October 15th 2014 - Feast of Saint Teresa of Ávila

here are two weeks apart every year in the Church

Liturgical Calendar that separate two marvelous, inspiring, and most lovable saints, who truly love us and want us to love them: Saint Thérèse of Lisieux and St. Theresa of Avila.

Saint Therese Lisieux we celebrate October 1^st; Saint Teresa of Avila we celebrate October 15^th.  What do they have in common? Both are women, both are in the class of the few women Doctors of  the Church, both were great contemplatives, both were Carmelite nuns, but most important both were and are and will be for all eternity great lovers of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

In this short essay we would like to pay tribute to Saint Teresa of Avila and highlight ten of her great contributions to the Catholic Church and to us as a model of holiness, that we are all called to attain.  Remember the words of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the context of the Sermon of the Mount: “Be holy as your heavenly Father is holy.”(Mt. 5:48)   Being holy, arriving at sanctity of life, is not conditional, wishful thinking nor something that only a select group is called to, but all. Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta challenges us with these stirring words: “Holiness is not the privilege of the few, but the duty of all.” Now let us lift our gaze to Saint Teresa of Avila who will point us to Jesus, our Lord, God, Savior and Faithful Friend.

1.    Prayer. One of the key hallmarks of the spiritual heights of Saint Teresa of Avila is the importance of prayer. Even though she struggled for many years she teaches us this basic but indispensable spiritual truth—Perseverance in prayer! Meditate upon her immortal words of wisdom and memorize: “We must have a determined determination to never give up prayer.” Jesus taught us this supremely important truth in the Parable of the insistent would and the Judge.  This widow, due to her dogged and tenacious insistence finally gained the assistance of this cold-hearted Judge. (Lk. 18:1-8). St. Teresa insists that we must never give up in prayer. If you like an analogy: what air is to the lungs so is prayer to the soul. Healthy lungs need constant and pure air; healthy soul must be constantly breathing through prayer—the oxygen of the soul!

2.    Definition of Prayer.  Saint Thomas Aquinas gives us simple but very solid advice: define your topic before you start to talk about it. By doing this you can avoid much confusion. Saint Teresa of Avila gives us one of the classical definitions of prayer in the history of Catholicism.  “Prayer is nothing more than spending a long time alone with the one I know loves me.” A short summary? Two friends loving each other! Jesus Himself called the Apostles friends—so are you called to be a friend with Jesus!

3.    Love for Jesus. Saint Teresa gives us a hint to prayer growth! This woman Doctor of the Church said that she found many graces by meditating upon the Humanity of Jesus. By spending time with Jesus, the Son of God made man and entering into colloquy with Him is a sure path to growth in prayer. Try it! Saint Ignatius of Loyola, in the Spiritual Exercises insists upon us in begging for this grace:“Intimate knowledge of Jesus  that we love Him more ardently and follow Him more closely.”

4.    Love for Jesus in His Sufferings. It seems to be a common denominator in many saints—the call to contemplate the love of Jesus through His sorrowful passion—Padre Pio, Saint Catherine of Siena, Saint Faustina and Teresa of Avila.  For Teresa, she had a mystical experience of “Ecce Homo”; she saw Jesus with His crowned Head and this moved her to a greater love for Jesus.

5.    Holy Spirit: The Divine Teacher in Prayer.  On one occasion the saint was really struggling with prayer and she talked to a Jesuit priest for advice on overcoming her struggle. His advice was simple and to the point, but changed her life! The priest insisted on praying to the Holy Spirit. From that point on, following this great advice to rely on the Holy Spirit, Teresa’s prayer life improved markedly!  Saint Paul to the Romans reiterates the same point: “In the same way, the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings.”(Romans 8:26) Let us be led by the best of all teachers, the Interior Master of prayer, the Holy Spirit.

6.    Spiritual Direction.   To attain constant growth in the spiritual life, we must have some form of spiritual direction. Spiritual blindness, we all experience.  The devil can disguise or camouflage as an angel of light. And the higher we climb in the spiritual life the more subtle are the tactics and seductions of the devil—“who is searching for us a roaring lion ready to devour us.”(I Peter 5: 8-9) During the course of her life, Saint Teresa of Avila had recourse to several spiritual directors and some of these are now canonized saints: Saint John of the Cross (Carmelite), Saint Francis Borgia (Jesuit), Saint Peter of Alcantara (Franciscan), and finally, Jerome Gracian—a well-known Dominican scholar and theologian. True, all of us cannot have three canonized saints and a brilliant Dominican theologian to guide us, but we can and must all find some form of periodic spiritual direction.  Saint John of the Cross put it bluntly: “He who as himself as guide has an idiot as a disciple.”  Bingo!

7.    Conversion and Reform.  A major highlight in the life of Saint Teresa of Avila was the whole concept of conversion or reform. With Saint John of the Cross, she was the primary instrument that God chose to reform the Carmelite Order. However, Teresa was keenly aware of this truth: to convert others we must start with ourselves—this she worked on during the whole course of her life on earth! Jesus’ first words in preaching were: “Be converted because the Kingdom of God is ate hand.”(Mk.1:15) May we constantly strive for a deeper conversion of heart through the intercession of Saint Teresa of Avila.

8.    Spiritual Masterpieces—Her Writings.  Without doubt, one of the major contributions to the Church as well as to the world at large are the writings or spiritual masterpieces of Saint Teresa of Avila. One of her basic themes is that of the importance of prayer, and striving to grow deeper and deeper in prayer until one arrives at the Mystical Union of the spouse with Jesus the Heavenly Spouse. Anybody who takes his or her prayer life seriously should know of Teresa’s writings and spend some time in reading some of her anointed writings. What are her classics? Here they are: “Her life”, “The Way of Perfection”, “The Interior Castle”, “Foundations”. In addition to these texts/books, she also wrote many inspiring letters.  Want to become a saint? Read and drink from the from writings of the saints, especially the Doctors of the Church!

