weeping! Have you experienced this too?
"My son," Jesus went on, "I need victims to calm my Father's just divine anger; renew the sacrifice of your whole self and do so without any reserve."
I have renewed the sacrifice of my life, dear Father, and if I experience some feeling of sadness, it is in the contemplation of the God of Sorrows.
If you can, try to find souls who will offer themselves to the Lord as victims for sinners. Jesus will help you.46
I would compare this loving complaint of Jesus to the "great revelation" of his Heart which he made to Saint Margaret Mary in 1675,47 but what I wish to underscore here is simply the immediacy, the urgency of the call which Padre Pio heard. He answered with the sacrifice of his life. Let us take to heart these final words: "If you can, try to find souls who will offer themselves to the Lord as victims for sinners. Jesus will help you."

ABBREVIATIONS
AAS -Acta Apostolicæ Sedis (1909 -- )
Alessandro -Alessandro of Ripabottoni, Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, "everybody's cyrenean" ed. Father Alessio Parente, O.F.M. Cap. (San Giovanni Rotondo, FG: Editions "Our Lady of Grace Capuchin Friary", 1986)
Carlen 3 -Claudia Carlen, I.H.M, (ed.), The Papal Encyclicals 1903-1939 (Raleigh, N. C.: McGrath Publishing Co., "Consortium Book," 1981)
CCC -Catechism of the Catholic Church (London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1994)
D-S -Henricus Denzinger et Adolfus Schönmetzer, S.I., eds., Enchiridion Symbolorum Definitionum et Declarationum de Rebus Fidei et Morum, Editio XXXII. (Freiburg-im-Breisgau: Herder, 1963)
D'Apolito -Padre Alberto D'Apolito, Padre Pio of Pietrelcina: Memories, Experiences, Testimonials trans. Frank J. and Julia Ceravolo (San Giovanni Rotondo, FG: Editions "Padre Pio of Pietrelcina", 1986)
Di Flumeri -Father Gerardo Di Flumeri, O.F.M. Cap., The Mystery of the Cross in Padre Pio of Pietrelcina trans. Florence Di Marco (San Giovanni Rotondo, FG: Edizioni «Padre Pio da Pietrelcina», 1983)
Epistolario -Padre Pio da Pietrelcina, Epistolario a cure di Melchiorre da Pobladura e Alessandro da Ripabottoni (San Giovanni Rotondo, FG: Edizioni «Padre Pio da Pietrelcina»; Vol. I [terza ed.], 1992; Vol. II [seconda ed.], 1994; Vol. III, 1977; Vol. IV [seconda ed.], 1991)
Frezza -Father Vincenzo Frezza, O.F.M. Cap., "Priesthood and Eucharist in Padre Pio," in Gerardo Di Flumeri, O.F.M. Cap. (ed.), Acts of the First Congress of Studies on Padre Pio's Spirituality trans. Mary Brink (San Giovanni Rotondo, FG: Edizioni «Padre Pio da Pietrelcina», 1978) 347-362.
Letters -Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters edited by Melchiorre of Pobladura and Alessandro of Ripabottoni; English version of Vols. I & II edited by Father Gerardo Di Flumeri, O.F.M. Cap.; English version of Vol. III edited by Father Alessio Parente, O.F.M. Cap. (San Giovanni Rotondo, FG: Editions "Voce di Padre Pio"; Vol. I, 1980; Vol. II, 1987; Vol. III, 1994)
Meditazioni -Padre Pio da Pietrelcina, Meditazioni (San Giovanni Rotondo, FG: Edizioni Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza, 1991)
McGregor -Augustine McGregor, O.C.S.O., The Spirituality of Padre Pio edited by Father Alessio Parente, O.F.M Cap. (San Giovanni Rotondo, FG: Edizioni "Padre Pio da Pietrelcina", 1974)
Ruffin -C. Bernard Ruffin, Padre Pio: The True Story (Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., 1982)
Schug -John A. Schug, Capuchin, Padre Pio (Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., 1976)
Tarcisio -Father Tarcisio of Cervinara, O.F.M. Cap., Padre Pio's Mass edited by Father Alessio Parente, O.F.M. Cap. (San Giovanni Rotondo, FG: "Padre Pio da Pietrelcina" Editions, 1992)
TCF -J. Neuner, S.J. and J. Dupuis, S.J. (eds.), The Christian Faith in the Doctrinal Documents of the Catholic Church revised edition (New York: Alba House, 1982)
VO -François-Léon Gauthey (ed.), Vie et Oeuvres de Sainte Marguerite-Marie Alacoque, 3 vols. (Paris: Ancienne Librairie Poussielgue, 1920)
ENDNOTES
1André Feuillet, The Priesthood of Christ and His Ministers trans. Matthew J. O'Connell (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1975) 13.
2Feuillet 13-14.
3Patrick J. Dunn, Priesthood: A Re-examination of the Roman Catholic Theology of the Presbyterate (New York: Alba House, 1990) 3.
4CCC #1547.
5McGregor 62.
6Frezza 352-353 (my emphasis).
7Frezza 353-354 (emphasis mine).
8Di Flumeri 27 (emphasis mine). Cf. also Frezza 361.
9Frezza 354.
10Ruffin 62-63; Schug 29-33.
11Cf. Schug 43-56.
12Cf. Introduction in Letters I:59 [Epistolario I:48].
13Letters I:222, footnote to letter #16 [Epistolario I:196] (my emphasis); cf. Frezza 351; Alessandro 55.
14Letters I:234 [Epistolario I:206] (emphasis mine).
15Letters I:235-236 [Epistolario I:207].
16Letters I:264-265 [Epistolario I:234].
17Ruffin 69.
18Ruffin 70-71.
19Di Flumeri 24. On the term "invisible" stigimata, cf. Di Flumeri 17-18.
20Letters I:343 [Epistolario I:303-304].
21Letters I:346-347 [Epistolario I:306-307].
22Padre Agostino da San Marco in Lamis, Diario, Testimonianze, 2 a cura di Padre Gerardo Di Flumeri, (San Giovanni Rotondo, FG: Edizioni «Padre Pio da Pietrelcina», 171; quoted in Father Fernando of Riese Pio X, O.F.M. Cap., "The Mystery of the Cross in Padre Pio," in Gerardo Di Flumeri, O.F.M. Cap. (ed.), Acts of the First Congress of Studies on Padre Pio's Spirituality trans. Mary Brink (San Giovanni Rotondo, FG: Edizioni «Padre Pio da Pietrelcina», 1978) 96.
23Letters I:756 [Epistolario I:678].
24Cf. letter #86 to Mother de Saumaise of May 1688, VO II:397-398 [Letters of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque trans. Clarence A. Herbst, S.J. (Orlando, FL: Men of the Sacred Heart, 1976) 127]; letter #133 to Father Croiset of 3 November 1689, VO II:580 [Letters 219].
25In Ioannis evangelium, tract. XXVI, 4; AAS 20 (1928) 173 [Carlen 3:325].
26AAS 20 (1928) 174; trans. in Francis Larkin, SS.CC., Understanding the Heart second, revised edition (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1980) 66.
27Cf. Arthur Burton Calkins, "The Tripartite Biblical Vision of Man: A Key to the Christian Life," Doctor Communis 43 (1990) 149-152.
28Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, O.F.M. Cap., The Agony of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (Rockford, IL: Tan Books and Publishers, Inc., 1974) 22 [Meditazioni 64-65].
29Letters I:887 [Epistolario I:797].
30Letters I:899; 935 [Epistolario I:808; 840].
31Letters I:918 [Epistolario I:825].
32Letters I:968 [Epistolario I:869].
33Letters I:596; 607 [Epistolario I:532; 542].
34Letters I:974 [Epistolario I:874].
35Letters I:1173-1174 [Epistolario I:1053-1054].
36Letters I:308 [Epistolario I:273] (emphasis mine).
37Tarcisio 17.
38Tarcisio 21; cf. also D'Apolito 166-167.
39Tarcisio 24.
40D'Apolito 222.
41Cf. Tarcisio 34-38.
42D-S #3812 [TCF #661].
43Schug 110-111.
44Tarcisio 41.
45Letters I:395, 396 [Epistolario I:350-351] (emphasis mine).
46Letters I:385-386 [Epistolario I:342-343] (emphasis mine).
47Cf. VO II:103 [Vincent Kerns, M.S.F.S. (ed. & trans.), The Autobiography of Saint Margaret Mary (London: Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd. "Libra Book", 1979) 78].

Monsignor Arthur B. Calkins is a native of Erie, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. and was ordained a priest on 7 May 1970 for the Archdiocese of New Orleans where he served in various parishes as parochial vicar. He has a master’s degree in theology from the Catholic University of America, a licentiate in sacred theology with specialization in Mariology from the International Marian Research Institute in Dayton and a doctorate which he earned summa cum laude in the same field from the Pontifical Theological Faculty of St. Bonaventure (the Seraphicum) in Rome. He was named a corresponding member of the Pontifical International Marian Academy in 1985 and a corresponding member of the Pontifical Roman Theological Academy in 1995. He has been an official of the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei” since 1991 and was named a Chaplain of His Holiness with the title of Monsignor in 1997.

