I have received not a few questions and opinions regarding various behaviors, practices and beliefs which some wish to elevate as morally good acts and righteous beliefs. In an effort to address these questions in an organized fashion, it seemed to me that the following work, adapted somewhat, might be beneficial.
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In setting forth the definition of Ethics...there is a standard to which human conduct must conform in order to be morally good human conduct. What is the standard?
That is the most important question in moral philosophy. A false standard of morality inevitably leads to moral concepts and principles destructive of the moral integrity of the individual and the [human] race and opposed to the very foundations of all social order.
Despite a knowledge of the true standard, mistakes will be made and moral depravity will exist. But to hold to a false standard would be to justify moral depravity and render true progress impossible. Many men of great literary and scientific ability, possessed of many most estimable moral qualities, have proposed and do propose false standards of morality. This is due to fundamental error regarding the existence and nature of a personal God or regarding the nature and true dignity of a human person.
The purpose of this chapter is a clear and simple presentation of the true standard and a brief refutation of such false standards as still exert a wide influence. We shall introduce the subject by explaining what is meant by the moral order.
1. The Moral Order
The term "moral" primarily expressing a quality of the human act, is extended to other things that are in some way connected with the morality of the human act. Thus we speak of moral habits and principles and judgments, the moral standard, the moral law, the moral order.
The moral order is the order to which human actions must conform to be in themselves rightly ordered and morally good human conduct. In what does this order consist?
Every being has its own proper nature, its own intrinsic essential perfection and its own essential end or purpose. Beings differ in their essential nature, and some are essentially more perfect than others. Hence between beings arise essential relations, and thus is constituted an essential and immutable objective order in which each existing being has a definite place determined by its natural perfection.
Man's place in the objective order is thus determined. By nature he is essentially and immutably inferior to God, equal to other men, superior to the brute animal and all irrational creatures. In man the soul is essentially superior to the body, and reason is essentially superior to bodily sense.
Moreover, there are other relations founded on the essential nature of things that enter into the life of man, e.g., parenthood, citizenship, etc. There is an essential, immutable relation between the parent as such and his child, between
the citizen as such and his State or Country, between the husband as such and his wife, between the subordinate as such and his legitimate superior, between State and State as such. There are essential relations founded on the essence of every valid contract made between person and person.
Man, endowed with reason, perceives the objective order of which he is an integral part. He perceives it as an existing order established by a supreme power. He perceives it as the plan of a supreme wisdom, decreed and sanctioned by a supreme will for a supreme purpose. It indicates to man the way towards the fulfilment of his own supreme destiny as a part of the existing order. No man who has come to the normal development of reason can, except through his own fault, be ignorant of the more general requirements of this objective order.
Man's will is free. In the exercise of his free will he can conform his action to the order of supreme wisdom, thus freely acknowledging his own position in that order and the relations that exist between him and other beings. Such action is in harmony with his essential nature, befitting him as a man, morally good.
He can deliberately refuse to acknowledge these essential relations. If he does, his action is at variance with essential order, a revolt against supreme wisdom and will. It does not tend to promote but to frustrate the supreme purpose for which man exists as a part of the existing order. It is opposed to his essential nature in virtue of which he occupies a definite position in the ordered universe. It is unbefitting him as a man and morally bad.
The order based on the essgntial nature of things is, therefore, rightly called the objective moral order. In it man possesses an objective criterion of what is morally good and what is morally bad.
It is as immutable as are the essential natures of the beings that constitute the universe of being. The universal conviction that has ever prevailed regarding the essential moral badness or moral goodness of certain acts is founded on the knowledge of the objective moral order.
Many of the essential relations that exist between beings are so evident that even the most depraved savages could not fail to recognize that there are actions absolutely forbidden and others absolutely demanded by the Supreme Orderer of the universe.
And we are perfectly conscious that it is the same translucent objective evidence that motives our judgments regarding the essential moral turpitude of blasphemy and murder and treason and perjury and calumny and impurity and ingratitude. We clearly perceive that no law or lawgiver or custom or convention or development or condition of things could make them good.
It is the province of special ethics to study in detail the requirements of the moral order. But to show more clearly that it is a criterion by which man should be directed in the conduct of his life, a standard to which human action should conform, we add here the following brief consideration.
As God is man's infinite Creator and Lord and Highest Good, what does essential order demand of man?
Evidently that he formally acknowledge God's infinite excellence and dominion and his own absolute dependence and subjection, that he give to God honor and reverence and loyal unstinted service and love and gratitude, that he make earnest persevering effort to know what God demands of him.
As the spiritual immortal soul is essentially superior to the material corruptible body, what does essential order demand?
Evidently that the lower faculties and appetites in man be made subservient to his higher spiritual faculties and aspirations. As all men, without exception, are equal in essential perfection, fellow servants in the same divine service, created for the same supreme purpose and destiny, what does essential order demand of man?
Evidently that he should love his fellow man with a love similar to that with which he cherishes himself, that he should do to others as he would others should do to him, that he be just to them and respect their rights.
And so we might ask ourselves what is demanded by the essential relations that exist between man and the material things of earth, between parent and child, between husband and wife, between employer and employee, between the professional man and his client, between a college and its students, a church and its members, between citizen and State, between State and State, between Church and State, between family and State, between man and his own life and bodily members and natural faculties.
In each instance we should first seek to know the end or purpose of the relation established and the means required for the due attainment of the end.
Finally, were we to take cognizance of the positive facts made known to man by supernatural revelation and to consider that, in the order actually established, its Supreme Author and man's infinite Creator destined man for supernatural glory, endowed him with supernatural gifts, provided him with supernatural means and placed him under positive command to make use of the means provided, it would be incumbent on us to ask what essential order demands of man in view of the supernatural perfection thus bestowed and the supernatural relations thus established.
At one point only does this last consideration fall within the scope of the natural science of ethics.
Ethics teaches that one who has come to realize that God could and probably did so order things, should make a prudent earnest effort to know whether He has done so, and should be guided in the conduct of his life by the knowledge thus acquired.
This is the evident dictate of right reason. Essential order evidently demands it.
###
Coming next, The True Standard and False Standards.
Adapted from Moral Philosophy
by Rev Charles Coppen, S.J.
(© 1924)
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
The Orthodox Roman Catholic
Please consider visiting this site - I have it bookmarked, it's really nice!
Gospel for Tuesday, 6th Week in Ordinary Time
From: Mark 8:14-21
The Leaven of the Pharisees (Continuation)
[14] Now they had forgotten to bring bread; and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. [15] And He (Jesus) cautioned them, saying, "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." [16] And they discussed it with one another, saying, "We have no bread." [17] And being aware of it, Jesus said to them, "Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? [18] Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? [19] When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" They said to Him, "Twelve." [20] And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" And they said to Him, "Seven." [21] And He said to them, "Do you not yet understand?"
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Commentary:
15-16. In another Gospel passage--Luke 13:20-21 and Matthew 31:33--Jesus uses the simile of the leaven to show the vitality of His teaching. Here "leaven" is used in the sense of bad disposition. In the making of bread, leaven is what causes the dough to rise; the Pharisees' hypocrisy and Herod's dissolute life, stemming from their personal ambition, were the "leaven" which was poisoning from within the "dough" of Israel and which would eventually corrupt it. Jesus seeks to warn His disciples about these dangers, and to have them understand that if they are to take in His doctrine they need a pure and simple heart.
But the disciples fail to understand: "They weren't educated; they weren't very bright, if we judge from their reaction to supernatural things. Finding even the most elementary examples and comparisons beyond their reach, they would turn to the Master and ask: `Explain the parable to us.' When Jesus uses the image of the `leaven' of the Pharisees, they think that He's reproaching them for not having purchased bread....These were the disciples called by our Lord. Such stuff is what Christ chose. And they remain just like that until they are filled with the Holy Spirit and thus become pillars of the Church. They are ordinary people, full of defects and shortcomings, more eager to say than to do. Nevertheless, Jesus calls them to be fishers of men, co-redeemers, dispensers of the grace of God" ([St] J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 2). The same thing can happen to us. Although we may not be very gifted, the Lord calls us, and love of God and docility to His words will cause to grow in our souls unsuspected fruit of holiness and supernatural effectiveness.
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
The Leaven of the Pharisees (Continuation)
[14] Now they had forgotten to bring bread; and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. [15] And He (Jesus) cautioned them, saying, "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." [16] And they discussed it with one another, saying, "We have no bread." [17] And being aware of it, Jesus said to them, "Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? [18] Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? [19] When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" They said to Him, "Twelve." [20] And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" And they said to Him, "Seven." [21] And He said to them, "Do you not yet understand?"
________________________
Commentary:
15-16. In another Gospel passage--Luke 13:20-21 and Matthew 31:33--Jesus uses the simile of the leaven to show the vitality of His teaching. Here "leaven" is used in the sense of bad disposition. In the making of bread, leaven is what causes the dough to rise; the Pharisees' hypocrisy and Herod's dissolute life, stemming from their personal ambition, were the "leaven" which was poisoning from within the "dough" of Israel and which would eventually corrupt it. Jesus seeks to warn His disciples about these dangers, and to have them understand that if they are to take in His doctrine they need a pure and simple heart.
But the disciples fail to understand: "They weren't educated; they weren't very bright, if we judge from their reaction to supernatural things. Finding even the most elementary examples and comparisons beyond their reach, they would turn to the Master and ask: `Explain the parable to us.' When Jesus uses the image of the `leaven' of the Pharisees, they think that He's reproaching them for not having purchased bread....These were the disciples called by our Lord. Such stuff is what Christ chose. And they remain just like that until they are filled with the Holy Spirit and thus become pillars of the Church. They are ordinary people, full of defects and shortcomings, more eager to say than to do. Nevertheless, Jesus calls them to be fishers of men, co-redeemers, dispensers of the grace of God" ([St] J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 2). The same thing can happen to us. Although we may not be very gifted, the Lord calls us, and love of God and docility to His words will cause to grow in our souls unsuspected fruit of holiness and supernatural effectiveness.
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Religion and Ethics? Another Lost University...
Matt Abbott brings to our attention the inability of University of Detroit Mercy, "a Catholic university in the Jesuit and Mercy traditions", to recall, let alone practice, the "traditions" it espouses. But then, the same can be said about the vast majority of so-called Catholic institutions of higher learning. And worse, bishops allow them to continue to claim to be "Catholic"...But then, that's a another problem...
To the point at hand:
'Just say no to sex with pro-lifers' is the title of Matt's short article...the pictures tell all that needs to be told. How these two women are permitted to teach at an alleged Catholic university is a scandal of grave import. Pro-death, abortion loving miscreants are posing as professors - and they both claim to teach ethics. It is unquestionable that these two imposters would fail the simplest authentic moral ethics quiz...
Take a look here...and then pray for those children who minds have been poisoned by these counterfeits; pray those parents who have paid for their children to be deceived by these fakes; pray for the university leadership who, because of apparent moral weakness and malfeasance, permits such anti-Christian activity to occur - and in such a blatant manner.
The only thing left for such disease-ridden colleges and universities which have chosen to defecate on their once Catholic identity and spit in the face of Christ is for them to be mature enough to abandon using any reference to the term "Catholic" - and if they do not have the courage to publicly profess what they publicly espouse, then the local ordinary should take the necessary steps for the sake of the Church's children - both the young students and their parents.
HT to Patte G for the link.
To the point at hand:
'Just say no to sex with pro-lifers' is the title of Matt's short article...the pictures tell all that needs to be told. How these two women are permitted to teach at an alleged Catholic university is a scandal of grave import. Pro-death, abortion loving miscreants are posing as professors - and they both claim to teach ethics. It is unquestionable that these two imposters would fail the simplest authentic moral ethics quiz...
Take a look here...and then pray for those children who minds have been poisoned by these counterfeits; pray those parents who have paid for their children to be deceived by these fakes; pray for the university leadership who, because of apparent moral weakness and malfeasance, permits such anti-Christian activity to occur - and in such a blatant manner.
The only thing left for such disease-ridden colleges and universities which have chosen to defecate on their once Catholic identity and spit in the face of Christ is for them to be mature enough to abandon using any reference to the term "Catholic" - and if they do not have the courage to publicly profess what they publicly espouse, then the local ordinary should take the necessary steps for the sake of the Church's children - both the young students and their parents.
HT to Patte G for the link.
Mental Prayer for February 13, How to Attend Mass
Mental Prayer Meditation Helps
Presence of God
Grace I Ask: Holy Spirit, enlighten my mind to show me how I can better attend and participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
The Idea: The Mass is a real-life drama in which I have my part. I must fit myself into the drama where I belong. What would a stage play be if the actors decided to play their favorite parts from other plays not related to the one they are supposed to be in? If I am a part of the drama of the Mass, then the best way to play my part is not by going off on my own. First I must realize what is happening and then put myself into it.
My Personal Application: Do I sit and watch, the way I sit and watch a TV program? I'm supposed to be one of the actors! To make the Mass a living prayer, I must take my part, uniting myself with Christ - with the priest on the altar. This way I praise God when the priest is praising God. I put my meaning into the gifts when the priest offers the bread and wine to God. I believe and wonder when the priest, by God's power, turns the gifts into Christ. I receive the return gift when the priest receives the return gift. This is the best way and can be done by using a missal. I can take meditate on the prayers of the missal. Or I can meditate on the meaning of the Mass, repeating mental prayers from this last week, or meditate on Christ's Passion. Am I convinced that I must put myself into the Mass and play my part?
I Speak to Christ: Dear Christ, give me the grace always to be alert and active during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Teach me how to unite myself with you at Mass, to follow the action of the Mass, to draw benefit from my part in union with the whole Church in the Mass.
Thought for Today: Through Him and with Him and in Him.
________________
Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)
Presence of God
Grace I Ask: Holy Spirit, enlighten my mind to show me how I can better attend and participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
The Idea: The Mass is a real-life drama in which I have my part. I must fit myself into the drama where I belong. What would a stage play be if the actors decided to play their favorite parts from other plays not related to the one they are supposed to be in? If I am a part of the drama of the Mass, then the best way to play my part is not by going off on my own. First I must realize what is happening and then put myself into it.
My Personal Application: Do I sit and watch, the way I sit and watch a TV program? I'm supposed to be one of the actors! To make the Mass a living prayer, I must take my part, uniting myself with Christ - with the priest on the altar. This way I praise God when the priest is praising God. I put my meaning into the gifts when the priest offers the bread and wine to God. I believe and wonder when the priest, by God's power, turns the gifts into Christ. I receive the return gift when the priest receives the return gift. This is the best way and can be done by using a missal. I can take meditate on the prayers of the missal. Or I can meditate on the meaning of the Mass, repeating mental prayers from this last week, or meditate on Christ's Passion. Am I convinced that I must put myself into the Mass and play my part?