9    The Cross as the Bridge to Heaven.  Jesus said:  “Anyone who wants to be my follower must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” Another common denominator in the lives of the saints is the reality of the cross. Saint Louis de Montfort would bless his friends as such: “May God bless you and give you many small crosses!” Saint Teresa lived with a constant friend—the cross of Jesus. Her health was always very fragile; she almost died while very young. Furthermore, for Saint Teresa of Avila to carry out the Reform of the Carmelite, she suffered constant attacks and persecutions from many nuns in the convent who preferred a more comfortable lifestyle, from priests (Carmelites) and from other ecclesiastics. Instead of becoming discouraged and losing heart, she joyfully trusted in the Lord all the more—anyway, it was His doing!

10.  Our Lady and St. Joseph.  During the whole course of her Religious Life, Saint Teresa of Avila loved the Blessed Virgin Mary—as is common in the lives of the saints, and hopefully your life! The title of her specific Marian devotion was Our Lady of Mount Carmel.  Never forget, in your love for Our Lady, to wear the Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. This is your external sign of consecration to Mary. Furthermore, Saint Teresa of Avila cultivated a tender and filial love to Saint Joseph. She attributed her recovery from a sickness that almost ended her life to the powerful intercession of Saint Joseph.  Also, every new convent that she established she gave the name of San Jose—Saint Joseph!

In conclusion, may the great woman Doctor of the Church—the Doctor of prayer—Saint Teresa of Avila, be a constant inspiration to you in your own spiritual pilgrimage to heaven. May she encourage you to pray more and with greater depth, arrive at a deeper conversion of heart, and finally love Jesus s the very center and well-spring or your life!

author FR. ED BROOM, OMV 

http://catholicexchange.com/

"Ten lessons of Saint Teresa of Avila"

E-books for Downloading 

                                    

Feast of Saint Therese of Lisieux - October 03, 2014

By Father Angelo Casimiro, MIC 

"Yes, you will be a saint just as I am, but you 

must trust in the Lord Jesus" 

(Diary of St. Faustina, 150). 

These are the prophetic words of St. Therese of Lisieux to St. Faustina in a dream the Apostle of Divine Mercy had of the Little Flower. 

In her Diary, St. Faustina related how, as a novice, she was going through some difficulties that she did not know how to overcome. She started a novena to St. Therese of the Child Jesus since she had a great devotion to her. On the fifth day of the novena, St. Faustina dreamed of St. Therese. The Little Flower told her not to be worried about the matter but that she should trust more in God. At first, St. Therese hid the fact that she was a saint. She said that she suffered greatly, too, but St. Faustina did not quite believe her. The Little Flower assured her that she had suffered very much, indeed, and told St. Faustina that in three days the difficulty she was having would come to a happy conclusion. At that moment, St. Therese revealed to her that she was a saint. Saint Faustina then asked her if she was going to go to heaven and become a saint — one raised to the altar like her. The Little Flower assured St. Faustina that she would become a saint like her but that she must trustin the Lord Jesus.

In studying the lives of St. Therese of Lisieux, whose feast day is Oct. 1, and St. Faustina Kowalska, whose feast day is Oct. 5, I began to notice various similarities between them. Both came from very devout Catholic families. At an early age, each one sensed God's call to the religious life, wishing to consecrate herself to the Lord Jesus Christ. They both had a tender devotion to the Blessed Mother. When St. Therese was a child, it was the Blessed Virgin Mary's smile that cured her of a mysterious illness. Saint Faustina was often visited by Mary, as well as Jesus. The Little Flower and the Apostle of Divine Mercy were also devoted to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Saint Therese loved the Blessed Sacrament so much that she was disappointed in not being able to receive Holy Communion every day. Saint Faustina's love for the Blessed Sacrament (and also for Mary) is evidenced in her full religious name: Sr. Maria Faustina of the Blessed Sacrament.

Saint Therese taught the sisters in her convent about doing small things with great love. Saint Faustina echoed this. "Only one thing is needed to please God: to do even the smallest things out of great love," St. Faustina wrote (Diary, 140). Likewise, both saints died from tuberculosis at a young age: St. Therese at 24 and St. Faustina at 33. Nevertheless, what united St. Therese and St. Faustina the most was their childlike trust in God. Both of them walked along the path of spiritual childhood; it is the foundation of St. Therese's Little Way and it is how Jesus taught St. Faustina to live out Divine Mercy. What is this spiritual childhood that the Little Flower and the Apostle of Divine Mercy spoke of? Why is it important in the universal call to holiness? How can we practice it in our daily lives?

Saint Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897), also known as St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, has become one of the most popular saints in the history of the Catholic Church. At a very young age, her mother died. She and her four older sisters all entered the religious life. Saint Therese entered the Carmelite Order in Lisieux, France, at the tender age of 15 and discovered her spirituality known as the Little Way. Under obedience to her superiors, she wrote down her life story in manuscript form, which later became her autobiography, Story of a Soul. After St. Therese's death, her autobiography was sent to various Carmelite convents and soon spread throughout the world. Saint Therese's Little Way is a spiritual path that promises to lead to heroic holiness, but not by the traditional "rough stairway of perfection." Instead it is done by a new invention, which is the "elevator of humble confidence." Thus, St. Therese gives little souls the sure hope of not only becoming saints, but great saints. Before she died, the Little Flower prophetically said, "My mission — to make God loved — will begin after my death. I will spend my heaven doing good on earth. I will let fall a shower of roses." Consequently, a shower of roses has been falling ever since. Saint Therese, the Little Flower, was shortly beatified in 1923, canonized in 1925, and became the 33rd Doctor of the Church in 1997, 100 years after her death.

