Catholic Caucus: Sunday Mass Readings, 05-13-12, Sixth Sunday of Easter

USCCB.org/RMAB ^ | 05-13-12 | Revised New American Bible

[Salvation]

A Christian Pilgrim

AS THE FATHER HAS LOVED ME, SO HAVE I LOVED YOU

(A biblical refection on THE SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER – May 13, 2012) 

Gospel Reading: John 15:9-17 

First Reading: Acts 10:25-26,34-35,44-48; Psalms: Ps 98:1-4; Second Reading: 1Jn 4:7-10 

The Scripture Text

“As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”

“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.  You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He may give it to you. This I command you, to love one another.”  (Jn 15:9-17 RSV) 

Some mighty powerful thoughts can be expressed in very tiny sentences. Here, I would like to cite two examples only on the subject of love. Both sentences have only three words. The first is: “I love you.” When those words are spoken sincerely and intelligently, they are about the three nicest words you could ever hope to hear. But if said thoughtlessly or worst, deceptively, they have no beauty and become bearers of serious harm. This sentence is one of the most used and abused, producing both happiness and pain. Whether saying it or hearing it, be sure you understand it. Remember the old adage, “You can be kissed by a fool and fooled by a kiss.”

Love is one of those mysteriously fundamental words whose full meaning is difficult to understand and explain, for it has many meanings.Saint Paul struggled to define love. The best he could do was to supply adjectives explaining what love is and what it is not. He said love is patient and kind. He said it is not jealous, nor snobbish, never rude nor self-seeking (see 1Cor 13:4-7).

In the second reading of today’s Mass, Saint John, the apostle of love with his deep searching mind, gives a beautiful definition which is the second powerful little sentence: “God is love.” John develops his thoughts: “He who abides in love, abides in God and God in him.” This profound passage has been set to music and is often sung as a refrain at liturgical celebrations, especially at penance services. When sung well the lyrics and melody evoke noble sentiments in us.

That “God is love,” is a thought that could well dominate this Sunday’s liturgy. There is a strong modern feeling that sex is love, without which there can be no complete love. What do you think? Some brag triumphantly, “We went all the way.” That statement indicates that there is no further one can go. Not true! Sex is obviously a good and necessary part of human existence, and without it we would be one generation from the end of humanity. However, sex is not love but the expression of love. Sex is an occasional union; love is a constant one. Sex can grow weak, even die; genuine love does not. Love alone can take you all the way.

Now, even in my old days I still hear people talking about free love. What in the world is that? Love is a many-splendored thing (remember the old popular song of the 1950’s?), but clearly it is not free at all! True love is very demanding. It causes each lover to make many personal sacrifices for the sake of the other. Love, like the invisible yet irresistible force of gravity, pulls one into the world of another. It is neither free nor carefree. I has a million strings attached.

Various books, magazines, movies, television programs as well as stuffs which we can access through internet cheaply splash the word “love” across their titles and in their stories. These could be called exhibitions, orgies or sensationalisms, but all fair-minded people should shout, “Don’t call it love.” 

In our efforts to purify the environment by promoting clean air and water, we should not forget that love also needs to be purified for it is a thing of beauty, blessed with lasting intrinsic value. Too long have we dragged it through the gutters of society. “So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1Cor 13:13).

Short Prayer: Heavenly Father, ever-living God, help us to celebrate our joy in the resurrection of the Lord and to express in our lives the love we celebrate. We pray this, in the most precious name of Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord and Savior, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

[Salvation]

A Christian Pilgrim

GOD SO LOVES ME 

The Holy Eucharist is a completion and prolongation of the mystery of God’s love for man, for me. Indeed, it is love carried almost to excess. As St. John explains: “Jesus, having loved His own who were in the world, love them unto the end” – that is, in the fullest possible manner – even to excess. 

The Church teaches me the same in the Council of Trent: “That when the Savior was about to leave this world to go to His Father, He instituted this Sacrament, in which He poured out and exhausted, as it were, the treasures of His divine love for men.” 

The Eucharist is God’s answer to the mystery of evil. By sin man would drive God out of the world, by disobedience He would shake off the protecting and guiding love of God’s laws. Man would be independent – detached from God, he would commit the greatest disorder, he would attach himself to the creatures of God as if there were no God; he would make a god of himself by a selfish, self-centered foolish love. 

God so loved me as to deliver up His only Son for me – that I also might become and be forever a beloved son of God. 

Do I appreciate the complete self-surrender to me of God in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the altar? 

Note: Taken from “A THOUGHT A DAY – LITTLE THOUGHTS FOR LITTLE PEOPLE TO HELP THEM BECOME GOD’S GREAT SAINTS”

[Salvation]

 

Marriage = One Man and One Woman

Til' Death Do Us Part

Daily Marriage Tip for May 13, 2012:

(Mother’s Day)  “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (Jn 15: 13) In addition to Jesus, who has given their life for you? Perhaps it is your mother, or someone who has been like a mother to you.

