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Luke
	English: Douay-Rheims	Latin: Vulgata Clementina	Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
	Luke 12
49.	I am come to cast fire on the earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?	Ignem veni mittere in terram, et quid volo nisi ut accendatur ?	πυρ ηλθον βαλειν εις την γην και τι θελω ει ηδη ανηφθη
50.	And I have a baptism wherewith I am to be baptized: and how am I straitened until it be accomplished?	Baptismo autem habeo baptizari : et quomodo coarctor usque dum perficiatur ?	βαπτισμα δε εχω βαπτισθηναι και πως συνεχομαι εως ου τελεσθη
51.	Think ye, that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, no; but separation.	Putatis quia pacem veni dare in terram ? non, dico vobis, sed separationem :	δοκειτε οτι ειρηνην παρεγενομην δουναι εν τη γη ουχι λεγω υμιν αλλ η διαμερισμον
52.	For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three.	erunt enim ex hoc quinque in domo una divisi, tres in duos, et duo in tres	εσονται γαρ απο του νυν πεντε εν οικω ενι διαμεμερισμενοι τρεις επι δυσιν και δυο επι τρισιν
53.	The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.	dividentur : pater in filium, et filius in patrem suum, mater in filiam, et filia in matrem, socrus in nurum suam, et nurus in socrum suam.	διαμερισθησεται πατηρ επι υιω και υιος επι πατρι μητηρ επι θυγατρι και θυγατηρ επι μητρι πενθερα επι την νυμφην αυτης και νυμφη επι την πενθεραν αυτης

Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aguinas

12:49–53

49. I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?

50. But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!

51. Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:

52. For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.

53. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

AMBROSE. To stewards, that is, to Priests, the preceding words seem to have been addressed, that they may thereby know that hereafter a heavier punishment awaits them, if, intent upon the world’s pleasures, they have neglected the charge of their Lord’s household, and the people entrusted to their care. But as it profiteth little to be recalled from error by the fear of punishment, and far greater is the privilege of charity and love, our Lord therefore kindles in men the desire of acquiring the divine nature, saying, I came to send fire on earth, not indeed that He is the Consumer of good men, but the Author of good will, who purifies the golden vessels of the Lord’s house, but burns up the straw and stubble.

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. Now it is the way of holy Scripture to use sometimes the term fire, of holy and divine words. For as they who know how to purify gold and silver, destroy the dross by fire, so the Saviour by the teaching of the Gospel in the power of the Spirit cleanses the minds of those who believe in Him. This then is that wholesome and useful fire by which the inhabitants of earth, in a manner cold and dead through sin, revive to a life of piety.

CHRYSOSTOM. For by the earth He now means not that which we tread under our feet, but that which was fashioned by His hands, namely, man, upon whom the Lord pours out fire for the consuming of sins, and the renewing of souls.

TITUS BOSTRENSIS. And we must here believe that Christ came down from heaven. For if He had come from earth to earth, He would not say, I came to send fire upon the earth.

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. But our Lord was hastening the kindling of the fire, and hence it follows, And what will I, save that it be kindleda? (nisi ut accendatur) For already some of the Jews believed, of whom the first were the holy Apostles, but the fire once lighted in Judæa was about to take possession of the whole world, yet not till after the dispensation of His Passion had been accomplished. Hence it follows, But I have a baptism to be baptized with. For before the holy cross and His resurrection from the dead, in Judæa only was the news told of His preaching and miracles; but after that the Jews in their rage had slain the Prince of life, then commanded He His Apostles, saying, Go and teach all nations. (Matt. 28:19.)

GREGORY. (in Ezech. lib. i. Hom. 2.) Or else, fire is sent upon the earth, when by the fiery breath of the Holy Spirit, the earthly mind has all its carnal desires burnt up, but inflamed with spiritual love, bewails the evil it has done; and so the earth is burnt, when the conscience accusing itself, the heart of the sinner is consumed in the sorrow of repentance.

BEDE. But He adds, I have a baptism to be baptized with, that is, I have first to be sprinkled with the drops of My own Blood, and then to inflame the hearts of believers by the fire of the Spirit.

AMBROSE. But so great was our Lord’s condescension, that He tells us He has a desire of inspiring us with devotion, of accomplishing perfection in us, and of hastening His passion for us; as it follows, And how am I straitened till it be accomplished?