In recent years, St. Faustina Kowalska (1905-1938) has become as popular a saint as St. Therese of Lisieux, due to the spreading of the Divine Mercy message and devotion. Her baptismal name was Helena. She entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Poland where she took the religious name Sr. Maria Faustina of the Blessed Sacrament. Saint Faustina worked as a cook, gardener, and porter. On the outside, she was quite ordinary, just as St. Therese was. But inside she was having mystical experiences of the Lord Jesus Christ appearing to her and telling her of His Divine Mercy towards mankind. He chose her as the Apostle and "Secretary" of His Mercy. Jesus said to St. Faustina:

In the Old Covenant I sent prophets wielding thunderbolts to My people. Today I am sending you with My mercy to the people of the whole world. I do not want to punish aching mankind, but I desire to heal it, pressing it to My Merciful Heart (Diary, 1588).

Saint Faustina, under obedience to her spiritual director, recorded God's revelations about His mercy in a diary that would be called Divine Mercy in My Soul. Like St. Therese, St. Faustina prophesized what her mission would be after her death:

I feel certain that my mission will not come to an end upon my death, but will begin. O doubting souls, I will draw aside for you the veils of heaven to convince you of God's goodness, so that you will no longer continue to wound with your distrust the sweetest Heart of Jesus. God is Love and Mercy (Diary, 281).

After her death and with the outbreak of World War II, the devotion to the Divine Mercy grew throughout Poland and Lithuania and the United States and eventually through the rest of the world. But from 1958 to 1978, just as she had predicted, the Divine Mercy devotion was temporarily banned by the Catholic Church due to erroneous and confusing translations of St. Faustina's Diary. The ban was eventually lifted by Pope Paul VI, six months prior to Cardinal Karol Wojtyla becoming Pope John Paul II. Pope John Paul II canonized St. Faustina as the first saint of the Jubilee Year on April 30, 2000, Divine Mercy Sunday.

The common thread between the Little Way of St. Therese of Lisieux and the Divine Mercy message and devotion, as revealed by Jesus to St. Faustina, is to have a childlike trust in God's mercy — the path of spiritual childhood. "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like (little) children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 18:3). Notice the emphasis on the word "little." We must not only become a child but a "little" child, and here is why. A child has some independence and calls upon its parent only in times of need. But a "little" child has no life of its own since it is completely dependent on its parent. Thus, it lives with total peacefulness and trust within that parent's protection. Saint Therese emphasized the Fatherhood of God and how we as "little" children are totally dependent on Him for everything. Therefore, St. Therese's Little Way is the way of spiritual childhood — a way of trust and complete self-surrender.

The perfect illustration of this is how St. Therese eventually discovered the Little Way:

We are living in an age of inventions, and we no longer have to take the trouble of climbing stairs, for, in the houses of the rich, an elevator has replaced these very successfully. I wanted to find an elevator which would raise me to Jesus, for I am too small to climb the rough stairway of perfection. I searched, then, in the Scriptures for some sign of this elevator, the object of my desires, and I read these words coming from the mouth of Eternal Wisdom: "Whoever is a LITTLE ONE, let him come to me." And so I succeeded. I felt I had found what I was looking for. But wanting to know, O my God, what You would do to the very little one who answered your call, I continued my search and this is what I discovered: "As one whom a mother caresses, so I will comfort you, you shall be carried at the breasts, and upon the knees they shall caress you." Ah! Never did words more tender and more melodious come to give joy to my soul. The elevator which must raise me to heaven is Your arms, O Jesus! And for this I had no need to grow up, but rather I had to remain little and become this more and more.

The Little Way then is not about having to grow up but choosing to remain little. In order to become a saint, one doesn't need to be perfect and full of great deeds. One simply needs to be little and to accept being little. Story of a Soul is full of stories of being a little child. For example, there's the story of the little child at the bottom of the stairs and the father watching at the top. As long at the little child makes the effort of climbing the stairs, the father will come down to pick the child up and carry it up the stairs himself. That's the way God the Father is with each of His children. However, He does need our cooperation as well. 

Father Angelo Casimiro, MIC, 

is the postulant director at the Marian House of Studies in Steubenville, Ohio.

September 30th, 2010.

source : http://thedivinemercy.org

St. Albert of Jerusalem 1206-1214 - VIII Death´s Centenary

St. Albert of Avogardo, Patriarch of Jerusalem 1206-1214, who gave the hermits 
on Mount Carmel their Formula Vitae or Way of Life

Albert of Jerusalem was born about the middle of the twelfth century in Castel Gualteri in Italy. He became a Canon Regular of the Holy Cross at Mortara and was elected their prior in 1180. Named Bishop of Bobbio in 1184, and of Vercelli in 1185, he was made Patriarch of Jerusalem in 1205. There, in word and example, he was the model of a good pastor and peace-maker. While he was Patriarch (1206-1214) he united the hermits of Mount Carmel into one community and wrote a Rule for them. He was murdered at Acre on 14th September, 1214.

From the rule delivered to the Brothers of Mount Carmel by Saint Albert of Jerusalem

(Chs. 14, 16; ed. Edwards-Clarke 1973, 1973, pp 87-89, 91-93) Spiritual exhortations

"Since man’s life on earth is a time of trial, and all who would live devotedly in Christ must undergo persecution, and the devil, your foe, is on the prowl like a roaring lion looking for prey to devour, you must use every care to clothe yourselves in God’s armor, so that you may be ready to withstand the enemy’s ambush.

Your loins are to be girt with chastity, your breast fortified by holy meditations, for, as Scripture has it, holy meditation will save you. Put on holiness as your breastplate, and it will enable you to love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and strength, and your neighbor as yourself. Faith must be your shield on all occasions, and with it you will be able to quench all the flaming missiles of the wicked one. There can be no pleasing God without faith. On your head set the helmet of salvation, and so be sure of deliverance by our only Savior, who sets his own free from their sins. The sword of the spirit, the word of God, must abound in your mouths and hearts. Let all you do have the Lord’s word for accompaniment.

