Feast of Pentecost, May 19, 2013

Feast of Pentecost, May 19, 2013

                                 Epistle, Acts 2: 1        Gospel, John 14: 23-31

           

            The Feast of Pentecost was prefigured in the Old Testament by God revealing Himself to the Israeli people on Mt. Sinai. (Exodus 19: 9-11 & 16-19) “And when Moses had brought them forth to meet God . . . they stood at the bottom of the mount. And all Mount Sinai was on a smoke: because the Lord was come down upon it in fire . . . And the sound of the trumpet grew by degrees louder and louder . . .”  And in Acts 2: 1-4 we read “they were all together in one place: And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house . . . And there appeared to them cloven tongues, as it were of fire, and it sat upon each of them.” On Mt. Sinai were fire and the loud sound of trumpets. On Pentecost Sunday, the loud sound of wind and the tongues of fire.  

            Pentecost can also be seen as a kind of repetition of the Annunciation of Mary, where the Holy Ghost descended upon her to begin the conception of Jesus. On Pentecost Sunday He again descended upon Mary so that we might be born into the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ. This is another indication of the role Mary plays in the Church and of her importance to us. It’s no wonder we venerate her as our mother. +

Our Lord said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.”  Here is a definition of our Lord’s peace variously credited to Sts. Augustine, Peter Chrysologus or Ambrose: “Peace is serenity of mind, tranquility of soul, simplicity of heart, the bond of love, the fellowship of charity.” Peace “takes away enmities, restrains wars, holds back anger, treads down pride, loves the humble, calms those who quarrel, reconciles those who are enemies, and is pleasing and acceptable to all. It seeks nothing that belongs to another; regards nothing as its own. It teaches a love that has never learned to hate.” It does  not know how to be lifted up above itself. It does not know how to be puffed up in pride. (Patrologia Latina, 39, Sermo 97) This is the Law of Peace that is given to us by the Son of God. It is both a law and a great gift, and it’s the will of God that we live according to this Law.

            We can have peace or hostility, but why promote hostility between people? This has consequences that we cannot escape from. The devil promoted hostility between the First Man and God when he appeared as a serpent in the Garden. Satan already knew the consequences of disobedience to God. For us, either we accept the charity of Christ and follow the Law of Peace, or we must know that in imitating the devil we become like him. If we embrace Christ’s peace, we find that we live in freedom – no matter what form of government we live under.

            Job wrote that “[God’s] Spirit hath adorned the heavens.” (Job 26: 13) These adornments of heaven are the virtues that St. Paul lists in (1 Cor. 12: 8) as Wisdom, Knowledge, Faith, Healing, Miracles, Prophecy and Tongues, what we call the Gifts of the Holy Ghost. We know the Apostles were lacking in these gifts before the coming of the Holy Ghost, but look at what they did after His coming. Before the year 100 A. D. they and their disciples had spread the True Faith to all the known world. +

            Now let’s talk about the Trinity. When we confess God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost, the Three Persons in One God, let us put out of our minds the things we use to measure the universe – length, width, height and time. Let us understand that God is at all times and in all places, complete and perfect and One. We cannot prefer the Father to the Son and the Holy Ghost. Nor can we prefer the Son to the Father and the Holy Ghost because they are One. Further, we cannot believe that God is Omnipotent and Unchanging if He has begotten a Son Who is inferior or less than Himself. Some say that Jesus was created at some point in eternity, long before the universe was created, that He is indeed the Son of God, but not God. Rather, that He is a minor god, with a small “g”. But they do not understand the word “eternity.” Eternity in the religious or theological sense is the condition of timeless existence. Eternity then is the absence of time. That is why the Church teaches us that Jesus was eternally begotten of the Father. In other words, Jesus has existed eternally. Those who die in a state of mortal sin will suffer the pains of hell, eternally. Those who die in the state of Sanctifying Grace will enjoy the presence of God, eternally. So in this sense, eternity is either your punishment or your reward, depending on the state of your soul when you die. As to Jesus being God, there are ample proofs of this in Scriptures. One is from John 16: 15, “All things whatsoever the Father hath are mine.” God the Father has Divinity, therefore, so does the Son. And so does the Holy Ghost as we see at John 16: 13: “when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will teach you all truth: for he shall not speak of himself . . .” The word “himself” shows us that the Holy Ghost is, Himself, a separate person. He teaches us “all truth” because only God can do that. Therefore, He is God. St. Augustine says that the Holy Ghost does not speak of Himself because He is not from Himself, but proceedeth from the Father and the Son. Fr. Robert Witham (d. 1738) wrote that if  the Holy Ghost shall teach all truth, and teach it forever, how is it possible that the Church can err, or has erred, in matters of faith, at any time or in any point of doctrine? If this were true, would not the Holy Ghost have forfeited his title of the Spirit of Truth?

