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The Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary

5/31/2014

The Lesson is taken from a Sermon by
St. Peter Canisius the Priest

If we follow the writings of St. John of Damascus, St. Athanasius, and others, do these not oblige us to call Mary by the name of Queen, since her father David doth receive the highest praise in Scripture as a renowned king, and her Son as the King of kings and Lord of lords, reigning forever? She is Queen, moreover, when compared with the Saints who reign like kings in the heavenly kingdom, co-heirs with Christ, the great King, placed on the same throne with him, as saith the Scripture. And as Queen she is second to none of the elect, but in dignity is raised so high above both Angels and men that nothing can be higher or holier than she, who alone hath the same Son as God the Father, and who seeth above her only God and Christ, and below her all creatures other than herself.

The great Athanasius said clearly: Mary is not only the Mother of God, but also can truly be called Queen and Lady, since in the fact the Christ who was born of the Virgin Mother is God and Lord and also King. It is to this Queen, therefore, that the words of the Psalmist are applied: Upon thy right hand did stand the Queen in a vesture of gold. Thus Mary is rightly called Queen, not only of heaven, but also of the heavens, as the Mother of the King of Angels, and as the Bride and beloved of the King of the heavens. O Mary, most august Queen and most faithful Mother, to whom no one doth pray in vain who prayeth devoutly, and to whom all mortal men are bound by the enduring memory of so many benefits, again and again reverently do I beseech thee to accept and be pleased with every evidence of my devotion towards thee, to value the poor gift I offer according to the zeal with which it is offered, and to recommend it to thine all-powerful Son.

The Lesson is taken from the Encyclical Letter of Pope Pius XII
11 October 1954

From the documents of ancient Christianity, from the prayers of the liturgy, from the innate religious sense of the Christian people, from works of art, from all sides we gather witness which assert that the Virgin Mother of God doth excel in queenly dignity. And we have set forth the reasons which sacred theology deducible from the treasury of divine faith to confirm the same truth. All these witnesses form a chorus as it were, proclaiming far and wide the supreme queenly honour granted to the Mother of God and man, who is above all exalted over the choirs of Angels to reign in heaven. Thus it is that after mature and thoughtful consideration we have been persuaded that great benefits would flow to the Church if, like a light that doth illumine more brightly when placed in its stand, this solidly proven truth were to shine out more clearly to all; and so, by Our Apostolic Authority, we decree and institute the Feast of Mary, Queen, which is to be celebrated every year on the thirty-first day of May throughout the world.

Eleison Comments - CCCLIX (359)

5/31/2014

CHURCH INFALLIBILITY -- V

Liberalism is war on God, and it is the dissolution of truth. Within today’s Church crippled by liberalism, sedevacantism is an understandable reaction, but it still credits authority with too much power over truth. The modern world has lost natural truth, let alone supernatural truth, and here is the heart of the problem.

For our purposes we might divide all papal teaching into three parts. Firstly, if the Pope teaches as Pope, on Faith or morals, definitively and so as to bind all Catholics, then we have his Extraordinary Magisterium (EM for short), necessarily infallible. Secondly, if he does not engage all four conditions but teaches in line with what the Church has always and everywhere taught and imposed on Catholics to believe, then he is partaking in what is called the Church’s “Ordinary Universal Magisterium” (OUM for short), also infallible. Thirdly we have the rest of his teaching, which, if it is out of line with Tradition, is not only fallible but also false.

By now it should be clear that the EM is to the OUM as snow-cap is to mountain. The snow-cap does not make the summit of the mountain, it merely makes it more visible. EM is to OUM as servant to master. It exists to serve the OUM by making clear once and for all what does or does not belong to the OUM. But what makes the rest of the mountain visible, so to speak, is its being traceable back to Our Lord and his Apostles, in other words, Tradition. That is why every EM definition is at pains to show that what is being defined was always previously part of Tradition. It was mountain before it was covered in snow.

