PRAYER TO ST DAMIEN OF MOLOKAI

SAINT DAMIEN OF MOLOKAI (1840-1889), SERVANT OF GOD, SERVANT OF HUMANITY

God, our Father, we give thanks for Damien, our brother. Following Jesus, Your Son, he went to the lepers of Molokai, he became one of them even onto death; he showed them that You love them; he gave them back the pride of being human, and the hope of a future.

Therefore, we ask You; may we be resurrected by Your Spirit to walk in the footsteps of Damien, to be animated by the same faith.

Open our eyes, open our hearts, that we might go to all those abandoned, ignored, forgotten. Obtain that through us they may discover who You are. Raise up men and women ready to follow the road he has walked.

This is the prayer that we address to You, Father full of tenderness and love, You, our God, always and for all eternity. Amen.

 

PRINCE CHARLES IN TRIBUTE TO CARMELITE NUN

“Prince Charles dedicated a new bell at Bayeux Cathedral in memory of a Carmelite nun murdered by the Nazis in 1942 while he was in France marking the 70th anniversary of D-Day.

St. Teresa Benedicta, martyr of the Holocaust, was gassed at Auschwitz, and proclaimed a Patron of Europe by Pope John Paul II in 1999.

The bell had been sponsored by HM the Queen who was represented by Prince Charles at the service. He was called upon by the Cardinal Archbishop of Paris to choose the name of the bell, representing peace and freedom and brotherhood amongst all peoples.

PEACE, FREEDOM AND BROTHERHOOD AMONGST ALL PEOPLES

The bell [did] peal out for the first time on 14th June, which in Carmelite tradition is the feast of Elisha, Old Testament successor to the Prophet Elijah, whose feast is 20th July, a key model in Carmelite spirituality and tradition.

Nine young people from America, Canada, Great Britain, Norway, Poland, Belgium, Holland, France and Germany took part in the ceremony. Bishop Nigel McCulloch, chaplain to the British Legion, said: ‘It was an iconic moment as the shared blessing of Reconciliation was given by Cardinal Archbishop Vingt Trois of Paris, the retired German Bishop Rainer Klug of Freiburg and myself,’ he said.

After asking His Royal Highness to name the bell the cardinal struck it twice – ‘which was quite a clang for those of us nearby!’ Bishop McCulloch commented.

Veteran James Aitken, aided by his grandson, a serving soldier with the Royal Artillery, then struck it once in memory of all those who had been killed in the D-Day landings. The cardinal blessed the bell as an act of reconciliation, sprinkling holy water over it, saying, ‘May Teresa Benedicta proclaim peace, freedom and brotherhood to the Glory of God and mankind.’

St Teresa Benedicta, whose original name was Edith Stein, first renounced her Jewish faith and then converted to Catholicism after reading the autobiography of Teresa of Avila, the Carmelite mystic.”
– This article was published in “The Catholic Universe” issue Friday 13th June, 2014. For subscriptions please visit http://www.thecatholicuniverse.com (external link).

 

THE LEAVEN OF GRACE

“The reign of God in our soul resembles, in its beginnings and in its progress, a little leaven hidden in the dough. The first grace, which leads to conversion, and prepares the way for the great work of salvation, is often, in its beginnings, like a scarcely perceptible ferment. It is to all appearance a trifle, a simple detail in the thousand details of life, which leads, or perhaps restores, us to God: for example a chance meeting on a voyage; a conversation overheard at the psychological moment; a sermon, which has at length reached the ear of the soul; perhaps simply reading something good… Such is the leaven of grace buried in a man’s soul.

There it remains, hidden at first from profane eyes.

He goes about his usual occupations, nothing is changed in the routine of his exterior life, but his soul is moved in its very depths. Wait! If this soul offers no resistance, if it is generous enough to correspond to the divine impulse within it, you will soon see the effects which by degrees, will sanctify it completely. O precious leaven, O first grace, which will procure others for us, how important is it that we should receive you well, that we should give timely assistance to your salutary fermentation! Eternity depends on it.”
– Paraboles Evangeliques

 

“THE NEED TO FORGO ONESELF FOR THE GREATER GOOD OF OTHERS”

On “15th June is the feastday of St Orsisius. He was born in the 4th century in North Africa and at a young age became interested in monastic life through his meeting with St Pachomius. This saint asked St Orsisius, and another monk named Theodore, to accompany him on his travels, and to help him write a rule of life for the monks.

