Prayer of Saint Augustine (after Receiving Holy Communion)

"Death of Saint Monica" by Juan Barba

Picture source

O Lord Jesus, let me know myself, let me know You, 

and let me desire nothing but You alone.

Let me hate myself and love You, 

and do all things for the sake of You.

Let me humble myself and exalt You, 

and think of nothing but You alone.

Let me die to myself and live in You, 

and take whatever

happens as coming from You.

Let me forsake myself and walk after You, 

and ever desire to follow You.

Let me flee from myself and turn to You, 

that thus I may

merit to be defended by You.

Let me fear for myself, let me fear You, 

and be among those who are chosen by You.

Let me distrust myself and trust in You,

 and ever obey for love of You.

Let me cleave to nothing but only to You, 

and ever be poor for the sake of You.

Look upon me that I may love You.  

Call me that I may see You and forever possess You.  Amen.

-Treasury of Prayer by Rev. Lawrence G. Lovasik, S.V.D.

WHY THE DECREASE IN CHRISTIAN POPULATIONS IN THE EAST?

The attached article on the timely topic of Christians emigrating from the Holy Land was published in SOPHIA, Summer 2015, pages 17 and 19.

Brother John M. Samaha, S.M.

            Christians are becoming an ever smaller minority in the Holy Land countries of Jesus Christ’s time.

            At the beginning of the twentieth century Christians accounted for a quarter of the population in the countries of the Near East and Middle East.  Muslims have been the majority.  One hundred years later in the second decade of the third millennium the number of Christians has decreased to less than five per cent, except in Lebanon.

            Why is the Christian population shrinking in these Muslim-dominated countries?    Researchers in Beirut and in Rome identify three reasons based on their observations.  The causes of shrinking Christian population are demographic changes, emigration, and sterner Islamization.

Demography

            Muslims multiply faster than Christians.  This is due partially because of Muslim polygamy, a fairly common practice in rural areas.

            Another contributing factor is improved hygiene and health care.  Until a half-century ago, before the use of antibiotics and advanced medical care, infant mortality in these areas was higher in Muslim communities than among the more educated Christian families.  Now Muslim families are no longer plagued by that handicap. 

            In the socio-cultural realm, Christians place strong emphasis on the education of their children, and this accounts for a somewhat lower birth rate.  World statistics indicate that groups with a greater educational and cultural achievement, in this case Christians, have fewer children.  Christian families used to average three or four children, and Muslims eight to ten.  The figures are lower now, and the gap continues to grow.

Emigration

            Worsening social and political factors have caused increased Christian emigration.  Christians occupy an inferior position in Islamic society.  This is stipulated both in the Qur’an and in historical tradition. 

            According to Islam a Christian is one who pays taxes and is tolerated, but in a position subordinate to Muslims.  The Qur’an actually calls for the “humiliation” of Christians (sura IX, verse 29), although the term has been interpreted differently throughout history by various Muslim rulers.  In most, but not all, Muslim countries Christians have been allowed to worship freely, but were subject to diverse humiliations.  In times past they had to cede to Muslims passing by, or travel on foot while Muslims were permitted to ride horses.

            In the modern era Christians in Muslim lands have worked for equal rights.  In fact, in nineteenth century Egypt under Mehmed Ali Pasha, and in Turkey after Ataturk’s revolution of 1923, Christians were trusted with important roles in the modernization of Muslim countries. 

            While some Muslim and Israeli political leaders pay lip service to equal rights for Christians, the reality is often the opposite.

Islamization

            Re-Islamization and intolerance have sprung up again and been re-fueled with the current crisis in the Arab world caused by the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.  In this era it must be understood objectively that Israel was not founded in a just and equitable manner.  For the first time in world history a state was born from nothing at the expense of another people, whose identity was cancelled as its territory was confiscated.  Because of a troubled conscience following the Shoah, the West facilitated the population of a new state with Jews from outside the area, mostly from Europe.  Consequently the Muslim world perceived Israel as a Western and Christian creation.  Unfortunately the identification of “Western” with “Christian” persists in Muslim society.