Excerpted from a translation of a copy of a personal letter written by Padre Pio, addressed to the Commission of Heroldsbach appointed by the Vatican, which testifies to the truth and reality of these revelations given by Our Lord to Padre Pio
January 28, 1950: "Keep your windows well-covered. Do not look out. Light a blessed candle, which will suffice for many days. Pray the Rosary. Read spiritual books. Make acts of Spiritual Communion, also acts of love, which are so pleasing to Us. Pray with outstretched arms, or prostrate on the ground, in order that many souls may be saved. Do not go outside the house. Provide yourself with sufficient food. The powers of nature shall be moved and a rain of fire shall make people tremble with fear. Have courage! I am in the midst of you."
February 7, 1950: "Take care of the animals during these days. I am the creator and preserver of animals as well as man. I shall give you a few signs beforehand, at which time you should place more food before them. I will preserve the property of the elect, including the animals, for they shall be in need of sustenance afterwards as well. Let no one go across the yard, even to feed the animals - he who steps outside will perish! Cover your windows carefully. My elect shall not see My wrath. Have confidence in Me, and I will be your protection."
"Hurricanes of fire will pour forth from the clouds and spread over the entire earth! Storms, bad weather, thunderbolts and earthquakes will cover the earth for two days. An uninterrupted rain of fire will take place! It will begin during a very cold night. All this is to prove that God is the Master of Creation. Those who hope in Me, and believe in My words, have nothing to fear because I will not forsake them, nor those who spread My message. No harm will come to those who are in the state of grace and who seek My Mother's protection."
"That you may be prepared for these visitations, I will give you the following signs and instructions: The night will be very cold. The wind will roar. After a time a thunderbolt will be heard. Lock all the doors and windows. Talk to no one outside the house. Kneel down before a crucifix, be sorry for your sins, and beg My Mother's protection. Do not look during the earthquake, because the anger of God is holy! Jesus does not want us to behold the anger of God, because God's anger must be contemplated with fear and trembling."
"Those who disregard this advice will be killed instantly. The wind will carry with it poisonous gases which will be diffused over the entire earth. Those who suffer and die innocently will be martyrs and they will be with Me in My Kingdom. Satan will triumph! But in three nights, the earthquake and fire will cease. On the following day the sun will shine again, angels will descend from Heaven and will spread the spirit of peace over the earth. A feeling of immeasurable gratitude will take possession of those who survive this most terrible ordeal, the impending punishment, with which God will visit the earth since creation.
"I have chosen souls in other countries too, such as Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, who have received these revelations so that other countries also may be prepared. Pray the Rosary, but pray it well, so that your prayers may reach Heaven. Soon a more terrible catastrophe shall come upon the entire world, such as never before has been witnessed, a terrible chastisement never before experienced!"
"How unconcerned men are regarding these things! Which shall so soon come upon them, contrary to all expectations. How indifferent they are in preparing themselves for these unheard of events, through which they will have to pass so shortly! The weight of divine balance has reached the earth! The wrath of My Father shall be poured out over the entire world! I am again warning the world through your instrumentality, as I have so often done heretofore."
"This catastrophe shall come upon the earth like a flash of lightning! At which moment the light of the morning sun shall be replaced by black darkness! No one shall leave the house or look out a window from that moment on. I Myself shall come amidst thunder and lightning. The wicked shall behold My Divine Heart. There shall be great confusion because of this utter darkness in which the entire earth shall be enveloped, and many, many shall die from fear and despair."
"On that day, as soon as complete darkness has set in, no one shall leave the house or look from out of the window. The darkness shall last a day and a night followed by another day and night, and another day - but on the night following, the stars will shine again, and on the next morning the sun shall rise again, and it will be SPRINGTIME!! In the days of darkness, My elect shall not sleep, as did the disciples in the garden. They shall pray incessantly, and they shall not be disappointed in Me. I shall gather My elect. Hell will believe itself to be in possession of the entire earth, but I shall reclaim it."
"Again and again I have warned men, and often have I given them special opportunities to return to the right path; but now, wickedness has reached its climax, and the punishment can no longer be delayed. Tell all that the time has come in which these things shall be fulfilled."

The suffering and crucified Church of our time welcomes the consecration to Mary's Immaculate Heart

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 14:50:00 +0000

CLICK HERE FOR A TRANSCRIPT OF FR. GOBBI'S TALK (Miami - January 18, 2009)

In these times you must have much hope! I would like this message to reach everyone in the United States. On television you see the difficulties that have come to you in the U.S. Well, in these times of great trials, I come to remind you of HOPE, the hope that lies in the Immaculate Heart of Mary! This is why Mary has sent me here – to consecrate and entrust your life to her and to Jesus. And truly she becomes YOUR MOTHER. So then, why be afraid? She LOVES you; she HELPS you; she DEFENDS you; she CONSOLES you. In these times, Mary and her Immaculate Heart will triumph because her light will shine forth, and all children consecrated to her will be attracted by her love. They will be covered by her to form the army of her little children with which she will combat the evil one and win, because in the end HER IMMACULATE HEART WILL TRIUMPH!
And now, my dearest children, if you are the little children of Mary, she will feed you with her own milk. And what is her own milk? THE GRACE OF GOD! She is full of grace and she is Mother, so if you are fed with this grace you will live your Baptism which has brought you out of the hands of the evil one. God lives in you; you belong to God and then you no longer live for sin, for evil, for pride or for impurity. You will live only for the GLORY OF GOD like Mary does.
Our Lady teaches us to speak. What language? Our Lady says that we speak among ourselves very much, but pray very little. We must pray a lot and speak less. THE ROSARY is the prayer, the weapon to use against Satan in these times. Each rosary is a victory against the evil one and is very efficacious. Mary prays with each of us when we pray the Rosary, and our voice is completely united with hers. With the Rosary, we can solve all problems – political and social. In these times I come to tell you to put this to the test: pray the Rosary and you will see all of your problems solved!

+++
"In order to give the suffering and crucified Church of your time my motherly help and a safe refuge, I have brought the Marian Movement of Priests into being and have spread it through every part of the world by means of my book, which traces out for you the road along which you must journey in order to spread my light. With this book, I teach you to live the consecration to my Immaculate Heart with the simplicity of children, in a spirit of humility, of poverty, of trust and of filial abandonment."
(Message 604, December 31, 1997)

+++
BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Saint Peter's SquareWednesday, 8 April 2009

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Tomorrow we begin the Holy Triduum, the heart of the entire liturgical year: a time when we immerse ourselves in the central events of our Redemption. The Chrism Mass serves as a prelude to these three days, as priests renew their promises to the Bishop, who then blesses the holy oils and consecrates the chrism signifying the gift of the Holy Spirit. At the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, we recall the institution of the Eucharist, the supreme sign of Christ’s love for us. As we venerate his Cross on Good Friday, we contemplate the full meaning of his words: “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many” (Mk 14:24). Holy Saturday finds us waiting in silent hope for the Easter Vigil, when every church will break forth in a song of joy at the Lord’s Resurrection. The celebration of the Paschal mystery recalls the depth of Christ’s love: he did not wish to exercise his divinity as an exclusive possession, a means of domination, or a sign of distance between him and us. Rather, “he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant” (Phil 2:7) by sharing fully in our human condition, even to the point of death: not a death imposed by blind chance or fate, but one freely chosen in obedience to the Father’s will for the salvation for all. May our fervent celebration of the Triduum draw us ever more deeply into Christ’s Paschal mystery!
* * *
I am pleased to greet the English-speaking pilgrims present at today’s Audience. May your visit to Rome during this Holy Week fill you with the peace, hope and joy of Christ Jesus!

Stripped of self-will and clothed with disinterested love, the little that we give (through living True Devotion consecration)is multiplied...

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:59:00 +0000

In his treatise, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, St. Louis wrote:
"For by it (this devotion) we show love for our neighbor in an outstanding way, since we give Him through Mary’s hands all that we prize most highly—that is, the satisfactory and prayer value of all our good works, down to the least good thought and the least little suffering. We give our consent that all we have already acquired or will acquire until death should be used in accordance with our Lady’s will for the conversion of sinners or the deliverance of souls from Purgatory" (section 171).
"It must be noted that our good works, passing through Mary’s hands, are progressively purified. Consequently, their merit and their satisfactory and prayer value is also increased. That is why they become much more effective in relieving the souls in Purgatory and in converting sinners than if they did not pass through the virginal and liberal hands of Mary.
"Stripped of self-will and clothed with disinterested love, the little that we give to the Blessed Virgin is truly powerful enough to appease the anger of God and draw down His mercy. It may well be that at the hour of death a person who has been faithful to this devotion will find that he has freed many souls from Purgatory and converted many
sinners, even though he performed only the ordinary actions of his state of life. Great will be his joy at the judgment. Great will be his glory throughout eternity" (section 172).
+++

Song of Solomon 2 >>Douay-Rheims Bible

1 I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valleys.
2 As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.
3 As the apple tree among the trees of the woods, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow, whom I desired: and his fruit was sweet to my palate.
4 He brought me into the cellar of wine, he set in order charity in me.
5 Stay me up with flowers, compass me about with apples: because I languish with love.
6 His left hand is under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me.
7 I adjure you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and the harts of the, fields, that you stir not up, nor make the beloved to awake, till she please.
8 The voice of my beloved, behold he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping over the hills.
9 My beloved is like a roe, or a young hart. Behold he standeth behind our wall, looking through the windows, looking through the lattices.
10 Behold my beloved speaketh to me: Arise, make haste, my love, my dove, my beautiful one, and come.
11 For winter is now past, the rain is over and gone.
12 The flowers have appeared in our land, the time of pruning is come: the voice of the turtle is heard in our land:
13 The fig tree hath put forth her green figs: the vines in flower yield their sweet smell. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come:
14 My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hollow places of the wall, shew me thy face, let thy voice sound in my ears: for thy voice is sweet, and thy face comely.
15 Catch us the little foxes that destroy the vines: for our vineyard hath flourished.
16 My beloved to me, and I to him who feedeth among the lilies,
17 Till the day break, and the shadows retire. Return: be like, my beloved, to a roe, or to a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.

Novena for 4th Anniversary of Death John Paul II

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 23:13:00 +0000

thanks to Vultus Christi- vultus.stblogs.org/2009/03/four-years.html

Thursday, April 2, 2009 will be the fourth anniversary of the death of the Servant of God, Pope John Paul II. In preparation for this anniversary, Dr. Alex Roman, Oblate of Saint Benedict, has graciously authorized Fr. Kirby to share with the readers of Vultus Christi the Akathist he composed for private recitation in honour of the Servant of God.