The Apostle would have us keep silence, for in silence he tells us to work. As the Prophet also makes known to us, silence is the way to foster holiness. Elsewhere he says, your strength will lie in silence and hope. Be careful not to indulge in a great deal of talk, for as Scripture has it—and experience teaches us no less—sin will not be wanting where there is much talk, and he who is careless in speech will come to harm, and elsewhere, the use of many words brings harm to the speaker’s soul. And Our Lord says in the Gospel, every rash word uttered will have to be accounted for on Judgment Day. Make a balance, then, each of you, to weigh your words in, keep a tight rein on your mouths lest you should stumble and fail in speech, and your fall be irreparable and prove mortal. Like the Prophet, watch your step lest your tongue give offense, and employ every care in keeping silent, which is the way to foster holiness."

Pope Benedict congratulates the Carmelite celebration:

“With their eyes fixed on Christ and trusting in the help of the saints who during the last eight centuries have incarnated the dictates of the Rule of Carmel, each member of the Order of Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel feels called to be a credible witness of the spiritual dimension of every human being,” Benedict XVI said.

The lay faithful, the Pope added, can find in Carmelite communities authentic “‘schools’ of prayer, where the meeting with Christ is expressed not just in imploring help but also in thanksgiving, praise, adoration, contemplation, listening and ardent devotion, until the heart truly ‘falls in love.’”

The approval [of the Rule of St. Albert] was the “first recognition by the Church of this group of men, who left everything to live in reverence of Jesus Christ, imitating the sublime examples of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the prophet Elijah,” the Pontiff said.

Albert ‘s rule, if we can condense it to one all important message is:

‘Each of you is to stay in his own cell or nearby, pondering the Lord’s law day and night and keeping watch at his prayers, unless attending to some other duty’”.

In honor of the 800 year celebration it was said, “Mount Carmel, in Carmelite terms, had ceased to be a mountain in Palestine. It had become a place in the heart – whose ascent is precisely the journey inwards, from the edges of our lives to the centre.” [Tony Leste: The Carmelite Way of Life: Commemorating the Rule of St. Albert]

Origins: The Primitive Carmelite Spirit.

The Carmelites must be located in the context of the lay hermit movements that arose in Europe during the late 12th and early 13th centuries.  These movements, typified by the disciples of Francis of Assisi and by the various hermit groups of central Italy that were united in 1256 to form the Augustinian Hermits, were a product of the great 12th century renewal of the Church called the Vita Apostolica movement in which devout men and women strove to live in imitation of Christ and his twelve apostles.  Central to this scheme was a radical poverty in which the hermit imitated the apostles sent out to preach with no bag, no spare tunic, no walking stick (Matt 10:10).  Although the lay hermits were essentially contemplative, their identity cannot be separated from a mission of witnessing to the Gospel by both deeds and words. The medieval imagination did not dichotomize the apostolic and contemplative lives; the overflow of prayer was seen to be apostolic preaching.  The hermits’ zeal to imitate the poverty of Christ led them to a profoundly incarnational spirituality by which they approached the Divine Mystery through the humanity of Christ, a feature that has always remained central in the Carmelite tradition.  

The phenomenon of lay hermits was by no means limited to Italy; the Latin Crusader kingdom was a particularly fertile ground for those who wished to live like the desert fathers.  Sometime after 1193 with the peace that concluded the Third Crusade, hermits began to gather in the wadi ‘ain es-Siah on the south-western slopes of Mount Carmel within sight of the Mediterranean.  The names and origins of these hermits have not survived.  Some were pilgrims to the Holy Land who decided to stay in the land of Christ as an expression of their religious conversion.  Some had probably been hermits before Saladin’s victory at Hattin forced the Latin population to evacuate the majority of the kingdom they had held since the First Crusade.  Some perhaps were adventurers who had come to the Holy Land and there experienced a conversion.  There is no evidence that the hermits living on Mt. Carmel had any sort of organization prior to the time that they chose a leader and approached the Latin Patriarch, Albert of Vercelli (also known as Albert of Avogardo d. 1214), and asked him for a Way of Life (formula vitae) sometime between 1206 and 1214. 

The Formula Vitae which Albert gave to the hermits on Mount Carmel was mitigated and recognized as a Religious Rule by Pope Innocent IV in 1247

It is arguable whether Albert gave them their formula vitae or whether he ratified a proposal they presented to him.  The document shows some evidence of two hands, and perhaps the formula vitae was actually a composite of precepts that expressed the simple form of life which the hermits themselves proposed to lead and Albert's spiritual exhortation to them about living a life of discipleship to Jesus Christ (in obsequio Ihesu Chrisi). 

The Way of Life which Albert gave to the hermits is extremely simple with only a minimum of prescriptions. There is no mention of a habit.  Albert mandated perpetual abstinence and a great fast from the Feast of the Holy Cross until Easter.  The hermits were to hear mass daily, but pray the psalms alone in their cells.  As was characteristic of hermits in the vita apostolica tradition, they were to have no private possessions.  They were to submit themselves in obedience to their prior whom—Albert reminded them—Christ had placed over them.  The prior, on his part, was to remember the scriptural injunction about the one who would be greatest serving the needs of the others.  Unless they were legitimately occupied elsewhere, they were to remain in their cells meditating day and night on the Law of the Lord.  This last injunction has been seen by many as being at the heart of Carmelite Spirituality, but recent scholarship suggests that perhaps this is too narrow an interpretation.  What is certainly central in the spirituality outlined in the Formula Vitae Albert gave the hermits is attentiveness to the Word of God.  Albert exhorted them: “Let the Sword of the Spirit, that is the Word of God, dwell in your hearts and on your lips, that all that you do you may do with the Word of the Lord for accompaniment.”  Carmelite Spirituality is a Spirituality of the Word of God.  It was this immersion in the Word of God that generated the dynamism of their spirituality.  

