Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Day 54, Feast of St. Charles Borromeo, November 4


We customarily begin and end our novenas on important feasts of Our Lord, Our Blessed Mother or an important saint. We call to Our Lord, Our Lady under their title honored in the feast, or take the Saint as our patron.  The novena that is ending today on the feast of St. Charles Borromeo, one of the great lights of the Counter-Reformation.  To demonstrate his relevance to our time, we include the following story that is taken from the Saint of the Day feature in the Tradition In Action website.  St. Charles Borromeo teaches something about true humility that is often lost in our present day.
A Cardinal, as you know, is supposed to dress with pomp, grandeur, and solemnity to glorify Our Lord Jesus Christ before men. In addition to being a Prince of the Church, St. Charles Borromeo was a temporal Lord in Milan, born into a great and noble Italian family. In his 20s, he was entrusted with the responsible post of Papal Secretary of State. Therefore, he used to dress and appear in great style.

Once his carriage was on its way to one of his appointments when a simple friar, who was walking on the road, approached it. St. Charles Borromeo ordered the driver to stop the vehicle. The friar greeted him and said:
“Your Eminence, how nice it must be to live the life of a Cardinal, to wear such splendid clothes and travel in a magnificent carriage! Surely it is much more agreeable than to be a simple friar like me, and walk by foot.”
Cardinal Borromeo kindly invited the friar to accompany him. The friar seated himself next to the Cardinal and the journey re-commenced. Shortly the friar began to cry out in pain, because the beautiful cushions of the benches were placed over a board of sharp iron nails of penance that the Cardinal normally used to mortify himself. The pain became more acute with every movement of the vehicle. The friar could not support such mortification, and begged that the carriage stop for him to get out. Relieved, he returned to his "walk by foot."

That is to say, the silks and crystals of the luxurious carriage were meant to be seen by the people to glorify God and the dignity of his post. Underneath the splendid appearance of a Cardinal, the Saint continued to practice penance for his sins and those of his flock.

We can ask St. Charles Borromeo to intercede with Our Lord and Our Lady for several things on his feast day:
for the reform of today’s Bishops who so often are very different from the model he represented,
for the restoration of the seminaries, so immersed in bad morals and false doctrine,
and finally, for the restoration of the entire Holy Catholic Church today as he helped to restore her in his times.
For ourselves personally, we might ask him to give us his vigilance against heresy and his heroic sense of sacrifice.

Sunday, November 1, 2015

Day 51, GLORIOUS MYSTERIES, November 1, Feast of All Saints

Empires break; industrial conditions change; the suburbs will not last for ever. What will remain? I will tell you. The Catholic Saint will remain." ~ GK Chesterton
from the Facebook page GK Chesterton


"WHO talked of such folly?" asked MacIan disdainfully. "Do you suppose that the Catholic Church ever held that Christians were the only good men? Why, the Catholics of the Catholic Middle Ages talked about the virtues of all the virtuous Pagans until humanity was sick of the subject. No, if you really want to know what we mean when we say that Christianity has a special power of virtue, I will tell you. The Church is the only thing on earth that can perpetuate a type of virtue and make it something more than a fashion. The thing is so plain and historical that I hardly think you will ever deny it. You cannot deny that it is perfectly possible that tomorrow morning, in Ireland or in Italy, there might appear a man not only as good but good in exactly the same way as St. Francis of Assisi. 

Very well, now take the other types of human virtue; many of them splendid. The English gentleman of Elizabeth was chivalrous and idealistic. But can you stand still here in this meadow and be an English gentleman of Elizabeth? The austere republican of the eighteenth century, with his stern patriotism and his simple life, was a fine fellow. But have you ever seen him? have you ever seen an austere republican? Only a hundred years have passed and that volcano of revolutionary truth and valour is as cold as the mountains of the moon. And so it is and so it will be with the ethics which are buzzing down Fleet Street at this instant as I speak. 

What phrase would inspire the London clerk or workman just now? Perhaps that he is a son of the British Empire on which the sun never sets; perhaps that he is a prop of his Trades Union, or a class-conscious proletarian something or other; perhaps merely that he is a gentleman when he obviously is not. Those names and notions are all honourable; but how long will they last? Empires break; industrial conditions change; the suburbs will not last for ever. What will remain? I will tell you. The Catholic Saint will remain."

~G.K. Chesterton: from "The Ball and the Cross," Chap. VIII.─An Interlude of Argument.

Artwork: St. Francis in Ecstasy, by Caravaggio. Oil on canvas, c. 1595; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford.

Saturday, October 31, 2015

Day 50, SORROWFUL MYSTERIES, Saturday October 31



Over all was poured the soft light of the paschal moon, hanging low in the western heavens, as if it were the light escaped from Mary’s heart which was making all the scene so deeply sad, so sadly beautiful! Slowly they went, and in silence as soft as the foot of midnight itself. If they had sung psalms, the restless city might have heard. But in truth what psalms were there which they could sing? Not even the inspired harp of David could have shed sweet sounds fit for a dirge for such a funeral. No one spoke in all that company. What should they say? What words could have expressed their thoughts? “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” But there are times when the heart is over full, and then it cannot speak. So was it with that procession. A deeper shadow of sorrow had never fallen upon men, than the gloom which fell on those who now were wending from the top of Calvary to the garden tomb.