Akathist
To our Father among the Saints, John Paul the Great, Pope of Rome

Kontakion 1

To you, our great Pastor, Pontiff and Successor of the Chief Apostles, Peter and Paul,
entrusted for many years with the guidance and welfare of Christ's Holy Church, we
sinful ones gather to sing a triumphant hymn of praise in your honour, thanking the Lord
Jesus Who chose you and consecrated you according to the order of Melchisedek to
confirm us in our faith and, now, to be our speedy intercessor in the mansions of His
Father's House, and we incessantly sing :

Rejoice, O Holy Father, John Paul, Pope of Rome, great Servant of Christ and our
unfailing heavenly Protector!

Ikos 1

"Feed my sheep, tend to my lambs that are not of this flock," the Lord Jesus commanded
Peter before His Ascension to the Right Hand of the Father. "And I will be with you and
the Church unto the consummation of the ages!" Heeding our Lord's call in your heart,
you took upon your own shoulders the shepherd's pallium as a new fisher of men in the
footsteps of him who was called "the Rock" by our Lord, and we sing:

Rejoice, Successor to St Peter the Apostle!
Rejoice, Inheritor of his commission!
Rejoice, Rock of faith that was revealed to you by the Heavenly Father!
Rejoice, Preacher of Christ and Him Crucified!
Rejoice, Father of Peace!
Rejoice, Defender of the poor and oppressed throughout the world!
Rejoice, Man of prayer, lost in adoration of the Most Holy Trinity!
Rejoice, fervent in prayer to the Lord Jesus in the Holy Eucharist!
Rejoice, devoted son of the Most Holy Virgin Mother of God!
Rejoice, Teacher of the ways of the Lord!
Rejoice, Defender of the Apostolic preaching!
Rejoice, Example of piety, drawing all to new Life in Christ!
Rejoice, O Holy Father, John Paul, Pope of Rome, great Servant of Christ and our
unfailing heavenly Protector!

Kontakion 2

O Holy Father, John Paul, your esteemed parents raised you to know and fear the Lord
from a tender age. Your home church was where you first learned unceasing prayer in
the Name of the Lord Jesus. Having suffered the loss of your mother, your father's long
prayer on his knees throughout the night inspired you to the things that are above by
putting on the Lord Jesus Christ and making no provision for the flesh. Praising the Lord
Jesus Who so willed to raise you in His Spirit, we cry: Alleluia!

Ikos 2

A brilliant scholar of the things of this world, O Holy Father, you surpassed all others in
acquired knowledge and wisdom. But you counted all this as nothing, but for the saving
knowledge in Christ Jesus. Hearing His call to serve Him and those who are being saved
in His Church, you put your hand to the spiritual plough without looking back, but
straight ahead toward the glory of the Holy Trinity, as we sing joyfully:

Rejoice, Ploughman of the Lord, called to bring us the Finest Wheat!
Rejoice, Worker in the Vineyard of the Lord, quenching our spiritual thirst with the
Mystic Wine!
Rejoice, for your Daily Bread is truly Christ in the Holy Eucharist and the Word of God!
Rejoice, for Christ calls you to His holy Priesthood!
Rejoice, for you prefer not mother or father, or brother or sister above the sweet yoke of
Jesus Christ!
Rejoice, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but the Father Who is in
Heaven!
Rejoice, for the Lord reveals His power to you in unceasing prayer!
Rejoice, for He unveils to you His own Wisdom that surpasses that of the world!
Rejoice, for in Christ you have become higher than all your teachers!
Rejoice, for the Holy Spirit comes to make His abode within the temple of your body!
Rejoice, for He strengthens you by His Grace to endure all things for Christ!
Rejoice, for the Heavenly Father embraces you as a well-beloved son!
Rejoice, O Holy Father, John Paul, Pope of Rome, great Servant of Christ and our
unfailing heavenly Protector!

Kontakion 3

You saw the stormy clouds of war gathered to crush the innocent from all sides, O Holy
Father! Rather than feel despair, you put on the helmet of salvation and the breastplate of
faith in Christ to ward off the darts of the evil one, inspiring all to raise the Cross as the
symbol of final victory. Standing in awe of your fortitude and courage, we sing:
Alleluia!

Ikos 3

O Holy Father, you ceaselessly gazed at the Saviour, crucified in the Flesh for our
salvation. It was the Lord Jesus Himself that taught you from the Book of His Cross to
have unshakeable faith in His Resurrection which all who partake of the Cup of His
sufferings will also experience. With you, we reach out, like Thomas the Apostle, to
touch the Sacred Wounds of the Lord Jesus in all our trials and tribulations, proclaiming
Him to be our Lord and our God, singing:

Rejoice, Man of God, who constantly stood in spirit on Calvary before the Cross!
Rejoice, O Mystic, lost in meditation on Christ's most sacred Passion!
Rejoice, Bearer on your own body of the Marks of the Lord Jesus!
Rejoice, Good Samaritan, binding the wounds of others suffering the ravages of war!
Rejoice, new Simon of Cyrene, carrying the crosses of others overwhelmed by pain!
Rejoice, Righteous One, who saved the daughter of Abraham from eternal collapse!
Rejoice, for the little suffering ones of God find in you a ready helper!
Rejoice, for you defend those who cannot defend themselves!
Rejoice, for you are ready to give your life for those for whom Christ gave His!
Rejoice, for you see the Cross dispersing the dark clouds of despair and evil!
Rejoice, for it heralds an eternal victory through Christ our Lord!
Rejoice, for you lead us to worship the place where the Feet of the Lord stood!
Rejoice, O Holy Father, John Paul, Pope of Rome, great Servant of Christ and our
unfailing Heavenly Protector!

Ikos 4

As Archbishop of Cracow in your beloved Poland, you enlivened the flock entrusted to
you that languished under the God-hating yoke. Ensuring that the Church lived her own
life, the life of the Apostles teaching, the Breaking of the Bread and the prayers, you
inspired young people to dedicate their lives to Christ through His Holy Church,
following your selfless and holy example. Bowing before the Hero of the Lord, we cry
out in thanksgiving: Alleluia!

Kontakion 4

The Lord truly blessed his people of Poland with a great pastor and shepherd in you, O
Holy Father John Paul! In you was fulfilled the commandment of the Lord to His
Apostles, "Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit!" As a people baptized by the Apostles to the Slavs, Saints Cyril
and Methodius, the people and Church of Poland leap for joy in having received the
blessing of a new Apostle in our days, singing loudly:

Rejoice, worthy descendant of the mission of Cyril and Methodius among the Slavs!
Rejoice, new and wondrous patron of Cracow and all Poland!
Rejoice, preacher of God's Word to your people!
Rejoice, inspiring your people to renewed zeal for God!
Rejoice, teacher of love of God through love of country and its people!
Rejoice, great evangelist bringing God's Word to us through the medium of culture!
Rejoice, venerator of the holy saints and shrines of Poland!
Rejoice, filial client of the Mother of God of Czestochowa!
Rejoice, promoter of the privileges of the Queen of Poland!
Rejoice, Crown of the Saints of Poland!
Rejoice, bringing many saints of Poland to the honours of the altar!
Rejoice, Tireless Advocate at the Throne of Christ for the people of Poland!
Rejoice, O Holy Father, John Paul, Pope of Rome, great Servant of Christ and our
unfailing Heavenly Protector!

Kontakion 5

The Lord Jesus deigned that not only Poland, but the universal Church as well was to
have you as its Chief Pastor and Teacher, O Holy Father John Paul! As the Holy Spirit
breathed upon the Church's hierarchs to choose you as the new Successor of St Peter, you were overwhelmed in awe and wonder at the ways of God. We remember still your
appearance before the world for the first time as the Holy Ecumenical Pontiff, blessing us
with your hands extended in prayer over us and we sing, with heads bowed: Alleluia!

Ikos 5

The world gazed in amazement at the new Pontiff at Rome wondering what this all meant
in God's design for His Church, O Holy Father John Paul. Resigning yourself to Christ
through His Most Holy Mother, as indicated by your motto, "Totus Tuus," you raised
your hands in thanksgiving and praise to the Lord Jesus Who alone gave you the strength
to be all things to all people, singing:

Rejoice, for the Lord Jesus is our mainstay!
Rejoice, for we are nourished at His Wounded Side!
Rejoice, for His Side pours forth Mercy and Forgiveness!
Rejoice, for the Lord makes up for what is lacking in us!
Rejoice, for He is our bulwark and rampart!
Rejoice, for His yoke is light and very sweet!
Rejoice, for Christ is with us always!
Rejoice, for He will be with us until the end of time!
Rejoice, for the Lord Jesus enters through the hardness of our hearts and bids us,
"Peace!"
Rejoice, for He sends us the Consoler, the Spirit of Truth, Who proceeds from the Father!
Rejoice, for the Holy Spirit reminds us of all that the Lord Jesus taught us!
Rejoice, for it is the Spirit Who prays in us, as we know not how to pray as we ought!
Rejoice, O Holy Father, John Paul, Pope of Rome, great Servant of Christ and our
unfailing Heavenly Protector!

Kontakion 6

"Woman, behold your son!" the Lord Jesus proclaimed from the Cross at Calvary,
thereby placing us all under the mantle of protection of the Theotokos. You were led to
great veneration for her who nurtures us as the Mother of her Son's Church, the Body of
Christ, O Holy Father, John Paul. Contemplating the Mother's role in the Son's plan for
our salvation, you call on us to invoke frequently the Most Holy Theotokos and Ever-
Virgin Mary, crying: Alleluia!

