TODAY’S GOSPEL READING (LUKE 6:43-49)

(Week 23 of the year: Saturday)

WHY DO YOU CALL ME, “LORD, LORD” AND NOT DO WHAT I SAY?

For there is no good tree that bringeth forth evil fruit; nor an evil tree that bringeth forth good fruit.

For every tree is known by its fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns; nor from a bramble bush do they gather the grape.

A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth that which is evil. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

And why call you me, Lord, Lord; and do not the things which I say?

Every one that cometh to me, and heareth my words, and doth them, I will shew you to whom he is like.

He is like to a man building a house, who digged deep, and layed the foundation upon a rock. And when a flood came, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and it could not shake it; for it was founded on a rock.

But he that heareth, and doth not, is like to a man building his house upon the earth without a foundation: against which the stream beat vehemently, and immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.

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

 

GOD, THROUGH PURE LOVE, HAS SELECTED YOU FROM SO MANY PEOPLE HE COULD HAVE CREATED IN PLACE OF YOU

“God has loved you from eternity, and through pure love, he has selected you from among so many people whom he could have created in place of you; but he has left them in their nothingness, and has brought you into existence, and placed you in the world.

FOR THE LOVE OF YOU

For the love of you, he has made so many other beautiful creatures, that they might remind you of the love which he has borne to you, and of the gratitude which you owe to him. ‘Heaven and earth’, says St Augustine, and all things tell me to love you.’ When the saint beheld the sun, the stars, the mountains, the sea, the rains, they all appeared to him to speak, and to say: Augustine, love God; for he has created us that you might love him.

When Abbe De Rance, the founder of La Trappe, looked at the hills, the fountains, or flowers, he said that all these creatures reminded him of the love which God had borne him.

Saint Teresa used to say that these creatures reproached her with her ingratitude to God. When she held a flower or fruit in her hand, St Mary Magdalene de Pazzi used to feel her heart wounded with divine love, and used to say within herself: Then my God has thought from eternity of creating this flower and this fruit, that I might love him.”
– St Alphonsus Liguori

 

TODAY’S GOSPEL READING (MATTHEW 7:15-20)

YOU WILL BE ABLE TO TELL THEM BY THEIR FRUITS

Jesus said to his disciples: “Beware of false prophets who come to you disguised as sheep but underneath are ravenous wolves. You will be able to tell them by their fruits. Can people pick grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, a sound tree produces good fruit but a rotten tree bad fruit. A sound tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor a rotten tree good fruit. Any tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown on the fire. I repeat, you will be able to tell them by their fruits.”

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

 

ABIDE IN CHRIST TO BECOME BRANCHES LADEN WITH FRUIT

“I AM THE VINE…” – THE MORE WE PRAY AND LET CHRIST BE THE VERY CENTRE OF OUR LIVES, THE MORE HE RADIATES HIS INFINITE LIGHT THROUGH US…

“Abide in me.” We can only abide in a place where we are already. Jesus tells us to “abide” in him because we have been grafted onto him. This spiritual engrafting, an accomplished fact, was made possible for all men by Christ’s death on the cross, it became effective for each one of us at the time of our baptism. Christ grafted us into himself at the cost of his Precious Blood. Therefore we “are” in him, but he insists further that we “abide” in him to bring forth fruit.

Baptism is sufficient to graft us into Christ, and one degree of grace will permit us to abide in him like living branches, but we should not be content with this union only. We must show our gratitude for the immense gift we have received by endeavouring to become more and more firmly grafted into Christ. We must “live” this union with Christ, making him the centre, the sun of our interior life. “Abide in me” is not a chance expression. Christ wished to show us that our life in him requires our personal collaboration with him, that we are to employ all our strength, our mind, our will, and our heart that we may live in him and by him. The more we try to abide in Christ, the deeper our little branch will grow into him, because it will be nourished more abundantly by the sap of grace.