I Speak to Christ: Dear Christ, give me the grace always to be alert and active during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Teach me how to unite myself with you at Mass, to follow the action of the Mass, to draw benefit from my part in union with the whole Church in the Mass.
Thought for Today: Through Him and with Him and in Him.
________________
Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)
Mar 2nd & 3rd - Lenten Retreat, with a conference by Archbishop Burke
Credo of the Catholic Laity will be holding its Lenten Retreat Friday and Saturday March 2nd & 3rd at St Francis de Sales Oratory located on Ohio Avenue at Gravois.
Our Retreat Master will be Msgr. Michael Schmitz American Provincial of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. Msgr. Schmitz is a very experienced retreat master who has conducted many retreats Friday’s schedule will conclude with a solemn High Mass with the Right Rev. Thomas Frerking, Abbot of the St. Louis Abbey as homilist.
A highlight of the retreat will be the third conference on Saturday when His Grace, the Most Rev. Archbishop Raymond L.Burke will make the presentation.
Needless to say we are delighted with this all star line up for our 2007 Retreat and we thank the Rev. Karl Lenhardt, Rector of St Francis de Sales Oratory and Vice Provincial of The Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest for obtaining these outstanding presenters for us.
Take advantage of the opportunity to make this Lenten Retreat one of your most efficacious. The full schedule for the Retreat is shown below.
The charge for the retreat is $15.00 per person to cover expenses, including both meals. If you have a problem covering this charge, especially those with large families do not hesitate to ask for help. We want to make this retreat available to as many people as we can. Children under 12 are free but we need to know they are coming so we can prepare enough food.
St. Francis de Sales is a magnificent church known as the Cathedral of the south, but in much need of repair. Since the archbishop assigned the Institute of Christ the King its use as an oratory many repairs have been made. The most important repair still needs to be completed. The 300 foot steeple must be stabilized as it’s pulling away from the main structure of the church. The cost is estimated to be close to one million dollars. Any profits from this retreat will go toward the fund to repair the steeple. If you are financially able we hope you will consider a generous donation for this worthy cause. Just add this donation to your retreat check.
Retreat Agenda
Friday March 2, 2007
2:00 p.m. Opening prayer: “Veni Creator” First Conference: Msgr. Schmitz
3:00 p.m. Exposition, Rosary, Benediction and Confession
4:00 p.m. Light supper (Basement)
5:00 p.m. Second Conference: Msgr. Schmitz
6:00 p.m. Stations of the Cross (Fr. Lenhardt) and Confession
7:00 p.m. Solemn High Mass, Homilist: Right Rev. Thomas Frerking, Abbot of the St. Louis Abbey
Saturday March 3, 2007
9:00 a.m. Confessions, Rosary and Chaplet of Divine Mercy
10:00 a.m. Third Conference by His Grace, the Most Rev. Raymond L. Burke, Archbishop of St. Louis
11:00 a.m. Solemn Adoration and Benediction with the Archbishop
12:00 p.m. Lunch
1:30 p.m. Fourth Conference: Msgr. Schmitz
2:45 p.m. Solemn High Mass, votive Mass of the Immaculate Heart with Te Deum
The retreat will close after Mass
Our Retreat Master will be Msgr. Michael Schmitz American Provincial of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. Msgr. Schmitz is a very experienced retreat master who has conducted many retreats Friday’s schedule will conclude with a solemn High Mass with the Right Rev. Thomas Frerking, Abbot of the St. Louis Abbey as homilist.
A highlight of the retreat will be the third conference on Saturday when His Grace, the Most Rev. Archbishop Raymond L.Burke will make the presentation.
Needless to say we are delighted with this all star line up for our 2007 Retreat and we thank the Rev. Karl Lenhardt, Rector of St Francis de Sales Oratory and Vice Provincial of The Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest for obtaining these outstanding presenters for us.
Take advantage of the opportunity to make this Lenten Retreat one of your most efficacious. The full schedule for the Retreat is shown below.
The charge for the retreat is $15.00 per person to cover expenses, including both meals. If you have a problem covering this charge, especially those with large families do not hesitate to ask for help. We want to make this retreat available to as many people as we can. Children under 12 are free but we need to know they are coming so we can prepare enough food.
St. Francis de Sales is a magnificent church known as the Cathedral of the south, but in much need of repair. Since the archbishop assigned the Institute of Christ the King its use as an oratory many repairs have been made. The most important repair still needs to be completed. The 300 foot steeple must be stabilized as it’s pulling away from the main structure of the church. The cost is estimated to be close to one million dollars. Any profits from this retreat will go toward the fund to repair the steeple. If you are financially able we hope you will consider a generous donation for this worthy cause. Just add this donation to your retreat check.
Retreat Agenda
Friday March 2, 2007
2:00 p.m. Opening prayer: “Veni Creator” First Conference: Msgr. Schmitz
3:00 p.m. Exposition, Rosary, Benediction and Confession
4:00 p.m. Light supper (Basement)
5:00 p.m. Second Conference: Msgr. Schmitz
6:00 p.m. Stations of the Cross (Fr. Lenhardt) and Confession
7:00 p.m. Solemn High Mass, Homilist: Right Rev. Thomas Frerking, Abbot of the St. Louis Abbey
Saturday March 3, 2007
9:00 a.m. Confessions, Rosary and Chaplet of Divine Mercy
10:00 a.m. Third Conference by His Grace, the Most Rev. Raymond L. Burke, Archbishop of St. Louis
11:00 a.m. Solemn Adoration and Benediction with the Archbishop
12:00 p.m. Lunch
1:30 p.m. Fourth Conference: Msgr. Schmitz
2:45 p.m. Solemn High Mass, votive Mass of the Immaculate Heart with Te Deum
The retreat will close after Mass
Feb 18-“The Whole Truth about Islam”
A Special Invitation
Please join us for an afternoon talk on:
“The Whole Truth about Islam”
By Dr. Howard M. Whitcraft
to be held at our new location:
St. Agnes Home
10341 Manchester Rd.
Kirkwood, MO
*****Please enter at the North Woodlawn Entrance*****
Sunday, February 18, 2007 at 2:00 PM .
A basic comprehension of Islam is essential toward understanding world events today. All too often we tend to think of Islam from our own religious perspective. This talk will provide you with the basics and show how different Islam is from our own Catholic Faith.
As part of his series on different religions, Dr. Whitcraft will present his views on Islam by examining its basic tenets and tracing its history. Give yourself a real knowledge of Islam beyond the superficial treatment given in the world media!
A question and answer period will follow the presentation. Please join us for what promises to be a stimulating afternoon of Catholic conviviality, enlightening conversation, and hope for the future.
For additional information about this meeting, contact Mark Serafino at (573) 459-5531.
Please join us for an afternoon talk on:
“The Whole Truth about Islam”
By Dr. Howard M. Whitcraft
to be held at our new location:
St. Agnes Home
10341 Manchester Rd.
Kirkwood, MO
*****Please enter at the North Woodlawn Entrance*****
Sunday, February 18, 2007 at 2:00 PM .
A basic comprehension of Islam is essential toward understanding world events today. All too often we tend to think of Islam from our own religious perspective. This talk will provide you with the basics and show how different Islam is from our own Catholic Faith.
As part of his series on different religions, Dr. Whitcraft will present his views on Islam by examining its basic tenets and tracing its history. Give yourself a real knowledge of Islam beyond the superficial treatment given in the world media!
A question and answer period will follow the presentation. Please join us for what promises to be a stimulating afternoon of Catholic conviviality, enlightening conversation, and hope for the future.
For additional information about this meeting, contact Mark Serafino at (573) 459-5531.
Gospel for Monday, 6th Week in Ordinary Time
From: Mark 8:11-13
The Leaven of the Pharisees
[11] The Pharisees came and began to argue with Him (Jesus), seeking from Him a sign from Heaven, to test Him. [12] And He sighed deeply in His spirit, and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation." [13] And He left them, and getting into the boat again He departed to the other side.
______________________
Commentary:
11-12. Jesus expresses the deep sadness He feels at the hardheartedness of the Pharisees: they remain blind and unbelieving despite the light shining around them and the wonderful things Christ is doing. If someone rejects the miracles God has offered him, it is useless for him to demand new signs, because he asks for them not because he is sincerely seeking the truth but out of ill will: he is trying to tempt God (cf. Luke 16:27-31). Requiring new miracles before one will believe, not accepting those already performed in the history of salvation, amounts to asking God to account for Himself before a human tribunal (cf. Romans 2:1-11). Unfortunately, many people do act like this. But God can only be found if we have an open and humble attitude to Him. "I have no need of miracles: there are more than enough for me in the Gospel. But I do need to see you fulfilling your duty and responding to grace" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 362).
12. The generation to which Jesus refers does not include all the people of His time, but only the Pharisees and their followers (cf. Mark 8:38; 9:19; Matthew 11:16), who do not want to see in Jesus' miracles the sign and guarantee of His messianic mission and dignity: they even attribute His miracles to Satan (Matthew 12:28).
If they do not accept the signs offered to them, they will be given no other sign of the spectacular kind they seek, for the Kingdom of God does not come noisily (Luke 17:20-21) and even if it did they in their twisted way would manage to misinterpret the event (Luke 16:31). According to Matthew 12:38-42 and Luke 11:29-32, they are offered yet another sign--the miracle of Jonah, the sign of the death and resurrection of Christ; but not even this remarkable proof will lead the Pharisees to shed their pride.
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
The Leaven of the Pharisees
[11] The Pharisees came and began to argue with Him (Jesus), seeking from Him a sign from Heaven, to test Him. [12] And He sighed deeply in His spirit, and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation." [13] And He left them, and getting into the boat again He departed to the other side.
______________________
Commentary:
11-12. Jesus expresses the deep sadness He feels at the hardheartedness of the Pharisees: they remain blind and unbelieving despite the light shining around them and the wonderful things Christ is doing. If someone rejects the miracles God has offered him, it is useless for him to demand new signs, because he asks for them not because he is sincerely seeking the truth but out of ill will: he is trying to tempt God (cf. Luke 16:27-31). Requiring new miracles before one will believe, not accepting those already performed in the history of salvation, amounts to asking God to account for Himself before a human tribunal (cf. Romans 2:1-11). Unfortunately, many people do act like this. But God can only be found if we have an open and humble attitude to Him. "I have no need of miracles: there are more than enough for me in the Gospel. But I do need to see you fulfilling your duty and responding to grace" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 362).
12. The generation to which Jesus refers does not include all the people of His time, but only the Pharisees and their followers (cf. Mark 8:38; 9:19; Matthew 11:16), who do not want to see in Jesus' miracles the sign and guarantee of His messianic mission and dignity: they even attribute His miracles to Satan (Matthew 12:28).
If they do not accept the signs offered to them, they will be given no other sign of the spectacular kind they seek, for the Kingdom of God does not come noisily (Luke 17:20-21) and even if it did they in their twisted way would manage to misinterpret the event (Luke 16:31). According to Matthew 12:38-42 and Luke 11:29-32, they are offered yet another sign--the miracle of Jonah, the sign of the death and resurrection of Christ; but not even this remarkable proof will lead the Pharisees to shed their pride.
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Mar 10 - Mass and Lenten Talk with Archbishop Burke
From the St. Joseph Radio Catholic Lecture Series:
LENT, A TIME FOR COMING CLOSER TO GOD
featuring guest speakers: Archbishop Raymond L. Burke and John LaBriola
Talks:
Sackcloth and Ashes: A Call to Repentance
Spiritual Warfare: Surviving Desert Temptations
________________
When: Saturday • March 10, 2007 • 8:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
(Holy Mass celebrated by Archbishop Burke at 11:30 a.m.)
Where:
Historic Old St. Ferdinand Shrine
1 Rue Saint Francois
Florissant, MO
Freewill donations appreciated!
Please call 636-244-0089 for more information.
Sponsored by St. Joseph Radio and the Friends of the Old St. Ferdinand Shrine
LENT, A TIME FOR COMING CLOSER TO GOD
featuring guest speakers: Archbishop Raymond L. Burke and John LaBriola
Talks:
Sackcloth and Ashes: A Call to Repentance
Spiritual Warfare: Surviving Desert Temptations
________________
When: Saturday • March 10, 2007 • 8:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
(Holy Mass celebrated by Archbishop Burke at 11:30 a.m.)
Where:
Historic Old St. Ferdinand Shrine
1 Rue Saint Francois
Florissant, MO
Freewill donations appreciated!
Please call 636-244-0089 for more information.
Sponsored by St. Joseph Radio and the Friends of the Old St. Ferdinand Shrine
Mental Prayer for February 12, With Christ Through the Year
Mental Prayer Meditation Helps
Presence of God
Grace I Ask: God, give me a deeper insight into the meaning of the liturgical year.
The Idea: To bring her living creatures to maturity Mother Nature uses repetition. Each season of the year has its special purpose - the spring, when life advances; the summer, when life grows strong; the autumn, when life rests; the winter, when life prepares for new growth. And year after year Nature's children - plants and animals and men - grow to a fuller life. Mother Church also uses repetition to help her children grow. It is the repetition of the liturgical year. The liturgical year is the arrangement of the changeable parts of the Sunday and many weekday Masses to repeat and bring to mind the events of Christ's life every year. There is the happiness of the Nativity, the wisdom of the Public Life, the sorrow of the Passion, the joy of Easter. And year after year the Church's children (if they are following the liturgy as they should) grow to a fuller spiritual life.
My Personal Application: Do I try to follow the liturgical year intelligently by using a missal at Mass? Have I ever thought of reading one of the many excellent books on the liturgy? Have I ever discussed the liturgy at home? Do I ever discuss the Sunday Gospel or Epistle with anyone?
I Speak to God: Lord, help me see how each Mass can be a special steppingstone to you.
Thought for Today: Closer to Christ through the liturgy.
________________
Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)
Presence of God
Grace I Ask: God, give me a deeper insight into the meaning of the liturgical year.
