Pentecost is For All Time

Tomorrow is Pentecost Sunday. It is the birthday of the Church, a most glorious day when the apostles received the Holy Spirit while praying in the upper room with Mary, Christ's Blessed Mother. This happened exactly 50 days after our Lord's resurrection from the dead. The disciples of Jesus Christ had experienced 40 days in the physical presence of our Glorified Lord talking with and being taught by Him. The Book of Acts says that Christ spoke about the Kingdom of God during these 40 days. Acts 1:4-5 also says that "On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.  For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”  At this point we can be sure that the apostles had barely a clue as to the meaning of Christ's words.

On the 40th day after the resurrection, Our Lord ascended to heaven in the presence of the disciples. Just before His Ascension, our Lord told the disciples:  "you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."  (Acts 1:8) Again, we can be fairly certain that these words had little meaning to the apostles. They were still hiding out from the Jews, afraid for their own lives, and certainly in no frame of mind to go out among the outside world which was so hostile to them.

In the days following the Ascension, they stayed in Jerusalem as our Lord instructed them. They were in the same upper room where our Lord had conducted the Last Supper the night He was arrested.  "They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers."  At this time they also chose a replacement for Judas, who had betrayed Christ and hung himself, so there were once again 12 apostles. It is only right that our Blessed Mother would be present at the birth of the Church, the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, just as she was the one who gave physical birth to our Lord. Mary is the Spouse of the Holy Spirit, and she is never separated from Him.

On the 10th day after the Ascension, they were gathered together to celebrate Pentecost, a Holy Day among the Jews. "Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.  They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them."  (Acts 2:2-4).

All of the groundwork laid by Jesus Christ, all of His teaching and exhortation, suddenly came alive for them. It was like lights had been turned on in a darkened house, and what had seemed so incomprehensible before was now clear and unambiguous. Much as Mary conceived our Lord through the Power of the Holy Spirit, so now the apostles of Christ were filled with Jesus Christ through the Power of the Holy Spirit. The fear which had crippled them was replaced with the Love of God. As the Apostle John later wrote, "Perfect love casts out fear." (I John 4:18). The men who had run away the night of our Lord's arrest, the men who had cowered behind closed doors after the death of our Lord, had now become the strong and fearless witnesses of whom Christ spoke, and not even the fear of death could stop them now.

There were many others in the area who were also in Jerusalem to celebrate Pentecost (Acts 2:5-12). The sound of hearing their own languages drew them:

Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.  Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans?  Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?  Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

Everyone in Jerusalem knew the story of Jesus Christ. They knew He had been crucified as a common criminal and all of His followers seemed to have just dropped off the face of the earth. Nothing had been seen or heard from them after the crucifixion. Now, without any warning, here were these same men speaking perfectly in a multitude of different tongues and preaching "the wonders of God." They showed no fear, no hesitation whatsoever. The Apostle Peter spoke of the prophecies concerning Christ, how he was to come to earth as a Man to be crucified and be resurrected after three days. Peter concluded with, "Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah."

The words poured out of Peter and the other Apostles and so affected those who heard them that "When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?"  The apostles baptized 3000 people that day. The beginning of the Church could be compared to the Big Bang that many say started the universe. The Big Bang theory, which is actually very consistent with Scripture, says that there was nothing until - BANG! - the universe was born, and it has been expanding and growing ever since. One moment on the morning of Pentecost, the Church did not exist. Then the Holy Spirit descended, filled the Apostles and - BANG! - the Church was born and, like the Universe, has been expanding ever since then with no end in sight.

There are many lessons associated with Pentecost, but one big lesson is that we are all completely powerless without the Holy Spirit. The Apostles spent 3 years with Christ during His earthly ministry and 40 days with the Risen, Glorified Christ, and yet they were just as carnal and unconverted in their thinking as the day they were born. The Apostles were as unable to grasp the spiritual as an ant is unable to grasp the Laws of Physics. The Holy Spirit, sent by Jesus and the Father, is the One who enlightens our minds and gives us power to be the children of God and do His Work. As Zechariah 4:6 says, "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty."  Galatians 3:3 says, "Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?"  Our Lord said plainly, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit."  (John 3:5-6).

When we start "stalling out", either individually or as a Church, that means we are not allowing the Holy Spirit to work in our lives. We are trying to live our lives under our own power, and that is a sure recipe for disaster. We will be as powerless as the apostles were prior to Pentecost. We each need our own individual Pentecost when we receive and are empowered by the Holy Spirit.

When Pope Benedict XVI was in New York City in 2008, he gave a sermon calling for a New Pentecost in the Church (you can read the full sermon here):

As we give thanks for past blessings, and look to the challenges of the future, let us implore from God the grace of a new Pentecost for the Church in America. May tongues of fire, combining burning love of God and neighbor with zeal for the spread of Christ’s Kingdom, descend on all present!

Stained glass window from outside

In this sermon, Pope Benedict compared the Church to stained glass windows, which look dark from the outside. Their beauty can be seen only from the inside. The same is true of the Church, which can look dark and incomprehensible to those who are not a part of it. It is our duty as Christians to draw people to the light and glory which can be seen only from inside the Church:

It is only from the inside, from the experience of faith and ecclesial life, that we see the Church as she truly is: flooded with grace, resplendent in beauty, adorned by the manifold gifts of the Spirit. It follows that we, who live the life of grace within the Church’s communion, are called to draw all people into this mystery of light.