The rhythm of Carmelite life, established by these first hermits, is marked by collective and individual solitude, which creates an atmosphere in which union with God is achieved through continuous prayer. Specific religious discipline mandates silence, fasting, perpetual abstinence from meat, manual work, vocal recitation of the psalms, the chapter of faults, and hearing mass.  They were exhorted, in Albert’s paraphrase of Ephesians 6:11-17, to don the spiritual armor of the moral virtues.

The Latin Hermits on Mount Carmel receive their Formula Vitae form St. Albert, the Patriarch of Jerusalem. 

Jacques de Vitry, Bishop of Acre from 1216 to 1228, testifies to this primitive vision writing:  (The hermits) … after the example of the holy prophet, Elijah  live on Mount Carmel--on that part of the mountain that is near Haifa, by the fountain of Elijah, close to (The Abbey of) St. Margaret of Carmel.  They live as hermits.  And there like bees they store their honey, offering the Lord the sweetness of their spirit in their little cells.

(Jacques DeVitry, La Traduction de l'Historia Orientalis de Jacques DeVitry, ed. Claude Buridant (Paris: Klincksieck, 1986), p.96.)

Sources

http://carmelitanacollection.com

http://www.meditationsfromcarmel.com

Feast of the Most Pure Heart of Mary - 22th Agust 2014

by The Servant of God Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.

Most of us know that Devotion to the Sacred Heart is part of our Catholic religion. We have known from childhood about the nine first Fridays. We often recite the Litany of the Sacred Heart. Annually we celebrate the solemn feast of the Sacred Heart. I am sure that we know several aspirations, like: “Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in thee.” Over the years, every time I pick up the telephone, before I talk to whoever called, I make an aspiration to the Sacred Heart. It helps; you never know who is on the other side. There are pictures and statues of the Sacred Heart. I would like to recommend that every home have at least a picture or a statue of the Sacred Heart. Some of us, I dare say, have memorized the twelve promises of the Sacred Heart. There is the daily morning offering to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. All of this belongs to the practice of the Catholic religion and is part of the living out of the devotion to the Sacred Heart. However, where devotion is part of Catholic piety, the doctrine is part of our Catholic faith.

Catholic Doctrine

I would not hesitate to say that devotion to the Sacred Heart is a synthesis of Catholic doctrine. One thing I have learned from our ecumenical age is that we should be very kind, understanding and gracious towards those that are baptized but are not Catholic. However, we should also understand that as Catholics we are distinctively Christian. Indeed the Catholic Church is normative for the whole Christian world. I can say this with a certain amount of security. My father died when I was about a year old. My mother took in boarders to keep the two of us going. Our first two boarders were two Protestants that stayed with us for years. When I was four years old I complained to my mother; I thought they were my sisters. “How come,” I asked her, “my sisters do not abstain from meat on Friday like we do?” So she took Judith and Susan aside and said, “My boy is asking questions. Would you ask your minister if you can abstain from meat on Fridays, or I will have to ask you to leave.” They abstained from meat on Fridays. Over the years I have taught in six Protestant divinity schools, and published three books on Protestantism that have been used in Protestant seminaries. 

I understand and, I think I can say, I love Protestants. Although I also know that a Catholic is not a Protestant! It is this stress that I would like to bring out in our conversation. I believe that the devotion to the Sacred Heart (on its doctrinal side) most clearly distinguishes Catholicism from all other forms of Christianity; certainly from the four thousand nominally Protestant denominations throughout the world. The historical origins of the devotion to the Sacred Heart and its doctrine go back to the dawn of Christianity. Devotion to the Sacred Heart was revealed to us by Jesus when He told us, in the only direct mandate he gave, to imitate Him, by telling us “Learn from me that I am meek and humble of Heart.” But the doctrinal foundation of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart was revealed on Calvary when the heart of Jesus was pierced by the soldier’s lance and we are told there flowed out blood and water. For the next fifteen hundred years some of the Church’s greatest saints and mystics were specially devoted to the Sacred Heart.

Origins of the Modern Devotion

As Timothy O’Donnell shows in The Heart of the Redeemer, the devotion to the Heart of Jesus goes back to the Gospels and remained unchallenged until the rise of Protestantism. I usually refer to it as the “Protestant Revolution” in contrast with the “Catholic Reformation.” That is why St. Ignatius founded the Society of Jesus—to provide the Church with a Catholic reformation. In the sixteenth century, the most drastic division in Christian history occurred. Five nations that were Catholic were lost to the Church and large parts of three other countries. Division in Catholic unity came once the doctrinal foundations of what we casually call devotion to the Sacred Heart were undermined. Since then, not only has there been a massively divided Christianity but also a globally disunited humanity. The restoration of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is the only real hope we have of restoring unity within the Catholic Church. And the hope of this unity lies in the doctrinal foundations of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart. What was the source of this division in Catholic unity and consequent division in humanity? It was the rise of a chain of errors about God, man, morality, spirituality and human destiny. But there is one basic link in this chain of errors. It is the false belief that we do not have a free will with which we can lovingly respond to God’s mysterious and unfailing love for us. What I am saying is worth repeating. 

The most fundamental error that divided the Catholic Church in the sixteenth century and has since been the most divisive element in the Western world is the denial that we have true internal human freedom by which we can either freely serve God or willingly refuse to serve Him. This error penetrated the Catholic Church through the heresy known as Jansenism. It was named after the French Bishop Cornelius Jansenius (1585-1638). At one time fifty dioceses in France were administered by Jansenist bishops. It is important to bring out the “seed bed” of the errors which have divided the Catholic Church and Christianity for five hundred years; and which have occasioned the rise of the modern devotion to the Sacred Heart. Among the champions of Catholic orthodoxy who fought against Jansenism was St. Francis de Sales. At times he even risked his own life. He was a bishop like Jansenius and explained, “A bishop created the error; my duty as a bishop is to correct this error by teaching the truth.” 