AN IMPORTANT ANNIVERSARY OVERLOOKED

by Brother John M. Samaha, S.M.

The 1,700th anniversary of the Edict of Milan came and went with hardly a notice.

         A most important event in Church history, promulgated February 3, 313, the Edict of Milan granted Christians freedom from three centuries of persecution.  Thereafter the Christian faithful, for the first time, enjoyed the same religious liberties that other religious groups had.  The Christians gained legal protections that allowed them to build houses of worship and had their confiscated possessions restored.

        The signing of the Edict of Milan by Emperor Constantine heralded the official recognition of Western Christian civilization and the free societies we enjoy today.

        The extent and severity of the persecution suffered by the early Christians are practically incomprehensible to the modern mind.  Countless Christians were tortured and killed under the emperors Nero (who had Peter crucified in 64), Domitian, Marcus Aurelius, and Septimus Severus.  The atrocities abated under Severus Alexander (208-235) who was sympathetic to Christians, only to flare up again under the emperors Maximus Thracian, Decius, and Valerian (253-260).

        With Diocletian (299-311) and his contemporaries, Galerius and Maximian, the persecutions peaked.  Under Diocletian alone an estimated half million Christians were killed.  The last persecution occurred under Licinius (308-324), but the move toward greater liberty had begun.  In 311 an Edict of Tolerance was issued. Although property was being confiscated, this was corrected by Licinius and Constantine, then Roman emperors of East and West respectively, with the Edict of Milan in 313.

        Diocletian's intent was to transform society following years of ineffective leaders, wars, foreign attacks, and deep-seated economic problems.  However, he was criticized by the Christian author Lactantius for assuming monarchical powers not granted him by the Roman constitution.

        Diocletian's persecution of Christians began after his pagan priests blamed Christian court officials for making the Sign of the Cross in a court ceremony.  Then the emperor ordered all Christians in government and military service to sacrifice to pagan gods or be dismissed.  Ordinary civilians were excluded.

        Eventually the death penalty was inflicted against Christian bishops and priests.  Churches and Bibles were confiscated and burned.  Then ordinary citizens were forced to violate their Christian beliefs or suffer martyrdom. 

        Life in the post-Constantine Church was not all smooth sailing. but it was not subject to the corruption myths that emerged during the Renaissance and Reformation and Enlightenment.

        Questions about whether the Roman Empire surrendered to Christianity, or whether Christianity prostituted itself to the empire have long been disregarded by competent historians, except in fictitious potboilers like Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code.

        Constantine was far from perfect, but neither was he a corrupter of the Church nor an intolerant zealot who obliterated all worship that was not Catholic.  Paganism was not rapidly stamped out by state repression, but gradually disappeared as people abandoned the pagan temples in response to the superior appeal of Christianity. 

        Constantine conferred secular powers and privileges on bishops, but this was in the interests of justice and liberty.  The bishops had reputations for honesty and resistance to bribery.

        In later times close involvement between State and senior Church officials led to abuses, but the blame for this can hardly be laid on Constantine.

        Constantine is to be remembered for being the protagonist in fostering the advent of Christian civilization in the West.  The path for Christians was never smooth.  Persecutions continued.  But the liberty Constantine won allowed the Church to flourish for centuries to come.  Actually the Christians were the first to develop the notion of religious liberty.

        As society becomes increasingly secular, will future 

anniversaries of the Edict of Milan -- and similar important events -- be so blithely overlooked?

        

Marriage

Picture source

The world continues to cry out in victory.  Man's laws have made homosexual marriage the law of the land.  God's laws have been altered to suit misguided people.  It is a triumphant day for the world because they believe marriage equality has been achieved.