“Abide in me and I in you.” The more closely we are united to Christ by faith, charity and good works done with the intention of pleasing God, the more intensely he will live in us and bestow on us continually a new life of grace. Thus we shall become not merely living branches, but branches laden with fruit, the fruit of sanctity destined to bring joy to the heart of God, for Jesus has said: “In this is my Father glorified, that you bring forth very much fruit” (Jn 15:8).
– Fr Gabriel, Carmelite Priest

 

THE DIVINE PLAN FOR THE SALVATION OF ALL MEN

THE SALVATION HISTORY OF ALL MEN AS REVEALED IN THE BIBLE: JESUS’ LAST DISCOURSE

“Toward the close of the Last Supper there took place the famous last discourse of Jesus to His Apostles before His death. The discourse is both tender and mysterious. Jesus seems to be trying to lead His Apostles to a deeper understanding of the spiritual life which He has come to give them. He has foreseen and has foretold to them their desertion of Him in His hour of trial. He offers them words of consolation and of hope. But the hope is based on the acceptance of profound doctrines on the essence of God and on the divine plan for the redemption of man.

‘LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED’

Jesus begins with a word of consolation: ‘Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In My Father’s house there are many mansions. Were it not so, I should have told you, because I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again, and I will take you to Myself; that where I am, there you also may be. And where I go you know, and the way you know’ (John 14:1-4).

HE WHO SEES JESUS SEES ALSO THE FATHER

The Apostles did not understand Jesus. Thomas objected, ‘Lord, we do not know where thou art going, and how can we know the way?’ (John 14:5). Jesus replied, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me. If you had known Me, you would also have known My Father. And henceforth you do know Him, and you have seen him’ (John 14:6-7).

THE WAY, AND THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE

Again Thomas is mystified and he asks to be shown the Father. Jesus replies that he who sees Jesus sees also the Father. Then Jesus repeats what He had said on a previous occasion; He and the Father are one. While being distinct Persons, they are nevertheless both God, the one true God. Hence he who sees Jesus sees also the Father, for the Father is in His Son and the Son is in His Father.

JESUS TELLS THEM THAT THIS DOCTRINE IS A DIVINE REVELATION

Jesus then tells them that this doctrine is a divine revelation from the Father, a revelation guaranteed by the wondrous works, the miracles which the Father works through Jesus. If the Apostles will believe in Jesus because of these works, then they themselves will perform even more wondrous things, so that the Father may be glorified in Jesus.

‘IF YOU LOVE ME KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS’

Following this promise Jesus makes an even greater, though more mysterious promise. ‘If you love Me,’ He says, ‘keep My commandments. And I will ask the Father and He will give you another Advocate to dwell with you forever, the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you shall know Him because He will dwell with you, and be in you’ (John 14:15-17).

THE HOLY SPIRIT

Jesus returns several times throughout His discourse to this theme of the ‘Advocate,’ the ‘Spirit’ whom He and the Father will send to the Apostles. ‘But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your mind whatever I have said to you’ (John 14:26). ‘But when the Advocate has come, whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness concerning me’ (John 15:26). ‘It is expedient for you that I depart. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he has come he will convict the world of sin, and of justice, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of justice, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more; and of judgment, because the prince of this world has already been judged. Many things yet I have to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will teach you all the truth. For he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he will hear he will speak, and the things that are to come he will declare to you. He will glorify me, because he will receive of what is mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are mine. That is why I have said that he will receive of what is mine and declare it to you’ (John 16:7-15).

FULL OF MYSTERY

The words of Jesus are full of mystery. The ‘Advocate,’ the ‘Holy Spirit’ of whom He speaks is evidently a Person distinct from the Father and from Himself, for the Father and the Son send Him to the Apostles. Moreover Jesus must depart and go to the Father in order to send the ‘Advocate’ to the Apostles.

THE SPIRIT OF LOVE AND TRUTH

The ‘Holy Spirit’ is the Spirit of truth. He will teach the Apostles all things, reminding the Apostles of all that Jesus Himself has taught them, and even revealing to them the things that are to come. He will glorify Jesus, the Son of God, because the things which He will speak He will have received from Jesus, Who received them from His Father.

THE CENTRAL MYSTERY OF THE GODHEAD

The Holy Spirit is a Person distinct from Jesus and from His Father. At this moment Jesus does not make it clear just Who this Person is. But, after His resurrection, when commissioning the Apostles to make disciples of all nations, Jesus commands them to baptise men ‘in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit’ (Matthew 28:19).

Here the Spirit is put on a par with the Father and the Son. He is, therefore, God, just as the Father and the Son are God. At the Last Supper, then, Jesus is speaking to the Apostles of the great central mystery of the Godhead: the one true God is three Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, all three Persons equally God. The Son has received the Godhead from the Father, for all the things which the Father has are the Son’s. Since the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father (John 15:26), and since He has received from the Son all the things which the Father has (John 16:14-15), it follows that He has received the Godhead from both the Father and the Son.

