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Saint for Today - St Praxedes

07/21/2014

Praxedes was a maiden of Rome, and the sister of the maiden Pudentiana. When the Emperor Marcus Antoninus was hunting down the Christians, she followed them constantly with money, labour, comfort, and every helpful office of Christian charity. Some she hid in her house, some she exhorted to firmness in professing the faith, of some, she buried the bodies. For them that were in prison, and them that were toiling in slavery, she supplied every need. At last the sight of such butchery of Christians was more than she could bear, and she implored God that if it were expedient for her to die, he would release her from such suffering. And so upon the 21st day of July she was called away to receive the reward of her godly conversation in heaven. Pastor the Priest laid her body in the grave of her father and her sister Pudentiana, which was in the cemetery of Priscilla, upon the Salarian Way.

The Church of St. Praxedes, Rome

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6th Sunday after Pentecost

07/21/2014

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At that time: The multitude being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples unto him, and saith unto them: I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat.

Sermon by St. Ambrose the Bishop

After the woman (who may be taken as a type of the Church) had been healed of the issue of blood, and the disciples had been appointed to preach the kingdom of God, then was given the food of heavenly grace. But mark who they were unto whom he gave it. He gave it not unto such as dwell at ease, not unto men in cities, not unto such as sit in places of worldly splendour, but unto men seeking Christ in a desert place. It is such as are not given to niceties that Christ receiveth; and unto them the Word of God speaketh, not of earthly things, but of the kingdom of God. And furthermore, if any bear in them the running sores of fleshly passion, he freely bestoweth his medicine of healing.

And then it cometh to pass that, after healing those in the need thereof, he next relieveth their hunger with spiritual nourishment. Thus it is that no man taketh Christ's meat unless he be first healed, and therefore, they that are bidden to the supper must first be cured by the very invitation itself. The same must receive the power to walk, that they they may be able to come; the blind, since they cannot see the door of the house of the Lord, must be given light.

Thus in all these teachings is shewn forth the order of the Sacraments. The sinful soul is first healed by the remission of sins, and afterward is filled at the Table of the Lord. However, the multitude described in this Lesson are such as do not as yet feed on those strong meats, nor pasture their spirits upon the Body and Blood of Christ, as do they of a more solid faith which had not yet come. To use the words of Paul: I have fed you with milk and not with meat, for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. The few little loaves are here, as it were milk; the stronger meat will be the Body of Christ; the more generous cup, the Blood of the Lord.

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Thoughts for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost

07/20/2014

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Hunger of Soul

“They have nothing to eat” (Mark, 8:2)

The immeasurable compassion of Our Lord for those who are in need is well illustrated in today's Gospel. Fascinated by His preaching, a great number of people had followed Him for three days, without anything to eat, and now they were in extreme need of food. To supply their need Christ worked an extraordinary miracle, feeding a multitude of about four thousand persons with only seven loaves of bread and a few fishes.

In this narrative we find a symbol of the important truth that the hunger of the soul for happiness cannot be satisfied by anything except the possession of God. There is in every human heart a desire for happiness; and experience proves conclusively that it cannot be adequately satisfied by the goods that earth provides, such as riches, honours and pleasures. Many crave these created goods with the feeling that if they acquire them they will be perfectly happy. If they succeed in this ambition, they may be contented for a time; but eventually they become dissatisfied and seek around for some other object to gratify their desires. If they attain this, again there is contentment for a time; and then the story is repeated. Some persons spend their lives in this way, always grasping for more of this world's goods, never really happy, even after they have gained possession of what they sought.

The basic reason is that the mind and heart of man are unlimited in their capacity to know and to seek truth and goodness; and hence, only the unlimited truth and goodness that are found in God alone can measure up to this capacity. St. Augustine expressed this indubitable fact when he said: “The heart of man is made for Thee, O God, and it is restless till it rests in Thee.”

Through the goodness of Our Divine Redeemer, we can possess the one object that will satisfy this hunger of our souls, God. For, when we are in the state of sanctifying grace we have God in our souls, and have a claim to possess Him forever in the life to come. When we receive Holy Communion, we possess Christ Himself, nourishing our souls with supernatural grace and strength, even as of old He nourished the bodies of the multitude with natural food. It is sad to realise that there are so many Catholics who have the opportunity to find true happiness in the possession of God, but who continue to make the things of earth the main object of their desires.

