Raymond Cardinal Burke’s Speech

Raymond Cardinal Burke’s speech

“The full speech given by Abp. Raymond Leo Burke (now Cardinal-Elect Burke) in Rome on Saturday 9th October 2010.”

Tentationi et Peccato: I

This series is called Temptation and Sin.

Let us know what a temptation is first: “Temptation is a invitation to sin.” Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. A sin is acting and saying yes to the invite by the devil or even ourself; we can send ourself temptations; more than the devil or the other demons.

Temptations are given to us and try to lead ourself away from God and saying Yes to His invite and leading us to say yes to the evil one. The evil one tempted Eve with the apple; which did happen because it is history; but also the apple is a symbol of everything else that could tempt Man.

Temptations are tests and sometimes we pass and sometimes we fail. If we fail; we go to the Sacrament of Confession; to confess our sin or sins; which God tried to have Adam do but Adam pointed the finger to the Woman and the Woman pointed the finger to the snake; but also Adam pointed his finger to God for creating her.

Temptations are battles we go through; everyone goes through but some do not even admit that they are being tempted and they don’t even notice they are being tempted; St. Jean Marie Vianney wrote on this in his sermons; “that those who do not even notice that they are being tempted or don’t even admit to it; they could be considered gone; lost souls.”

We must know that we are being tempted so that we know we have sinned so we can confess it; get rid of it. If we do not; we go on through life as if we are doing nothing wrong and everything we do is right and good.

Which is very dangerous; because if you think you are doing good but you are sinning; you are good as lost; because you have can’t even confess what you are doing; your mind doesn’t register them as sins but as good works and then the minds tells you it is ok and keep going.

In one of the many books I’ve read; more like studied; it means your conscience isn’t formed correctly; because it is giving you improper information; it is lying to you or it doesn’t know if it is a sin or not; so it says keep going and not stop and go to Confession.

Even if you go to Confession after a long time; because you see everyone else doing the same thing; are you doing this because you notice you have to go through the example of others or are you going because you want to clean your soul and become closer to God?

There is a difference: going because you see you must; but then you keep going in your way of life; which is sin and you don’t see anything wrong in how you live. Second, if you go because you want to clean your soul and how you live your life; plus be closer to God; those are good Confessions; the first is not.

Confession means Penace; which means Conversion; you must change your life many times; so you start to live a life of holiness; we must convert our life many times through Penance; Confession.

Now, before the sins of Adam and Eve; there were the very first sins; of the bad Angels when their proud leader said he would not serve God as Man and so St. Michael kicked them out of Heaven through the Power of God; as we read and pray in the prayer to St. Michael.

We need to have the bad angels before the Fall of Man; without the bad Angels; no Fall of Man. God knew some of the Angels that He created would fall. How could they fall? They have no bodies; so no sexual sins; no eyes; so no lusting; but they could speak and when God showed them in a way that they could see His plan; the leader of the proud angels said he would not serve.

Then came the Fall of Man; sin of Adam and Eve. Man is tempted because Man has a fallen nature; we aren’t perfect; only two people are: Mary and Jesus. Even they were tempted at some point and we know of Jesus’ temptations; in the desert and I bet all through Scripture and what we do not have written of Him.

Every person is tempted and that means the saints while on earth; they were tempted; sometimes very harshly or not so harsh; but they were tempted. St. Francis one time jumped into a thorn bush to take away a temptation; next time he took off his habit and was naked; rolled down a snow packed hill and made a snow family to represent the temptations of wanting to disobey his vows to have a family.

St. Jerome learned Hebrew and beat his chest with a stone.

St. Ignatius of Loyola whipped himself; many of the saints did this or other forms of penance; only eating bread and drinking water. Which is a good one but must be watched by a Spiritual Director or another priest.

Anway, we are all tempted and it is a invitation to sin; to deny God and do what we want.

God bless

We Must Stop The Immorality

Praise Be Jesus Christ

In America, we have been lacking on being Moral; we have been so divided on important issues; issues on Morals. We have people destroying marriage, starting to take away our religious rights to preach out on this issue to make totally clear that Marriage is a sacred bond between Man and Woman and no one else.

We are starting to see where we can’t preach freely on pro-life to defend the right of Human Life. In Canada people are thrown in jail for doing this act and I know some parts of the United States are like this; even towns in Kansas.

The Neo-Pagan world we live in today; wants to remove God and His Christ; we have so many occults in America; we must never ever lose sight of the One True God; creator of all; creator of all of us and He gave us our rights.

We also have another evil of planting eggs and sperm into a woman and creating a child and throwing out the Sacred Marriage Act between the Man and Woman. No person has a right to a child but it is a gift from God and if God doesn’t give you that gift; you must not go and do this Grave and Immoral act; because God is calling you to something more than a physical motherhood but maybe a Spiritual Motherhood or big sister to the kids in the orphanages in your town or city.

I say to the Pro-Life men and women who are married couples; open your homes and your family to save these lives; become the adopted parents to save those children; tell the young women there is a better option than killing that beautiful child of God; but giving him or her a chance to live; to be able to see everything God has made and experience it. You, the mothers who conceive those children and then decide to kill them; why do you say you have the right to kill your child? God says Thou Shalt Not Kill and God does not give you a right to kill that child; He gives you that gift of that baby; so you can be a mother.

You never have to listen to the world; where it says to kill the child and says the child is blob of flesh; but if you look on that camera; you see your child move. Killing is not a right and you do not have the power to decide who can die and who can live. You are not God or a god; neither are those pro-abortion workers who do the mass murders of the millions and thousands of children.

If you aren’t ready to be a mother; give that child to a loving family in adoption and let the child live; that is the other choice you have; either you be the mother and be responsible for what you did or give the baby up for adoption.

Now, we have a problem with abortion, making babies in a lab, contraception and the lack of religious freedom starting to happen in America.

Greed, Capitalism and Public Opinion and terrorism are some of the new false gods in the world and you could say Planned Parenthood and those radical feminists could be worshiping all four of these and pressuring the young girls to have abortions. And this must stop.

The people in office in the Government must not be brainwashed, take part in these groups that do these different types of terrorism; you can cause terror without being one of those middle eastern groups; Planned Parenthood causes enough terror. The people in office should work for the people; not one type of a set of persons but for all persons and treat us fairly and listen to us.

When Margret Sanger came to power in a way; trying to get planned parenthood up and going and all her philosophies working in the world; when she shared about Eugenics with Adolph Hitler; a red flag should of went up in the people in Congress, Senate and House; even the President of the United States and had her arrested and shut down; arrested all her people.

But she used the people in office to get her philosophies passed to be made legal. Now, as Fr. Corapi called it; in his series called End Game; The devil will go after the children to get to God and the devil is going after the children; the little girls in girl scouts; teaching them about different kinds of sex and other improper advice and information so that Planned Parenthood will be in bussiness for a long time.

Parents, you must be the protectors of your children; save their souls and get them to Heaven. I know some will sound and act dumb and wonder what we should do and I say the smartest thing to do is pull your girls out of the Girl Scouts and never return them to the Scouts anymore.

If we can get pro-life, pro-religion, pro-marriage; Man and Woman; into the Government offices; we can remove the immorality out of America. Then, the world. But we must be close to God in prayer and the Sacraments. If we do not pray; nothing will happen and no peace will come. Pray in your families and go to the Sacraments.

If you are a Cafeteria Catholic; return to the Church; because you are not fully members of the Church. Start going every Sunday and also confession every Sunday if you can. Start praying.

“Stay close to God” Venerable Pius XII

God bless

“I Am Sending You A Saint”

I Am Sending You a Saint
A Reflection on St. André of Montreal
By Father Thomas Rosica, CSB

TORONTO, OCT. 16, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Among those to be canonized by Benedict XVI on Sunday at the Vatican is Canadian Brother André Bessette, of the Congregation of Holy Cross. Born Alfred Bessette into a large Catholic family in 1845 in the Quebec village of Saint-Grégoire d’Iberville, the baby was so frail as a newborn that his father, Isaac, didn’t expect him to live for more than a day.

The Bessette family was besieged with tragedies. In 1855, when Alfred was 10 years old, his father died in a logging accident. In order to provide for her children, Alfred’s mother was forced to separate them from each other and sent them to live with various members of their extended family. Only Alfred was able to stay with his mother due to his own delicate health. Two years later Madame Bessette died of tuberculosis.

After Alfred was orphaned, he lived with his aunt’s family. He was frequently sick as a young boy and rarely attended school. At age 10 he began suffering from painful stomach problems that would stay with him throughout his life. He tried various jobs before turning 18 years old. He then set out for the United States where he followed the path of many French-Canadians before him. Alfred moved from one job to another, laboring on farms, in factories and in textile mills in New England. Throughout his four years in the United States, Alfred remained frail and sickly, searching for his real vocation.