JESUS’ INTRODUCTION TO THE DOCTRINE OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY

In these mysterious words Jesus introduces the Apostles to the profound doctrine of the Most Blessed Trinity. The doctrine, rather the revelation of this truth about the mysterious depths of the inner life of God, is indeed a great gift to men. If it is a great good to know even the least grain of truth about God, surely it is a magnificent privilege to know the secret of the inner Trinitarian life of God.

A MAGNIFICENT PRIVILEGE

But in the context of the last discourse Jesus does not insist on the intellectual benefits of a knowledge of the existence of the Trinity. Rather He offers the knowledge of the Trinity as a means of consolation and encouragement. Even though Jesus Himself is to leave the Apostles and return to His Father, His going will not leave the Apostles orphans, for if they love Jesus and keep His commandments, the Father and the Son will come to them invisible and dwell in them. Moreover the Holy Spirit will also come to them and ‘be’ in them (John 14:17 and 23).

The Apostles, therefore, are not to be ‘troubled’ or ‘afraid’ or ‘scandalised’ (John 14:27 and John 16:1). Jesus will leave them for a time, not only at His death but even at the time of His ascension to His Father. His followers will be hated and persecuted by the world, even as Jesus Himself was (John 15:18-25).

Nevertheless Jesus will leave to His Apostles ‘peace,’ not the kind of ‘peace’ which the world can give but a true peace, a peace of soul founded on the presence of the Trinity in themselves. Even though Jesus will have left them for a time, they will have the testimony of the Spirit of truth Who will glorify Jesus. The world will persecute the Apostles, even kill them in the name of God. But they will give their own testimony to Jesus, for the Spirit will testify through them. They need not fear or be troubled, for the victory – a victory in the spiritual order, the order of eternal truth – is already won. The devil, the prince of this world, is already judged (John 16:10). He has already lost the struggle against God for the souls of men. His actions against Jesus Himself, which are soon to lead to the death of Jesus on the Cross, can only make known the great love which Jesus has for His Father. ‘But he (the prince of this world) comes that the world may know that I love the Father, and that I do as the Father has commanded me’ (John 14:31).

INNER AND OUTER PEACE OF SOUL FOUNDED ON THE PRESENCE OF THE TRINITY

These words are consoling, not only because they reveal the Trinity to mankind but also because they make clear the divine plan for the salvation of men. Because of sin – the sins of men and angels – the devil is the ‘prince of this world,’ ruling men to their destruction. But God the Father sends God the Son to save men. He accomplishes this by laying down His life – His human life – for men. The devil, and men led by the devil, will bring about the death of Jesus; but, in so doing, they will be unconsciously bringing to fruition the plan of God, for the death of Jesus will mean the salvation of men, those men who become the disciples of Jesus. And thus will the Father be glorified. ‘In this is my Father glorified, that you may bear very much fruit, and become my disciples’ (John 15:8).

THE NEED TO BEAR MUCH FRUIT TO QUALIFY AS A GENUINE FOLLOWER OF JESUS CHRIST

Men will be led back to God, back to the Father through union with Jesus. ‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-dresser. Every branch in me that bears no fruit he will take away; and every branch that bears fruit he will cleanse, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it remain on the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for without me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he shall be cast outside as the branch and wither; and they shall gather them up and cast them into the fire, and they shall burn. If you abide in me, and if my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done to you. In this is my Father glorified, that you may bear very much fruit, and become my disciples’ (John 15:1-8).

STRENGTHENING THE FAITH, LOVE AND HOPE

This union with Jesus will be the work of the Holy Spirit, Who will come to give testimony to Jesus. Jesus Himself will return to His Father and send the Holy Spirit to do this work.

These details of the divine plan to save men Jesus reveals to the Apostles at the Last Supper. He does so in order to console them and strengthen them in their faith in Himself. ‘These things I have spoken to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have affliction. But take courage, I have overcome the world’ (John 16:33).

‘I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD’

Since union with Jesus is the means of salvation, it is most fitting that Jesus concludes His last discourse to the Apostles with a prayer to His Father, a prayer whose chief request is for the establishment of this union of men with Jesus.

