Knowledge of Divine Things Twenty-Eight Caritas in Veritate Three

For those who have not read the long series on grace and free will, please do so. Such basic teachings are necessary for understanding some of the encyclicals.

As I have noted, knowledge leads to praxis. And, we are responsible for cooperating with the graces given to us daily in order to learn, to know.

Here is the Pope Emeritus again:

5. Charity is love received and given. It is “grace” (cháris). Its source is the wellspring of the Father's love for the Son, in the Holy Spirit. Love comes down to us from the Son. It is creative love, through which we have our being; it is redemptive love, through which we are recreated. Love is revealed and made present by Christ (cf. Jn 13:1) and “poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit” (Rom 5:5). As the objects of God's love, men and women become subjects of charity, they are called to make themselves instruments of grace, so as to pour forth God's charity and to weave networks of charity.

All baptized persons are given the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity in baptism. These virtues need to be cultivated through the other virtues, prayer and study. (See my posts on virtues and virtue training). The above phrase approves us and condemns us, "As the objects of God's love, men and women become subjects of charity, they are called to make themselves instruments of grace, so as to pour forth God's charity and to weave networks of charity."

God has loved us first, we respond, and make ourselves, through free will, into "instruments of grace" for others. The weakness of the Church, (see other posts as well on this subject), is that the laity and clergy alike for the most part, indeed, the majority, do not cooperate with charity and fall into self-seeking egotism.

This dynamic of charity received and given is what gives rise to the Church's social teaching, which is caritas in veritate in re sociali: the proclamation of the truth of Christ's love in society. This doctrine is a service to charity, but its locus is truth. Truth preserves and expresses charity's power to liberate in the ever-changing events of history. It is at the same time the truth of faith and of reason, both in the distinction and also in the convergence of those two cognitive fields. 

All isms, all ideologies have a philosophy behind the actions seen in history, If you remember the Gramsci posts, you will see how his view of history clashed with the Catholic view. We, as Catholics, have an anti-socialist view of history and society. We believe in the individual love of each person reaching out to other persons and individuals.

Faith and reason must move towards both the renewal of the person and the renewal of society through love, not isms.

Development, social well-being, the search for a satisfactory solution to the grave socio-economic problems besetting humanity, all need this truth. What they need even more is that this truth should be loved and demonstrated. Without truth, without trust and love for what is true, there is no social conscience and responsibility, and social action ends up serving private interests and the logic of power, resulting in social fragmentation, especially in a globalized society at difficult times like the present.

Would that every cardinal, bishop and priest truly believed this. We have so many Marxists and socialists in the Church, such condemned societal philosophies spoken even from the pulpit, that people no longer believe in charity.

The one world government to come, and any totalitarian state feeds on the destruction of individual charity. Social fragmentation allows tyrants to take over.

Benedict is clear on these points.

 “Caritas in veritate” is the principle around which the Church's social doctrine turns, a principle that takes on practical form in the criteria that govern moral action. I would like to consider two of these in particular, of special relevance to the commitment to development in an increasingly globalized society: justice and the common good.

Shades of Leo XIII! Charity goes beyond justice. None of this Victorian "deserving poor" mythology, or the ideology that all people should have the same things and wealth. There is a hatred of the poor in the States but also a hatred of the rich....an attitude ripe for tyrannical government. This envy of the rich and despising of the poor are both contrary to the Gospel.

First of all, justice. Ubi societas, ibi ius: every society draws up its own system of justice. Charity goes beyond justice, because to love is to give, to offer what is “mine” to the other; but it never lacks justice, which prompts us to give the other what is “his”, what is due to him by reason of his being or his acting. I cannot “give” what is mine to the other, without first giving him what pertains to him in justice. If we love others with charity, then first of all we are just towards them. Not only is justice not extraneous to charity, not only is it not an alternative or parallel path to charity: justice is inseparable from charity[1], and intrinsic to it. Justice is the primary way of charity or, in Paul VI's words, “the minimum measure” of it[2], an integral part of the love “in deed and in truth” (1 Jn 3:18), to which Saint John exhorts us. On the one hand, charity demands justice: recognition and respect for the legitimate rights of individuals and peoples. It strives to build the earthly city according to law and justice. 

Would that Catholics were so holy as to transform the City of Man into the City of God.

On the other hand, charity transcends justice and completes it in the logic of giving and forgiving[3]. The earthly city is promoted not merely by relationships of rights and duties, but to an even greater and more fundamental extent by relationships of gratuitousness, mercy and communion. Charity always manifests God's love in human relationships as well, it gives theological and salvific value to all commitment for justice in the world.

Just a warning to those fuzzy Catholics in the Church--Revelation and Tradition, as backed up by philosophy and theology, must be part of the implementation of both justice and charity.

to be continued....

Knowledge of Divine Things Twenty-Seven Caritas in Veritate Two

3. Through this close link with truth, charity can be recognized as an authentic expression of humanity and as an element of fundamental importance in human relations, including those of a public nature. Only in truth does charity shine forth, only in truth can charity be authentically lived. Truth is the light that gives meaning and value to charity. That light is both the light of reason and the light of faith, through which the intellect attains to the natural and supernatural truth of charity: it grasps its meaning as gift, acceptance, and communion. Without truth, charity degenerates into sentimentality. Love becomes an empty shell, to be filled in an arbitrary way. In a culture without truth, this is the fatal risk facing love. It falls prey to contingent subjective emotions and opinions, the word “love” is abused and distorted, to the point where it comes to mean the opposite. Truth frees charity from the constraints of an emotionalism that deprives it of relational and social content, and of a fideism that deprives it of human and universal breathing-space. In the truth, charity reflects the personal yet public dimension of faith in the God of the Bible, who is both Agápe and Lógos: Charity and Truth, Love and Word.