We have a prayer to the Holy Ghost: “Come, Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful, enkindle in them the fire of Thy love. Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created and Thou shalt renew the face of the Earth.” This prayer comes from Psalm 103, v. 30 - Douay, Haydock. (RSV 104: 30) This same Holy Spirit inspired a youthful harpist and created the psalmist, who was King David (1 Kings 16: 18). He moved the soul of a “herdsman plucking wild figs: and made him a prophet,” (Amos 7: 14). He entered a young boy who was disciplined in the spirit, and made him a judge (Daniel 13: 45).  He entered into a fisherman and made him a preacher of the Gospel and head of His Church, St. Peter (Mt. 4: 19). He filled a persecutor of the Church and made him the Doctor of the Gentiles, St. Paul (Acts 9). He filled a publican and made him an Evangelist (Luke 5: 27,28). The Holy Ghost renews the face of the Earth by inflaming people with the love of God, and these people in turn do God's work in the community. The Apostles, who before were afraid of their enemies, now under the influence of the Holy Ghost, dominate them with their authority. I suspect that a refusal to accept the authority of the Church is the reason why many people refuse to join Her or drop away and abandon Christ’s Mass and His Sacraments, all of which are His gifts to help us reach Heaven.

            Many ask how can I love the Holy Spirit whom I cannot see? A mind taken up with only visible things cannot see the invisible. However, we can see God by looking at a metaphor from nature. We cannot watch the sun directly as it rises in the east, but if we look to the west at sunrise, we can see the beauty of the sun unfolding on the face of the earth. Looking at God is somewhat like that. We can see His beauty unfolding in the lives of His saints; and in the good works of His children, because His beauty is like sunlight shining upon the earth.

Jesus tells us today, “The word which you have heard is not mine; but the Father’s who sent me.” Pope St. Gregory the Great helps us understand this when he writes, “ He Who speaks is the Word, the Only-Begotten Son of the Father, and because of this the words the Son speaks are not the Son’s but the Father’s: for the Son is Himself the Word of the Father” as we learn in  John Chap. 1: “and the Word was God . . . and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” We know that Jesus is the Word of God become Man, and we believe the Word of God. +++

We Celebrate the Traditional Tridentine Latin Mass: The Mass of All  Ages

Sunday within Octave of the Ascension, May 12, 2013

Sunday Within the Octave of the Ascension, May 12, 2013

Epistle, 1 Peter 4: 7-11             Gospel, John 15: 26, 27 & 16: 1-4

           

            Jesus told His Apostles that they would give testimony of him, and Acts 4: 33 tells us they did just that: “And with great power did the Apostles give testimony of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” All of us are also required to give testimony of Him, not by sermons and miracles like the Apostles did, but by the life we live in imitation of Christ. We imitate Christ in our will, in our words, and in our works.

            When Jesus descended from heaven to become one of us in all things but sin He sacrificed Himself to the will of His Father. And He was obedient to His father even to His death on the Cross. King David tells us in Psalm 39: 8, 9: “In the head of the book it is written of me that I should do thy will: O my God, I have desired it . . . in the midst of my heart.” When Christ became like one of us it was like He said, “It is Thy will, Father, that I should be born in a desolate stable, that I should shed my blood at the circumcision and flee before Herod into Egypt, that I should carry the burdens of this life for 33 years, that I should be betrayed, spit upon, beaten and scourged, crowned with thorns, nailed to a cross and suffer the most cruel death, but I will it also, Father. I am ready to suffer all afflictions in obedience to Thee.”

            Are we ready to follow Christ in this path? When we are hurt and disappointed a dozen times a day, can we say, “My God, I will it”? When we meet poverty, when gossipers’ tongues hurt us, when false friends deceive us, when we are sick, when our body pains us, can we bear all this? Can we with great patience say, “My God, I will it also”? If we can do that, then we are giving testimony of Christ, as He instructed us to do.