BEDE. Some manuscripts have, “And how am I anguished,” (coangor) that is, grieved. For though He had in Himself nothing to grieve Him, yet was He afflicted by our woes, and at the time of death He betrayed the anguish which He underwent not from the fear of His death, but from the delay of our redemption. For he who is troubled until he reaches perfection, is secure of perfection, for the condition of bodily affections not the dread of death offends him. For ho who has put on the body must suffer all things which are of the body, hunger, thirst, vexation, sorrow; but the Divine nature knows no change from such feelings. At the same time He also shews, that in the conflict of suffering consists the death of the body, peace of mind has no struggle with grief.

BEDE. But the manner in which after the baptism of His passion and the coming of the spiritual fire the earth will be burnt, He declares as follows, Suppose ye that I am to give peace, &c.

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. What sayest thou, O Lord? Didst thou not come to give peace, Who art made peace for us? (Eph. 2:14.) making peace by Thy cross with things in earth and things in heaven; (Col. 1:20.) Who saidst, My peace I give unto you. (John 14:27.) But it is plain that peace is indeed a good, but sometimes hurtful, and separating us from the love of God, that is, when by it we unite with those who keep away from God. And for this reason we teach the faithful to avoid earthly bonds. Hence it follows, For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, &c.

AMBROSE. Though the connexion would seem to be of six persons, father and son, mother and daughter, mother in law and daughter in law, yet are they five, for the mother and the mother in law may be taken as the same, since she who is the mother of the son, is the mother in law of his wife.

CHRYSOSTOM. (non occ.) Now hereby He declared a future event, for it so happened in the same house that there have been believers whose fathers wished to bring them to unbelief; but the power of Christ’s doctrines has so prevailed, that fathers were left by sons, mothers by daughters, and children by parents. For the faithful in Christ were content not only to despise their own, but at the same time also to suffer all things as long as they were not without the worship of their faith. But if He were mere man, how would it have occurred to Him to conceive it possible that He should be more loved by fathers than their children were, by children than their fathers, by husbands than their wives, and they too not in one house or a hundred, but throughout the world? And not only did he predict this, but accomplish it in deed.

AMBROSE. Now in a mystical sense the one house is one man, but by two we often mean the soul and the body. But if two things meet together, each one has its part; there is one which obeys, another which rules. But there are three conditions of the soul, one concerned with reason, another with desire, the third with anger. Two then are divided against three, and three against two. For by the coming of Christ, man who was material became rational. We were carnal and earthly, God sent His Spirit into our hearts, and we became spiritual children. (Gal. 4:6.) We may also say, that in the house there are five others, that is, smell, touch, taste, sight, and hearing. If then with respect to those things which we hear or see, separating the sense of sight and hearing, we shut out the worthless pleasures of the body which we take in by our taste, touch, and smell, we divide two against three, because the mind is not carried away by the allurements of vice. Or if we understand the five bodily senses, already are the vices and sins of the body divided among themselves. The flesh and the soul may also seem separated from the smell, touch, and taste of pleasure, for while the stronger sex of reason is impelled, as it were, to manly affections, the flesh strives to keep the reason more effeminate. Out of these then there spring up the motions of different desires, but when the soul returns to itself it renounces the degenerate offspring. The flesh also bewails that it is fastened down by its desires (which it has borne to itself,) as by the thorns of the world. But pleasure is a kind of daughter in law of the body and soul, and is wedded to the motions of foul desire. As long then as there remained in one house the vices conspiring together with one consent, there seemed to be no division; but when Christ sent fire upon the earth which should burn out the offences of the heart, or the sword which should pierce the very secrets of the heart, then the flesh and the soul renewed by the mysteries of regeneration cast off the bond of connection with their offspring. So that parents are divided against their children, while the intemperate man gets rid of his intemperate desires, and the soul has no more fellowship with crime. Children also are divided against parents when men having become regenerate renounce their old vices, and younger pleasure flies from the rule of piety, as from the discipline of a strict house.

BEDE. Or in another way. By three are signified those who have faith in the Trinity, by two the unbelievers who depart from the unity of the faith. But the father is the devil, whose children we were by following him, but when that heavenly fire came down, it separated us from one another, and shewed us another Father who is in heaven. The mother is the Synagogue, the daughter is the Primitive Church, who had to bear the persecution of that same synagogue, from whom she derived her birth, and whom she did herself in the truth of the faith contradict. The mother in law is the Synagogue, the daughter in law the Gentile Church, for Christ the husband of the Church is the son of the Synagogue, according to the flesh. The Synagogue then was divided both against its daughter in law, and its daughter, persecuting believers of each people. But they also were divided against their mother in law and mother, because they wished to abolish the circumcision of the flesh.

Catena Aurea Luke 12

Christ the Pantocrator and the Last Judgment

1300
Mosaic in the baptistry of San Giovanni, Florence, Italy.

S. Anthony Mary Claret

Author: P. Jesús María Ballester
Life and work of a holy priest and apostle.