A few weeks ago, I was trying to explain to someone how sentimentality was a sin of inauthentic love.  Sentimentality is a false love without truth, without reason and only sensual feelings. With the use of reason and the intellect, one can love in truth.

This is the huge problem of some of the members of the synod who want a love, an acceptance, an inclusion without truth. This is a type of sentimentality towards sinners which does not demand change, metanoia, repentance or reparation. Reason and faith show us that subjectivity which is false love. With mere emotions and opinions, people lack the framework of sacrificial love, which is the only true love.

Emotionalism is "all about me" and not about the other person's good. 

Christ, the Word of God, the Logos, is Agape, the True Love of selflessness.

Faith without reasons destroys love, making it subjective and not objective. Our reference in true love is always Christ, not ourselves.

The "public dimension" is revealed in the authentic human being who has not separated himself into a private life and a public life. This authentic type of life is the integrated life of the saint, who is consumed with love of Christ and neighbor.

to be continued....

Pope Emeritus on Perfection

Purity of heart is what enables us to see.
 
― Pope Emeritus: Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration

and a few years ago, I did a review of Sacramentum Caritatis.

Take a look at the document for your Lenten reading.

Friendship in the Lord

Many years ago, about 1974 to be exact, I remember reading a book by Father Paul Hinnebusch, Friendship in the Lord.

This book is now out-of-print. However, as I was in a lay community for seven years, I learned what this meant from experience and not merely from a book. I think the confusion about lay communities stems from the fact that people have never seen one or read about such.

The Anabaptists, of course, have communities, such as the Bruderhof, and the various Amish and Mennonite communities. These Protestants began their movements as mostly agrarian groups, purposefully separated from urban life, and from the evils surrounding their worlds, such as the compromises made by the Lutheran bishops under Nazism.

Catholic communities, and, indeed, the first communities mentioned in Acts, were urban. It was not until the fall of the Roman Empire that the Church moved out into the countryside. This movement out of the cities, a Catholic Diaspora, helped spread the Gospel, and created the monastic orders, specifically Benedictinism. Recall that St. Benedict's order grew out of the decay following the lack of order after the fall of Rome. His own father was a governor, as the local governments continued using Roman law and order, when possible, even after Rome was ruined.

The combination of law, order and Catholicism created new communities, in addition to the urban ones. It was never the intention of the communities, as seen working in Acts, to isolate themselves from the great cities of the time. In fact, if one also remembers the churches mentioned in the Book of Revelation, one sees that these seven churches were found in the largest cities in the Middle East, especially in the Levant, at the time.

Urban life now seems to be horribly anti-communal, and the suburban life-style, which I never lived, preferring to live in cities, or in towns or villages, dictates against communal life.

I have seen neighborhoods here in New Jersey full of McMansions and no sidewalks. Bedroom commuter neighborhoods by definition are anti-communal.

The strip malls I see here are also anti-communal. One parks a car in front of a store, shops and leaves. There is no place for gathering or even sitting down with friends.

Perhaps this is one reason I love Europe as the smaller villages have community still, and the cities are built on the old communal squares or gathering places. One sees one's friends by walking to church, for example.

Urban sprawl kills communities which existed in older times. For those who are younger than I am, the memory of community simply is not there in the imagination.

We lived in Catholic ghettos, or with other Protestant families who were still having children. People were in each others' houses. Of course, the inflation which hit America in the late 1970s, forced some women to have to work instead of being stay-at-home moms if a certain lifestyle was desired, In my own married life, we chose a simpler lifestyle on purpose in order for me to stay at home and home school.

Such are the choices people make.

However, the ideal of friendship in the Lord, which is found in real communities, seems a dream to many Catholics. Friendship takes time and detachment, and is not based on false, societal class structures, but on the sharing of resources and talents.

Many of us in the community movement in the States now so long ago learned how to have happy, prayerful families. Single people met like-minded single people, which created good marriages based on Godliness and not modern disorders of sex and false romance.

To be in a community meant that those who chose to do so had spiritual direction on a regular basis, and also, the teaching of how to become a servant. In fact, our community had something called "servant school". Dying to self, like those who lived in large families in the past experienced, became part of daily life.

Friendship in the Lord means first of all that one has a relationship with Christ which can be shared with others. and that one wants to live for and in Christ, building the Kingdom of God and not the Kingdom of Man.

Years ago, I had the delight in one college in which I was an instructor, to teach St. Augustine's City of God. This book should be read by all Catholics, and if God allows me some stability, perhaps I can share some of my notes, still floating around my head, with my readers here. At the time I was teaching this book, in the early 2000s, most of my friends were involved in the pro-life movement. Some were even in "rescue".  These people met at each other's houses, including mine, and prayed together, discussing pro-life issues, and the ministries coming out of the concern for pro-life issues.

This group was a small community. We shared dinners, were in each others' houses, and helped each other sharing talents. I was working and homeschooling, and out of this group, I tutored a girl with special needs, whose foster-mother needed help. And, so on.

Out of this group, came homeschooling sharing of talents as well. Many of those involved went to the local TLM even before the Summorum Pontificum.

The group broke up as some of us had to move away for other jobs, one key person moving to California and one going into a convent. However, like my earlier community experience, it was clear that working for the Kingdom of God formed the center of our focus.

Community will be essential in the days which are coming upon us quickly. Those who are strong need to help those who are weak. Those who are weak need to grow and learn to trust in Divine Providence more directly, more intensely.

When I encouraged readers a long time ago to pod, I was hoping that some would see the immediate need for such movements towards community. The time is coming quickly when people will not be able to move into neighborhoods with other Catholics. The time is coming quickly when the isolation of surburbia will become a real prison.