By now it should also be clear that Tradition tells the Popes what to teach, and not the other way round. This is the basis on which Archbishop Lefebvre founded the Traditional movement, yet it is this same basis which, with all due respect, liberals and sedevacantists fail to grasp. Just see in the Gospel of St John how often Our Lord himself, as man, declares that what he is teaching comes not from himself but from his Father, for instance: “My doctrine is not mine but his that sent me” (VII, 16), or, “I have not spoken from out of myself; but the Father who sent me, he gave me commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak” (XII, 49). Of course nobody on earth is more authorized than the Pope to tell Church and world what is in Tradition, but he cannot tell Church or world that there is in Tradition what is not in it. What is in it is objective, now 2,000 years old, it is above the Pope and it sets limits to what a Pope can teach, just as the Father’s commandment set limits to what Christ as man would teach.

Then how can liberals and sedevacantists alike claim, in effect, that the Pope is infallible even outside of both EM and OUM ? Because both overrate authority in relation to truth, and so they see Church authority no longer as the servant but as the master of truth. And why is that ? Because they are both children of the modern world where Protestantism defied the Truth and liberalism ever since the French Revolution has been dissolving objective truth. And if there is no longer any objective truth, then of course authority can say whatever it can get away with, which is what we observe all around us, and there is nothing left to stop a Paul VI or a Bishop Fellay from becoming more and more arbitrary and tyrannical in the process.

Mother of God, obtain for me to love, discern and defend that Truth and order coming from the Father, both supernatural and natural, to which your own Son was as man subject, “unto death, even to the death of the Cross”.

Kyrie eleison

The loss of objective truth in depth explains
The Church’s sedevac and liberal pains.

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May 30th - St Joan of Arc

5/30/2014

St. Joan of Arc is the patroness of soldiers and of France. On January 6, 1412, Joan of Arc was born to pious parents of the French peasant class, at the obscure village of Domremy, near the province of Lorraine. At a very early age, she heard voices: those of St. Michael, St. Catherine and St. Margaret.

At first the messages were personal and general. Then at last came the crowning order. In May, 1428, her voices "of St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret" told Joan to go to the King of France and help him reconquer his kingdom. For at that time the English king was after the throne of France, and the Duke of Burgundy, the chief rival of the French king, was siding with him and gobbling up evermore French territory.

After overcoming opposition from churchmen and courtiers, the seventeen year old girl was given a small army with which she raised the seige of Orleans on May 8, 1429. She then enjoyed a series of spectacular military successes, during which the King was able to enter Rheims and be crowned with her at his side.

In May 1430, as she was attempting to relieve Compiegne, she was captured by the Burgundians and sold to the English when Charles and the French did nothing to save her. After months of imprisonment, she was tried at Rouen by a tribunal presided over by the infamous Peter Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais, who hoped that the English would help him to become archbishop.

Through her unfamiliarity with the technicalities of theology, Joan was trapped into making a few damaging statements. When she refused to retract the assertion that it was the saints of God who had commanded her to do what she had done, she was condemned to death as a heretic, sorceress, and adulteress, and burned at the stake on May 30, 1431. She was nineteen years old. Some thirty years later, she was exonerated of all guilt and she was ultimately canonized in 1920, making official what the people had known for centuries. Her feast day is May 30.

Joan was canonized in 1920 by Pope Benedict XV.

Ascension Thursday

5/29/2014

The Lesson is taken from a Sermon
by St. Leo the Pope

After the blessed and glorious resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ (wherein was raised up in three days that true Temple of God which had been destroyed by the ímpiety of Jewry), there came by God's providential ordering a season of forty days, the annual commemoration of which endeth on this day. The original great forty days, dearly beloved, were spent by the Lord in profitable instruction for our benefit. On this wise, his bodily presence was still given to the earth during all these forty days, that our faith in his resurrection might be armed with all needful proofs. For the death of Christ had troubled the hearts of many of his disciples; their thoughts were sad when they remembered his agony upon the cross, his giving up of the Ghost, and the burial in the grave of his lifeless body: and so a sort of hesitation had begun to weigh on them.

Hence the most blessed Apostles and all the disciples who had been fearful concerning the death on the cross, and doubtful of the trustworthiness of the report of Christ's resurrection, were so strengthened by the clear demonstration of the truth, that, when they saw the Lord going up into the heights of heaven, they sorrowed not; nay, they were even filled with great joy. And, in all verity, it was a mighty and unspeakable cause of rejoicing for all the holy multitude of believers, when they perceived that the nature of mankind was thus exalted above all creatures, even the heavenly spirits, so as to pass above the ranks of the Angels, and be raised beyond the heights of the Archangels. For on this wise they perceived that no limit was set upon the uplifting of that nature short of the right hand of the Eternal Father, where it was to be Sharer of his throne, and Partaker of his glory; and nevertheless it was still nothing more than that nature of man, which the Son hath taken upon him.

