Saint Augustine (354-430), Bishop of Hippo (North Africa) and Doctor of the Church
Sermon 34 ; CCL 41, 423-426.
“I give praise to you, Father”
We are invited to sing a new song to the Lord (Ps 149,1). The new man is the man who knows this new song. Singing is joy and, if we consider the matter more closely, love. Someone who understands about loving this new life knows the new song, and so we need to be informed as to what the new life is for the sake of the new song. All these things belong to the same Kingdom: new man, new song, new covenant. The new man will sing a new song and be a member of the new covenant…
«See!» you will say, «I am singing.» You are singing; yes, you are singing, I can hear you. But be careful that your life doesn’t bear witness against your tongue. Sing with your voice, sing with your heart, sing with your mouth, sing in your conduct: «sing to the Lord a new song.» You are wondering what you are to sing for him whom you love and you cast about for the praises to sing to him. «His praise is in the assembly of the saints» (Ps 149,1). The praise to be sung is that of the singer. Do you want to sing praise to God?
Be yourself what you sing. You are his praise if you live uprightly.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails, never ends.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is LOVE.
-1Corinthians13:1-13
Reflection for the Holy Gospel today, July 5, 2010 (Saint Francis of Assisi, Founder of the Friars Minor, Letter to the whole Order)
Listen, my brothers: If the blessed Virgin is so honored, as it is right, since she carried him in her most holy womb; if the blessed Baptist trembled and did not dare to touch the holy head of God; if the tomb in which he lay for some time is so venerated, how holy, just, and worthy must be the person who touches him with his hands, receives him in his heart and mouth, and offers him to others to be received. This is he who is now not about to die, but who is eternally victorious and glorified, upon whom the angels desire to gaze.
Look at your dignity, you brothers who are priests, and be holy since He is holy (1Pt 1,16)… It is a great
misery and a miserable weakness that when you have Him present with you in this way, you concern yourselves with anything else in this entire world! Let the whole of mankind tremble, the whole world shake
and the heavens exult when Christ, the Son of the living God, is present on the altar in the hands of a priest. O admirable heights and sublime lowliness! O sublime humility! O humble sublimity! That the Lord of the
universe, God and the Son of God, so humbles himself that for our salvation he hides himself under the little form of bread! Look, brothers, at the humility of God and pour out your hearts before him! Humble yourselves, as well, that you may be exalted by him.
Therefore, hold back nothing of yourselves for yourselves, so that he who gives himself totally to you may receive you totally.
Pray the Rosary. It is NOT AN option!
♥
O Jesus, this is for love of Thee, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, please pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen+
♥ ♥ ♥
My God, how You’ve saved me from the lowest depths, how You’ve stooped down and comforted me, how You’ve snatched me from darkness and revealed to me Your Most Wonderful Light, how You’ve nourished me and filled my soul with heavenly consolations- ALL these through prayer.
O Jesus, boldly will I stand among Your people and proclaim to them how many times I’ve heard Your Voice- not physically, yes. But You’ve instructed my heart, enlightened my mind and purified my lips- ah Jesus! How my soul became consumed into Thine own Consuming Fire of Love when Thou commune with me- poorest, weakest sinner!
Where was I, O my Jesus, when I was not in communion with You?
Why have I ever loved anything, besides Thee, O Love which fills the universe?
Why have I ever sought anything besides Thee, O Unspeakable Sweetness?
And how could I ever have claimed to have been happy, when it is not because of You?
O Jesus, how, through prayer, You’ve led me from darkness into Your own Wonderful Light.
O Merciful King, Thine Mercy being the sole reason why You’ve stooped so low to save this wretched sinner- how indebted I am to Your Mercy, O God! How I continue to beg Mercy from You, King of Mercy!
My Jesus, Sweetest desire of my heart, terrible longing of my soul, the very meaning of my life! Let me pray then, My Love, My Life, My Saving Grace, My Everything - as St. Augustine did; that on the day of consummation, may I appear before Thee, consumed in Your Love.
May I pray, O Jesus. May I never cease praying- may I never cease being in communion with You.