In 1867, Alfred returned to Canada, taking up various jobs before finally settling in Sainte-Césaire, the village where, after his mother’s death, he had made his first holy Communion. He began helping Father André Provençal, the local pastor, with chores around the church. He was also spending more and more time in prayer, particularly before the statue of St. Joseph in the parish church. Father Provençal realized that Alfred’s interior prayer was genuine and authentic. In 1870, convinced that his young parishioner was surely being called by God, the kind and perceptive priest asked Alfred to consider religious life within the Congregation of Holy Cross. Despite misgivings over his worthiness and suitability, Alfred reluctantly agreed to allow his pastor to present him to Holy Cross for further formal discernment in their formation program. Alfred was 25 years old. Father Provençal wrote to the superiors of the Congregation of Holy Cross: “I am sending you a saint.”

Unfortunately Alfred’s frail health soon proved an obstacle for the Holy Cross authorities, who were evaluating his call to vows within the Congregation. Toward the end of his novitiate year, Alfred applied for temporary vows. His religious superiors decided they could not accept him knowing that his poor health would be an impediment to his perpetual profession of the religious vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Alfred was devastated.

A few weeks after that fateful decision, the Bishop of Montreal, Ignace Bourget, visited College Notre-Dame, which was also the location of the novitiate community. Alfred sought out the Bishop and begged him to intercede with the Holy Cross superiors, saying “My only ambition is to serve God in the most humble tasks.” The Bishop was deeply moved by his plea. The superiors relented and admitted Alfred to vows as a consecrated brother of Holy Cross. On Feb. 2, 1874, Bessette’s religious name, André, was conferred on him by his superiors. Alfred had chosen the name in honor of his parish priest who sent him to Holy Cross. The Superior of Novices, upon accepting Brother André as a lay brother, wrote: “If this young man becomes incapable of working, at least he will know how to pray very well.”

Most members of the Congregation of Holy Cross were priests or teachers. Lay brothers contributed to the work of the order by performing the manual labor necessary to keep the school running. For nearly 40 years Brother André worked as a porter at the College of Notre-Dame-du-Sacré-Coeur in the Montreal neighborhood of Côtes-des-Neiges. Speaking about his assignment as doorman, he once quipped, “When I joined this community, the superiors showed me the door.”

As porter of the College, Brother André lived in a small room located near the main entrance that also served as his office. He was also occupied with many menial tasks such as washing the floors and windows, cleaning lamps, and bringing in the firewood. Every day he rang the wake-up bell, cleaned rooms, picked up mail at the post office and, weekly, couriered laundry to and from resident pupils’ houses. Another task that must have given him the opportunity for wonderful conversations was his role as barber for the students.

Brother André urged people who came to him to pray with confidence and perseverance, while remaining open to God’s will. He admonished people to begin their path to healing through commitments to faith and humility, through confession and a return to the sacraments. He encouraged the sick to seek a doctor’s care. He saw value in suffering that is joined to the sufferings of Christ. He allowed himself to be fully present to the sadness of others but always retained a joyful nature and good humor. At times he was seen weeping along with his visitors as they recounted to him their sorrows and difficulties. Word spread quickly when many of those with whom he prayed were healed. As Brother André was becoming known as a miracle worker, he insisted all the more, “I am nothing … only a tool in the hands of Providence, a lowly instrument at the service of St. Joseph.”

As the tensions increased at the College with so many of the sick coming to see the porter, the school officials decided that Brother André could no longer continue with his ministry. He was permitted to receive the sick in the nearby tramway station rather than the College. As his reputation spread, Brother André became quite a controversial figure. There were many religious in the Congregation of Holy Cross, teachers and parents of students at the College who supported him but many others opposed him and even considered him dangerous to the well-being of the school’s reputation because they regarded him as a charlatan. Others were concerned for the good health of the children, fearing the possibility of contagion in the school spread from diseases carried by the sick who frequented Brother André.
Brother André always had a strong devotion to St. Joseph, and in 1900 he received permission to raise money for a shrine to St. Joseph. The first shelter was constructed in 1904. Holy Cross authorities allowed for a room to be added to the Chapel and Brother André was assigned to live in that room where he could readily receive pilgrims and pray for them. He abandoned the tramway station and began receiving pilgrims at the Chapel of St. Joseph that would become the Oratory.

In 1909 Brother André was assigned full-time as the caretaker of the Oratory. He spent his days seeing sick people who came to him, and spent his evenings visiting the sick who could not make it to the Oratory. Construction on what would become known as St. Joseph’s Oratory began in 1914. A crypt church seating 1,000 was completed in 1917. By the 1920s the Oratory hosted over 1 million pilgrims annually, and hundreds of cures were attributed to his prayers every year.

Brother André died in Montreal on Jan. 6, 1937, without seeing the completion of his dream. It is estimated that over a million people visited his body during the week following his death. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II on May 23, 1982, at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. On Oct. 17, 2010, Brother André Bessette will be canonized, becoming the first male Canadian-born saint.

The miracle leading to his canonization occurred in 1999 when a 9-year-old boy had been the victim of an automobile accident, leaving him with a serious cranial injury and putting him in an irreversible coma leading toward death. The prayers of the people closest to him, along with the intercession of Brother André, brought him back to consciousness and health, and this was deemed scientifically unexplainable by medical experts.

“Pauper, servus et umilis”

Through Brother André’s efforts, suffering and faith, from a little chapel on a hillside of Mount Royal came forth a great Basilica that now dominates Montreal’s mountain and Canada’s spiritual landscape. St. Joseph’s Oratory is the world’s largest shrine dedicated to St. Joseph, built from a dream of Brother André Bessette. In this frail Brother of Holy Cross, God’s strength and might were revealed to the world. “Pauper, servus et umilis” are the Latin words written above his tomb at the Oratory in Montreal, meaning poor, servant and humble. They are also the words that are sung in the Panis Angelicus, the magnificent hymn about the Eucharist: poor, servant and humble. Who can say why was André chosen? In a beautiful circular letter to the Holy Cross family earlier this year, former Holy Cross Superior General Father Hugh Cleary wrote: “…perhaps André was chosen, like Mary and Joseph, because in the eyes of this world he was no one; he possessed nothing, nothing possessed him. … God possessed him giving him what he cared for most, giving him fulfillment to the deepest longing of his heart.”

Vocation of a Religious Lay Brother

In his 1996 Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrata, the Servant of God Pope John Paul II stated: “Consecrated persons are asked to be true experts of communion and to practice its spirituality as witnesses and artisans of that plan of communion which stands at the center of history according to God” (VC 46).

Religious brothers offer invaluable service to God’s people, though theirs is one that is lesser known in our Church. There is also an overwhelming sense that religious brothers are our peers, living and working in our midst as companions on our journey of faith. They are men who are examples of how the actions of our daily lives can in themselves be holy.

Brother André Bessette was a true expert and artisan of communion who lived and worked in our midst and was companion to so many people on their journey of faith. His vocation as a religious lay brother was a gracious and mysterious gift of God. His witnessing was prophetic, radical, visible, effective, credible and joyful. As an adult, Brother André stood just five feet tall. But he was a giant of faith and spirituality, whose shadow still hovers mightily over Montreal and Canada. He shows us what can be achieved through faith and love. In the humble porter’s own words, “It is with the smallest brushes that the artists paint the most beautiful pictures.”

Opening the doors of our hearts and Church

Christ is the door to the Father, who knocks at the doors of our hearts, our homes and our Church. The Church, and especially St. Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal, is the door to salvation, the portal of the Kingdom of God. Brother André was the porter of that blessed place. The Lord worked through his doubts, infirmities, strengths, perseverance and human ingenuity to build a Church and build up the Church.

Each day we enter and leave by so many doors without ever noticing. We all remember the stories of the days of our grandparents when “no one locked their doors.” We now live in an age of deadbolts and alarm systems. Gone are the days we once knew when the doors of our homes would open regularly and easily to relatives, friends and neighbors. The doors of our homes and churches don’t seem to swing open quite so easily or as often as they used to. We must find ways to open the doors of our homes, our hearts and our churches to all who need us.

In his day, Brother André was Montreal’s Porter and he is now one of Heaven’s special gatekeepers. He teaches us the importance of greeting each person as the Lord, himself. Some will come to our doors rejoicing, and others in fear; some will come healed and others to seek that healing. St. André teaches us to be sensitive and welcoming to all who knock on our doors. May he continue to inspire us to open doors and build bridges to the people whom the Lord sends us each day, especially those who are sick, broken, poor and lonely. May St. André of Montreal make us instruments of healing, friendship, joy and peace in our day.

* * *

Basilian Father Thomas Rosica, chief executive officer of the Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation and Television Network in Canada, is a consultor to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. He can be reached at: rosica@saltandlighttv.org.

On the Net:

Salt and Light Television in Canada has produced a documentary on the life of Brother André Bessette Bessette: God’s Doorkeeper: St. André of Montreal: saltandlighttv.org/brotherandre/

The network has also produced a documentary on “Blessed Mary MacKillop, Australia’s First Saint”: saltandlighttv.org/prog_special_mary_mackillop.html

Sermon 4: The Spiritual Life continued

If you have never read the Life of St. Teresa of Avila; it is very hard for me to explain what I feel when I read it or when I stop and relax my eyes from reading it off my computer. She wrote that five hundred years or more ago and yet it touches you deep in your soul.

