"In everything that happens the best thing you can do is abandon yourself to His will." - St. Paul of the Cross
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Prayer to Mary to Embrace the Cross with Patience
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| Luis de Morales "La Piedad" |
O my sweet Lady, you who were innocent endured suffering with so much patience. Why do I, who deserve hell, refuse to suffer at all? My Mother, I now ask you for this favor - not to be delivered from crosses, but to bear them more patiently. For the love of Jesus, I beg you to obtain at least this grace from God. I confidently hope for this from you. - The Glories of Mary by St. Alphonsus di Liguori
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
St. Isaac Jogues, St. John Brebeuf and Companions - The North American Martyrs
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| North American Martyrs |
"Theirs is a story of educated and cultured men who willingly entered the Indian wilderness to live under the most primitive and dangerous conditions, ever ready to sacrifice their lives for the advancement of Christianity. It is a story of heroism and love that demonstrates the best in the missionary tradition of the Church." - Father Albert J. Nevins, M.M.
Picture source
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| North American Martyrs |
Picture source
The following Jesuits were canonized and it is their feast day we celebrate today:
1. St. Isaac Jogues
2. St. Jean de Brébeuf
3. St. Antoine Daniel
4. St. Charles Garnier
5. St. René Goupil
6. St. Noël Chabanel
7. St. Jean de Lalande
8. St. Gabriel Lallemant
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| St. Isaac Jogues |
Father Isaac Jogues was captured along with Father Rene Goupil, when he returned to the site of the Indian attack, because some of his converted Indian guides had been taken captive.Father Jogues eventually escaped with the help of the Protestant Dutch aboard their boat.
"There Jogues and Goupil were savagely tested. Father Jogues was beaten with sticks; his hair and nails were torn out; his fingers were chewed by Indian women, and his left thumb cut off. Both men survived the terrible ordeal and were forced to serve as slaves. Goupil died a few weeks later; he was murdered for making the Sign of the Cross over a child.
For the next ten months, Father Jogues occupied the lowest position in the Indian village...yet he dared to tend the Huron captives and secretly baptized seventy Indians."
"A Protestant minister, seeing how horribly Father Jogues' hands had been mutilated, fell on his knees and asked the priest's blessing. Later that same man introduced the priest to the pupils of his school ,declaring: "Today you have the privilege of beholding a saint."
Upon his return to France, the Holy Father conferred on him the rare privilege of offering Mass although the "canonical fingers" were largely useless. "It would be unjust, if a martyr of Christ were not to drink the blood of Christ." - Pope Urban VII
Amazingly, Father Jogues begged to be sent back to the Indians and was finally given consent by his superior. He knew he would not return.
Upon entering the Indian village where he had been held captive, he was tomahawed from behind and died a martyrs' death.
"The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians...It was on such sacrifices that the Church and the United States have been built." - Father Albert Nevins, M.M.
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| St. Jean de Brébeuf |
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"...The Indians stripped their prisoners naked and tied them to posts. They tore the nails from their fingers, and beat them with clubs all over their bodies. Boiling water was poured upon Father de Brébeuf in imitation of baptism; then a string of red-hot hatchets were hung about his neck. Then the Indians put a belt of pitch on him and lighted it, roasting his body. Next they cut out his tongue and began to peel the flesh from his bones."
"Those butchers seeing that the good Father began to grow weak, made him sit down on the ground; and one of them, taking a knife, cut off the skin covering his skull. Another one, seeing that the good Father would soon die, made an opening in the upper part of his chest, and tore out his heart, which he roasted and ate. Others came to drink his blood still warm, which they drank with both hands." - Father Christopher Regnaut's account of the martyrdom of Saint John de Brébeuf
"...until Father de Brébeuf tongue was cut out, he did not cease continually to speak of God, and to encourage all the new Christians who were captives like himself to suffer well, that they might die well, in order to go in a company with him to Paradise."
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| North American Martyrs |
Picture source
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| St. René Goupil |
Picture source
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| St. John de la Lande |
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| St. Noël Chabanel |
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| St. Antoine Daniel |
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| St. Charles Garnier |
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| St. Gabriel Lalemant |
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Text Source: Our American Catholic Heritage by Albert J. Nevins, M.M.
Monday, October 18, 2010
A Prayer to the Holy Spirit
O Holy Spirit, beloved of my soul, I adore You.
Enlighten me, guide me, strengthen me, console me.
Tell me what I should do; give me Your orders.
I promise to submit myself to all that You desire of me
and to accept all that You permit to happen to me.
Let me only know Your Will.
by Cardinal Mercier:
Is anointing of the sick a substitute for confession?
Please watch this segment because it seems like everyone goes up for an anointing of the sick at Healing Masses at some parishes.
The Catholic Church is not an "it"
In Christian usage, the word "church" designates the liturgical assembly, but also the local community or the whole universal community of believers. These three meanings are inseparable. "The Church" is the People that God gathers in the whole world. She exists in local communities and is made real as a liturgical and above all a Eucharistic assembly. She draws her life from the word and the Body of Christ and so herself becomes Christ's Body.
752 Catechism of the Catholic Church I Believe in the Holy Catholic Church
The comparison of the Church with the body casts light on the intimate bond between Christ and his Church. Not only is she gathered around him; she is united in him, in his body. Three aspects of the Church as the Body of Christ are to be more specifically noted: the unity of all her members with each other as a result of their union with Christ; Christ as head of the Body; and the Church as bride of Christ.
789 Catechism of the Catholic Church The Church: The Body of Christ
The proper pronoun to use when speaking of the Catholic Church is "she". She is Holy Mother Church. She is the Bride of Christ. Why is it then, that more Catholics now refer to the Church as "it"?
For example, during the reading of the Prayers for the Faithful intentions at this past Sunday Mass, the following was read..."for the Catholic Church, that "it" continue..."
That same day that the above referred to intention was read at Mass, the meditation for the day in the Magnifcat, happened to be one of St. Catherine of Siena's writing on patience and perseverance.
She wrote: "For you know well, most holy Father, that when you accepted Holy Church as your bride you agreed to work hard for her. You expected all these contrary winds of pain and difficulty to confront you in battle over her... So we see that the Church's being persecuted, and every difficulty virtuous souls experience will end in peace, won through true patience and perseverance..." - October 2010 Issue
On a similar note, God should never be referred to as "she". He is Abba Father; God the Father. God should never be referred to with feminine pronouns as some will now lead Catholics to believe; their arguments being that God is a spirit, neither male or female. 370 Catechism of the Catholic Church: Equality and Difference Willed By God
Our profession of faith begins with God, for God is the First and the Last,1 the beginning and the end of everything. The Credo begins with God the Father, for the Father is the first divine person of the Most Holy Trinity; our Creed begins with the creation of heaven and earth, for creation is the beginning and the foundation of all God's works.198 Catechism of the Catholic Church I Believe in God the Father.
Jesus taught as to pray as follows:
"This is how you are to pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and do not subject us to the final test, but deliver us from the evil one. If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions." Matthew Chapter 6:9-16.
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