Antonio Claret y Clará was born in Sallent (Barcelona, Spain) on December 23^rd, 1807. Due to his mother’s poor health, he was cared for by a nursemaid in Olot. That the nurse’s house collapsed and everyone died when Antonio was not there was considered a sign of providence over Antonio. At the age of five he was impressed by the “always, always, always”: “The idea of eternity was so engraved in me, which is what I have most in mind. It is what has made me more and still makes me work, and will make me work as long as I live, in the conversion of sinners”. The war against Napoleon seized the environment. Two loves stood out in the little Claret: the Eucharist and the Virgin. He attended mass attentively; he left the game to visit Jesus in the church; he prayed the rosary every day and he had a soft spot for books. He devoured them.

Few things contributed as much to his sanctification as his readings. Anthony had the hope of being a priest and an apostle.

BETWEEN THE LOOMS

He spent his adolescence in his father’s shop, becoming a teacher, which he perfected in Barcelona at the School of Arts and Crafts of the Lonja. During the day he worked, and at night he studied. To surpass in quality and beauty the samples that came from abroad. A group of businessmen proposed to him to found a textile company.

A friend stole his savings, played them and lost them and stole some valuable jewels, which he also lost and Antonio was accused of being an accomplice, creating in his heart a dislike for the world, friendships and wealth. On the beach, a gigantic wave swept him away, and he almost drowned. He shouted “Holy Virgin, save me”, and without knowing how, he saw himself on the shore. Visiting a friend, he found his wife alone, who said to him, “Antonio, how different you are from my husband, always sour and derogatory! I wish we were friends”. Claret fled from temptation. “Madam, your husband is late and I have a lot to do…” She wanted to stop him, but Antonio left. The words of the Gospel: “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”, had deeply impressed him. Different and various experiences with which Providence knocks on the door of that soul so sensitive to divine insinuations.

HIS VOCATION

He wanted to be a Carthusian. When the bishop of Vic learned of his decision to become a priest, he wanted to know him. He left Barcelona on his way to Sallent and Vic, at the age of 21, decided to become a priest. He studied como externo/externally and stood out for his piety and his application. He was led by Pedro Bac, an oratorian. A year later, when he was on his way to the Carthusian monastery of Montealegre, a storm broke out that put an end to his plans. God did not want him to be a Carthusian. God did not want him to be a Carthusian. He returned to Vic. In a temptation the Virgin appeared to him and said: “Antonio, this crown will be yours if you win”. Suddenly, all the obsessive images disappeared. The atmosphere of the Seminary was excellent. He was a friend of Jaime Balmes and he was ordained Deacon in the same ceremony in which he was ordained Subdeacon. He studied deeply the Bible, which impelled him to an insatiable apostolic and missionary spirit. At the age of 27, on June 13^th, 1835, the bishop of Solsona, Bro Juan José de Tejada, former general of the Mercedarians, conferred on him the Priesthood. He celebrated his first mass in Sallent with the joy of his family and was assigned to Sallent, his hometown.

THE CARLIST WAR

When Ferdinand VII died, the constitutionals usurped power as did the French Revolution. The Courts of 1835 approved the suppression of religious Institutes. The goods of the Church were seized and auctioned and the people were encouraged to burn convents and kill friars. Navarre, Catalonia and the Basque Country rose up against this disorder, the origin of the war between Carlists and Elizabethans. Claret was not a politician. He was an apostle. And he gave himself to his ministry in spite of the difficulties of the hostile environment.

His charity had no limits. Therefore, the horizons of a parish did not satisfy his apostolic eagerness. With a bundle and without money, on foot, he crossed the Pyrenees, arrived in Marseilles and embarked for Rome, to join “Propaganda Fide”, to preach the Gospel to the infidels. He did spiritual exercises with a Jesuit and felt called to be a Jesuit; but God did not want him to be a missionary or a Jesuit. A strong pain in his right leg made him understand that his mission was in Spain. After three months he left the novitiate advised by Father Roothaan. In Spain, he was assigned to Viladrau, in the province of Gerona, where he had to act as a doctor using herbs and ointments.

APOSTOLIC MISSIONARY IN CATALONIA

Pero su temple de acero todo lo resistía y triunfaba en todas las emboscadas. Daba Ejercicios Espirituales al clero y a las religiosas. En 1844 los dio a las Carmelitas de la Caridad de Vic, con la asistencia de Santa Joaquina Vedruna.