When you read a chapter or a few paragraphs a few times a day; you are not reading but she is talking to you. A holy Capuchin priest told me I needed a Spiritual Director to help me on my vocation; St. Teresa of Avila or Mother Teresa; says if you can not find the right one for you; it is best that you wait and the Lord will send you one if you are living a life of humility. Books of certain saints I have read; some stir the soul but none like this one.

She, is like my Spiritual Director; learning how to truly pray and when you read her life; she is leading you to become the Best of the Best; as we all are called to be.

I thought for a time of the Carmelite Monks in Wyoming, The Order of St. Benedict, Order of St. Augustine, Secular Franciscans, Capuchins, Franciscans at EWTN and had a telephone interview with the friars at EWTN.

When reading her life or better yet; she telling you her life and building on her spirituality to ascend Mount Carmel; you become instructed by her and she becomes your personal Spiritual Master and Director.

You learn to think clearly and to listen to God and you hear Him more clearly when you read her book or as I have said; when she is speaking to you. My thoughts were of the vocation I was asked of as a boy but where I would be close to God and fall in love with God.

I do believe St. Edith Stein even had these thoughts when she read this same book and she entered Carmel. I myself are having those thoughts; giving up all to be a Carmelite monk/hermit and entering Carmel to ascend the Mount Carmel.

Only one place where we can truly find God and be happy with Him; is in silence. If we have God we lack nothing and we should lack nothing; if we have God; we have everything and He will take care of us. People today in the world where it is so noisy and you can’t even think straight would say I would be crazy and same for St. Teresa of Avila or St. John of the Cross; yes they are crazy for God and I’m starting to become that way. I am not rushing through her life story; because she is teaching me a lot and I don’t want to miss anything.

I am starting to find discomfort at home; because I never know if the house belongs to God or the evil one; because of all the fighting between my mom and dad or his porn stuff and the scary movies and shows my mom watches.

When I read or I should say; I sit back and listen to St. Teresa tell me more about her life and she is ready to teach me on the Second Degree of Prayer. The first way was so interesting and wonderful; and it teaches you that doing devotions out of habit isn’t good because it could lead to a false humility and compassion. We must make certain when we pray that we pray with humility but ask God for great favors.

I hope I can find her other work to read or listen to her tell me about it and instruct me; because she is a wonderful Spiritual Director and I can’t wait to hear from her partner who helped reform the Carmelites; St. John of the Cross and his work the Dark Night of the Soul. Things I have been suffering from for a while and I wonder why they happen for certain amounts of time and then go away; but sometimes they come back.

Anyway, back to St. Teresa of Avila; we must have humility in our life and learn humility. When we reach these different levels of prayer in our life and soul; closer we get to the top of Mount Carmel and as Fr. Mitch said Tuesday on Faith, Hope and Charity; the first two will be gone; because we will be in Heaven; but Love or Charity will always remain and that is why Charity or Love is the greatest of the three. When Peace of Christ takes over our life and the Love for Him; we have reached the top of Mount Carmel.

We must be very careful and not be those false compassion or false humility cheerleaders out there saying Lord, Lord and Jesus turns around says “I do not know you.” We must have true compassion and humility to grow in the Spiritual Life and once we have it; we shall know; if you want to find out what it is; take a look at the Little Flower, Mother Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross; also St. Edith Stein.

Sermon 3: The Spiritual Life

My dear friends,

In today’s time we have many different opposing views saying one thing or another; most of us have listened to and followed. We are Catholics; it doesn’t matter if you live in LA California to Miami, up to New York or Canada or the Midwest, Ohio River Valley, over to Washington State and every where; we are to live and dress one way; as Catholics.

Our faith means we are to be the best; because Jesus told us to be the best; He told us to be Perfect as our Heavenly Father is Perfect.

We must have a true Spiritual Life and understand what it means. To be only spiritual; well you deny logic and common sense; as I’ve learned today from G.K. Chesterton. We have all these people say they are spiritual and nothing else; well they lack Common Sense; because you can’t be just spiritual.

Now, let us look at how we dress and act; plus how we act with people. This may sound like my spiritual mother; whose feast day is today: St. Teresa of Avila.

What will make us truly happy? Is it the clothing, cars, hand bags, make up, parties today? No. We must not get carried away on these things; yes they are good and can be done for good; but it is also one the false gods that Pope Benedict is warning us about; Public Opinion.

To be happy; truly happy is the Holy Poverty and being close to Jesus Christ. No amount of clothes, make up, hand bags, hats, shoes, cars, parties will ever bring us happiness. To live Holy Poverty; means to live close to Jesus; because to live in Poverty is to be fed by God and to live in God.

We mustn’t worry about being in style with the world or the gossip; but we must worry about spending enough time in prayer and so we must spend what the time you would spend talking in prayer; silent prayer; contemplation.

To live a Spiritual Life; means we are to have silence for prayer; so you can pray by yourself and not be bothered; which most of us have been bothered and we get upset at the person who bothers us.

The Spirituality of the Discalced Carmelites:

” The Spirituality of the Rule.

Codifying a form of life spontaneously adopted by the hermits and
informing us at the same time of the spiritual principles which guided
them, a knowledge of this Rule is particularly precious. It enables us not only to discover the spirit of Carmel; it also gives new insights about those whom it binds. John of Saint-Samson was later to say: “Our primitive Rule is extremely basic and concise; it is more inwardly in regard to the spirit than outwardly in regard to expression”.[6]

It is always important to know the spirit in which the special ends of an
order are to be sought, as well as the external works for which it was
founded. Now the spirit is usually only one of the constituent elements of the order, one characteristic among many others. But, when an order has only a spiritual work, and no other end than to promote and sustainspiritual life, then the spirit is everything. The Rule of Carmel makes this clear in its preamble:

“It possesses the austere quality of great spiritual texts, the delicacy
of things from above. It seems freed from all accidental detail of space
as well as time. Rising above contingencies of matter it does not even
stop to discuss questions about the organization of life. It is concerned
with what is within. It seeks to waken divine powers slumbering in the
contemplative soul. It is an invitation to live rather than a formula of
life.”[7]

Is it possible to discover the spirit of an interior Rule if one does not
possess an interior spirit? From the first, Carmel has insisted on this
thirst for solitude and silence, this attraction for the desert as the
best place for the divine meeting and for contemplation. The Rule takes
this setting on the spiritual plane and makes it interior. The cell
becomes the desert where the soul meets its God. Prayer becomes its
conversation, its occupation “from morning to night”, its “interior life”.
“Let each remain in his cell, or near it, meditating day and night on the
Law of the Lord and watching in prayer.”[8]

Can the climate of this interior life, of this prayer, be discovered in
the Rule? And can the Rule help us to describe the spirituality of Carmel?

So sober is the text and so brief that the answer would at first seem to
be, no. But considered from within, the text becomes much more revealing.

First of all, this sobriety itself appears eminently characteristic of the
spirit which imposed it. It is an immediate introduction to a spirituality
freed from the letter and utterly detached. The soul realizes that it must sell all to acquire the hidden treasure; that the kingdom of God alone matters: all else will be given to it over and above.

The sobriety is accompanied by a liberation from every spirit of
individualism. Just as “the brother hermits who live on Mount Carmel” had recourse to the Church in the person of the patriarch of Jerusalem toobtain a Rule (and it will be remembered that when the greater reformer was on her death bed she gloried only in the fact that she was “a daughter of the Church”), so we see even now that the Rule requires that the Divine Office be recited according to the freely embraced ” regulations laid down by the Sovereign Pontiffs and the customs approved by the Church”.

What would men, fiercely devoted to spiritual liberty and accustomed to the breeze that comes from the desert or the sea, have to do with special forms and complicated methods? Instinctively they cling to what is most simple and ordinary because that is what makes it possible for them to give themselves in peace to “the one thing necessary”.

Or course the principle of authority is affirmed, obedience is exacted, as well as silence, work, and the renunciation of all property. But this is
to be done in the spirit to which the Gospel has accustomed us. All these are simple means to a single and uniquely necessary end: union with God.

Therefore the Rule is extremely simple and supple, not only because
everything in it is ordered and directed to a single end but also because
it does not hesitate to make use of all means, according to the gentle and flexible way of the spirit. We read in the Rule: “You may… inasmuch asthe Prior shall deem it fitting… when that can be done conveniently…unless he be lawfully occupied in some other way… taking into consideration the age and the needs of each one… when that may be done without trouble… unless obliged by sickness or the weakness of the bodyor by some other just cause to break the fast, because necessity knows no law…”.

Nothing cut and dried, nothing narrowly literal but a simple and truly
spiritual means of enabling souls spontaneously to advance in the path of the absolute. This is the spirit of the Gospel: “If thou wilt…”.

The Rule is not unaware that a life of union with God rests on the
foundation and generous practice of renunciation. But it asks for a
renunciation which “without stifling the soul will enable it to be aware
of its poverty so that at every instant it will turn toward God”[9]. of
course, no progress is possible without effort and so there is a virile
note in every part of the Rule. With Job it repeats: “Man’s life on earth
is a temptation” and “Those who live piously on earth will suffer
persecution”. “Therefore, set about with all zeal to clothe yourself with
the armor of God”. How could we fail to be reminded, when we see that the Rule lists all the armor recommended by Saint Paul, that it was made for “Crusaders”, eager to place themselves at the service of their “Lord” Jesus Christ, Crusaders who were faithful to their ancestors: those great solitaries whose heroic struggles with the flesh and the devil tradition has recorded.