The Idea: To bring her living creatures to maturity Mother Nature uses repetition. Each season of the year has its special purpose - the spring, when life advances; the summer, when life grows strong; the autumn, when life rests; the winter, when life prepares for new growth. And year after year Nature's children - plants and animals and men - grow to a fuller life. Mother Church also uses repetition to help her children grow. It is the repetition of the liturgical year. The liturgical year is the arrangement of the changeable parts of the Sunday and many weekday Masses to repeat and bring to mind the events of Christ's life every year. There is the happiness of the Nativity, the wisdom of the Public Life, the sorrow of the Passion, the joy of Easter. And year after year the Church's children (if they are following the liturgy as they should) grow to a fuller spiritual life.
My Personal Application: Do I try to follow the liturgical year intelligently by using a missal at Mass? Have I ever thought of reading one of the many excellent books on the liturgy? Have I ever discussed the liturgy at home? Do I ever discuss the Sunday Gospel or Epistle with anyone?
I Speak to God: Lord, help me see how each Mass can be a special steppingstone to you.
Thought for Today: Closer to Christ through the liturgy.
________________
Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)
Lenten Preparation - 40 Hours Devotion - Feb 18
Prepare for the Season of Lent and make a reparation for the excesses of Mardi Gras by observing the 40 Hours Devotion at St. Francis de Sales Oratory. A plenary indulgence is available under the ordinary conditions to anyone who prays for half an hour before the Most Blessed Sacrament during the 40 Hours.Read More here (PDF)...
The Most Blessed Sacrament will remain exposed on the High Altar for public adoration after the opening each day. Confessions will be available before and during all masses.
QUINQUAGESIMA SUNDAY FEBRUARY 18TH
10 A.M. · 6 P.M.
His Excellency, The Most Reverend Robert Hermann, Auxiliary Bishop in St. Louis will open the 40 Hours Devotion at 10 a.m. with a Pontifical High Mass and Procession.
After the High Mass, the St. Francis de Sales Council of the Knights of Columbus will host a catered buffet brunch in the hall. Please join us for breakfast, and then adore our Lord for a while afterwards...
Thanks to Marc P for the updates
Mental Prayer for February 11, I Live My Mass
Mental Prayer Meditation Helps
Presence of God
Grace I Ask: Teach me how to live my Mass.
The Idea: My part in my Mass does not begin or end in Church. If I offer myself, then my life is my Mass. If my day brings me disappointments, unfair treatment, I won't grumble; that is my Mass. When I find it difficult to be completely honest, pure, good to others, I remember my Mass - this is my chance to carry out my offering, to live my Mass. Whenever there is an opportunity to help others, to help the Church, to do some work for the kingdom of Christ, I won't run away from it, I won't excuse myself from it - this is my Mass.
My Personal Application: Do I make my whole day an expression of my gift to God in my Mass? My work, my study, my influence, my problems can be part of my self-surrender to God. Do I perform every action so it can be offered to God? If my offering is not to be a hollow gift, just words, I must work toward this. God complained of the Jews, "These people honor me with their mouths, but their hearts are far from me." Do I realize that my offering in union with the Son of God is just words, until it is completed in my daily life?
I Speak to Christ: Lord, when I look upon your broken body on the cross, I know that your offering was complete. I have offered myself to you and in union with your sacrifice. But I need your help to make that offering real. It is so hard to do the little things well all the time. But I know you want me to, and I know you will give me the grace to be generous.
Thought for Today: This is my Mass.
________________
Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)
Presence of God
Grace I Ask: Teach me how to live my Mass.
The Idea: My part in my Mass does not begin or end in Church. If I offer myself, then my life is my Mass. If my day brings me disappointments, unfair treatment, I won't grumble; that is my Mass. When I find it difficult to be completely honest, pure, good to others, I remember my Mass - this is my chance to carry out my offering, to live my Mass. Whenever there is an opportunity to help others, to help the Church, to do some work for the kingdom of Christ, I won't run away from it, I won't excuse myself from it - this is my Mass.
My Personal Application: Do I make my whole day an expression of my gift to God in my Mass? My work, my study, my influence, my problems can be part of my self-surrender to God. Do I perform every action so it can be offered to God? If my offering is not to be a hollow gift, just words, I must work toward this. God complained of the Jews, "These people honor me with their mouths, but their hearts are far from me." Do I realize that my offering in union with the Son of God is just words, until it is completed in my daily life?
I Speak to Christ: Lord, when I look upon your broken body on the cross, I know that your offering was complete. I have offered myself to you and in union with your sacrifice. But I need your help to make that offering real. It is so hard to do the little things well all the time. But I know you want me to, and I know you will give me the grace to be generous.
Thought for Today: This is my Mass.
________________
Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)
Gospel for the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time
From: Luke 6:17, 20-26
The Sermon on the Mount
[17] And He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases; [18] and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. [19] And all the crowd sought to touch Him, for power came forth from Him and healed them all.
The Beatitudes and the Curses
[20] And He (Jesus) lifted up His eyes on His disciples, and said: "Blessed are you poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God. [21] Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh. [22] Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! [23] Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in Heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets. [24] But woe to you that are rich, for you have received your consolation. [25] Woe to you that are full now, for you shall hunger. Woe to you that laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. [26] Woe to you, when all men speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets."
________________________
Commentary:
20-49. These thirty verses of St. Luke correspond to some extent to the Sermon on the Mount, an extensive account of which St. Matthew gives us in Chapters 5 to 7 in his Gospel. It is very likely that in the course of His public ministry in different regions and towns of Israel Jesus preached the same things, using different words on different occasions. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit each evangelist would have chosen to report those things which he considered most useful for the instruction of his immediate readers--Christians of Jewish origin in the case of Matthew, Gentile converts in the case of Luke. There is no reason why one evangelist should not have selected certain items and another different ones, depending on his readership, or why one should not have laid special stress on some subjects and shortened or omitted accounts of others.
In this present discourse, we might distinguish three parts--the Beatitudes and the curses (6:20-26); love of one's enemies (6:27-38); and teaching on uprightness of heart (6:39-49).
Some Christians may find it difficult to grasp the need of practising the moral teaching of the Gospel so radically, in particular Christ's teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is very demanding in what He says, but He is saying it to everyone, and not just to His Apostles or to those disciples who followed Him closely. We are told expressly that "when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at His teaching" (Matthew 7:28). It is quite clear that the Master calls everyone to holiness, making no distinction of state-in-life, race or personal circumstances.
This teaching on the universal call to holiness qas a central point of the teaching of (St) Monsignor Escriva de Bala- guer. The Second Vatican Council expressed the same teaching with the full weight of its authority: everyone is called to Christian holiness; consider, for example, just one reference it makes, in "Lumen Gentium", 11: "Strengthened by so many and such great means of salvation, all the faithful, whatever their condition or state--though each in his or her own way--are called by the Lord to that perfection of sanctity by which the Father Himself is perfect."
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus is not proposing an unattainable ideal, useful though that might be to make us feel humble in the light of our inability to reach it. No. Christian teaching in this regard is quite clear: what Christ commands, He commands in order to have us do what He says. Along with His commandment comes grace to enable us to fulfill it. Therefore, every Christian is capable of practising the moral teaching of Christ and of attaining the full height of his calling--holiness--not by his own efforts alone but by means of the grace which Christ has won for us, and with the abiding help of the means of sanctification which He left to His Church. "If anyone plead human weakness to excuse Himself for not loving God, it should be explained that He who demands our love pours into our hearts by the Holy Spirit the fervor of His love, and this good Spirit our Heavenly Father gives to those that ask Him. With reason, therefore, did St. Augustine pray: `Give Me what Thou command, and command what You please.' As, then, God is ever ready to help us, especially since the death of Christ our Lord, by which the prince of this world was cast out, there is no reason why anyone should be disheartened by the difficulty of the undertaking. To him who loves, nothing is difficult" ("St. Pius V Catechism", III, 1, 7).
20-26. The eight Beatitudes which St. Matthew gives (5:3-12) are summed up in four by St. Luke, but with four opposite curses. We can say, with St. Ambrose, that Matthew's eight are included in Luke's four (cf. "Expositio Evangelii Sec. Lucam, in loc."). In St. Luke they are in some cases stated in a more incisive, more direct form than in the First Gospel, where they are given with more explanation: for example, the first beatitude says simply "Blessed are you poor", whereas in Matthew we read, "Blessed are the poor in spirit", which contains a brief explanation of the virtue of poverty.
20. "The ordinary Christian has to reconcile two aspects of this life that can at first seem contradictory. There is on the one hand "true poverty", which is obvious and tangible and made up of definite things. This poverty should be an expression of faith in God and a sign that the heart is not satisfied with created things and aspires to the Creator; that it wants to be filled with love of God so as to be able to give this same love to everyone. On the other hand, an ordinary Christian is and wants to be "one more among his fellow men", sharing their way of life, their joys and happiness; working with them, loving the world and all the good things that exist in it; using all created things to solve the problems of human life and to establish a spiritual and material environment which will foster personal and social development [...].
"To my way of thinking the best examples of poverty are those mothers and fathers of large and poor families who spend their lives for their children and who with their effort and constancy--often without complaining of their needs -- bring up their family, creating a cheerful home in which everyone learns to love, to serve and to work" ([St] J. Escriva, "Conversations", 110f).
24-26. Our Lord here condemns four things: avarice and attachment to the things of the world; excessive care of the body, gluttony; empty-headed joy and general self-indulgence; flattery, and disordered desire for human glory -- four very common vices which a Christian needs to be on guard against.
24. In the same kind of way as in verse 20, which refers to the poor in the sense of those who love poverty, seeking to please God better, so in this verse the "rich" are to be understood as those who strive to accumulate possessions heedless of whether or not they are doing so lawfully, and who seek their happiness in those possessions, as if they were their ultimate goal. But people who inherit wealth or acquire itthrough honest work can be really poor provided they are detached from these things and are led by that detachment to use them to help others, as God inspires them. We can find in Sacred Scriptures a number of people to whom the beatitude of the poor can be applied although they possessed considerable wealth--Abraham, Isaac, Moses, David, Job, for example.
As early as St. Augustine's time there were people who failed to understand poverty and riches properly: they reasoned as follows: The Kingdom of Heaven belongs to the poor, the Lazaruses of this world, the hungry; all the rich are bad, like this rich man here. This sort of thinking led St. Augustine to explain the deep meaning of wealth and poverty according to the spirit of the Gospel: "Listen, poor man, to my comments on your words. When you refer to yourself as Lazarus, that holy man covered with wounds, I am afraid your pride makes you describe yourself incorrectly. Do not despise rich men who are merciful, who are humble: or, to put it briefly, do not despise poor rich men. Oh, poor man, be poor yourself; poor, that is, humble [...]. Listen to me, then. Be truly poor, be devout, be humble; if you glory in your ragged and ulcerous poverty, if you glory in likening yourself to that beggar lying outside the rich man's house, then you are only noticing his poverty, and nothing else. What should I notice you ask? Read the Scriptures and you will understand what I mean. Lazarus was poor, but he to whose bosom he was brought was rich. `It came to pass, it is written, that the poor man died and he was brought by the angels to Abraham's bosom.' To where? To Abraham's bosom, or let us say, to that mysterious place where Abraham was resting. Read [...] and remember that Abraham was a very wealthy man when he was on earth: he had abundance of money, a large family, flocks, land; yet that rich man was poor, because he was humble. `Abraham believed God and he was reckoned righteous.' [...] He was faithful, he did good, received the commandment to offer his son in sacrifice, and he did not refuse to offer what he had received to Him from whom he had received it. He was approved in God's sight and set before us as an example of faith" ("Sermon", 14).
To sum up: poverty does not consist in something purely external, in having or not having material goods, but in something that goes far deeper, affecting a person's heart and soul; it consists in having a humble attitude to God, in being devout, in having total faith. If a Christian has these virtues and also has an abundance of material possessions, he should be detached from his wealth and act charitably towards others and thus be pleasing to God. On the other hand, if someone is not well-off he is not justified in God's sight on that account, if he fails to strive to acquire those virtues in which true poverty consists.
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
The Sermon on the Mount
[17] And He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases; [18] and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. [19] And all the crowd sought to touch Him, for power came forth from Him and healed them all.
The Beatitudes and the Curses
[20] And He (Jesus) lifted up His eyes on His disciples, and said: "Blessed are you poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God. [21] Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh. [22] Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! [23] Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in Heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets. [24] But woe to you that are rich, for you have received your consolation. [25] Woe to you that are full now, for you shall hunger. Woe to you that laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. [26] Woe to you, when all men speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets."
________________________
Commentary:
20-49. These thirty verses of St. Luke correspond to some extent to the Sermon on the Mount, an extensive account of which St. Matthew gives us in Chapters 5 to 7 in his Gospel. It is very likely that in the course of His public ministry in different regions and towns of Israel Jesus preached the same things, using different words on different occasions. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit each evangelist would have chosen to report those things which he considered most useful for the instruction of his immediate readers--Christians of Jewish origin in the case of Matthew, Gentile converts in the case of Luke. There is no reason why one evangelist should not have selected certain items and another different ones, depending on his readership, or why one should not have laid special stress on some subjects and shortened or omitted accounts of others.
In this present discourse, we might distinguish three parts--the Beatitudes and the curses (6:20-26); love of one's enemies (6:27-38); and teaching on uprightness of heart (6:39-49).
Some Christians may find it difficult to grasp the need of practising the moral teaching of the Gospel so radically, in particular Christ's teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is very demanding in what He says, but He is saying it to everyone, and not just to His Apostles or to those disciples who followed Him closely. We are told expressly that "when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at His teaching" (Matthew 7:28). It is quite clear that the Master calls everyone to holiness, making no distinction of state-in-life, race or personal circumstances.
This teaching on the universal call to holiness qas a central point of the teaching of (St) Monsignor Escriva de Bala- guer. The Second Vatican Council expressed the same teaching with the full weight of its authority: everyone is called to Christian holiness; consider, for example, just one reference it makes, in "Lumen Gentium", 11: "Strengthened by so many and such great means of salvation, all the faithful, whatever their condition or state--though each in his or her own way--are called by the Lord to that perfection of sanctity by which the Father Himself is perfect."
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus is not proposing an unattainable ideal, useful though that might be to make us feel humble in the light of our inability to reach it. No. Christian teaching in this regard is quite clear: what Christ commands, He commands in order to have us do what He says. Along with His commandment comes grace to enable us to fulfill it. Therefore, every Christian is capable of practising the moral teaching of Christ and of attaining the full height of his calling--holiness--not by his own efforts alone but by means of the grace which Christ has won for us, and with the abiding help of the means of sanctification which He left to His Church. "If anyone plead human weakness to excuse Himself for not loving God, it should be explained that He who demands our love pours into our hearts by the Holy Spirit the fervor of His love, and this good Spirit our Heavenly Father gives to those that ask Him. With reason, therefore, did St. Augustine pray: `Give Me what Thou command, and command what You please.' As, then, God is ever ready to help us, especially since the death of Christ our Lord, by which the prince of this world was cast out, there is no reason why anyone should be disheartened by the difficulty of the undertaking. To him who loves, nothing is difficult" ("St. Pius V Catechism", III, 1, 7).