He has the charism of reading consciences. And enemies who slandered him and impeded his missionary work and the archbishop of Tarragona had to defend him. But his iron nerve resisted everything and triumphed in all the ambushes. He gave Spiritual Exercises to the clergy and religious. In 1844 he gave them to the Carmelites of the Charity of Vic, with the assistance of Santa Joaquina Vedruna.

FOUNDER

On July 16^th, 1849, in a cell in the seminary of Vic, he founded the Congregation of Missionaries Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. He was 41 years old, with Esteban Sala, José Xifré, Manuel Vilaró, Domingo Fábregas and Jaime Clotet. “Today begins a great work,” said Father Claret. He knew that he was impelled by God; and God revealed to him: That the Congregation would spread throughout the world. That it would last until the end of time. That all those who died in the Congregation would be saved.

Y las “Religiosas en sus Casas o las Hijas del Inmaculado Corazón de María, actual Filiación Cordimariana.”

In the flowering of new religious institutes of the nineteenth century, he was a determined collaborator who accompanied almost all the founders and foundresses of his time. With Mother Paris he had founded in Cuba in 1855 the Institute of Religious of Mary Immaculate, Claretian Sisters, for the education of girls. Directed by him were Santa Micaela of the Holy Sacrament, foundress of the Adorers, Santa Joaquina de Vedruna, foundress of the Carmelite Sisters of Charity. He was connected with Joaquím Masmitjà, founder of the Daughters of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of Mary, with Don Marcos and Doña Gertrudis Castanyer, founders of the Philippians, with Mary of the Sacred Heart founder of the Servants of Jesus, with Ana Mogas founder of the Franciscan Sisters of the Divine Shepherdess, with Francisco Coll founder of the Dominican Sisters of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin, with the foundress of the Handmaids of the Most Pure Heart of Mary Mother Esperanza Gonzalez, and influenced the Company of Saint Teresa, and the Religious of Christ the King. And the “Religious in their Houses or the the Daughters of the Holy and Immaculate Heart of Mary, present-day Cordimarian Filiation”.

ARCHBISHOP OF SANTIAGO DE CUBA

Appointed Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, after all the attempts of resignation, he was consecrated on October 6^th, 1850 in the cathedral of Vic, at 42 years of age. Before embarking for Cuba he made three visits: to the Virgin of Pilar, in Zaragoza, to the Virgin of Montserrat and to the Virgin of Fusimaña, in Sallent. On the trip to Havana he gave a mission on board for all the passengers, officers and crew. He spent six years in Santiago de Cuba, working tirelessly, missioning, sowing on that island where racial discrimination and social injustice reigned. He was an evangelizing Archbishop. He renewed all aspects of church life: priests, seminary, education of children, abolition of slavery. He made four pastoral visits to the diocese.

He was a practical man. He founded in all parishes religious and social institutions for children and the elderly; he created technical and agricultural schools, established and propagated Savings Banks, founded asylums, visited all the cities, towns and ranches of his huge diocese, always on foot or on horseback. But not even in Cuba did his enemies leave him alone. He suffered attacks when he arrived, especially in Holguín, where he was wounded by a hitman, whom he had taken out shortly before of jail. Almost dying, he forgave the criminal.

CONFESSOR OF QUEEN ELIZABETH II

After six years in Cuba, one day he received an urgent dispatch from the captain general of Havana by which Queen Isabel II called him to Madrid, appointed confessor of the Queen. Upset, he accepted, but setting conditions not to live in a palace, not to get involved in politics, no guardar antesalas y libertad de acción apostólica. Claret was not born to be a courtier. His apostolic activity at the Court was intense. Few were the churches and convents where his voice was not heard.

He restored El Escorial and created an ecclesiastical University, with studies of humanities and classical languages, modern languages, natural sciences, archaeology, choir and band music. Studies of Philosophy and Theology, with Patristics, Moral Liturgy and Biblical sciences, Caldaic languages, Hebrew and Arabic. He made this monastery one of the best centres in Spain. The eighth wonder of the world regained its splendor.

THE ZEAL CONSUMES HIM

“In court I felt like a caged bird… like a dog tied up… I have such a great desire to leave Madrid to go preach all over the world, that I can’t explain it… Only God knows what I suffer… Every day I have to do acts of resignation conforming to God’s will…” “I have no rest, nor does my soul find comfort except by running and preaching”.

While accompanying the Queen on her tours of Spain, she took advantage of the occasion to exercise an intense apostolate.

The royal caravan rolled along the plains of La Mancha, Alicante, Albacete, Valencia… and Castilla, León, Asturias and Galicia. In the south, among an extraordinary enthusiasm, he preached 14 sermons in a single day. The Kingdom of God was announced and the people responded with generosity. “In these journeys, the Queen gathers the people and I preach to them.