Light streaming through stained glass window

If the Holy Spirit is acting in our lives, we won't be able to sit back and watch the world go by, no matter what our station in life is. Pope Benedict in his sermon at St. Patrick's Cathedral:

All of you, who fill this cathedral today, as well as you retired, elderly and infirm brothers and sisters, who unite their prayers and sacrifices to your labors, are called to be forces of unity within Christ’s Body. By your personal witness, and your fidelity to the ministry or apostolate entrusted to you, you prepare a path for the Spirit. For the Spirit never ceases to pour out his abundant gifts, to awaken new vocations and missions, and to guide the Church, as our Lord promised in this morning’s Gospel, into the fullness of truth (cf. Jn 16:13).

The Holy Spirit is the Life Force of the Church collectively and in each one of us individually. But the Holy Spirit will never force us to follow Him. Christ told the Apostles, "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth."  (John 16:13) We have to make ourselves available to Him, just as the Apostles did. They received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost because they followed the words of Christ and stayed in Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit was coming to Jerusalem, and if they had not remained in Jerusalem, they would not have received the Holy Spirit.

We must do the same. Today the Holy Spirit resides in the New Jerusalem, which is the Catholic Church, the Church which began on the Day of Pentecost. Our current Holy Father, Pope Francis, said on April 23 of this year that Christ cannot be found outside of the Catholic Church. You can read his full sermon here.

[I]t is not possible to find Jesus outside the Church. The great Paul VI said: "Wanting to live with Jesus without the Church, following Jesus outside of the Church, loving Jesus without the Church is an absurd dichotomy." And the Mother Church that gives us Jesus gives us our identity that is not only a seal, it is a belonging. Identity means belonging. This belonging to the Church is beautiful.

The Catholic Church is where the Holy Trinity resides. The Catholic Church is the only place where the fullness of Truth can be found. Jesus Christ is Life. There is no life outside of Him. Since, as Pope Francis has told us, Jesus cannot be found outside of the Church, there is no life outside of the Church.

We have been given a beautiful gift in the Holy Spirit, who is our Guide, Comforter and Teacher. But like our Blessed Mother, we must say yes to the Holy Spirit or He cannot work in us. The choice is ours.

The Message of Ascension Thursday

Today is Ascension Thursday, which is exactly 40 days after Easter, the resurrection of our Lord.  It is on this day that our Lord left His followers and rose to heaven in his Glorified Body to sit at the right hand of God the Father.  For those of us in the Northeast United States (Boston, Hartford, New York, Newark, Philadelphia, to be exact) and in the Archdiocese of Omaha, Ascension Thursday is a Holy Day of Obligation.  The rest of the country celebrates it on Sunday.  Why?  This is really sad.  From Scott P. Richert of About.com:

The 40th day after Easter Sunday is always a Thursday, and the feast has traditionally been celebrated on that Thursday. However, because attendance at Ascension Thursday Masses had been falling for years, the bishops of the United States, in accordance with canon law, petitioned the Vatican to allow the celebration to be transferred to the following Sunday.  The Vatican agreed.

This seems a matter of the hierarchy giving in to the laity's laziness.  And I think the ones who pay the price for this are the laity, because they definitely lose something by not celebrating this day at the appropriate time.

Ascension Thursday is a time of great joy.  Our Lord has spent 40 days on earth in His Glorified Body appearing to and teaching His Disciples, leaving no doubt in their minds that He has truly risen from the dead.  The two main Biblical accounts we have of the ascension were both written by St. Luke in his gospel account and in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles.  The Apostles, who had not yet received the Holy Spirit at the time of the Ascension, still had not totally given up hope that Jesus was going to make political changes and free them from their Roman captors.  Acts 1:6 - "Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

The Apostles still did not grasp the meaning of Jesus' words when He said, My Kingdom is not of this world.  Many of us keep asking our Lord the same thing, wondering when He will "restore the Kingdom."  We don't realize that our Lord is not a restorer, but a Builder and Creator.  In Revelation 21:5 He says, "Behold, I make all thing new."  He told us that we can't just be patching up the old, but that we need new wine bottles.  The old man must die and we must become a new creation.  And just as the old man must die, so must this world die and be reborn as a new world.  Jesus said in John 12:24:

Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.

First and foremost, this is talking of Jesus Himself, from whose death and resurrection we receive life. Just as our Lord had to put the "old man" to death, so must we, which means letting go of everything pertaining to this world. Everything around us has been tainted with sin, and must be destroyed. If we try to hang on, we will be destroyed with this world. In I Peter 2:11, the first Vicar of Christ tells us we are "strangers and aliens" in this world. St. Paul says in Philippians 3:20 that our citizenship is in heaven. Those who belong to Christ are not part of this world, and those who belong to the world have no part in the Lord. St. Thomas à Kempis wrote in "The Imitation of Christ":

That is the highest wisdom, to cast the world behind us, and to reach forward to the heavenly kingdom. . . It is vanity to love that which quickly passeth away, and not to hasten where eternal joy abideth.

And yet, despite detaching ourselves from this world, we must cultivate and maintain a love for those in the world.  Just before His Ascension into heaven, Christ gave the Church the Great Commission:

Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

In response to the disciples' question about restoring the Kingdom to Israel, Our Lord replied (Acts 1:7)

It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

So how do we detach ourselves from the world, and yet still love and be a witness to those who remain so much a part of this world? We cannot do this of and by ourselves. At the last Supper, our Lord explained that He had to leave the disciples so that the Holy Spirit could come (John 16:7-11):

But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

In order for the Church to fulfill the Great Commission given to us by Jesus Christ, it was necessary that Our Lord leave us so that the Holy Spirit could come and empower us, guiding and leading the Church into all truth. The Holy Spirit lives within the Church and He lives within each one of us. But this could not happen without Christ ascending to heaven to the Father. At that point, sitting at the Right Hand of the Father, as He said, He sent the Holy Spirit upon the Church, which we we will see in 10 days at the Feast of Pentecost.

