Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 04-28-05, Opt, St. Peter Chanel, St. Louis Mary de Montfort

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Saint Peter Chanel [Priest and Martyr] 1803-1841

Peter Louis Mary Chanel, Priest M (AC)

Letter to the Friends of the Cross (St. Louis de Montfort)

From: Acts 15:7-21

Peter's Address to the Elders (Continuation)

[7] And after there had been much debate, Peter rose and said to them,
"Brethren, you know that in the early days God made choice among you,
that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the Gospel and
believe. [8] And God who knows the heart bore witness to them, giving
them the Holy Spirit just as He did to us; [9] and He made no
distinction between us and them, but cleansed their hearts by faith.
[10] Now therefore why do you make trial of God by putting a yoke upon
the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we have been
able to bear? [11] But we believe that we shall be saved through the
grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.

James' Speech

[12] And all the assembly kept silence; and they listened to Barnabas
and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through
them among the Gentiles. [13] After they finished speaking, James
replied, "Brethren, listen to me. [14] Simeon has related how God
first visited the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name.
[15] And with this the words of the prophets agree, as it is written,
[16] 'After this I will return, and I will rebuild the dwelling of
David, which has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it
up, [17] that the rest of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles
who are called by My name, [18] says the Lord, who has made these
things known from of old.' [19] Therefore my judgment is that we
should not trouble those the Gentiles who turn to God, [20] but should
write to them to abstain from the pollutions of idols and from
unchastity and from what is strangled and from blood. [21] For from
early generations Moses has had in every city those who preach him, for
he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues."

Commentary:

7-11. Peter's brief but decisive contribution follows on a lengthy
discussion which would have covered the arguments for and against the
need for circumcision to apply to Gentile Christians. St. Luke does
not give the arguments used by the Judaizing Christians (these
undoubtedly were based on a literal interpretation of the compact God
made with Abraham--cf. Genesis 17)--and on the notion that the Law was
perennial.)

Once again, Peter is a decisive factor in Church unity. Not only does
he draw together all the various legitimate views of those trying to
reach the truth on this occasion: he points out where the truth lies.
Relying on his personal experience (what God directed him to do in
connection with the baptism of Cornelius: cf. Chapter 10), Peter sums
up the discussion and offers a solution which coincides with St. Paul's
view of the matter: it is grace and not the Law that saves, and
therefore circumcision and the Law itself have been superseded by faith
in Jesus Christ. Peter's argument is not based on the severity of the
Old Law or the practical difficulties Jews experience in keeping it;
his key point is that the Law of Moses has become irrelevant; now that
the Gospel has been proclaimed the Law is not necessary for salvation:
he does not accept that it is necessary to obey the Law in order to be
saved. Whether one can or should keep the Law for other reasons is a
different and secondary matter.

As a gloss on what Peter says, St. Ephraem writes that "everything
which God has given us through faith and the Law has been given by
Christ to the Gentiles through faith and without observance of the Law"
("Armenian Commentary, ad loc.").

11. St. Paul makes the same point in his letter to the Galatians: "We
ourselves, who are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners, yet who know
that a man is not justified by works of the law but by faith in Jesus
Christ, even we have believed by faith in Christ, and not by works of
the law, because by works of the law shall no one be justified"
(2:15f).

"No one can be sanctified after sin," St. Thomas Aquinas says, "unless
it be through Christ. [...] Just as the ancient fathers were saved by
faith in the Christ to come, so we are saved by faith in the Christ who
was born and suffered" ("Summa Theologiae", III, q. 61, a. 3 and 4).

"That thing is absolutely necessary without which no one can attain
salvation: this is the case with the grace of Christ and with the
sacrament of Baptism, by which a person is reborn with Christ"
("ibid.", q. 84, a. 5).