[Salvation]

Sunday Scripture Study

Sixth Sunday of Easter - Cycle B

May 13, 2012

Click here for USCCB readings

Opening Prayer  

First Reading: Acts 10:25-26,34-35,44-48

Psalm: 98:1-4

Second Reading: 1 John 4:7-10

Gospel Reading: John 15:9-17

• Continuing from last Sunday, the setting for this Sunday’s Gospel is just after the Last Supper discourse in the upper room (John 13:1—14:31). Jesus has just spoken of himself as the vine and as his disciples as the branches, and the necessity for them to abide in him and be fruitful, or to risk being cut off.

• He now goes on to say that Christians are brought into the loving relationship of the Trinity (verses 9-11; 1 John 4:19). This involves a response of participation from us—and this participation should be marked by joy, the hallmark of the Christian life (Philippians 3:1; 4:4-7).

• Jesus delivers his new commandment of love, which he himself keeps perfectly (verses 12-14). We fulfill this commandment by pouring out our life for love of God, as Jesus did on the Cross. It is clear that joyful obedience, and not just faith, is required to be a “friend” of Jesus.

• Indeed, Jesus wants us to be his friends, rather than “slaves” (verse 15). Even though it is even a great honor to be slave of God (see Moses—Deuteronomy 34:5; Joshua—Josh 24:29; David—Psalm 89:20; Paul—Romans 1:1; James—James 1:1), to be God’s friend is to have special access to him.

• Verse 15 makes clear we are specially chosen by Jesus for certain tasks: to “bear fruit that will remain”—fruits of holiness and apostolicity; and to persevere in prayer in Jesus name, especially as it applies to those fruits we are responsible to bear.

 

QUESTIONS:

• How is the promise of intimacy with Jesus conditional (verse 14)?

• Who was the first person to be called a “friend” of God (2 Chronicles 20:7; Isaiah 41:8; James 2:23)? What was the hallmark of this individual (Genesis 22:1-18)? What does it benefit us to be God’s friend (CCC 142, 1972)?

• How does Jesus lay his life down for his friends? How does he want you to lay down yours? What does he say is the measure of our love for one another (verse 12; CCC 1825)? Does this love proceed from us as a source (John 15:4-5, 10)?

• What if we do not love our brother and lay down our life for others (1 John 3:16-17)? How can we show this love in practical ways (CCC 2447)?

• What does Jesus mean that we can ask and receive (verse 16; CCC 2745)? In whose name do we ask of the Father (verse 16; 16:23-24; Ephesians 2:18)?

Catechism of the Catholic Church: §§ 458-459, 609, 1823-1824, 1970, 1972, 2074, 2745

 

“As two pieces of wax fused together make one, so he who receives Holy Communion is so united with Christ that Christ is in him and he is in Christ.” ~St. Cyril of Alexandria

[Salvation]

To Bear Fruit that Will Last

Pastor’s Column

6^th Sunday of Easter  

   May 13, 2012

 

 “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you

to go and bear fruit that will remain.”

                                        John 9:16

 

          Chosen to bear fruit that will remain. How fruitful is my life? What does a fruitful life really consist of? Most of us do try to make progress in our lives: financial progress; career progress; health progress; relationship progress; vacation progress! But what about spiritual progress? What will be the lasting result of this action in the lives of others – and for me?? Will there be lasting gains?  Will this fruit remain?

 

          Imagine someone trying to drive to Seattle from Salem, but who gets on I-5 going south instead. Perhaps by the time he realizes this he has gone a long way. When asked about this, perhaps this person might say, “Well, it’s true I drove in the wrong direction, but I did make great time!” If we are not careful, we may find ourselves making good progress in our lives, but in the wrong direction!

 

          To save us from making such choices in our lives, the Lord offers some practical advice on how to bear lasting fruit. First, realize that we are chosen and appointed by God for a specific mission in life. We will find this appointment from God right in the midst of our family, work, school, friends and the people and circumstances and trials of daily life. You have a mission, chosen by God that only you can accomplish. Our time on earth will last only until this is accomplished or it is clear we will not complete the task.

 

          “This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you (Jn 15:12).” The gospel tells us what kind of love this is: a sacrificial love that lays down one’s life for others.  It is very easy to get off track with the goals we set for ourselves. It is very easy to actually be seeking ourselves and only self-fulfillment instead of seeking to fulfill the will of God.

 

          There is a simple test for this. In our goal setting, or in the decisions that we make each day, we can always ask ourselves: what will be the fruit of this decision for others? Is this decision pleasing to God? Is this action a loving action or a selfish one? Am I acting primarily out of self-interest or out of a true desire to love God and neighbor? What are the fruits? Will they endure? If I am seeking only good for myself, this will not endure.