There was grief enough to have darkened a whole world in Mary’s singular heart. Human suffering is not infinite, but it is near upon it, and she had come now to its very uttermost extremity. There was only one sacrifice she could make now, and she was in the very act of making it. She was going to put away from herself and out of her own power, to hide in a rocky tomb and let Roman soldiers come and keep watch over it, that Body which though it was dead, was more than life to her. Then, indeed, she would stand upon the highest pinnacle of evangelical poverty, to which God had promised such mighty things. She would only keep for herself that which she could not part with, and would not have parted with if she could, a broken heart utterly submerged in such waters of bitterness as had never flowed round any living creature heretofore. There never would have been joy on this planet again, if her accumulated woe had been divided into little parcels, and distributed to each child of Adam as he comes into the world.


Friday, October 30, 2015

Day 49, JOYFUL MYSTERIES, Friday October 30


First Joyful Mystery, The Annunciation

Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word!

Let us follow the example of Our Lady who in this very act of submission to the holy will of God, united with the Redemptive act of Christ Our Lord, repaired the sin of Eve. 

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Day 48, GLORIOUS MYSTERIES, 29 October 2015


First Glorious Mystery ~ The Resurrection

“In Thy resurrection, O Lord,” sings the Church, “the heavens and the earth rejoice.” Mary’s joy as she clasps Jesus again in her arms is the first-fruits of the universal rejoicing of all creation in the resurrection of God its Redeemer from the dead. “Behold, I create a new heavens and a new earth, saith the Lord, and the former things shall not be in remembrance” (Isa. lxv. 17).

The earth has been sprinkled with the blood of the Just One, which speaketh better things than the blood of Abel. And Mary rejoices to see in spirit the fulfilment of His promise, “If He shall lay down His life for sin, He shall see a long-lived seed, and the will of the Lord shall be prosperous in His hand” (Isa. liii. 10). In the glorified presence of her Divine Son, she has an earnest of the fulfilment of these words, “For as the new heavens and the new earth which I make to stand before Me,” saith the Lord, "so shall your seed stand before Me, and your name” (Isa. lxvi. 22).

Mary’s joy as she clasps Jesus in her arms is a joy that succeeds to an intensity of grief. A moment ago, and she was the Mother of Sorrows, now the first-fruits of the rejoicing of all creation at its restoration to justice are hers. Can she then fail to call to mind the words of consolation addressed in a figure to the holy Job, “Thou shalt forget misery, and remember it only as waters that are passed away, and brightness like that of noonday shall arise to thee in the evening, and when thou shalt think thyself consumed, thou shalt rise as the daystar” (Job xl. 16).  “According to the multitude of the sorrows that were in my heart,” exclaims holy David in a figure of Mary, “Thy comforts have given joy to my soul” (Ps. xciii. 19). If only some such thoughts as these may have passed through the mind of Mary on the morning of the resurrection, can they fail to commend themselves to the heart of the pious Christian who shall stop to contemplate mystery of His Faith— the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead, the victory of creation over death!

“Death is swallowed up in victory,” each one who names the name of Christ may now say. And he who had the power of death, to whom all by reason of their fear of death were subject, that is the devil, is now overcome by One stronger than himself. Can any thought be more full of consolation for one who knows that it is appointed to him once to die? The devil, who before this held men subject to him by the fear of death, has, thanks be to God! had this power of the terror of death taken out of his hands. Jesus, by submitting Himself to death, and by rising from the dead, has shown us that death is no longer to be feared. “Glory be to God!” therefore is the Christian’s cry: “The net is broken, and we are delivered” (Ps. cxxiii. 7).


Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Day 46, JOYFUL MYSTERIES, Tuesday October 27



The beginning  of the holy Gospel according to John.
R. Glory be to Thee, O Lord.
Joann. 1, 1-14. 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was made nothing that was made: in Him was life, and the life was the Light of men; and the Light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to testify concerning the Light, that all might believe through Him. He was not the Light, but he was to testify concerning the Light.
That was the true Light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him to them He gave power to become sons of God, to them that believe in His Name, who are born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Here all kneel. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us: and we saw His glory, the glory as of the Only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Monday, October 26, 2015

Day 45, GLORIOUS MYSTERIES, Monday 26 October




















Gospel of St. John, Chapter 20
19 *Now when it was late that same day, the first of the week, and the doors were shut, where the disciples were gathered together for fear of the Jews: Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them; Peace be to you.

20 And when he had said this, he shewed them his hands, and his side. The disciples, therefore, were glad, when they saw the Lord.

21 He said therefore to them again; Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you.

22 When he had said this, he breathed on them, and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost:


23 *Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them: and whose you shall retain, they are retained.

Saturday, October 24, 2015

Day 43, JOYFUL MYSTERIES, Saturday 24 October, St. Raphael



24th of October: Feast of St. Raphael
From The Liturgical Year, Dom Gueranger

The ministry fulfilled in our regard by the heavenly spirits is admirably set forth in the graceful scenes depicted in the history of Tobias. Rehearsing the good services of the guide and friend, whom he still called his brother Azarias, the younger Tobias said to his father: ‘Father, what wages shall we give him? Or what can be worthy of his benefits? He conducted me and brought me safe again, he received the money of Gabelus, he caused me to have my wife, and he chased from her the evil spirit, he gave joy to her parents, myself he delivered from being devoured by the fish, thee also he hath made to see the light of heaven, and we are filled with all good things through him. (l Tob. 2,3.)

