Advent is Near

Pope John Paul II once said: "Advent is a period of intense training that directs us decisively to the One who has already come, who will come, and who continuously comes." We forget the Church still recommends violet vestments for Advent; it is a penitential season, in spite of the fact that most of us are going to one Christmas party after another. My husband and I usually have our Christmas party after Christmas, when the season for rejoicing is in full liturgical swing. In fact, for many years we have had an "Epiphany party" around January 6, since that magnificent feast is overlooked by the secular world. Not that the mood of Advent is equivalent to the somber tone of Lent; but it should be a time for reflection and on-going conversion rather than constant partying, as if Christmas began at the beginning of December rather than at the end of the month.

St. Joseph in the Ground

Arturo Vasquez discusses the custom of burying St. Joseph in the ground in order to sell a house, and other sundry practices. I have known nuns who placed St. Joseph on his face in times of urgent need; I have to admit that I have done the same thing. Although in my case, I could not stand to see St. Joseph prone for long, and let him back up long before the prayer was granted. I have also put a statue of Our Lady in the window when I needed good weather for something. I guess I basically have a peasant's faith. I do not see such folk customs as being superstitious as long as they are accompanied by genuine trust in Divine Providence and resignation to the holy will of God. Someone once told me that to Protestants, God is the wealthy neighbor down the street but to Catholics, God is a member of the family. This includes everyone among Jesus' immediate family and close friends. Not that the awe and reverence are lacking, as anyone knows who has ever knelt before a home altar, sharing the troubles of the moment with Our Lady or with a sympathetic-looking Infant of Prague. Our Infant of Prague has wiped away many tears and brought a surge of hope in moments of gloom. The Catholic religion is incarnational; when God became one of us He never left, as our belief in the Eucharist teaches us and the world; when He entered the material realm He transformed it forever.

A Eucharistic Life

Springtime in the midst of death. According to Our Holy Father Pope Benedict:

Remembering St. Juliana of Cornillon we also renew our faith in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. As we are taught by the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, "Jesus Christ is present in the Eucharist in a unique and incomparable way. He is present in a true, real and substantial way, with his Body and his Blood, with his Soul and his Divinity. In the Eucharist, therefore, there is present in a sacramental way, that is, under the Eucharistic species of bread and wine, Christ whole and entire, God and Man" (No. 282).

A Mystic of the Sacred Liturgy

Saint Gertrude the Great. Pope Benedict says:

Gertrude was an extraordinary student, she learned everything that can be learned of the sciences of the trivium and quadrivium, the education of that time; she was fascinated by knowledge and threw herself into profane studies with zeal and tenacity, achieving scholastic successes beyond every expectation. If we know nothing of her origins, she herself tells us about her youthful passions: literature, music and song and the art of miniature painting captivated her. She had a strong, determined, ready and impulsive temperament. She often says that she was negligent; she recognizes her shortcomings and humbly asks forgiveness for them. She also humbly asks for advice and prayers for her conversion. Some features of her temperament and faults were to accompany her to the end of her life, so as to amaze certain people who wondered why the Lord had favoured her with such a special love.

St. Teresa Benedicta on Prayer

Here is an extract from Before the Face of God:

“Through him, with him, and in him in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory is yours, Almighty Father, for ever and ever.” With these solemn words, the priest ends the Eucharistic prayer at the center of which is the mysterious event of the consecration. These words at the same time encapsulate the prayer of the church: honor and glory to the triune God through, with, and in Christ.

Although the words are directed to the Father, all glorification of the Father is at the same time glorification of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, the prayer extols the majesty that the Father imparts to the Son and that both impart to the Holy Spirit from eternity to eternity. All praise of God is through, with, and in Christ. Through him, because only through Christ does humanity have access to the Father and because his existence as God-man and his work of salvation are the fullest glorification of the Father; with him, because all authentic prayer is the fruit of union with Christ and at the same time buttresses this union, and because in honoring the Son one honors the Father and vice versa; in him, because the praying church is Christ himself, with every individual praying member as a part of his Mystical Body, and because the Father is in the Son and the Son the reflection of the Father, who makes his majesty visible. The dual meanings of through, with, and in clearly express the God-man’s mediation. The prayer of the church is the prayer of the ever-living Christ. Its prototype is Christ’s prayer during his human life.

The Duty of the Carmelite

Some words from Fr. Aloysius Deeney, General Delegate for the Secular Carmelites.

ROME-ITALY (29-10-2010).- Service of others and concern for them were among the essential characteristics that St. Teresa wished to see in every Discalced Carmelite. For all close followers of the Saint, serving God, the Church and the community, becomes a vital necessity and an aspect of her life that must be imitated.