Yet, despite the fact that Christ was ascending to heaven, He told the Disciples:

And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

How is Christ with us? He is in the Eucharist, in every tabernacle of every Catholic Church in the world. Yes, He is at the Right Hand of the Father, interceding for us, but He is also with us in the Eucharist. He will never leave His Church.

Acts 1:9-11:

After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

The first message the apostles hear when Christ ascends is that He will return, just as they saw Him leave.  The first time our Lord came to this earth, He was born in a lowly manger, unknown and unloved by the world.  But when He returns, He will come as a conquering King, full of Glory and Splendor, and as St. Paul tells us, every knee will bow.

Eternal Monarch, King most high,

Whose blood hath brought redemption nigh,

By whom the death of Death was wrought,

And conquering grace to man was brought:

Ascending to the throne of might,

And seated at the Father's right,

All power, O Jesu, is thine own

That here thy Manhood had not known.

To thee the whole creation now

Doth in its three-fold order bow,

Of things on earth, and things on high,

And things that underneath do lie.

With awe the Angels contemplate

The wondrous change of man's estate;

Though flesh hath sinned, Flesh purged the stain,

And in that Flesh our God doth reign.

Be thou our joy, O mighty Lord,

As thou wilt be our great reward;

Earth's joys to thee are nothing worth,

Thou joy and crown of heaven and earth.

We therefore beg, dear Lord, of thee

To pardon our iniquity;

Yea, of thine own supernal grace

Uplift our hearts to seek thy face:

That when in clouds, O Judge of doom,

Thy glory shall this earth illume,

Thou mayst remit our debt of pain,

And grant our long-lost crowns again.

All praise from every heart and tongue

To thee, ascended Lord, be sung;

Whom with the Father we adore,

And Holy Ghost, for evermore. Amen.

Epiphany: The Light to the World

Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

Isaiah 60:1-3

Today is the Feast of Epiphany, the day we celebrate the wise men of the East coming to adore our Lord and bring him gifts.  This day, like all other liturgical Feast days, is full of different meanings.  For many cultures, this is the real Christmas day, the day when our Lord opened up salvation to the entire world.  As Galatians 3:28 says:

There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

The story of the wise men journeying to the little known and unimportant town of Bethlehem has many different elements in it.  The wise men, first of all, were aware that a King was being born because they looked beyond their own world, not living with their vision restricted just to their every day lives.  They realized there was something bigger in the universe than themselves.  When they received the sign of the brilliant star in the sky, they left all that was known and comfortable and set out to find the King for whom this star was a sign.  They gathered up all their most precious gifts and traveled across unknown lands, guided by the brilliant star.  They showed an amazing faith not seen in all of Israel.

Gentile da Fabriano: "Adoration of the Magi"

Since they were journeying to see a King, they naturally assumed that he would be born in a king's palace.   They went to the only palace in that region, which was that of the wicked King Herod.  Herod immediately advised them that the King they sought was not there, and thus they continued to follow the star.  The Star led them to a humble dwelling which did not deter them.  Matthew 2:11 says, "entering the house, they found the child with Mary his mother, and falling down, they adored him; and opening their treasures, they offered him gifts; gold (representing royalty), frankincense (representing the prayers of the faithful), and myrrh (used in embalming, which pictures the death of our Lord)." We should take note of how these men acted in the presence of the Lord.  They "fell down in worship."  They knew they were in the presence of Divinity, and they responded accordingly.  How often do we enter and leave a Church in which our Lord resides in the tabernacle, and give acknowledgement to our great Creator with no more than barely a nod of the head, and sometimes not even that much?   As St. Leo the Pope stated in a sermon,

As the Wise Men fell down and worshipped him in the manger, so let us fall down and worship him, enthroned omnipotent in heaven. As they opened their treasures and presented unto him mystic and symbolic gifts, so let us strive to open our hearts to him, and offer him from thence some worthy offering.

The gifts given by the wise men were not only to honor our Lord, but they also had a practical use, as the Holy Family would be needing these gifts to finance their flight into Egypt to escape the murderous wrath of King Herod.

Again we see the common thread of having to leave what is comfortable and journey to the unknown.  We saw this when Mary, after having just conceived the Christ Child, journeyed to her cousin Elizabeth's house for the birth of John the Baptist.  We saw the Holy Family journey from Nazareth to the town of Bethlehem where our Savior was born.  We see the wise men journey from their homes in the East across many lands to worship the Christ Child.

And as just stated, the Holy Family must journey again to the strange and unfriendly land of Egypt to escape Herod.  We are told in Matthew 2:15 that this was done "that it might be fulfilled which the Lord spoke by the prophet saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son."  Egypt, the land from which the ancient Israelites were freed, is synonymous with slavery.  By making that literal journey from Egypt, Christ shows that He will be with us every step of the way as we come out of our slavery to sin.  We cannot be followers of Christ unless we are willing to leave the comfort of our lives in which we are enslaved to sin and journey with Him to salvation, taking each step in faith that He will guide us to our destination.

Below is part of the homily delivered by Pope Benedict XVI on January 6, 2006 regarding the meaning of this great Feast day:

The Magi worshipped a simple Child in the arms of his Mother Mary, because in him they recognized the source of the twofold light that had guided them: the light of the star and the light of the Scriptures. In him they recognized the King of the Jews, the glory of Israel, but also the King of all the peoples.

The mystery of the Church and her missionary dimension are also revealed in the liturgical context of the Epiphany. She is called to make Christ's light shine in the world, reflecting it in herself as the moon reflects the light of the sun.