            We can look around and see many ambitious people, always eager to receive honors, recognition, dignities. We see greedy people whose only thoughts are how to increase their wealth. How many there are who think only of their pleasures, how many who seek revenge for some wrong done to them. To live this kind of life is to live like a heathen, giving testimony of Satan. It’s certainly not the testimony that Jesus, the “author and finisher of our faith,” requested of us. (Hebrews 12: 2)

            How do Jesus’ words serve as a model for us? Look at what are called the Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross. To His Father He prayed, “Father, forgive them” – words of forgiveness and reconciliation. To the penitent thief: “This day thou shalt be with me in paradise” words of a blessed and true promise. To His Blessed Mother, “Woman, behold thy son,” and to John, the Apostle that He loved, “Behold thy mother” (John 19: 26) – consoling words to each of them. In the moment of abandonment He cried out with entire confidence in God, “”My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 37: 46) His desire to suffer in the highest degree for our sake is proved to us by His cry, “I thirst” (John 19: 28) and “It is consummated” (John 19: 30) When He had completed his task He recommends His soul to His father, “Into thy hands I commend my spirit.” (Luke 23: 46)

            This is the model for our words, but what kind of words do we hear in the houses of the powerful, in the halls of learning, in our political assemblies. In the streets we meet with many sensual pleasures, in the stores we find vanity, at home words are heard by innocent children, words that poison their souls. Where do we not hear slander, blasphemies, dirty conversations? Is this giving testimony of Christ? Do not the heathen do this, who give testimony of Satan? Let us copy the Lamb of God in all our words.

            Now let’s consider the works of the Lord. His life is a witness that He was perfect in practicing all the works that He taught us to do. Consider the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5: He teaches us, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” and He was poor and “had not where to lay His head.” (Luke 9: 58). “Blessed are the meek,” and He forgives those who did wrong to Him and He rewards the penitent. “Blessed are the sorrowful,” and He atones for our sins with tears of blood. “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after justice,” and His food and drink was to do the will of His Father. (John 4: 31-34) “Blessed are the merciful,” and He showered good deeds upon His enemies. “Blessed are the peacemakers,” and he made peace between God and man. “Blessed are those who suffer persecution for justice sake,” and He suffered persecution and hatred because of His teachings until His death. Many still hate Him today.

            And what about our works? Do we love our bodies and our comforts too much? Do we hang onto the things of the world so tightly that we are almost ashamed to call ourselves a Christian? Do we love our sins and have we allowed them to become habits? Do we live like an unreasoning animals, constantly pursuing pleasures and sensuality? Unhappy heathens do the same, and give testimony of Satan. When we adopt the pleasures and wealth of the world we also give testimony of Satan. It is no wonder that unbelievers are not converted when they see Catholics who are worse than they are!

            In our lives let us follow this model of living that Christ has given us. To do this is to practice Christian perfection. If we wish to follow Him then we must reflect every day and every night on His laws. Last week I spoke about how easy it is to pray constantly, “All that is necessary is that through the day, when we are busy with all the things we do, from time to time we think of God,” performing acts of charity and prayer. It is just as easy to reflect day and night on the laws of God, even as we go about our daily tasks. If we wish to follow Jesus we must hold our sinful desires in check. We must not be overcome by adversity, when everything is going wrong for us, nor should be we dazzled by happiness when everything is going right.

            It is our job to practice the virtues of a Christian: Faith, Hope and Charity (which is Love), also Prudence, Temperance, Justice and Courage (which is Fortitude), and we are to practice them to such an excellent degree that even unbelievers will admire them and come to understand that they are not able to reach such a high degree of perfection without Jesus Christ.

            St. Paul urges us in 2 Corinthians 4: 10:  “Always bearing about in our body the dying of Jesus: that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our bodies.” All those who see our modesty in dress, in speech and in actions will see that we are not a Catholic in name only but Catholic in the way we live, that we follow the Crucified One and that we are heirs to the Kingdom of Heaven.  +++

(Thanks to St. John Vianney, the Curé of Ars, France)

We Celebrate the Traditional Tridentine Latin Mass

(Also Called The Most Beautiful Thing This Side of Heaven)

Fifth Sunday after Easter, May 5, 2013

Fifth Sunday after Easter, May 5, 2013

Epistle, James 1: 22-27        Gospel,  John 16: 23:30

“Amen, amen, I say to you: if you ask the Father anything in my name, he will give it to you.” St. Basil says there are two methods of prayer. The first, and highest, is to give praise to God. The second, and lower, is the prayer of petition, where we ask God for what we want. Basil urges us to leave everything behind and begin with the praise and glory of Him Who made all things.