Too many people tell me that they would move into pods but that their spouses do not agree. These couples need to pray together so that one mind can be found on these issues. Women need to learn obedience to their husbands, if their husbands want to take the lead in the formation of community.

Perhaps because my generation came out of big families, where we learned how to share from little on, it was easier than those who have grown up with their own private bedrooms and all the luxuries of middle-class income families. I do not know if that is a problem for some-giving up "individualism" for the sake of the Kingdom.

There is no doubt that the Church grew in persecution because of the communities. That the Holy Spirit left us traces of this history in the Acts of the Apostles proves the importance of communal life.

To be wholly human, one must learn to have friendships in the Lord.

Part One...to be continued

Catholic Love-Romantic Love-Musings

The Jews and Greeks seem to be the first people to create an ideal of Romantic Love, as seen in the Song of Songs and Greek poetry.

Other peoples, and I confine my discussion to the West, did not have this ideal, which grew into the cult of Romance one sees in French history, literature, and music, spilling into England early in the Middle Ages.

The ideal of courtly love is missing among many peoples. I am not going to point to various groupings, but one can make the connections one's self.

A brilliant friend of mine noted that the secular humanists align themselves with others who do not understand romantic love, or agape, Christian love.


Here are two quotations from the CCC from St. Basil and St. Augustine:

Part 3: Life in Christ 1828-1829

"The practice of the moral life animated by charity gives to the Christian the spiritual freedom of the Children of God. He no longer stands before God as a slave, in servile fear, or as mercenary looking for wages, but as a son responding to the love of him who "first loved us."

1829

"Love is itself the fulfillment of all are works. There is the goal; that is why we run: we run toward it, and once we reach it, in it we shall find rest. "

Readers can go back into my archives and look at the commentaries on the Pope Emeritus's encyclical on love.

The point of this post is that without an understand that God is Love, some people either secularists, or those from other man-made religions, cannot move towards repentance, conversion and a life of sacrificial love.

Secularists see this type of life as perverted, as one atheist professor at a major Catholic university told me.

He said bluntly that any type of sacrificial love was unnatural and to be discouraged, choosing instead a like of hedonism. His view is that Christ's message is actually dangerous.

It is dangerous. This message creates martyrs. This message of love creates heroes.

Now, back to Romantic Love.

Without a sense that we are all children of God through baptism and united as such and without the idea that the goal of life is living in love, a person's viewpoint of the world becomes one of the necessity for power and violence.

A brilliant friend of mine, an "Arab expert", taught the religion and language of those areas for years, and spent a long time in the Middle East. Recently, he wrote this to me,

I remember that many of the Iraqis who were not overt "religious people" were trying to understand romantic love. They loved romantic novels and stories about falling in love because it is something that Islam could not give them. Islam gave them a sadistic orgiastic culture. The consciences of some revolted against this and this is something in natural law that tells them that something is wrong. Islam and Secularism are prisons of desperation.

It is interesting that the Hindus have a sense of Romantic Love, as seen in Bollywood stories.

The understanding that all women deserve love and honor is foreign to some seculars and others.

Of course, the love the Church has for Our Lady Mary fed into the cult of Romantic Love. Mary became the knights' "Lady".

To be continued...

Perfection Series VIII Part XVII Raissa on A Roll

I could call this post, "Even the desert is a place".

Several significant lines from Raissa's Journal seem to fit into the ongoing discussion on perfection.

The first entry relates to the post earlier on philosophy and the training of the intellect. Raissa makes it clear that now is the time (1919) for the Faith to be defended by the Intellect. 

And, it is now.

Like the Benedictines, she makes the connection between the pursuit of the love of Truth, the love of God, and study.

Obedience to God in the Faith must be rational. Raissa quotes Pascal, "Submission and use of reason, in which true Christianity consists."

Who among Catholics know this, believe this? I hope my readers have come to this, if they did not know it already.

What we witnessed recently in the Synod were anti-intellectualism, the lack of reason, and the lack of obedience to Church teaching. 

Here is Raissa in her own words: Truth is the rule of the intellect and of the will, it has an absolute and legitimate power over the whole man. Not to follow the truth which the intellect shows us is to disobey God; for the intellect is, in us, a certain similitude of the uncreated light. (St. Thomas).

Then, she writes something which I could have written if I were more intelligent, for this is my experience. God meets me in my intellect and always has.

I remember a day in Bristol, when I was studying and teaching at the University, when I was working on the poetry of David Jones. I can remember the moment as if it happened yesterday.

Sitting at my desk in Wills Hall, facing west, out the large latticed window, I was struck with Beauty and taken up into the Presence of God. The study of the beauty of the words of poetry brought me directly into contact with Beauty Himself. That the intellectual pursuit for Truth and Beauty leads to God has been known by many. Here is Raissa again....

I give thanks to God who put in my heart such an ardent love of truth when, ignorant of the divine Truth, I lived among skeptics and atheists. That desire which the physical sciences could not satisfy because they are partial, and which modern philosophies completely frustrated by their relativism, was fulfilled by the revelation of Catholic doctrine and of Thomistic philosophy.

Her way was through theology and philosophy. But, she had to endure great suffering as well.

As I sit in bed trying to get warm, because I cannot afford heat, suffering from aches and pains, tendinitis, caused by the cold and pain in old frostbite areas, which hurt in the cold, and having chilblains flare up from the cold, I am struck that Raissa had to suffer while being purified in her intellect and heart. I get headaches from the cold, and pains in my fingers. She experienced many severe illnesses. She was almost constantly ill some years.

Why? Look at the saints who have had to suffer both physical and existential pain. The list is long.