The ancient prophecies concerning the holy city of Jerusalem, such as the marvellous one in Isaiah that we have just heard: "Rise up in splendour! Your light has come.... Nations shall walk by your light, and kings by your shining radiance" (Is 60: 1-3), have found fulfilment in the Church.

 This is what disciples of Christ must do: trained by him to live in the way of the Beatitudes, they must attract all people to God through a witness of love: "In the same way, your light must shine before men so that they may see goodness in your deeds and give praise to your heavenly Father" (Mt 5: 16). By listening to Jesus' words, we members of the Church cannot but become aware of the total inadequacy of our human condition, marked by sin.

The Church is holy, but made up of men and women with their limitations and errors. It is Christ, Christ alone, who in giving us the Holy Spirit is able to transform our misery and constantly renew us. He is the light of the peoples, the lumen gentium, who has chosen to illumine the world through his Church (cf. Lumen Gentium, n. 1).

 "How can this come about?", we also ask ourselves with the words that the Virgin addresses to the Archangel Gabriel. And she herself, the Mother of Christ and of the Church, gives us the answer: with her example of total availability to God's will - "fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum" (Lk 1: 38) - she teaches us to be a "manifestation" of the Lord, opening our hearts to the power of grace and faithfully abiding by the words of her Son, light of the world and the ultimate end of history.

So be it!

All Souls Day: The Stark Difference Between Protestants and Catholics

Mass for the Souls in Purgatory

I know this is a day late and a dollar short, but I have something on my mind that I really want to share, so I hope you'll bear with me.

Yesterday, November 2, was All Souls Day, the day that Catholics around the world specifically remembered those who have died and are undergoing purification in Purgatory.  This day is also a stellar example of just how out of step the Catholic Church is with the world, or maybe it is better said that this day shows how out of step the world is with the Catholic Church.

There are few religions that pray for the dead as the Catholic Church does.  The Jewish religion has prayers for the dead, but only the Catholic Church prays for those who are undergoing purification as they are being made ready to enter into the Presence of the Great God.  The closest any other religion comes to believing in Purgatory are the Hindus who believe in reincarnation:  the belief that we keep coming back to this earth in different forms, human and animal and who knows what else until we "get it right.".  The end of reincarnation is to become "one with the universe" and basically dissolve into nothingness.  That is Satan's answer to the true reward of the saved, which is eternal happiness with and in the presence of the Trinity, and involves no dissolution of who we are.  But to enter into this eternal reward, we must be perfect and completely without sin.  Ephesians 5:27 tells us:  "That he [Jesus] might present it [the Church] to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy, and without blemish."

But how do we, as sinful human beings, ever get to the point that we are without blemish, completely free of all sin - with not even the tiniest bit of selfishness or vanity?  We must be purged of it, just as silver is purged of dross or rust.  As Proverbs 25:4 tells us:

Take away the rust from silver, and there shall come forth a most pure vessel.

Silversmith refining silver

This involves suffering, pure and simple, either now or after we die in Purgatory.  There is no other way.  No one gets into heaven without going through Calvary.  Christ told us in Luke 9:23-24:

If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; for he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall save it.

Herein is seen just how wide the gap is between Protestantism and Catholicism.  Protestants  believe that if we just say, "I accept Jesus Christ as my Savior", then poof! we are saved and ready to enter into heaven.   It doesn't matter that we are filled with sin.  Protestants believe that Christ's sacrifice "covers" our sin, sort of like snow covering a pile of garbage.  The problem is that although the snow may look pretty, the garbage is still there.  Do we really believe that our Lord would allow a sinner into heaven just as long as he is "covered" by our Lord's Sacrifice?  Protestants don't take Christ seriously when he said, "Be ye therefore perfect as your Father in heaven in perfect."  (Matthew 5:48).  Protestants believe, in effect, that covering stinking putrid garbage with snow somehow makes the garbage into magnificent and precious jewels.  Even a child will see just how ridiculous that thinking is.

The Protestant belief is clearly shown in the lyrics to the famous Protestant hymn, "Just As I Am":

Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind;

Sight, riches, healing of the mind,

Yea, all I need in Thee to find,

O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Protestant Cross with no
suffering Jesus

In the Protestant world, we can go to Jesus "Just as I Am", and Christ does all the rest, no work necessary on our part, and certainly no suffering.  No need for any kind of Purgatory, either here or in the afterlife.  In fact, many Protestants believe that if you are suffering, that actually means you have done something wrong and God is punishing you.  Protestants deny suffering in the plan of redemption, and that is also why they deny the Crucifix, and instead have a cross without the corpus.  They have no desire to think about or look at suffering, and they especially eschew the salvific suffering of our Lord.  Because of this, they have no clue how important suffering is in the life of a Christian.

Unlike the rest of the world, the Catholic Church does not see suffering as something evil or a punishment of any kind.  Here are just a couple of quotes from great saints on suffering:

Suffering is a great grace; through suffering the soul becomes like the Saviour; in suffering love becomes crystallised; the greater the suffering, the purer the love.
--St. Faustina

All the science of the Saints is included in these two things: To do, and to suffer. And whoever had done these two things best, has made himself most saintly.
--Saint Francis de Sales 

"If you really want to love Jesus, first learn to suffer, because suffering teaches you to love."
--St. Gemma Galgani

If we only knew the precious treasure hidden in infirmities, we would receive them with the same joy with which we receive the greatest benefits, and we would bear them without ever complaining or showing signs of weariness.
--St. Vincent de Paul

The great G.K. Chesterton perfectly sums up the Catholic view of suffering

Jesus promised the disciples three things - that they would be completely fearless, absurdly happy and in constant trouble.