Despite his youth, St Orsisius was appointed Abbot at the monastery of Khenoboski, Egypt, but the older monks took exception to him being appointed so young. They wondered how someone so young could presume to guide the older experienced monks in spiritual matters. Others defended the appointment by arguing, ‘Is the Kingdom of God only for the elderly?’

‘IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD ONLY FOR THE ELDERLY?’

St Orsisius stayed in that community for some time and was then chosen to be the Abbot at the monastic community of Tabennisi. All began well, but after some years complaints were made that St Orsisius was observing their rule of life too strictly and, not wishing to bring division to the community, he stepped down from being Abbot as a sign of his humility. The new Abbot, the same Theodore mentioned earlier, realising that St Orsisius was a monk of great spirituality, consulted him on many matters, seeing his advice on how to draw the monks closer to God. When Theodore died the monks again chose St Orsisius as their abbot, a position he held until his death twelve years later.

St Orsisius reminds us that young people can have a lot to share with us older people about spiritual truths. Also he shows us the power of humility and the need to forgo oneself for the greater good of others.”
– From: “Spiritual Thought from Fr Chris” (June 2014)

 

TODAY’S GOSPEL READING (MATTHEW 8:18-22)

FOLLOW ME.

When Jesus saw the great crowds all about him he gave orders to leave for the other side. One of the scribes came up and said to him, “Master, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

Another man, one of his disciples, said to him, “Sir, let me go and bury my father first.” But Jesus replied, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their dead.”

V. The Gospel of the Lord.
R. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

 

TODAY’S PSALM (PSALM 49)

R. Mark this, you who never think of God.

1. “How can you recite my commandments
and take my covenant on your lips,
you who despise my law
and throw my words to the winds? (R.)

2. “You who see a thief and go with him;
who throw in your lot with adulterers,
who unbridle your mouth for evil
and whose tongue is plotting crime. (R.)

3. “You who sit and malign your brother
and slander your own mother’s son.
You do this, and should I keep silence?
Do you think that I am like you? (R.)

4. “Mark this, you who never think of God,
lest I seize you and you cannot escape;
a sacrifice of thanksgiving honours me
and I will show God’s salvation to the upright. (R.)

ALLELUIA

Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the light of the world, says the Lord,
anyone who follows me
will have the light of life.
Alleluia!

 

TODAY’S BIBLE READING (AMOS 2:6-10, 13-16)

THEY TRAMPLE ON THE HEADS OF ORDINARY PEOPLE.

The Lord says this:
For the three crimes, the four crimes, of Israel
I have made my decree and will not relent:
because they have sold the virtuous man for silver
and the poor man for a pair of sandals,
because they trample on the heads of ordinary people
and push the poor out of their path,
because father and son have both resorted to the same girl,
profaning my holy name,
because they stretch themselves out by the side of every altar
on clothes acquired as pledges,
and drink the wine of the people they have fined
in the house of their god…
Yet it was I who overthrew the Amorites when they attacked,
men tall as cedars and strong as oaks,
I who destroyed them,
both fruit above ground
and root below.
It was I who brought you out of the land of Egypt
and for forty years led you through the wilderness
to take possession of the Amorite’s country.
See then how I am going to crush you into the ground
as the threshing-sledge crushes when clogged by straw;
flight will not save even the swift,
the strong man will find his strength useless,
the mighty man will be powerless to save himself.
The bowman will not stand his ground,
the fast runner will not escape,
the horseman will not save himself,
the bravest warriors will run away naked that day.
It is the Lord who speaks.

V. The word of the Lord.
R. Thanks be to God.

 

“HE’D ONCE SAID TO HER THAT IF EVERY RELIGION HAD CONFESSION MOST PSYCHIATRISTS WOULD BE OUT OF A JOB”

“… I must try to explain something that is basic to the understanding of our Catholic faith, namely, that it is Christ himself who is the chief operator in each of the sacraments. Although it is the priest who says ‘I baptise you’ or ‘I absolve you’ or ‘This is my body’ it is Our Lord himself who effects the sacramental change that takes place.

St Augustine (354-430) had to argue with some people who said that baptisms done by heretics were not valid. The saint replied that they did not understand how the sacraments work. ‘When Peter baptises’, he said, ‘it is Christ who baptises. When Paul baptises, it is Christ who baptises. When Judas baptises, it is Christ who baptises.’

So you can have Our Lord in one confessional, and any priest you like in the next one, even one leading a bad life or who’s even lost the faith. The advice they give to the penitent would of course be different, but the effect in the penitent’s soul when they say, “And now I absolve you from your sins’ would be the same in each case. Why? Because in each case it would be Our Lord himself acting on their souls.