         

          I’ll never forget an interview in the newspaper with a corporate raider in the 1980s. He had purchased a large company in Los Angeles, sold off the parts, made a lot of money, and had ultimately thrown about 12,000 people out of work. The newspaper asked him a poignant question: “How did you feel about the fact that your actions, while profitable for your company, left so many unemployed?” Here is how he answered this question: “Well, it’s true that this was bad for them, but it was good for me.” Decisions made with such a worldview, whether large or small, do not bear good fruit in the end. If we really listen to Christ, we can be spared from making the same mistake.

 

                                                                              Father Gary

[Salvation]

6th Sunday of Easter: God Is Love

"This I command you: love one another."  (Jn 15: 17)

The Word for Sunday: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/051312.cfm

Acts 10: 25-26, 34-35, 44-48
1 Jn 4: 7-10
Jn 15: 9-17

Grant, almighty God,
that we may celebrate with heartfelt devotion
these days of joy,
which we keep in honor of the risen Lord,
and that what we relive in remembrance
we may always hold to in what we do.
Through our Lord jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God for ever and ever.

(Collect of Sunday)

The word “love” is mentioned 18 times in our readings this weekend.  We find them all in the second reading and the Gospel, both written by St. John.  It is clear that this Apostle was fixed upon this well-known virtue as the very foundation of the Christian faith. Love is for John not just a virtue but indeed a person.

C.S. Lewis in his work The Four Loves speaks of God’s gift-love.  He writes:  “But Divine Gift-love – Love Himself working in a man – is wholly disinterested and desires what is simply best for the beloved . . .”  (C.S. Lewis – The Four Loves). It seems, according to Lewis, that God has placed this particular attraction to himself within us.  It is pure gift; we did not do anything to earn it or deserve it.  And that seems to be at the heart of what Jesus tells us in the Gospel this Sunday:

“Remain in my love . . . It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain . . .” (Jn 15: 9-17).  This particular love, then, is not only the glue that holds us together as a family of faith but a way in which we live out the very commands of God all of which have love as their root.  Jesus says to his Apostles and to all those who would come to profess faith in him:  “This I command you: love one another.” 

As we come rather soon, just two weeks, to the end of our Easter season we imagine this as a kind of last will and testament of the Lord.  He speaks these words to his Apostles to reassure them, as we heard last Sunday with the image of the vine and branches, that though he may be physically removed from their sight, he still remains among them.  In a fuller way – a spiritual way – not limited by space and time yet very real.  The mark of all believers will be played out not just with the words they profess but even more by the life they live. And that life is ultimately marked by the foundational virtue of Love – or better yet Charity.

As I said earlier, 18 times we hear this word “love” in the readings this weekend.  In our English language we tend to be very direct, no nonsense and right to the point.  But, what do we hear about this quality of love?  What does Jesus desire for us?  We love our homes, our cars, our food, our pets, our money, our clothes, our friends, spouses, and children and a host of many other ways that we express the word love with little qualification.

In the first reading from Acts 10, Peter expresses both amazement and gratitude that the Holy Spirit has been “poured out” on the Gentile believers. He sees that God “shows no partiality.” That the Spirit of Christ’s life and presence is available to anyone who professes faith.  So, he says, let’s baptize them!  This is love in action.  That God pours out his Spirit without favoritism.  It is a gift-love in response to faith. 

Then, in our second reading and Gospel all the love talk begins.  St. John begins: “Let us love one another because love is of God . . . “  (1 Jn 4: 7).  Love John implies, is the fruit of faith and it is received as gift:  “ . . . that he loved us and sent his Son . . .”  The Gospel encourages all who believe to build their lives and human relationships upon this foundation.  Not a human love of emotions and feelings; of affection and infatuation; of hurt feelings and love rejected that may lead to retribution and jealousy. If God is love, as John reminds us, then he dwells in us.  Love is the very presence of God abiding within us.

It seems to me we need to hear these words of Jesus in spite of ourselves.  It is a self-sacrificing love which binds us together and brothers and sisters in the Lord.  It is faith in action through works of human compassion and mercy.  It is a love that is willing to sacrifice one’s own self-interest for the sake of another. A love that is not selective or partial but a love that is rooted in humility. 

It is heroic love indeed and one that Jesus desires us all to aim for.  Jesus never promised his followers would have a life of ease and comfort so the kind of “love” he speaks of is one marked by a certain level of personal sacrifice. Just because we are “good boys and girls “doesn’t mean that we will earn some sort of gold star or medal for our good behavior.  God isn’t going to shower us with riches and prosperity.

Love in the mind of Christ is more acquainted with loyalty and deep conviction. Loyalty to Christ and loyalty to one another.  Conviction about the truths of the Gospel and a willingness to sacrifice in order to live them fully.  It has nothing in particular to do with our feelings but everything to do with the overall direction of our lives and the values and morals we treasure. 

We all know how threatened the fundamental truths of our faith and our religious liberty have become these days.  Likewise, the voice of the Church is largely ignored or held in disdain by the prevailing culture.  Abortion, marriage, birth control, etec.  The list may go farther.  We are even lead by a President who shamelessly professes to be a Christian but clearly holds beliefs that are not based in scripture or Christian truths and seems to be motivated far more by how many votes can be gained. He aligns himself with a deeply controversial position on the nature of marriage, for example,  that is already causing deep division in this Country.