13-21. James the Less, to whose authority the Judaizers had appealed
follows what Peter says. He refers to the Apostle by his Semitic
name--Symeon--and accepts that he has given a correct interpretation of
what God announced though the prophets. In saying that God had
"visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name" he
seems to be giving up the Jewish practice of using "people" to refer to
the Israelites (Exodus 19:9; Deuteronomy 7:6; 14:2) as distinct from
the Gentiles--again the central message of Paul, that baptized pagans
also belong to the people of the promise: "You are no longer strangers
and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members
of the household of God" (Ephesians 2:19).

James' concurrence with what Peter says and the fact that both are in
agreement with the basic principles of Paul's preaching indicate that
the Holy Spirit is at work, giving light to all to understand the true
meaning of the promises contained in Scripture. "As I see it, the
richness of these great events cannot be explained unless it be with
help from the same Holy Spirit who was their author" (Origen, "In Ex
Hom.", IV, 5).

James immediately goes on to propose that the meeting issue a solemn,
formal statement which proclaims the secondary character of the Law and
at the same time makes allowance for the religious sensitivity of
Jewish Christians by prohibiting four things--1) the eating of meat
from animals used in sacrifice to idols; 2) avoidance of fornication,
which goes against the natural moral order; 3) eating meat which has
blood in it; and 4) eating food made with the blood of animals.

These prohibitions are laid down in Leviticus and to be understood
properly they must be read in the light of Leviticus. The Jews
considered that if they ate meat offered to idols this implied in some
way taking part in sacrilegious worship (Leviticus 17:7-9). Although
St. Paul makes it clear that Christians were free to act as they
pleased in this regard (cf. 1 Corinthians 8-10), he will also ask them
not to scandalize "the weak".

Irregular unions and transgressions in the area of sexual morality are
mentioned in Leviticus 18:6ff; some of the impediments will later be
included in Church law on marriage.

Abstention from blood and from the meat of strangled animals (cf.
Leviticus 17:10ff) was based on the idea that blood was the container
of life and as such belonged to God alone. A Jew would find it almost
impossible to overcome his religious and cultural repugnance at the
consumption of blood.

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

From: John 15:9-11

The Vine and the Branches (Continuation)

(Jesus said to His disciples,) [9] "As the Father has loved Me, so have
I loved you; abide in My love. [10] If you keep My commandments, you
will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and
abide in His love. [11] These things I have spoken to you, that My joy
may be in you, and that your joy may be full."

Commentary:

9-11. Christ's love for Christians is a reflection of the love the
Three Divine Persons have for one another and for all men: "We love,
because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19).

The certainty that God loves us is the source of Christian joy (verse
11), but it is also something which calls for a fruitful response on
our part, which should take the form of a fervent desire to do God's
will in everything, that is, to keep His commandments, in imitation of
Jesus Christ, who did the will of His Father (cf. John 4:34).

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

Thursday, April 28, 2005
St. Louis Mary de Montfort, Priest (Optional Memorial)

First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:

Acts 15:7-21
Psalm 96:1-3, 10
John 15:9-11

The meekness of Jesus scored its greatest triumph in His virtue of silence. Jesus, who came to regenerate the world, began by keeping silence in public for thirty years. And yet there were so many vices to reform in the world, so many wandering souls to bring back. Our Lord reproves no one. He is content with praying, with doing penance, and with resisting evil and asking God's pardon for it. Oh! What a lesson against rash judgments!

-- St. Peter Eymard

Catholic Culture

Collect:
Father, you called St. Peter Chanel to work for your Church and gave him the crown of martyrdom. May our celebration of Christ's death and resurrection make us faithful witnesses to the new life he brings, for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

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April 28, 2005

Optional Memorial of St. Peter Chanel, priest and martyr (NZ, Feast); Optional Memorial of St. Louis Mary de Montfort, priest

Old Calendar: St. Paul of the Cross, confessor

St. Peter Chanel was born in France in 1802. He was ordained a priest in 1827, and engaged in the parochial ministry for a few years; but the reading of letters of missionaries in far-away lands inflamed his heart with zeal, and he resolved to devote his life to the Apostolate. He joined the Society of Mary (Marists), and in 1836 he embarked for Oceania. He died a martyr's death on the island of Futuna, Melanesia. He is called the apostle of Oceania where he spread the Gospel.