But the ascetic side of the Rule is tempered. Effort, renunciation, work,
silence appear above all as means of stripping the soul of self, of
freeing it so that unhampered it may advance more surely along the paths of divine union.

All that the Rule offers along this line comes straight from the Gospel,
whose fragrance it retains. And all this is perfectly integrated with what it has received from its origins. This completes the Rule and adds depth, laying down a path through the desert where the soul can advance without getting lost. “If anyone wishes to be My disciple, let him renounce
himself and follow Me”.

At all times Carmel longed for God. The Rule points out the way. The way does not consist in a series of didactic lessons, or formulas, or
techniques but the study of the living way which is Christ Jesus.”

We mustn’t be taken over by the world; we must be of the world but not in the world; acting like everyone else. There are lay members and members by who wear the brown Scauplar; but then there are those who will join the orders as religious men and women; who will ascend Carmel.

I’ve seen how some lay members dress and I don’t think St. Teresa of Avila or John of the Cross would like it; especially with the dress up clothes for special ocasions. We must dress modestly and live a life of humility.

Finally I would like to share part one of Prayer by St. Teresa of Avila:

“Gives the reason why we do not learn to love God perfectly in a short time. Begins, by means of a comparison, to describe four degrees of prayer, concerning the first of which something is here said. This is most profitable for beginners and for those who are receiving no consolations in prayer. I shall now speak of those who are beginning to be the servants of love—for this, I think, is what we become when we resolve to follow in this way of prayer Him Who so greatly loved us. So great a dignity is this that thinking of it alone brings me a strange comfort, for servile fear vanishes at once if while we are at this first stage we act as we should. O Lord of my soul and my Good! Why, when a soul has resolved to love Thee and by forsaking everything does all in its power towards that end, so that it may the better employ itself in the love of God, hast Thou been pleased that it should not at once have the joy of ascending to the possession of this perfect love? But I am wrong: I should have made my complaint by asking why we ourselves have no desire so to ascend, for it is we alone who are at fault in not at once enjoying so great a dignity. If we attain to the perfect possession of this true love of God, it brings all blessings with it. But so niggardly and so slow are we in giving ourselves wholly to God that we do not prepare ourselves as we should to receive that precious thing which it is His Majesty’s will that we should enjoy only at a great price.

I am quite clear that there is nothing on earth with which so great a blessing can be purchased; but if we did what we could to obtain it, if we cherished no attachment to earthly things, and if all our cares and all our intercourse were centred in Heaven, I believe there is no doubt that this blessing would be given us very speedily, provided we prepared ourselves for it thoroughly and quickly, as did some of the saints. But we think we are giving God everything, whereas what we are really offering Him is the revenue or the fruits of our land while keeping the stock and the right of ownership of it in our own hands. We have made a resolve to be poor, and that is a resolution of great merit; but we often begin to plan and strive again so that we may have no lack, not only of necessaries, but even of superfluities; we try to make friends who will give us these, lest we should lack anything; and we take greater pains, and perhaps even run greater risks, than we did before, when we had possessions of our own. Presumably, again, when we became nuns, or previously, when we began to lead spiritual lives and to follow after perfection, we abandoned all thought of our own importance;[106] and yet hardly is our self-importance wounded[107] than we quite forget that we have surrendered it to God and we try to seize it again, and wrest it, as they say, out of His very hands, although we had apparently made Him Lord of our will. And the same thing happens with everything else.

A nice way of seeking the love of God is this! We expect great handfuls of it, as one might say, and yet we want to reserve our affections for ourselves! We make no effort to carry our desires into effect or to raise them far above the earth. It is hardly suitable that people who act in this way should have many spiritual consolations; the two things seem to me incompatible. So, being unable to make a full surrender of ourselves, we are never given a full supply of this treasure. May His Majesty be pleased to give it to us little by little, even though the receiving of it may cost us all the trials in the world.

The Lord shows exceeding great mercy to him whom He gives grace and courage to resolve to strive after this blessing with all his might. For God denies Himself to no one who perseveres but gradually increases the courage of such a one till he achieves victory. I say “courage” because of the numerous obstacles which the devil at first sets in his path to hinder him from ever setting out upon it, for the devil knows what harm will come to him thereby and that he will lose not only that one soul but many more. If by the help of God the beginner strives to reach the summit of perfection, I do not believe he will ever go to Heaven alone but will always take many others with him: God treats him like a good captain, and gives him soldiers to go in his company. So many are the dangers and difficulties which the devil sets before him that if he is not to turn back he needs not merely a little courage but a very great deal, and much help from God.

To say something, then, of the early experiences of those who are determined to pursue this blessing and to succeed in this enterprise (I shall continue later with what I began to say about mystical theology, as I believe it is called): it is in these early stages that their labour is hardest, for it is they themselves who labour and the Lord Who gives the increase. In the other degrees of prayer the chief thing is fruition, although, whether at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of the road, all have their crosses, different as these may be. For those who follow Christ must take the way which He took, unless they want to be lost. Blessed are their labours which even here, in this life, have such abundant recompense I shall have to employ some kind of comparison, though, being a woman and writing simply what I am commanded, I should like to avoid doing so; but this spiritual language is so hard to use for such as, like myself, have no learning, that I shall have to seek some such means of conveying my ideas. It may be that my comparison will seldom do this successfully and Your Reverence will be amused to see how stupid I am. But it comes to my mind now that I have read or heard of this comparison: as I have a bad memory, I do not know where it occurred or what it illustrated, but it satisfies me at the moment as an illustration of my own.

The beginner must think of himself as of one setting out to make a garden in which the Lord is to take His delight, yet in soil most unfruitful and full of weeds. His Majesty uproots the weeds and will set good plants in their stead. Let us suppose that this is already done—that a soul has resolved to practise prayer and has already begun to do so. We have now, by God’s help, like good gardeners, to make these plants grow, and to water them carefully, so that they may not perish, but may produce flowers which shall send forth great fragrance to give refreshment to this Lord of ours, so that He may often come into the garden to take His pleasure and have His delight among these virtues.

Let us now consider how this garden can be watered, so that we may know what we have to do, what labour it will cost us, if the gain will outweigh the labour and for how long this labour must be borne. It seems to me that the garden can be watered in four ways: by taking the water from a well, which costs us great labour; or by a water-wheel and buckets, when the water is drawn by a windlass (I have sometimes drawn it in this way: it is less laborious than the other and gives more water); or by a stream or a brook, which waters the ground much better, for it saturates it more thoroughly and there is less need to water it often, so that the gardener’s labour is much less; or by heavy rain, when the Lord waters it with no labour of ours, a way incomparably better than any of those which have been described.

And now I come to my point, which is the application of these four methods of watering by which the garden is to be kept fertile, for if it has no water it will be ruined. It has seemed possible to me in this way to explain something about the four degrees of prayer to which the Lord, of His goodness, has occasionally brought my soul. May He also of His goodness grant me to speak in such a way as to be of some profit to one of the persons who commanded me to write this book,[108] whom in four months the Lord has brought to a point far beyond that which I have reached in seventeen years. He prepared himself better than I, and thus his garden, without labour on his part, is watered by all these four means, though he is still receiving the last watering only drop by drop; such progress is his garden making that soon, by the Lord’s help, it will be submerged. It will be a pleasure to me for him to laugh at my explanation if he thinks it foolish.

Beginners in prayer, we may say, are those who draw up the water out of the well: this, as I have said, is a very laborious proceeding, for it will fatigue them to keep their senses recollected, which is a great labour because they have been accustomed to a life of distraction. Beginners must accustom themselves to pay no heed to what they see or hear, and they must practise doing this during hours of prayer; they must be alone and in their solitude think over their past life—all of us, indeed, whether beginners or proficients, must do this frequently. There are differences, however, in the degree to which it must be done, as I shall show later. At first it causes distress, for beginners are not always sure that they have repented of their sins (though clearly they have, since they have so sincerely resolved to serve God). Then they have to endeavour to meditate upon the life of Christ and this fatigues their minds. Thus far we can make progress by ourselves—of course with the help of God, for without that, as is well known, we cannot think a single good thought. This is what is meant by beginning to draw up water from the well—and God grant there may be water in it! But that, at least, does not depend on us: our task is to draw it up and to do what we can to water the flowers. And God is so good that when, for reasons known to His Majesty, perhaps to our great advantage, He is pleased that the well should be dry, we, like good gardeners, do all that in us lies, and He keeps the flowers alive without water and makes the virtues grow. By water here I mean tears—or, if there be none of these, tenderness and an interior feeling of devotion.