종말 감사합니다. 당신사랑을 때문에, 나는종말 행복해~종말 고마워요
Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
O Sacred Heart of Jesus, animated with a desire to repair the outrages unceasingly offered to Thee, we prostrate before Thy throne of mercy, and in the name of all mankind, pledge our love and fidelity to Thee.
The more Thy mysteries are blasphemed, the more firmly we shall believe them, O Sacred Heart of Jesus!
The more impiety endeavors to extinguish our hope of immortality, the more we shall trust in Thy Heart, sole Hope of mankind!
The more hearts resist Thy Divine attractions, the more we shall love Thee, O infinitely amiable Heart of Jesus!
The more unbelief attacks Thy Divinity, the more humbly and profoundly we shall adore It, O Divine Heart of Jesus!
The more Thy holy laws are transgressed and ignored, the more we shall delight to observe them, O most holy Heart of Jesus!
The more Thy Sacraments are despised and abandoned, the more frequently we shall receive them with love and reverence, O most generous Heart of Jesus!
The more the imitation of Thy virtues is neglected and forgotten, the more we shall endeavor to practice them, O Heart, model of every virtue!
The more the devil labors to destroy souls, the more we shall be inflamed with desire to save them, O Heart of Jesus, zealous Lover of souls!
The more sin and impurity destroy the image of God in man, the more we shall try by purity of life to be a living temple of the Holy Spirit, O Most Pure, Sinless Heart of Jesus!
The more Thy Holy Church is despised, the more we shall endeavor to be her faithful children, O Sweet Heart of Jesus!
The more Thy Vicar on earth is persecuted, the more will we honor him as the infallible head of Thy Holy Church, show our fidelity and pray for him, O kingly Heart of Jesus!
O Sacred Heart, through Thy powerful grace, may we become Thy apostles in the midst of a corrupted world, and be Thy crown in the kingdom of Heaven. Amen.
Irresistible Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
I. O my Jesus, You have said: “Truly I say to you, ask and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be open to you”. Behold I knock , I seek, and I ask for the grace of (name your request)
Our Father …,
Hail Mary …,
Glory be to the Father …
Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in You.
II. O my Jesus, You have said: “Truly I say to you, if you ask anything of my father in my Name, He will give it to you.” Behold in Your Name I Ask the Father for the grace of (name your request) .
Our Father …,
Hail Mary …,
Glory be to the Father …
Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in You.
III. O my Jesus, You have said: “Truly I say to you, heaven and earth will pass away but My words will not pass away.” Encouraged by Your infallible words I now ask for the grace of (name your request) .
Our Father …,
Hail Mary …,
Glory be to the Father …
Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in You.
On the centerpiece pray:
Hail, Holy Queen …
On the large bead pray:
St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus, pray for us.
On the medal of the Sacred Heart pray:
O Sacred Heart of Jesus, for whom it is impossible not to have compassion on the afflicted, have pity on us miserable sinners and grant us the grace which we ask of You, through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, Your tender Mother and ours.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you! Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus!
Holy Mary, Mother of God, please pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen+
Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Dominican theologian, Doctor of the Church
Prayers
Nothing is difficult for the humble.
O my Lord, inflame my heart with love for You, that my spirit may not grow weary amidst the storms, the sufferings and the trials. You see how weak I am. Love can do all.
-St. Faustina
by Saint Teresa of Avila, Carmelite, Doctor of the Church (translation by: E.Allison Peers)
I am thine and born for thee,
What wilt thou do with me?
Sovereign Lord upon thy throne,
Endless Wisdom, one and whole,
Goodness that dost feed my soul,
Good and great, one God alone,
As I sing my love for thee;
What wilt thou do with me?
Thine I am, for thou didst make me;
Thine, for thou alone didst save me;
Thine – thou couldst endure to have me;
For thine own didst deign to take me.
Never once didst thou forsake me.
Ruined were I if not for thee:
What wilt thou do with me?
What, O good and loving Lord,
What wilt thou have this creature do?
This thy slave, a sinner too,
Waiting till she hears thy word,
With thy will in close accord,
Sweetest Love, I come to thee:
What wilt thou do with me?
Take, O Lord, my loving heart:
See, I yield it to thee whole,
With my body, life and soul
And my nature’s every part.