As Catholics, we believe that it is our duty to pray for the suffering souls in Purgatory that they can quickly go through their purification and be released to their heavenly reward. That is the purpose of All Souls Day, and there is no idea that could be more alien to the Protestant way of thinking.

Unfortunately, the Protestant mindset has found its way into the Catholic Church. Yesterday  I went to Mass in which the priest wore white vestments and never even mentioned the word "Purgatory."  I know that this particular priest believes that everyone goes to heaven, that no one goes to hell, much less Purgatory.  Somehow he managed to preach about praying for those who have died, but I honestly don't know what we are to pray for since they are all in heaven.

Risen Christ has replaced the
suffering Christ on the Cross

This is very dangerous thinking.  If we start to believe that we are all going to heaven no matter what, we will  live very undisciplined lives, completely forgetting about sin and thus forgetting about the great Sacrifice of our Lord on the Cross to deliver us from sin and death  This  directly leads to misunderstanding the meaning and importance of suffering in our lives.  It is the reason why so many Catholic churches no longer have a suffering Jesus on the Cross, but a risen Jesus, free of all pain and suffering of this earth.  When we reject the suffering Christ and the suffering that comes into our lives, we no longer see it as a way of purification and a great gift from God to cleanse our souls and bring us into a close, intimate relationship with Him.  Suffering is now a punishment and something to be avoided at all costs.

It is this kind of thinking that has resulted in the tremendous drop off in the Sacrament of Confession.  Why should we bother with confessing our sins when we know we're already forgiven and going to heaven?   This has led to the attitude that it's not necessary to attend Mass or follow the teachings of the Church in general.  God loves me, and as long as I am  "good" person, living a "good" life and not hurting anyone, I don't have anything to worry about.

Mary, John and the women at the foot
of the Cross

It is no coincidence that Protestants reject the idea of suffering and also reject veneration of Mary, our Blessed Mother.  These two issues may not seem related, but they are actually intimately tied together.  To venerate Mary means to stand with her at the foot of the Cross, as the apostle John and Mary Magdalene and the few other women did who stayed with Mary and embraced the suffering Christ.  Sadly, far too many of us in the Catholic Church are no longer joining ourselves with our Blessed Mother at the foot of the Cross.  We are rejecting the suffering and running away from Calvary with all of the other apostles and disciples and saying as Peter did, "I do not know him."  When we reject the idea of suffering, we have become Protestant in our thinking.

We must remember that there are three parts of the Church:  the Church Militant here on earth; the Church Suffering in Purgatory; and the Church Triumphant, who are the saved in heaven.  Protestants, who preach "once saved always saved" believe only in the Church Triumphant.  And now many Catholics are also teaching and believing that there is only the Church Triumphant, and that it includes those of us here on earth.  But we are NOT the Church Triumphant yet.  We are the Church Militant involved in a spiritual war.  It is crucial that we return to the foot of the Cross with our Blessed Mother and realize that we have not finished the course, we have not yet received our reward as the Church Triumphant has.  We have to be cleansed and made perfect.  Revelation 22:14 says:

"Blessed are they that wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb: that they may have a right to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city."

Bloodshed means suffering, and we will only find the Blood of the Lamb at the place where He suffered and was sacrificed:  Calvary.  It is no coincidence that the only disciples who did not abandon our Lord on that first Good Friday are those who stayed with Mary.  And where was Mary to be found?  On the road to Calvary, the road of suffering, and at the foot of the Cross. We are still in that race, and we will not finish unless we stay with Mary at Calvary.  That means recognizing the suffering Jesus Christ and accepting and even embracing that suffering in our lives.  That is the only way that our Lord can fulfill the meaning of Ephesians 5:27:  "That he [Jesus] might present it [the Church] to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy, and without blemish."

I hope that you took time on November 2 to pray for the suffering souls in Purgatory and join your suffering with them.  We should in fact pray for the poor souls in Purgatory every day.  As they are released to Heaven, they will join the Church Triumphant and in turn pray for you.  Those in Purgatory embrace their suffering because they know it is leading them to their great reward in heaven, to be in the Presence of the Holy Trinity.  We also must stop running away from our suffering.  We need to walk the road of Calvary with our Blessed Mother and stand at the foot of the Cross.  The Stabat Mater, which we sing when doing the Stations of the Cross, reminds us of where we need to be:

"At the Cross her Station Keeping,

Stood the Mournful  Mother Weeping

Close to Jesus to the Last."  

Feast of The Seven Sorrows of Our Lady

Today, September 15, is the Feast Day of our Lady of Sorrows.  This day is to commemorate the sorrows that our Blessed Mother experienced during her life.  It is traditionally taught that there are seven sorrows of Mary, pictured by the seven swords piercing her heart:

1. The Holy Family had to flee to Egypt to escape the murderous wrath of King Herod.

2. Simeon's prophecy at the presentation of Jesus at the temple, that a sword would pierce Mary's heart as well. 

3. The Child Jesus is lost for three days until he is found in the temple.

4. Mary and Jesus meet on the way to Calvary when He is carrying his cross.

5. The Crucifixion of our Lord when Mary stood at the foot of the cross.

6. Jesus is taken down from the Cross and placed in his blessed mother's arms. 

7. Jesus is placed in the tomb.

 

With the exception of her Divine Son, no one has ever suffered more than our Lady did.  As St. Alphonsus de Liguori wrote:

In this valley of tears every man is born to weep, and all must suffer, by enduring the evils which are of daily occurrence. But how much greater would the misery of life be, did we also know the future evils which await us! ‘Unfortunate, indeed, would his lot be,’ says Seneca, ‘who, knowing the future, would have to suffer all by anticipation

Our Lord shows us this mercy. He conceals the trials which await us, that, whatever they may be, we may endure them but once. He did not show Mary this compassion; for she, whom God willed to be the Queen of Sorrows, and in all things like His Son, had to see always before her eyes and continually to suffer all the torments that awaited her; and these were the sufferings of the Passion and death of her beloved Jesus; for in the temple Saint Simeon, having received the Divine Child in his arms, foretold to her that that Son would be a mark for all the persecutions and oppositions of men. “Behold, this Child is set… for a sign which shall be contradicted.” And therefore, that a sword of sorrow should pierce her soul: “And thy own soul a sword shall pierce.”