Practical Application

Ask yourself honestly if you are seeking happiness in earthly riches, honours and pleasures or in the love and service of Jesus Christ. Remember that only in the possession of God will your soul find true happiness.

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Eleison Comments - CCCLXVI (366)

07/19/2014

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Tradition’s Priority

The word “Magisterium,” coming from the Latin for “master” (“magister”), means in the Church either the Church’s authoritative teaching or its authorised teachers. Now as teacher is superior to taught, so the Magisterium teaching is superior to the Catholic people being taught. But the Catholic Masters have free-will, and God leaves them free to err. Then if they err gravely, may the people stand up to them and tell them, however respectfully, that they are wrong? The question is answered by truth. It is only when most people have lost the truth, as today, that the question can become confused.

On the one hand it is certain that Our Lord endowed his Church with a teaching authority, to teach us fallible human beings that Truth which alone can get us to Heaven – “Peter, confirm they brethren.” On the other hand Peter was only to confirm them in that faith which Our Lord had taught him – “I have prayed that thy faith fail not, and thou being converted, confirm thy brethren” (Lk. XXII, 32). In other words that faith governs Peter which it is his function only to guard and expound faithfully, such as it was deposited with him, the Deposit of Faith, to be handed down for ever as Tradition. Tradition teaches Peter, who teaches the people.

Vatican I (1870) says the same thing. Catholics must believe “all truths contained in the word of God or handed down by Tradition” and which the Church puts forward as divinely revealed, by its Extraordinary or Ordinary Universal Magisterium (one recalls that without Tradition in its broadest sense, there would have been no “word of God,” or Bible). Vatican I says moreover that this Magisterium is gifted with the Church’s infallibility, but this infallibility excludes any novelty being taught. Then Tradition in its broadest sense governs what the Magisterium can say it is, and while the Magisterium has authority to teach inside Tradition, it has no authority to teach the people anything outside of Tradition.

Yet souls do need a living Magisterium to teach them the truths of salvation inside Catholic Tradition. These truths do not change any more than God or his Church change, but the circumstances of the world in which the Church has to operate are changing all the time, and so according to the variety of these circumstances the Church needs living Masters to vary all the time the presentation and explanation of the unvarying truths. Therefore no Catholic in his right mind disputes the need for the Church’s living Masters.

But what if these Masters claim that something is inside Tradition which is not there? On the one hand they are learned men, authorised by the Church to teach the people, and the people are relatively ignorant. On the other hand there is for instance the famous case of the Council of Ephesus (428), where the people rose up in Constantinople to defend the divine Motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary against the heretical Patriarch Nestor.

The answer is that objective truth is above Masters and people alike, so that if the people have the truth on their side, they are superior to their Masters if the Masters do not have the truth. On the other hand if the people do not have the truth, thay have no right to rise up against the Masters. In brief, if they are right, they have the right. If they are not right, they have no right. And what tells if they are right or not? Neither Masters (necessarily), nor people (still less necessarily), but reality, even if Masters or people, or both, conspire to smother it.

Kyrie eleison.

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Saint for Today - St Bonaventure

07/14/2014

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Bonaventure was born at Bagnorea in Tuscany. In his infancy he was dangerously ill, and his mother made a vow that, if he recovered, she would dedicate him to the Order of Blessed Francis. While he was still a young man he entered the Order by his own wish. Under the teaching of Alexander of Hales he advanced so quickly in learning, that in seven years he lectured publicly at Paris on the Books of the Sentences, with great applause. He afterwards explained the same Books by a brilliant Commentary. He was distinguished, not only for the profundity of his learning, but for the integrity of his morals, the innocency of his life, his humility, meekness, contempt of earthly things, and desire of heavenly treasures; and was fully worthy to be regarded as a model of perfection, and to be called a saint by blessed Thomas Aquinas, to whom he was united by ties of the closest friendship. For Thomas, finding Bonaventure engaged in writing the life of St. Francis, said: Let us permit a Saint to labour for a Saint.