Our gift to the world is to bring a higher form of true Charity to a level that can change the world around us.  That is a very big “command” that Jesus gave his believers.  But if we live our lives in an authentic way, despite the personal cost, then we are certainly on to something great. 

The Eucharist is that time when the Church gathers around the very source of this love and expresses the great unity in diversity where God shows no partiality.  How can we do any less? 

More will come.

Fr. Tim

[Salvation]

Insight Scoop

True Love Starts at the Cross

A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for Sunday, May 13, 2012, the Sixth Sunday of Easter | Carl E. Olson

Readings:
• Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48
• Ps 98:1, 2-3, 3-4
• 1 Jn 4:7-10
• Jn 15:9-17

“Did I read the same encyclical as The New York Times?”

That was the title of a piece I wrote for the Insight Scoop blog shortly after Pope Benedict XVI’s first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est (“God Is Love”) was released in late December 2005. America’s most famous newspaper ran a piece stating, “Pope Benedict XVI issued an erudite meditation on love and charity on Wednesday in a long-awaited first encyclical that presented Roman Catholicism's potential for good rather than imposing firm, potentially divisive rules for orthodoxy.” It then expressed evident surprise that the encyclical “did not mention abortion, homosexuality, contraception or divorce, issues that often divide Catholics.”

It spoke volumes about the serious misconceptions that exist about the nature of love and Catholicism. For many outside the Church (and, sadly, some inside the Church), being a loving person and being a serious Catholic are not always compatible; some insist they are completely incompatible. After all, goes the wisdom of the day, Catholicism is so exclusive, has so many rules, is so eager to say, “Don’t do this!” and “Don’t do that!” Doesn’t the Church understand that love is in the eye of the beholder—or, more accurately, in the desire of the beholder?

The Holy Father, of course, is aware of these perspectives. He noted that the word “love” has “become one of the most frequently used and misused of words, a word to which we attach quite different meanings” (par 2). He wrote “to clarify some essential facts concerning the love which God mysteriously and gratuitously offers to man, together with the intrinsic link between that Love and the reality of human love” (par 1). In doing so, he drew deeply from 1 John 4 and from the Last Supper Discourse in the Gospel of John (chapters 13-16), from which come today’s Epistle and Gospel readings.

One of Benedict’s essential points is that human love, without a transcendent point of reference, is ultimately incomplete and frustrated. All love comes from the Source of Love, and any attempt—whether intentional or not—to separate love from that Source results in damaging, perverting, and even destroying the love between spouses, family members, friends. Without a vertical, supernatural dimension, love becomes thin and fragile; it begins to crack and crumble under the pressure of everyday life and the ultimate questions that nip at our mental tails.

“This is my commandment: love one another as I love you,” Jesus told his disciples as he prepared to demonstrate his love on the altar of the Cross. “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” This is authentic love. It is not rooted in emotion or sentiment, nor is it concerned with mere appearance and respectability. Jesus’ death on the Cross, wrote Benedict, “is love in its most radical form” (par 12). It shows the world that “God is love” (1 Jn 4:8). Any real definition of love must begin at the foot of the Cross, for to look upon and to really see the One who is an expiation for our sins is to know perfect love—not in an abstract way, but in a real and transforming way.

Jesus speaks of love, but also of commandments. This is befuddling to modern man, for he considers love to be freedom from stricture, liberation from directives. But if there is one thing man needs direction in, it is in knowing how to really love, how to die to oneself and to live for others.

God’s commandments are meant to keep us from embracing falsehoods about love; they guide us through the dangerous straits of fleshly temptations and unruly passions. If man followed God’s commandments, there would be no abortions, homosexuality, contraceptives, or divorce. Those evils exist because fallen creatures have pursued faulty notions of love.

And yet, while we each fail to love, we all desire to fall in love. It starts at the Cross and continues by remaining in the One who is Love.

(This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in the May 17, 2009, issue of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)

[Salvation]

Vultus Christi

Our Lady of Knock

By

Father Mark

 on May 13, 2012 8:15 AM |

 

I am going off to Knock today, having been invited there to address a gathering of Irish priests on the subject of Eucharistic adoration. I ask the readers of Vultus Christi to support me by their prayer, asking the Holy Ghost to inspire my preaching and make it fruitful.

In the Archdeacon's Room at Knock

On the evening of February 5, 2008, whilst on pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Knock, I was privileged to pray in the room where The Venerable Archdeacon Bartholomew Cavanagh, Parish Priest of Knock at the time of the apparition, died on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8, 1897.

The room is now used as the Oratory for the community of Daughters of Charity who conduct Saint Mary's Hostel for pilgrims. Sister Elma, the lovely Daughter of Charity then in charge of Saint Mary's Hostel, told me that, according to tradition, it was in that room that Our Lady came and conversed with the Archdeacon before his death.