St. Louis Mary de Montfort during his relatively short life as a missioner, especially among the poor, had to overcome considerable setbacks and opposition. He founded the Daughters of Wisdom and before his death established a society of priests, the Company of Mary, to carry on his work. His book on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin has been widely diffused in many languages.

The feast of St. Paul of the Cross has been transferred to October 20.

St. Peter Chanel

On April 18, 1841, a band of native warriors entered the hut of Father Peter Chanel on the island of Futuna in the New Hebrides islands near New Zealand. They clubbed the missionary to death and cut up his body with hatchets. Two years later, the whole island was Catholic.

St. Peter Chanel's death bears witness to the ancient axiom that "the blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians." He is the first martyr from Oceania, that part of the world spread over the south Pacific, and he came there as the fulfillment of a dream he had had as a boy.

Peter was born in 1803 in the diocese of Belley, France. At the age of seven, he was a shepherd boy, but the local parish priest, recognizing something unusual in the boy, convinced his parents to let him study, in a little school the priest had started. From there Peter went on to the seminary, where it was said of him: "He had a heart of gold with the simple faith of a child, and he led the life of an angel."

He was ordained a priest and assigned to a parish at Crozet. In three years he had transformed the parish. In 1831, he joined the newly founded Society of Mary, since he had long dreamed of being a missionary; but for five years he was assigned to teach at the seminary in Belley. Finally, in 1836, his dream was realized, and he was sent with other Marists to the islands of the Pacific. He had to suffer great hardships, disappointments, frustration, and almost complete failure as well as the opposition of the local chieftain. The work seemed hopeless: only a few had been baptized, and the chieftain continued to be suspicious and hostile. Then, when the chief's son asked for baptism, the chief was so angry that he sent warriors to kill the missionary.

Peter's violent death brought about the conversion of the island, and the people of Futuna remain Catholic to this day. Peter Chanel was beatified in 1889 and canonized in 1954.— The One Year Book of Saints by Rev. Clifford Stevens

Patron: Oceania.

Things to Do:

Learn more about the Society of Mary and what they are doing in the world today.
Read a little about the island where St. Peter Chanel suffered martyrdom.

St. Louis Mary de Montfort

Louis's life is inseparable from his efforts to promote genuine devotion to Mary, the mother of Jesus and mother of the church. Totus tuus (completely yours) was Louis's personal motto; Karol Wojtyla chose it as his episcopal motto. Born in the Breton village of Montfort, close to Rennes (France), as an adult Louis identified himself by the place of his baptism instead of his family name, Grignion. After being educated by the Jesuits and the Sulpicians, he was ordained as a diocesan priest in 1700.

Soon he began preaching parish missions throughout western France. His years of ministering to the poor prompted him to travel and live very simply, sometimes getting him into trouble with church authorities. In his preaching, which attracted thousands of people back to the faith, Father Louis recommended frequent, even daily, Holy Communion (not the custom then!) and imitation of the Virgin Mary's ongoing acceptance of God's will for her life.

Louis founded the Missionaries of the Company of Mary (for priests and brothers) and the Daughters of Wisdom, who cared especially for the sick. His book, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, has become a classic explanation of Marian devotion.

Louis died in Saint-Laurent-sur-Sevre, where a basilica has been erected in his honor. He was canonized in 1947. — Saint of the Day, Leonard Foley, O.F.M.