Ikos 6

"Do all that He tells you," the Mother of God told the servants at the Wedding at Cana in
Galilee. Gazing into her maternal heart to ponder the Word of God made Flesh in her
immaculate Womb, the Most Holy Virgin Mary is our model for contemplation and
submission to the Divine Will of the Holy Trinity, as you taught us many times, O Holy
Father. Seeking to be conformed to Christ in accordance with this Most Holy Model and
our Mother, we join with you in singing:

Rejoice, for your soul, O Mother of God, magnifies the Lord and your spirit exults in
God your Saviour!
Rejoice, for He has looked upon the humility of His maid-servant!
Rejoice, for all generations will call you 'Blessed!'
Rejoice, for He has done great things for you and Holy is His Name - His Grace is from
generation to generation on all those who fear Him!
Rejoice for He has shown the strength of His Arm and has cast down the proud in the
thoughts of their hearts!
Rejoice, for He has removed the powerful from their thrones, while uplifting the humble,
filling the poor with all manner of good things, and sending the rich away with nothing!
Rejoice, for He has taken to Himself Israel, according to His mercy, remembering His
covenant with Abraham and our fathers!
Rejoice, Mother of God, full of Grace, the Lord is with You and blessed are you among
women!
Rejoice, O Virgin Mary, for you have given birth to Christ our Saviour and Redeemer in
accordance with the word of the Archangel!
Rejoice, O Holy Father, teaching us all to praise the Mother of our Lord Jesus incessantly
through her Rule of Prayer, the Rosary!
Rejoice, for you have crowned her many miraculous images throughout the world!
Rejoice, for you call on us to contemplate the Face of Christ with the Virgin Mary!
Rejoice, O Holy Father, John Paul, Pope of Rome, great Servant of Christ and our
unfailing Heavenly Protector!

Kontakion 7

As Chief Pastor and Shepherd of Christ's Holy Catholic Church, you took for yourself
the names "John" and "Paul" to signify your desire to emulate the lives of these Saints
and Apostles in the Gospel throughout your pontificate of service and love to God's
people. You were not content to be a successor of the Apostles, but you also engaged in
zealous apostolic activity to renew the fervor and devotion of Christians living in morally
indifferent and dangerous times. Buoyed by your constancy of faith and your great zeal
for the glory of God and the Church's welfare, we cry out joyfully: Alleluia!

Ikos 7

O Holy Father, as "John" you were shown to be a new Forerunner crying to those lost in
a spiritual wilderness to make straight the ways of the Lord. Your preaching and
example also brought many to the saving waters of Baptism. Emulating the Beloved
Disciple of the Lord, you likewise taught sublime theology about the Word Who is God.
Praising God for sending us His messenger in you, we pray:

Rejoice, New Prophet of Christ, most zealous for the glory of God!
Rejoice, for you call everyone to the saving waters of Baptism!
Rejoice, for you anoint us with the Oil of Gladness!
Rejoice, you preach the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins in the Name of the Lord Jesus!
Rejoice, for you show us how to open our hearts to the Love of God!
Rejoice, for you indicate the narrow way into the Kingdom of Heaven!
Rejoice, Teacher of Sublime Theology!
Rejoice, Defender of the Orthodox Faith!
Rejoice, Bulwark of the Catholic Church!
Rejoice, Mystic of God the Word Incarnate!
Rejoice, Adorer of Divine Wisdom!
Rejoice, Silent One before the Mystery of the Holy Eucharist on the Altar!
Rejoice, O Holy Father, John Paul, Pope of Rome, great Servant of Christ and our
unfailing Heavenly Protector!

Kontakion 8

You truly emulated St Paul the Apostle, O Holy Father, by your many visitations to the
Local Church throughout the world! You came from Rome and enlivened the people of
God with the Presence of Christ which you bore and reflected in your person. Who does
not remember attending at least one of your pastoral visits? Who has not been
overwhelmed with the joy of receiving your Apostolic blessing and benediction by your
own hand? We continue to call to you, Holy Father, now that you visit us from Heaven
in spirit and sing reverently: Alleluia!

Ikos 8

Having become all things to all people for the sake of Christ, O Holy Father, you took up
the pilgrim's staff with the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ to go out and preach the good
news of salvation in His Name to all the world. You spoke to the crowds of millions,
encouraging them to hold fast to their faith in the Lord as Christians worthy of such a
great salvation. The people of old touched their handkerchiefs to the Apostles, and so too
did the people greet you with theirs. We wave to you still with the spiritual white of our
sincere prayers to you, Holy Father, and sing:

Rejoice, Eternal Pilgrim in a world searching for Christ!
Rejoice, for the people press in on you, left and right!
Rejoice, for those suffering from constant spiritual illness receive healing at the touch of
your spiritual blessing!
Rejoice, for you feed the multitudes with the Bread of Life that is eaten, but is never
consumed!
Rejoice, for you indicate the Spiritual Cluster of the Tree of Salvation from which drips
the Mystic Wine!
Rejoice, for by you the Lord Jesus quenches our inner thirst!
Rejoice, for they bring the sick and the lame to you as the Vicar of the Wounded Healer!
Rejoice, for you sorrow and weep over their suffering!
Rejoice, for your presence among them witnesses to Christ the Consoler of heavy hearts!
Rejoice, Man of Peace, that which only Christ can bring!
Rejoice, for you tell the young people of the world about the Peace that is beyond it!
Rejoice, for you call us to be apostles of Christ's peace and love in a hate-filled and wartorn age!
Rejoice, O Holy Father, John Paul, Pope of Rome, great Servant of Christ and our
unfailing Heavenly Protector!

Kontakion 9

You are the joy of the Saints of Heaven, O Holy Father John Paul! As the early Church
of Christ took great solace in her sufferings and persecutions from the witness and
intercessions of her Martyrs, whose honour she jealously guarded, so too did you deign to
raise to the honours of the Altar many new witnesses to the love of Christ and
faithfulness to His Church throughout the world. Joining with you in joyfully making
festival in the Lord in honor of the many new Saints and Martyrs of Christ, we earnestly
sing: Alleluia!

Ikos 9

The Holy, Glorious and All-Praised Apostles, Prophets, Martyrs, Hierarchs, Venerable
Fathers and Mothers of every nation and every age rejoice to see many of their number
honored through you on earth, O Holy Father! The Great Cloud of Witnesses that the
Holy Spirit has glorified through you lets drop a plentiful rain of Divine Grace by means
of their prayers to the Holy Trinity and by it a rich harvest of souls is reaped by Christ the
Sower. We invoke the intercession of all these, and also your prayers, O Holy Father,
before the Throne of Almighty God, all the while singing with compunction:

Rejoice, for by you those who are famous in God are made known to us!
Rejoice, for we receive the benefit of the prayers of many of the Righteous!
Rejoice, for you assemble a venerable Army to aid us in the day of spiritual battle!
Rejoice, for Christ showers His miracles upon us through His Saints!
Rejoice, for holy before God is the death of His Martyrs in whom He is glorified!
Rejoice, for He will not let His holy ones see corruption!
Rejoice, for, by you, God raised up to honour the holy Martyr Maximilian Kolbe!
Rejoice, for the holy Nun Faustina sings of the Divine Mercy of Christ!
Rejoice, for the voice of the martyrs of the death camps makes a loud and joyful sound!
Rejoice, for you join in prayer to the Mother of God with Saint Pio of Pietrelcina!
Rejoice, for Mother Teresa embraces the poor and suffering of Calcutta still!
Rejoice, for you call on us to become holy and submissive instruments in God's Hands
for a new evangelization of the world!
Rejoice, O Holy Father, John Paul, Pope of Rome, great Servant of Christ and our
unfailing Heavenly Protector!

Kontakion 10

As your mother was an Eastern Catholic, you learned early in life concerning the Two
Lungs, Western and Eastern, of the Body of Christ that is the Holy Catholic Church, by
which it must always breathe. You were also mindful of the great mission of the
Apostles to the Slavs, Saints Cyril and Methodius, whom you declared to be patrons of
Europe together with the Holy Father Benedict. Praying to the Lord Jesus that all may be
One in Him through communion with the Successor of St Peter, we sing: Alleluia!

Ikos 10

You were a true Pastor of the Churches of the East in communion with you, O Holy
Father, and entrusted to your care. Your heart also weighed heavily over the rent in the
seamless Garment of the Lord through the separation of the Churches. Embracing the
spiritual ways of the Christian East, you praised its Orthodoxy and the teaching of her
Holy Fathers, making it your own. And we receive your encouragement to us to be true
bridges between East and West, singing in your honor:

Rejoice, Holy Man of the East, praying the unceasing Prayer of Jesus!
Rejoice, for the Mother of God of Czestochowa is like the sun that first rose in the East!
Rejoice, for you esteem and proclaim the Orthodox Faith of the Councils!
Rejoice, for you drank deeply of the still waters of Eastern Christian spirituality!
Rejoice, for you extended a sincere hand of love and repentance to the Orthodox East!
Rejoice, for you pray that all may be one, even as Christ and the Father are One!
Rejoice, for you glorified the New Martyrs and Confessors of communion with Rome!
Rejoice, for you are the first to praise them!
Rejoice, for the cords of the unrighteous are finally broken!
Rejoice, for your Eastern Flock receives their supreme Pastor with great affection!
Rejoice, for you are another Clement and Martin, coming from Rome to be with them!
Rejoice, for you pray that the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God the Father
and the Communion of the Holy Spirit be with us all!
Rejoice, O Holy Father, John Paul, Pope of Rome, great Servant of Christ and our
unfailing Heavenly Protector!

Kontakion 11

As a truly Apostolic man, you enjoin us to be holy as our Heavenly Father is Holy and to
worship God in the beauty of holiness. You invite the youth of the world to take heart
and be courageous in giving themselves in service to the Church as holy priests and
monastics, as well as servants of the Lord Jesus in the world, witnessing to His salvation
and peace. Looking to you as our eminent example in living the Life in Christ and
experiencing the transfiguring Light of Mt Tabor in the Holy Spirit, we sing: Alleluia!