If the efficacy of the sacraments depended on the holiness of the priest, we could be caught up in a turmoil of anxiety and rash judging. As it is, we look beyond the actual priest, who anyhow is a sinner like ourselves and himself needs to go to confession. We look to Christ. Whoever the priest may be, when we hear those comforting words, ‘I absolve you’, it is Jesus who has touched our souls.

The wounds left in us by sin, by original sin and by our own sins, go very deep. No psychologist can know just where they are or how deep they go. Only God knows. And in this sacrament he touches those wounds with his healing hands.

GOD’S HEALING HANDS

I once knew a woman whose husband was a psychiatrist. He wasn’t a Catholic, but she told me he’d once said to her that if every religion had confession most psychiatrists would be out of a job.

Our stomach is made for food. It needs food. If it’s empty – well, we all know how wretched we feel. So too, our soul is made for God. We have a void in us that only God can fill. When we were baptised, he entered our soul. If we drive him out by serious sin, we soon feel the wretched emptiness.

We may distract ourselves and try to forget our hunger for God. We may seek to comfort our souls with creatures. But they cannot quell our hunger. Only God can. It’s like when men at sea, dying of thirst, try to forget their thirst by drinking seawater; it only makes matters worse. Fresh water is what they need, and our souls need God. ‘You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they rest in you,’ as St Augustine said, when he’d turned away from his sins and found God.

So when people come to me in trouble, I always first try to find out how they stand with God. Are they trying to live close to him? And if they’re Catholics, what about their sacramental life? This is the first thing to check up on. It’s the same if my car slows down and stops. The first thing I ask myself is ‘Have I run out of petrol?’ If there’s petrol in the tank, then it must be something else.

Our soul’s dependence on God is the central thing in our nature. It’s our soul’s most insistent need. A man may be as clever as you like, but if he’s estranged from God his heart will not be at peace…”
– Fr Hugh S. Thwaites

 

PRAYER ON THE SOLEMNITY OF SAINTS PETER AND PAUL

O God, as you consecrated this present day by the witness in martyrdom of your Apostles Peter and Paul, grant that your Church may always follow their teaching, since it was from them that she first learned to worship you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

 

THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

THE SALVATION HISTORY OF ALL MANKIND AS REVEALED IN THE BIBLE: THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

“A BAND OF FAITHFUL FOLLOWERS

For some time Jesus had been instructing His Apostles and disciples, seeking to lead them to a proper understanding of His own identity and of the nature of His mission and kingdom. Although His compassionate heart had induced Him to heal the sick when the occasion presented itself, still for the most part He had been living in Galilee as quietly as possible. Knowing already that His people, as a whole, were to reject Him, He had been content to spend His chief effort in the task of building up for Himself a band of faithful followers.

‘NO ONE DOES A THING IN SECRET IF HE WANTS TO BE PUBLICLY KNOWN’

But the Feast of Tabernacles was approaching and many pious Jews were going to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast. Some of the relatives of Jesus – cousins perhaps – urged him to go to Jerusalem. Having seen or heard of His miracles, they were in some doubt about His true identity. Perhaps He was the Messias, they reasoned, but if He were, He should go up to Jerusalem, the very centre of Judaism, and there make some magnificent display of His power and so draw men to Himself.

‘Leave here,’ they said to Him, ‘and go into Judea that Thy disciples also may see the works that Thou dost; for no one does a thing in secret if he wants to be publicly known. If thou dost these things, manifest thyself to the world.’ (John 7:3-4)

This reasoned request shows that even some of the relatives of Jesus had no true understanding of His mission in this world. They were somewhat impressed by the magnificence of His powers, but they failed to grasp the meaning of His doctrine of repentance and of the spiritual nature of His kingdom.

JESUS REFUSED TO CATER TO THIS MISUNDERSTANDING OF HIS ROLE IN HUMAN HISTORY

Jesus refused to cater to this misunderstanding of His role in human history.

‘My time has not yet come,’ He replied to His relatives, ‘but your time is always at hand. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I bear witness concerning it, that its works are evil. As for you, go up to the feast, but I do not go up to this feast, for my time is not yet fulfilled’ (John 7:6-8).

He did not mean that He would not go to Jerusalem for the feast. He meant that He would not go up to Jerusalem in the manner requested by them. He would not go up to Jerusalem to score a political triumph or start a political movement to make the Jews a great nation politically. But He did go to Jerusalem privately, in His own way, to proclaim once again His message of deliverance from sin.