And when father and son endeavoured, after the“ fashion of men, to return thanks to him who had rendered them such good service, the angel discovered himself to them, in order to refer their gratitude to their supreme Benefactor. ‘Bless ye the God of heaven, give glory to Him in the sight of all that live, because He hath shewn His mercy to us. . . When thou didst pray with tears, and didst bury the dead . . . I offered thy prayer to the Lord. And because thou wast acceptable to God, it was necessary that temptation should prove thee. And now the Lord hath sent me to heal thee, and to deliver Sara thy son’s wife from the devil. For I am the angel Raphael, one of the seven, who stand before the Lord. . . Peace be to you, fear not; . . . bless ye Him and sing praises to Him.’ (1 Tob. 6-18.) We too will celebrate the blessings of heaven. For as surely as Tobias beheld with his bodily eyes the Archangel Raphael, we know by faith that the angel of the Lord accompanies us from the cradle to the tomb. Let us have the same trustful confidence in him. Then, along the path of life, more beset with perils than the road to the country of the Medea, we shall be in perfect safety; all that happens to us will be for the best, because prepared by our Lord; and, as though we were already in heaven, our angel will cause us to shed blessings upon all around us.

Prayer to St. Raphael

We will borrow from the Ambrosian breviary a hymn in honour of the bright Archangel.

Make straight for us the way of salvation, and forward our steps: lest at any time we wander astray, and turn from the path to heaven.
  
Look down upon us from on high; reflect into our souls the splendour shining from above, from the Holy Father of lights.
 
Give perfect health to the sick, dispel the darkness of the blind: and while driving away diseases of the body, give spiritual strength to our souls.
 
Thou who standest before the sovereign Judge, plead for the pardon of our crimes: and as a trusty advocate appease the avenging wrath of the Most High.
 
Renewer of the great battle, crush our proud enemy: against the rebel spirits give us strength, and increase our grace.
 
To God the Father be glory, and to his only Son, together with the Paraclete Spirit, now and for evermore. Amen.

Friday, October 23, 2015

Day 42, GLORIOUS MYSTERIES, Friday October 23


Heaven opened by the practice of the three Hail Marys


Our Lady requested the daily recitation of three Hail Marys, revealing the following to St. Melchtilde:
"The first Hail Mary will be in honor of God the Father, Whose omnipotence raised my soul so high above every other creature that, after God, I have the greatest power in Heaven and on earth. In the hour of your death I will use that power of God the Father to keep any hostile power from you.

"The second Hail Mary will be in honor of God the Son, Who communicated His inscrutable wisdom to me . . . In the hour of your death I will fill your soul with the light of that wisdom so that all the darkness of ignorance and error will be dispelled.

"The third Hail Mary will be in honor of God the Holy Ghost, Who filled my soul with the sweetness of His love and tenderness and mercy . . . In your last hour I will then change the bitterness of death into Divine sweetness and delight."

PROMISE:
During an apparition to St. Gertrude, the Blessed Mother promised, "To any soul who faithfully prays the Three Hail Marys I will appear at the hour of death in a splendor of beauty so extraordinary that it will fill the soul with Heavenly consolation."

ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE BLESSED TRINITY  

With all my heart I praise Thee, Most Holy Virgin
above all Angels and Saints in Paradise, Daughter of
the Eternal Father, and I consecrate to Thee
my soul with all its faculties.

THE HAIL MARY

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee!
Blessed art Thou among women and blessed is the fruit of
Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

With all my heart I praise Thee, Most Holy Virgin
above all Angels and Saints in Paradise, beloved Mother
of the Son of God, and I consecrate to Thee my body
with all its senses.

Hail Mary, etc.

With all my heart I praise Thee, Most Holy Virgin
above all Angels and Saints in Paradise, beloved Spouse
of the Holy Ghost, and I consecrate to Thee my heart
with all its affections, and beseech Thee to obtain for me from
the Most Holy Trinity all the graces necessary for salvation.

Hail Mary, etc.

PRACTICE: Recite morning and evening the Consecration and Three Hail Marys in honor of the three great privileges of Mary,
together with this invocation at the end of each Hail Mary:

By thy holy and Immaculate Conception, O Mary,
make my body pure and my soul holy;
preserve me this day [this night] from mortal sin.

Imprimatur: Feb. 7, 1963
Francis Cardinal Spellman, Archbishop of New York

Thursday, October 22, 2015

Day 41, SORROWFUL MYSTERIES, Thursday October 22


Second Sorrowful Mystery, Scourging of Our Lord at the Pillar
St. Alphonsus de Liguori, Passion of Christ

Having arrived at the Praetorium, our loving Jesus, obedient to the executioners, strips himself of his garments, embraces the column, and then lays on it his hands to have them bound. My God, already is begun the cruel torture! O angels of heaven! Come and look on this sorrowful spectacle, and if it be not permitted you to deliver your king from this barbarous slaughter which men have prepared for him, at least come and weep for compassion. And you, Christian souls, imagine yourselves to be present at this horrible tearing of the flesh of your beloved Redeemer; look on him how he stands, your afflicted Jesus with his head bowed, looking on the ground, blushing all over for shame, he awaits this great torture. Behold these barbarians, like so many ravenous dogs, are already with the scourges attacking this innocent Lamb. See how one beats him on the breast, another strikes his shoulders, another smites his loins and his legs; even his sacred head and beautiful countenance cannot escape the blows. Ah me! Already flows that divine blood from every part; already with that blood are saturated the scourges, the hands of the executioners, the column and the ground. "He is wounded," mourns St. Laurence Justinian, "over his whole body, torn with the scourges; now they twine round his shoulders, now round his legs streaks upon streaks, wounds added to fresh wounds."