What, then, will he do here who finds that for many days he experiences nothing but aridity, dislike, distaste and so little desire to go and draw water that he would give it up entirely if he did not remember that he is pleasing and serving the Lord of the garden; if he were not anxious that all his service should not be lost, to say nothing of the gain which he hopes for from the great labour of lowering the bucket so often into the well and drawing it up without water? It will often happen that, even for that purpose, he is unable to move his arms—unable, that is, to think a single good thought, for working with the understanding is of course the same as drawing water out of the well. What, then, as I say, will the gardener do here? He will be glad and take heart and consider it the greatest of favours to work in the garden of so great an Emperor; and, as he knows that he is pleasing Him by so working (and his purpose must be to please, not himself, but Him), let him render Him great praise for having placed such confidence in him, when He has seen that, without receiving any recompense, he is taking such great care of that which He had entrusted to him; let him help Him to bear the Cross and consider how He lived with it all His life long; let him not wish to have his kingdom on earth or ever cease from prayer; and so let him resolve, even if this aridity should persist his whole life long, never to let Christ fall beneath the Cross. The time will come when he shall receive his whole reward at once. Let him have no fear that his labour will be lost. He is serving a good Master, Whose eyes are upon him. Let him pay no heed to evil thoughts, remembering how the devil put such thoughts into the mind of Saint Jerome in the desert.[109]

These trials bring their own reward. I endured them for many years; and, when I was able to draw but one drop of water from this blessed well, I used to think that God was granting me a favour. I know how grievous such trials are and I think they need more courage than do many others in the world. But it has become clear to me that, even in this life, God does not fail to recompense them highly; for it is quite certain that a single one of those hours in which the Lord has granted me to taste of Himself has seemed to me later a recompense for all the afflictions which I endured over a long period while keeping up the practice of prayer. I believe myself that often in the early stages, and again later, it is the Lord’s will to give us these tortures, and many other temptations which present themselves, in order to test His lovers and discover if they can drink of the chalice and help Him to bear the Cross before He trusts them with His great treasures. I believe it is for our good that His Majesty is pleased to lead us in this way so that we may have a clear understanding of our worthlessness; for the favours which come later are of such great dignity that before He grants us them He wishes us to know by experience how miserable we are, lest what happened to Lucifer happen to us also.

What is there that Thou doest, my Lord, which is not for the greater good of the soul that Thou knowest to be already Thine and that places itself in Thy power, to follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest, even to the death of the Cross, and is determined to help Thee bear that Cross and not to leave Thee alone with it? If anyone finds himself thus determined, there is nothing for him to fear. No, spiritual people, there is no reason to be distressed. Once you have reached so high a state as this, in which you desire to be alone and to commune with God, and abandon the pastimes of the world, the chief part of your work is done. Praise His Majesty for this and trust in His goodness, which never yet failed His friends. Close the eyes of your thought and do not wonder: “Why is He giving devotion to that person of so few days’ experience, and none to me after so many years?” Let us believe that it is all for our greater good; let His Majesty guide us whithersoever He wills; we are not our own, but His. It is an exceeding great favour that He shows us when it is His pleasure that we should wish to dig in His garden, and we are then near the Lord of the garden, Who is certainly with us. If it be His will that these plants and flowers should grow, some by means of the water drawn from this well and others without it, what matter is that to me? Do Thou, O Lord, what Thou wilt; let me not offend Thee and let not my virtues perish, if, of Thy goodness alone, Thou hast given me any. I desire to suffer, Lord, because Thou didst suffer. Let Thy will be in every way fulfilled in me, and may it never please Thy Majesty that a gift so precious as Thy love be given to people who serve Thee solely to obtain consolations.

It must be carefully noted—and I say this because I know it by experience—that the soul which begins to walk resolutely in this way of mental prayer and can persuade itself to set little store by consolations and tenderness in devotion, and neither to be elated when the Lord gives them nor disconsolate when He withholds them, has already travelled a great part of its journey. However often it may stumble, it need not fear a relapse, for its building has been begun on a firm foundation.[110] Yes, love for God does not consist in shedding tears, in enjoying those consolations and that tenderness which for the most part we desire and in which we find comfort, but in serving Him with righteousness, fortitude of soul and humility. The other seems to me to be receiving rather than giving anything.

As for poor women like myself, who are weak and lack fortitude, I think it fitting that we should be led by means of favours: this is the way in which God is leading me now, so that I may be able to suffer certain trials which it has pleased His Majesty to give me. But when I hear servants of God, men of weight, learning and intelligence, making such a fuss because God is not giving them devotion, it revolts me to listen to them. I do not mean that, when God gives them such a thing, they ought not to accept it and set a great deal of store by it, because in that case His Majesty must know that it is good for them. But I do mean that if they do not receive it they should not be distressed: they should realize that, as His Majesty does not give it them, it is unnecessary; they should be masters of themselves and go on their way. Let them believe that they are making a mistake about this: I have proved it and seen that it is so. Let them believe that it is an imperfection in them if, instead of going on their way with freedom of spirit, they hang back through weakness and lack of enterprise.

I am not saying this so much for beginners (though I lay some stress upon it, even for these, because it is of great importance that they should start with this freedom and determination): I mean it rather for others. There must be many who have begun some time back and never manage to finish their course, and I believe it is largely because they do not embrace the Cross from the beginning that they are distressed and think that they are making no progress. When the understanding ceases to work, they cannot bear it, though perhaps even then the will is increasing in power, and putting on new strength,[111] without their knowing it. We must realize that the Lord pays no heed to these things: to us they may look like faults, but they are not so. His Majesty knows our wretchedness and the weakness of our nature better than we ourselves and He knows that all the time these souls are longing to think of Him and to love Him. It is this determination that He desires in us. The other afflictions which we bring upon ourselves serve only to disturb our souls, and the result of them is that, if we find ourselves unable to get profit out of a single hour, we are impeded from doing so for four. I have a great deal of experience of this and I know that what I say is true, for I have observed it carefully and have discussed it afterwards with spiritual persons. The thing frequently arises from physical indisposition, for we are such miserable creatures that this poor imprisoned soul shares in the miseries of the body, and variations of season and changes in the humours often prevent it from accomplishing its desires and make it suffer in all kinds of ways against its will. The more we try to force it at times like these, the worse it gets and the longer the trouble lasts. But let discretion be observed so that it may be ascertained if this is the true reason: the poor soul must not be stifled. Persons in this condition must realize that they are ill and make some alteration in their hours of prayer; very often it will be advisable to continue this change for some days.

They must endure this exile as well as they can, for a soul which loves God has often the exceeding ill fortune to realize that, living as it is in this state of misery, it cannot do what it desires because of its evil guest, the body. I said we must observe discretion, because sometimes the same effects will be produced by the devil; and so it is well that prayer should not always be given up when the mind is greatly distracted and disturbed, nor the soul tormented by being made to do what is not in its power. There are other things which can be done—exterior acts, such as reading or works of charity—though sometimes the soul will be unable to do even these. At such times the soul must render the body a service for the love of God, so that on many other occasions the body may render services to the soul. Engage in some spiritual recreation, such as conversation (so long as it is really spiritual), or a country walk, according as your confessor advises. In all these things it is important to have had experience, for from this we learn what is fitting for us; but let God be served in all things. Sweet is His yoke, and it is essential that we should not drag the soul along with us, so to say, but lead it gently, so that it may make the greater progress.

I repeat my advice, then (and it matters not how often I say this, for it is of great importance), that one must never be depressed or afflicted because of aridities or unrest or distraction of the mind. If a person would gain spiritual freedom and not be continually troubled, let him begin by not being afraid of the Cross and he will find that the Lord will help him to bear it; he will then advance happily and find profit in everything. It is now clear that, if no water is coming from the well, we ourselves can put none into it. But of course we must not be careless: water must always be drawn when there is any there, for at such a time God’s will is that we should use it so that He may multiply our virtues.

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Chapter 12

Continues to describe this first state. Tells how far, with the help of God, we can advance by ourselves and describes the harm that ensues when the spirit attempts to aspire to unusual and supernatural experiences before they are bestowed upon it by the Lord.

Although in the last chapter I digressed a good deal about other things, because they seemed to me very necessary, what I was trying to make clear was how much we can attain by our own power and how in this first stage of devotion we can do a certain amount for ourselves. For, if we examine and meditate upon the Lord’s sufferings for us, we are moved to compassion, and this grief and the tears which proceed from it are very sweet. And then if we think about the glory we hope for, and the love which the Lord bore us, and His resurrection, we are moved to a rejoicing which is neither wholly spiritual nor wholly sensual, but is a virtuous joy; the grief also is of great merit. Of this nature are all the things which cause a devotion acquired in part by the understanding, though this can be neither merited nor attained unless it be given by God. It is best for a soul which has been raised no higher than this not to try to rise by its own efforts. Let this be noted carefully, for if the soul does try so to rise it will make no progress but only go backward.

In this state it can make many acts of resolution to do great things for God and it can awaken its own love. It can make other acts which will help the virtues to grow, as is explained in a book called The Art of sensing God,112 which is very good and suitable for persons in this state, because in it the understanding is active. The soul can picture itself in the presence of Christ, and accustom itself to become enkindled with great love for His sacred Humanity and to have Him ever with it and speak with Him, ask Him for the things it has need of, make complaints to Him of its trials, rejoice with Him in its joys and yet never allow its joys to make it forgetful of Him. It has no need to think out set prayers but can use just such words as suit its desires and needs. This is an excellent way of making progress, and of making it very quickly; and if anyone strives always to have this precious companionship, makes good use of it and really learns to love this Lord to Whom we owe so much, such a one, I think, has achieved a definite gain.