Things to Do:

Read a longer biography of St. Louis de Montfort's life.
Read some of St. Louis de Montfort's works and/or read articles about his spirituality.
Consider making the consecration to Mary recommended by St. Louis de Montfort.
Resolve to pray the rosary daily starting today.
Learn about the Missionaries of the Company of Mary (Montfort Missionaries) and support their work with your prayers, sacrifices and financial offerings.
From the Catholic Culture Library The Spiritans.

St. Gianna Molla

Gianna Beretta was born in Magenta (Milan) October 4, 1922. Already as a youth she willingly accepted the gift of faith and the clearly Christian education that she received from her excellent parents. As a result, she experienced life as a marvellous gift from God, had a strong faith in Providence and was convinced of the necessity and effectiveness of prayer.

She diligently dedicated herself to studies during the years of her secondary and university education, while, at the same time, applying her faith through generous apostolic service among the youth of Catholic Action and charitable work among the elderly and needy as a member of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. After earning degrees in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Pavia in 1949, she opened a medical clinic in Mesero (near Magenta) in 1950. She specialized in Pediatrics at the University of Milan in 1952 and there after gave special attention to mothers, babies, the elderly and poor.

While working in the field of medicine-which she considered a “mission” and practiced as such-she increased her generous service to Catholic Action, especially among the “very young” and, at the same time, expressed her joie de vivre and love of creation through skiing and mountaineering. Through her prayers and those of others, she reflected upon her vocation, which she also considered a gift from God. Having chosen the vocation of marriage, she embraced it with complete enthusiasm and wholly dedicated herself “to forming a truly Christian family”.

She became engaged to Pietro Molla and was radiant with joy and happiness during the time of their engagement, for which she thanked and praised the Lord. They were married on September 24, 1955, in the Basilica of St. Martin in Magenta, and she became a happy wife. In November 1956, to her great joy, she became the mother of Pierluigi, in December 1957 of Mariolina; in July 1959 of Laura. With simplicity and equilibrium she harmonized the demands of mother, wife, doctor and her passion for life.

In September 1961 towards the end of the second month of pregnancy, she was touched by suffering and the mystery of pain; she had developed a fibroma in her uterus. Before the required surgical operation, and conscious of the risk that her continued pregnancy brought, she pleaded with the surgeon to save the life of the child she was carrying, and entrusted herself to prayer and Providence. The life was saved, for which she thanked the Lord. She spent the seven months remaining until the birth of the child in incomparable strength of spirit and unrelenting dedication to her tasks as mother and doctor. She worried that the baby in her womb might be born in pain, and she asked God to prevent that.

A few days before the child was due, although trusting as always in Providence, she was ready to give her life in order to save that of her child: “If you must decided between me and the child, do not hesitate: choose the child - I insist on it. Save him”. On the morning of April 21, 1962, Gianna Emanuela was born. Despite all efforts and treatments to save both of them, on the morning of April 28, amid unspeakable pain and after repeated exclamations of “Jesus, I love you. Jesus, I love you», the mother died. She was 39 years old. Her funeral was an occasion of profound grief, faith and prayer. The Servant of God lies in the cemetery of Mesero (4 km from Magenta).

“Conscious immolation», was the phrase used by Pope Paul VI to define the act of Blessed Gianna, remembering her at the Sunday Angelus of September 23, 1973, as: “A young mother from the diocese of Milan, who, to give life to her daughter, sacrificed her own, with conscious immolation”. The Holy Father in these words clearly refers to Christ on Calvary and in the Eucharist.

Gianna was beatified by Pope John Paul II on April 24, 1994, during the international Year of the Family. — Vatican Website

Humble and gentle, Jesus truly is. If ye accept him, ye shall be his. Gentle and humble as the Lord ye need to be. Then he will come to you and take care of you for eternity.