A Priest Who Loved Mary

It was believed in the parish of Knock that the Archdeacon was frequently graced with visits of Our Blessed Lady. When questioned about this, the Archdeacon replied that "there were a great many other manifestations of which he would not care to speak." Archdeacon Cavanagh had a consuming desire to promote Our Lady's Cause; he habitually referred to the Blessed Virgin Mary as "The ever Immaculate Mother of God."

Charity Toward the Poor Souls

It is not generally known that the apparition at Knock took place on the evening of the very day when Archdeacon Cavanagh had completed offering one hundred Masses for the Holy Souls in Purgatory, without receiving any stipend from the people. Preaching at Knock in 1882, he said, "We leave all our actions at the disposal of the Blessed Virgin Mary for those holy souls who, when released from purgatory, will never forget us. They will pray constantly for us at the throne of God."

Saint Joseph and Saint John

There are particular graces reserved for priests at Knock. In Saint Joseph and Saint John who appeared there together with the Blessed Virgin, one discovers the models of a priestly holiness that is at once paternal and virginal. These are the two men destined by God from all eternity to live in a sacred intimacy with the Virgin Mary. I have the distinct impression that, at the present time, Our Lady is offering to all her priest sons the special grace of a sacred intimacy with herself.

"A rarely mentioned fact about the shrine of Knock is that the parish church is under the patronage of St. John the Baptist. That makes him a hidden but not insignificant presence at the apparitions and at the shrine today. How fitting that the Lord would choose the church of St. John the Baptist as the site for this wonderful apparition with all that it teaches. At Knock he is again acting as the precursor and herald of the Lamb of God. John the Baptist is the "friend of the Bridegroom", and therefore a friend to Christ the Bridegroom in each priest. How great will be his joy if the shrine of Knock would become a place of priestly renewal." Brother Augustine, O.F.M., Conv.

Intimacy With Mary

Could this not be the means by which Mary desires to purify, sanctify, and renew the priesthood in this age of the Church's life? In the intimacy with Our Blessed Lady represented by Saint Joseph and Saint John there is healing even for the most broken among her priest sons. For those most defiled by sin, in Mary's presence there is purity and the recovery of a spotless innocence. For those who have grown weary and lost the fervour of their youth, in Mary's company there is zeal for souls and apostolic boldness. For those who are depressed, close to Mary there is comfort, and to those who are despondent and anxious, she gives hope and peace. Finally, in the intimacy of Mary there is joy for those who fallen prey to the sadness that weakens the soul and opens it to sin.

Made Pure in the Blood of the Lamb

The Immaculate Virgin Mary presents herself to priests today as she presented herself to Saint Joseph and to Saint John. To Saint Joseph, her chaste spouse, she was the Virgin Bride, and to Saint John, the Beloved Disciple of her Son, she was a Mother. In the acceptance of this grace lies the remedy for the weaknesses and inclinations to sin that have soiled the priesthood and brought it low in the eyes of so many in recent years. The desire of Mary's Immaculate Heart is to purify the priesthood and lift it out of the infamy into which it has fallen, so as to make it shine with a wonderful holiness, and with the purity that comes from the Precious Blood of the Lamb. It is the Lamb in the apparition of Knock that casts the whole event in the light of the mysteries revealed to Saint John on Patmos.

Priests at Knock

It seems to me that Our Lady desires that Knock should become a place of pilgrimage for priests. A dimension of Knock, not yet fully developed, is that it must become a place of healing for priests, a place where Mary can restore them to purity and to holiness of life by drawing them into her company. Knock invites all priests to share their lives with Mary by opening their homes and their hearts to her, and by living every moment in her presence.

At Home With Mary

As Virgin Bride, Mary is the image of the Church. Just as Saint Joseph took his Virgin Bride into his home, so too must every priest welcome Mary and discover in her intimacy the nuptial quality of his dedication to the Church. Just as Saint John, obeying the word of Jesus from the Cross, took Mary into his home, so too must every priest shelter her in the space that is most personal to him. The gift of sacred intimacy with the Blessed Virgin Mary, suggested by the apparition at Knock, may well be among the heavenly secrets reserved by her for this time of trial for the Church.

She will impart this gift to every priest who desires it. She will make herself known as the Virgin Bride who brought joy to Saint Joseph, and as the Mother entrusted to Saint John and to those priests in whom the Johannine grace is renewed in every age.

A Pilgrimage for Priests

It is time, I think, for priests and their bishops to go -- as priests together -- in pilgrimage to Knock. Our Lady's Merciful and Immaculate Heart waits for them there. She is ready to open a wellspring of purity, holiness, and renewal for all priests, beginning with those of Ireland. Our Lady of Knock beckons to all priests. She would have her priest sons wash themselves in the Blood of the Lamb, and unite themselves to her Son, Priest and Victim, in the mystery of His Sacrifice. Yes, Knock is for all people, but I believe that it was, from the beginning, destined to be a place of healing and of abundant graces for priests.