For this reason, as I have said, we must not be troubled if we have no conscious devotion, but thank the Lord Who allows us to harbour a desire to please Him, although our deeds may be of little worth. This method of bringing Christ into our lives is helpful at all stages; it is a most certain means of making progress in the earliest stage, of quickly reaching the second degree of prayer, and, in the final stages, of keeping ourselves safe from the dangers into which the devil may lead us.

This, then, is what we can do. If anyone tries to pass beyond this stage and lift up his spirit so as to experience consolations which are not being given to him, I think he is losing both in the one respect and in the other. For these consolations are supernatural and, when the understanding ceases to act, the soul remains barren and suffers great aridity. And, as the foundation of the entire edifice is humility, the nearer we come to God, the greater must be the progress which we make in this virtue: otherwise, we lose everything. It seems to be a kind of pride that makes us wish to rise higher, for God is already doing more for us than we deserve by bringing us near to Him. It must not be supposed that I am referring here to the lifting up of the mind to a consideration of the high things of Heaven or of God, and of the wonders which are in Heaven, and of God’s great wisdom. I never did this myself, for, as I have said, I had no ability for it, and I knew myself to be so wicked that even when it came to thinking of earthly things God granted me grace to understand this truth, that it was no small presumption in me to do so—how much more as to heavenly things! Other persons will profit in this way, especially if they are learned, for learning, I think, is a priceless help in this exercise, if humility goes with it. Only a few days ago I observed that this was so in certain learned men, who began but a short while since and have made very great progress; and this gives me great longings that many more learned men should become spiritual, as I shall say later.

When I say that people should not try to rise unless they are raised by God I am using the language of spirituality; anyone who has had any experience will understand me and if what I have already said cannot be understood I do not know how to explain it. In the mystical theology which I began to describe, the understanding loses its power of working, because God suspends it, as I shall explain further by and by if God grants me His help for that purpose. What I say we must not do is to presume or think that we can suspend it ourselves; nor must we allow it to cease working: if we do, we shall remain stupid and cold and shall achieve nothing whatsoever. When the Lord suspends the understanding and makes it cease from its activity, He gives it something which both amazes it and keeps it busy, so that, without reasoning in any way, it can understand more in a short space of time than we, with all our human efforts, in many years. To keep the faculties of the soul busy and to think that, at the same time, you can keep them quiet, is foolishness. And I say once more that, although the fact is not generally realized, there is no great humility in this: it may not be sinful, but it certainly causes distress, for it is lost labour, and the soul feels slightly frustrated, like a man who is just about to take a leap and then is pulled back, so that he seems to have put forth his strength and yet finds that he has not accomplished what he had expected to. Anyone who will consider the matter will detect, in the slightness of the gain achieved by the soul, this very slight lack of humility of which I have spoken. For that virtue has this excellent trait—that when an action is accompanied by it the soul is never left with any feeling of irritation. I think I have made this clear, though it may possibly be so only to me. May the Lord open the eyes of those who read this by granting them experience of it, and, however slight that experience may be, they will at once understand it.

I spent a good many years doing a great deal of reading and understanding nothing of what I read; for a long time, though God was teaching me, I could not utter a word to explain His teaching to others, and this was no light trial to me. When His Majesty so wills He can teach everything in a moment, in a way that amazes me. I can truthfully say this: though I used to talk with many spiritual persons, who would try to explain what the Lord was teaching me so that I might be able to speak about it, I was so stupid that I could not get the slightest profit from their instruction. Possibly, as His Majesty has always been my teacher—may He be blessed for everything, for I am thoroughly ashamed at being able to say that this is the truth –, it may have been His will that I should be indebted to no one else for my knowledge. In any case, without my wishing it or asking for it (for I have never been curious about such things, as it would have been a virtue in me to be, but only about vanities), God suddenly gave me a completely clear understanding of the whole thing, so that I was able to speak about it in such a way that people were astounded. And I myself was more astounded even than my own confessors, for I was more conscious than they of my own stupidity. This happened only a short time ago. So I do not now attempt to learn what the Lord has not taught me, unless it be something affecting my conscience.

Once more I repeat my advice that it is very important that we should not try to lift up our spirits unless they are lifted up by the Lord: in the latter case we shall become aware of the fact instantly. It is specially harmful for women to make such attempts, because the devil can foster illusions in them, although I am convinced that the Lord never allows anyone to be harmed who strives to approach Him with humility: rather will he derive more profit and gain from the very experience through which the devil thought to send him to perdition. As this road is that most generally taken by beginners, and the counsels that I have given are of great importance, I have said a good deal about it. I confess that others have written about it much better elsewhere, and I have felt great confusion and shame in writing of it, though less than I should. May the Lord be blessed for it all, Whose will and pleasure it is that one such as I should speak of things that are His—things of such a nature as these and so sublime!

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Chapter 13

Continues to describe this first state and gives counsels for dealing with certain temptations which the devil is sometimes wont to prepare. This chapter is very profitable. It has seemed to me appropriate to speak of certain temptations which, as I have observed, often attack beginners—I have had some of them myself—and to give counsels about matters which appear to me necessary. In the early stages, then, one should strive to feel happy and free. There are some people who think that devotion will slip away from them if they relax a little. It is well to have misgivings about oneself and not to allow self-confidence to lead one into occasions which habitually involve offenses against God. This is most necessary until one becomes quite perfect in virtue; and there are not many who are so perfect as to be able to relax when occasions present themselves which tempt their own peculiar disposition. It is well that, all our lives long, we should recognize the worthlessness of our nature, if only for the sake of humility. Yet there are many circumstances in which, as I have said, it is permissible for us to take some recreation, in order that we may be the stronger when we return to prayer. In everything we need discretion.

We must have great confidence, for it is most important that we should not cramp our good desires, but should believe that, with God’s help, if we make continual efforts to do so, we shall attain, though perhaps not at once, to that which many saints have reached through His favour. If they had never resolved to desire to attain this and to carry their desires continually into effect, they would never have risen to as high a state as they did. His Majesty desires and loves courageous souls if they have no confidence in themselves but walk in humility; and I have never seen any such person hanging back on this road, nor any soul that, under the guise of humility, acted like a coward, go as far in many years as the courageous soul can in few. I am astounded at how much can be done on this road if one has the courage to attempt great things; the soul may not have the strength to achieve these things at once but if it takes a flight it can make good progress, though, like a little unfledged bird, it is apt to grow tired and stop.

At one time I used often to bear in mind the words of Saint Paul, that everything is possible in God:[113] I realized quite well that in myself I could do nothing. This was a great help to me, as were also the words of Saint Augustine: “Give me, Lord, what Thou commandest me and command what Thou wilt.”[114] I used often to reflect that Saint Peter had lost nothing by throwing himself into the sea, though after he had done so he was afraid.[115] These first resolutions are of great importance, although during this first stage we have to go slowly and to be guided by the discretion and opinion of our director; but we must see to it that he is not the kind of person to teach us to be like toads, satisfied if our souls show themselves fit only to catch lizards. We must always keep humility before us, so that we may realize that this strength cannot proceed from any strength of our own.

But it is necessary that we should realize what kind of humility this must be, for I believe the devil does a great deal of harm to those who practise prayer by encouraging misunderstandings about humility in them so as to prevent them from making much progress. He persuades us that it is pride which makes us have ambitious desires and want to imitate the saints and wish to be martyrs. Then he tells us, or induces us to believe, that we who are sinners may admire the deeds of the saints but must not copy them. I myself would agree with him to the extent that we must consider which of their deeds we are to admire and which to imitate. For it would not be a good thing for a person who was weak and ill to indulge in a great deal of fasting and in severe penances, or to go to a desert where he could not sleep or get anything to eat, or to attempt other things of that kind. But we must reflect that, with the help of God, we can strive to have a great contempt for the world, no regard for honour, and no attachment to possessions. For so ungenerous are we that we imagine the earth will go from under our feet if we try to forget the body a little and to cultivate the spirit. Or, again, we think that to have an abundance of all we need is a help to recollection because anxieties disturb prayer.

It distresses me to reflect that we have so little confidence in God, and so much love for ourselves, that anxieties like this upset us. When we have made so little spiritual progress, the smallest things will trouble us as much as important and weighty things will trouble others, and yet in our own minds we presume to think ourselves spiritual. Now to me it seems that this kind of life is an attempt to reconcile body and soul, so that we may lose neither comfort in this world nor fruition of God in the world to come. We shall get along all right if we walk in righteousness and hold fast to virtue, but it will mean advancing at the pace of a hen and will never lead us to spiritual freedom. This is a procedure which seems to me quite good for people who are in the married state and have to live in accordance with their vocation; but in any other state I should not at all like to see such a method of progress nor will anyone persuade me to think it a good one. For I have tried it; and I should have been practising it still if the Lord in His goodness had not shown me another and a shorter road.