He was consumed with the flame of divine love, and had a special feeling of devotion to the Passion of Christ the Lord, which was the subject of constant meditation to him; and to the Virgin Mother of God, to whose service he vowed himself; and this devotion he strove also to arouse in others both by word and example, and he laboured to spread it by his writings and treatises. And so came that sweetness of manner, grace of speech, and the charity which he extended to all, by which he completely and utterly conquered every soul. Wherefore, when only thirty-five years of age he was elected, at Rome, by unanimous consent, Minister General of the Order; and having accepted the office, he fulfilled it for eighteen years with admirable prudence and the recognition of his sanctity. He made many rules, useful for regular discipline and the increase of the order; which, together with the other mendicant orders, he defended successfully against the calumnies of their enemies.

He was summoned to the Council of Lyons by blessed Gregory X, and having been created Cardinal Bishop of Albano, he diligently performed a noted work for the council in very difficult circumstances; in which the dissensions of the schism were composed, and the dogmas of the Church vindicated. In the midst of these labours he died, to the great grief of all, in the fifty-third year of his age, and in the year of salvation 1274, and his funeral was honoured by the whole council and by the presence of the Roman Pontiff himself. Sixtus IV, after Bonaventure had become illustrious for many and great miracles, placed him in the list of the Saints. He wrote many books, in which the highest erudition and the fire of piety are so united as both to touch and instruct the reader. Sixtus V on this account worthily distinguished him by the name of the Seraphic Doctor.

St. Bonaventure presiding at the Council of Lyons

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Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

07/14/2014

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At that time: Jesus said unto his disciples: Unless your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Sermon by St. Augustine the Bishop

The precept: Thou shalt not kill: is of the righteousness of the Pharisees; the counsel: Thou shalt not be angry with thy brother without a cause: is of the righteousness of them which shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. The least therefore is: Thou shalt not kill, and whosoever shall break this commandment, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But whosoever shall do it, and not kill, he is not therefore great, and meet for the kingdom of heaven; nevertheless, he hath risen a step; but he will have gotten farther, if he be not angry with his brother without a cause, the which, if he do, he will be the farther off from manslaughter. Wherefore, he that teacheth us that we are not to be angry without a cause, destroyeth not the law, Thou shalt not kill, but rather fulfilleth and increaseth it, making us not only to be free of the sin of outward killing, but also clean of anger within.

In sins of this kind there are divers steps. The first is this, that when the swelling emotion of anger appeareth in a man's heart, he keepeth it. Next, the inward disturbance wringeth forth words of indignation, not themselves meaning aught, but shewing the vexation of him who is provoked. And this is something worse than anger kept covered under silence. Next, this audible outburst of indignation may contain direct and open reviling of him who hath roused it. And it cannot be doubted that this is something worse than an empty cry of anger.

Behold here the three degrees of guilt open respectively to the judgment, to the council, and to hell-fire. As long as it is a matter of the judgment, there is still place for defence. In the council, albeit this also is in a sense a judgment, the sentence is pronounced, (so we may suppose,) not as the result of a trial whereat the accused is present, but as the result of a consultation among the judges, as to what punishment he is to receive because of his already established guilt. When we get to hell-fire, there remaineth no longer any doubt about condemnation as in the judgment, and no longer any doubt about sentence, as in the council. In hell-fire, the condemnation and the pain of him that is condemned are alike certain.

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Eleison Comments - CCCLXV (365)

07/13/2014

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Agreement Here

On December 13 of last year, in St Martha’s House in Rome where the Pope is currently living, the Pope met briefly with Bishop Fellay, Superior General of the Society of St Pius X. The Society officially denies that the meeting had any significance, but an Italian commentator having some familiarity with how Rome operates, one Giacomo Devoto (G.D.), argues that the meeting was proof that a Rome-SSPX agreement has been reached. See http://www.unavox.it/ArtDiversi/DIV812_Devoto_Notizia_intrigante.html.
In brief:--

On the morning of the 13th Bishop Fellay and his two Assistants at the head of the SSPX met in the Vatican with the heads of the Ecclesia Dei Commission at the invitation of Monsignor Guido Pozzo, restored to the Commission by Pope Francis to deal with the problematic relations between Rome and the SSPX. An official publication of the SSPX, DICI , claims that this meeting was merely “informal,” but G.D. says that even being informal it cannot have taken place without there having been beforehand a series of discreet contacts to repair the public breach of relations in June of 2012. Also, says G.D., such a meeting is the necessary preliminary to any “formal” meeting.