Sweetest Spouse, my life thou art;
I have given myself to thee:
What wilt thou do with me?
Let me live or let me die;
Give me sickness, give me health;
Give me poverty or wealth;
Let me strive or peaceful lie;
Weakness give or strength supply – I accept it all of thee:
What wilt thou do with me?
I am thine and born for thee,
What wilt thou do with me?
O Jesus, Eternal Truth, in Your Divine Rays, all the so-called truths of this world burns and turn to ashes fit only to be thrown and buried.
“Before I come as the just Judge, I am coming first as the King of Mercy. Before the day of justice arrives, there will be given to people a sign in the heavens of this sort: All light in the heavens will be extinguished, and there will be great darkness over the whole earth. Then the sign of the cross will be seen in the sky, and from the openings where the hands and the feet of the Savior were nailed will come forth great lights which will light up the earth for a period of time. This will take place shortly before the last day.”
O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus, as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in You!
St. Faustina, in her diary, Divine Mercy in My Soul, she wrote;
The most solemn moment of my life is the moment when I receive Holy Communion. I long for each Holy Communion, and for every Holy Communion I give thanks to the Most Holy Trinity.
If the angels were capable of envy, they would envy us for two things: one is the receiving of Holy Communion and the other is suffering.”
Oh Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, I love Thee and adore Thee! How my heart catches fire from Your Living Flame of Love thinking of my unworthiness, my wretchedness, my lowliness and smallness and yet Thou art ever Merciful Lord and King, that Thou descends from Thy Throne and comes to my heart, that I may abide in You- each Communion strengthening me day by day to withstand the sufferings You, O Most Humble God, share with this wretched creature so that I, too, may become a witness to Your Divine Mercy which reaches to the heavens!
Ah, how remarkable indeed are the Divine Graces! How they elevate one from the lowest depths to the highest summit!
Can you ever dare to imagine the PAIN that pierced Mary’s heart and soul when she yielded her Son to suffer and die for the salvation of men- men who would not even remember Him, men who would gladly waste their life away for things that are temporary, men who would blaspheme and curse and spit on Him to satisfy their selfishness and their flesh.
How violent is the sorrow of the Mother of God!
Who would dare think of the martyrdom Mary went through as a mother? Not being able to die in place of her Son?
How unspeakable her sacrifice is! That she cannot die with Him- Him who is the Life of her soul and the Soul of her life!
Blessed Mother! To offer your Son as a sacrifice for our redemption, ungrateful sinners that we are!
How violent your sorrow must have been to see the lifeless broken body of your Dearly Beloved Son hanging on that Cross! Scourged, crowned with thorns, crucified and pierced. And still, your Son.
The Life of your soul, and the Soul of your life.
———————————————
Hail Mary, full of grace! The Lord is with you! Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, please pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of hour death. Amen +
Totus Tuus. Please pray for us, O sorrowful Mother of God; that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. +
People of God, so dear to my heart, let us rejoice! EXALT!
For our Dearest Lord, Jesus Christ, has emerged victorious- for death cannot hold Him who is Life!
HALLELUIA!
For just as He has risen from the dead- so will we rise again in the Glory of the Father, all of us who has shared His Cross!
Let us then go, and proclaim the Good News of Christ’s Cross! For Christ revealed to us that we must Love Him to be with Him and to Love, we must be willing victims of His Inconsumable Fire of Love!
Ah! What sweet consolation it is, that our cross is to be suffered and carried for God! To suffer for God! What great, indescribable privilege is given to us, people of God!
Let us not let one more moment pass! Let us be willing victims to Christ’s Merciful Love! Let us give our lives, abandon our souls to the Hands of Our Beloved Father!
So that, in His own Time, He will raise us up- full of His Glory and His Love! Destined to share Eternal Happiness with Him!
Do not your hearts yearn very much at the thought of us being with our True Father for eternity? Do you not yearn- with tears in your eyes- to be with Jesus, at last, and for all eternity?
Do your hearts not ache with this longing? Listen to the aches of your heart, for it will give you the spring of repentance you so longingly desire- your tears- in union with the tears of Jesus and Mary for you, unworthy creature as you are.