Ikos 11

Praying ceaselessly to the Lord Jesus and His Most Holy Mother, you invite us to
contemplate the Divine Mysteries of our salvation in silent listening to the Word of God,
O Holy Father. Although your fame spread like wildfire throughout the world, you
continued in self-emptying humility and intercession for all at the Foot of the Cross of
our Lord before the Altar and the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Pray for us that we
may also open our hearts to the warmth of the Love of God in purity and sacred
meditation, as we sing:

Rejoice, for holiness becomes the House of God!
Rejoice, for His priests are girded with it!
Rejoice, for Holy is the Lord our God!
Rejoice, for you contemplate the Face of Christ with Mary, His Mother!
Rejoice, for you teach us to pray without hurrying!
Rejoice, for you tell us to linger in thoughtful consideration in our supplications to God!
Rejoice, for you conformed your life to Christ!
Rejoice, for you listen to the Voice of the Father in the stillness of your soul!
Rejoice, for the Holy Spirit finds you filled with the love of the Virgin Mary and so forms
the full stature of Jesus Christ within you!
Rejoice, for Peter joins with his successor in adoring Christ transfigured on Mt Tabor!
Rejoice, for you exclaim to the people of God, "It is good for us to be here!"
Rejoice, for you lead us to Theosis in Christ by the Holy Spirit to the glory of God the
Father!
Rejoice, O Holy Father, John Paul, Pope of Rome, great Servant of Christ and our
unfailing Heavenly Protector!

Kontakion 12

O Holy Father, you labored for our salvation and sanctification for more than a quarter of
a century on the Apostolic Throne of Peter! Early in your pontificate, you were shot six
times by the enemies of the Church, but God did not allow you to expire, as your time
had not yet come. Amazed at your inner strength and courage, we exclaim: Alleluia!

Ikos 12

Suffering diverse illnesses in your elder years, O Holy Father, John Paul, you endured
hardship and pain rather than take your hand from the spiritual plough of Church
leadership and guidance given to you by the Lord Jesus. Awed by your long-suffering
patience borne in all suffering, we sing:

Rejoice, for you have been crucified with the Lord Jesus so as to share in His
Resurrection!
Rejoice, for you offered up your sufferings for the salvation of His flock!
Rejoice, for you bear on your body the Marks of the Lord Jesus!
Rejoice, for you set an example of suffering in patience for us all!
Rejoice, firm staff of support for the elderly!
Rejoice, solace of the gravely ill and infirm!
Rejoice, for nothing can sway your resolve to serve the Lord faithfully until the end!
Rejoice, for you look to Christ Who was not taken down from the Cross until "It is
finished."
Rejoice, for millions of those for whom you are their father in Christ gather near your bed
of pain to pray for and with you!
Rejoice, for you blessed us all with your hand before your soul was released into the
Hand of the Father!
Rejoice, for you said you were happy and that we too should be happy!
Rejoice, for you who prayed for us on earth, continues to pray for us in Heaven!
Rejoice, O Holy Father, John Paul, Pope of Rome, great Servant of Christ and our
unfailing Heavenly Protector!

Kontakion 13

May we who honor your holy memory on earth continue to taste the benefit of your
intercession for us in heaven, O Holy Father! Pray for us to deepen our love for the Lord
Jesus Who was Incarnate by the Most Holy Mother of God, lived among us, and was
crucified, died and was buried to rise in glory on the third day, and ascended to heaven
where He sits at the Right Hand of the Father. Pray that we may conform ourselves to
Christ through the Most Holy Virgin Mary to be true Bearers of Christ, witnessing to His
love and salvation to the world, as you did in so pre-eminent a manner. For all this we
pray, exclaiming: Alleluia!

(Kontakion 13 is recited three times, followed by Ikos 1 and Kontakion 1 and the
final prayer).

Prayer to our Father among the Saints, John Paul the Great, Pope of Rome
O Holy Father, John Paul, great Servant of the Servants of God and Pastor of the flock of
Christ's Holy Catholic Church! We thank our Lord Jesus Christ for the Grace of the
Holy Spirit bestowed on you, His servant and Vicar on earth, throughout your long and
fruitful pontificate as the chief worker in His Vineyard. Pray for us that the Holy Spirit
may remind us of all that you taught us in the Name of the Lord Jesus and God our
Father. Come speedily to our aid with your intercession in all our necessities that are for
our spiritual good in accordance with the Divine Will. Inspire us who honour you on
earth still with the memory of your example, your prayers and your teachings until we
gather with you once again to praise and thank the Lord for His many mercies shown to
us in the Kingdom of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:05:00 +0000

“Distracted” by the Dove of Peace on Mount Carmel
Flos Carmeli (the rest of the story)

bloggingLOURDES
Père Georges David Byers, Chapelain des Sanctuaires Notre-Dame de Lourdes

Faustinum Member on Prayer for the Dying - chaplet of Divine Mercy

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 17:36:00 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

http://www.faustinum.pl/faustinum.php
The Power of Prayer

Nearly 10 years have passed since my husband's recovery from cancer. The children have all finished school and started their own families. And I found my way first to Faustinum, where I follow the formation, and then to ministering in a hospice. I am a non-medical volunteer who ministers to the terminally ill. As we are all very well aware, a doctor, a nurse, a psychologist, even a physiotherapist, or a priest all have a concrete task to perform. Whereas a volunteer is someone who is a sort of handyman: he (or she) cooks, cleans, washes the patient, changes the sheets, does the laundry, takes the dog out for a walk, that is, if the patient happens to have one. But above all, his task is to pray.

I can only say that the power of prayer to the Merciful Jesus is immense. Let me give you just one example. On my housing estate there was a single man suffering from cancer; he lived in the next block of apartments. I had to go over to his place in the evening to wash him, change him, and put him to bed. When I was going there for the first time, I remember being warned: not to even mention God in the man's presence. But everyday, before I went to visit the man, I always said the chaplet of Divine Mercy. The days passed without saying anything about God. After some time, I had to resign from ministering to this man. Someone else took over my duties. In spite of having stopped visiting the man, I continued to pray for him. Two months later, I met a colleague of mine who informed me that in the last few weeks of his life, the elderly man had changed considerably; after years of not going to holy confession, he finally confessed his sins, he then received the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, and finally died reconciled with God. And he was a staunch communist. The prayer to Divine Mercy has the power to transform even such people

FATHER KENNETH BAKER, Editor of The Homiletic and Pastoral Review, stated in his June 1983 editorial that:

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 02:33:00 +0000

A major trend in this country is towards an American Church, '
that is a Church separate and independent from Rome.
The locus of this trend is not in the laity, but in the Church leaders:
some bishops, priests, nuns, intellectuals, diocesan experts.
Another way of saying this is that we are becoming more
Protestant all the time.

By that I mean the rejection of a hierarchical Church
founded by Jesus Christ, primacy of the subjective conscience,
and absolutizing Scripture to the neglect of Tradition.

Fr. George W. Rutler - March 15,2009 “Faith is not a thing which one ‘loses,’ we merely cease to shape our lives by it." Bernanos

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 20:40:00 +0000

The same Jesus who was transfigured in glory on the mountain did a very earthy thing in using a whip to expel the moneychangers from the temple. In the early weeks of Lent the Church recounts both as a reminder that God came into the world to change it. Christ’s glory is displayed that “you might be partakers of the divine nature,” but that glory is contingent upon us “having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4).

As Jesus led Peter and James and John up the mountain, so he leads us up to glory, like the priest about to ascend the altar steps in the older form of the Mass: “Introibo ad altare Dei” (“I will go unto the altar of God”). That brush with divinity at the Transfiguration, enveloped by a cloud, is a preparation for the conflict between splendor and horror at the foot of the mountain. Pope Leo the Great explains how Our Lord was strengthening the Apostles for the crucifixion to come. The kind of life that forgets God’s glory becomes depressed, despite attempts to put on a veneer of happiness: like Cole Porter’s song “Down in the Depths on the Ninetieth Floor.”

This does not mean that Christ saves us from conflicts. His followers must enter this world’s gravest conflicts, but the consolation of his glory saves them from being psychologically conflicted. Having led the three Apostles up the mountain, he leads them down. More help is needed going down than going up: This is a fact of mountaineering and it is a fact of life itself. The same three Apostles who witnessed Our Lord’s glorious transfiguration on the mountain attended his agony in the garden. By guiding the Apostles down the mountain Christ was instructing them in the virtue of the faith they would need for the trials ahead. While there are more Catholics in the United States now than ever before, many of that number are immigrants and converts. One out of every ten Americans is a former Catholic. Excuses cannot conceal the fact that these people stumbled on the difficult path down from the summit of consolations.

As Chesterton said: “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.” By being faithful, one proves Newman’s maxim: “A thousand difficulties do not make one doubt.” It is too glib to speak of “losing” faith. Bernanos said pointedly: “Faith is not a thing which one ‘loses,’ we merely cease to shape our lives by it.” Our Lord prayed that Peter’s faith would not fail so that he might strengthen the brethren (Luke 22:32). And Peter did precisely that right to the end of his life: “We did not follow cleverly devised myths. . . . We ourselves heard this voice from Heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain” (2 Peter 1: 16-18).

Their website is http://www.oursaviournyc.org/

Fr. George W. Rutler Weekly 8 March 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 03:55:00 +0000

The Church is the world’s greatest feeder of the poor, but unless she feeds souls, she is redundant in a materialist culture. Satan wants to replace Communion lines with bread lines, as if the Body of Christ were nothing more than temporal sustenance.