Ah, cruel men, with whom are you dealing thus? Stop, stop; know that you are making a mistake. This man whom you are torturing is innocent and holy; it is we who are the culprits; to us, to us, who have sinned, are these stripes and torments due. O eternal Father! How can You behold Your beloved Son suffering thus, and not interfere in his behalf? What is the crime that he has ever committed, to deserve so shameful and so severe a punishment? For the wickedness of My people have I struck Him. (Matt. 27:30) I well know, says the eternal Father, that this My Son is innocent; but inasmuch as he has offered himself as a satisfaction to My justice for all the sins of mankind, it is fitting that I should abandon him to the rage of his most cruel enemies. 

Monday, October 19, 2015

Day 38, SORROWFUL MYSTERIES, Monday October 19



Living for Christ, Who Died for Us ~ St. Alphonsus de Liguori, On the Passion of Christ

It was for this end, says St. Paul, that Jesus Christ died, that each of us should no longer live to the world nor to himself, but to Him alone who has given himself wholly to us. And Christ died for all, that they who live may not now live for themselves, but for Him who died for them. (2 Cor. 5:15) He who lives for the world seeks to please the world; he who lives for himself seeks to please himself; but he who lives for Jesus Christ seeks only to please Jesus Christ, and fears only to displease him. His only joy is to see him loved; his only sorrow, to see him despised. This is to live for Jesus Christ; and this is what he claims from each one of us. I repeat, does he claim too much from us, after having given us his blood and his life?


Why, then, O my God! do we employ our affections in loving creatures, relatives, friends, the great ones of the world, who have never suffered for us scourges, thorns, or nails, nor shed one drop of blood for us; and not in loving a God, who for love of us came down from heaven and was made man, and has shed all his blood for us in the midst of torments, and finally died of grief upon a cross, in order to win to himself our hearts! Moreover, in order to unite himself more closely to us, he has left himself, after his death, upon our altars, where he makes himself one with us, that we might understand how burning is the love with which he loves us? "He has mingled himself with us," exclaims St. John Chrysostom, "that we may be one and the same thing; for this is the desire of those who ardently love." And St. Francis de Sales, speaking of Holy Communion, adds: "There is no action in which we can think of our Savior as more tender or more loving than this, in which he, as it were, annihilates himself, and reduces himself to food, in order to unite himself to the hearts of his faithful." 

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Day 36, GLORIOUS MYSTERIES, Saturday October 17



In all thy works remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin. (Ecclesiastus 7:40)

Sister Lucia of Fatima Describes the Vision of Hell

Our Lady said it was necessary for such people to pray the Rosary in order to obtain these graces during the year. And she continued: ‘Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially whenever you make some sacrifice: O my Jesus, it is for love of Thee, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.’ “

As Our Lady spoke these last words, she opened her hands once more, as she had done during the two previous months. The rays of light seemed to penetrate the earth, and we saw as it were a sea of fire. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke now falling back on every side like sparks in huge fires, without weight or equilibrium, amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. (It must have been this sight which caused me to cry out, as people say they heard me). The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, black and transparent like burning coals.

“Terrified and as if to plead for succor, we looked up at Our Lady, who said to us, so kindly and so sadly: ‘You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace.

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Day 34, JOYFUL MYSTERIES, Thursday October 15


Fourth Joyful Mysteries ~ Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple
 Luke, Chapter Two

[22] And after the days of her purification, according to the law of Moses, were accomplished, they carried him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord: [23] As it is written in the law of the Lord: Every male opening the womb shall be called holy to the Lord: [24] And to offer a sacrifice, according as it is written in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons: [25] And behold there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Ghost was in him.

[26] And he had received an answer from the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. [27] And he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when his parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law, [28] He also took him into his arms, and blessed God, and said: [29] Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word in peace; [30] Because my eyes have seen thy salvation,

[31] Which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples: [32] A light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. [33] And his father and mother were wondering at those things which were spoken concerning him. [34] And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary his mother: Behold this child is set for the fall, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted; [35] And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Day 32, SORROWFUL MYSTERIES, October 13

October 13, 2015: Ninety-Eighth Anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun

Quite possibly the greatest visible miracle since Pentecost Sunday, this Miracle is a challenge to us all. God has deemed such a public miracle necessary, it is necessary for us to investigate and consider its message. As the title of the lecture proclaims, the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima is an indisputable historical fact. It is therefore, incumbent upon us to listen and take it seriously.  The world must turn from selfishness, sin and turn back to God. Our Lady lovingly implores us to stop offending God. As Scripture has prophesied, because iniquity has abounded, the charity of many has grown cold.  Yet, God, through His Holy Mother, and in His mercy, has thrown fallen man a lifeline - and we ignore it at our own eternal peril.  He that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved. But we must repent ... and persevere. (Matt. 24:12,13)