Therefore, dearly beloved, let us also rejoice with fitting joy. For the Ascension of Christ is exaltation for us. And whither the glory of the Head of the Church is passed in, thither is the hope of the body of the Church called on to follow. Let us rejoice with exceeding great joy, and give God glad thanks. This day is not only the possession of paradise made sure unto us, but in Christ our Head we are actually entering into the heavenly mansions above. Through the unspeakable goodness of Christ we have gained more than ever we lost by the envy of the devil. For those whom our venomous enemy cast down from the happiness of their first estate, those same hath the Son of God made to be of one body with himself, and hath given them a place at the right hand of the Father: with whom he liveth and reigneth, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Saint for Today - St Augustine of Canterbury

5/28/2014

Augustine, a monk of the Lateran monastery in Rome, was sent by Gregory the Great to England with forty other monks as companions, in the year 597, to convert that nation to Christ. At that time King Ethelbert held the chief power in Kent, and, hearing the reason why Augustine came, he invited him and his companions to Canterbury, the chief city of his kingdom, where he generously gave him permission to remain and preach Christ. The holy man, for that reason, built an oratory near Canterbury, where he lived for some time, imitating with his companions the apostolic way of living.

His preaching of heavenly doctrine, confirmed by many miracles and the example of his life, so softened the hearts of the islanders as to draw many of them to the Christian faith, and finally he baptized the king himself, with a great number of his people, to the great joy of his wife, Queen Bertha, who was a Christian. One Christmas day, when he had baptized more than ten thousand in the bed of the river at York, it is related that those who were suffering from any disease received health of body and soul together. He was consecrated bishop by order of Gregory, and fixed his see at Canterbury in the church which he built in honour of the Saviour, where he placed monks to help him in his work. He also built in the suburbs a monastery of St. Peter, which was afterwards called by his own name. The same Pope Gregory granted him the use of the pallium, and the power to organize the ecclesiastical hierarchy in England, sending him a new band of helpers, namely Mellitus, Justus, Paulinus, and Rufinianus.

Having arranged the affairs of his church, Augustine held a synod with the bishops and doctors of the ancient Britons, who had long been at variance with the Roman Church in the celebration of Easter and other rites. But since he could not move them, either by the authority of the apostolic see or by miracles, to put an end to these variations, in a prophetic spirit he foretold their ruin. At length, after having endured many difficulties for Christ, and having become noted for miracles, when he had placed Mellitus in charge of the church of London, Justus of that of Rochester, and Laurence in charge of his own church, he passed to heaven on the 26th day of May, in the reign of Ethelbert, and was buried in the monastery of St. Peter, which thereafter became the burying-place of the bishops of Canterbury and of some kings. The English people honoured his memory with fervent zeal; and the Supreme Pontiff Leo XIII extended his Office and Mass to the universal Church.

Saint for Today - St. Bede the Venerable

5/27/2014

Bede the priest was born at Jarrow, on the borders of England and Scotland. At the age of seven years he was placed under the care of holy Benedict Bishop, Abbot of Wearmouth, to be educated. Thereafter, he became a monk, and so ordered his life that, whilst he should devote himself wholly to the study of the sciences and of doctrine, he might in nothing relax the discipline of his Order. There was no branch of learning in which he was not most thoroughly versed, but his chief care was the study of Holy Scriptures; and that he might the better understand them he acquired a knowledge of the Greek and Hebrew tongues. When he was thirty years of age he was ordained priest at the command of his Abbot, and immediately, on the advice of Acca, Bishop of Hexham, undertook the work of expounding the Sacred Books. In his interpretations he so strictly adhered to the teaching of the holy Fathers, that he would advance nothing which was not approved by their judgement, nay, had the warrant of their very words. He ever hated sloth, and by habitually passing from reading to prayer, and in turn from prayer from reading, he so inflamed his soul that often amid his reading and teaching he was bathed in tears. Lest also his mind should be distracted by the cares of transitory things, he never would take the office of Abbot when it was offered to him.

