Tag Archives: Catholic

Feast Day of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

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From the Letters of St. Margaret Mary:

A word about the blessings with which His goodness is favoring me
at present. I can only describe them by saying that my whole life,
body and soul, is nothing but a cross. Yet I cannot complain,
nor do I desire any consolation than that of not having any in
this world and of living hidden away in Jesus Christ crucified,
suffering and unknown, so that no one will have any compassion
on me nor remember me except to increase my suffering. I flatter
myself, dear Mother, that you are too interested in me not to
rejoice at this. Thank Our Lord who, after Himself, has nothing
more precious than His love and His cross. By His Mercy He
shares them with me. I know I am most unworthy, too, of the
one He has has given us in the person of our most honored Mother

The Twelve Promises of Jesus to Saint Margaret Mary
for those devoted to His Sacred Heart:

1-I will give them all the graces necessary for their state of life.
2-I will establish peace in their families.
3-I will console them in all their troubles.
4-They shall find in My Heart an assured refuge during life and especially
at the hour of their death.
5-I will pour abundant blessings on all their undertakings.
6-Sinners shall find in My Heart the source of an infinite ocean of mercy.
7-Tepid souls shall become fervent.
8-Fervent souls shall speedily rise to great perfection.
9-I will bless the homes where an image of My Heart shall be exposed and honored.
10-I will give to priests the power of touching the most hardened hearts.
11-Those who propagate this devotion shall have their names written in
My Heart, never to be effaced.
12-The all-powerful love of My Heart will grant to all those who shall
receive Communion on the First Friday of nine consecutive months the grace
of final repentance; they shall not die under my displeasure, nor without
receiving their Sacraments; My heart shall be their assured refuge at that
last hour.

Nature Cries Out!

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I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.’ Luke 19:40

Here is a photograph of a living tree which I pass almost everyday.  One day it stopped me in my tracks as an image emerged out of the noise of criss-crossing leaves and branches. This tree was struck by lightening and now bears a recogognizable image:

Scourging and Crucifixion

Scourging and Crucifixion of Christ.

I am an artist and that may make me sensitive to images camouflaged in the ordinary things around us.  Not only do I see the Scourging and Crucifixion of Christ in this living tree, but I can also see the Crown of Thorns. As a starting point for mediation, ask yourself, “Why a tree?”

The Brown Scapular

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The Anchoress writes about the World’s Tiniest Hair Shirt, her scapular, which after hanging for years on her bedpost, now hangs about her neck as a “discipline.”  I can relate.

Wearing the cloth scapular has been an on and off battle which I believe my scapular is now winning.  From the stand point of pure convenience, I argued with Our Lady of Mt. Carmel,  that wearing the medal was better and would make this devotion easier for me to undertake.  So I wore the medal, but the cloth scapular glared at me from between socks, peeked through the clutter in my dresser drawer, or from wherever I last left it. Mary wasn’t buying my arguments. The Anchoress is right. It is a “discipline” – before it turns to love.

I finally found one I can wear with a minimum of hassle, though each morning, I still wake up with it intertwined with the chain of my Miraculous Medal. I used to grumble.  Now I just smile.  I think I owe the change in my motus primo primi (firstly first movement) to the efficacy of the scapular. It wraps me in the love of Mary and weaves the movements of her heart with mine.  Does that make any sense?

Mother Angelica & Deacon Bill Steltemier Receive Papal Honor

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The best validation EWTN could hope for this side of Heaven!

H/T  Whispers in the Loggia:

Arguably the most significant force in shaping today’s American Catholic landscape, the celebrated, controversial foundress of Catholic media’s most prominent outlet was honored by Rome over the weekend as Bishop Robert Baker of Birmingham conferred the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Cross on Mother Angelica and her longtime top aide in overseeing the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), Deacon Bill Steltemier . Awarded by Pope Benedict, the gong comes at the close of a decade, by turns tumultuous and triumphant, that began with 1999’s dedication of a majestic new monastery for Mother’s growing fold of cloistered Poor Clares and an apostolic visitation of the Alabama-based enterprise which led the feisty, fearless Franciscan to place her garage-born apostolate under lay oversight. Along the way, the network’s third decade saw its impact on the US church’s life and practice became ever more sizable, touching everything from priestly and religious vocations and parish liturgies to the influence of its roster of “stars” on the nation’s Catholic orbit — a clout which rivals, if not bests, all but a handful of the Stateside hierarchy — and, to top it all, the success of her authoritative 2005 biography, written by EWTN news director Raymond Arroyo, which cracked the New York Times best-seller list and was quickly followed-up by a sequel of Angelica’s words of wisdom. Now 86 and mostly confined to bed following a 2001 stroke, the unlikeliest of media moguls couldn’t attend the St Francis’ Day Vespers at which the award for her faithful and distinguished service “to the church and the pontiff” was presented. Instituted in 1889 by Pope Leo XIII, the Pro Ecclesia is the Vatican’s highest honor for religious men and women and permanent deacons. Though layfolk who’ve rendered exemplary devotion to church and community may also receive the bronze Cross suspended from a gold and white ribbon, the higher accolade of papal knighthood is reserved to the laity alone.

On Jesus Christ’s Descent into Hell

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From the Dolorous Passion of Jesus – Visions of Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich.

Our Lord, by descending into Hell, planted (if I may thus express myself), in the spiritual garden of the Church, a mysterious tree, the fruits of which—namely, his merits—are destined for the constant relief of the poor souls in Purgatory. The Church militant must cultivate the tree, and gather its fruits, in order to present them to that suffering portion of the Church which can do nothing for itself. Thus it is with all the merits of Christ; we must labour with him if we wish to obtain our share of them; we must gain our bread by the sweat of our brow. Everything which our Lord has done for us in time must produce fruit for eternity; but we must gather these fruits in time, without which we cannot possess them in eternity. The Church is the most prudent and thoughtful of mothers; the ecclesiastical year is an immense and magnificent garden, in which all those fruits for eternity are gathered together, that we may make use of them in time. Each year contains sufficient to supply the wants of all; but woe be to that careless or dishonest gardener who allows any of the fruit committed to his care to perish; if he fails to turn to a proper account those graces which would restore health to the sick, strength to the weak, or furnish food to the hungry! When the Day of Judgment arrives, the Master of the garden will demand a strict account, not only of every tree, but also of all the fruit produced in the garden.

On Dying Today

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crucificionicon

icon by the hand of Joann Nelander

A note from the Anchoress on retreat:

Just found this scrawled, uncharacteristically, in the back of a book –

When we meet God face-to-face, it is always a moment of grace,
but too it is a moment of judgment for us.
Judgment day, then, can be any day, any time, any particular
moment of an hour.
And so our death can happen many times,
a process of conversion, a process of turning to.
We die to ourselves, die to a particular sin or attachment,
and begin again, turning toward.
We no sooner die to one thing that we immediately
attach and live to another,
and judgment will come to that, too.
Sacrament of confession
hastens our dying and our rising,
the dying to the old self,
the rising to the new,
always, always, toward Christ.
Toward oneness, completion.
The Whole.
Life is a process of Incarnation.
Our reality, our wholeness, our completeness
in this world comes
through repeated offerings which we receive or refuse.
The Eucharistic Christ contributes to this formation, this process.
He enters us, we welcome Him.
One flesh.
Incarnation.
My whole woeful life just begun, again.