The connection cannot be denied. When I first read her so long ago, I was attracted to her because she suffered, like I do, from very painful sciatica and other illnesses. Today, I had an asthma attack from the cold as well.  I was so disappointed, as my prayers for healing have not been answered. Raissa's illnesses were chronic and many days she had to spend in bed from weakness. Thankfully, I only need a "down day" here and there.

Her suffering was a part of her Dark Night. She admitted that she was in Purgatory for one year, 1918-1919, without consolation, with dryness in prayer, not being moved by sermons, with a shattered soul.

Why suffering must accompany this deep desire for Truth is explained by Raissa in one line.

"It is the sublime but everyday truth of Christianity that suffering united to love works salvation."

This is it....pure and simple. All metaphysical or existential suffering, physical or spiritual suffering, heart or head suffering, when coupled with love, becomes redemptive, not only for us, but for others.

In the past two weeks, when my active contemplation was a chore, dry and hard because I could not concentrate on God or His Attributes, it dawned on me, through a small moment of grace in the Adoration Chapel in Sliema, that this was exactly what God wanted--me to be in the driest of deserts before Him, trusting and loving without images, or any response from that Vulnerable God, who was before me under the Species of The Host.

This is my mortification-active contemplation without results. Raissa explains this as well, "Total abnegation is my path (so badly followed by me). All possible mortification, interior. In fact, it depends entirely on myself to create the 'desert'".

Several days ago, before I read this line as if I were reading it for the first time this morning, I came to the same realization in prayer at Adoration. I had to be content with the desert.

I had to create the desert interiorly, the nothingness of my own self, joined with the via negativa which has been my life. No permanent home, no companionship, no security, no family near me, very few things...which fit into two suitcases.

I knew this in 1985, so long ago, but I fought it over and over and over. To embrace the via negativa is to choose to be in the desert constantly, with aridity of soul and body. I wanted the via affimativa. but one does not choose the way God makes one holy. But, as a poet, a writer, I am plunged into the affirmation of life, of beauty, of symbols and images. That is another suffering, to be torn in one's gifts and ministry in the pursuit of contemplation. To go against one's natural instincts to find the nothing which is all.

But, now I know to rest in the desert. If there are no words, nothing but rocks and sands, I am content.

This is God's Will and once I really accepted it, the peace came like waves in the sea.

This is the peace which passes all understanding, not a peace because one is experiencing goodness, kindness or comfort, but a peace when one is suffering intensely on many fronts, including pain in the heart, including grief.

Create your own desert, in a way similar, to which you have been called by me through St. Catherine of Siena to create the cell in your soul. where you can go.

Now, I understand what was told to me at the beginning of this stay in Malta, that the Garden of Eden is the Garden of Gethsemane-only in pain and suffering can some of us find Love and perfection.

Raissa spoke to me so long ago, but I had to travel many paths to get to the place she found in 1921-the interior desert. She was 38.

Pray that God gives me stability in order to be able to rest in this desert, for even a desert is a place.

Let me close this post with Raissa's words from July 13th, 1921,

To love. To abandon oneself. Nothing else is necessary to sanctification.  No, nothing, not even silence with God if that is rendered impossible by real obstacles, interior or exterior...Love God, love, love. That is the one thing necessary.

to be continued....

Perfection Series VII Part IX Prayers for Adoration

Prayers Before The Blessed Sacrament from Jesus Our Eucharistic Love 

by Father Stefano Minelli: from Chapter Seven

Preparation

Faith

My Lord Jesus Christ, with all my soul I believe that You are really present in the Sacrament of the Altar. I believe it because You have said it — You Whom I adore as Supreme Truth. Addressing You in the sacred Host, I declare with St. Peter: Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Adoration

I adore You and acknowledge You as my Creator, Lord, Redeemer, and my Supreme and only Good.

Hope

O Lord, I hope that as You have given Yourself wholly to me in this divine Sacrament, You will exercise Your mercy and grant me the graces I need in order to gain Paradise more easily.

Love

O Lord, I love You with all my heart above all things because You are my infinitely lovable God. Forgive me for having loved You so little up to now. I would like to love You with the ardor of the Seraphims and with the Heart of Mary Immaculate, Your Mother and mine.

For Your sake, O Jesus, I wish to love my neighbor as myself.

Humility

O Lord, I am not worthy to receive You, but only say the word, and my soul will be healed.

Sorrow

Before approaching You, O Jesus, I ask You once more for the pardon of my sins. You have loved me so much as to die for me, and I have been so evil, and have offended You countless times. Have mercy on me! Forgive me! By Your grace wipe away every smallest stain of sin. I wish to approach You with an angelic purity so that I can worthily receive Thee.

Desire

My God, come into my soul that You may make it holy. My God, come into my heart to purify it. My God, enter my body in order to keep it and so that I will never separate myself from Your love.

Destroy everything You see in me that is unworthy of Your presence and can hinder Your grace and Your love.

(Remember within a few minutes Jesus will be within you. This is the most beautiful and greatest moment of your day.

Be well prepared. Present to Jesus a heart ardent in its love and desire for Him. Be fully aware that you are undeserving of such great favor, and do not go to Communion with your soul stained with mortal sin.

Endeavor to let your Holy Communion be during Holy Mass. But if this is not possible, go ahead and receive Holy Communion outside Mass, so that you will not miss a day without receiving Jesus.

Remember that a fervent Holy Communion 1) preserves and increases sanctifying grace in you, 2) takes away venial sins, 3) protects you from falling into mortal sin, 4) brings you consolation and comfort, with an increase of charity and hope of eternal life.)

Thanksgiving

(As Jesus is now with you, you have become a living tabernacle. Keep recollected and adore your Lord. Express to Him the fullness of your joy in possessing Him. Open your heart to Him and speak to Him with great confidence.)