Is God weeping or is He seething in anger?  One wonders what is in store for us.  Will God punish such a personal attack?  God is the only one who knows but one thing is certain, He is still in control.

Those of us who follow Him are troubled and trying hard to make sense of this chaotic world turned upside down.  The warning signs were ignored by the majority it seems.  Civil unions were never enough to satiate a lust for control.  It was marriage that was the intended target.

It does appears the world has gone mad or drunk with power.

Christians, especially Catholics are now being targeted.  The world will not rest until the Christians are punished or wiped out.  Christians will continue to be intimidated, falsely accused of intolerance, bigotry and hate.  Ironically, that is exactly how the world reacts to those who do not agree with them or who do not blindly follow like lemmings. The world is very intolerant of those who oppose their wicked ways.  God help you if  one has deep held beliefs or try to defend God's laws.

This persecution has begun.

Churches are in danger of losing their tax-exempt status.  Pastors are being forced to perform so-called "same-sex marriages" or be punished by fines or lawsuits.  Marriage will become a free-for-all for those who want to marry as they please such as multiple spouses, marriage to animals or even inanimate objects.  And, it is frightening to think of the consequence that it will have on children.

Something good may come out of this darkness.  This mockery of marriage may make Christians  appreciate their own marriage vows.   We will see how precious this sacrament that we share with our spouse really is.  How many of us have foolishly taken our marriage for granted!  How many of us go through the motions of every day life without really working on strengthening our marriage?  Why is it that we start appreciate something when it is threatened?

Christians,  and all people of good-will, continue to fight for the sanctity of marriage with prayer, especially as a couple or as a family, by sharing inspirational quotes when emailing or on social networks, and by speaking out respectfully when needed, to defend what God has created and which the world cannot change, no matter what dubious laws they pass.

"We must never forge that only when love between human beings is put to the test can it's true value be seen." - St. John Paul II

Guide to Holiness

The following was written by Father Michael Muller, CSSR in his Book:  The Blessed Sacrament:  Our Greatest Treasure.

- make war against venial sins.

-  wean your heart from creatures.

-  endeavor to mortify your attachment to honors, riches and pleasures.

-  spare no trouble for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.

-  practice little but frequent acts of self-denial.

-  keep yourself always in the fear of God.

- adorn yourself with virtues which Jesus loves:  humility, meekness, patience, prayer, charity, faith, peace and recollection.

The Just Complaint of Our Divine Savior

The following is from Father Michael Muller, CSSR, book The Blessed Sacrament:  Our Greatest Treasure.  It is a beautiful reflection on the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

"I hear Thee complain of us, O dear Jesus, as Thou didst one day complain to the Blessed Margaret Alacoque, when showing to her Thy heart crowned with thorns:  'Behold this heart of Mine, so full of love for men, that it has shed its last drop of blood for them, and has given them My own flesh and blood as food and drink for their souls; and consider how this heart receives from most men, in return for so great a love, nothing but ingratitude and contempt!  But what grieves Me most is, that I am thus treated even by good and just souls.'

Do you not understand, dear Christian, the just complaint of your Divine Saviour?  Is your heart not touched by it?

'Behold,' says He, 'behold this heart which loves men so excessively; this heart which is always pouring out graces upon them; this heart, so full of pity to receive sinners, to help the poor and indigent; to cure the sick; to console the afflicted; to hear the prayers of all men, at which I have so often entered in Holy Communion.'

Ah!  dear Christian, have you a heart?  Well, if it be not of stone or iron, let it be touched by this touching complaint of the heart of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.. Give to your God and Saviour what is due to Him.  Repay Him for the benefit of your creation; repay Him for the benefit of your redemption; for the benefit of the preservation of your life; for the pains of His scourging; for the agony of His crucifixion; but, above all, repay Him, yes, in some measure, repay Him for the excessive love and affection which He bears you in the Blessed Sacrament.