In commemoration of this great Miracle of the Sun and pleading for the Divine Mercy, we present the following video to consider.  This Miracle had an estimated 70,000 witnesses, and is very well documented - including the witness of unbelievers. The secular newspaper of the day, run by Freemasons, who were (and are) the avowed enemy of the Catholic Church reported the miracle. Any objective consideration of the facts can lead to only ONE conclusion: The Holy Mother of God has spoken to the World. We must listen. The talk, a written account by a prominent scientist witness and an article on the significance of the Fatima message follow:




The Miracle of the Sun

An Eyewitness Account by Dr. José Maria de Almeida Garrett, professor at the Faculty of Sciences of Coimbra, Portugal  from the website of the Fatima Center which is an excellent source of information on the message of Fatima and current news concerning Fatima.


"It must have been 1:30 p.m when there arose, at the exact spot where the children were, a column of smoke, thin, fine and bluish, which extended up to perhaps two meters above their heads, and evaporated at that height. This phenomenon, perfectly visible to the naked eye, lasted for a few seconds. Not having noted how long it had lasted, I cannot say whether it was more or less than a minute. The smoke dissipated abruptly, and after some time, it came back to occur a second time, then a third time

"The sky, which had been overcast all day, suddenly cleared; the rain stopped and it looked as if the sun were about to fill with light the countryside that the wintery morning had made so gloomy. I was looking at the spot of the apparitions in a serene, if cold, expectation of something happening and with diminishing curiosity because a long time had passed without anything to excite my attention. The sun, a few moments before, had broken through the thick layer of clouds which hid it and now shone clearly and intensely.


"Suddenly I heard the uproar of thousands of voices, and I saw the whole multitude spread out in that vast space at my feet...turn their backs to that spot where, until then, all their expectations had been focused, and look at the sun on the other side. I turned around, too, toward the point commanding their gaze and I could see the sun, like a very clear disc, with its sharp edge, which gleamed without hurting the sight. It could not be confused with the sun seen through a fog (there was no fog at that moment), for it was neither veiled nor dim. At Fatima, it kept its light and heat, and stood out clearly in the sky, with a sharp edge, like a large gaming table. The most astonishing thing was to be able to stare at the solar disc for a long time, brilliant with light and heat, without hurting the eyes or damaging the retina. [During this time], the sun's disc did not remain immobile, it had a giddy motion, [but] not like the twinkling of a star in all its brilliance for it spun round upon itself in a mad whirl.

"During the solar phenomenon, which I have just described, there were also changes of color in the atmosphere. Looking at the sun, I noticed that everything was becoming darkened. I looked first at the nearest objects and then extended my glance further afield as far as the horizon. I saw everything had assumed an amethyst color. Objects around me, the sky and the atmosphere, were of the same color. Everything both near and far had changed, taking on the color of old yellow damask. People looked as if they were suffering from jaundice and I recall a sensation of amusement at seeing them look so ugly and unattractive. My own hand was the same color.

"Then, suddenly, one heard a clamor, a cry of anguish breaking from all the people. The sun, whirling wildly, seemed all at once to loosen itself from the firmament and, blood red, advance threateningly upon the earth as if to crush us with its huge and fiery weight. The sensation during those moments was truly terrible.

"All the phenomena which I have described were observed by me in a calm and serene state of mind without any emotional disturbance. It is for others to interpret and explain them. Finally, I must declare that never, before or after October 13 [1917], have I observed similar atmospheric or solar phenomena."

Professor Almeida Garrett's full account may be found in Novos Documentos de Fatima (Loyala editions, San Paulo, 1984)



The Message in General
From the Fatima Center

The general Message of Fatima is not complicated. Its requests are for prayer, reparation, repentance, and sacrifice, and the abandonment of sin. Before Our Lady appeared to the three shepherd children, Lucy, Francisco and Jacinta, the Angel of Peace visited them. The Angel prepared the children to receive the Blessed Virgin Mary, and his instructions are an important aspect of the Message that is often overlooked.

The Angel demonstrated to the children the fervent, attentive, and composed manner in which we should all pray, and the reverence we should show toward God in prayer. He also explained to them the great importance of praying and making sacrifices in reparation for the offenses committed against God. He told them: "Make of everything you can a sacrifice and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and in supplication, for the conversion of sinners." In his third and final apparition to the children, the Angel gave them Holy Communion, and demonstrated the proper way to receive Our Lord in the Eucharist: all three children knelt to receive Communion; and Lucy was given the Sacred Host on the tongue and the Angel shared the Blood of the Chalice between Francisco and Jacinta.

Our Lady stressed the importance of praying the Rosary in each of Her apparitions, asking the children to pray the Rosary every day for peace. Another principal part of the Message of Fatima is devotion to Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart, which is terribly outraged and offended by the sins of humanity, and we are lovingly urged to console Her by making reparation. She showed Her Heart, surrounded by piercing thorns (which represented the sins against Her Immaculate Heart), to the children, who understood that their sacrifices could help to console Her.

The children also saw that God is terribly offended by the sins of humanity, and that He desires each of us and all mankind to abandon sin and make reparation for their crimes through prayer and sacrifice. Our Lady sadly pleaded: "Do not offend the Lord our God any more, for He is already too much offended!"