Prayer

O Jesus, I find myself deeply moved in the presence of Your infinite love. How grateful I am to You! I do not know how to do anything else but repeat: Thank You, O Jesus! What shall I do for You, O Lord, in return for Your Gift?

I hear Your sweet voice repeating to me: “My son, give Me thy heart” (Prov. 23:26). Yes, Lord, I offer You my heart and my soul. I consecrate to You my whole life. I want to belong entirely to You forever.

To Jesus Crucified

Behold, O good and most sweet Jesus, I cast myself upon my knees in Thy sight, and with the most fervent desire of my soul, I pray and beseech Thee that Thou wouldst impress upon my heart lively sentiments of Faith, Hope, and Charity, with true contrition for my sins and a firm purpose of amendment; while with deep affection and grief of soul I ponder within myself and mentally contemplate Thy five most precious wounds, having before my eyes that which David the Prophet spoke of Thee, my good Jesus: “They have pierced My hands and My feet, they have numbered all My bones.” (Our Father, Hail Mary)

Invocations

Soul of Christ, make me holy. Body of Christ, save me. Blood of Christ, inebriate me. Water from the side of Christ, cleanse me. Passion of Christ, strengthen me. O good Jesus, hear me. Within Thy wounds, shelter me. Do not permit me to be separated from Thee. From the wicked enemy defend me. At the hour of my death, call me, and bid me to come to Thee, that with Thy Saints I may praise Thee forever. Amen.

Prayer of Saint Bonaventure

Pierce, O most sweet Lord Jesus Christ, mine inmost soul with the most joyous and healthful wound of Thy love, with true, serene, and most holy apostolic charity, that my soul may ever languish and melt with love and longing for Thee, that it may yearn for Thee and faint for Thy courts, and long to be dissolved and to be with Thee. Grant that my soul may hunger after Thee, the bread of angels, the refreshment of holy souls, our daily and supersubstantial bread, having all sweetness and savor and every delight of taste. Let my heart ever hunger after and feed upon Thee, whom the angels desire to look upon, and may my inmost soul be filled with the sweetness of Thy savor. May it ever thirst after Thee, the fountain of life, the fountain of wisdom and knowledge, the fountain of eternal light, the torrent of pleasure, the richness of the house of God. May it ever compass Thee, seek Thee, find Thee, run to Thee, attain to Thee, meditate upon Thee, speak of Thee, and do all things to the praise and glory of Thy Holy name, with humility and discretion, with love and delight, with readiness and affection, and with perseverance unto the end. Be Thou alone ever my hope and my whole confidence, my riches, my delight, my pleasure and my joy; my rest and tranquility; my peace, my sweetness and my fragrance; my sweet savor, my food and refreshment; my refuge and my help; my wisdom, my portion, my possession and my treasure, in whom may my mind and my heart be ever fixed and firm, and rooted immovably. Amen.

Prayer of St. Thomas Aquinas

I give Thee thanks, O holy Lord, Almighty Father, Eternal God, who has vouchsafed, not through any merits of mine, but out of the condescension of Thy great mercy, to nourish me a sinner, thine unworthy servant, with the precious Body and Blood of Thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that this Holy Communion be not to me a condemnation unto punishment, but a saving plea unto forgiveness. May It be unto me the armor of faith and the shield of good purpose. May It cause the emptying out of my vices and the extinction of all concupiscence and lust; an increase of charity and patience, of humility and obedience, and of all virtues. May It be unto me a strong defense against the snares of all my enemies, visible and invisible; the perfect quieting of all my evil impulses both fleshly and spiritual; may It cause me to firmly cleave unto Thee, the one true God; and may It make my death holy and happy. And I pray Thee that Thou wouldst vouchsafe to bring me, a sinner, to that ineffable banquet, where Thou, with Thy Son and Thy Holy Spirit, art to Thy saints true light, fulness of content, eternal joy, gladness without alloy, and perfect happiness. I ask this through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Holy Communion With Mary

(Meditating on the Hail Mary)

Preparation

O holy Virgin, I am about to receive Your Jesus. I wish my heart were like Yours when You became Mother of the Savior at the time of the Annunciation of the Angel.

Hail Mary

I greet You, good Mother. Allow me to unite myself with You to adore Jesus. Lend me Your affections, Your sentiments. Moreover I ask You, in fact, to adore Him for me. Hail, O true Body of Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary! I believe, and I adore You.

Full of grace

You, Mary, were worthy to receive the all-holy God, for You were full of grace from the first moment of Your life. But I am poor and sinful. My evil ways make me unfit to go to Communion. O my Mother, cover me with Your merits and lead me to Jesus.

The Lord is with Thee

The Lord is with Thee, O most Holy Virgin. By Your ardent longing You drew Him down from Heaven into Your heart. Instill also in my heart an ardent longing and an insatiable hunger for Jesus, so that I can truly say, “Come, O my Jesus, I long for You with the heart of Mary, Your Mother and mine.”

Blessed art Thou among women

Blessed art Thou, O Mary, who have never known the remorse that comes from committing sin; for You are free of every kind of sin and imperfection. But I know I have sinned, and I am not sure that I have been sufficiently sorry. Make me understand the evil of my sins and the goodness of God Whom I have offended. I weep for my sins. Present me thus penitent to Your Jesus.

And blessed is the Fruit of Thy womb

Ah, good Mother! What a great gift You have given us in giving us our Savior, Jesus! And behold, He wants to come to me to make me an especially beloved child of Your heart. I go with confidence to receive Him, and I say to Him: “My Jesus, I abandon myself to You. Come to give me strength to serve You faithfully, and the hope of enjoying You forever with Your Mother in Heaven.”