Let us not let the happiness of Easter pass our hearts; Let us all EXALT!
—————————– + ——————————
You have brightened this night with the radiance of the risen Christ!
Let the heavens be glad and earth exult*. More brightly than the rays of the sun this day has shone forth for us from the brilliance of the tomb. Let the underworld cry out, for from this day on it has an offspring; let it rejoice because this is the day of its visitation; let it be glad because, after endless ages, it has seen a light unknown before and at last, in the darkness of its deepest night, has breathed again! O Radiant Light, now seen breaking from the heights of the whitening sky…, you have clothed with sudden brightness those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death (Lk 1,79). For at Christ’s descent, at once, the everlasting night of hell shone out with light and the cries of the afflicted were silenced; the chains of those condemned broke off and fell; the malicious spirits were seized with stupor as though struck by a thunderbolt…
No sooner does Christ come down than the grim doorkeepers, blind in the silence of their night, crouching in fear, whisper among themselves: Who is this mighty one, shining with whiteness? Never has our hell received such as he; never has the world cast such a one into our maw… Had he been guilty, he would not possess such temerity; had some crime blackened him, he could never have dispersed our darkness with his shining. Yet if he is God, what is he doing in the tomb? If he is man, how does he have the courage? If he is God, what has he come here for? If he is man, how can he set prisoners free?…
Oh cross, that undoes all our pleasures and give birth to our misfortune! A tree enriched us and a tree
has ruined us. This mighty power, so feared by the people, has perished!
[A homily of the 5th century attributed to Eusebius the Gallican
Homily 12 A ; CCL 101, 145]
*(Ps 96[95],11)
… and there at the foot of the Cross stand Mary, His Mother whom He gave to us to be our Mother; and John, His beloved apostle; and Mary Magdalene, forgiven for she has loved much.
Innocence, Penitence and Priesthood.
The three kinds of souls always to be found at the foot of the Cross.
———————————————
Oh Mother, how great my soul rejoices to know that you are your children’s Perpetual Help! How Great our God is! That He gave us such a Lovely Mother, as holy and perfect as He was pleased to make her be!
GLORIA PATRI, ET FILIO, ET SPIRITUI SANCTO, SICUT ERAT IN PRINCIPIUM, ET NUNC, ET IN SAECULA SAECOLORUM AMEN!
When God turned back eternity and was young,
Ancient of Days, grown little for your mirth
(As under the low arch the land is bright)
Peered through you, gate of heaven–and saw the earth.
Or shutting out his shining skies awhile
Built you about him for a house of gold
To see in pictured walls his storied world
Return upon him as a tale is told.
Or found his mirror there; the only glass
That would not break with that unbearable light
Till in a corner of the high dark house
God looked on God, as ghosts meet in the night.
Star of his morning; that unfallen star
In that strange starry overturn of space
When earth and sky changed places for an hour
And heaven looked upwards in a human face.
Or young on your strong knees and lifted up
Wisdom cried out, whose voice is in the street,
And more than twilight of twiformed cherubim
Made of his throne indeed a mercy-seat.
Or risen from play at your pale raiment’s hem
God, grown adventurous from all time’s repose,
Or your tall body climed the ivory tower
And kissed upon your mouth the mystic rose.
———–
Mama Mary, unworthy, lowly and sinful that I am; I love you. ♥
Saint Catherine of Siena (1347-1380), Dominican tertiary, Doctor of the Church, co-patron of Europe
Dialogues, ch. 4 (©Classics of Western spirituality)
“Whoever exalts himself will be humbled“
Saint Catherine heard God say to her:
“You ask for the will to know and love Me, Supreme Truth. Here is the way, if you would come to perfect knowledge and enjoyment of Me, Eternal Life: Never leave the knowledge of yourself. Then, put down as you are in the valley of humility you will know Me in yourself, and from this knowledge you will draw all that you need. No virtue can have life in it except from charity, and charity is nursed and mothered by humility. You will find humility in the knowledge of yourself when you see that even your own existence comes not from yourself but from Me, for I loved you before you came to being. And in My Unspeakable Love for you I willed to create you in grace.