The name of Bede soon became so famous for learning and piety that St. Sergius the Pope thought of calling him to Rome, where, certainly, he might have helped to solve the very difficult questions which had then arisen concerning sacred things. He wrote many books for the bettering of the lives of the faithful, and defending and extending of the faith. By those he gained everywhere such a reputation that the holy martyr Bishop Boniface styled him a Light of the Church; Lanfranc called him The Teacher of the English; and the Council of Aix-la-Chapelle The Admirable Doctor. But as his writings were publicly read in the churches during his life, and as it was not allowable to call him already a saint, they named him The Venerable, a title which in all times after hath remained peculiarly his. The power of his teaching was the greater also, in that it was attested by a holy life and the graces of religious observance. In this way, by his earnestness and example, his disciples, who were many and distinguished, were made eminent, not only in letters and the sciences, but in personal holiness.

Broken at length by age and labour, he was seized by a grievous illness. Though he suffered under it for more than seven weeks, he ceased not from his prayers and his interpreting of the Scriptures; for at that time he was turning the Gospel of John into English for the use of his people. But when, on the Eve of the Ascension, he perceived that death was coming upon him, he desired to be fortified with the last sacraments of the Church: then, after he had embraced his companions, and was laid on a piece of sackcloth on the ground, he repeated the words, Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, and fell asleep in the Lord. His body, very sweet, as it related, breathing sweet odour, was buried in the monastery of Jarrow, and afterwards was translated to Durham with the relics of St. Cuthbert. Bede, who was already a Doctor among the Benedictines, and in other religious Orders, and venerated in certain dioceses, was declared by Pope Leo XIII, after consulting with the Congregation of Sacred Rites, to be a Doctor of the universal Church; and the Mass and Office for Doctors was ordered to be recited by all on his feast-day.

St. Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People

St. Mariana of Quito - Feast 26th May

5/26/2014

A Tapestry of Lights and Shadows

The lives of the people of the Colonial period, characters, both good and bad, that have been affected by the appearance of Our Lady of Good Success in Quito, Ecuador have contributed to create an enchanting, and to some, a seemingly phantasmal story. Like the intertwining fibers of a beautiful tapestry, these fibers both bright and dark, create the illusion of lights and shadows upon its medium. These lives are essential in relaying an accurate account of the life and times of Mother Mariana and Our Lady of Good Success. Lacking one or the other, the glorious story and devotion to Our Lady under this eloquent title of Good Success would not exist. This section of the website is dedicated to focusing on one of the many "lights" of this tapestry.

"A Saint Has Canonized Another Saint"

This first light is a subtle light—rather a soft glow which emanates from the picture itself.

In the history that revolves around the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Good Success in Quito, Ecuador, there exists not only the Mariana that is known affectionately as "Mother Mariana", the visionary but a St. Mariana, the Lily of Quito. Both bear the name of Mariana de Jesus. When discovering the distinction between these two "Mariana’s" there is a natural urge to feel a little tinge of disappointment since our heroine of the story of Our Lady of Good Success has not yet been canonized. Instead this "other Mariana" has been chosen to hold this title of honor and sanctity, becoming the first canonized saint of Ecuador. (For the sake of lessening the confusion between the 2 Mariana’s I will title Mother Mariana –"Mother Mariana" and St. Mariana I will title "The Lily of Quito")

Remember, then, that in this intriguing story of Our Lady, Mother Mariana asked Our Lady of Good Success a special favor—to remain unknown and hidden as it were from the local people of that time since she feared they would try to idolize her. Our Lady of Good Success granted her request but promised her that this favor would only be for a time. She stated that in the Twentieth Century Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres would become known as this devotion to Our Lady of Good Success would see resurgence

This page is dedicated then to St. Mariana de Jesus Paredes y Flores-The Lily of Quito. She is a minor character in the story of Our Lady of Good Success but an important one nonetheless. The Lily of Quito is essentially important since she subtly points approvingly and encouragingly to the legitimacy of this devotion to Our Lady of Good Success by the recorded account of her respectful and revering attitude toward Mother Mariana.

The known account of "The Lily of Quito’s" contact with Mother Mariana is a bit unusual in that it occurred at Mother Mariana’s funeral in 1635. It is written in "The Lily of Quito’s" own hand in her diary that she kept. It is now part of the archives of the Carmelite Monastery in Quito which was once her home. These archives rest in the Jesuit Church of "La Compania".