Jesus

Grant, O Mother, that I experience those sentiments that You experienced as You lived in Jesus' company, as You called Him by name. I am now about to receive Him. Allow me to be able to say to Him: “Come, O my Jesus. You will find in me the same welcome that You had from Your Mother on earth. I hope that through Her intercession You will welcome me into Heaven.”

Thanksgiving

Holy Mary, Mother of God

O my Mother, how happy I am to be united with my Jesus! But how do I deserve to have my Lord come down to me? O Mary, who are holy and Immaculate, offer Him worthy thanks for me.

O Thou who from the first perceived the heartbeats of that Jesus Whom I now welcome within me, Thou who loved Him more than all the Saints together have loved Him, and who lived for Him alone when You were on earth, grant that I may now share Your sentiments and Your love.

And Thou, O Jesus, accept the love of Your Mother as though it were my own and do not deny me a tender glance while I also say to Thee with all my heart, “I love Thee.”

Pray for us sinners

Pray for me, O Mary. At this time unite Your prayers to mine. And now that Jesus has come into my heart, ready to grant me all graces, I wish to ask Him above all that I never separate myself from Him by sin. And You, O Mary, preserve me from evil, and be my refuge in temptation.

Now

For now and from now on, beloved Mother, I beg for all the graces that are profitable to my soul. Obtain for me this favor: that I be clothed with the virtues of goodness and meekness and that my life be one of spotless purity.

And at the hour of our death

From now on my prayer, O Jesus, is that I may receive You worthily at the time of my death and that my death may be a holy one. I accept it, when and how You shall send it to me — I welcome it in union with Your sacrifice fulfilled on the Cross. I accept it in order to submit myself to the divine Will, for the glory of God, for my salvation, and for the salvation of souls.

O Sorrowful Virgin, assist me as You have assisted Jesus in His last agony.

“Amen”

“So be it.” O Jesus, here is the word that I want to repeat at every instant, both during my youth and throughout my life. May Thy Will be done always. And all that You provide is the best thing for me, and from now on I accept it and give You thanks. Amen.

Before The Holy Eucharist

The Visit to the Blessed Sacrament

My Lord Jesus Christ, Who, for the love You bear towards men, remain in this Sacrament night and day, filled with compassion and love, waiting, calling, and welcoming all who come to visit Thee: I believe that Thou art present in the Sacrament of the Altar; I adore Thee from the abyss of my nothingness, and I thank Thee for all the graces Thou hast given me, particularly for having given me Thyself in this Sacrament, for having given me Thy Most Holy Mother Mary as my Advocate, and for having called me to visit Thee in this church.

I pay reverence to Thy most loving Heart today, and this for three purposes: first, in thanksgiving for this great Gift; second, to make reparation for all the outrages Thou hast received from all Thy enemies in this Sacrament; third, I intend by this visit to adore Thee in all the places on earth in which Thou art present in this Sacrament, and in which Thou art least honored and most abandoned.

My Jesus, I love Thee with all my heart. I repent of having so often displeased Thy infinite Goodness in the past. I resolve with the help of Thy grace not to offend Thee ever again in the future; and for the present, poor sinner though I be, I consecrate myself wholly to Thee. I renounce and surrender to Thee my whole will, my affections, my desires, and all that belongs to me. From this day forward do whatever You please with me and what belongs to me. I ask and wish only of Thee Thy holy love, final perseverance, and the perfect fulfillment of Thy Will.

I recommend to Thee the souls in Purgatory, especially those most devoted to the Most Blessed Sacrament and to the Blessed Virgin Mary. I also recommend to Thee all poor sinners.

O my beloved Savior, I unite all my affections with the affections of Thy most loving Heart, and thus united, I offer them to Thy Eternal Father, and I beg Him in Thy name that for love of Thee He accept them and heed them. Amen.

Spiritual Communion

My Jesus, I believe that You are really present in the Most Blessed Sacrament. I love Thee above all things, and I desire to possess Thee within my soul. Since I cannot now receive Thee sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart.

(Make a brief pause, and during it unite yourself with Jesus.)

I embrace Thee as being already there and unite myself wholly to Thee. Never, never permit me to be separated from Thee. Amen.

Visit to the Blessed Virgin Mary

O most holy, Immaculate Virgin and my Mother Mary, to Thee who are the Mother of my Lord, the Queen of the world, the Advocate, the hope, the refuge of sinners, I, who am the most miserable of all sinners, have recourse today. I venerate Thee, O great Queen, and I thank Thee for all the graces Thou hast conferred on me until now, especially for having delivered me from hell, which I have so often deserved. I love Thee, O Most amiable Lady, and because of the love I bear Thee, I promise to serve Thee always and do all in my power to make Thee loved by others. I place in Thee all my hopes; I confide my salvation to Thy care. Accept me as Thy servant, and shelter me under Thy mantle, O Mother of Mercy. And since You are so powerful with God, deliver me from all temptations, or obtain for me the strength to triumph over them until my death.

Of Thee I ask a perfect love of Jesus Christ. From Thee I hope to die a good death. O Mary, my Mother, for the love You bear to God, I beg You to help me always, but especially at the last moment of my life. Leave me not, I beseech Thee, until Thou seest me safe in Heaven, blessing Thee and singing Thy mercies for all eternity. Amen. So I hope. So may it be.

— St. Alphonsus Liguori 

end of Series VII

Perfection Series VII Part VIII Mary and The Eucharist

One time, I was at Adoration with a group of very mature in the faith Catholic women. This was in a private chapel. We said the rosary together and during the rosary, it was clear that all of us were being moved in a special way. In my mind's eye, I could see Mary, Our Mother, kneeling before the Eucharist and bowing her head. Others felt very keenly the Presence of God, the Holy Spirit. Mary was in the room, like she was at Pentecost with the apostles.