+++

The Spirit that “drove” Jesus into the desert to be tempted by Satan (Mark 1:12) is the Third Person of the Most Holy Trinity, the bond of love between God the Father and God the Son. Christ was tempted three times as an act of love to prepare his Church for three temptations which would assault her in every generation. Satan tested Christ to figure out if he truly was divine: “If you are the Son of God . . .” So Satan also tempts the Church, not to discern her holiness as the Body of Christ, but to test whether Christians will be faithful to that holiness. Satan first tempts the Church to turn stones into bread: to reduce the Church to a human creature devoid of supernatural charisms. The Church is the world’s greatest feeder of the poor, but unless she feeds souls, she is redundant in a materialist culture. Satan wants to replace Communion lines with bread lines, as if the Body of Christ were nothing more than temporal sustenance. But Christ is Our Saviour and not Our Philanthropist. “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you” (John 6:53). Secondly, Satan tempts the Church to mock herself, as he wanted Jesus to jump from the pinnacle of the Temple and survive. This test will see whether Christians will take up the daily crosses of life with Christ in a broken world, or engage grace as a kind of New Age energy arrogated to ourselves without moral obedience to natural law. To fly against nature is to live in an unreal world, claiming to be Catholic without living as Catholics. Satan wants us to “take Communion” on our terms rather than “receive Communion” on Christ’s terms. St. Paul would not fly that way: “He who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks his own condemnation; and for this reason many of you are weak, and ill, and some have died” (1 Cor. 11:29-30). Thirdly, the Church is tempted with earthly power. Cardinal Consalvi reminded Napoleon that the Church’s power is not from earthly rulers. Pius XII said that Stalin would be able to count the Church’s divisions only after he died. The two Thomases, Becket and More, made similar remonstrances with their own blood. In the history of the Church, Judas was the first to accept a government grant in exchange for doing evil. The Church is entering a time of severe testing, and she will be crucified in ways more tortuous than nails, for she will be jeered by journalists and patronized by politicians and menaced by false messiahs, but in the end the Church’s despisers will hear severe words: “You could have no power at all against me, were it not given you from above; so he who delivered me to you has the greater sin” (John 19:11).

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Their website is http://www.oursaviournyc.org/.

First Sunday of Lent - Homily - Servant and Steward - Fr. Daren J. Zehnle

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 01:47:00 +0000

Servant and Steward
The First Sunday of Lent

(B)Have you ever noticed how people react upon seeing a rainbow? For those of us who do not often experience them, rainbows elicit a great excitement and a certain childlike joy as we see the colors stretching across the sky, and the fuller the rainbow, the greater our excitement.We know perfectly well why the bow forms as sunlight passes through the droplets of water and yet we still pause to look at rainbows. There is something about a rainbow that simply captures our attention. I wonder, though, how often do we see through the rainbow, beyond the arc and the colors and the natural wonder, to the covenant that the Lord has made with us?After the waters of the Flood receded, and after Noah built an altar to the Lord and offered sacrifice, God said to him:
This is the sign of the covenant that I am giving for all ages to come, of the covenant between me and you and every living creature with you: I set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth, and the bow appears in the clouds, I will recall the covenant I have made between me and you and all living beings (Genesis 9:12-16).If the Lord of heaven and earth recalls the covenant he has made each time a rainbow appears, should we not, too, also recall this covenant? Yes, we should, but too often we are forgetful of God, though he never forgets us.But when we see a rainbow, what is it that we are to remember? What is the covenant the Lord has made with us? It is the covenant first made with Noah and renewed with Abraham and then with Moses, the covenant that was fulfilled and perfected in Jesus Christ. It is the covenant that we receive Baptism, the covenant sealed in the Blood of Christ.Saint Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, tells us that the waters of the Flood “prefigured baptism, which saves you now” (I Peter 3:21). Just as Noah and his family was saved through the waters of the Flood inside the ark, so, too, Christians are saved through the waters of Baptism in the Church, which is the Barque, the ship, of Peter. Baptism “is not a removal of dirt from the body,” Peter says, “but an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him” (I Peter 3:21-22).How is it that the Lord Jesus ascended to heaven and sits now at the right hand of God? When Jesus accepted John’s baptism “of repentance for the forgiveness of sin”, the Spirit “immediately impels him into the consequences of that decision – consequences that will eventually lead to the cross” (Mark 1:4).[1] Just as Adam and Eve were driven out of Paradise (cf. Genesis 3:24), so “the Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert” to be tempted for forty days (Mark 1:12), just as Israel was tested for forty years in the desert (cf. Deuteronomy 8:2).When he allowed himself to be driven out into the desert, he accepted the history of Israel. “Jesus relives the story of Israel, but as an obedient son who is totally faithful in his own trial in the desert.”[2]When Satan tempted Jesus in the desert he was given the same choice as Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and the same choice as Israel in the desert. But unlike Adam and Eve, unlike Israel, Jesus remained faithful and obedient to God. Jesus now sits at the right hand of the Father, victorious over Satan, sin and death, because he accepted his Messianic ministry from the Father in full obedience, docility and love.Jesus goes into the desert for one purpose: to be “tempted by Satan” (Mark 1:12). From ancient times the desert symbolized the realm of evil, which was represented by the beasts dwelling there. Jesus goes to be tempted by Satan, “the prince of demons,” whose very name means “adversary” (Mark 3:22). It is this adversary, this enemy, who seeks to thwart Jesus’ every move throughout the gospels.When Jesus enters into the desert, he “enters into Satan’s territory deliberately, to begin his campaign against the powers of evil. He is looking for a fight! Yet he will confront Satan not with a blast of divine lightning, but in his frail human nature, empowered by the Spirit.”[3]This battle with Satan that Jesus begins today is the very reason for his coming among us at Christmas, but why would he wish to fight the adversary in this way when he could easily fight him with his glory and majesty? Saint Lawrence says:
…in order that his victory might be the more glorious, he willed to fight Satan in our weak flesh. It is as if an unarmed man, right hand bound, were to fight with his left hand alone against a powerful army; if he emerged victorious, his victory would be regarded as all the more glorious. So Christ conquered Satan with the right hand of his divinity bound and using against him only the left hand of his weak humanity.[4]He did so as an example to his disciples; he showed them how to overcome Satan and temptation by fasting, prayer and complete trust and obedience to the Father.It should come as no surprise, then, that the attacks of the adversary increase all the more after Baptism as Satan tries to steal us back. But we can be confident of victory if we follow the example of Jesus; if we fast, if we pray with patient hope and if we remain attached to God in obedient trust, the victory belongs to us, or, rather to Jesus Christ, in whose victory we will share.This is why the liturgical color for this season is violet. Violet is both the color of repentance and the color of royalty. The violet vestments call us to repent of our sins and amend our life even as they remind us of the victory of Christ over Satan.These, then, are the weapons that we take up in the battle against Satan: prayer, fasting and alms-giving. These three weapons, these forms of penance, we call the Lenten discipline. The word discipline comes from the same root as the word disciple, a root that refers to a student. Discipline, then, is always meant to teach; the disciplines, the weapons, of prayer, fasting and alms-giving teach us to live more like Jesus; they teach us to be faithful to God even as they fight off the attacks of Satan.This fight with the tempter is serious and one in which every Christian must engage. Pope Benedict XVI reminds us that
Fighting against evil, against every form of selfishness and hate, and dying to oneself to live in God is the ascetic journey that every disciple of Jesus is called to make with humility and patience, with generosity and perseverance.[5]Jesus’ example and victory in the desert shows us how to live in this way. In the desert, as on the Cross, “Christ suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God” (I Peter 3:18).Let each of us, then, recall the covenant the Lord has made with us, seeking in these days of Lent to renew the promises we made at Baptism to be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ that the glory of Easter, the joy of heaven, might be ours. Amen.

[1] Mary Healy, Catholic Commentary of Sacred Scripture: The Gospel of Mark, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2008), 38.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] From A Word in Season: Readings for the Liturgy of the Hours (Villanova, Pennsylvania: Augustinian Press, 1999), 7:245. Quoted in Healy, The Gospel of Mark, 39.
[5] Pope Benedict XVI, Homily, 1 March 2006.

Fr. George W. Rutler- Sunday 1 March 2009 - Self Knowledge & Repentance

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 22:55:00 +0000

Fr. George W. Rutler's
http://www.oursaviournyc.org/

Lent is a time to examine the conscience: Am I letting God make me what he wants me to be? According to Plato, Socrates said that “an unexamined life is not worth living.” He knew the words in the pronaos, or forecourt, of the temple at Delphi: “Know thyself.” Self-knowledge consists in matching our behavior up against the virtues. By so doing we “repent,” or “return” to the plan God has had for us since our conception. “Let us search our ways, and seek, and return to the Lord” (Lamentations 3:40). St. Paul urges an examination of conscience before receiving the Blessed Sacrament (1 Cor. 11:28-31). As physical light refracts into seven primary colors, so the Light of Christ refracts into seven virtues: faith, hope, love, prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude. But the Prince of Darkness also refracts into seven dark anti-virtues, or deadly sins: pride, anger, lust, avarice, gluttony, envy, and sloth. A good self-examination requires listening to the counsel of God through his Church and acting on it to correct one’s ways. Recently, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives was reproved by Pope Benedict XVI at a brief audience to which he would not admit press or photographers, aware that the occasion could be exploited for political purposes, which it was. The Pope pointedly urged that public figures examine their consciences. He reminded the Speaker, who boasts that she is a practicing Catholic, that life must be protected “from conception until natural death.” On previous occasions the Speaker has woefully misrepresented Christ’s teaching, actually claiming an idiosyncratic knowledge of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. It is well known that Pope Benedict XVI is more familiar with these sources than the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Rather than examine her conscience, the Speaker later issued a press statement of her own, censoring the Pope’s remarks and changing the subject to “poverty, hunger, and global warming.” A lawyer named Douglas Kmiec, whose Tartuffish political counsel has cast him in the role of Richard Rich manipulating the testimony of St. Thomas More, called the Pope’s admonition “intrusive.” A few days later, our new Secretary of State raised the hopes of many that on her visit to China, as a matter of conscience, she would mention the more than half million prisoners in slave labor camps, forcible abortions and organ harvesting, support of genocide in Darfur, and the countless Chinese Christians being martyred for the Faith. Instead, she said that “human rights . . . can’t interfere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crisis.” This went beyond the insouciance of Eleanor Roosevelt who, as Solzhenitsyn records in The First Circle, praised Stalin’s “wonderful” prison camps. We should not examine the consciences of others, but, for life to be worth living, we should hope that others at least have a conscience.