Upon learning of the death of Mother Mariana, The Lily of Quito wished to venerate the remains of the sister that understood the concept of true sanctity. Rightfully, they were kindred spirits at heart. It is said that "The Lily of Quito", upon reaching the Conceptionist Church, found it already packed with faithful souls paying their last respects to Mother Mariana. Despite being only seventeen years of age, "The Lily of Quito" was already known far and wide amongst the people of Quito for her sanctity. At the sight of this holy young woman and out of respect for her reputation of sanctity, a passageway was created so that she could easily make her way through the throng to be as close as possible to the coffin. From this choice spot, she participated in the funeral ceremony. She was able to gaze upon the face of the deceased as she listened to the inspired words of the Bishop of Quito, Mons. Fr. Pedro of Oviedo( also Spiritual Director of the Conceptionist sister). At the end of this inspirational sermon, "The Lily of Quito" could not contain in her heart that which had just been revealed to her about Mother Mariana’s exemplary and virtuous life by way of Divine Inspiration. With deepest sincerity and reverence, she exclaimed, "A saint has died!"

Thus her appearance at the funeral of Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres made a testimony to this good sister’s sanctity.

In the book, "La Mujer y la Monja Extraordinaria- Mariana Francisca De Jesús Torres y Berriochoa", Dr. Luis E. Cadena y Almelda, Postulator for the Cause of Beatification of the Servant of God Mother Mariana Francisca de Jesus Torres y Berriochoa, expresses his thoughts about this eventful happening in this quotation:

"In this way, a saint has canonized another saint."

Truly there is no better way to summarize this significant occurrence! May the Church see fit to someday agree with the proclamation of St Mariana de Jesus Paredes y Flores, The Lily of Quito!

May 24th, 2013

5/26/2014

Our Lady of Good Success

On February 2nd February 1634 Mother Mariana was praying in the choir loft of the Convent chapel when the sanctuary lamp went out and she was left in total darkness. Our Lady appeared to her and explained that the light was extinguished to warn of the terrible times ahead for the Church. She explained that lax clergy would be responsible for dire times and that certain members of the catholic clergy would become as thieves stealing the tabernacle light of our faith. The Blessed mother provided 5 reasons for the trial of the church

1. The spread of heresies. Our Lady said as these heresies spread and dominate, the precious light of faith will be extinguished in the souls by the almost total corruption of customs (tradition)

2. False charity and the loss of vocations. The faithful souls will suffer a continuous and slow martyrdom weeping in secret and employing that such dire times be shortened.

3. A worldwide campaign against the virtues of chastity and purity.
This campaign would succeed in ruining the youth. Our Lady of Good Success confirmed there would almost be no virgin souls in the world.

4. Secular influences would oppose the Church. During these unfortunate times she foretold evil will invade childhood innocence in this way vocations to the priesthood would be lost resulting in a true calamity. Our Lady of Good Success foresaw that there would still be some good religious willing to suffer for the salvation of souls and sustenance of the church.

5. Those who have the financial means to help the church but do nothing. This is due to their uncaring attitude towards God and his church they would have seemed to allow evil to triumph.

Due to the extreme wickedness Mother Mariana saw in these visions she fainted and remained unconsciousness for two days. Another most interesting prophesy of Our Lady states that in the 19th Century there would be a truly Catholic president, he would be a man of character who God Our Lord would give the palm of martyrdom on the square adjoining this convent. He will consecrate the republic to my Most Holy Son and this consecration will sustain the Catholic religion in the years that will follow, which will be ill fated ones for the church. During these year in which masonry, that accursed sect, will take over the government there will be a cruel persecution against religious communities, they will also violently attack this convent which is particularly mine. To those wretched men this monastery will seem finished but unbeknownst to them I live and God lives to raise in their midst powerful defenders of this work and the triumph shall be ours. These predictions were fulfilled to the letter.