In the paravosnaci web in preparation for the 5th centenary of Teresa’s birth, Fr. Aloysius Deeney, General Delegate for Secular Carmel, writes about the huge impact this Teresian insistence on service had on his personal vocation.

He says that the contemplative dimension of our life was his initial attraction to Carmel. However, just as St. John of the Cross learned at his meeting with Teresa in Medina del Campo, Fr. Aloysius discovered when reading Teresa’s works that the challenge of “the contemplative life which Teresa describes proves itself in practical service”.

Fr. Deeney continues: “Being Carmelite is not a privilege, but rather a responsibility. This responsibility is to serve the Lord and this is witnessed to practically by our attending to the needs of our sisters and brothers in the Church and in the world, in serving our families and our communities”.

The Rosary and the Purification of the Soul

Some thoughts from The Beautiful Gate. To quote:

One of the first thing I started doing after my conversion was to pick up my beads daily and meditate on the mysteries of the Rosary. I had led a sinful life for years and was not really aware at the time just how deeply sin wounds us. I was susceptible to certain weaknesses and sins, especially in my thought life, and the Rosary became the weapon of choice for me. Actually, sin had dulled my soul to such a degree that the Lord had to "cheat" and poured extraordinary graces into it. He was "waking up" my soul and our Lady was helping.  It was necessary because one doesn't come back from sin on their own. It's pure grace. And sometimes this grace comes in ordinary ways, other times extraordinary. I am guessing that the Lord allowed me many glimpses into the work He was doing so that I wouldn't lose heart or despair over my sinfulness. God never stops knocking though we may stop answering the door at times.  A long time in my case. Thankfully, God is persistent.

Saint Francis and the Liturgy

Embracing the Holy Father's vision.

Like our own, the time in which Saint Francis lived was also marked by profound cultural transformations, fostered by the birth of the universities, by the rise of the townships and by the spread of new religious experiences.

Precisely in that season, thanks to the work of Pope Innocent III - the same from whom the Poverello of Assisi obtained his first canonical recognition - the Church undertook a profound liturgical reform.

Its highest expression is the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), which numbers among its fruits the "Breviary." This book of prayer incorporated the richness of the theological reflection and prayer experience of the previous millennium. By adopting it, Saint Francis and his friars made their own the liturgical prayer of the Supreme Pontiff: in this way, the saint assiduously listened to and meditated on the Word of God, to the point of making it his own and then transposing it into the prayers he authored, and into all of his writings in general.

Little Catechism of Prayer

Meditation and colloquy in the Carmelite tradition. To quote:

There are some differences among Carmelite authors in the manner of presenting meditation, but all are in accord as to the essentials.  Some speak of it without distinguishing its various elements.  Others distinguish the loving colloquy  from the meditative reflection which leads to it, and call this colloquy contemplation.  Others subdivide meditation itself into the elements of representation and reflection.  Those who do not specifically treat of these various elements still make some allusion to them.  We may therefore assert that the majority of our Carmelite authors distinguish three elements in meditation:
1. Representation- the work of the imagination.
2. Reflection- the work of the intellect
3.  Colloquy- the work of the will.

Meditation on Death, Part IV

Everything must have an end; and if, when the hour of death arrives, thy soul is lost, everything will be lost for thee. S. Lawrence Justinian says, "Consider thyself as dead already, since thou knowest thou must die. If now the hour of thy death were approaching, what is there of good, that thou wouldst not like to have done? Now, that thou art living, reflect, that one day thou must die. Bonaventure observes, that in order to guide the vessel aright, the pilot must place himself at the helm: even so must a man, if he wishes to lead a holy life, reflect that death is ever nigh. Therefore, S. Bernard observes, "Look upon the sins of youth, and blush; look on the sins of manhood, and weep ; look upon the present evil habits of thy life, and tremble, and hasten to make amends."

When Camillus de Lellis beheld the graves of the dead, he said within himself, "If all these dead bodies could come back again to life, what would they not do to gain eternal life ? and I, who have now the opportunity—what am I doing for my soul ?" Yet it was humility on the part of this saint which caused him to say this. But perhaps, my brother, thou mightst with reason fear, lest thou shouldst be like that barren fig-tree, concerning which our blessed Lord said, "Behold these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and find none." (S. Luke xiii. 7.) Thou, who for many more years than three hast been living in this world, what fruit hast thou yielded? Take care, remarks S. Bernard, for the Lord does not require flowers only, but seeks for fruit also; that is to say, not only good desires and resolutions, but also good works. Therefore, take care to make good use of the time which God in His mercy grants to you ; do not wait until "time shall be no longer" to desire to do good—when it shall be said unto you : "Time shall be no longer, depart." Make haste, it is now almost time to leave the world; make haste, what is done, is done.

~St. Alphonsus Liguori, Preparation for Death, pp.5-6