HIS MESSAGE OF DELIVERANCE FROM SIN

His appearance at the feast did not go unnoticed. Opinion about Him was divided. Some thought Him a good man, but others considered Him a seducer of the people. It was still remembered that on His last visit to Jerusalem He had been attacked by the leaders of the people because He had healed a man on the Sabbath day. For this reason – because He seemed to them to be advocating the destruction of the Law of Moses – the leaders had determined to have Him put to death.

THE LEADERS HAD DETERMINED TO HAVE HIM PUT TO DEATH

One day, about the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the Temple to teach. In His discussion with the crowd He brought up again this old grievance which the leaders held against Him. The Law of Moses, He reminded them, required them to circumcise a man even on the Sabbath. Why then did they object when He cured a man on the Sabbath? They should judge, not by appearances but by truth.

JUDGE NOT BY APPEARANCES BUT BY TRUTH

The crowd still remained divided in its opinion of Jesus. Some still regarded Him as a seducer; others thought He might be the Christ, the Messias. Word of His teaching reached the Pharisees and they sent attendants to seize Him.

‘RIVERS OF LIVING WATER’

On the last day of the feast Jesus, addressing the crowd, said, ‘If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture says, ‘From within him there shall flow rivers of living water'” (John 7:37-38).

These words also, which Jesus spoke of the coming of the Holy Spirit into the world, caused the people to dispute with one another about His identity. The turmoil was so great and the uncertainty so extreme that the attendants sent by the Pharisees dared not arrest Jesus.

‘I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD’

In spite of the opposition which His teaching aroused, Jesus continued to make His claim.

‘I am the light of the world,’ He said, “He who follows me does not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life’ (John 8:12).

The Pharisees objected that His claim was unsubstantiated. He offered nothing but His own word about Himself. Jesus replied that His witness to Himself was acceptable because He knew the truth, He knew from whence He came and whither He would go. He meant that He knew that He had come forth from God the Father and would return to God the Father. And so He said to them that His word was not alone, but was reinforced by the word of His Father in Heaven. To which word of His Father does He refer? To His Father’s word at His baptism or transfiguration? To the prophetic words spoken through the Father’s inspiration and found in the Sacred Scriptures of the Chosen People? To the miracles which He Himself worked through the power of His Father? Jesus does not say, but He has already pointed to these indications of His Father’s testimony to Himself.

‘YOU KNOW NEITHER ME NOR MY FATHER’

The Pharisees refused to accept the staggering truth that Jesus was indeed the Son of God and therefore equal to God. ‘Where is thy father?’ they asked, meaning no doubt, where is Thy human father. Jesus answered, ‘You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would then know my Father also’ (Kohn 8:19).

In spite of the opposition of the Pharisees Jesus continued to make His claim to be the Son of God, the equal of God in divinity. ‘I go,’ He said to them, meaning that He would return to His Father in Heaven, ‘and you will seek me, and in your sin you will die. Where I go you cannot come’ (John 8:21).

The Jews misunderstood Him – or at least pretended to misunderstand Him – and asked did he mean to commit suicide. Jesus told them that they did not understand Him because they were blinded by their sins and their worldliness. ‘You are from below,’ He said, ‘I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins’ (John 8:23-24).

‘I AM HE’

Now in the Aramaic tongue which Jesus was speaking, the words ‘I am he’ would mean to the Jews that Jesus was claiming to be God. Since He appeared to be a man this claim seemed to many of them to be blasphemous. They asked Him, ‘Who art thou?’ Jesus was discouraged by their lack of belief, but He condescended to reiterate His claim.

‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that of myself I do nothing; but even as the Father has taught me, I speak these things. And he who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, because I do always the things that are pleasing to him’ (John 8:28-29).

‘THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE’

Some of the crowd believed in Him and to them He said, ‘If you abide in my word, you shall be my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free’ (John 8:31-32).

To abide in the word of Jesus is not simply to believe in His divinity; it is also to keep His word, that is, to live by the message of repentance and deliverance which Jesus brings to all men, to live according to the light and the life which Jesus gives to men. To live by the light and the life which Jesus gives is to be freed from sin, and thus, through living the truth, to be free.

FREEDOM THROUGH LIVING THE TRUTH

But some of those listening refused to accept the truth of Jesus and so they objected that they were children of Abraham and, as such, they were not slaves to anyone, that is, they worshipped the one true God and were not enslaved to any false gods.

Jesus pointed out to them that the freedom of which He spoke was freedom from sin.

‘Amen, amen, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. But the slave does not abide in the house forever; the son abides there forever. If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are the children of Abraham; but you seek to kill me because my word takes no hold among you. I speak what I have seen with the Father; and you do what you have seen with your father’ (John 8:34-38).