In any case after that meeting Msgr. Pozzo, Msgr. di Noia and the three heads of the SSPX repaired to St Martha’s House where the Pope also happened to be lunching. When the Pope stood up after the meal to leave, Bishop Fellay went over to him, they exchanged a few words in public view and the Bishop kissed the Pope’s ring (or knelt down for his blessing, according to Rome’s Vatican Insider ). DICI again minimised the encounter as nothing more than a chance meeting with a spontaneous exchange of courtesies. On the contrary G.D. reasonably maintains that even such a “chance” encounter cannot have taken place without the Pope’s previous knowledge and approval.

Moreover, says G.D., in the art of diplomacy such a meeting is a finely calculated ice-breaker, of elastic interpretation, designed to mean as much or as little as one wants. On the one hand the courteous contact was there for all to see in a public place frequented by important Newchurch officials, and it could be seen as papal support of whatever had gone on at the morning’s meeting with the Commission. On the other hand both Rome and the SSPX could plausibly deny that the encounter had any real significance beyond an exchange of courtesies.

Thus when rumours began to circulate in the new year, for months the SSPX denied that there was any question of a Rome-SSPX agreement. Only on May 10 did DICI admit that there had been any contact at all between the Pope and Bishop Fellay, and then DICI so minimised the event that G.D. takes it as a sure sign that an agreement has been reached in private. (In modern politics, as the cynical saying goes, nothing can be taken as true until it is officially denied.)

In fact the main problem, for Pope Francis as for Bishop Fellay, is not how to come to an agreement which they both want, but how to get their left and right wings respectively to accept an agreement. However, the problem is being solved for them day by day as the Society, once glorious for its defence of the Faith, becomes the inglorious Newsociety. For indeed how many Newchurch bishops can still be fearing the Newsociety as a threat to their Newchurch? And how many SSPX priests are still convinced that any agreement with Rome would be a disaster, especially if they are promised that “they will need to change nothing”? Such an agreement will hardly need to be announced. In many minds and hearts it is already here.

Kyrie eleison.

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Thoughts for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

07/13/2014

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The Sin of Enmity

“Everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgement” (Matt., 5:21)

The moral law proclaimed by Jesus Christ is based on the commandment of love: “Thou shall love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and soul... Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” Hence, it is a serious sin to disobey this commandment, not only with reference to the obligation to love God but also with reference to the obligation to love one’s neighbour. This is the significance of Our Lord’s words in today’s Gospel: “Everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgement.”

Of course, these words must be interpreted properly. Our Lord does not condemn just anger. He Himself manifested just anger when He drove the buyers and sellers out of the temple. If some modern parents were more inclined to show just anger toward their children when they misbehave, there would be less juvenile delinquency in our country. Again, that type of anger which consists in a brief manifestation of impatience or a slight show of temper which is uncalled for is not a serious sin, though people should strive to restrain this also.

But the type of anger toward our fellow men which Christ condemned so severely is that which consists in lasting, deep hatred. It is most unfortunate that many persons yield to this form of anger, which we call enmity. There are cases of enmity that lasts for years--sometimes between near relatives. People who meet daily hate each other so viciously that they will speak only in so far as is strictly necessary. They will strive to do each other harm, they will rejoice in each other’s misfortunes. How can such persons call themselves Christians, followers of the gentle and forgiving Jesus Christ? How can they say with sincerity: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us?”

It is only natural that at times we should feel a sense of resentment when we are treated unkindly or unjustly by others, and we are not forbidden to manifest our feelings and demand our just rights. But this must be done without hatred of soul. When there is reason to believe that the person who offended us was not aware of what he was doing, we should be sufficiently magnanimous to forget the matter. Often the source of the resentment that divides people for years is a slight incident, not sufficiently important to arouse good Christians to a single burst of impatience.

Practical Application

If you receive any injury or insult from a fellow man, show the true Christian spirit by forgiving this person from your heart and by praying for him.