The two masterpieces of the writings of St. Francis de Sales are Introduction to the Devout Life and his classic work On the Love of God. Both of these works are indispensable for a correct understanding of the meaning of true love. In His providence, God had given the Church a St. Francis de Sales who founded the Order of the Visitation, one of whose members was St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. It was therefore not coincidental that Christ revealed the mysteries of His Sacred Heart in the Order of the Visitation whose founder was the outstanding defender of God’s universal love for the human race. In my forty-two years in the priesthood I have dealt with many souls and have been involved in many problems. 

Margaret Mary was chosen by God to provide the Church and through the Church all mankind with a deep and clear understanding of God’s love for us and the love we should have for Him. In spite of the trial and tribulation, including the reputation in her community for being out of her mind, she never wavered in her loving trust in God. Love is mainly proved by suffering. No wonder Margaret Mary could ask in one of her letters, “What can keep us from loving God and becoming saints, since we have a body that can suffer and a heart that can love?” Margaret Mary became the catalyst whose mission was to restore to the Catholic Church what some had lost and to strengthen what was so weakened — the mystery of human freedom in responding to the merciful love of God. Devotion to the Sacred Heart can be pathetically cheapened by treating it as just another devotion. On the contrary, it contains in its doctrinal foundation what the popes have reminded us are the seven cardinal mysteries of our Faith, which the world denies but we accept. These seven cardinal mysteries are:

God created the human race out of love. He did not need to create anything or anyone. Moreover, He elevated the human race to a supernatural destiny, nothing less than the vision of the Holy Trinity for all eternity. All of this not because He had to, but only because He loves.

God became man out of love for the sinful human race. He became a mortal man to die to prove how much He loves us. He assumed a human will that He might freely suffer. Do all humans suffer? Yes. Do all humans suffer willingly? No. The essence of love is to suffer willingly for the one you claim to love. God became man to suffer with a human will.

Christ, the Son of God who became the Son of Man, suffered and died not just for the predestined elect, but for all mankind.

God gives everyone enough grace to be saved. Is everyone saved? No. God wants all men to be saved yet gave us a free will with which we can choose either to love Him or love ourselves even to the contempt of God.

We have a free will by which we can really choose to love God. When we want what God wants then we are loving Him. Love unites two wills: the will of God, by which He offers us His grace; and our will, by which we correspond with the graces we receive.

We have a free will that can go beyond the call of duty. We can do more than just cooperate with God’s grace to avoid sin. We can also love God more than we have to … more than we must. Read the letters of St. Margaret Mary. After twenty pages you will have to brace yourself. This loving God more than we have to means loving the cross. Christ joyfully chose the cross, and invites us to do the same, out of love for Him.

We believe that Jesus Christ gave us Himself in the Holy Eucharist, by which He remains now on earth, in the fullness of his humanity and with his living human Heart. In every Mass, He freely offers Himself to his heavenly Father, and through the Mass confers the graces He won for us on the cross. In Holy Communion, we receive Him with his Heart into our own hearts, to sustain our selfless love of Him by our enduring love for everyone whom He places into our lives.

Lord Jesus, we believe you are our God who became man so that you might have a human heart, so that you might evoke in our hearts a corresponding love for you. Strengthen our weakness and protect us from ever running away from the cross. Help us to love you here in this valley of tears by faith, so that we can continue loving you in that everlasting embrace for which we were made.

(source: EWTN.com library)

Assumption of the Most Holy Virgin Mary - Feast - Agust 15th 2014

Celebrated every year on August 15, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary commemorates the death of Mary and her bodily assumption into Heaven, before her body could begin to decay--a foretaste of our own bodily resurrection at the end of time. Because it signifies the Blessed Virgin's passing into eternal life, it is the most important of all Marian feasts and a Holy Day of Obligation.

History of the Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary :

The Feast of the Assumption is a very old feast of the Church, celebrated universally by the sixth century. The feast was originally celebrated in the East, where it is known as the Feast of the Dormition, a word which means "the falling asleep." The earliest printed reference to the belief that Mary's body was assumed into Heaven dates from the fourth century, in a document entitled "The Falling Asleep of the Holy Mother of God." The document is written in the voice of the Apostle John, to whom Christ on the Cross had entrusted the care of His mother, and recounts the death, laying in the tomb, and assumption of the Blessed Virgin. Tradition variously places Mary's death at Jerusalem or at Ephesus, where John was living.

A Required Belief:

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven at the end of her earthly life is a defined dogma of the Catholic Church. On November 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII, exercising papal infallibility, declared in Munificentissimus Deus that it is a dogma of the Church "that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory." As a dogma, the Assumption is a required belief of all Catholics; anyone who publicly dissents from the dogma, Pope Pius declared, "has fallen away completely from the divine and Catholic Faith."

While the Eastern Orthodox believe in the Dormition, they object to the papal definition of the dogma, seeing it as unnecessary, since belief in Mary's bodily assumption, tradition holds, goNow, just like the present age, our pontificate is weighed down by ever so many cares, anxieties, and troubles, by reason of very severe calamities that have taken place and by reason of the fact that many have strayed away from truth and virtue. Nevertheless, we are greatly consoled to see that, while the Catholic faith is being professed publicly and vigorously, piety toward the Virgin Mother of God is flourishing and daily growing more fervent, and that almost everywhere on earth it is showing indications of a better and holier life. Thus, while the Blessed Virgin is fulfilling in the most affectionate manner her maternal duties on behalf of those redeemed by the blood of Christ, the minds and the hearts of her children are being vigorously aroused to a more assiduous consideration of her prerogatives.

Pope Pius XII, in the text explaining his definition of the dogma of the Assumption, refers repeatedly to the Blessed Virgin's death before her Assumption, and the consistent tradition in both the East and the West holds that Mary did die before she was assumed into Heaven. However, since the definition of the Assumption is silent on this question, Catholics can legitimately believe that Mary did not die before the Assumption.