THE JEWS MUST ACCEPT JESUS, THE SON OF GOD, AS THEIR SALVATION

The freedom of which Jesus speaks is freedom from sin. As children of Abraham, and Jesus recognises that the Jews are physically children of Abraham – perhaps even spiritually his children because they believe in the God of Abraham and reject false gods – and hence they ought to be free. But they are slaves to sin, and hence not really free. Because they are sinners they refuse to accept Jesus as the Son of God. But only the Son of God, Who resides in the bosom of God forever, can give true freedom from sin. To be truly free from sin the Jews must accept Jesus, the Son of God, as their salvation. By refusing to accept Him they remain slaves to sin and their true father is not Abraham but the devil.

CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM?

The Jews reply that they have but one father, God. Jesus replies that they do not understand His words because they are children of the devil, who was a liar from the beginning. If God were really the Father of these unbelieving Jews – that is, if they really acknowledged God as their Father, if they really sought the holiness of God – then they would love Jesus and they would accept Him and His word. But because they are sinners and so slaves to the devil, the father of lies, they will not accept the truth which Jesus brings to them. Jesus then appeals to His own holiness, His own sinlessness, as a testimony of the truth of which He speaks.

‘Which of you can convict me of sin? If I speak the truth, why do you not believe me?’ Then He gives the reason for their unbelief: ‘He who is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear is that you are not of God’ (John 8:46-47).

AT THIS MOMENT JESUS IS OFFERING TO ALL MEN LIGHT AND LIFE AND FREEDOM FROM SIN

This discussion of Jesus with the Jews is of vital importance, not only to His immediate hearers but to all men. At this moment Jesus is offering to all men light and life and freedom from sin. In a word, He is offering men eternal salvation. This salvation can be grasped by accepting Jesus as the Messias, nay, even more than the Messias, as the very Son of God the Father, equal to God, in fact, God Himself. To those who accept Jesus as the Son of God, as God Himself, there will be given light and life and freedom from sin; they will have the power to abide in the word of Jesus, to live by the light and life which He will give them. But to accept Him they must be of God, that is, they must be men of good will, men ready to give up sin, to live as children, not of the devil but of God. Salvation is freely offered to men by Jesus, but it must be accepted freely, in love.

OF VITAL IMPORTANCE

Those who were unwilling to acccept Jesus retorted that He was a Samaritan and possessed by a devil. Calmly Jesus rejected their accusation: ‘I have not a devil, but I honour my Father, and you dishonour me. Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is one who seeks and who judges. Amen, amen, I say to you, if anyone keep my word, he will never see death’ (John 8:49-50).

ABRAHAM AND THE GREAT PROPHETS ARE DEAD – HOW THEN CAN JESUS GIVE ETERNAL LIFE?

Unwilling to see that Jesus spoke of eternal spiritual life, the unbelievers in the audience took His words in a purely material sense. Abraham and the great prophets are dead, they remarked. If this great men of God died, how can Jesus give eternal life. Whom does He make Himself? Jesus answered:

‘If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say that he is your God. And you do not know him, but I know him. And if I say that I do not know him, I shall be like you, a liar. But I know him, and I keep his word. Abraham your father rejoiced that he was to see my day. He saw it and was glad.’ The Jews therefore said to Him, ‘Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I am’ (John 8:54-58).

In the face of their unbelief and, almost, of their derision Jesus quietly claims to be God, for He claims to be eternal; before Abraham existed, Jesus was and is, for He is God. In prophetic vision Abraham saw that Jesus was to come to fulfil God’s promises and so he rejoiced.

The people understood the nature of the claim of Jesus. They saw that He was claiming to be God. Unable because of the worldliness and sinfulness of their hearts to accept Him as their God, they chose to regard Him as a blasphemer, and so they took up stones to stone Him to death for the sin of blasphemy. But Jesus his Himself from them and left the Temple.

“I BELIEVE, LORD”

Some time after this Jesus cured a man who had been blind from birth. When the news of this cure reached the Pharisees they investigated the fact thoroughly. They examined the man who had been cured; they questioned his parents; they re-examined the man himself. But they could not disprove the story. They were angry because Jesus had worked this miracle also on the Sabbath day. After their failure to shake the story of the cured man, they turned him out as a sinner.

Later Jesus met him again and said to him, ‘Dost thou believe in the Son of God?’ He answered and said, ‘Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him?’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Thou hast both seen him, and he it is who speaks with thee.’ And he said, ‘I believe, Lord.’ And falling down, he worshipped him (John 9:35-38). (Martin J. Healy, to be continued)