How canst thou find in creatures that which exists not in them? Can anyone give what he does not possess?

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 02:27:00 +0000

The Imitation of Christ

Do not wonder at this, My Child:

thy heart is not made for this world.

Therefore, whatever this world contains is

unworthy of thy noble destiny and of thy heart's affection.

Thou art created for greater things,

thou art born for things everlasting,

thou art destined to things without limit.

Do not then give thyself up to what is low and mean,

since thou art made to rule forever.

What could it avail thee to gain the whole world,

if thou shouldst lose thy soul?

Surely, thou wouldst be twice unhappy:

here, on account of the wicked state of thy conscience,

thou wouldst suffer a torturing agony;

hereafter, thou wouldst have to undergo misery

everlasting.

Blessed, therefore, is he who spurns whatever may mislead the heart;

who nobly casts aside every obstacle to true felicity;

who, mindful of his noble destiny,

seeks happiness above all in his Creator.

+++

bloggingLOURDES

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:57:00 +0000

Just to be timely, here is the full text of the Papal Message for Lent

Ave Maria Meditations : a Hospital Chaplain's thoughts on an Ash Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 23:39:00 +0000

A Hospital Chaplain’s thoughts on an Ash Wednesday
Ave Maria Meditations

I had just placed ashes on his head. I was looking at him - with his dirty forehead lying there on the white sheets of the hospital bed - when he said, ‘Father can I ask you a question?’
‘Yes’, I replied, realizing full well there was an ashen cross on this sinner’s forehead too.
Then he asked: ‘Why do I need Lent?’
I thought for a moment and answered: Lent confronts the horror of my sin before the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who knew no sin (See 2 Cor. 5:21). Without coming to grips with my sin, I can’t see how much I need God’s love.
I need to see his love for me in the cross of Christ and the glory of Easter. Sins really do matter. We deceive ourselves into thinking, ‘we are not really that bad compared to everyone else - God is not really concerned about my little sins.’
We have an eternal soul and Lent is a mini purgatory. In purgatory the soul stands before God Almighty, helpless, stripped, naked just like the Lord has always seen us. We can’t dress up our sin to hide it from God. We stand like our Lord Jesus stripped of His garments before He was nailed to the cross.
Every pain in purgatory points to His cross and our failure to see our need of accepting Christ’s pardon of our sins. Purgatory will not let us go until we discover how Jesus wants us to love Him. Our sins nailed Christ to the cross and His love for our souls held Him there.
THE WAY OF THE PILGRIM, a work by an unknown Christian, has this prayer: “Lord, make me worthy to love you as I have loved sin in the past.” And then the pains of purgatory will be the joyous peace of Easter.
Peace,
Father Joe

Ave Maria Meditations,

This kind can go out by nothing, but by prayer and fasting. Mark 9:28 Sacrifice for Reparation - Fr. Arellano

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 23:29:00 +0000

"This kind can go out by nothing, but by prayer and fasting."
Part 1 Centrality of Jesus Christ - Deliverance & Exorcism

allianceoftwoheartsgeorgia.com One In Their Hearts

As we see the rise of the “Culture of Death” in our society today, Christ’s request for reparation seems to be more urgent NOW.
Read More
Join Fr. Edgardo "Bing" Arellano, Spiritual Director of the Alliance of the Holy Family, Inc. on EWTN Television each week for, "One In Their Hearts: Sacrifice for Reparation". Fr. Bing appears Monday at 6:00pm†.

Fr. Bing Videos on YouTube
be sure to visit the Alliance of the Holy Family International (AHFI) page on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/ahfinternational.

Fr. George Rutler Weekly Letter 22 February 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 17:57:00 +0000

The discovery of penicillin as an antibiotic has been called the most important medical discovery of the last thousand years. The extraction from mold of the genus Penicillium has saved at least two hundred million lives so far. Penicillin has been around for millions of years but its antibacterial properties were noticed for the first time on September 28, 1928, when Alexander Fleming saw bacteria-free mold in a laboratory dish which he had retrieved from a pile of rubbish in St. Mary's Hospital, Paddington, London. He paid attention. No one until then had. Fleming was the son of a Scottish farmer and, learning Latin as a Catholic student, he knew the meaning of "age quod agis." As a maxim, "do what you are doing" means to pay attention to ordinary things and extraordinary things may result. When Jesus walked among men, most did not pay much attention to him precisely because he seemed ordinary. "He sighed from the depth of his spirit" and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign? Amen I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation" (Mark 8:12). The truth behind miracles is in the often unnoticed details. For instance, the miraculous feedings of the five thousand and four thousand were not as important as the twelve and seven baskets of fragments left over, which represent the Apostles and the sacraments. "Do you not yet understand or comprehend? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?" (Mark 8:17-18). Lent is a time to increase the power of perception. Small acts of penance and good confessions in this season are meant to increase that power. Instead of attempting extraordinary things, it is better to do more intensely the ordinary practices of Christian life: prayer, almsgiving, study, and evangelism. "Age quod agis." Jesus asked, "Have I been so long with you, Philip, and do you still not understand?" (John 14:9). Shortly before Cardinal Dulles died last December, he reflected on how "doing what you are doing" with love in the normal process of living can lead to the most remarkable discoveries of God's power in human weakness. It is simply a matter of paying attention: "Suffering and diminishment are not the greatest of evils but are normal ingredients in life, especially in old age. They are to be accepted as elements of a full human existence. Well into my ninetieth year I have been able to work productively. As I become increasingly paralyzed and unable to speak, I can identify with the many paralytics and mute persons in the Gospels, grateful for the loving and skillful care I receive and for the hope of everlasting life in Christ. If the Lord now calls me to a period of weakness, I know well that his power can be made perfect in infirmity. 'Blessed be the name of the Lord.'"

St. Margaret of Cortona, pray for us.

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 17:19:00 +0000

d. 22 February 1297

St. Margaret of Cortona

Remembering St. Robert Southwell

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 19:47:00 +0000

Da Mihi Animas: The Martyrs Walk: Remembering St. Robert Southwell

Message for Lent 2009 - A Beggar for Love

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 23:55:00 +0000

A Beggar for Love

The Litany of the Precious Blood was compiled by the Sacred Congregation for the Sacred Liturgy, and promulgated by Pope John XXIII

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 15:53:00 +0000

The Litany of the Precious Blood was compiled by the Sacred Congregation for the Sacred Liturgy, and promulgated by Pope John XXIII on February 24, 1960.

This Litany is especially appropriate for Holy Week.

Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy
Christ, have mercy
Christ, have mercy
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy

Christ, hear us
Christ, hear us
Christ, graciously hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us

God the Father of Heaven,
have mercy on us
God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
have mercy on us
God, the Holy Spirit,
have mercy on us
Holy Trinity, One God,
have mercy on us

Blood of Christ, only-begotten Son of the eternal Father,
save us
Blood of Christ, Incarnate Word or God,
save us
Blood of Christ, of the New and Eternal Testament,
save us
Blood of Christ, falling upon the earth in Agony,
save us
Blood of Christ, shed profusely in the Scourging,
save us
Blood of Christ, flowing forth in the Crowning with Thorns,
save us
Blood of Christ, poured out on the Cross,
save us
Blood of Christ, price of our salvation,
save us
Blood of Christ, without which there is no forgiveness,
save us
Blood of Christ, Eucharistic drink and refreshment of souls,
save us
Blood of Christ, stream of mercy,
save us
Blood of Christ, victor over demons,
save us
Blood of Christ, courage of Martyrs,
save us
Blood of Christ, strength of Confessors,
save us
Blood of Christ, bringing forth Virgins,
save us
Blood of Christ, help of those in peril,
save us
Blood of Christ, relief of the burdened,
save us
Blood of Christ, solace in sorrow,
save us
Blood of Christ, hope of the penitent,
save us
Blood of Christ, consolation of the dying,
save us
Blood of Christ, peace and tenderness of hearts,
save us
Blood of Christ, pledge of eternal life,
save us
Blood of Christ, freeing souls from purgatory,
save us
Blood of Christ, most worthy of all glory and honor,
save us

Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world,
spare us, O Lord
Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world,
graciously hear us, O Lord
Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world,
have mercy on us, O Lord

V. Thou hast redeemed us, O Lord, in Thy Blood.
R. And made us, for our God, a kingdom.

Almighty and eternal God,
Thou hast appointed Thine only-begotten Son
the Redeemer of the world and willed to be appeased by his blood.
Grant, we beg of Thee,
that we may worthily adore this price of our salvation
and through its power
be safeguarded from the evils of the present life
so that we may rejoice in its fruits forever in heaven.
Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

St. Gaspar's Chaplet of the Precious Blood

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 01:59:00 +0000

Precious Blood Chaplet

This devotional prayer chaplet consists of seven mysteries
on which we meditate on the seven times
Jesus shed His Most Precious Blood.

The Chaplet is divided into 6 sets of 5 beads (30)
and 1 set of 3 beads (3), a total of 33 beads,
in honor of the 33 years of Jesus' life.

1st Mystery - Jesus shed His Blood in His circumcision
We ask for chastity of body and spirit.

2nd Mystery - Jesus shed His Blood in the Garden of Olives
We ask for the spirit of prayer.

3rd Mystery - Jesus shed His Blood in the scourging
We ask for patience and self control.

4th Mystery - Jesus shed His Blood in the crown of thorns
We ask for the humility to atone for our pride.