The Blessed Virgin herself told Saint Matilda, that, on this announcement of Saint Simeon, ‘all her joy was changed into sorrow.’ 

The Presentation and Circumcision of our Lord

 * * * 

We have just passed the 11th commemoration of 9/11, when so many innocent people, who had done nothing more sinister than go to work, were brutally murdered right here in New York City.  They all woke up that morning thinking it was like any other day, having no idea that they would be dead in just a few hours.  When they left for work that day, their families had no idea they would never see them again. What if all these people had had to live their entire lives knowing this would be their fate?  This is, in effect, what our Lord and his Mother had to live with.  These were the two most innocent and perfect people who had ever lived.  Yet there was never a moment of their lives when they did not have the great sorrow of the Cross hanging like an ominous cloud over their heads.  And it was all done out of love for us, the very ones responsible for our Lord's death, so that we could be rescued from sin and spend eternity in blissful happiness with them.

Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen gave a beautiful sermon on the suffering of Mary, why it was necessary and what it accomplished.  Here are a few excerpts:

Not only did our Blessed Mother beget a Son, but the Son also begot her. This is the connection between Bethlehem and Calvary. She gave Him Sonship, but He also gave her Motherhood. At the crib ... His Mother; at the Cross she was called the "Woman." No Son in the world but Christ could ever make His Mother the mother of all men, because the flesh is possessive and exclusive. Making her the Woman or the Universal Mother was like a new creative word. He made her twice: once for Himself, and once for us in His Mystical Body. She made Him as the new Adam; He now installs her as the new Eve, the Mother of mankind.

John and Mary at the foot of the Cross
when Mary was given to us as our Blessed Mother

This transfer of His Mother to men was, appropriately, at the moment He redeemed them. That word "Woman" from the Cross was the second Annunciation, and John was the second Nativity. What joy went with her mothering Him! What anguish went with His Mothering her! Mary's mind was filled with the thought of Divinity in the stable; but at Golgotha it is sinners that are uppermost in her mind, and she now begins their mothering. The curse of Eve hangs heavily on Mary: "Thou shalt bring forth children in sorrow." When we contrast the great difference between her Divine Son and us, her sorrow, from our point of view, must have been not only "How can I live without Him?" but also "How can I live with them?" This was the miracle of substitution, for how can one be satisfied with straggling rays when one has been with the sun? The humility of which she sang at the Magnificat was not only a confession of unworthiness to be the Mother of God, but also the admission now of her readiness to be the Mother of man. It was a grief not to die with Him; it was a greater grief to live on with us.
 

Tradition indicates that Mary was pierced seven times with swords of sorrow and that these constitute her Seven Dolors. The position we will take is not that there were seven swords, but seven thrusts of the one sword, and the sword that pierced her soul was Christ Himself. This Sword has a double edge: one edge ran into His Own Sacred Heart, the other into her Immaculate Heart. . . .There were not seven swords but only one, and it plunged into two hearts. The Seven Dolors are as seven thrusts of the Sword Christ, one edge for Him as Redeemer, the other edge for her as the Mother of the Redeemer. Christ is the Sword of His Own Passion; He is the Sword of her compassion. Pius XII says that she, as the true Queen of Martyrs, more than any of the faithful, filled up for His Body the Church the sufferings that were wanting to the Passion of Christ! This was the first reason why God permitted her Dolors, that she might be the first after the Redeemer Himself to continue His Passion and death in His Mystical Body.

An unsuffering Christ Who ignored sin would be reduced to the level of an ethical reformer, like Buddha or Confucius. An unsuffering Madonna to the suffering Christ would be a loveless Madonna. Who is there who loves, who does not want to share the sorrows of the beloved? Since Christ loved mankind so much as to want to die to expiate their guilt, then He should also will that His Mother, who lived only to do His will, should also be wrapped in the swaddling bands of His griefs.
 

But she also had to suffer for our sakes as well as for His. As Our Lord learned obedience by which He suffered, so Mary had to learn motherhood, not by appointment but by experience with the burdens of the human heart. The rich cannot console the poor unless they become less rich for the sake of the poor; Mary cannot wipe away human tears unless she herself has been their fountain. The title "Mother of the Afflicted" had to be earned in the school of affliction. She does not expiate for sins; she does not redeem; she is not a savior — but by His will and by her own, she is so much bound up with Him that His Passion would have been entirely different had there not been her compassion.

He also plunged the sword into her own soul in the sense that He called her to be a cooperator with Him, as the new Eve, in the regeneration of humanity. When the mother of James and John asked political preferment for her sons, they were asked if they could drink of His chalice. That was the condition of being in His Kingdom. What draining of the chalice, then, shall be the condition of being the Mother of the Crucified! St. Paul tells us that we cannot be partakers of His glory unless we partake also of His crucifixion. If, then, the sons of Mary are not exempt from the law of sacrifice, certainly Mary herself, who is the Mother of God, shall be less exempt.