20-26. The eight Beatitudes which St. Matthew gives (5:3-12) are summed up in four by St. Luke, but with four opposite curses. We can say, with St. Ambrose, that Matthew's eight are included in Luke's four (cf. "Expositio Evangelii Sec. Lucam, in loc."). In St. Luke they are in some cases stated in a more incisive, more direct form than in the First Gospel, where they are given with more explanation: for example, the first beatitude says simply "Blessed are you poor", whereas in Matthew we read, "Blessed are the poor in spirit", which contains a brief explanation of the virtue of poverty.
20. "The ordinary Christian has to reconcile two aspects of this life that can at first seem contradictory. There is on the one hand "true poverty", which is obvious and tangible and made up of definite things. This poverty should be an expression of faith in God and a sign that the heart is not satisfied with created things and aspires to the Creator; that it wants to be filled with love of God so as to be able to give this same love to everyone. On the other hand, an ordinary Christian is and wants to be "one more among his fellow men", sharing their way of life, their joys and happiness; working with them, loving the world and all the good things that exist in it; using all created things to solve the problems of human life and to establish a spiritual and material environment which will foster personal and social development [...].
"To my way of thinking the best examples of poverty are those mothers and fathers of large and poor families who spend their lives for their children and who with their effort and constancy--often without complaining of their needs -- bring up their family, creating a cheerful home in which everyone learns to love, to serve and to work" ([St] J. Escriva, "Conversations", 110f).
24-26. Our Lord here condemns four things: avarice and attachment to the things of the world; excessive care of the body, gluttony; empty-headed joy and general self-indulgence; flattery, and disordered desire for human glory -- four very common vices which a Christian needs to be on guard against.
24. In the same kind of way as in verse 20, which refers to the poor in the sense of those who love poverty, seeking to please God better, so in this verse the "rich" are to be understood as those who strive to accumulate possessions heedless of whether or not they are doing so lawfully, and who seek their happiness in those possessions, as if they were their ultimate goal. But people who inherit wealth or acquire itthrough honest work can be really poor provided they are detached from these things and are led by that detachment to use them to help others, as God inspires them. We can find in Sacred Scriptures a number of people to whom the beatitude of the poor can be applied although they possessed considerable wealth--Abraham, Isaac, Moses, David, Job, for example.
As early as St. Augustine's time there were people who failed to understand poverty and riches properly: they reasoned as follows: The Kingdom of Heaven belongs to the poor, the Lazaruses of this world, the hungry; all the rich are bad, like this rich man here. This sort of thinking led St. Augustine to explain the deep meaning of wealth and poverty according to the spirit of the Gospel: "Listen, poor man, to my comments on your words. When you refer to yourself as Lazarus, that holy man covered with wounds, I am afraid your pride makes you describe yourself incorrectly. Do not despise rich men who are merciful, who are humble: or, to put it briefly, do not despise poor rich men. Oh, poor man, be poor yourself; poor, that is, humble [...]. Listen to me, then. Be truly poor, be devout, be humble; if you glory in your ragged and ulcerous poverty, if you glory in likening yourself to that beggar lying outside the rich man's house, then you are only noticing his poverty, and nothing else. What should I notice you ask? Read the Scriptures and you will understand what I mean. Lazarus was poor, but he to whose bosom he was brought was rich. `It came to pass, it is written, that the poor man died and he was brought by the angels to Abraham's bosom.' To where? To Abraham's bosom, or let us say, to that mysterious place where Abraham was resting. Read [...] and remember that Abraham was a very wealthy man when he was on earth: he had abundance of money, a large family, flocks, land; yet that rich man was poor, because he was humble. `Abraham believed God and he was reckoned righteous.' [...] He was faithful, he did good, received the commandment to offer his son in sacrifice, and he did not refuse to offer what he had received to Him from whom he had received it. He was approved in God's sight and set before us as an example of faith" ("Sermon", 14).
To sum up: poverty does not consist in something purely external, in having or not having material goods, but in something that goes far deeper, affecting a person's heart and soul; it consists in having a humble attitude to God, in being devout, in having total faith. If a Christian has these virtues and also has an abundance of material possessions, he should be detached from his wealth and act charitably towards others and thus be pleasing to God. On the other hand, if someone is not well-off he is not justified in God's sight on that account, if he fails to strive to acquire those virtues in which true poverty consists.
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Mental Prayer for February 10, Act III: God's Gift to Me
Mental Prayer Meditation Helps
Presence of God
Grace I Ask: To look upon Holy Communion as God's acceptance of my gift to Him.
Mental Picture: See the priest remove the ciborium full of small white hosts from the tabernacle. He genuflects and takes the ciborium in his hands. He turns around, and holding up a host he says, "Behold the Lamb of God."
My Personal Application: At the Offertory I offered myself with Christ to God the Father. At the Consecration the Father accepted the bread and wine now changed into His Son's Body and Blood, and He accepted me along with Christ. Now God is giving Himself to me.
Suppose I had won a a million dollars on a game show. The master of ceremonies counts out the money for me. Instead of taking it, I turn around and walk away. If I did this, wouldn't everybody say, "There's something wrong with him; he's not in his right mind!"
The priest at Mass turns to me and offers me Christ. Do I turn my back on Him and refuse this tremendous gift? This Communion is God's gift to me. It shows how much my gift has won His favor.
I Speak to God: My God, help me to understand what St. Augustine said a long time ago : "God in His infinite wisdom knows of no greater gift ; God in His infinite power can give no greater gift." Not even you can give a greater gift than yourself. And what is it that keeps me from you? Too lazy to get out of bed? Can't go hungry for a few minutes? Afraid to go to confession and receive your grace again if I have lost it?
Thought for Today: "If thou didst know the gift of God."
________________
Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)
Presence of God
Grace I Ask: To look upon Holy Communion as God's acceptance of my gift to Him.
Mental Picture: See the priest remove the ciborium full of small white hosts from the tabernacle. He genuflects and takes the ciborium in his hands. He turns around, and holding up a host he says, "Behold the Lamb of God."
My Personal Application: At the Offertory I offered myself with Christ to God the Father. At the Consecration the Father accepted the bread and wine now changed into His Son's Body and Blood, and He accepted me along with Christ. Now God is giving Himself to me.
Suppose I had won a a million dollars on a game show. The master of ceremonies counts out the money for me. Instead of taking it, I turn around and walk away. If I did this, wouldn't everybody say, "There's something wrong with him; he's not in his right mind!"
The priest at Mass turns to me and offers me Christ. Do I turn my back on Him and refuse this tremendous gift? This Communion is God's gift to me. It shows how much my gift has won His favor.
I Speak to God: My God, help me to understand what St. Augustine said a long time ago : "God in His infinite wisdom knows of no greater gift ; God in His infinite power can give no greater gift." Not even you can give a greater gift than yourself. And what is it that keeps me from you? Too lazy to get out of bed? Can't go hungry for a few minutes? Afraid to go to confession and receive your grace again if I have lost it?
Thought for Today: "If thou didst know the gift of God."
________________
Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)
Gospel for Saturday, 5th Week in Ordinary Time
From: Mark 8:1-10
Second Miracle of the Loaves
[1] In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, He (Jesus) called His disciples to Him, and said to them, [2] "I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with Me now three days, and have nothing to eat; [3] and if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come a long way." [4] And His disciples answered Him, "How can one feed these men with bread here in the desert?" [5] And He asked them, "How many loaves have you?" They said, "Seven." [6] And He commanded the crowd to sit down on the ground; and He took the seven loaves, and having given thanks He broke them and gave them to His disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. [7] And they had a few small fish; and having blessed them, He commanded that these also should be set before them. [8] And they ate, and were satisfied; and took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. [9] And there were about four thousand people. [10] And He sent them away; and immediately He got into the boat with His disciples, and went to the district of Dalmanutha.
_______________________
Commentary:
1-9. Jesus repeats the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the fish: the first time (Mark 6:33-44) He acted because He saw a huge crowd like "sheep without a shepherd"; now He takes pity on them because they have been with Him for three days and have nothing to eat.
This miracle shows how Christ rewards people who persevere in following Him: the crowd had been hanging on His words, forgetful of everything else. We should be like them, attentive and ready to do what He commands, without any vain concern about the future, for that would amount to distrusting Divine Providence.
10. "Dalmanutha": this must have been somewhere near the Lake of Gennesaret, but it is difficult to localize it more exactly. This is the only time it is mentioned in Sacred Scripture. In the parallel passage in St. Matthew (15:39) Magadan (sometime Magdala) is mentioned.
________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
Second Miracle of the Loaves
[1] In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, He (Jesus) called His disciples to Him, and said to them, [2] "I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with Me now three days, and have nothing to eat; [3] and if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come a long way." [4] And His disciples answered Him, "How can one feed these men with bread here in the desert?" [5] And He asked them, "How many loaves have you?" They said, "Seven." [6] And He commanded the crowd to sit down on the ground; and He took the seven loaves, and having given thanks He broke them and gave them to His disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. [7] And they had a few small fish; and having blessed them, He commanded that these also should be set before them. [8] And they ate, and were satisfied; and took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. [9] And there were about four thousand people. [10] And He sent them away; and immediately He got into the boat with His disciples, and went to the district of Dalmanutha.
_______________________
Commentary:
1-9. Jesus repeats the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the fish: the first time (Mark 6:33-44) He acted because He saw a huge crowd like "sheep without a shepherd"; now He takes pity on them because they have been with Him for three days and have nothing to eat.
This miracle shows how Christ rewards people who persevere in following Him: the crowd had been hanging on His words, forgetful of everything else. We should be like them, attentive and ready to do what He commands, without any vain concern about the future, for that would amount to distrusting Divine Providence.
10. "Dalmanutha": this must have been somewhere near the Lake of Gennesaret, but it is difficult to localize it more exactly. This is the only time it is mentioned in Sacred Scripture. In the parallel passage in St. Matthew (15:39) Magadan (sometime Magdala) is mentioned.
________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
Friday, February 09, 2007
Mental Prayer for February 9, Act III: God's Gift to Me
Mental Prayer Meditation Helps
Presence of God
Grace I Ask: Lord, give me the strength to carry out my offering.
Mental Picture: A large upper room with the Apostles gathered around our Lord... a silent hush falls over the group as they finish the Last Supper. There is sadness in the air as when friends must say goodbye. Christ has already said over the bread, "This is my Body" ; and over the wine, "This is my Blood." Now He looks lovingly at all His disciples and spreads out His arms as if He would gather them all to His Sacred Heart, and says, "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for without me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).
My Personal Application: I have done a wonderful thing in offering myself to God with Christ, and He has accepted the offering of myself - my work, my study, my health or sickness, my successes or failures. It is my day today that I have offered to Him. And now comes the living of it. Is this going to be just pious sentiments?... beautiful words that I say in the morning during Mass and never think about again the rest of the day?
If I'm going to live out my Mass, I can't do it alone. I need help. And Christ knows this far better than I. That is why He comes to me in Holy Communion so that together the two of us can carry out my sacrifice through the day. He doesn't leave me alone, for He knows that by myself I am nothing and I can do nothing. But with Him all things are possible.
I Speak to Christ: O Jesus, help me. Help me to live my Mass. Together, let's go through this day, doing and suffering everything for you, and with you, and in you. I cannot do it alone. I need your grace that you give me in Holy Communion.
Thought for Today: "Without me you can do nothing."
________________
Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)
Presence of God
Grace I Ask: Lord, give me the strength to carry out my offering.
Mental Picture: A large upper room with the Apostles gathered around our Lord... a silent hush falls over the group as they finish the Last Supper. There is sadness in the air as when friends must say goodbye. Christ has already said over the bread, "This is my Body" ; and over the wine, "This is my Blood." Now He looks lovingly at all His disciples and spreads out His arms as if He would gather them all to His Sacred Heart, and says, "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for without me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).
My Personal Application: I have done a wonderful thing in offering myself to God with Christ, and He has accepted the offering of myself - my work, my study, my health or sickness, my successes or failures. It is my day today that I have offered to Him. And now comes the living of it. Is this going to be just pious sentiments?... beautiful words that I say in the morning during Mass and never think about again the rest of the day?
If I'm going to live out my Mass, I can't do it alone. I need help. And Christ knows this far better than I. That is why He comes to me in Holy Communion so that together the two of us can carry out my sacrifice through the day. He doesn't leave me alone, for He knows that by myself I am nothing and I can do nothing. But with Him all things are possible.
I Speak to Christ: O Jesus, help me. Help me to live my Mass. Together, let's go through this day, doing and suffering everything for you, and with you, and in you. I cannot do it alone. I need your grace that you give me in Holy Communion.
Thought for Today: "Without me you can do nothing."
________________
Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)
Gospel for Friday, 5th Week in Ordinary Time
From: Mark 7:31-37
The Curing of a Deaf Man
[31] Then He (Jesus) returned from the region of Tyre, and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, through the region of the Decapolis. [32]And they brought Him a man who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech; and they besought Him to lay His hand upon him. [33] And taking him aside from the multitude privately, He put His fingers into his ears, and He spat and touched his tongue; [34] and looking up to Heaven, He sighed and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." [35] And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. [36] And He charged them to tell no one; but the more He charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. [37] And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well; He even makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak."
_____________________
Commentary:
32-33. Sacred Scripture quite often shows the laying on of hands as a gesture indicating the transfer of power or blessing (cf. Genesis 48:14ff; 2 Kings 5:11; Luke 13:13). Everyone knows that saliva can help heal minor cuts. In the language of Revelation fingers symbolized powerful Divine action (cf. Exodus 8:19; Psalm 8:4; Luke 11:20). So Jesus uses signs which suit in some way the effect He wants to achieve, though we can see from the text that the effect--the instantaneous cure of the deaf and dumb man--far exceeds the sign used.
In the miracle of the deaf and dumb man we can see a symbol of the way God acts on souls: for us to believe, God must first open our heart so we can listen to His word. Then, like the Apostles, we too can proclaim the "magnalia Dei", the mighty works of God (cf. Acts 2:11). In the Church's liturgy (cf. the hymn "Veni Creator") the Holy Spirit is compared to the finger of the right hand of God the Father ("Digitus paternae dexterae"). The Consoler produces in our souls, in the supernatural order, effects comparable to those which Christ produces in the body of the deaf and dumb man.