Mary did not need to receive the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. She lived her entire life, in her entire being in the Trinity. Quite rightly is Mary the Co-Redemptrix, the Mediatrix of All Graces.

I hope this present pope declares this as a dogma. A new life would enter the Church in great power if this dogma were declared to the entire world.

The Holy Eucharist is the Bread that comes from our Heavenly Mother. It is Bread produced by Mary from the flour of Her immaculate flesh, kneaded into dough with Her virginal milk. St. Augustine wrote, “Jesus took His Flesh from the flesh of Mary.“

We know, too, that united to the Divinity in the Eucharist there is Jesus' Body and Blood taken from the body and blood of the Blessed Virgin. Therefore at every Holy Communion we receive, it would be quite correct, and a very beautiful thing, to take notice of our Holy Mother's sweet and mysterious presence, inseparably united with Jesus in the Host. Jesus is always the Son She adores. He is Flesh of Her flesh and Blood of Her blood. If Adam could call Eve when she had been taken from his rib, “bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh“ (Gen. 2:23), cannot the holy Virgin Mary even more rightly call Jesus “Flesh of My flesh and Blood of My blood“? Taken from the “intact Virgin“ as says St. Thomas Aquinas, the flesh of Jesus is the maternal flesh of Mary, the Blood of Jesus is the maternal blood of Mary. Therefore it will never be possible to separate Jesus from Mary.

For this reason at every Holy Mass which is celebrated, the Blessed Virgin can repeat with truth to Jesus in the Host and in the Chalice, “You are My Son, today I have generated You“ (Ps 2:7). And justly St. Augustine teaches us that in the Eucharist “Mary extends and perpetuates Her Divine Maternity“, while St. Albert the Great exhorts with love, “My Soul if you wish to experience intimacy with Mary let yourself be carried between Her arms and nourished with Her blood“ ... Go with this ineffable chaste thought to the banquet of God and you will find in the Blood of the Son the nourishment of the Mother.

Many Saints and theologians (St. Peter Damien, St. Bernard, St. Bonaventure, St. Bernadine ... say that Jesus instituted the Eucharist above all for Mary and then through Mary, the Universal Mediatrix of All Graces, for all of us. And from Mary therefore Jesus comes to be given to us day by day; and in Jesus is always the Immaculate flesh and the Virginal blood of His Most Holy Mother which penetrates into our hearts and inebriates our souls. In an ecstasy during the celebration of Holy Mass, St. Ignatius of Loyola contemplated one day the reality revealed by this most sweet truth and he remained celestially moved for a long time.

Furthermore, if we reflect that Jesus, the Fruit of Mary's immaculate womb, constitutes all of Mary's love, all of Her sweetness, all of Her tenderness, Her whole riches, Her whole life, then we see that when we receive Him we cannot fail to also receive Her who, by ties of the highest love, as well as by ties of flesh and blood, forms with Jesus one unity, one whole, as She is always and inseparably “leaning upon Her Beloved“ (Cant. 8:5). Is it not true that love, and above all divine love, unites and unifies? And aside from the Unity in the bosom of the Blessed Trinity, can we think of a unity more close and total than that between Jesus and the Virgin Mary?

Mary's purity, Her virginity, Her tender ways, Her sweet manner, Her love, and even the very features of Her heavenly face — all these we find in Jesus; for the most holy humanity assumed by the Word is wholly and only Mary's humanity, on account of the great mystery of the virginal Conception accomplished by the Holy Spirit, Who made Mary Jesus' Mother, while consecrating Her as a Virgin that would be forever undefiled and glorious in soul and body.

And thus “The Eucharist,“ writes St. Albert the Great, “produces impulses of a love that is angelic, and It has the unique power to put in souls a holy feeling of tenderness toward the Queen of Angels. She has given us what is Flesh of Her flesh and Bone of Her bone, and in the Eucharist She continues to give us this sweet, virginal, heavenly banquet."

Finally, in the eternal generation of the Word in the bosom of the Trinity, the Father gives Himself wholly to the Son, Who is “Mirror of the Father“, similarly in the temporal generation of the same Word in the bosom of humanity, the Mother of God gives Herself wholly to the Son, to Her Jesus, “the virginal Flower of the Virgin Mother“ (Pius XII). And the Son in His turn gives Himself wholly to the Mother, making Himself similar to Her and making Her “fully Godlike“ (St. Peter Damian).

St. Peter Julian Eymard, that Saint so totally devoted to the Eucharist, declared that even in this world, after Jesus' Ascension into Heaven, the Blessed Virgin “lived a life in and by the Blessed Sacrament“; and thus he liked to call Her “Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament.“ And Padre Pio of Pietrelcina would sometimes say to his spiritual children, “Do you not see the Madonna always beside the tabernacle?“ And how could She fail to be there — She who “stood by the cross of Jesus“ on Calvary (John 19:25)? Therefore St. Alphonsus Liguori, in his book of devotions, used to always join a visit to the Blessed Virgin Mary to each visit to Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. And Saint Maximilian M. Kolbe used to recommend that when we go before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, we never fail to remember Mary's presence, calling on Her and associating ourselves with Her, at least seeing to it that Her sweet name comes to mind.

Thought from Father Minelli's Book; Perfection Series VII; Part VII

"Do you want the Lord to give you many graces? Visit Him often. Do you want Him to give you few graces? Visit Him rarely. Do you want the devil to attack you? Visit Jesus rarely in the Blessed Sacrament. Do you want him to flee from you? Visit Jesus often. Do you want to conquer the devil? Take refuge often at the feet of Jesus. Do you want to be conquered by the devil? Forget about visiting Jesus. My dear ones, the visit to the Blessed Sacrament is an extremely necessary way to conquer the devil. Therefore, go often to visit Jesus and the devil will not come out victorious against you."