The children were also told to pray and sacrifice themselves for sinners, in order to save them from hell. The children were briefly shown a vision of hell, after which Our Lady told them: "You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace."

She said that if people did not stop offending God, He would punish the world severely by means of war, famine, persecution of the Church, and persecution of the Holy Father. To prevent these chastisements, Our Lady offered a remedy: She would return to ask for the Consecration of Russia to Her Immaculate Heart and the Communion of Reparation on the Five First Saturdays. If Her requests were heeded, there would be peace. If not, Russia’s errors would spread throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions against the Church, the Holy Father to suffer much, martyrdom of the good and the annihilation of various nations.

Our Lady indicated to us the specific root of all the troubles in the world, the one that causes world wars and such terrible suffering: sin. She then gave a solution, first to individual people, then to the Church’s leaders. God asks each one of us to stop offending Him. We must pray, especially the Rosary. By this frequent prayer of the Rosary, we will get the graces we need to overcome sin. God wants us to have devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and to work to spread this devotion throughout the world. Our Lady said, "My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God." If we wish to go to God, we have a sure way to Him through true devotion to the Immaculate Heart of His Mother.

When Sister Lucy questioned Our Lord as to why He would not convert Russia without the solemn public consecration of that nation specifically, Jesus answered:

Because I want My whole Church to acknowledge that consecration as a triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, so that it may extend its homage later on, and put the devotion to This Immaculate Heart beside the devotion to My Sacred Heart.
Thus, we see that the conversion of Russia cannot take place unless and until the Pope and bishops consecrate specifically Russia, because God has reserved this grace – this special grace – to this special act of honor and reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Jesus does this because He wants to establish throughout the world, in the hearts and minds of the faithful, the importance of devotion to His Mother’s Immaculate Heart.

Devotion to the Immaculate Heart is central to the Fatima Message. God determined that the Consecration of Russia and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays be the means of implementing this devotion throughout the world, and gave this task to His Pope and bishops and to individual souls to practice and promote this devotion.

In order to move ever closer to Her, and therefore to Her Son, Our Lady stressed
the importance of praying at least five decades of the Rosary daily. She asked us to wear the Brown Scapular. And we must make sacrifices, especially the sacrifice of doing our daily duty, in reparation for the sins committed against Our Lord and Our Lady. She also stressed the necessity of prayers and sacrifices to save poor sinners from hell. The Message of Fatima, to individual souls, is summarized in these things.

Besides these general points, given in the Fatima Message over 6 months, Our Lady confided a Secret to the three shepherd children on July 13, 1917. This Secret was meant for all Catholics, but was to be given to them later (at the latest, in 1960) since no one was prepared to understand it all in 1917.

In her Third and Fourth Memoirs, which were both written in 1941, Sister Lucy revealed to a wider audience the first two parts of the Secret. The third part of the Secret – or, as it is called, the Third Secret – was written down for the first time between January 2 and January 9, 1944.

Sunday, October 11, 2015

Day 30, GLORIOUS MYSTERIES, Sunday, October 11, Feast of the Divine Maternity of the BVM


Feast of the Divine Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
To commemorate in the liturgy of the fifteenth centenary of the Council of Ephesus (held in 431), which vindicated the title of Theotokos or "Mother of God" for the Blessed Virgin Mary, Pope Pius XI instructed this feast to be observed by the whole Church in the year 1931.  I include a segment of his Encyclical, Lux Veritatis commemorating this great Council. It is a longer entry than usual, but contains many truths that are sadly ignored today, and is more than worthwhile considering.

39. Now from this head of Catholic doctrine upon which We have touched hitherto, there follows of necessity the dogma of the divine maternity which We preach as belonging to the Blessed Virign Mary. "Not that the nature of the Word or His Godhead"-as Cyril admonishes us-"took the source of its origin from the holy Virgin; but because He derived from her that sacred body, perfected by an intellectual soul, whereto the Word of God was hypostatically united, and therefore is said to be born according to the flesh." (Mansi, I.c. IV. 891.)

And, indeed, if the Son of the Blessed Virgin Mary is God, assuredly she who bore him is rightly and deservedly to be called the Mother of God. If there is only one person in Christ, and this is Divine, without any doubt Mary ought to be called, by all, not the mother of Christ the man only, but Theotokos, or God-bearer. Let us all, therefore, venerate the tender Mother of God, whom her cousin Elizabeth saluted as "the Mother of my Lord" (Luke i. 43), who, in the words of Ignatius Martyr, brought forth God (Ad Ephes. vii. 18-20); and from whom, as Tertullian professes, God was born; whom the Eternal Godhead has gifted with the fullness of grace and endowed with such great dignity.

40. Nor can anyone reject this truth, handed down from the first age of the Church, on the pretext that the Blessed Virgin Mary did, indeed, supply the body of Jesus Christ, but did not produce the Word of the Heavenly Father; since, as Cyril already rightly and lucidly answered in his time (cf. Mansi, I.c. IV. 599), even as those in whose womb our earthly nature, not our soul is procreated, are rightly and truly called our mothers; so did she, from the unity of her Son's person, attain to divine maternity.