______________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
The Curing of a Deaf Man
[31] Then He (Jesus) returned from the region of Tyre, and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, through the region of the Decapolis. [32]And they brought Him a man who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech; and they besought Him to lay His hand upon him. [33] And taking him aside from the multitude privately, He put His fingers into his ears, and He spat and touched his tongue; [34] and looking up to Heaven, He sighed and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." [35] And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. [36] And He charged them to tell no one; but the more He charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. [37] And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well; He even makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak."
_____________________
Commentary:
32-33. Sacred Scripture quite often shows the laying on of hands as a gesture indicating the transfer of power or blessing (cf. Genesis 48:14ff; 2 Kings 5:11; Luke 13:13). Everyone knows that saliva can help heal minor cuts. In the language of Revelation fingers symbolized powerful Divine action (cf. Exodus 8:19; Psalm 8:4; Luke 11:20). So Jesus uses signs which suit in some way the effect He wants to achieve, though we can see from the text that the effect--the instantaneous cure of the deaf and dumb man--far exceeds the sign used.
In the miracle of the deaf and dumb man we can see a symbol of the way God acts on souls: for us to believe, God must first open our heart so we can listen to His word. Then, like the Apostles, we too can proclaim the "magnalia Dei", the mighty works of God (cf. Acts 2:11). In the Church's liturgy (cf. the hymn "Veni Creator") the Holy Spirit is compared to the finger of the right hand of God the Father ("Digitus paternae dexterae"). The Consoler produces in our souls, in the supernatural order, effects comparable to those which Christ produces in the body of the deaf and dumb man.
______________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
Thursday, February 08, 2007
San Fran Archbishop Niederauer "very happy"?
What's wrong with this man? I understand that he's in San Francisco, but heaven help us!
Source
San Francisco, Aug 11, 2006 / 12:00 am (CNA).- Catholics in San Francisco and throughout the United States continue to be confused by the decision of San Francisco Catholic Charities to persist in facilitating adoptions to homosexual couples, an action which the Church has spoken out against.How can one be happy with this?
In announcement made two weeks ago, San Francisco Catholic Charities decided that while it will close its own adoption services, it will continue to outsource personnel to an agency that facilitates adoptions in the area, including adoptions to homosexual couples.
Source
Mental Prayer for February 8, Act II: Offering Myself With Christ
Mental Prayer Meditation Helps
Presence of God
Grace I Ask : To understand and fulfill my part in the Consecration.
The Idea: In the words of consecration the priest says, "This is my Body" and "This is the chalice of my Blood." What is His Body? The Mass is not just a gift falling from heaven; there must be something to be transformed. What is changed into His body? What is transformed? Our gifts, the bread and the wine. They stand for ourselves. Through them we offer ourselves to God. At the Consecration Christ substitutes Himself for our gifts. He unites them to His own offering of Himself on the cross. Now we go to God with Him. This is the heart of the Mass. On the altar the victim of Calvary is offered but under the appearances of our gifts. This is our moment of greatest power.
My Personal Application: What should I do at these solemn moments? I should offer the God-man slain on Calvary to the eternal Father, recalling the offering I made at the Offertory which Christ has joined to His. I should be united in mind and heart with the priest at the altar, with deep faith, with all the love and gratitude I can command. I offer Christ to God with the priest; I offer myself, my life with Christ to God. I can remember the needs of the whole world, realizing how powerful I am when offering and asking with Christ at the Consecration.
I Speak to Christ: Help me understand just a little that your sacrifice on Calvary is mine. Help me accept the unbelievable fact that I can place your suffering between the Father's justice and my sins; I can offer your great love to gain any favor I ask the Father. Don't let me waste the Mass.
Thought for Today: "Through Christ our Lord."
________________
Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)
Presence of God
Grace I Ask : To understand and fulfill my part in the Consecration.
The Idea: In the words of consecration the priest says, "This is my Body" and "This is the chalice of my Blood." What is His Body? The Mass is not just a gift falling from heaven; there must be something to be transformed. What is changed into His body? What is transformed? Our gifts, the bread and the wine. They stand for ourselves. Through them we offer ourselves to God. At the Consecration Christ substitutes Himself for our gifts. He unites them to His own offering of Himself on the cross. Now we go to God with Him. This is the heart of the Mass. On the altar the victim of Calvary is offered but under the appearances of our gifts. This is our moment of greatest power.
My Personal Application: What should I do at these solemn moments? I should offer the God-man slain on Calvary to the eternal Father, recalling the offering I made at the Offertory which Christ has joined to His. I should be united in mind and heart with the priest at the altar, with deep faith, with all the love and gratitude I can command. I offer Christ to God with the priest; I offer myself, my life with Christ to God. I can remember the needs of the whole world, realizing how powerful I am when offering and asking with Christ at the Consecration.
I Speak to Christ: Help me understand just a little that your sacrifice on Calvary is mine. Help me accept the unbelievable fact that I can place your suffering between the Father's justice and my sins; I can offer your great love to gain any favor I ask the Father. Don't let me waste the Mass.
Thought for Today: "Through Christ our Lord."
________________
Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)
Gospel for Thursday, 5th Week in Ordinary Time
From: Mark 7:24-30
The Curing of the Syrophoenician Woman
[24] And from there he (Jesus) arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house, and would not have any one know it; yet he could not be hid. [25] But immediately a woman, whose little daughter was possessed by an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell down at his feet. [26] Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. [27] And he said to her, "Let the children first be fed, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." [28] But she answered him, "Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." [29] And he said to her, "For this saying you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter." [30] And she went home, and found the child lying in bed, and the demon gone.
______________________
Commentary:
24. The region of Tyre and Sidon is nowadays the southern part of Lebanon--Phoenicia in ancient times. The distance from the lake of Gennesaret to the frontier of Tyre and Sidon is not more than 50 kms (30 miles). Jesus withdrew from Palestine to avoid persecution by the Jewish authorities and to give the Apostles more intensive training.
27. Our Lord actually uses the diminutive--"little dogs" to refer to the Gentiles--thereby softening a scornful _expression which Jews used. On the episode of the Canaanite woman cf. notes on parallel passages, Mt 15:21-28.
[The notes on Mt 15:21-28 states:
21-22. Tyre and Sidon were Phoenician cities on the Mediterranean coast, in present-day Lebanon. They were never part of Galilee but they were near its northeastern border. In Jesus' time they were outside the territory of Herod Antipas. Jesus withdrew to this area to escape persecution from Herod and from the Jewish authorities and to concentrate on training His Apostles.
Most of the inhabitants of the district of Tyre and Sidon were pagans. St. Matthew calls this woman a "Canaanite"; according to Genesis (10:15), this district was one of the first to be settled by the Canaanites; St. Mark describes the woman as a "Syrophoenician" (Mark 7:26). Both Gospels point out that she is a pagan, which means that her faith in our Lord is more remarkable; the same applies in the case of the centurion (Matthew 8:5-13).
The Canaanite woman's prayer is quite perfect: she recognizes Jesus as the Messiah (the Son of David)--which contrasts with the unbelief of the Jews; she expresses her need in clear, simple words; she persists, undismayed by obstacles; and she expresses her request in all humility: "Have mercy on me." Our prayer should have the same qualities of faith, trust, perseverance and humility.
24. What Jesus says here does not take from the universal reference of His teaching (cf. Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16). Our Lord came to bring His Gospel to the whole world, but He Himself addressed only the Jews; later on He will charge His Apostles to preach the Gospel to pagans. St. Paul, in his missionary journeys, also adopted the policy of preaching in the first instance to the Jews (Acts 13:46).
25-28. This dialogue between Jesus and the woman is especially beautiful. By appearing to be harsh He so strengthens the woman's faith that she deserves exceptional praise: "Great is your faith!" Our own conversation with Christ should be like that: "Persevere in prayer. Persevere, even when your efforts seem barren. Prayer is always fruitful" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 101).]
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
The Curing of the Syrophoenician Woman
[24] And from there he (Jesus) arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house, and would not have any one know it; yet he could not be hid. [25] But immediately a woman, whose little daughter was possessed by an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell down at his feet. [26] Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. [27] And he said to her, "Let the children first be fed, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." [28] But she answered him, "Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." [29] And he said to her, "For this saying you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter." [30] And she went home, and found the child lying in bed, and the demon gone.
______________________
Commentary:
24. The region of Tyre and Sidon is nowadays the southern part of Lebanon--Phoenicia in ancient times. The distance from the lake of Gennesaret to the frontier of Tyre and Sidon is not more than 50 kms (30 miles). Jesus withdrew from Palestine to avoid persecution by the Jewish authorities and to give the Apostles more intensive training.
27. Our Lord actually uses the diminutive--"little dogs" to refer to the Gentiles--thereby softening a scornful _expression which Jews used. On the episode of the Canaanite woman cf. notes on parallel passages, Mt 15:21-28.
[The notes on Mt 15:21-28 states:
21-22. Tyre and Sidon were Phoenician cities on the Mediterranean coast, in present-day Lebanon. They were never part of Galilee but they were near its northeastern border. In Jesus' time they were outside the territory of Herod Antipas. Jesus withdrew to this area to escape persecution from Herod and from the Jewish authorities and to concentrate on training His Apostles.
Most of the inhabitants of the district of Tyre and Sidon were pagans. St. Matthew calls this woman a "Canaanite"; according to Genesis (10:15), this district was one of the first to be settled by the Canaanites; St. Mark describes the woman as a "Syrophoenician" (Mark 7:26). Both Gospels point out that she is a pagan, which means that her faith in our Lord is more remarkable; the same applies in the case of the centurion (Matthew 8:5-13).
The Canaanite woman's prayer is quite perfect: she recognizes Jesus as the Messiah (the Son of David)--which contrasts with the unbelief of the Jews; she expresses her need in clear, simple words; she persists, undismayed by obstacles; and she expresses her request in all humility: "Have mercy on me." Our prayer should have the same qualities of faith, trust, perseverance and humility.
24. What Jesus says here does not take from the universal reference of His teaching (cf. Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16). Our Lord came to bring His Gospel to the whole world, but He Himself addressed only the Jews; later on He will charge His Apostles to preach the Gospel to pagans. St. Paul, in his missionary journeys, also adopted the policy of preaching in the first instance to the Jews (Acts 13:46).
25-28. This dialogue between Jesus and the woman is especially beautiful. By appearing to be harsh He so strengthens the woman's faith that she deserves exceptional praise: "Great is your faith!" Our own conversation with Christ should be like that: "Persevere in prayer. Persevere, even when your efforts seem barren. Prayer is always fruitful" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 101).]
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Priest is disciplined for Confrontation with SNAP
Confrontation leads to discipline for priestMaybe he should have showered the disrupters with holy water? But then, that would have been a waste of good holy water...SNAP is the group that unjustly "hounded" a priest who was never charged with any crimes.
The St. Louis Archdiocese will discipline a visiting priest at St. Ambrose Church in connection with his confrontation Jan. 28 with a member of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, an Archdiocese spokesperson said Monday.
St. Louis police issued a court summons accusing the Rev. Andrew Pinsent of peace disturbance for allegedly placing his hands on the shoulders of SNAP's Barb Dorris and taking fliers she had. Dorris had been distributing fliers in front of St. Ambrose to parishioners arriving for Mass, informing them of SNAP's concern about two priests who had served briefly there.
Pinsent is from England and is working on a doctorate degree at St. Louis University. He will be disciplined by the Rev. Richard Hanneke, the Archdiocese's Vicar of Priests, according to the spokesperson.
Source, St Louis Post Dispatch
Saving those Damned Catholics
American Life League Prez Judie Brown on her new book 'Saving those Damned Catholics'An interesting interview - especially considering that souls are being lost each and every day - and for all eternity!
By John-Henry Westen
WASHINGTON, DC, February 7, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - "Saving Those Damned Catholics exposes the warts on the underbelly of the Catholic leadership in America today, and it is not a pretty picture. Too many among them are caught up in a twisted vision of what it takes to effectively lead Catholics. There is too much moral relativism and too little desire to say what is right, especially when doing so will bring down the wrath of the media and maybe even a few politicians."
So reads a teaser on the website which markets 'Saving those Damned Catholics' the new book by American Life League President Judie Brown.
LifeSiteNews.com spoke with Mrs. Brown about her new book while in Washington for the March for Life.
Who are some of the more heroic bishops in your opinion?None of us could agree more - and these men and others who are faithful to the Church and to the Holy Father need our prayers more than ever!
Brown: Bishop Bruskewitz, Bishop Olmsted, Archbishop Burke, Archbishop Chaput to name just a few. The recently retired Archbishop Donahue - there are some tremendous bishops. Bishop Vasa in Oregon would be another one. What we have to do is hold them up with prayer and encouragement and let the rest of these bishops know that we want them to do their job - that is not a disrespectful thing to ask them to do.
Read more here.
Gumbleton to Receive VOTF's "Priest of Integrity" Award?
If anyone deserves to be awarded by such a group as "Voice of the UnFaithful", it should be one who has helped lead many away from the Church.
Matt Abbott's article is here...
HT to Patte for the link.
Matt Abbott's article is here...
HT to Patte for the link.
Saturday is the true "Lord's Day"...
...So states these billboards by the scriptually ignorant aided by CBS Outdoors:
HT to Patte G for the link.
CBS STIFLES FREE SPEECH; PROMOTES ANTI-CATHOLICISMSource...
CBS Outdoor, a division of the CBS Corporation, recently posted anti-Catholic billboards paid for by the Eternal Gospel Church, a breakaway sect of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, along Interstate 65 in Jeffersonville, Indiana; the town is located on the Indiana-Kentucky border across the river from Louisville. Here is what they say:
SATURDAY the TRUE Lord’s Day
Sunday will be enforced as
THE MARK OF THE BEAST!
Anti-Christ Revealed – Free Book 1-866-POPE-MMM
SATURDAY the True Lord’s Day
Changed by Antichrist Dan. 7:25
Free Book 1-866-POPE-MMM
[Note: MMM is 666 on the telephone, a.k.a “The Mark of the Beast.” Click here for pictures.]