If you wish to read the entire magnificent sermon by Venerable Fulton Sheen, go here. 

Venerable Fulton Sheen concludes his sermon with this:

As she became the Refuge of Sinners by knowing what it is to lose God and then find Him, so He became the Redeemer of sinners by knowing the deliberateness, the willfulness, the resoluteness of those who wound the ones they love! She felt the creature losing the Creator; He felt the Creator losing the creature. Mary lost Jesus only in mystical darkness of the soul, not in the moral blackness of an evil heart. Her loss was a veiling of His face, not a flight. But she does teach us that, when we lose God, we must not wait for Him to come back. We must go out in search of Him; and, to the joy of every sinner, she knows where He can be found!

* * * 

There is no pain, no heartache that is foreign to our Blessed Mother.  Her understanding and compassion of the sorrows we experience on this earth is beyond our ability to comprehend.   She suffered intimately with our Lord.  Their hearts were pierced together for our salvation.  She is, as the Venerable Fulton Sheen said, the Refuge of Sinners. 

The Nativity of the Blessed Mother

R. This day was the Blessed Virgin Mary born of the lineage of David ; * The same is she through whom the salvation of the world hath been manifested before the eyes of all believers, and whose glorious life hath given light to the world.

V. With joy let us keep the Birth-day of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Traditional Roman Breviary 

Today, September 8, we celebrate the Nativity of Our Blessed Mother, the Virgin Mary, the only person outside of her Divine Son who was born into this world without the stain of original sin.  From the time of her Immaculate Conception, Mary was formed and shaped to become the Ark of the Covenant, the one who would give birth to the Messiah.  She was born into a humble Jewish family and now reigns in heaven as Queen of heaven and earth, Queen of the Angels, who intercedes constantly for us before the throne of Her Son, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. 

There is a beautiful reading from St. Augustine in today's traditional breviary:

The Lesson is taken from a Sermon by St. Augustine the Bishop

Dearly beloved brethren, the day for which we have longed, the Feast-day of the Blessed and Worshipful and Alway-Virgin Mary, that day is come. Let our land laugh and sing with merriment, bathed in the glory of this great Virgin's rising. She is the flower of the fields on which the priceless lily of the valleys hath blossomed.

This is she whose delivery changed the nature that we draw from our first parents, and cleansed away their offence. At her that dolorous sentence which was pronounced over Eve ended its course ; to her it was never said : In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children. She brought forth a Child, even the Lord, but she brought him forth, not in sorrow, but in joy.

Eve wept, but Mary laughed. Eve's womb was big with tears, but Mary's womb was big with gladness. Eve gave birth to a sinner, but Mary gave birth to the sinless One. The mother of our race brought punishment into the world, but the Mother of our Lord brought salvation into the world.

Eve was the foundress of sin, but Mary was the foundress of righteousness. Eve welcomed death, but Mary helped in life. Eve smote, but Mary healed. For Eve's disobedience, Mary offered obedience ; and for Eve's unbelief, Mary offered faith.

Mary replacing Eve

Let Mary now make a loud noise upon the organ, and between its quick notes let the rattling of the Mother's timbrel be heard. Let the gladsome choirs sing with her, and their sweet hymns mingle with the changing musick. Hearken to what a song her timbrel will make accompaniment. She saith : My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden, for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is Mighty hath magnified me. The new miracle of Mary's delivery hath effaced the curse of the frail backslider, and the singing of Mary hath silenced the wailing of Eve.

The Lesson of John the Baptist: What Are You Willing to Die For?

"O God, who willed that Saint John the Baptist
should go ahead of your Son
both in his birth and in his death,
grant that, as he died a Martyr for truth and justice,
we, too, may fight hard
for the confession of what you teach. 
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever."
(Collect from the Ordinary Form of the Mass)

Today we celebrate, both in the Traditional Calendar and the Contemporary Calendar of the Church, the Feast Day of the Martyrdom of John The Baptist, who was beheaded by Herod Antipas. Our Lord said of His cousin:  "Amen I say to you, there hath not risen among them that are born of women a greater than John the Baptist."  There are many reasons why John the Baptist is the greatest "born of women".  Taking a look at his life gives many clues.

John the Baptist was conceived and born  as the result of a miracle from God after his mother's child bearing years had ended.  His father was a priest in the temple in Jerusalem, a prestigious position, yet despite this lofty position, his parents had suffered their entire married lives from the social stigma of being childless.  Childless couples were viewed as being cursed by God, having done something to merit God's disfavor.  Even after John's birth, they no doubt still felt the pain of being judged by others.


Zacharias, Elizabeth, Mary
and the baby John the Baptist

John the Baptist could have had a comfortable life as a priest in the Temple.  But he chose instead to go literally go off into the wilderness, rejecting all worldly comforts, and instead live with the outcasts of society - those who were deformed physically or mentally in some way, those whom society had rejected.  It is estimated that only 20% to 30% of the Jews were even allowed into the temple.  All the rest were, for various reasons, considered unclean and unfit to even enter the temple. John rejected a position with the elite of society and instead chose the weak and poor and those who "mourned", as our Lord described them.

The Preaching of St John the Baptist by
Alessandro Allori, 1601-1603

John the Baptist is often described as a sort of wild man, kind of frothing at the mouth and condemning everyone for being great sinners.  The fact is, he was the Mother Teresa of his day, taking care of those who had been rejected by the rest of society.  He had a great many followers because he truly loved and ministered to them. 