41. Wherefore, the impious opinion of Nestorius, which the Roman Pontiff, led by the Holy Spirit, had condemned in the preceding year, was deservedly and solemnly condemned again by the Synod of Ephesus. And the populace of Ephesus were drawn to the Virgin Mother of God with such great piety, and burning with such ardent love, that when they understood the judgment passed by the Fathers of the Council, they hailed them with overflowing gladness of heart, and gathering round them in a body, bearing lighted torches in their hands, accompanied them home. And assuredly, the same great Mother of God looked down from heaven on this spectacle, and smiling sweetly on these her children of Ephesus, and on all the faithful Christians throughout the Catholic world, who had been disturbed by the snares of the Nestorian heresy, embraced them with her most present aid and her motherly affection.

42. From this dogma of the divine maternity, as from the outpouring of a hidden spring, flow forth the singular grace of Mary and her dignity, which is the highest after God. Nay more, as Aquinas says admirably: "The Blessed Virgin, from this that she is the Mother of God, has a certain infinite dignity, from the infinite good which is God." (Summ. Theo., III. a.6.) Cornelius a Lapide unfolds this and explains it more fully, in these words: "The Blessed Virgin is the Mother of God; therefore she is far more excellent than all the Angels, even the Seraphim and Cherubim. She is the Mother of God; therefore she is most pure and most holy, so that under God no greater purity can be imagined. She is the Mother of God; therefore whatever privilege (in the order of sanctifying grace) has been granted to any one of the Saints, she obtains it more than all" (In Matt. i. 6).

43. Why, therefore, do the Reformers (Novatores) and not a few non-Catholics bitterly condemn our piety towards the Virgin Mother of God, as though we were withdrawing the worship due to God alone? Do they not know, or do they not attentively consider that nothing can be more pleasing to Jesus Christ, who certainly has an ardent love for his own Mother, than that we should venerate her as she deserves, that we should return her love, and that imitating her most holy example we should seek to gain her powerful patronage?

44. Here, however, We would not omit to mention a matter which has given Us no little consolation, namely that in the present time, even among the Reformers, some understand the dignity of the Virgin Mother of God better, and are led and moved to reverence her duly, and hold her in honour. This, when it comes from the inward and sincere conscience, and is not as sometimes happens effected to conciliate the minds of Catholics, bids Us hope that by the prayers and efforts of all the good, and by the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, who cherishes a mother's love for her erring children, they may at length be brought back to the one true flock of Jesus Christ, and therefore to Us who, though unworthily, hold His place and His authority on earth.

45. But there is another matter, Venerable Brethren, which We think We should recall in regard to Mary's office of Maternity, something which is sweeter and more pleasing; namely that she, because she brought forth the Redeemer of mankind, is also in a manner the most tender mother of us all, whom Christ our Lord deigned to have as His brothers (Romans viii. 29). As Our predecessor of happy memory, Leo XIII, says: "Such a one God has given as one to whom by the very fact that He chose her as the Mother of His only begotten Son, He clearly gave the feelings of a mother, breathing nothing but love and pardon-such did Jesus Christ show her to be, by His own action, when He spontaneously chose to be under her, and submit to her as a son to a mother; such did He declare her to be, when, from the Cross, He committed all mankind, in the person of His disciple John, to her care and protection; and as such, lastly, she gave herself, when embracing with a great heart, this heritage of immense labour from her dying Son, she began at once to fulfil all a mother's duties to us all." (Encyclical Letter Octobri mense adveniente. September 21, 1892.) From this it comes that we are all drawn to her by a powerful attraction, that we may confidently entrust to her all things that are ours-namely our joys, if we are gladdened; our troubles, if we are in anguish; our hopes, if we are striving to reach at length to better things. From this it comes that if more difficult times fall upon the Church; if faith fail, if charity have grown cold, if private and public morals take a turn for the worse; if any danger be hanging over the Catholic name and civil society, we all take refuge with her, imploring heavenly aid. From this it comes lastly that in the supreme crisis of death, when no other hope is given, no other help, we lift up to her our tearful eyes and our trembling hands, praying through her for pardon from her Son, and for eternal happiness in heaven.

46. Let all, therefore, with more ardent zeal in the present necessities with which we are afflicted, go to her and beseech her with instant supplication "that, through her prayers to her Son, the erring nations may return to the Christian institutions and precepts, which are the firm support of public safety, and from which arises an abundance of much desired peace and of true happiness. Let them implore of her the more earnestly, what ought to be desired above all things by all the good, namely that the Church our mother may gain and tranquilly enjoy her liberty; which she always uses for the best advantage of men, and from which individuals and states have never suffered any losses, but have at all times experienced very many and very great benefits." (From the aforesaid Encyclical Letter.)

47. But one thing in particular, and that indeed one of great importance, We specially desire that all should implore, under the auspices of the heavenly Queen. That is to say, that she who is loved and worshipped with such ardent piety by the separated peoples of the East would not suffer them to wander and be unhappily ever led away from the unity of the Church, and therefore from her Son, whose Vicar on earth We are. May they return to the common Father, whose judgment all the Fathers of the Synod of Ephesus most dutifully received, and whom they all saluted, with concordant acclamations, as "the guardian of the faith"; may they all turn to Us, who have indeed a fatherly affection for them all, and who gladly make Our own those most loving words which Cyril used, when he earnestly exhorted Nestorius that "the peace of the Churches may be preserved, and that the bond of love and of concord among the priests of God may remain indissoluble." (Mansi, I.c. IV. 891.)