Catholic League president Bill Donohue explained his response today:
“Yesterday, Catholic League director of communications Kiera McCaffrey spoke to Jake Logsdon, a representative at CBS Outdoor’s Louisville office, about placing a billboard along I-65 in Jeffersonville, Indiana. He said he would take some pictures of the available billboards and send them to her to make a selection. The cost was $4,000 for one month, or $6,000 for two months. He said a graphic designer would work the ad up for us. Kiera said we wanted the billboard to say: ‘CBS Sponsors Anti-Catholicism.’ He questioned why, and when told about the Eternal Gospel Church’s ad, said he’d get back to us. Today we were denied. He said he talked to a higher up and was told that CBS cannot approve of anything that is defamatory of CBS.
“CBS has previously denied some PETA signs they found objectionable, and it won’t allow us to tell the truth about CBS. But it has no problem promoting anti-Catholicism.”
HT to Patte G for the link.
Mental Prayer for February 7, Act II:Offering Christ
Mental Prayer Meditation Helps
Presence of God
Grace I Ask: To participate in the awesome drama of the Mass by offering Christ to the Father with deep, heartfelt love.
Mental Picture: Christ's battered, bleeding body nailed to the cross on Calvary, sacrificed for our sins.
My Personal Application: Do I rea1ize that the Consecration is the high point, the dramatic climax of the Mass? Bread and wine are changed into the Body and Blood of the Savior.
Before, on the altar, there was something; now there is Somebody! The Offertory by itself is a magnificent action, but our gifts alone are not our full sacrifice, for Jesus wishes to give us His own sacrifice to offer; He now gives Himself that we may present Him to our Father.
The more completely I give myself to God, the more perfectly I can join with Christ in this sacrifice. Do I ever think of this during my daily tasks? Do I try to bring the self-sacrifice of the Mass into my daily life and the self-sacrifice of my daily life into the Mass?
I should live in the spirit of the Mass. I should live the Mass. In this way my sacrifices become united with Christ's and become more valuable.
I Speak to Mary: Dear Mother, help me to offer Christ to the Father with the same spirit of self-sacrifice with which you offered Him when you two were on Calvary.
Thought for Today: "Live the Mass."
________________
Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)
Presence of God
Grace I Ask: To participate in the awesome drama of the Mass by offering Christ to the Father with deep, heartfelt love.
Mental Picture: Christ's battered, bleeding body nailed to the cross on Calvary, sacrificed for our sins.
My Personal Application: Do I rea1ize that the Consecration is the high point, the dramatic climax of the Mass? Bread and wine are changed into the Body and Blood of the Savior.
Before, on the altar, there was something; now there is Somebody! The Offertory by itself is a magnificent action, but our gifts alone are not our full sacrifice, for Jesus wishes to give us His own sacrifice to offer; He now gives Himself that we may present Him to our Father.
The more completely I give myself to God, the more perfectly I can join with Christ in this sacrifice. Do I ever think of this during my daily tasks? Do I try to bring the self-sacrifice of the Mass into my daily life and the self-sacrifice of my daily life into the Mass?
I should live in the spirit of the Mass. I should live the Mass. In this way my sacrifices become united with Christ's and become more valuable.
I Speak to Mary: Dear Mother, help me to offer Christ to the Father with the same spirit of self-sacrifice with which you offered Him when you two were on Calvary.
Thought for Today: "Live the Mass."
________________
Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)
Gospel for Wednesday, 5th Week in Ordinary Time
From: Mark 7:14-23
What Defiles a Man
[14] And He (Jesus) called the people to meet Him, and said to them, "Hear Me, all of you, and understand: [15] there is nothing outside a man which by going into him can defile him; but the things that come out of a man are what defile him." [17] And when He had entered the house, and left the people, His disciples asked Him about the parable. [18] And He said to them, "Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a man from outside cannot defile him, [19] since it enters, not his heart but his stomach, and so passes on?" (Thus He declared all foods clean.) [20] And He said, "What comes out of a man is what defiles a man. [21] For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, [22] coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. [23] All these evil things come from within, and they defile a man.
_______________________
Commentary:
15. Some important codexes add here: "If any man has ears to hear, let him hear," which would form verse 16.
18-19. We know from Tradition that St. Mark was the interpreter of St. Peter and that, in writing his Gospel under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he gathered up the Roman catechesis of the head of the Apostles.
The vision which St. Peter had in Joppa (Acts 10:10-16) showed him the full depth of what Jesus teaches here about food. When he returns to Jerusalem, St. Peter himself tells us this in his report on the conversion of Cornelius: "I remembered the word of the Lord" (Acts 11:16). The now non-obligatory character of such prescriptions laid down by God in the Old Testament (cf. Leviticus 11) would have been something St. Peter included in his preaching. For interpretation of this text cf. also note on Matthew 15:10-20.
[Note on Matthew 15:10-20 states:
10-20. Our Lord proclaims the true meaning of moral precepts and makes it clear that man has to answer to God for his actions. The scribes' mistake consisted in concentrating on externals and not giving pride of place to interior purity of heart. For example they saw prayer in terms of exact recital of fixed forms of words rather than as a raising of the soul to God (cf. Matthew 6:5-6). The same thing happened in the case of dietary regulations.
Jesus avails Himself of the particular cases dealt with in this passage to teach us where to find the true center of moral action: it lies in man's personal decision, good or evil, a decision which is shaped in his heart and which then is expressed in the form of action. For example, the sins which our Lord lists are sins committed in the human heart prior to being acted out. In the Sermon on the Mount He already said this: "Every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matthew 5:28).]
20-23. "In order to help us understand divine things, Scripture uses the _expression `heart' in its full meaning, as the summary and source, _expression and ultimate basis, of one's thoughts, words and actions" ([St] J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 164).
The goodness or malice, the moral quality, of our actions does not depend on their spontaneous, instinctive character. The Lord Himself tells us that sinful actions can come from the human heart.
We can understand how this can happen if we realize that, after original sin, man "was changed for the worse" in both body and soul and was, therefore, prone to evil (cf. Council of Trent, "De Peccato Originali"). Our Lord here restores morality in all its purity and intensity.
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
What Defiles a Man
[14] And He (Jesus) called the people to meet Him, and said to them, "Hear Me, all of you, and understand: [15] there is nothing outside a man which by going into him can defile him; but the things that come out of a man are what defile him." [17] And when He had entered the house, and left the people, His disciples asked Him about the parable. [18] And He said to them, "Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a man from outside cannot defile him, [19] since it enters, not his heart but his stomach, and so passes on?" (Thus He declared all foods clean.) [20] And He said, "What comes out of a man is what defiles a man. [21] For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, [22] coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. [23] All these evil things come from within, and they defile a man.
_______________________
Commentary:
15. Some important codexes add here: "If any man has ears to hear, let him hear," which would form verse 16.
18-19. We know from Tradition that St. Mark was the interpreter of St. Peter and that, in writing his Gospel under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he gathered up the Roman catechesis of the head of the Apostles.
The vision which St. Peter had in Joppa (Acts 10:10-16) showed him the full depth of what Jesus teaches here about food. When he returns to Jerusalem, St. Peter himself tells us this in his report on the conversion of Cornelius: "I remembered the word of the Lord" (Acts 11:16). The now non-obligatory character of such prescriptions laid down by God in the Old Testament (cf. Leviticus 11) would have been something St. Peter included in his preaching. For interpretation of this text cf. also note on Matthew 15:10-20.
[Note on Matthew 15:10-20 states:
10-20. Our Lord proclaims the true meaning of moral precepts and makes it clear that man has to answer to God for his actions. The scribes' mistake consisted in concentrating on externals and not giving pride of place to interior purity of heart. For example they saw prayer in terms of exact recital of fixed forms of words rather than as a raising of the soul to God (cf. Matthew 6:5-6). The same thing happened in the case of dietary regulations.
Jesus avails Himself of the particular cases dealt with in this passage to teach us where to find the true center of moral action: it lies in man's personal decision, good or evil, a decision which is shaped in his heart and which then is expressed in the form of action. For example, the sins which our Lord lists are sins committed in the human heart prior to being acted out. In the Sermon on the Mount He already said this: "Every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matthew 5:28).]
20-23. "In order to help us understand divine things, Scripture uses the _expression `heart' in its full meaning, as the summary and source, _expression and ultimate basis, of one's thoughts, words and actions" ([St] J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 164).
The goodness or malice, the moral quality, of our actions does not depend on their spontaneous, instinctive character. The Lord Himself tells us that sinful actions can come from the human heart.
We can understand how this can happen if we realize that, after original sin, man "was changed for the worse" in both body and soul and was, therefore, prone to evil (cf. Council of Trent, "De Peccato Originali"). Our Lord here restores morality in all its purity and intensity.
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
An Urgent Appeal From C-Fam
Dear Fighter for the Unborn,Visit here for more information.
I write from Arlington, Virginia, right outside of Washington DC. At this moment, across the Potomac River in Washington DC, deep in the night, pro-abortion radicals are plotting to foist a dangerous UN treaty on the United States. Almost alone in the world, the US has not ratified this pro-abortion treaty and therefore remains a beacon of hope to all those who fight for the unborn and against this dangerous treaty. That is about to change unless you act right now.
CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women) is touted by supporters as the International Women's Rights Treaty. The treaty itself is full of nice sounding language about women's equality, something we are all for. But the implementing committee of the treaty, a body that governments must appear before every few years, is as radical as you can get. Here are a few examples of their work.• The treaty condemns prostitution but the committee has directed governments to legalize prostitution.The outrages of this out of control committee go on and on and on. Just this past week we watched them berate pro-life Poland on the question of abortion (I repeat, even though the treaty is SILENT on abortion).
• The CEDAW committee has directed 37 pro-life governments to change their laws on abortion, even though the treaty is SILENT on abortion.
• The CEDAW committee has criticized Ireland for allowing the Church to have too strong a voice on public policy.
• The committee has directed Lybia to reinterpret the Koran to fall within committee guidelines (how long before they try that on Christian countries).
Dozens of countries have ratified CEDAW but so far the US has resisted. The US must continue to resist because as long as it does, it remains a beacon of hope for all those who are resisting this dangerous treaty. The US must not ratify CEDAW. So I turn to you.
I ask you to go to HERE and sign our petition to the US Senate not to ratify CEDAW. All Americans with a conscience should sign this petition, but all people of goodwill around the globe should also. The US is ever more sensitive these days about what people around the world think. The radicals will be telling the Senate that there is overwhelming support for CEDAW around the world. We must let them know that this is not true.
I urge you to ... sign the petition against US ratification of CEDAW. We will deliver this petition with thousands of signatures directly to the US Senate... And then send this message to all of your friends. We must get thousands and thousands from all over the world to sign this petition.
ONCE YOU SIGN THIS, PLEASE SEND THIS EMAIL TO YOUR ENTIRE ADDRESS BOOK. THIS TREATY MUST BE STOPPED AND IT CAN ONLY BE STOPPED BY MANY MANY VOICES.
Yours sincerely,
Austin Ruse
President, C-FAM
Legislative Effort to Truly Ban Human Cloning Is Well Under Way
This just in from Jaci Winship at Missourians Against Human Cloning:
HJR 11, to truly ban human cloning and return the control over public monies to our elected representatives, has been assigned to the Health Care Policy Committee. The committee will hear testimony regarding the bill on Tuesday, February 6, 2007 at noon. We have posted a list of the committee members on our web site. Please take a few minutes this week and contact these representatives. Let them know you support HJR11.###
The HJR sponsored by Rep. Jim Lembke has 47 co-sponsors including Speaker Pro-Tem Carl Bearden. The Senate version, SJR20, sponsored by Sen. Matt Bartle has eight co-sponsors. The media has attempted to characterize Sen. Bartle and Rep. Lembke as extremists trying to "undo the will of the people". Nothing could be further from the truth. The majority of Missourians oppose human cloning research and they strongly oppose funding this research with their tax dollars. We need to continue to spread the truth about amendment 2 by writing letters to the newspapers, hosting presentations and word of mouth. All of us working together are more effective than all the advertising the pro-cloners can buy.
Note: SJR20 has been assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee but no hearing date has been set.
The much publicized debate on the sale of MOHELA assets clearly indicates what a debacle Amendment 2 is. The tricky lawyers who wrote this legal nightmare knew exactly what the convoluted language of paragraphs 5 and 7 would do to the legislative process. We need to use the MOHELA debate to spotlight the legal nightmare created by amendment 2 and to focus attention on the importance of constitutionally reestablishing the financial authority of the legislature.
This may seem like a quiet time but there is still much to do! I cannot stress enough how important it is to contact your elected representative and senator to express clearly, respectfully and thoughtfully your convictions regarding embryonic stem cell research and human cloning. Which leads me again encourage you to attend the Anti-cloning Rally and Lobby Day on March 7th.
Bus information is available on our web site. A flyer and bulletin inserts that may be downloaded and printed will be available soon. Please contact our office by email or phone at 636-536-9877.
What's Next
We are often asked about starting an initiative petition signature drive. Be assured that if the legislative effort to place an anti-cloning amendment on the ballot fails, we will be ready to implement the initiative petition effort. We will keep you posted!
Note: A contact list for all the current legislators is available at the Missouri Legislator Lookup.
Gumbleton Must Receive Permission from Local Bishop
Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit must seek permission from local bishops anywhere he wishes to speak, by order of the papal nuncio, the Vatican's ambassador to the United States, according to local leaders of Call to Action. The group has taken a variety of positions at odds with church policy.Call to Action - an heretical group if there ever was one. All members of this group and any other group like it, should receive treatment for the deadly disease which afflicts them. And the proper medicine would be excommunication.
. . .
Bishops Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix and Gerald Kicanas of Tucson refused to grant the permission.
. . .
Phoenix Diocese spokesman James Dwyer said the problem was not with Gumbleton, who has taken positions at odds with a majority of his fellow bishops, but with Call to Action.
And what about those who claim that they'll show a video of Gumbleton? Is Gumbleton permitting this? It's obvious that using a video as means of communication to circumvent the permission requirement is a violation of the order of the nuncio - if not in letter, at least in spirit.
These folks need prayers. They need conversion. They need enlightenment. They need to learn to conform their wills to God's will.
Gospel for Feb 6, Memorial: St Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs
From: Mark 7:1-13
The Tradition of the Elders
[1] Now when the Pharisees gathered together to Him (Jesus), with some of the scribes, who had come from Jerusalem, [2] they saw that some of His disciples ate with hands defiled, that is, unwashed. [3] (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they wash their hands, observing the tradition of the elders; [4] and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they purify themselves; and there are many other traditions which they observe, the washing of cups and pots and vessels of bronze.) [5] And the Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, "Why do Your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with hands defiled?" [6] And He said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, `This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me; [7] in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.' [8] You leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men. [9] And He said to them, "You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God, in order to keep your tradition! [10] For Moses said, "Honor your father and your mother'; and `He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die'; [11] but you say, `If a man tells his father or his mother, What you would have gained from me is Corban' (that is, given to God)--[12] then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, [13] thus making void the word of God through your tradition which you hand on. And many such things you do."