A Radiant Priestly Holiness

As I prayed in Archdeacon Cavanagh's room, I understood that Mary longs to show herself to all priests as Virgin Bride and Mother. In Mary's intimacy we priests will find the holiness desired by Christ for each one of us: a radiant holiness, a holiness to illumine the Church in these last days with the brightness of the Lamb. Knock invites priests to remain in adoration before Mary's Son, the Lamb Who was slain. Knock invites priests to wash themselves in His Precious Blood by seeking absolution from all their sins. Knock invites priests to follow Saint Joseph and Saint John by consecrating themselves to Mary as Virgin Bride and Mother.

No Need to Remain Alone

Our Lady of Knock, praying with uplifted hands, is the Mediatrix of All Graces. She is the New Eve given to Christ the New Adam, and given by Him, from the Cross, to all His priests, those whom He has called to continue His mission of salvation in the world. There is no need for any priest to remain alone. The Virgin Mary's Heart is open to all her priest sons, and she will not refuse, to those who ask for it, a participation in the unique grace given Saint Joseph and Saint John in the beginning.

[Salvation]

Vultus Christi

Cardinal Mercier on Prayer

By

Father Mark

 on May 13, 2012 8:33 AM |

Désiré-Joseph Cardinal Mercier (1851-1926) was Archbishop of Malines, Belgium from 1906 until his death. Besides the heroic leadership he demonstrated during World War I, Cardinal Mercier hosted the famous Catholic-Anglican dialogue known as the Malines Conversations, and obtained the establishment of the liturgical feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces with its proper Mass and Office. His spiritual mentor was Blessed Dom Columba Marmion.

Once, when someone asked Cardinal Mercier how much time what ought to spend on prayer, he replied: Il faut donner à l'oraison autant de temps que l'on peut -- One must give to prayer as much time as one can.

To someone else, he said: Ce n'est qu'après trois ou quatre heures de prière que viennent les grandes lumières, -- It is only after three or four hours of prayer that the great lights come

[Salvation]

Vultus Christi

On behalf of all Thy priests

By

Father Mark

 on May 13, 2012 10:23 PM |

 

This evening here in Knock, it was very humbling, and an immense joy to hear thirty or more priests from various parts of Ireland pray together the Act of Adoration for Priests with which we begin our time of adoration in the monastery each day.

Act of Adoration for Priests

Lord Jesus Christ, Priest and Victim,
behold, I kneel before Thy Eucharistic Face
on behalf of all Thy priests,
and especially those priests of Thine,
who at this moment are most in need
of Thy grace.
(N. and N.)
For them and in their place,
allow me to remain,
adoring and full of confidence,
close to Thy Open Heart,
hidden in this, the Sacrament of Thy Love.

Through the Maternal and Immaculate
Heart of Mary,
our Advocate and the Mediatrix of All Graces,
pour forth upon all the priests of Thy Church
that torrent of mercy that ever flows
from Thy pierced side:
to purify and heal them,
to refresh and sanctify them,
and, at the hour of their death,
to make them worthy of joining Thee
before the Father in the heavenly sanctuary
beyond the veil (Hb 6:19)
where Thou art always living
to make intercession
for us (Hb 7:25). Amen.

Eucharistic Face of Jesus, sanctify Thy priests!

[Salvation]

Regnum Christi

Intimate Friendship with the Lord

| SPIRITUAL LIFE

Sixth Sunday of Easter

Father John Doyle, LC

John 15:9-17

Jesus said to his disciples: "As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father´s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one´s life for one´s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another."

Introductory Prayer: Lord, as I begin this prayer I offer you my whole self: my thoughts, desires, decisions, actions, hopes, fears, weaknesses, failures and petty successes. I open my entire being to you, aware that you know everything already. I’m certain of your mercy and of the purifying power of your penetrating, loving gaze.

Petition: Jesus, let me fulfill your command of charity.

1. The Depths of Jesus’ Love: Jesus makes a startling comparison: He likens his love for his disciples with the immense love his Father has for him. Before even the world came to be, the Father and the Son were immersed in boundless, mutual love. The Holy Spirit is this bond of love. The intimacy of the union and self-giving of the Blessed Trinity surpasses any human comparison, and yet Our Lord tells his disciples he loves them in a like manner. Do I realize how deeply my Savior loves me? Does the truth of Christ’s personal love for me, proven from the height of the cross, fill me with awe and find an ever more generous response in my spiritual life? 

2. Demands of Friendship: The circumstances and timing surrounding Jesus’ designation of his disciples as friends reiterates the authenticity of the title. Jesus is just a few hours away from being abandoned and betrayed by those he now calls friends. Still, Our Lord is so moved by love that he looks beyond his followers’ betrayal, to the victory he is about to win for them. Jesus also offers me his friendship. He invites me to “remain in his love.” I am not called to be a spectator, but to discover the joy found in accompanying him. To follow the “Crucified One” will always be demanding, but his friendship is a treasure which far surpasses the weight of the cross.