PRESS APOSTLE

“Antonio, write,” Christ and the Virgin told him. He continually scrutinized the signs of the times: “One of the means that experience has taught me to be more powerful for good is the printing press,” he said. At the age of 35 he published numerous pamphlets and books, such as “The Right Way”, which would be the most read book of piety of the 19th century. With his friend José Caixal, future bishop of Seu D´ Urgel and Antonio Palau he founded the “Religious Bookstore”, the Brotherhood of the Heart of Mary and wrote the statutes of The Brotherhood of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of Mary and Lovers of Humanity, composed of priests and laymen, men and women. He wrote some 96 works of his own (15 books and 81 pamphlets) and 27 others edited, annotated and sometimes translated by him. Only if one takes into account his extreme industriousness and the strength that God gave him can one understand the fact that he wrote so much with such intense dedication to the apostolic ministry. He was not only a writer. He was a propagandist. He spread books and loose-leaf books profusely. He invested large sums of money in the publication of books. “Not everyone can hear sermons… but everyone can read…” “The preacher gets tired… the book is always ready… Books are the food of the soul…” Among the hundred or so works of all sizes that he wrote, the following stand out: “Notices” to all kinds of people. “The Right Way” “The catechism explained” “The schoolboy instructed” “The books are the best alms”. He founded the “Spiritual Brotherhood of Good Books”, which during the years was under his direction until his departure to Cuba printed a great number of books, booklets and flyers, with an annual average of more than half a million printed sheets whose foundation received the personal congratulations of Pope Pius IX. He founded the Brotherhood of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of Mary, for the diffusion of the books and constituted one of the first essays of active lay apostolate because it is composed of priests and lay people of both sexes.

SAN MIGUEL ACADEMY

It is one of his most brilliant works in which he sought to bring together the living forces of the plastic arts, journalism and Catholic organizations; artists, writers and propagandists from all over Spain. Its prestige managed to gather in it the most representative figures of the Spanish Catholic field. In nine years numerous books were distributed free of charge, many others were lent and an incalculable number of loose leaves were distributed. And he founded popular libraries in Cuba and Spain. More than a hundred came to function in Spain in the last years of his life. He deserves the title of press apostle.

A SAINT

Courtly sumptuousness did not prevent Father Claret from living austerely. He devoted much time to prayer. Admirable sobriety in food and drink. He slept six hours. Three hours of prayer and reading the Bible, celebrating the Eucharist and hearing another in thanksgiving. He confessed and wrote. He preached, visited hospitals, prisons, schools and convents. He pawned his breastplate to help a poor man. He was a true mystic. He was seen in a state of deep self-absorption in front of the tabernacle. One Christmas day, in the church of the Adorers of Madrid, he said that he had received the Child Jesus in his arms. The love of the Eucharist, which devoured his heart all his life, transformed him into Christ, into a patient and sacrificed Christ. That was the secret of his entire spirituality.

HIS IDENTIFICATION WITH CHRIST

“I felt how the Lord called me and granted me the ability to identify with Him. I asked Him to always do His will. The experience of Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist, in the celebration of Mass or in Eucharistic adoration was so profound that I could not explain it. I felt and feel his presence so alive and so close that it is violent for me to separate myself from the Lord in order to continue my ordinary tasks”. He enjoyed the privilege of preserving the sacramental species from one communion to another for nine years, as he wrote in his Autobiography: ” On August 26, 1861, finding myself at prayer in the church of the Holy Rosary, at La Granja, at seven o’clock in the evening, the Lord granted me the great grace of conserving the Sacramental Species, and to have, day and night, the Blessed Sacrament within my heart. Since then I had to be with much more devotion and interior recollection.” That is why he said: “Nowhere am I so recollected as in the midst of the crowds”.

DEVOTION TO THE VIRGIN MARY

Devotion and love for the Blessed Virgin have marked his life since he was a child. The Virgin was for him the star that guided him. He imagined that his prayers were going up to heaven through “mysterious threads”. As a child, he prayed part of the Holy Rosary every day and the fifteen mysteries when he grew up. Our Lady had told him: “You will be the Sunday of these times. Promote the Holy Rosary”. He loved Mary, but Mary loved him more, because she always granted him what he asked for, even things he never asked for. Our Lady freed him from sickness, dangers and even death, freed him from temptations and occasions to sin. The Saint said: “You see how important it is to be devoted to Mary. She will deliver you from evils and misfortunes of body and soul. She will obtain for you earthly and eternal goods. …Pray the Holy Rosary to her every day and you will see how Mary will be your Mother, your advocate, your mediatrix, your teacher, your all after Jesus”. “Neither in my personal life nor in my missionary wanderings could I forget the maternal figure of Mary. She is all heart and all love. I have always seen her as the Mother of the beloved Son and this makes her my Mother, Mother of the Church, Mother of all. My relationship with Mary has always been very intimate and at the same time close and familiar, of great trust. I feel formed and modeled in the forge of her Motherly love, of her Heart full of tenderness and love. That is why I feel like an instrument of her divine maternity. She is always present in my life and in my missionary preaching. For me, Mary, her Immaculate Heart, has always been and is my strength, my guide, my comfort, my model, my Teacher, my everything after Jesus”.