- St. John Bosco

Perfection Series VII: Eucharistic Love Part VI

I have to deal with something serious and will not be posting until tomorrow. Pray for me, please, for wisdom and prudence.

I can share this.  Fr. Minelli writes of the importance of those moments after Communion. Too often, there is talk and music, when the congregation should be in quiet. Until I can get back to you, read this selection from the book I have been sharing, Jesus Our Eucharistic Love.

With Communion, Jesus enters my heart and remains corporally present in me as long as the species (the appearance) of bread lasts; that is, for about 15 minutes. During this time, the Holy Fathers teach that the angels surround me to continue to adore Jesus and love Him without interruption. “When Jesus is corporally present within us, the angels surround us as a guard of love,” wrote St. Bernard. 

Perhaps we think too little about the sublimity of every Holy Communion, and yet, St. Pius X said that “if the Angels could envy, they would envy us for Holy Communion.” And St. Madeleine Sophie Barat defined Holy Communion as “Paradise on earth.”

All the saints have understood by experience the Divine marvel of the meeting and the union with Jesus in the Eucharist. They have understood that a devout Holy Communion means to be possessed by Him and to possess Him. “He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood abides in Me and I in him” (John 6:57). One time St. Gemma Galgani wrote, “It is now night, tomorrow morning is approaching and then Jesus will possess me and I will possess Jesus.” It is not possible to have a union of love more profound and more total: He in me and I in Him; the one in the other. What more could we want?

“You envy,” said St. John Chrysostom, “the opportunity of the woman who touched the vestments of Jesus, of the sinful woman who washed His feet with her tears, of the women of Galilee who had the happiness of following Him in His pilgrimages, of the Apostles and disciples who conversed with Him familiarly, of the people of the time who listened to the words of grace and salvation which came forth from His lips. You call happy those who saw Him ... But, come to the altar and you will see Him, you will touch Him, you will give to Him holy kisses, you will wash Him with your tears, you will carry Him within you like Mary Most Holy.”

For this reason the saints have desired and longed for Holy Communion with ardent love; for example, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Paschal Baylon, St. Veronica, St. Gerard, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, St. Dominic Savio, St. Gemma Galgani ... it is pointless to continue because one would really need to list all the saints.

For example, it happened one night to St. Catherine of Genoa, that she dreamed that the following day she would not be able to receive Holy Communion. The sorrow that she experienced was so great that she cried unceasingly, and when she woke up the next morning she found that her face was all wet from the tears she shed in her dream.

St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus has written a little Eucharistic Poem, “Desires near the Tabernacle,” in which, among other beautiful things, she said, “I would like to be the chalice there, where I would adore the Divine Blood. I can however in the Holy Sacrifice, gather It in me every morning. My soul is therefore more dear to Jesus, it is more precious than vessels of gold.” And what was not the happiness of the angelic Saint when, during an epidemic, daily Communion was conceded to her?

St. Gemma Galgani one time was put to the test by a confessor who forbade her to receive Holy Communion. “O Father, Father,” she wrote to her spiritual director, “today I went to Confession and the confessor has said that I must stop receiving Jesus. O my Father, my pen does not want to write more, my hand shakes strongly, I cry.” Dear Saint! Truly a seraphim all on fire with love for the Eucharistic Jesus.

Similarly, St. Gerard Majella, for a false and slanderous report from which he did not wish to defend himself, was punished by being deprived of Holy Communion. The suffering of the Saint was such that one day he refused to go to serve Holy Mass for a priest who was visiting, “because,” he said, “on seeing Jesus in the Host in the hands of the priest, I would not be able to resist taking by force the Host from his hands.” What longing consumed this wonderful Saint! And what a rebuke for us who, perhaps, are able to receive Holy Communion daily with ease and we do not do it. It is a sign that we lack the essential: love. And perhaps we are so in love with earthly pleasures that we can no longer appreciate the heavenly delights of union with Jesus in the Host. “Child, how can you feel the fragrance of Paradise which diffuses Itself from the Tabernacle?” asked St. Philip of a young man in love with the pleasures of the flesh, of dances and amusements. The joys of the Eucharist and the satisfaction of the senses are “opposed to each other” (Gal. 5:17) and the “sensual man perceives not these things which are of the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 2:14). This is wisdom which comes from God.

St. Philip Neri loved the Eucharist so much that, even when he was gravely ill, he received Holy Communion every day, and if Jesus was not brought to him very early in the morning he became very upset and he could not find rest in any way. “I have such a desire to receive Jesus,” he exclaimed, “that I cannot give myself peace while I wait.” The same thing took place in our own time to Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, since only obedience could make him wait until 4 or 5 a.m. to celebrate Mass. Truly, the love of God is a “Devouring Fire” (Deut. 4:24).

...

Finally, let us reflect that in Holy Communion we unite ourselves not only to Jesus but also to all the members of the Mystical Body of Christ, especially to the souls most dear to Jesus and most dear to our heart. It is in Holy Communion that we realize fully the words of Jesus, “I in them ... that they may be perfect in unity” (John 17:23). The Eucharist renders us one, even among ourselves, His members, “all one in Jesus” as St. Paul says (Gal. 3:28). Holy Communion is truly all love of God and neighbor. It is the true “feast of love,” as St. Gemma Galgani said. And in this “feast of love” the soul in love can exult singing with St. John of the Cross, “Mine are the heavens and mine is the earth, mine are men, the Just are mine and sinners are mine. The Angels are mine, and also the Mother of God, all things are mine. God Himself is mine and for me because Christ is mine and all for me.”