'But how,' you will ask: 'how shall I pay my Jesus for His love to me?  What can I give Him in return?'  Nothing but love.  Love demands love and is contented only with love..."

Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

O most holy Heart of Jesus, 

fountain of every blessing, 

I adore You, I love You, and 

with lively sorrow for my sins I offer You this poor heart of mine. 

Make me humble, patient, pure and wholly obedient to Your will. 

Grant, good Jesus that I may live in You and for You. 

Protect me in the midst of danger. 

Comfort me in my afflictions. 

Give me health of body, assistance in my temporal needs, 

Your blessing on all that I do, and the grace of a holy death.

 Amen. 

via Laudete

Prayer to the Divine Will

O adorable and Divine Will, 

here I am, 

before the immensity of Your Light, 

that Your eternal Goodness may open to me the doors, and 

make me enter into It, to form my life all in You, Divine Will. 

Therefore, prostrate before Your Light, 

I, the littlest among all creatures, come, O adorable Will, 

into the little group of the first children of Your Supreme Fiat. 

Prostrate in my nothingness, 

I beseech and implore Your endless Light, 

that It may want to invest me and eclipse everything that does not belong to You,

 in such a way that I may do nothing other than look, comprehend and live in You, 

Divine Will. 

It will be my life, the center of my intelligence, the enrapturer of my heart and of my whole being.

In this heart the human will will no longer have life;

 I will banish it forever, and will form the new Eden of peace, of happiness and of love. 

With It I shall always be happy, 

I shall have a unique strength, 

and a sanctity that sanctifies everything and brings everything to God. Here prostrate, 

I invoke the help of the Sacrosanct Trinity,

 that They admit me to live in the cloister of the Divine Will, 

so as to restore in me the original order of Creation, just as the creature was created. 

Celestial Mother, Sovereign Queen of the Divine Fiat, 

take me by the hand and enclose me in the Light of the Divine Will. 

You will be my guide, my tender Mother; 

You will guard your child, and 

will teach me to live and to maintain myself in the order and in the bounds of the Divine Will. 

Celestial Sovereign, to your Heart I entrust my whole being; 

I will be the tiny little child of the Divine Will. You will teach me the Divine Will, 

and I will be attentive in listening to You. 

You will lay your blue mantle over me, 

so that the infernal serpent may not dare to penetrate into this Sacred Eden to entice me and 

make me fall into the maze of the human will. Heart of my highest Good, Jesus, 

You will give me Your flames, that they may burn me, consume me and nourish me, 

to form in me the life of the Supreme Will. Saint Joseph, 

You will be my Protector, 

the Custodian of my heart, and will keep the keys of my will in Your hands. 

You will keep my heart jealously, 

and will never give it to me again, that I may be sure never to go out of the Will of God. 

Guardian Angel, guard me, defend me, help me in everything, 

so that my Eden may grow flourishing, 

and be the call of the whole world into the Will of God. Celestial Court, come to my help, 

and I promise You to live always in the Divine Will. Amen. 