Homily of the Day

Homily of the Day

Title:	Are You a Policeman or a Liberator?
Author:	Monsignor Dennis Clark, Ph.D.
Date:	Thursday, April 28, 2005

Acts 15:7-21 / Jn 15:9-11

There’s something of the policeman in most of us. Perhaps it comes from being given so many rules as children — and so many little “talks” from parents, teachers, and others about the importance of keeping those rules. The fact is, of course, that laws and rules can be liberating. They can make life more safe and more secure, and they can free us from having to think much about lots of ordinary things. But they can also be spirit killers.

That was the case in the first generation of Christians, when converts from paganism to Christianity were also required to observe all the religious rules and regulations of orthodox Jews as well. It was a huge burden, under which most of Jesus’ contemporaries had been spiritually crushed or had simply given up. And it was so unnecessary, so utterly beside the point of Jesus’ teaching, which was to bond to the Lord and to one’s neighbors in self-giving love — to love as one wants to be loved.

But old habits die hard, whether they make any sense or not, and it took the apostles a while to see the truth. When they did see, they set out to set the people free. Isn’t that what we really want to do for one another — set one another free from the things that don’t matter, the things that can’t give us life?

Be like Jesus and his apostles. Be a liberator, not a policeman!

**Isn’t that what we really want to do for one another — set one another free from the things that don’t matter, the things that can’t give us life?**

Thought provoking to say the least! (At least for me.)

Thursday April 28, 2005 Fifth Week of Easter

Reading (Acts 15:7-21) Gospel (St. John 15:9-11)

Our Lord in the Gospel reading commands us to love one another and He commands us to remain in His love. Now we have looked at exactly what that means, as He has spoken prior to this about how He keeps His Father’s commandment, that He does what His Father tells Him, and that He proved His love for us by being obedient right up to the point of death. It is for us also that if we are going to prove our love it is going to be in hardship, in suffering.

We see some of that, for instance, in the first reading. Here we have this first major problem in the Church: Are the Gentile converts to become Jews before they become Christians? Do they have to be circumcised? Since the earliest of the Christians were Jews, they understood what the law of Moses required and therefore they believed that this was a necessity. But then you have Peter, Paul, and Barnabas who were speaking otherwise. When the disciples finally came to the conclusion through the intercession and work of the Holy Spirit, they realized that, no, the Gentiles did not have to be circumcised. The New Covenant superseded the Old and therefore you did not have to become a member of the Old Covenant in order to become a member of the New Covenant. Undoubtedly, that caused a split. I am sure there were many, especially from the Pharisees, who had become Christian who left the Church at that point. But the disciples did not back off from the truth even though it was going to cause difficulty for some of the people.

And so love is not about being gushy; love is not about being “nice” as we would think of it. Obviously, love requires charity, because the highest kind of love is charity. It seeks always what is best for the other person. But it is never best that we keep the truth from somebody. It is never best that we would violate somebody, or use somebody, or treat somebody in a way that is beneath his or her dignity. So when we look at what the disciples did, knowing that the decision was going to cause some problem, probably some great anger and even cause some of the early people who had become Christian to leave the Church, they still had to stand for the truth; the truth, of course, in love. The disciples were willing to speak the truth even though it would cost them, not only cost them in the sense that some would leave the Church, but the apostles probably were slandered and they were probably blamed for a lot of things.

That, of course, has not changed. All we have to do is look around and look at the reaction to the election of our new Pope. There are all these unfortunate souls who, for 26 years, have been saying, “Well, the next Pope will allow women priests, the next Pope will allow abortion, the next Pope will allow contraception, the next Pope will allow gay marriage (or whatever you want to call that unfortunate thing).” He cannot. Now they are having a fit because we have a Pope who is not going to allow anything that is wrong. He cannot; He is infallible and it is not open for discussion. Once the decision has been made, it has to remain – not because the Church wants to be mean, not because the Church wants to exclude certain people, but because it is the truth. We are made for the truth. If we do not accept the truth, it is not the Pope’s fault and it is not the Church’s fault; it is our own problem. We can point fingers at the Pope and we can call the Church names and we can leave, but the Church did not do anything wrong and neither did the Pope. It is our own problem.