St. Basil’s prayer: O, Lord, patient and forbearing, I praise Thee because Thou hast spared me who offend Thee daily, giving to all of us a season for repentance; and because of this Thou art silent and patient with us, O Lord, that we may offer glory and praise to Thee Who has the care for the salvation of all of us. You help us, sometimes by fear, sometimes by counsel, sometimes through the prophets, and last of all through the coming of Thy Anointed One: “For thou has made us, and not we ourselves.” (Psalm 99: 3)

Christ’s words today sound like a wide open invitation, but they aren’t. St. Augustine cautions us about the meaning of this.  Note that Jesus says “ask anything in my name.” We cannot ask for anything in His name that works against our salvation. I think this is why St. Francis of Assisi prayed God to give him everything he needed for his salvation, and that's a good prayer for all of us to make every morning. Augustine also wrote that we ask God for things that are nothing when compared to what we should ask for. So Christ says, “Hitherto you have not asked anything in my name.” And following this, “Ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full.” And that is what St. Augustine says we should ask for in Christ’s name, that our joy may be full. If our joy is full it means we have overcome the world as Christ has, and we are in heaven or on the way there and we do not have to ask for anything else.

The Curé of Ars talks about those who say they are too busy to pray? It’s foolish to think you’re too busy because it’s so easy to pray constantly. What is our profit from this? When we pray constantly we are thinking more of God and His Kingdom and less of our own burdens in life, and so the cross we have to bear seems lighter. Prayer strengthens us to resist temptation and awakens in us a desire for repentance. Prayer makes us understand how much sin offends our Lord. In short, prayer makes us friends of God.

How can we pray constantly, and how is that so easy to do? All that is necessary is that through the day, when we are busy with all the things we do, from time to time we think of God. We can make an act of charity, praying for the recovery of someone who is ill, or we might be given the opportunity to go a little out of our way to help someone. We can remember during the day that even though we have sinned, God loves us and longs to make us happy. At other times we can think of Christ’s suffering and death on the cross. We can pray the Angelus, or pray to our Guardian Angel. All this is constant daily prayer and it will keep our minds on the thought that in a short time we will no longer be on this earth, and constant prayer will warn us not to remain in sin in case death surprises us and finds us unprepared for our judgment.

No one in life has complete joy because the joys of this life are always mixed with sadness. So when Jesus says, “Ask, that your joy may be full,” He is talking about heaven where our joy will be full and there will be no more tears. To ask for this kind of joy does not mean only begging through our prayers to receive it, but also living a worthy life so we can grab hold of it when we die. It won’t work to seek heaven by praying well, but continuing to lead a wicked life filled with sin. We can pity those who hurry to church on Sunday, and give no thought either to the Word of God or to their own sins. They do not sorrow at their sins, nor do they fear final judgment, but smiling and shaking hands all around, they turn God’s House into a place of endless gossip ignoring the words of King David: “In his temple all shall speak his glory.” (Psalm 28: 9, KJV 29:9) +++

We Celebrate the Traditional Tridentine Latin Mass

Fourth Sunday after Easter, April 28, 2013

Fourth Sunday after Easter, April 28, 2013

Epistle – 1 James 1: 17-21          Gospel - John 16: 5-14

“I have yet many things to say to you: but you cannot bear them now.

But when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will teach you all truth.”

Our wonderful St John Vianney, the Curé of Ars, wrote about this quote from today’s Gospel with regard to two charges made against the Catholic Church. Dissenters, those who teach error, charge the Church with inventing new doctrines. They say because of this she is no longer the Church of Christ. Those without faith charge just the opposite, that the Church holds to the doctrines of Christ and the Apostles without any modernization and therefore is the enemy of progress.

The Church has added no new doctrines, but dissenters have. Jehovah’s Witnesses have thrown out the Trinity, claiming that Jesus is not God the Son, but is a lesser god created by God. Martin Luther added salvation by faith alone and threw out whole books of the Bible. Judaism is still waiting for a military Messiah. Islam teaches that St. Michael the Archangel appeared to Mohammed and contradicted the Son of God. There are many other examples.

The progress of the Church is laid out in the passage I quoted. It tells us that the Holy Ghost will insure that the teachings of Christ will be ever better known and understood, and that the Holy Ghost will cause an every-increasing influence of Christianity on mankind. Let’s first ask why the Apostles could not bear the things Christ had yet to say to them? The Apostles themselves give us the answer. Until the Ascension they still had a worldly disposition. They even asked Jesus just before His Ascension: “Wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1: 6) Their worldly mindset prevented them from fully understanding the divine mysteries. As Jesus said, they could not bear it. Later they understood and dismissed a military kingdom of the Messiah. That was the Holy Ghost working within them making the Faith clearer.   