"God, who from all eternity regards Mary with a most favorable and unique affection, has "when the fullness of time came" put the plan of his providence into effect in such a way that all the privileges and prerogatives he had granted to her in his sovereign generosity were to shine forth in her in a kind of perfect harmony. And, although the Church has always recognized this supreme generosity and the perfect harmony of graces and has daily studied them more and more throughout the course of the centuries, still it is in our own age that the privilege of the bodily Assumption into heaven of Mary, the Virgin Mother of God, has certainly shone forth more clearly.

That privilege has shone forth in new radiance since our predecessor of immortal memory, Pius IX, solemnly proclaimed the dogma of the loving Mother of God's Immaculate Conception. These two privileges are most closely bound to one another. Christ overcame sin and death by his own death, and one who through Baptism has been born again in a supernatural way has conquered sin and death through the same Christ. 

Yet, according to the general rule, God does not will to grant to the just the full effect of the victory over death until the end of time has come. And so it is that the bodies of even the just are corrupted after death, and only on the last day will they be joined, each to its own glorious soul.

Now God has willed that the Blessed Virgin Mary should be exempted from this general rule. She, by an entirely unique privilege, completely overcame sin by her Immaculate Conception, and as a result she was not subject to the law of remaining in the corruption of the grave, and she did not have to wait until the end of time for the redemption of her body.

Thus, when it was solemnly proclaimed that Mary, the Virgin Mother of God, was from the very beginning free from the taint of original sin, the minds of the faithful were filled with a stronger hope that the day might soon come when the dogma of the Virgin Mary's bodily Assumption into heaven would also be defined by the Church's supreme teaching authority.

Actually it was seen that not only individual Catholics, but also those who could speak for nations or ecclesiastical provinces, and even a considerable number of the Fathers of the Vatican Council, urgently petitioned the Apostolic See to this effect."

Continue reading:  Munificentissimus Deus

Prayer In Honor of the Assumption

By Pope Pius XII

O Immaculate Virgin, Mother of God and Mother of men.

We believe with all the fervor of our faith in your triumphal Assumption, both in body and soul, into heaven, where you are acclaimed as Queen by all the choirs of angels and all the legions of saints; and we unite with them to praise and bless the Lord who has exalted you above all other pure creatures, and to offer you the tribute of our devotion and our love.

We know that your gaze, which on earth watched over the humble and suffering humanity of Jesus, is filled in heaven with the vision of that Humanity glorified, and with the vision of Uncreated Wisdom; and that the joy of your soul in the direct contemplation of the adorable Trinity causes your heart to throb with overwhelming tenderness.

And we, poor sinners, whose body weighs down the flight of the soul, beg you to purify our hearts, so that, while we remain here below, we may learn to see God, and God alone, in the beauties of His creatures.

We trust that your merciful eyes may deign to glance down upon our miseries and our sorrows, upon our struggles and our weaknesses; that your countenance may smile upon our joys and our victories; that you may hear the voice of Jesus saying to you of each one of us, as He once said to you of His beloved disciple: behold thy son.

And we who call upon you as our Mother, like John, take you as the guide, strength, and consolation of our mortal life.

We are inspired by the certainty that your eyes which wept over the earth, watered by the Blood of Jesus, are yet turned toward this world, held in the clutch of wars, persecutions, and oppression of the just and the weak.

And from the shadows of this vale of tears, we seek in your heavenly assistance and tender mercy comfort for our aching hearts and help in the trials of the Church and of our fatherland.

We believe, finally, that in the glory where you reign, clothed with the sun and crowned with the stars, you are, after Jesus, the joy and gladness of all the angels and of all the saints.

And from this earth, over which we tread as pilgrims, comforted by our faith in the future resurrection, we look to you, our life, our sweetness, and our hope; draw us onward with the sweetness of your voice, that one day, after our exile, you may show us Jesus, the blessed Fruit of your womb, O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.

sources:

http://catholicism.about.com/

The Feast of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The miraculous intercession of St Therese of Lisieux in the lives of 6 Mystics

By: Glenn Dallaire

When studying the lives of the Mystics of the Church, certain remarkable facts come to light. One of these would certainly be the extraordinary appearences of Saint Therese "the Little Flower" in the lives of the mystics. In light of this St Therese, it seems, could perhaps be condidered a "Patroness of Mystics". And then again, did she not write in her Autobiography-- "I will spend my heaven doing good upon the earth. I will let fall a shower of roses"

Servant of God, Brother Marcel Van C.Ss.R.-The spiritual brother of St Therese

Brother Marcel Van strongly desired to become a saint, but was frightened at the austere sacrifices that he thought were necessary to becoming one. He wrote in his Autobiography: “In spite of my great desire to attain holiness, I was certain that I would never achieve it, because to be a saint, you have to fast, lash yourself with a whip, wear a rock around your neck and little chains covered with spikes, a coarse horsehair shirt, endure the cold, the scabies, etc...My God, if it is like this, then I give up... All that is way too much for me.” 

The appearance of St Therese of Lisieux –The Story of a Soul One day, Van spread out on a table books on the lives of many Saints. He said a prayer, asking God to guide him, promising that he would read whatever book his hand fell upon. Then, with his eyes closed, he put his hand down at random. “I opened my eyes. My hand was resting on a book I had never read before—“The Story of a Soul" by Saint Therese of the Child Jesus.”

Marcel Van quickly looked over the book—one that he had never read before, but dismissed it as containing nothing unusual. But he soon reproached himself saying “Ah, by acting like this, you have broken your promise!” I then took the book again with my head full of muddled questions—‘What is this “Story of a Soul”??? Who is this St. Therese of the Child Jesus??? Where did she come from???’ What is certain is that is that she resembles many thousands of other saints.’