JESUS PRAYS FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNION OF MEN WITH HIM

Jesus raised His eyes to heaven and prayed: ‘Father, the hour has come! Glorify thy Son, that thy Son may glorify thee, even as thou hast given him power over all flesh, in order that to all thou hast given him he may give everlasting life. Now this is everlasting life, that they may know thee, the only true God, and him whom thou hast sent, Jesus Christ’ (John 17:1-3).

JESUS PRAYS FOR HIS APOSTLES

Then Jesus prayed for His Apostles: ‘I pray for them; not for the world do I pray, but for those whom thou hast given me, because they are thine; and all things that are mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I am coming to thee. Holy Father, keep in thy name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one even as we are. While I was with them, I kept them in thy name. Those whom thou hast given me I guarded, and not one of them perished except the son of perdition, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled’ (John 17:9-12).

LASTLY JESUS PRAYED FOR ALL THOSE WHO WOULD COME TO BELIEVE IN HIM THROUGH THE PREACHING OF THE APOSTLES

Lastly Jesus prayed for all those who would come to believe in Him through the preaching of the Apostles. ‘Yet not for these only do I pray, but for those also who through their word are to believe in me, that all may be one, even as thou, Father, in me and I in thee; that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory that thou hast given me, I have given to them, that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them and thou in me; that they may be perfected in unity, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and that thou hast loved them even as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that where I am, they also whom thou hast given may be with me; in order that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, because thou hast loved me before the creation of the world. Just Father, the world has not known thee, but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have made known to them thy name, and will make it known, in order that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them’ (John 17:20-26).

THE CONCLUSION OF THE LAST SUPPER

At the conclusion of this prayer for the union of men with God through Jesus, the Apostles and Jesus concluded the Last Supper with a hymn. Then Jesus and the Apostles left the upper room where they had celebrated the Pasch.”
– Martin J. Healy S.T.D., 1959

 

“O LORD, INCREASE OUR FAITH”

O Lord, increase our faith and let it bear fruit in our lives. Let it bind us fast to other Christians in the common certitude that our Master is the God-Man Who gave His life for all. Let us listen in faith to the Divine word that challenges us.

Help us to strive wholeheartedly under the promptings of our faith in the building of a world ruled by love. Enable us to walk in faith toward the indescribable future that You have promised to all who possess a productive faith in You. Amen.

 

ST JOSEPH, OBTAIN FOR US SOMETHING OF YOUR CELESTIAL PURITY

THE PURITY OF ST JOSEPH

Virginity is the law of this marriage; a marriage, however, is called to bear fruit. “That fruit”, says Saint Augustine, “God gives in the Person of his own Son taking flesh in the womb of Mary.” In the hidden designs of God, the union of the two spouses prepared for the coming of the Messiah. Now, the Messiah becomes their Child. Yes, affirms the great Doctor, Saint Augustine, Jesus can rightly be called the fruit of the virginal marriage of Mary and Joseph; he is given, not separately to Mary, but to her and her spouse, to be theirs together.

Saint Joseph was not informed immediately of the Incarnation of the Son of God in his chaste spouse, because she stands ahead of him in election and holiness. Furthermore, the perplexity of Joseph was to serve as witness to the virginal conception of the Saviour. Consider the words of the angel to Saint Joseph. He does not give him rights over the Child, rights which he could not have; he simply informs him that Mary has conceived by the Holy Spirit, and that she remains his spouse in her divine maternity. The bond of marriage is not destroyed by the intervention of the Holy Spirit, who gives it its fruit; it is strengthened by the coming of the divine child.

Joseph was the spouse of the Virgin Mary; now he is the spouse of the Mother of God. He is invited to exercise the right of a father over the child by giving him his name, Jesus.

O Joseph, spouse of the Mother of God! What dazzling greatness is concealed in that matchless title! And that greatness springs from the exquisite purity of your soul. You are the spouse of the Virgin Mother of God, because you are a virgin yourself, a virgin in soul and body. Ah! Obtain for us something of that celestial purity which made you so great, yet which left you so humble.
– Dom Bernard Marchaux, 19th century

 

WHEN WE OPEN OURSELVES TO THE SPIRIT, THE DIVINE SUN BEGINS TO DO ITS HEAVENLY WORK

THE ETERNAL GOD CAUSES THE SOUL TO BLOSSOM FORTH AND TO PRODUCE GOOD FRUIT OF VIRTUE; AND THE JOY IN THAT SOUL NO TONGUE CAN TELL.