PERSECUTED

It is not surprising that a man of the influence of Father Claret, who dragged the crowds, also attracted the wrath of the enemies of the Church. But the threats and the attacks were getting frustrated one by one, because Providence watched over him who rejoiced in the persecutions. He suffered many personal attacks in his lifetime. But it was worse the defamatory campaign that was organized on a large scale throughout Spain to discredit him before the simple people. He was accused of influencing politics, of belonging to the Queen’s famous “clique” with Sister Patrocinio, Marfori and others, of being unintelligent, of being obscene in his writings, of being ambitious and a thief. But Claret knew how to be silent, happy to suffer something for Christ.

BEFORE THE RECOGNITION OF THE KINGDOM OF ITALY

The recognition of the Kingdom of Italy was equivalent to the approval of the plundering of the pontifical States. Father Claret had warned the Queen that if she approved this outrage he would withdraw. On July 15^th, 1865, the government met at La Granja to remove the Queen’s signature, but the Queen, deceived, signed.

Claret did not want to be an accomplice and heard these words: “Antonio, stand down”. Overcome with pain, he left for Rome, where Pope Pius IX consoled him and ordered him to return to court. The royal family rejoiced immensely at his return. But again it rained slander and attacks on him. He was one of the most persecuted public men of the 19^th century.

EXILED

On September 18^th, 1868, the revolution was unstoppable. Twenty-one cannon shots from the frigate Zaragoza, in the Bay of Cadiz, announced the dethronement of Queen Isabel II. With the Elizabethan defeat in Alcolea, Madrid fell and the revolution spread throughout Spain. On the 30^th, the royal family, with its confessor, left exiled to Pau and Paris. Father Claret was 60 years old. Then burning churches and murders and the fulfillment of Claret’s prophecy that the Congregation would have its first martyr in this revolution. In La Selva del Camp, Father Crusats was assassinated. On March 30^th, 1869, Claret separated from the Queen and went to Rome.

FATHER OF THE VATICAN COUNCIL I

Vatican Council I began on December 8^th, 1869. Father Claret was there. One of the most debated topics was pontifical infallibility in matters of faith and customs. Claret’s voice resounded in the Vatican basilica: “I carry in my body the signs of Christ’s passion,” he said, alluding to the wounds of Holguín; “I wish I could, confessing the infallibility of the Pope, shed all my blood at once”. He is the only Father of that Council who has reached the altars.

On July 23^rd, 1870, accompanied by Father Xifré, General Superior of the Congregation, Archbishop Claret arrived in Prades, in the French Pyrenees. The community of missionaries in exile, almost all of them students, received with great joy the founder, who was already ill. But his enemies wanted to apprehend him and he had to flee to the Cistercian monastery of Fontfroide, where he was welcomed with great joy. “It seems to me that I have fulfilled my mission. In Paris and In Rome I have preached God’s Law… In Paris, the capital of the world and Rome, the capital of Catholicism. I have done this both by word of mouth and by writing. I have observed holy poverty…” His health was undermined. On October 4^th he had a stroke. On the 8^th he received the last sacraments and made his religious profession as Son of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. On October 24^th with all the religious kneeling around his bed, between prayers Anthony Mary Claret gave up his spirit. He was 62 years old. His body was buried in the monastic cemetery with the inscription of Gregory VII: ” I have loved righteousness and hated iniquity, and therefore I die in exile”.

GLORIFIED

His remains were transferred to Vic, where they are venerated. On May 7^th, 1950, Pope Pius XII proclaimed him a Saint. “St. Anthony Mary Claret, said the Pope, was a great soul, born to join contrasts: he could be humble of origin and glorious in the eyes of the world. He had a small body, but a giant spirit. He was of modest appearance, but very capable of imposing respect even on the greats of the earth. He had a strong character, but with the soft tenderness of one who knows the brake of austerity and penance. Always was in the presence of God, even in the midst of his prodigious exterior activity.

Slandered and admired, celebrated and persecuted. And among so many wonders, like a soft light that illuminates everything, his devotion to the Mother of God shines forth”.