With regard to this matter of desires, my own were always ambitious, but I strove, as I have said, to practise prayer and yet to live according to my own pleasure. If there had been anyone to encourage me to soar higher, I think he might have brought me to a state in which these desires were carried into effect; but, for our sins, those who are not over-cautious in this respect are very few and far between, and that, I think, is sufficient reason why those who begin do not more quickly attain to great perfection. For the Lord never fails us and the fault is not His: it is we who are faulty and miserable.

We may also imitate the saints by striving after solitude and silence and many other virtues; such things will not kill these wretched bodies of ours, which want to have everything organized for their benefit in such a way as to disorganize the soul and which the devil does his best to incapacitate when he sees that we are getting fearful about them. That is quite enough for him: he tries at once to persuade us that all these habits of devotion will kill us, or ruin our health; he even makes us afraid that if we weep we shall go blind. I have experienced this, so I know it—and I also know that we can desire no better kind of sight or health than to lose both in so good a cause. As my own health is so bad, I was always impeded by my fears, and my devotion was of no value at all until I resolved not to worry any more about my body or my health; and now I trouble about them very little. For it pleased God to reveal to me this device of the devil; and so, whenever the devil suggested that I should ruin my health, I would reply: “Even if I die it is of little consequence.” “Rest, indeed!” I would say. “I need no rest; what I need is crosses.” And so with other things. I saw clearly that in very many cases, although in fact I have very bad health, it was a temptation either of the devil or of my own weakness; and since I have been less self-regarding and indulgent my health has been very much better. It is of great importance, when we begin to practise prayer, not to let ourselves be frightened by our own thoughts. And you may take my word for this, for I have learned it by experience; this mere narration of my faults might be of use to others if they will take warning by me.

There is another temptation which is very common—namely to desire that everyone should be extremely spiritual when one is beginning to find what tranquillity, and what profit, spirituality brings. It is not wrong to desire this but it may not be right to try to bring it about unless we do so with such discretion and dissimulation that we give no impression of wanting to teach others. For if a person is to do any good in this respect he must be very strong in the virtues so as not to put temptation in others’ way. This I found out for myself—and that is why I realize it. When, as I have said, I tried to get others to practise prayer, and when on the one hand they would hear me saying so much about the blessedness of prayer, while on the other they would observe that I, who practised it, was so poverty stricken in virtue, it would lead them into temptations and various kinds of foolishness. And they had good reason on their side; for, as they have since told me, they could not see how one of these things could be compatible with the other. And so they came to believe that there was nothing wrong in what was intrinsically evil; for they saw that I sometimes did such things and at that time they had rather a good opinion of me.

This is the devil’s doing. He seems to make use of the virtues which we have, and which are good, in order to give such authority as he can to the evil which he is trying to make us do: however trifling the evil may be, it must be of great value to him when it is done in a religious community—how much more, then, must he have gained from the evil which I did, for it was very great. So, over a period of many years, only three persons derived any profit from what I said to them;[116] whereas, now that the Lord has made me stronger in virtue, many persons have derived such profit in the course of two or three years, as I shall afterwards relate. In addition, there is another great disadvantage in yielding to this temptation: namely, the harm caused to our own soul; for the utmost we have to do at first is to take care of our soul and to remember that in the entire world there is only God and the soul;[117] and this is a thing which it is very profitable to remember.

Another temptation comes from the distress caused by the sins and failings which we see in others, for we all have a zeal for virtue and so we must learn to understand ourselves and walk warily. The devil tells us that this distress arises solely from our desire that God should not be offended and from our concern for His honour and then we immediately try to set matters right. This makes us so excited that is prevents us from praying, and the greatest harm of all is that we think this to be a virtue, and a sign of perfection and of great zeal for God. I am not referring to the distress caused by public offenses in a religious congregation, if they become habitual, or of wrongs done to the Church, such as heresies, through which, as we see, so many souls are lost; for distress caused by these is right, and, being right, causes us no excitement. Safety, then, for the soul that practises prayer will consist in its ceasing to be anxious about anything and anybody, and in its watching itself and pleasing God. This is most important. If I were to describe the mistakes I have seen people make because they trusted in their good intentions!

Let us strive, then, always to look at the virtues and the good qualities which we find in others, and to keep our own grievous sins before our eyes so that we may be blind to their defects. This is a course of action which, though we may not become perfect in it all at once, will help us to acquire one great virtue—namely, to consider all others better than ourselves. In this way we shall begin to profit, by God’s help (which is always necessary, and, when it fails, our own efforts are useless), and we must beg Him to give us this virtue, which, if we exert our own efforts, He will deny to none. This counsel must also be remembered by those who use their intellects a great deal and from one subject can extract many ideas and conceptions. To those who cannot do this—and I used to be one—there is no need to offer any counsel, save that they must have patience until the Lord gives them occupation and enlightenment, for of themselves they can do so little that their intellect hinders rather than helps them.

Returning, then, to those who can make use of their reasoning powers, I advise them not to spend all their time in doing so; their method of prayer is most meritorious, but, enjoying it as they do, they fail to realize that they ought to have a kind of Sunday—that is to say, a period of rest from their labour. To stop working, they think, would be a loss of time, whereas my view is that this loss is a great gain; let them imagine themselves, as I have suggested, in the presence of Christ, and let them remain in converse with Him, and delighting in Him, without wearying their minds or fatiguing themselves by composing speeches to Him, but laying their needs before Him and acknowledging how right He is not to allow us to be in His presence. There is a time for one thing and a time for another; were there not, the soul would grow tired of always eating the same food. These foods are very pleasant and wholesome; and, if the palate is accustomed to their taste, they provide great sustenance for the life of the soul, and bring it many other benefits.

I will explain myself further, for these matters concerning prayer are difficult, and, if no director is available, very hard to understand. It is for this reason that, though I should like to write more briefly, and though merely to touch upon these matters concerning prayer would suffice for the keen intellect of him who commanded me to write of them, my own stupidity prevents me from describing and explaining in a few words a matter which it is so important to expound thoroughly. Having gone through so much myself, I am sorry for those who begin with books alone, for it is extraordinary what a difference there is between understanding a thing and knowing it by experience. Returning, then, to what I was saying, we begin to meditate upon a scene of the Passion—let us say upon the binding of the Lord to the Column. The mind sets to work to seek out the reasons which are to be found for the great afflictions and distress which His Majesty must have suffered when He was alone there. It also meditates on the many other lessons which, if it is industrious, or well stored with learning, this mystery can teach it. This method should be the beginning, the middle and the end of prayer for all of us: it is a most excellent and safe road until the Lord leads us to other methods, which are supernatural.

I say “for all of us,” but there will be many souls who derive greater benefits from other meditations than from that of the Sacred Passion. For, just as there are many mansions in Heaven, so there are many roads to them. Some people derive benefit from imagining themselves in hell; others, whom it distresses to think of hell, from imagining themselves in Heaven. Others meditate upon death. Some, who are tender hearted, get exhausted if they keep thinking about the Passion, but they derive great comfort and benefit from considering the power and greatness of God in the creatures, and the love that He showed us, which is pictured in all things. This is an admirable procedure, provided one does not fail to meditate often upon the Passion and the life of Christ, which are, and have always been, the source of everything that is good.

The beginner needs counsel to help him ascertain what benefits him most. To this end a director is very necessary, but he must be a man of experience, or he will make a great many mistakes and lead souls along without understanding them or without allowing them to learn to understand themselves; for the soul, knowing that it is a great merit to be subject to its director, dares not do other than what he commands it. I have come across souls so constrained and afflicted because of the inexperience of their director that I have been really sorry for them. And I have found some who had no idea how to act for themselves; for directors who cannot understand spirituality afflict their penitents both in soul and in body and prevent them from making progress. One person who spoke to me about this had been kept in bondage by her director for eight years; he would not allow her to aim at anything but self-knowledge, yet the Lord was already granting her the Prayer of Quiet, so she was suffering great trials.

At the same time, this matter of self-knowledge must never be neglected. No soul on this road is such a giant that it does not often need to become a child at the breast again. (This must never be forgotten: I may repeat it again and again, for it is of great importance.) For there is no state of prayer, however sublime, in which it is not necessary often to go back to the beginning. And self-knowledge with regard to sin is the bread which must be eaten with food of every kind, however dainty it may be, on this road of prayer: without this bread we could not eat our food at all. But bread must be taken in moderate proportions. When a soul finds itself exhausted and realizes clearly that it has no goodness of its own, when it feels ashamed in the presence of so great a King and sees how little it is paying of all that it owes Him, what need is there for it to waste its time on learning to know itself? It will be wiser to go on to other matters which the Lord sets before it, and we are not doing right if we neglect such things, for His Majesty knows better than we what kind of food is good for us.

It is of great importance, then, that the director should be a prudent man—of sound understanding, I mean—and also an experienced one: if he is a learned man as well, that is a very great advantage. But if all these three qualities cannot be found in the same man, the first two are the more important, for it is always possible to find learned men to consult when necessary. I mean that learning is of little benefit to beginners, except in men of prayer. I do not mean that beginners should have no communication with learned men, for I should prefer spirituality to be unaccompanied by prayer than not to be founded upon the truth. Learning is a great thing, for it teaches those of us who have little knowledge, and gives us light, so that, when we are faced with the truth of Holy Scripture, we act as we should. From foolish devotions may God deliver us!