Continued in part 2

Life of Mother Mariana

Saint for Today - St Philip Neri

5/26/2014

Philip Neri was born at Florence, of pious and respectable parents. From his early childhood, he gave evident promise of future sanctity. While yet a young man, he gave up an ample fortune which he inherited from an uncle, and went to Rome. Here he studied philosophy and sacred letters, and devoted himself entirely to Christ. So great was his abstinence, that he frequently passed three days without eating. He was intent upon watching and praying, and, frequently visiting the seven churches of Rome, he was in the habit of spending the night in the cemetery of Callistus, in the contemplation of heavenly things. Being ordained priest out of obedience, his one object was the salvation of souls. To the last day of his life assiduous in hearing confessions, he was the father in Christ of almost innumerable children. Wishing to nourish them with the daily hearing of God's word, with frequent sacraments, with constant prayer, and with other pious exercises, he founded the Congregation of the Oratory.

He was ever languishing with the love of God, by which he was wounded, and such was the ardour that glowed within his heart, that, as he could not keep it in its place, his breast was miraculously enlarged by the breaking and expansion of two of his ribs. Sometimes, when celebrating Mass, or in fervent prayer, he was seen to be raised up in the air and encircled with a bright light. He cared for the needy and the poor with an all-providing charity. He was deemed worthy to give alms to an Angel, in the guise of a beggar; and once when carrying loaves to the poor during the night, he fell into a pit, and was in like manner rescued unhurt by an Angel. He was devoted to humility, and always shrank from honours; and when even the highest ecclesiastical dignities were more than once offered to him, he very firmly refused them.

He was noted for the gift of prophecy, and was marvellously eminent in reading the thoughts of men's minds. Throughout his whole life he preserved his chastity unsullied. He had the power of distinguishing those who were chaste by a sweet odour, and the unchaste by a stench. He sometimes appeared to persons at a distance, and assisted them in moments of danger. He restored many who were sick, and at death's door, to health. He also restored a dead man to life. He was frequently favoured with apparitions of heavenly spirits and of the Virgin Mother of God, and saw the souls of many ascending, amid great brightness, into heaven. At length, in the year of salvation 1595, on the 25th day of May, on which day there fell the Feast of Corpus Christi, after having said Mass with extraordinary spiritual joy, and after the other functions were finished, just after midnight, which was the hour he had foretold, in his eightieth year he fell asleep in the Lord. Illustrious for his miracles, he was added to the number of the Saints by Gregory XV.

The Tomb of St. Philip Neri in the Chiesa Nuova, Rome

Fifth Sunday after Easter

5/25/2014

At that time: Jesus said to his disciples: Verily, verily, I say unto you: Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my Name, he will give it you.

Sermon by St. Augustine the Bishop

We have now to consider these words of the Lord: Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my Name, he will give it you. It hath already been said in the previous part of this Sunday's discourse (for the benefit of those who ask the Father in Christ's Name and receive not), that whatsoever is asked, which tendeth not to salvation, is not asked in the Name of the Saviour. By the words: In my Name: we must not understand the vocalization of letter and syllables, but the meaning of what is said, the honest and true meaning of the words: In my Name.

Hence, whosoever thinketh that Christ is not the only-begotten Son of God, such an one doth not ask anything in Christ's Name, even though he do actually utter letters and syllables to that effect, because by these sounds he meaneth not the real Christ, but a fancied being who hath no existence except in the speaker's imagination. But on the other hand, whosoever thinketh of Christ as he ought to think, the same asketh in Christ's Name, and receiveth, provided only it be nothing against his own everlasting salvation; but if it be good for him to receive, he receiveth. Some things are not given at once, but kept over till a more fitting season. Such is the true interpretation of the words: He will give it you: namely, that to them that ask, all such things will be given as are good for them. All the saints also are heard when they ask for themselves, but not necessarily when they ask for their friends or their enemies, or others, even as it is written, not simply: He will give it: but rather: He will give it to you.

Hitherto, saith the Lord, have ye asked nothing in my Name; ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. This their joy, whereof he saith that it shall be full, is to be understood not of fleshly but of spiritual joy; and when that joy is so great that it can be increased no more, then shall it without doubt be full. Therefore, whatsoever is asked which concerneth the fulfilling of this joy (that is, if we thereby aspire to receive God's grace, and so do ask for that life which is the really blessed one), that same is a thing which it is meet to ask in Christ's Name. If we ask anything else than this, we ask nothing (even though we think within ourselves that we are asking for something), because all things are nothing in comparison with this.

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