via Laudete

ACT OF REPARATION

O sweet Jesus, 
Whose overflowing charity for men is requited by so much forgetfulness, negligence 
and contempt, 
behold us prostrate before Thy altar eager to repair by a special act of homage 
the cruel indifference and injuries, to which Thy loving Heart is everywhere subject. 
Mindful alas! That we ourselves have had a share in such great indignities, 
which we now deplore from the depths of our hearts, 
we humbly ask Thy pardon and declare our readiness to atone by voluntary expiation 
not only for our own personal offenses, 
but also for the sins of those, who, straying far from the path of salvation, 
refuse in their obstinate infidelity to follow Thee, their Shepherd and Leader, 
or, renouncing the vows of baptism, have cast off the sweet yoke of Thy Law. 
We are now resolved to expiate each and every deplorable outrage committed against Thee; 
we are determined to make amends for the manifold offenses against Christian modesty in unbecoming dress and behavior, 
for all the foul seduction laid to ensnare the feet of the innocent, 
for the frequent violations of Sundays and holidays, 
and the shocking blasphemies uttered against Thee and Thy saints. 
We wish also to make amends for the insults to which Thy Vicar on earth and 
Thy priests are subjected, for the profanation, 
by conscious neglect or terrible acts of sacrilege, of the very Sacraments 
or Thy Divine Love; and 
lastly for the public crimes of nations who resist the rights and teaching authority of the Church which Thou hast founded. 
Would, O Divine Jesus, we were able to wash away such abominations with our blood. 
We now offer, in reparation for these violations of Thy divine honor, 
the satisfaction Thou didst once make to Thy eternal Father on the cross and 
which Thou dost continue to renew daily on our altars; 
we offer it in union with the acts of atonement of Thy Virgin Mother 
and all the Saints and of the pious faithful on earth; and 
we sincerely promise to make recompense, as far as we can with the help of Thy grace, 
for all neglect of Thy great love and 
for the sins we and others have committed in the past. 
Henceforth we will live a life of unwavering faith, 
of purity of conduct, of perfect observance of the precepts of the gospel and 
 especially that of charity. 
We promise to the best of our power to prevent others from offending Thee and 
to bring as many as possible to follow Thee. 
O loving Jesus, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our model in reparation, deign to receive the voluntary offering we make of his act of expiation; 
and by the crowning gift of perseverance keep us faithful unto death in our duty and 
the allegiance we owe to Thee, 
so that we may one day come to that happy home, 
where Thou with the Father and the Holy Ghost livest and reignest God, world without end. 
Amen. 

via Laudete

Month of June - The Sacred Heart of Jesus

June is traditionally the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

From among all the proofs of the infinite goodness of our Savior none stands out more prominently than the fact that, as the love of the faithful grew cold, He, Divine Love Itself, gave Himself to us to be honored by a very special devotion and that the rich treasury of the Church was thrown wide open in the interests of that devotion."  These words of Pope Pius XI refer to the Sacred Heart Devotion which in its present form dates from the revelations given to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque in 1673-75. 

The devotion consists in the divine worship of the human heart of Christ, which is united to His divinity and which is a symbol of His love for us.  The aim of the devotion is to make our Lord king over our hearts by prompting them to return love to Him (especially through an act of consecration by which we offer to the Heart of Jesus both ourselves and all that belongs to us) and to make reparation for our ingratitude to God. 

ACT OF LOVE

Reveal Thy Sacred Heat to me,

O Jesus, and show me Its attractions. 

Unite me to It for ever.

Grant that all my aspirations and all the beats of my heart, which cease not even while I slepp, 

may be a testimonial to Thee of my love for Thee 

and may say to Thee:  Yes,

Lord, I am all Thine; the

pledge of my allegiance to Thee rests ever in my heart and will never cease to be there.

Do Thou accept the slight amount of good that I do and be graciously pleased to repair all

my wrong-doing; so that I may be able to bless Thee in time and in eternity.  Amen.

by Cardinal Merry del Val

 The Prayer Book

"...Thine isolation, the icy silence and the solitude which surround Thy forlorn Tabernacle accuse the world of the sin most keenly felt by Thy Heart--the sin of ingratitude."

"To love, O Jesus, as only Thou lovest and not be loved in return!...to bless and be cursed in return...to scatter favors freely and be repaid by forgetfulness or insults!...Behold sweet Savior, the very bitter bread of Thy voluntary exile in the midst of us; ...behold the price of Thy sublime captivity in the Tabernacle!  In the way Thy Gethsemane is prolonged through the centuries...Ah, in reparation, we insist on having our share in it...."

- First Friday in June meditation of Holy Hour by Father Mateo Crawley-Boevey, SSCC.

Reminder:  this Friday is First Friday in June.  Good time to make the 9 First Fridays.