Now it is interesting that the Lord tells us that if we remain in His love His joy will be in us and our joy will be complete. Look at what happens to those who choose what is not true. They become very angry and bitter. They become extremely uncharitable. But for those who choose the truth and embrace it, the Lord is promising joy because the truth will set us free. To be united with Jesus Christ will actually transform us more perfectly into the divinity of Christ. What could be more joyful than being one with Jesus! That is what is being offered if we will accept the truth wholeheartedly. Even when some of the truth may be difficult for us personally, we realize that God Who loves us perfectly wants the best and He wants the truth because the truth will set us free. If, in the midst of the hardship that we might experience from it, we will accept it humbly and live it, then in time we will recognize that it is indeed right and correct, and the joy of Our Lord is going to be in us. When we live the fullness of the truth, then our joy will be complete.

* This text was transcribed from the audio recording with minimal editing.

**Well, the next Pope will allow women priests, the next Pope will allow abortion, the next Pope will allow contraception, the next Pope will allow gay marriage (or whatever you want to call that unfortunate thing).” He cannot. Now they are having a fit because we have a Pope who is not going to allow anything that is wrong. He cannot; He is infallible and it is not open for discussion. Once the decision has been made, it has to remain – not because the Church wants to be mean, not because the Church wants to exclude certain people, but because it is the truth. We are made for the truth. If we do not accept the truth, it is not the Pope’s fault and it is not the Church’s fault; it is our own problem. We can point fingers at the Pope and we can call the Church names and we can leave, but the Church did not do anything wrong and neither did the Pope. It is our own problem.**

Wel said, Father Altier

I forgot the link for #15

A Voice in the Desert

American Cathlic's Saint of the Day

April 28, 2005

St. Peter Chanel

(1803-1841)

Anyone who has worked in loneliness, with great adaptation required and with little apparent success, will find a kindred spirit in Peter Chanel.

As a young priest he revived a parish in a "bad" district by the simple method of showing great devotion to the sick. Wanting to be a missionary, he joined the Society of Mary (Marists) at 28. Obediently, he taught in the seminary for five years. Then, as superior of seven Marists, he traveled to Western Oceania where he was entrusted with a vicariate. The bishop accompanying the missionaries left Peter and a brother on Futuna Island in the New Hebrides, promising to return in six months. The interval lasted five years.

Meanwhile he struggled with this new language and mastered it, making the difficult adjustment to life with whalers, traders and warring natives. Despite little apparent success and severe want, he maintained a serene and gentle spirit and endless patience and courage. A few natives had been baptized, a few more were being instructed. When the chieftain's son asked to be baptized, persecution by the chieftain reached a climax. Father Chanel was clubbed to death, his body cut to pieces.

Within two years after his death, the whole island became Catholic and has remained so. Peter Chanel is the first martyr of Oceania and its patron.

Comment:

Suffering for Christ means suffering because we are like Christ. Very often the opposition we meet is the result of our own selfishness or imprudence. We are not martyrs when we are "persecuted" by those who merely treat us as we treat them. A Christian martyr is one who, like Christ, is simply a witness to God's love, and brings out of human hearts the good or evil that is already there.

Quote:

"No one is a martyr for a conclusion, no one is a martyr for an opinion; it is faith that makes martyrs" (Cardinal Newman, Discourses to Mixed Congregations).

Jn 15:9-11
#	Douay-Rheims	Vulgate
9	As the Father hath loved me, I also have loved you. Abide in my love.	sicut dilexit me Pater et ego dilexi vos manete in dilectione mea
10	If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love: as I also have kept my Father's commandments and do abide in his love.	si praecepta mea servaveritis manebitis in dilectione mea sicut et ego Patris mei praecepta servavi et maneo in eius dilectione
11	These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be filled.	haec locutus sum vobis ut gaudium meum in vobis sit et gaudium vestrum impleatur