The Apostles from the beginning of their ministry offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass at which they changed bread and wine into the Body and Blood of our Lord. Even so, the early Catholics still visited the Jewish synagogue. They did not abandon this practice until later, with the widespread growth of the Church and the Faith. All this refers to the words of our Lord, that the Apostles could not bear more because they had no understanding. But with the departure of Christ and the coming of the Advocate, the Holy Ghost, they did understand all the teachings of Christ, and this was an example of the progress of the Catholic Faith.

This progress did not end with the death of the Apostles. It has continued through the centuries. Jesus appointed Peter head of His Church and gave him the power to loose and bind. In other words, after the Ascension,  Peter was the final authority on Earth of what is and what is not our Faith. Going back to Genesis, God promised Jacob in a vision that in his seed all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed and that He will be with him and will not leave him “until I have accomplished all that I have said.” (Genesis 28: 14, 15) Just so, our Lord promised: “Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.” (Matthew 28: 20) It is unthinkable then that this final authority on earth would end when St. Peter died. Heresies began popping up early in the Church, and after Peter’s death is was necessary that that final authority be continued, that it have the authority to determine what is the True Faith and what is not.

“The existence and qualities of God, His relations to the world through creation and redemption, the most holy Trinity, divine grace and its relation to our free will – these are all subjects which are taught in divine revelation,“  but because of our imperfect understanding these doctrines underwent many misstatements by teachers of error. “To protect against this, and to proclaim the truth in opposition to them, and to define it as far as possible in human language, that was the work of the Holy Ghost in the office of instructor of the Church.” (Sermons of the Curé of Ars, 4^th Sun. after Easter) The progress of the Catholic Church consists in this ever-clearer definition of the truth, and is the fulfillment of our Lord’s promise: “But when he, the Spirit of truth, shall come, he will teach you all truth.” (John 16: 13)

There is another sense in our Lord’s words: “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” This refers to the influence of the teaching of Jesus on the conduct and morals of people. And again  we are speaking about the progress of the Church. The parable of the leaven which spread throughout the bread dough is an example of how His teaching works. It was a few years after the Ascension, with the rapid spread of the Faith, that the Apostles realized the full meaning of that parable. Charity was a commandment already known from the Old Testament, but the great fruit that charity yielded through the Holy Ghost they had yet to witness. Jesus had impressed the importance of charity upon the Apostles, and the influence this had on them is shown by their letters. They gave many directions to the faithful about the mutual obligations of married persons, parents and children, masters and servants, rulers and subjects – all these were founded upon charity. Many practiced the voluntary sharing of property. Poverty, chastity and obedience were practiced by the Apostles as shown by the words of St. Peter: “Behold, we have left all things and followed thee.” (Matthew 19: 27) Poverty, chastity and obedience is practiced today in the religious orders and is a visible sign of the progress of the Church. Fasting, too, is founded upon the teaching and example of Jesus, but its practice and restrictions,  ordered to suit countries and the times, and to suit the ability and conditions of the people, that is left to the authority of the Church under the guidance of the Holy Ghost.

A good example of making the Faith clearer is the Catholic doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, which was formally defined by Pope Pius IX in 1854. Mary’s Divine maternity is the primary reason we know that Mary was conceived without original sin. At Luke 1: 28 she is greeted by the Archangel Gabriel who said, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: Blessed art thou among women.” How could Mary be raised to this highest dignity of being “full of grace” if her soul had not first been prepared for it by the greatest share of divine graces given to any creature, that she was about to receive the highest of all dignities, being made the mother of God? (Douay Rheims [Haydock] Bible) Popes and bishops throughout history have on numerous occasions instituted and promoted veneration of “The Immaculate Conception” and this was the regular teaching of the universal Church. There were contrary opinions; that the Church did not honor Mary’s conception, but, rather, honored her sanctification. This was incorrect, and to put an end to controversy, Pope Pius IX issued the Apostolic Constitution, Ineffabilis Deus, which did not invent a new dogma, but only made clear the teaching of the Church through the ages. It was a perfect example of the Holy Ghost at work in the Church and of making the Faith clearer to everyone.  

If there are things in our Faith that you do not understand, or that you cannot bear, as Jesus put it, then trust in His Church; ask questions, study your Faith. Follow St. Paul’s advice in Hebrews 13: “ Be not led away with various and strange doctrines. For it is best that the heart be established with grace . . .” That grace is called Sanctifying Grace and you will find it here, in the Mass and the Sacraments.  +++

We Celebrate the Traditional Tridentine Latin Mass