FORERUNNER OF THE CULT OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

As the Order of the Carmelites is the Order of the Brothers of the Virgin, the Congregation of the Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is an original foretaste of the Fatima Revelations, in which the Virgin, in 1917, commissioned Lucia to spread devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. What else did St. Anthony Mary Claret do when he founded his Congregation, rather than anticipating the Fatima Revelations by 68 years? It is no coincidence that in one of the quarters of the dome of the Basilica of Fatima there is an image of Saint Anthony Mary Claret and that the attention to the pilgrims of that Shrine has been entrusted to the Religious Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

To delve

Written by Claret as a pedagogical and spiritual example of missionary life totally consecrated to the announcement of the Gospel, in availability to God’s will and communion with the Church.

misionerasclaretianasrmi.org

NAVARRE BIBLE COMMENTARY (RSV)

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)

First Reading:

From: Ephesians 3:14-21

The Apostle's Prayer
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[14] For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, [15] from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, [16] what according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with might through his Spirit in the inner man, [17] and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, [18] may have power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, [19] and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you maybe filled with all the fullness of God.

[20] Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to do more abundantly than all that we ask or think, [21] to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all.

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Commentary:

14. St Paul now continues the prayer which he interrupted in v. 1, to entreat the Father to let Christians understand as deeply as possible the divine plan for salvation implemented in Christ (vv. 16-19).

"I bow my knees": the Jews generally prayed standing up. Only at moments of special solemnity did they kneel or prostrate themselves in adoration. The Apostle, by introducing this almost liturgical reference, is expressing the intensity of his prayer, and the humility which inspires it.

Bodily gestures--genuflections, bowing of the head, beating the breast, etc.--which accompany prayer should be sincere expressions of devotion. They allow the entire person, body and soul, to express his love for God. "Those who love acquire a refinement, a sensitivity of soul, that makes them notice details which are sometimes very small but which are important because they express the love of a passionate heart" (St J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 92).

15. To "take a name" from something means to derive one's being or existence from it, and the word translated here as "family" ("patria" in Greek) means a grouping of individuals who are descended from a common father; it could be translated as "paternity", as the New Vulgate does.

The Apostle is saying that every grouping which is regarded as a family, whether it be on earth (like the Church or the family), or in heaven (like the Church triumphant and the choirs of angels), takes its name and origin from God, the only Father in the full meaning of the word. Thus, the word "Father" can be correctly used to designate not only physical but also spiritual fatherhood.

The parenthood of married people is an outstanding example of the love of God the Creator. They are cooperators in that love, and, in a certain sense, its interpreters (cf. Vatican II, "Gaudium Et Spes", 50). Hence, "when they become parents, spouses receive from God the gift of a new responsibility. Their parental love is called to become for the children the visible sign of the very love of God, 'from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named"' (John Paul II, "Familiaris Consortio", 14).

16-17. The strengthening of the inner man through the Spirit means growth in faith, charity and hope, which is what the Apostle prays for here (cf. vv. 16-19).

"Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Heb 11:1); it is, then, a virtue whereby the Christian in this life anticipates, imperfectly, the object of his hope—that perfect union with God which will take place in heaven.

Love follows from knowledge: one cannot love someone one does not know. And so, when goodness is known, it comes to be loved. Thus, the knowledge of God, which faith provides, is followed by the love of God, which stems from charity. Charity, for its part, is the basis of the Christian's spiritual life. "The spiritual edifice cannot stay standing--the same is true of a tree without roots, or a house without a foundation, which can easily be toppled--unless it be rooted and grounded in love" (St Thomas Aquinas, "Commentary on Eph, ad loc.").

18. St Paul asks God to give Christians understanding of the "mystery of Christ", which essentially is the outcome of his love. In referring to the vast dimensions of this mystery he uses an enigmatic phrase-- "the breadth and length and height and depth". These and similar terms were used by Stoic philosophy to designate the cosmos as a whole. Here they express the immense scale of the "mystery" which embraces the entire plan of salvation, the actions of Christ and the activity of the Church. St Augustine interpreted these words as referring to the cross, the instrument of salvation which Christ used to show the full extent of his love (cf. "De Doctrina Christiana", 2, 41).

St Paul may indeed be trying to sum up all the richness of the "mystery" of Christ in a graphic way--in terms of a cross whose extremities reach out in all four directions seeking to embrace the whole world. The blood which our Lord shed on the cross brought about the Redemption, the forgiveness of sins (cf. Eph 1:7). It did away with hostility, reconciling all men and assembling them into one body (cf. Eph 2:15-16), the Church. Therefore the cross is an inexhaustible source of grace, the mark of the true Christian, the instrument of salvation for all. When, through the action of Christians, the cross of Christ is made present at all the crossroads of the world, then is that "mystery" implemented whose purpose it is to "unite all things in Christ" (cf. Eph 1:10).