5th Mystery - Jesus shed His Blood carrying the Cross
We ask for the strength to bear our earthly burdens.

6th Mystery - Jesus shed His Blood in the Crucifixion
We ask for contrition.

7th Mystery - Jesus shed His Blood as His side was pierced
We ask for the grace of perseverance.

Begin the chaplet by praying:
V. Incline unto my aid, O God!
R. O Lord, make haste to help me!
V. Glory Be to the Father, and to the Son, and the Holy Spirit
R. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be
Amen
On the First 6 sets of beads:Pray 1 "Our Father" on each of the five beads
After each set:Pray one "Glory Be"
and the following prayer:

We therefore pray Thee, help Thy servants whom
Thou hast redeemed with Thy Precious Blood.

On the 7th/last set of beads:Pray 1 "Our Father" on each of the three beads
After this set:Pray one "Glory Be"
and the following prayer:

We therefore pray Thee, help Thy servants whom
Thou hast redeemed with Thy Precious Blood.
Closing Prayer:

Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ in atonement for my sins, in supplication for the holy souls in Purgatory and for the needs of Holy Church. Amen .

see also:Letters of St. Gaspar

The rosary is a familiar form of prayer. Its repetition establishes a rhythm that steadies our hearts and minds. By involving our hands as we move along the beads, a rosary helps us tune out distractions. Young and old can pray a rosary. No book, no special place, are needed! For these reasons, many religious traditions have prayers that use beads, Buddhists and Sufis (the mystical branch of Islam) as well as Christians. Throughout the centuries, Christians have employed a variety of rosaries. Each rosary is designed to slowly immerse us in a particular spirituality or tradition. In the earliest centuries, monks used stones and strings of beads as aids to prayer and meditation on Scripture, including Lectio Divina or Divine Reading. The fifteen decade rosary, which brings together the major stories of the Christian mystery in the Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious mysteries, is a Dominican tradition that dates to the 13th century. The Precious Blood Rosary or Chaplet is OUR rosary. This is the means of meditation on the principal blood-sheddings of Jesus that Saint Gaspar, our founder, so readily promoted. The Precious Blood Chaplet was composed by Father Francesco Albertini. He was a canon of the church of San Nicola in Carcere in Rome, which was privileged to have a relic of the Precious Blood. His devotion to the Precious Blood inspired Albertini to found the Arch-Confraternity of the Precious Blood, the forerunner of the Union of the Blood of Christ. Albertini invited Father Gaspar del Bufalo, a canon of the near-by church of San Marco, to preach the inaugural sermon for the Arch-Confraternity on December 8, 1808. Albertini wanted to compose a prayer for the Union, a prayer that would combine giving thanks to God for the gift of Jesus' most precious blood and intercession on behalf of the world. To prepare himself to undertake this responsibility, Albertini sought the solace of a retreat. In his account of this retreat, Albertini recounts how he was directly confronted by evil and inspired by meditating on the image of the cross. The fruit of this encounter is our community's Chaplet of the Precious Blood. The Chaplet has seven mysteries, according to a traditional listing of the seven significant times Jesus shed his blood -- the Circumcision, The Agony in the Garden, the Scourging at the Pillar, The Crowning with Thorns, the Carrying of the Cross, Jesus Dies on the Cross, and the Piercing with the Lance. Devotion to Jesus' seven blood-sheddings goes back much farther than our community's founding. The heart of the chaplet is 33 Our Fathers, in honor of the number of years Jesus is believed to have lived among us. The first six mysteries consist of five "Our Father's" followed by a "Glory be" and the last mystery has three "Our Father's" to complete the total of 33. Following each mystery is a verse and response. Verse: “Come then, Lord, help your people.” Response: “Bought with the price of your own blood.” These are drawn from the conclusion of the church's great hymn Te Deum. The Chaplet was approved by the Sacred Congregation of Rites on May 31, 1809 and 'indulgenced' October 18th, 1815(1) The Chaplet was one of the tools that St. Gaspar used in the preaching of missions. References to the chaplet are found in hundreds of Gaspar’s letters. It was the central means he had of inviting the people to pray the mysteries of the Precious Blood, and to provide a focus for the teaching during the mission. In a letter to Pope Gregory XVI in March of 1831, Gaspar points out the chaplet as one of the points in the missionary’s method of life. At the beginning of each day, one Missionary would lead the gathered faithful in the Chaplet while another offered the Mass. In an era when the Mass was in Latin and most people could not read the Chaplet enabled the people to enter more fully into the mystery which was being celebrated. Each of the Mysteries is taken from the Scriptures and is a great place for us to reflect on the meaning found there. The mystery of his Circumcision reminds us how Jesus and his family followed the law, and how the Son of God was incorporated into the family of a particular people in a particular place and time. The Agony in the Garden reminds us how we too seek to take up God’s will in every struggle. The Piercing with a Lance reminds us of the beginning of the sacraments. To pray over these mysteries slowly immerses us into the same mysteries that gave life to Gaspar’s preaching. Prayer was at the center of Gaspar’s life, and the chaplet bears fruit in immersing us in the mysteries of the Most Precious Blood. “Here is the fruit that I experience within myself as the result of this visitation of God; … I have come to realize more and more how needful I am of establishing myself in God's ways and how urgent prayer is, even though I must say that it has always been my delight; I would like to help sanctify the whole world.” (2) A version of the chaplet, with scripture verses for each Our Father, is available .

NOTES (1)Gaspare del Bufalo, Alejandro Rey, CPPS, Vol 1, pg 353 (2)Gaspar del Bufalo, Letter #3785 to Sr. Maria Giuseppa Pittorri,Letters of St. Gaspar

+++

See also:

The Litany of the Precious Blood was compiled by the Sacred Congregation for the Sacred Liturgy, and promulgated by Pope John XXIII on February 24, 1960.

This Litany is especially appropriate for Holy Week.

Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy
Christ, have mercy
Christ, have mercy
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy

Christ, hear us
Christ, hear us
Christ, graciously hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us

God the Father of Heaven,
have mercy on us
God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
have mercy on us
God, the Holy Spirit,
have mercy on us
Holy Trinity, One God,
have mercy on us

Blood of Christ, only-begotten Son of the eternal Father,
save us
Blood of Christ, Incarnate Word or God,
save us
Blood of Christ, of the New and Eternal Testament,
save us
Blood of Christ, falling upon the earth in Agony,
save us
Blood of Christ, shed profusely in the Scourging,
save us
Blood of Christ, flowing forth in the Crowning with Thorns,
save us
Blood of Christ, poured out on the Cross,
save us
Blood of Christ, price of our salvation,
save us
Blood of Christ, without which there is no forgiveness,
save us
Blood of Christ, Eucharistic drink and refreshment of souls,
save us
Blood of Christ, stream of mercy,
save us
Blood of Christ, victor over demons,
save us
Blood of Christ, courage of Martyrs,
save us
Blood of Christ, strength of Confessors,
save us
Blood of Christ, bringing forth Virgins,
save us
Blood of Christ, help of those in peril,
save us
Blood of Christ, relief of the burdened,
save us
Blood of Christ, solace in sorrow,
save us
Blood of Christ, hope of the penitent,
save us
Blood of Christ, consolation of the dying,
save us
Blood of Christ, peace and tenderness of hearts,
save us
Blood of Christ, pledge of eternal life,
save us
Blood of Christ, freeing souls from purgatory,
save us
Blood of Christ, most worthy of all glory and honor,
save us

Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world,
spare us, O Lord
Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world,
graciously hear us, O Lord
Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world,
have mercy on us, O Lord

V. Thou hast redeemed us, O Lord, in Thy Blood.
R. And made us, for our God, a kingdom.

Almighty and eternal God,
Thou hast appointed Thine only-begotten Son
the Redeemer of the world and willed to be appeased by his blood.
Grant, we beg of Thee,
that we may worthily adore this price of our salvation
and through its power
be safeguarded from the evils of the present life
so that we may rejoice in its fruits forever in heaven.
Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Rosary mp3 links from Immaculatae

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 15:26:00 +0000

http://immaculatae.blogspot.com/2009/02/pray-daily-rosary-for-peace.html

Light, entire and inaccessible! Truth, whole and blessed!

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:13:00 +0000

Saint Anselm (1033-1109),

monk, Bishop, Doctor of the Church Proslogion, ch.16

"Do you not yet understand or comprehend?"

I cannot look directly into your light; it is too great for me.

But whatever I see, I see through it, like a weak eye

that sees what it does by the light of the sun,

though it cannot look at the sun itself.

My understanding cannot take it in, it is too bright,

I cannot receive it;

the eye of my soul cannot bear to turn towards it for too long.

It is dazzled by its glory, mastered by its fullness,

crushed by its immensity, confounded by its extent.

Light, entire and inaccessible! Truth, whole and blessed!

How far you are from me who have come so close to you.

How remote you are from my sight, while I am thus present in your sight.

Everywhere you are entirely present, and I cannot see you.

In you I move and have my being, and I cannot come to you.

You are within me and around me, and I have no experience of you.

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(trans Sr. Benedicta Ward)DailyGospel.org

Litany to God the Father - Latin & English

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 15:33:00 +0000

Litany to God the Father

Litaniae ad Deum Patrem (Litany to God the Father)
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O GOD, * unbegotten Father,
only-begotten Son,
Holy Spirit and Comforter,
holy and undivided Trinity,
with our whole heart and lips we confess Thee,
we praise Thee, and we bless Thee.
To Thee be glory forever.

V. Let us bless the Father and the Son with the Holy Spirit.

R. Let us praise Him and exalt Him above all forever.

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God,
who hast given unto us Thy servants,
by the profession of the true faith,
to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity,
and, in the power of Thy divine Majesty,
to worship the Unity;
we beseech Thee,
that by our steadfastness in this same faith,
we may evermore be defended from all adversities.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.