But, as the Gospels also tell us, he did not waste words in pointing out those who were oppressing the weak and poor, and told them, "Ye brood of vipers, who hath shewed you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance. And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham for our father. For I tell you that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham. For now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that doth not yield good fruit, shall be cut down, and cast into the fire."  (Matt. 3:7-10). It is well to remember that John the Baptist may have personally known those he was condemning as he had once lived in Jerusalem at the temple with his parents.  So while John was very popular with the "common" people because of his great love for them, the Jewish leaders despised him because he called them out for exactly what they were and did not spare any words.

It is interesting to note that Jesus started his public ministry by being baptized by John the Baptist, this social and religious outcast, looked down upon by elite members of religious society. 

John the Baptist rebuking Herod and Herodias

But John didn't stop at the religious leaders.  He did not shy away from pointing out the political leaders when they were involved in evil.  That included Herod Antipas, who was married to his brother's wife, an evil and scandalous act, and John paid a heavy price for his fearless condemnation.  Mark 6:17-20:

For Herod himself had sent and apprehended John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias the wife of Philip his brother, because he had married her. For John said to Herod: It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife. Now Herodias laid snares for him: and was desirous to put him to death, and could not. For Herod feared John, knowing him to be a just and holy man: and kept him, and when he heard him, did many things: and he heard him willingly.  

Herodias finally got her chance to get rid of John the Baptist at Herod's birthday party.  She had her daughter perform a particularly provocative dance for Herod, getting him into such a state that he promised her anything she wanted in return.  At her mother's prompting, she asked for the head of John the Baptist, who was being held prisoner.  Herod, knowing that he was killing a good and holy man, nonetheless cut off the head of John the Baptist.

The meditation from today's Magnificat  is from a priest who was executed by the Nazis on February 2, 1945 in Berlin, Germany.  His name is Father Alfred Delp, S.J.  Father Delp was part of the Resistance movement in Germany against Adolph Hitler.  Father Delp was arrested and imprisoned on July 28, 1944 by the Nazis after a major attempt on Hitler's life.  Although the Nazis were not aware of it, Fr. Delp took his final vows to the Jesuit Order on December 8, 1944 while in prison.  He wrote that day: It was too much, what a fulfillment, I prayed for it so much, I gave my life away. My chains are now without any meaning, because God found me worthy of the "Vincula amoris" (chains of love). 

Father Alfred Delp, S.J.

THE WITNESS OF JOHN THE BAPTIST

The figure of John demonstrates two laws about authentic people and shatters two dangers to which man's authenticity generally succumbs.  He shatters two situations in which an authentic man so very often suffocates and drowns.  The first law and the first danger:  the prophet stands before the king.  And the first point:  do not permit regard for private security or personal existence to make you into an inauthentic person.  So very often throughout history, whenever prophet and king have encountered one another, the king is always in the superior position.  What is easier, what is simpler, than to muzzle a prophet!  Yet, indeed, hasn't it been - not the voices of those who went into the palaces and were welcome there - but rather the voices calling in the wilderness who filled the cosmos, who prepared the way, who directed people toward Advent, and who arranged for the proper meeting with the end and the Ultimate?

Prophet and king!  The prophet must have known that the king's power and force and majesty would fall upon him and crush him if he said, "Non licit:  That is wrong because it is inauthentic and is not in accordance with the divine order."  And John said it, and he was crushed, and he was brutalized, and - for all time and eternity - he stands as the witness within history, as the witness before the face of the Lord, as authenticity itself.  And he was right!

Along with that are the second law and the second danger.  Futility or ineffectiveness do not dispense one from speaking the truth, declaring what is wrong, and standing up for what is right and just.  How could this prophet think he could interfere in the family history and family scandals of the king, and be successful?  Whoever considers success, or makes his decisions or attitudes dependent upon whether something is futile or certain of success, is already corrupt.  Then authenticity no longer means his personal encounter with what is real; it is rather his personal dependence upon success, upon being heard, on popularity and applause, and on the roar of the great throngs.  He is already corrupt.  And woe if the prophets are mute out of fear that their word might not be heeded.

John the Baptist had great love for God and no fear of his fellow man. He cared only in serving God and, in turn, serving and loving his fellow man. And sometimes that meant pointing out their sin, their hypocrisy, letting others know that unless they change, they are headed for eternal damnation. And nothing would stop John the Baptist, not fear of death or death itself. He could have played "nice" with Herod, but instead he took the fearless road of serving God.

There is much we could take from the example of John the Baptist to apply to the situation in which the Church finds herself today in the United States.  The Church is facing an enemy who wants to effectively destroy her.  We have an enemy who espouses evil and calls it good.  This is no time for "dialog" and "civility."  It is highly unlikely that John the Baptist, or even Father Alfred Delp, would spend a night of fun and frivolity with Barack Obama as Cardinal Dolan is planning. As Father Delp wrote, the prophet must be willing to say:  ""Non licit: That is wrong because it is inauthentic and is not in accordance with the divine order."  John the Baptist would not be talking about "religious freedom."  He would be talking about good and evil, pointing out the sin that threatens to destroy millions of souls. 

Our Bishops need the fearlessness of John the Baptist.  He called out Herod because he knew that there is no "dialog" with evil.  Evil must be called out for what it is and dealt with accordingly, even if it means giving our lives, as both Father Alfred Delp and John the Baptist did.  As Father Delp warned us:

Futility or ineffectiveness do not dispense one from speaking the truth, declaring what is wrong, and standing up for what is right and just. .  . .Whoever considers success, or makes his decisions or attitudes dependent upon whether something is futile or certain of success, is already corrupt. Then authenticity no longer means his personal encounter with what is real; it is rather his personal dependence upon success, upon being heard, on popularity and applause, and on the roar of the great throngs. He is already corrupt. And woe if the prophets are mute out of fear that their word might not be heeded.