19. Christ's love for us is infinite; it is beyond our grasp, because it is of divine dimensions (cf. Jn 15:9 and note on Jn 15:9-11).

Knowledge of the history of salvation and of the "mystery" of Christ is ultimately what gives us a notion of the scale of God's love. Therefore, it is the basis of the Christian life: "We know and believe the love which God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God" (1 Jn 4:16). Eternal life will consist in enjoying the love of God without any type of distraction. During his life on earth, the believer receives a foretaste of this joy to the degree that he abides in the love of Christ (cf. Jn 15:9), that is, is rooted and grounded in love (v. 17). However, this knowledge of Christ is always very imperfect compared with that in heaven.

It is worth pointing out that the "knowledge" ("gnosis") which St Paul is speaking about is not simply intellectual cognition but rather a kind of knowledge which permeates one's whole life. It does not consist so much in knowing that God is love as in realizing that we are personally the object, the focus, of God's love: he loves us one by one, as good parents love their children.

20-21. The dogmatic section of the letter concludes at this point, and St Paul breaks into a short hymn of praise or doxology, in awe at the divine plan of salvation revealed in Christ. He speaks his praise "in the church and in Christ Jesus".

God knows more than we do; and, since he is a Father who loves us unreservedly, he is always providing us with those things we stand in real need of; moreover, he anticipates our requests, "for he responds to the inner, hidden desires of the needy, not waiting for them to make explicit requests" ("St Pius V Catechism", IV, 2, 5). St Thomas Aquinas points out that "neither the mind nor the will of man could have thought or conceived or asked God that he might become man and that man might become God, a share in the divine nature; yet the latter has been wrought in us by his power, and the former has been effected by the incarnation of his Son" ("Commentary on Eph, ad loc.").

In its liturgy the Church is forever giving God the honor which is his due and praising him for the gifts which it receives in Jesus Christ: in the Mass, for example, at the end of the Eucharistic Prayer it proclaims, "Through him [Christ], with him, in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours, almighty Father, for ever and ever. Amen."

Gospel Reading:

From: Luke 12:49-53

Jesus the Cause of Dissension
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(Jesus said to His disciples,) [49] "I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled! [50] I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how I am constrained until it is accomplished! [51] Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division; [52] for henceforth in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three; [53] they will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against her mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."

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Commentary:

49-50. In the Bible, fire is often used to describe God's burning love for men. This divine love finds its highest expression in the Son of God become man: "God so loved the world that He gave His only Son" (John 3:16). Jesus voluntarily gave up His life out of love for us, and "greater love has no man than this, that a man lays down his life for his friends" (John 15:13).

In these words reported by St. Luke, Jesus Christ reveals His abounding desire to give His life for love of us. He calls His death a baptism, because from it He will arise victorious never to die again. Our Baptism is a submersion in Christ's death, in which we die to sin and are reborn to the new life of grace: "We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:4).

Through this new life, we Christians should become set on fire in the same way as Jesus set His disciples on fire: "With the amazing naturalness of the things of God, the contemplative soul is filled with apostolic zeal. `My heart became hot within me, a fire blazed forth from my thoughts' (Psalm 38:4). What could this fire be if not the fire that Christ talks about: `I came to cast fire upon the earth, and would that it were already kindled' (Luke 12:49). An apostolic fire that acquires its strength in prayer: there is no better way than this to carry on, throughout the whole world, the battle of peace to which every Christian is called to fill up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ (cf. Colossians 1:24)" (St J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 120).

51-53. God has come into the world with a message of peace (cf. Luke 2:14) and reconciliation (cf. Romans 5:11). By resisting, through sin, the redeeming work of Christ, we become His opponents. Injustice and error lead to division and war. "Insofar as men are sinners, the threat of war hangs over them and will so continue until the coming of Christ; but insofar as they can vanquish sin by coming together in charity, violence itself will be vanquished" (Vatican II, "Gaudium Et Spes", 78).

During His own life on earth, Christ was a sign of contradiction (cf. Luke 2:34). Our Lord is forewarning His disciples about the contention and division which will accompany the spread of the Gospel (cf. Luke 6:20-23; Matthew 10:24).

Click here to go to the My Catholic Life! Devotional thread for today’s Gospel Reading.

Readings at Mass

A prayer that faithful may know the love of Christ

How I wish it were blazing already!

Nothing is changing

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