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Saint for Today -St John Gualbert

07/12/2014

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John Gualbert was the son of noble family at Florence. In accordance with the wishes of his father, he became a soldier. While he was in that profession, his only brother, Hugh, was slain by a cousin. On a certain Good Friday, John, armed and accompanied by soldiers, met the murderer, alone and defenceless, in a narrow way, where neither could turn aside. As he was at the point to kill him, the wretch fell on his knees, and stretched out his arms in the form of the Cross, adjuring him, for the sake of that sign, to forgive him; and out of reverence for the Cross he had mercy on him and spared his life. After pardoning his enemy, he went into the Church of St. Minias, which was hard by, to pray. And there he saw the image of Jesus crucified, which had that day received the worship of the faithful, bow its head to him. By this miracle John was so moved, that he laid aside soldiering, even against his father's wishes; cut off his hair with his own hands, at the Convent of St. Minias, and clad himself in the garb of a monk. In a short while he so shone with all godly and monkish graces, that he became a pattern of excellency to many. When the Abbot of that house died, the monks all chose John to succeed him. But the servant of God desired to obey, more than to command, and, being kept by God for greater things, he betook himself to one Romuald, a dweller in the hermitage of Camaldoli. Through Romuald he received a revelation from heaven, and forthwith founded an Order of his own under the Rule of St. Benedict, in the valley called Vallombrosa.

Many gathered themselves to him, drawn by the fame of his holy life. Them he took for his comrades, and laboured earnestly among them to cleanse the Church in those parts from the pollution of heresy and simony, and spread abroad the Apostolic Faith. He and his had to fight with almost countless hardships. Certain enemies broke by night into the monastery of San Salvi, to destroy John and his monks, set the church on fire, pulled down the huts, and mortally wounded all the monks; but the man of God perfectly healed them all by the sign of the Cross. One of his monks named Peter also passed unhurt through a vast and raging fire. At length John and his disciples got the peace which they longed for. He purged Tuscany of the pollution of simony, and restored the faith throughout all Italy to its first purity.

He entirely built several monasteries, and furnished them and others with buildings. He restored in them the strict observance of the Rule, and gave them holy laws. He sold the furniture of the Church to feed the poor, and found the very elements subject to him to bend stubborn hearts withal. He used the Cross like a sword to drive out devils. In his old age, worn out by abstinence, watching, fasts, prayers, and punishing of the flesh, his strength utterly gave way, and he often repeated the words of David: My soul thirsteth for God, for the mighty God, for the living God―when shall I come and appear before God? When he was at the point of death, he gathered his disciples together and exhorted them to love one another, and, after a little while, ordered the following words to be written down, which he wished should be buried with him: I, John, do believe and confess that Faith which the Holy Apostles preached, and which the Holy Fathers have ratified in the four Councils. At length, at Passignano, where he is held in the highest reverence, after a vision of angels which lasted three days, he passed away to be with the Lord, upon the 12th day of July, in the 78th year of his own age, and in that of salvation 1073. He is illustrious for countless miracles, and Celestine III enrolled his name among those of the Saints.

The Abbey of Vallombrosa

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Saint for Today - St Pius I

07/11/2014

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Pius, the first of that name, the son of Rufinus, was from Aquilia, and was a priest of the holy Roman Church when he was made Supreme Pontiff. He lived under the Emperors Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. He held five ordinations in the month of December, wherein he ordained twelve bishops and eighteen priests. There remain several eminent ordinances of his, notably that which ruleth that the Resurrection of the Lord be not observed upon any day of the week save Sunday. He turned the house of Pudens into a church, and on account of its eminence above the other churches, as being that where the Bishop of Rome dwelt, he dedicated it under the name of the Shepherd. Here he often celebrated, and baptized and numbered among the faithful many converts to the faith. While he strove to do the work of a good shepherd he shed his blood for his sheep, and for the chief Shepherd Christ. He was crowned with martyrdom upon the 11th day of July, and buried upon the Vatican Hill.

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Saint for Today - St Praxedes

6th Sunday after Pentecost

Thoughts for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost

Eleison Comments - CCCLXVI (366)

Saint for Today - St Bonaventure

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

Eleison Comments - CCCLXV (365)

Thoughts for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

Saint for Today -St John Gualbert

Saint for Today - St Pius I

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