So I washed you and made you a new creation in the blood that My Only-begotten Son poured out with such burning Love. This blood gives you knowledge of the Truth when knowledge of yourself leads you to shed the cloud of selfish love. There is no other way to know the Truth. In so knowing Me the soul catches fire with Unspeakable Love, which in turn brings continual pain.
Indeed, because she has known My Truth, as well as her own sin and her neighbors’ ingratitude and blindness, the soul suffers intolerably. Still, this is not a pain that troubles or shrivels up the soul. On the contrary, it makes her grow fat. For she suffers because she loves Me, nor would she suffer if she did not love Me.”
*As meditation / reflection guide for the Holy Gospel today, March 2, 2010.
*If you wish to go to Today’s Mass Readings and Homily at EWTN, please click HERE. If you wish to read the Gospel today, click HERE.
It is satan who drives souls to the point of hopelessness and depression- it is this despicable creature who drives men to lose faith and kill themselves.
Brothers and sisters, let us not give way to satan’s words of self-destruction. Please. Let us not befall on our selves the most abominable sin of all- of desiring to take one’s life- regarding it as his own even when he knows very well that he has not and cannot effect life on himself. Life is the Breath of God in us- Life is therefore God’s and not ours.
Let us all work to help our families, our neighbors, the people around us to renew their faith and hope in God- only He can lead us from this darkness we are in now to His Own Light.
NEVER LOSE HOPE NO MATTER HOW HARD IT HURTS OR HOW YOU CANNOT BEAR IT ANYMORE. OUR GOD IS NOT A GOD OF EASY-LIVING, CONVENIENCE, FAME, EARTHLY GLORY AND FREE FROM TEMPTATIONS.
OUR GOD WAS TEMPTED, OUR GOD WORKED AS A CARPENTER, OUR GOD ENDURED INSULTS AND BLASPHEMIES, OUR GOD WAS REBUKED BY HIS OWN PEOPLE, AND DURING HIS GREATEST SUFFERING, HE WAS LEFT ALONE BY HIS FRIENDS. OUR GOD WAS MORE THAN BETRAYED. OUR GOD WAS SOLD. HE WAS TRIED IN COURT. HE WAS ACCUSED WRONGLY AND WAS PUT TO DEATH UNJUSTLY. HIS BACK WAS SCOURGED. HIS HEAD WAS PIERCED WITH SHARP THORNS. AND EVEN THEN PEOPLE DID NOT STOP, HE WAS EVEN MADE TO CARRY A CROSS- THE CROSS OF OUR SINS- IT WAS OUR SINS NOT HIS, YET HE WAS THE ONE MADE TO CARRY IT, LIMPING, FALLING DOWN AND BLEEDING HE CARRIED OUR CROSS. OUR GOD WAS CRUCIFIED- yet He did not deserve ANY of it.
And yet He said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
And do you know how He died? Our God did not die because He cannot take it anymore- HE DIED BECAUSE HIS BLOOD WAS DRAINED FROM HIS BODY. His flesh was drained of His Most Precious Blood through which He deigned to cleanse and purify those who nailed Him to the Cross.
NEVER LOSE HOPE. When you feel that nobody can understand or comprehend what you’re going through- Our God can. He bled for you, died for you. Unworthy as you are. If you think about what have you done for God in all the years you were here on earth- who’s unjust now? What have you done for God? From the moment you were born, every morning, He gave you the dawn, the sun, the birds, the breeze; He gave you smiles, laughters, tears- only you were afraid to use them. But you see, these are just consolations. What God deigned to give you fully and lovingly is Himself. He gave you Himself. Have you given Him anything, yet?
Do not lose faith, our “God is close to the broken-hearted, He saves those whose spirit is crushed.”
If you need proof, just like his disciple Thomas, ask our Lord. Jesus will lovingly show you His scars to prove His love for you.
———————————————–
“The other gods were strong, but Thou wast weak;
They rode, but Thou didst stumble to a throne;
But to our wounds only God’s wounds can speak,
And not a god has wounds, but Thou alone. “
-Jesus of the Scars, Edward Shillito