_________________________
Commentary:
1-2. Hands were washed not for reasons of hygiene or good manners but because the custom had religious significance: it was a rite of purification. In Exodus 30:17ff the Law of God laid down how priests should wash before offering sacrifice. Jewish tradition had extended this to all Jews before every meal, in an effort to give meals a religious significance, which was reflected in the blessings which marked the start of meals. Ritual purification was a symbol of the moral purity a person should have when approaching God (Psalm 24:3ff; 51:4 and 9); but the Pharisees had focused on the mere external rite. Therefore Jesus restores the genuine meaning of these precepts of the Law, whose purpose is to teach the right way to render homage to God (cf. John 4:24).
3-5. We can see clearly from this text that very many of those to whom St. Mark's Gospel was first addressed were Christians who had been pagans and were unfamiliar with Jewish customs. The Evangelist explains these customs in some detail, to help them realize the significance of the events and teachings reported in the Gospel story.
Similarly, Sacred Scripture needs to be preached and taught in a way which puts it within reach of its hearers. This is why Vatican II teaches that "it is for the bishops suitable to instruct the faithful [...] by giving them translations of the sacred texts which are equipped with necessary and really adequate explanations. Thus the children of the Church can familiarize themselves safely and profitably with the Sacred Scriptures, and become steeped in their spirit" ("Dei Verbum", 25).
11-13. For an explanation of this text cf. note on Mt. 15:5-6. Jesus Christ, who is the authentic interpreter of the Law, because as God He is its author, explains the scope of the fourth commandment and points out the mistakes made by the Jewish casuistry. There were many other occasions when He corrected mistaken interpretations offered by the Jewish teachers: for example, when He recalls that phrase of the Old Testament, "Go and learn what this means, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice" (Hosea 6:6, 1 Samuel 15:22; Sirach 35:4) in Matthew 9:13.
[The note on Matthew 15:5-6 states:
5-6. Over the years teachers of the Law (scribes) and priests of the temple had distorted the true meaning of the fourth commandment. In Jesus' time, they were saying that people who contributed to the temple in cash or in kind were absolved from supporting their parents: it would be sacrilegious for parents to lay claim to this "corban" (offerings for the altar). People educated in this kind of thinking felt that they were keeping the fourth commandment--in fact, fulfilling it in the best way possible--and they were praised for their piety by the religious leaders of the nation. But what in fact it meant was that, under the cloak of piety, they were leaving elderly parents to fend for themselves. Jesus, who is Messiah and God, is the one who can correctly interpret the Law. Here He explains the proper scope of the fourth commandment, exposing the error of Jewish practice at the time.
For Christians, therefore, the fourth commandment includes affectionate help of parents if they are old or needy, even if one has other family, social or religious obligations to attend to. Children should check regularly on whether they are looking after their parents properly.]
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
The Tradition of the Elders
[1] Now when the Pharisees gathered together to Him (Jesus), with some of the scribes, who had come from Jerusalem, [2] they saw that some of His disciples ate with hands defiled, that is, unwashed. [3] (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they wash their hands, observing the tradition of the elders; [4] and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they purify themselves; and there are many other traditions which they observe, the washing of cups and pots and vessels of bronze.) [5] And the Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, "Why do Your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with hands defiled?" [6] And He said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, `This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me; [7] in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.' [8] You leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men. [9] And He said to them, "You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God, in order to keep your tradition! [10] For Moses said, "Honor your father and your mother'; and `He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die'; [11] but you say, `If a man tells his father or his mother, What you would have gained from me is Corban' (that is, given to God)--[12] then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, [13] thus making void the word of God through your tradition which you hand on. And many such things you do."
_________________________
Commentary:
1-2. Hands were washed not for reasons of hygiene or good manners but because the custom had religious significance: it was a rite of purification. In Exodus 30:17ff the Law of God laid down how priests should wash before offering sacrifice. Jewish tradition had extended this to all Jews before every meal, in an effort to give meals a religious significance, which was reflected in the blessings which marked the start of meals. Ritual purification was a symbol of the moral purity a person should have when approaching God (Psalm 24:3ff; 51:4 and 9); but the Pharisees had focused on the mere external rite. Therefore Jesus restores the genuine meaning of these precepts of the Law, whose purpose is to teach the right way to render homage to God (cf. John 4:24).
3-5. We can see clearly from this text that very many of those to whom St. Mark's Gospel was first addressed were Christians who had been pagans and were unfamiliar with Jewish customs. The Evangelist explains these customs in some detail, to help them realize the significance of the events and teachings reported in the Gospel story.
Similarly, Sacred Scripture needs to be preached and taught in a way which puts it within reach of its hearers. This is why Vatican II teaches that "it is for the bishops suitable to instruct the faithful [...] by giving them translations of the sacred texts which are equipped with necessary and really adequate explanations. Thus the children of the Church can familiarize themselves safely and profitably with the Sacred Scriptures, and become steeped in their spirit" ("Dei Verbum", 25).
11-13. For an explanation of this text cf. note on Mt. 15:5-6. Jesus Christ, who is the authentic interpreter of the Law, because as God He is its author, explains the scope of the fourth commandment and points out the mistakes made by the Jewish casuistry. There were many other occasions when He corrected mistaken interpretations offered by the Jewish teachers: for example, when He recalls that phrase of the Old Testament, "Go and learn what this means, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice" (Hosea 6:6, 1 Samuel 15:22; Sirach 35:4) in Matthew 9:13.
[The note on Matthew 15:5-6 states:
5-6. Over the years teachers of the Law (scribes) and priests of the temple had distorted the true meaning of the fourth commandment. In Jesus' time, they were saying that people who contributed to the temple in cash or in kind were absolved from supporting their parents: it would be sacrilegious for parents to lay claim to this "corban" (offerings for the altar). People educated in this kind of thinking felt that they were keeping the fourth commandment--in fact, fulfilling it in the best way possible--and they were praised for their piety by the religious leaders of the nation. But what in fact it meant was that, under the cloak of piety, they were leaving elderly parents to fend for themselves. Jesus, who is Messiah and God, is the one who can correctly interpret the Law. Here He explains the proper scope of the fourth commandment, exposing the error of Jewish practice at the time.
For Christians, therefore, the fourth commandment includes affectionate help of parents if they are old or needy, even if one has other family, social or religious obligations to attend to. Children should check regularly on whether they are looking after their parents properly.]
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
Mental Prayer for February 6, Act I:I Don't Give Alone
Mental Prayer Meditation Helps
Presence of God
Grace I Ask: To see the teamwork in the Mass.
The Idea: Orate fratres - "Pray, brethren, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God, the Father almighty."
The priest prays this way at the end of the Offertory of the Mass. But to whom does he refer when he speaks of "your sacrifice"? Obviously he's speaking primarily to the congregation; it is the people's sacrifice. But it has an even broader meaning, for it extends to all Catholics, to all the members of Christ's Mystical Body.
But how can the sacrifice of the divine Victim be also our sacrifice? The answer is that, in the words of Pius XII, Christ offers to His heavenly Father not only Himself "but in Himself His mystical members as well." At Mass we never pray alone; we pray with the Church and in union with Christ.
My Personal Application: Do I think of the Mass as merely a private and personal prayer of my own or as a matter of teamwork with the rest of the congregation - and even with the rest of the Church on earth? Do I take an active part in the dialogue Mass when I have the opportunity?
I Speak to Christ: Divine Redeemer, help me to realize the meaning of the Mass as the sacrifice of your Church here on earth. Help me to do my part both at Mass and during the day in union with the Mass throughout the world as part of the teamwork of the Catholic world - to adore, to thank, to make reparation for sin, and to beg your blessings in union with my brothers and sisters in Christ.
Thought for Today: "Though many, we are one body in Christ."
________________
Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)
Presence of God
Grace I Ask: To see the teamwork in the Mass.
The Idea: Orate fratres - "Pray, brethren, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God, the Father almighty."
The priest prays this way at the end of the Offertory of the Mass. But to whom does he refer when he speaks of "your sacrifice"? Obviously he's speaking primarily to the congregation; it is the people's sacrifice. But it has an even broader meaning, for it extends to all Catholics, to all the members of Christ's Mystical Body.
But how can the sacrifice of the divine Victim be also our sacrifice? The answer is that, in the words of Pius XII, Christ offers to His heavenly Father not only Himself "but in Himself His mystical members as well." At Mass we never pray alone; we pray with the Church and in union with Christ.
My Personal Application: Do I think of the Mass as merely a private and personal prayer of my own or as a matter of teamwork with the rest of the congregation - and even with the rest of the Church on earth? Do I take an active part in the dialogue Mass when I have the opportunity?
I Speak to Christ: Divine Redeemer, help me to realize the meaning of the Mass as the sacrifice of your Church here on earth. Help me to do my part both at Mass and during the day in union with the Mass throughout the world as part of the teamwork of the Catholic world - to adore, to thank, to make reparation for sin, and to beg your blessings in union with my brothers and sisters in Christ.
Thought for Today: "Though many, we are one body in Christ."
________________
Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)
Monday, February 05, 2007
More on the Gardasil HPV Vaccine
Trouble for Texas Catholics: Governor Violates Parental Authority - Cowtows to Merck
HT to Darla for the updates!
Children of God for Life - For Immediate Release, February 5, 2007More on this with Links, here.
Contact: info@cogforlife.org
877-488-LIFE
(Murfreesboro, TN) Children of God for Life is urging Texas Governor, Rick Perry to reverse his decision mandating Merck's new Gardasil HPV vaccine for school children in Texas. In an unprecedented move, Perry showed his gratitude to the bankrolling efforts of Merck by issuing an Executive Order requiring the shots for girls as young as 9-11 years old.
“It is an outrage that Governor Perry is forcing this vaccine on families”, stated Children of God for Life Executive Director, Debi Vinnedge. “His actions clearly contradict the advice of every major medical, ethical and pro-family organization in the country.”
HT to Darla for the updates!
Dr Ed Peters: Austrian "excommunication" reports are a-muddle
News reports that Salzburg (Austria) auxiliary bishop Andreas Laun has excommunicated one Richard Lugner for allowing an abortion clinic to open in one of his shopping malls, are a mess. No wonder Vienna's Christoph Cdl. Schoenborn is keeping his distance.More here.
Chiesa: Two New Documents in the Works: On Bioethics, and on Natural Law
They are being prepared by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. It is the continuation of the "Ratzinger style," explains the secretary of the Vatican dicastery, Archbishop Angelo Amato.More here...
by Sandro Magister
The Christ of Benedict XVI
The Pope is about to publish a book about Jesus. In so doing, he will share his deepest convictions about Jesus ChristMore here from Inside the Vatican
- by Dr. Robert Moynihan
The greatest drama of this pontificate -- greater than the drama of relations with secular humanism or Islam, greater even than the drama of the scandals in the Church -- is the drama occurring within Pope Benedict himself.
It is the drama of a man whose entire formation as a thinker and theologian led him to regard free theological inquiry as the highest intellectual activity of the believing Christian, but whose destiny was to become the Successor of Peter, and as such, the possessor of the Church's binding teaching authority, the Magisterium (the authority to "bind and to loose," to approve and to condemn doctrine and heresies, to teach, ex cathedra, infallibly). And that is why Benedict's decision to publish a book about Jesus later this spring, but not to give the teaching in the book any magisterial authority whatsoever, is so dramatic.
It is dramatic because it is the decision to withhold magisterial authority from the book that is itself magisterial.
And this decision has profound consequences, both for the exercise of the papal office within the Roman Catholic Church, and for relations with non-Catholics, particularly the Orthodox. For this reason, it is one of the most important decisions of the pontificate thus far, and perhaps a defining one. . .
McAuliffe Rejected...
There is an update to a previously posted story about Terry McAuliffe attempting to join the Knights of Malta...And the Order has rejected his application!
Knights of Malta in Rome Reject Pro-Abortion Terry McAuliffe
Knights of Malta in Rome Reject Pro-Abortion Terry McAuliffe
Mental Prayer for February 5, Act I:Our Gift to God
Mental Prayer Meditation Helps
Presence of God
Grace I Ask: To see my offering is part of the Mass.
The Idea: Bread and wine are brought to the altar and offered to almighty God with the prayer that He may bless them and make them holy. They are our gifts. They are the gifts we offer to God. My share in them is a sign of my faith and love, my gratitude and submission, my sorrow for sin. The offering of the bread and wine represents the offering of myself. As the priest pours the wine into the chalice, I mentally put into the same chalice all my intentions - all my difficulties, all my happiness - myself.
My Personal Application: This is my big part in the Mass. I offer the bread and wine as signs of offering myself with the priest. Unless I unite myself with the priest and offer myself as he offers the bread and wine, there is very little of me in the Mass. If I do offer myself, then all of me is in the Mass.
I Speak to God: Most Holy Trinity, in the Mass I offer myself to you in union with Jesus Christ our Lord. Help me to realize now the meaning of my offering. Help me to understand my part in the Mass. Help me to realize that the bread and wine that the priest offers really stand for my gift - really stand for me. I want to take a real live part in the Mass. Help me to put my whole self into my offering.
Thought for Today: May my sacrifice be made acceptable to you, O God.
________________
Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)
Presence of God
Grace I Ask: To see my offering is part of the Mass.
The Idea: Bread and wine are brought to the altar and offered to almighty God with the prayer that He may bless them and make them holy. They are our gifts. They are the gifts we offer to God. My share in them is a sign of my faith and love, my gratitude and submission, my sorrow for sin. The offering of the bread and wine represents the offering of myself. As the priest pours the wine into the chalice, I mentally put into the same chalice all my intentions - all my difficulties, all my happiness - myself.
My Personal Application: This is my big part in the Mass. I offer the bread and wine as signs of offering myself with the priest. Unless I unite myself with the priest and offer myself as he offers the bread and wine, there is very little of me in the Mass. If I do offer myself, then all of me is in the Mass.
I Speak to God: Most Holy Trinity, in the Mass I offer myself to you in union with Jesus Christ our Lord. Help me to realize now the meaning of my offering. Help me to understand my part in the Mass. Help me to realize that the bread and wine that the priest offers really stand for my gift - really stand for me. I want to take a real live part in the Mass. Help me to put my whole self into my offering.