“Then I summarized her life in an amusing manner in these terms---'Since her birth until her last breath she had many ecstasies, and performed a number of miracles. She fasted on bread and water only taking one meal a day. She spent the night in prayer and gave herself to discipline until she bled. After her holy death her body emitted a very pleasant fragrance and many extraordinary things happened at her tomb. Finally she was canonized by the holy Church...etc...’

“Today I see clearly how rash these statements were without knowing anything about St. Therese. I had dared to sketch out her life in such a summary manner. Oh my dear sister, you must necessarily be a Saint of great courage to put up with me and the foolish statements that I made about you!”

As promised, Van then began to read the book. He states:

“I had scarcely read a few pages when two floods of tears were flowing down my cheeks...What moved me so deeply was little Therese's reasoning:

'If God only stooped to the level of the most beautiful flowers, the symbol of the Holy Doctors, His love wouldn't be quite absolute, because it is Love's nature to stoop to the farthest limit... Just as the sun shines at the same time on the cedars and on every little flower as if it were the only one on earth, so does Our Lord take care of every soul as if there were no other soul like it'

“I understood then that God is Love... Like St Therese, I can sanctify myself through all my little acts... A smile, a word or a look, provided that everything is done in love. What happiness!....From now on, sanctity will no longer frighten me....my tears were flowing like an inexhaustible spring.”

“I had received therefore, that afternoon, a source of grace and happiness. “The Story of a Soul” had become my dearest friend, and followed me everywhere and I did not cease reading or rereading it, without ever getting weary of it. There was nothing in this volume which did not conform to my thoughts, and what pleased me even more in the course of my reading was to see clearly the spiritual life of Therese was identical to mine. Her thoughts, even her yes or no were in harmony with my own thoughts, and the little events of my life. Truly, never in my life have I met a book which was so well adapted to my thinking and feelings as is “The Story of a Soul”. I can confess that the story of Therese's soul is the story of my soul....”

The next morning, Van woke up and kneeled before the altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary and prayed: “... Blessed Virgin, my Mother: Today is truly the first day that I have been given to taste such a sweet happiness; the day which introduces me to a new way.... From now on, my Mother, guide me in my new way to teach me to love God perfectly, and to offer myself to Him in total confidence. I dare to express a wish to you: That I may be wrapped in your love, as was formerly Therese, the Little Flower. I even wish you to give me this Saint as my guide in her “Little Way”. Oh what happiness there would then be for me since I feel that my life cannot free itself from the feelings of childhood that God has engraved in my soul as an innate gift”

Then turning to Jesus, he prayed: “Oh Jesus, my only and beloved master, you know that I love you and look only to respond to your wishes. You have aroused in my mind the desire to become a saint. Then, you made me find, in a very simple manner, the “Little Way” by which you guided St. Therese of the Child Jesus. You have used the hand of this little Saint to write for the use of souls, the sweet councils to which you have led her on her little way. Today, I know that you love me, and that in your immense love you behave towards me as with a little child. Oh, how you deserve to be loved in return! From now on I have decided to follow in your footsteps as you wish, and so that each of my steps conforms to your Will, I wish, oh my God, that you grant me this favor: Give me St. Therese of the infant Jesus is my guide, so that she can teach me to love you as I ought, since I am very ignorant. Grant me also the grace to persevere in your love right to the end, so as to love you afterwards eternally, in the homeland of love reserved for those who love you.”

Van becomes the little spiritual brother of St Therese

Soon afterwards, Van went on foot to a nearby hill to pray and read. Suddenly, in the silence, he was startled by a voice that was calling him. “Van, Van, my dear little brother!” But, no one was around him! The voice spoke again: “Van, my dear little brother!” ‘I was stunned and a little troubled, but I remained calm and guessed immediately that this voice which called me was a supernatural voice—-I then let out or hurried cry of joy—“Oh, it's my sister Therese!”— “Yes, it is indeed your sister, Therese... From now on, you will personally be my little brother, just as you have chosen me to be your big sister... From this day on, our two souls will be just one soul, in God's one love... from this moment I will let you know all my beautiful thoughts on love that which has occurred in my life, and has transformed me in the infinite love of God.... it is God himself, who has arranged this meeting. God wants the lessons of love that He taught me before in the secret of my soul to live on in this world, and He has deigned to choose you as a little secretary to carry out His work, which He wishes to entrust to you.... ”

This first appearance of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus went on for quite sometime, and there were many other appearences of St Therese who became a "spiritual director" to Brother Van. So those interested should read "The Autobiography of Marcel Van" to read all of the intercessions of St Therese in the life of Br. Marcel Van.

However, before leaving Van on this first occasion, St. Therese says in closing: ‘I love you because you are a soul who is a member of my friends of Love. As for you my little brother, my only wish is to see accomplished the works that the divine Love desires so ardently for you. So, little brother, listen to me: from now on in your relations with our heavenly Father, do not fail to follow my advice. But for now it is late, allow me to end our conversation here, since it is already mealtime. Tam and Hien are waiting for you, and Tam is getting impatient..... I am giving you a kiss.....We will have plenty of opportunities to talk together again. And we can do it no matter where, without fear that anyone might know.’

“Therese stopped talking, and I was like someone coming out of a dream; half anxious and half happy, and when she said ‘ I am giving you a kiss’ , I immediately felt as if a gentle breeze was touching my face. And I was overcome by such a joy that I momentarily lost consciousness. Some of this sweet joy stays with me today, but I do not know what to compare it with exactly.”

From then on, St Therese became Van’s close companion and spiritual director, intimately guiding him in his spiritual life and his ascent towards God.

more information about St Therese's appearences to Br. Marcel Van here.

- See more at: http://www.mysticsofthechurch.com/2010/08/intercession-of-st-therese-in-lives-of.html#sthash.3kHFLEp0.dpuf