Saturday, October 10, 2015

Day 29, SORROWFUL MYSTERIES, 10 October, Saturday


At the Foot of the Cross
From The Passion of Jesus Christ, by St. Alphonsus de Liguori

The sorrowful Mother stood at the foot of the cross with some pious women: There stood by the cross of Jesus His mother. O God! Who would not pity a mother standing beside the cross on which a son dies before her eyes? Consider Mary, standing beneath the cross, contemplating the pains in the midst of which her well-beloved Son was expiring: She desired to give him some alleviation, and she saw, on the other hand, that her presence increased the grief of this same Son, who was full of compassion for his tender Mother. This was a terrible affliction for Mary, a torture that made her the Queen of Martyrs.

Seeing himself, then, abandoned by everyone, all men trying to make his death more painful, Jesus raised his eyes to his eternal Father to obtain some consolation. But seeing him laden with all our sins, for which he wished to satisfy the divine justice, his Father also abandoned him. Then it was that our Savior, crying out with a loud voice, said: My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?

But our Savior, so full of love, is on the point of expiring. Christians, look at the cross. Behold those dying eyes, that face so pale, the sacred body which is abandoned to death. Before expiring, Jesus uttered these words: It is finished. It is as if he had said: O men, love me; I have done all that I can do in order to save your souls and gain your love. See the painful life that I have led during thirty-three years for love of you. I wished then on your account to be scourged, to be crowned with thorns, to be struck, to be covered with wounds from head to foot. What more was needed? Should I die for love of you? Well, then! I wish to die. Come, O death! I permit you to come; take away my life, in order that my sheep may live. And Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit. My Father, he then said, I die for Your glory and for the salvation of men; I commend my soul into Your hands. Behold, then, Jesus dies. O angels of heaven, come, come to be present at the death of your God. And you, O sorrowful Mother! Approach nearer to the cross; look at him more steadfastly, for he is about to expire.

And you Christians, behold him in his agony; see him amid the last respirations of life. Behold his dying eyes, that face so pale, that feebly palpitating heart, that body already wrapped in the arms of death, and that beautiful soul now on the point of leaving that wounded body.

The sky shrouds itself in darkness; the earth quakes; the graves open. Alas, what portentous signs are these! They are signs that the Maker of the world is now dying.

Behold, in the last place, how our Lord, after having commended his blessed soul to his eternal Father, first breathing forth from his afflicted heart a deep sigh, and then bowing down his head in token of his obedience, and offering up his death for the salvation of men, at last through the violence of the pain expires, and delivers up his spirit into the hands of his beloved Father: And crying out with a loud voice, He said 'Father into Your hands I commend My spirit'; and saying this He gave up his spirit.

All those that were present looking at him with attention see him expire, and observing that he is motionless, they exclaim, 'He is dead he is dead!' Mary hears this from all the bystanders, and she also says, 'Ah, my Son, You are dead!' He is dead! Ah, who is dead? It is the King of heaven; the Creator of the world, a God, who wished to die for us poor sinners.

Act of Contrition while showing the Crucifix
Come sinners; here is Jesus Christ who has stretched forth his arms to embrace you. Can you fear that he will not pardon you, when he gave himself up to death in order to pardon you?

Do you perhaps fear that you will not obtain pardon because you find yourselves unable to perform the penance that your sins deserve? Console yourselves; for you here see the penance that Jesus Christ has himself performed for you on the cross; it is sufficient if you sincerely repent of having offended him.

Look at him; see where you can find any one that has loved you more than Jesus Christ has loved you. Love him then, since he died in order to be loved by you. Say to him: Ah, my sweet Savior! Whom should I love if I do not love a God who has died for me?

O sorrowful Mother! Through the sorrow that you did experience in seeing your divine Son expire, obtain for me holy perseverance and a true love of my divine Redeemer.

Prayer

My Jesus, by the pain You did endure when
Your left hand was pierced with the nail,
give me a true sorrow for my sins.
My Jesus, by the pain You did endure when
Your right hand was pierced with the nail,
give me perseverance in Your grace.
My Jesus, by the pain You did endure when
Your left foot was pierced with the nail,
deliver me from the pains of hell.
My Jesus, by the pain You did endure when
Your right foot was pierced with the nail,
give me the grace to love You eternally in heaven.
My Jesus, by the wound that was made in
Your Sacred Heart, give me the grace to love You always
in this life and in the next.
Have mercy on us, Jesus, our Love.
Pray for us, Mary, our Hope.

Thursday, October 8, 2015

Day 27, GLORIOUS MYSTERIES, Thursday October 8


NOTE: this is the last day of the prayer of PETITION. Tomorrow begins the prayer of THANKSGIVING.
The 54-Day Novena, as revealed by Our Lady herself, is a series of six, nine-day novenas: three novenas of PETITION and three novenas of THANKSGIVING. Thanksgiving is an essential element of our prayer, and Our Lady seeks to give us this lesson. While it is true that the Consecration of Russia seems very far away, we have complete confidence that Our Lady will hasten the Consecration (and thus, peace in the world and the triumph of her Immaculate Heart) by the prayers of her children faithfully praying the Rosary. Therefore, tomorrow we pray, JOYFULLY in thanksgiving to Our Lady, for she hears our prayer!