3. Badge of Love: The mutual love of the Father and the Son, which Jesus gratuitously extends to us as his friends, should bear fruit in charity. The first Christians took very seriously Christ’s command of charity. It was their distinctive mark. It set them apart from the peoples among whom they lived. It was the magnetic force that attracted so many to join their ranks. The command to love each other is the logical result of our personal worth as people loved by the Lord. If Jesus loves my brother or sister so much that he gave his life for him or her, can there be any excuse for me not to show respect and deference on their behalf? Charity is the badge of every true Christian. How can I better live Christ’s commandment of love, starting within my own family?

Conversation with Christ: Jesus, I pray that I will never cease to be astonished by the depths of your personal love for me. You call me your friend even though I have not always lived up to the demands of this calling. I want to be a better and truer friend of yours.

Resolution: I will show a simple act of kindness to a member of my family today.

[Salvation]

True Love

• Homily of the Day
• May 13th, 2012
• Food For Thought

Do you know the friendship of God?  One of the special marks of favor shown in the scriptures is to be called the friend of God.  Abraham is called the friend of God (Isaiah 41:8). God speaks with Abraham as a man speaks with his friend (Exodus 33:11). Jesus, the Lord and Master, in turn, calls the disciples his friends rather than his servants. What does it mean to be a friend of God? Friendship with God certainly entails a loving relationship which goes beyond mere duty and obedience. Jesus’ discourse on friendship and brotherly love echoes the words of Proverbs:  A friend loves at all times; and a brother is born for adversity (Proverbs 17:17). The distinctive feature of Jesus’ relationship with his disciples was his personal love for them. He loved his own to the end (John 13:1).  His love was unconditional and wholly directed to the good of others.  His love was also sacrificial.  He gave the best he had and all that he had.  He gave his very life for those he loved in order to secure for them everlasting life with the Father.

True love is costly. A true lover gives the best he can offer and is willing to sacrifice everything he has for the beloved.  God willingly paid the price for our redemption — the sacrifice of his only begotten Son. That’s the nature of true friendship and love — the willingness to give all for the beloved. True friends will lay down their lives for each other. Jesus tells us that he is our friend and he loves us whole-heartedly and unconditionally. He wants us to love one another just as he loves us, whole-heartedly and without reserve. His love fills our hearts and transforms our minds and frees us to give ourselves in loving service to others. If we open our hearts to his love and obey his command to love our neighbor, then we will bear much fruit in our lives, fruit that will last for eternity. Do you wish to be fruitful and to abound in the love of God?

Reflection written by Don Schwager of www.rc.net

[Salvation]

Sixth Sunday of Easter

Sixth Sunday of Easter

• Faith
• May 11th, 2012
• Gayle Somers

Gospel (Read Jn 15:9-17)

In our Gospel, Jesus speaks to His disciples about the importance of their obedience to His Father’s commandments.  Sometimes discussions about obedience can seem like a warning, but not this one.  That’s because Jesus lays the groundwork for His followers to understand how their obedience is supposed to work.  First, He tells them of His love for them.  It is the same love the Father has for Him.  What stronger words could Jesus have used to make this point?  Before there is obedience, there is love.  Jesus uses His own life as an example to demonstrate this relationship between obedience and love.  The Father’s love is a fact, above and beyond everything else.  Jesus, as the loved Son, desires to remain in (not earn) that love.  He does this by obedience.  Human obedience to God is what keeps us in the love He freely offers to us.  The reason for that is simple.  God only requires of us behavior that will ultimately make us happy.  He only asks us to do what He originally designed us to do—live in His image and likeness.  Obedience to His commandments, then, is for our sake, not His.

Jesus makes this clear:  “I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and your joy might be complete.”  The call to obedience is a call to joy.  It is only the disruption of sin in us that twists obedience into something heavy, something to be dreaded as if it were a hindrance rather than a path to happiness.  In addition, Jesus shows here that obedience is a response to love, not a way to earn it.  He wants His followers to live in love:  “This is My commandment:  love one another as I have loved you.”  Soon, He will prove that love on the Cross:  “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”  Should we recall here that all but one of His friends fled from Him in His dark hour?  Their love failed; His didn’t.

Why didn’t Jesus give up on His fickle friends?  Why doesn’t He give up on us?  There can only be one answer—His love.  Something much bigger than their own steadiness is at work here:  “It was not you who chose Me, but I who chose you to go and bear fruit that will remain.”  His love was not based on their behavior.  He had already decided to love them, no matter what.  Why would He want to love that way?  Because both His divine and human natures were ordered to love unconditionally.

And so is ours.  That is why Jesus gives us the commandment to follow His example:  “This I command you:  love one another.”  To love the undeserving gives Jesus joy.  Here, He is simply laying out for His disciples (and for us) the path to joy.  Will we follow Him on it or not?

Possible response:  Lord Jesus, please help me remember that in every contact I have with any person anywhere, love comes first.