Thought for Today: May my sacrifice be made acceptable to you, O God.
________________
Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)
Gospel for Feb 5, Memorial: St Agatha, virgin and martyr
From: Mark 6:53-56
Cures at Gennesaret
[53] And when they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret, and moored to the shore. [54] And when they got out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him (Jesus), [55] and ran about the whole neighborhood and began to bring sick people on their pallets to any place where they heard He was. [56] And wherever He came in, in villages, cities, or country, they laid the sick in the market places, and besought Him that they might touch even the fringe of His garment; and as many as touched it were made well.
________________
Commentary:
There is no commentary in the Navarre Bible for this part of the Gospel.
I have included the noted from A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture, published by Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1953:
53. The plain at the north-west of the Lake was called Gennesar. It was renown for its fertility.
55-56. Once more we see the unbounded enthusiasm of the crowd as they bring their sick to be healed by Christ.
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
Cures at Gennesaret
[53] And when they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret, and moored to the shore. [54] And when they got out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him (Jesus), [55] and ran about the whole neighborhood and began to bring sick people on their pallets to any place where they heard He was. [56] And wherever He came in, in villages, cities, or country, they laid the sick in the market places, and besought Him that they might touch even the fringe of His garment; and as many as touched it were made well.
________________
Commentary:
There is no commentary in the Navarre Bible for this part of the Gospel.
I have included the noted from A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture, published by Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1953:
53. The plain at the north-west of the Lake was called Gennesar. It was renown for its fertility.
55-56. Once more we see the unbounded enthusiasm of the crowd as they bring their sick to be healed by Christ.
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Mental Prayer for February 4, The Mass: a Real-Life Drama
Mental Prayer Meditation Helps
Presence of God
Grace I Ask: To develop and nurture a real and proper understanding of the tremendous fact of the Mass.
The Idea: The Mass is a real-life drama... the greatest drama on earth... a drama in which I have a big part to play: to offer Christ to God and myself with Christ. The drama of the Mass has three acts :
First Act: We want to go to God, our Maker and Father, so we bring gifts for a sacrifice. They stand for ourselves; they show Him our own self-offering; they carry our repentance, love, and gratitude, our worship and submission - our Heart. The Offertory.
Second Act. The Consecration: Our gifts are changed into Christ slain for us on Calvary. So what we really end up offering is His great sacrifice of infinite value. Calvary is put in our hands; and our self-offering is carried up to God by Christ, in union with His sacrifice of Himself.
Third Act. The Communion: Finally, we receive Christ. He now comes to share His life with us. He has carried our offering to God and now brings God's friendship to us.
My Personal Application: How often I have looked around for something to give to God when He has given me a special favor! What could I have to give Him? By myself alone I have no gift worthy of Him. But here in the Mass, Christ takes my gift of myself, unites it to Himself, and offers to God the Father the perfect gift.
I Speak to God: Holy Spirit, help me to understand this great mystery. Help me to see my part in the great drama. I won't be able to get very far without your help. I want to understand, to deeply realize what the Mass means to me.
Thought for Today: I offer thee my whole life in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world.
________________
Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)
Presence of God
Grace I Ask: To develop and nurture a real and proper understanding of the tremendous fact of the Mass.
The Idea: The Mass is a real-life drama... the greatest drama on earth... a drama in which I have a big part to play: to offer Christ to God and myself with Christ. The drama of the Mass has three acts :
First Act: We want to go to God, our Maker and Father, so we bring gifts for a sacrifice. They stand for ourselves; they show Him our own self-offering; they carry our repentance, love, and gratitude, our worship and submission - our Heart. The Offertory.
Second Act. The Consecration: Our gifts are changed into Christ slain for us on Calvary. So what we really end up offering is His great sacrifice of infinite value. Calvary is put in our hands; and our self-offering is carried up to God by Christ, in union with His sacrifice of Himself.
Third Act. The Communion: Finally, we receive Christ. He now comes to share His life with us. He has carried our offering to God and now brings God's friendship to us.
My Personal Application: How often I have looked around for something to give to God when He has given me a special favor! What could I have to give Him? By myself alone I have no gift worthy of Him. But here in the Mass, Christ takes my gift of myself, unites it to Himself, and offers to God the Father the perfect gift.
I Speak to God: Holy Spirit, help me to understand this great mystery. Help me to see my part in the great drama. I won't be able to get very far without your help. I want to understand, to deeply realize what the Mass means to me.
Thought for Today: I offer thee my whole life in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world.
________________
Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)
Gospel for the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
From: Luke 5:1-11
The Miraculous Catch of Fish and the Calling of the First Disciples
[1] While the people pressed upon Him (Jesus) to hear the word of God, He was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. [2] And He saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. [3] Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, He asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the people from the boat. [4] And when He had ceased speaking, He said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." [5] And Simon answered, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets." [6] And when they had done this, they enclosed a great shoal of fish; and as their nets were breaking, [7] they beckoned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. [8] But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." [9] For he was astonished, and all that were with Him, at the catch of fish which they had taken; [10] And so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men." [11] And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.
__________________________
Commentary:
1. "Just as they do today! Can't you see? They want to hear God's message, even though outwardly they may not show it. Some perhaps haveforgotten Christ's teachings. Others, through no fault of their own, have never known them and they think that religion is something odd. But of this we can be sure, that in every man's life there comes a time sooner or later when his soul draws the line. He has had enough of the usual explanations. The lies of the false prophets no longer satisfy. Even though they may not admit it at the time, such people are longing to quench their thirst with the teachings of our Lord" ([St] J. Escriva, "Friends of God", 260).
3. The Fathers saw in Simon's boat a symbol of the pilgrim Church on earth. "This is the boat which according to St. Matthew was in danger of sinking and according to St. Luke was filled with fish. Here we can see the difficult beginnings of the Church and its later fruitfulness" (St. Ambrose, "Expositio Evangelii sec. Lucam, in loc."). Christ gets into the boat in order to teach the crowds--and from the barque of Peter, the Church, He continues to teach the whole world.
Each of us can also see himself as this boat Christ uses for preaching. Externally no change is evident: "What has changed? There is a change inside our soul, now that Christ has come aboard, as He went aboard Peter's boat. Its horizon has been expanded. It feels a greater ambition to serve and an irrepressible desire to tell all creation about the "magnalia Dei" (Acts 2:11), the marvellous doings of our Lord, if only we let Him work" ([St] J. Escriva, "Friends of God", 265).
4. "When He had finished His catechizing, He told Simon: `Put out into the deep, and lower your nets for a catch.' Christ is the master of this boat. He it is who prepares the fishing. It is for this that He has come into the world, to do all He can so that His brothers may find the way to glory and to the love of the Father" ("Friends of God", 260). To carry this task out, our Lord charges all of them to cast their nets, but it is only Peter He tells to put out into the deep.
This whole passage refers in some way to the life of the Church. In the Church the bishop of Rome, Peter's successor, "is the vicar of Jesus Christ because he represents Him on earth and acts for Him in the government of the Church" ("St. Pius X Catechism", 195). Christ is also addressing each one of us, urging us to be daring in apostolate: `"Duc in altum. Put out into deep water!' Throw aside the pessimism that makes a coward of you. `Et laxate retia vestra in capturam. And pay out you nets for a catch.' Don't you see that you, like Peter, can say: `In nomine tuo, laxabo rete': Jesus, if You say so, I will search for souls?" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 792).
"If you were to fall into the temptation of wondering, `Who's telling me to embark on this?', we would have reply, `Christ Himself is telling you, is begging you.' `The harvest is plentiful enough, but the laborers are few. You must ask the Lord to whom the harvest belongs to send laborers out for the harvesting' (Matthew 9:37-38). Don't take the easy way out. Don't say, `I'm no good at this sort of thing; there are others who can do it; it isn't my line.' No, for this sort of thing, there is no one else: if you could get away with that argument, so could everyone else. Christ's plea is addressed to each and every Christian. No one can consider himself exempt, for whatever reason--age, health or occupation. There are no excuses whatsoever.
Either we carry out a fruitful apostolate, or our faith will prove barren" ("Friends of God", 272).
5. When Christ gives him these instructions, Peter states the difficulties involved. "A reasonable enough reply. The night hours were the normal time for fishing, and this time the catch had yielded nothing. What was the point of fishing by day? But Peter has faith: `But at Your word I will let down the nets.' He decides to act on Christ's suggestion. He undertakes the work relying entirely on the word of our Lord" ("Friends of God", 261).
8. Peter does not want Christ to leave him; aware of his sins, he declares his unworthiness to be near Christ. This reminds us of the attitude of the centurion who confesses his unworthiness to receive Jesus into his house (Matthew 8:8). The Church requires her children to repeat these exact words of the centurion before receiving the Blessed Eucharist. She also teaches us to show due external reverence to the Blessed Sacrament when going to Communion: by falling down on his knees Peter also shows that internal adoration of God should be also be expressed externally.
11. Perfection is not simply a matter of leaving all things but of doing so in order to follow Christ--which is what the Apostles did: they gave up everything in order to be available to do what God's calling involved.
We should develop this attitude of availability, for "Jesus isn't satisfied `going halves': He wants the lot" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 155).
If we don't give ourselves generously we will find it very difficult to follow Jesus: "Detach yourself from people and things until you are stripped of them. For, says Pope St. Gregory, the devil has nothing of his own in this world, and naked he comes to battle. If you go clothed to fight him, you will soon be pulled to the ground: for he will have something to catch you by" ("The Way", 149).
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
The Miraculous Catch of Fish and the Calling of the First Disciples
[1] While the people pressed upon Him (Jesus) to hear the word of God, He was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. [2] And He saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. [3] Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, He asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the people from the boat. [4] And when He had ceased speaking, He said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." [5] And Simon answered, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets." [6] And when they had done this, they enclosed a great shoal of fish; and as their nets were breaking, [7] they beckoned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. [8] But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." [9] For he was astonished, and all that were with Him, at the catch of fish which they had taken; [10] And so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men." [11] And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.
__________________________
Commentary:
1. "Just as they do today! Can't you see? They want to hear God's message, even though outwardly they may not show it. Some perhaps haveforgotten Christ's teachings. Others, through no fault of their own, have never known them and they think that religion is something odd. But of this we can be sure, that in every man's life there comes a time sooner or later when his soul draws the line. He has had enough of the usual explanations. The lies of the false prophets no longer satisfy. Even though they may not admit it at the time, such people are longing to quench their thirst with the teachings of our Lord" ([St] J. Escriva, "Friends of God", 260).
3. The Fathers saw in Simon's boat a symbol of the pilgrim Church on earth. "This is the boat which according to St. Matthew was in danger of sinking and according to St. Luke was filled with fish. Here we can see the difficult beginnings of the Church and its later fruitfulness" (St. Ambrose, "Expositio Evangelii sec. Lucam, in loc."). Christ gets into the boat in order to teach the crowds--and from the barque of Peter, the Church, He continues to teach the whole world.
Each of us can also see himself as this boat Christ uses for preaching. Externally no change is evident: "What has changed? There is a change inside our soul, now that Christ has come aboard, as He went aboard Peter's boat. Its horizon has been expanded. It feels a greater ambition to serve and an irrepressible desire to tell all creation about the "magnalia Dei" (Acts 2:11), the marvellous doings of our Lord, if only we let Him work" ([St] J. Escriva, "Friends of God", 265).
4. "When He had finished His catechizing, He told Simon: `Put out into the deep, and lower your nets for a catch.' Christ is the master of this boat. He it is who prepares the fishing. It is for this that He has come into the world, to do all He can so that His brothers may find the way to glory and to the love of the Father" ("Friends of God", 260). To carry this task out, our Lord charges all of them to cast their nets, but it is only Peter He tells to put out into the deep.
This whole passage refers in some way to the life of the Church. In the Church the bishop of Rome, Peter's successor, "is the vicar of Jesus Christ because he represents Him on earth and acts for Him in the government of the Church" ("St. Pius X Catechism", 195). Christ is also addressing each one of us, urging us to be daring in apostolate: `"Duc in altum. Put out into deep water!' Throw aside the pessimism that makes a coward of you. `Et laxate retia vestra in capturam. And pay out you nets for a catch.' Don't you see that you, like Peter, can say: `In nomine tuo, laxabo rete': Jesus, if You say so, I will search for souls?" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 792).
"If you were to fall into the temptation of wondering, `Who's telling me to embark on this?', we would have reply, `Christ Himself is telling you, is begging you.' `The harvest is plentiful enough, but the laborers are few. You must ask the Lord to whom the harvest belongs to send laborers out for the harvesting' (Matthew 9:37-38). Don't take the easy way out. Don't say, `I'm no good at this sort of thing; there are others who can do it; it isn't my line.' No, for this sort of thing, there is no one else: if you could get away with that argument, so could everyone else. Christ's plea is addressed to each and every Christian. No one can consider himself exempt, for whatever reason--age, health or occupation. There are no excuses whatsoever.
Either we carry out a fruitful apostolate, or our faith will prove barren" ("Friends of God", 272).
5. When Christ gives him these instructions, Peter states the difficulties involved. "A reasonable enough reply. The night hours were the normal time for fishing, and this time the catch had yielded nothing. What was the point of fishing by day? But Peter has faith: `But at Your word I will let down the nets.' He decides to act on Christ's suggestion. He undertakes the work relying entirely on the word of our Lord" ("Friends of God", 261).
8. Peter does not want Christ to leave him; aware of his sins, he declares his unworthiness to be near Christ. This reminds us of the attitude of the centurion who confesses his unworthiness to receive Jesus into his house (Matthew 8:8). The Church requires her children to repeat these exact words of the centurion before receiving the Blessed Eucharist. She also teaches us to show due external reverence to the Blessed Sacrament when going to Communion: by falling down on his knees Peter also shows that internal adoration of God should be also be expressed externally.
11. Perfection is not simply a matter of leaving all things but of doing so in order to follow Christ--which is what the Apostles did: they gave up everything in order to be available to do what God's calling involved.
We should develop this attitude of availability, for "Jesus isn't satisfied `going halves': He wants the lot" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 155).
If we don't give ourselves generously we will find it very difficult to follow Jesus: "Detach yourself from people and things until you are stripped of them. For, says Pope St. Gregory, the devil has nothing of his own in this world, and naked he comes to battle. If you go clothed to fight him, you will soon be pulled to the ground: for he will have something to catch you by" ("The Way", 149).
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
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