And yet the soul remains cold and hard, for although the sun grows warmer, it is yet far from summer’s clear and genial light. But soon all is changed.

THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

The divine sun begins to do its heavenly work in the well-prepared garden of the soul. When, therefore, the genial sun of God’s grace begins to shine brightly upon this well-cultivated garden, all the soul’s inner and outer faculties being fully prepared, all its higher and lower tendencies directed towards heaven, then indeed the sweet flowers of May begin to bloom, and all the welcome gifts of summertime.

The eternal God causes the soul to blossom forth and to produce good fruit of virtue; and the joy in that soul no tongue can tell. For now the Holy Spirit is there, and his brightness shines directly upon the soul, yea, into its inmost depths. Well may he now be called the true Comforter, since his influence is so delicious.

O HOW GREAT A JOY!

O how great a joy! O how rich a feast, the sweet odours of whose nourishing food excite the soul’s deepest longing! These are granted in every plenty of enjoyment to the rightly prepared soul by the gentle Spirit of God. One drop of this divine comfort is worth more than all the joys of created things put together; and it overpowers and quenches all longing for them whatsoever.

DWELLING FOREVER IN THE JOY OF THE SPIRIT COMFORTER

When a man feels this action of the divine comforter so wonderfully great and so unexpected, he would gladly sink down into its depths and rest and slumber in it for ever. He feels like Saint Peter at the Lord’s Transfiguration; it is good for him to be there, and he would set up three tabernacles of joy out of one drop of the happiness now granted him, and there dwell for ever.
– Fr Johann Tauler, 14th century

 

WHY WAS FR MAREK MURDERED FOR TWO THOUSAND TUNISIAN DINARS?

THIS IS TO REMEMBER FR MAREK MARIUSZ RYBINSKI SDB WHO WAS KILLED AT MAHOUBA, TUNISIA ON 18/02/2011 AT THE AGE OF 33

(By Archbishop Maroun Lahham of Tunis, published in “Don Bosco’s
Madonna”, contact details below.)

OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM THE MINISTRY OF INTERIOR

The Salesian fathers said that last Eid, the murderer had borrowed 2000 Tunisian dinars to purchase equipment for their work. He seems to have spent the money for other things, so the supplier refused to send over the material not paid for and Fr Marek insisted that the money of the school be returned. In panic, and fearing that he would be discovered, says the statement from the Ministry of Interior, the murderer surprised the priest by violently striking him repeatedly with a blunt object on the head and neck, causing his death.

SOME BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Why was Fr Marek killed? For two thousand dinars! We can hardly believe that. Certainly there are details that we do not know. However, there are some things that I know: I know that two weeks before his assassination, Fr Marek wrote this about the Tunisian people: “It is a young nation, intelligent, incapable of violence (sic!), profoundly good and incapable of hate.” I know that he asked to come to Tunisia four years ago as a newly ordained priest. I know that he asked for money [donations] from everywhere to find new premises for the school that he loved very much and of which he was the bursar.

IF A SEED FALLS TO THE GROUND AND DIES…

“If a seed falls to the ground and dies…” He fell, he died, and following the example of Christ, to whom Fr Marek was consecrated, and he has borne fruit. There were so many messages of solidarity, so many scenes of grief and condolences; the flowers laid at the door of the Cathedral, Tunisian boys and girls gathered outside the Cathedral with slogans: “Marek, forgive me!” Young Tunisians came to the Cathedral on Sunday the 20th February with flowers and tears in their eyes… “We did not kill,” they said, “this is not Tunisia…forgive us!” and they went away, embracing one another.

HARD TIMES ARE NOT TIMES TO ESCAPE

Now what? Well, let’s move on. This is no time to panic. It is a time of faith, patience and caution. Shall we leave? No way, hard times are not times to escape. We remain in this country that welcomes us, that loves us and whom we love. We also want to offer you the values that we believe in. Life is stronger than death, also LOVE.
– This article was published in “Don Bosco’s Madonna”, issue May 2012. For subscriptions or to support seminarians, please contact: Shrine of Don Bosco’s Madonna, Matunga – Mumbai – 400 019 – India; email: dbmshrine@gmail.com