First Reading (Read Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48)

In our Gospel, Jesus called His disciples to live in unconditional love.  He promised to demonstrate what that looks like by laying down His life for them.  He pointedly told them that He had chosen them to also live this way, bearing “fruit that will remain.”  Did that happen?

Our reading in Acts gives us a wonderful snapshot of how Jesus’ words were fulfilled in the early days of the Church.  In order to appreciate that, we must recall that Cornelius, the man to whom Peter was sent by the Holy Spirit, was a Gentile.  Jews had no dealings with Gentiles.  By custom, they would never enter a Gentile’s home, as Peter does here.  Yet Peter had earlier had a vision in which Jesus told him not call “common” what God has cleansed (see Acts 10:15).  The Gospel was to be preached to the Gentiles (to the Jewish way of thinking, the greatest possible act of unconditional love), and Peter was the man to do it (wasn’t it Peter who denied Jesus on the night of His arrest?).  The results were astonishing, of course.  The Gentiles received an outpouring of the Holy Spirit even before Peter had finished speaking.  The fruit of Peter’s willingness to visit a Gentile, always considered to be contemptible sinners by Jews, was great joy.

It is always that way when we keep the law of love.

Possible response:  Lord Jesus, this example of a Jew loving a Gentile helps me know that there should be no barriers to my willingness to love—none.

Psalm (Read Ps 98:1-4)

The psalmist calls Israel to “sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done wondrous deeds.”  This prophetically describes a time when God’s great love for all people, not just the Jews, would be revealed within human history.  That moment, of course, came in the Incarnation.  Jesus came to prove God’s love for His creation, offering His life on our behalf and giving us a share in His own Resurrection life.  This was the news that Peter preached to Cornelius.  Surely when those Gentiles were “speaking in tongues and glorifying God,” they had on their lips what our responsorial puts on ours today:  “The Lord has revealed to the nations His saving power.”  When we understand God’s great love for sinners, doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves, we want to heed the psalmist’s call:  “Sing joyfully to the Lord, all you lands; break into song; sing praise.”

Possible response:  The psalm is, itself, a response to our other readings.  Read it again prayerfully to make it your own.

Second Reading (Read 1 Jn 4:7-10)

In his epistle, St. John sums up for us what Jesus taught in the Gospel, what Peter demonstrated in Acts, and what the psalmist praised so joyfully:  “God is love.”  This love comes to us before we are able to “love one another,” as St. John urges his readers:  “In this is love:  not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as expiation for our sins.”  We are always working from that grounding in God’s love.  Our obedience to the commandments to love God and others can only be a response to what we have received from Him.  If we are without love, then we don’t really “know God, for God is love.”

To know for ourselves the unconditional love of God will always propel us in the direction of sharing this love with others.  Trying to keep the commandment of love, as difficult as this often is for us, is the way “we might have life through [Jesus].”  We have received God’s love although we didn’t deserve it; will we offer it to others just as undeserving as we?

Possible response:  Heavenly Father, these readings are all about love—Yours and ours.  Let this be an Easter lesson for me.  Life after the Resurrection means the victory of love.

[Salvation]

One Bread, One Body

One Bread, One Body

 

<< Sunday, May 13, 2012 >>

Sixth Sunday of Easter Saint of the Day

Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48
1 John 4:7-10
View Readings

Psalm 98:1-4
John 15:9-17

THE SPIRIT OF HUMILITY

"As Peter entered, Cornelius went to meet him, dropped to his knees before him and bowed low." —Acts 10:25

 

Cornelius and his family were the first Gentiles to receive the Holy Spirit because they were humble. When Peter, a common Galilean fisherman, entered the home of Cornelius, the powerful Roman centurion, Cornelius humbly dropped to his knees and bowed low before Peter.

Pope John Paul II taught that the Holy Spirit is received "by the humble and docile heart of the believer" (The Splendor of Truth, 108). At the first Christian Pentecost, those who received the Holy Spirit were those humble enough to ask: "What are we to do?" (Acts 2:37) At Ephesus, twelve men received the Spirit quickly because they were humble enough to admit: "We have not so much as heard that there is a Holy Spirit" (Acts 19:2). When Mary conceived Jesus by the power of the Spirit, she humbly called herself the servant girl, the handmaid of the Lord (Lk 1:38). Before the Spirit descended on Jesus, He humbled Himself before His creature, John, by asking John to baptize Him (Mt 3:13ff).

The Holy Spirit often comes to us even when we only "crack the door" of humility. We will receive the Spirit anew, if we at least humble ourselves a little. A new, although very imperfect, humility precedes a new outpouring of the Spirit. Come, Holy Spirit, to the humble and docile hearts of believers!

 

Prayer: Risen Jesus, in love and humility, I throw myself at Your feet (see Mt 28:9; Jn 20:17).

Promise: "As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you. Live on in My love. You will live in My love if you keep My commandments." —Jn 15:9-10

Praise: "The Lord has made His salvation known" by Jesus' death and Resurrection (Ps 98:2). Praise You, Savior Jesus!

[Salvation]

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[Salvation]

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