I want to explain myself further, for I seem to be getting involved in a great many subjects. I have always had this failing—that I cannot explain myself, as I have said, except at the cost of many words. A nun begins to practise prayer: if her director is a simpleton and gets the idea into his head, he will give her to understand that it is better for her to obey him than her superior, and he will do this without any evil intention, thinking he is right. Indeed, if he is not a religious, it will probably seem right to him. If he is dealing with a married woman, he will tell her it is better for her to be engaged in prayer when she has work to do in her home, although this may displease her husband: he cannot advise her about arranging her time and work so that everything is done as true Christianity demands. Not being enlightened himself, he cannot enlighten others, even if he tries. And although learning may not seem necessary for this, my opinion has always been, and always will be, that every Christian should try to consult some learned person, if he can, and the more learned this person, the better. Those who walk in the way of prayer have the greater need of learning; and the more spiritual they are, the greater is their need.

Let us not make the mistake of saying that learned men who do not practise prayer are not suitable directors for those who do. I have consulted many such; and for some years past, feeling a greater need of them, I have sought them out more. I have always got on well with them; for, though some of them have no experience, they are not averse from spirituality, nor are they ignorant of its nature, for they study Holy Scripture, where the truth about it can always be found. I believe myself that, if a person who practises prayer consults learned men, the devil will not deceive him with illusions except by his own desire; for I think devils are very much afraid of learned men who are humble and virtuous, knowing that they will find them out and defeat them.

I have said this because some people think that learned men, if they are not spiritual, are unsuitable for those who practise prayer. I have already said that a spiritual director is necessary, but if he has no learning it is a great inconvenience. It will help us very much to consult learned men, provided they are virtuous; even if they are not spiritual they will do us good and God will show them what they should teach and may even make them spiritual so that they may be of service to us. I do not say this without proof and I have had experience of quite a number.[118] Anyone, I repeat, who surrenders his soul to a single director, and is subject to him alone, will be making a great mistake, if he is a religious, and has to be subject to his own superior, in not obtaining a director of this kind. For the director may be lacking in all the three things, and that will be no light cross for the penitent to bear without voluntarily submitting his understanding to one whose understanding is not good. For myself, I have never been able to bring myself to do this, nor do I think it right. If such a person be in the world, let him praise God that he is able to choose the director to whom he is to be subject and let him not give up such righteous freedom; let him rather remain without a director until he finds the right one, for the Lord will give him one if his life is founded upon humility and he has the desire to succeed. I praise God greatly, and we women, and those who are not learned, ought always to give Him infinite thanks, that there are persons who with such great labour have attained to the truth of which we ignorant people know nothing.

I am often amazed that learned men, and religious in particular, will give me the benefit of what they have gained with so much labour, and at no cost to myself save the labour of asking for it. And to think that there may be people who have no desire to reap such benefits! God forbid it be so! I see these learned fathers bearing the trials of the religious life, which are grievous ones—its penances, its poor food and its obligation to obey: really, I am sometimes downright ashamed to think of it. And then, the scant sleep they get: nothing but trials, nothing but crosses! I think it would be very wrong for anyone, through his own fault, to forfeit the benefits of such a life as that. It may be that some of us who are free from these trials—who are pampered, as they say—and live just as we like, think ourselves superior to those who undergo them, merely because we practise a little more prayer than they.

Blessed be Thou, Lord, Who has made me so incompetent and unprofitable! Most heartily do I praise Thee because Thou quickenest so many to quicken us! We should pray most regularly for those who give us light. What would become of us without them amid these great storms which the Church now has to bear? If some of them have been wicked, the good will shine the more. May it please the Lord to keep them in His hand and help them to help us. Amen.

I have wandered far from the aim with which I began, but for those who are beginners it is all to the point, and it will help them, as they set out upon so high a journey, to keep their feet planted upon the true road. Returning to what I was saying—the meditation upon Christ bound to the Column—it is well to reflect for a time and to think of the pains which He bore there, why He bore them, Who He is that bore them and with what love He suffered them. But we must not always tire ourselves by going in search of such ideas; we must sometimes remain by His side with our minds hushed in silence. If we can, we should occupy ourselves in looking upon Him Who is looking at us; keep Him company; talk with Him; pray to Him; humble ourselves before Him; have our delight in Him; and remember that He never deserved to be there. Anyone who can do this, though he may be but a beginner in prayer, will derive great benefit from it, for this kind of prayer brings many benefits: at least, so my soul has found. I do not know whether I have succeeded in what I have tried to say; but Your Reverence will know. May the Lord grant me always to succeed in pleasing Him. Amen.”

Sermon 2: Momentum Rosarium

Importance of the Rosary

Last time my friends,

we talked on the importance of the family Rosary and why we must continue it or work on getting it back alive or living again. We will carry on this way in this talk.

We have many false gods in today’s time as Pope Benedict XVI mentions in his homily at the start of the synod of Middle East Bishops in Rome. One is Capitalists and two is Public Opinion.

Let me touch on the ones I’ve mentioned. People are fearing a lot; about if they will have savings for their families or theirself to live off of incase everything goes belly up or we are worrying about certain things in Capitalism and worshiping it; instead of God Himself. What can Capitalism do for us? Nothing but it can ruin us physically, mentally and spiritually. Can money bring world peace? No, it will bring a false peace that will never last; it is not a end in it’s means.

Money is matter and matter has to be created and things that are created has no end and is not a end within itself. Since it has no end within itself; then Money can not be a god.

Now, let us look at Public Opinion. The latest trends or fashions or what the world thinks of you, am I popular or not.

Public Opinion is man made; the latest trends or fashions or what the world thinks of you; is what Jesus warned us about in the Gospel of John that the world must hate me first and will kill you and think they are killing you to please God. If you love the world then the world loves you. I think we have forgotten this.

We are TO BE IN the world but NOT OF the world. Trends, fashions, worrying what the world thinks of you; will NOT get you to heaven. In heaven you will look like the religious who live faithfully to the Church.

Again, Public Opinion is matter; it is created and has no end within itself; it can not be a god or can be God.

God is not made but is begotten and took on flesh. He has matter but has not been created; which He has a end to Himself and within Himself; because God is our end; because we are made Supernaturally and not naturally. If we had a nature beginning; we would have a natural end.

God is fully spirit; and God became Man to redeem Man. So the flesh of the body which the Godman Jesus has and still does; that is matter but He was not created; God has no beginning or end and so God is a end within Himself; because we are made in His image and likeness and we return to Him; if we do what He wants us to do freely by saying yes or we can say no and not end up in Heaven.

God brings a peace that no one on earth or no thing could ever produce; which is a true peace; but as we said in the first sermon it starts with us and the family and then it goes into the world transforming the world from corruption, hate, murder to Peace; True Peace and Love only God can bring; what will be the Love? The Love of Christ through His mother Mary by the Rosary.

All the diversity of everyone on earth; the Love of Christ or the Peace of Christ which is the gift from God; will pull everyone together and it will last. All the evil of the world would be no more. That is why Fr. Andrew Apostoli calls it the “Heaven’s Peace Plan.”

Through praying and meditating on the Life of Christ through His mother Mary with the Rosary. The Rosary will bring that peace; as it did when Mary told St. Dominic to pray it and have others pray it to end those heresies that were destroying the Church and we won that big naval battle as well.

The Rosary if prayed correctly and devoutly; the world will be changed and peace will be given by God through Mary. How many were around before the start of World War II? How many saw a red light in the sky that looked like a town burning? Mary told Sr. Lucia I think it was that if no one prayed the Rosary there would be a worse war than World War I and Mary would give a sign in the sky; when that sign was given in the sky; that light; in Austria; Nazi Germany started to attack Austria I believe it was. That red light was the signal of the start of World War II.

If we would of prayed the Rosary, went to the Sacrament of Penance like we are suppose to do and go to Mass free from sin and live our faith like we are suppose to; that war and all the wars; even this war right now would of nevered happened.

Look at Iran; we could be facing with a Nuclear Holocaust if they do anything and same with the North Koreans. What can bring Peace? The Holy Rosary.

I would like to give a way to pray the Rosary by Venerable Pope John Paul II:

” THE ROSARY BEADS

The traditional aid used for the recitation of the Rosary is the set of beads. At the most superficial level, the beads often become a simple counting mechanism to mark the succession of Hail Marys. Yet they can also take on a symbolism which can give added depth to contemplation.

Here the first thing to note is the way the beads converge upon the Crucifix, which both opens and closes the unfolding sequence of prayer. The life and prayer of believers is centered upon Christ. Everything begins from him, everything leads towards him, everything, through him, in the Holy Spirit, attains to the Father.

As a counting mechanism, marking the progress of the prayer, the beads evoke the unending path of contemplation and of Christian perfection. Blessed Bartolo Longo saw them also as a “chain” which links us to God. A chain, yes, but a sweet chain; for sweet indeed is the bond to God who is also our Father. A “filial” chain which puts us in tune with Mary, the “handmaid of the Lord” (Lk 1:38) and, most of all, with Christ himself, who, though he was in the form of God, made himself a “servant” out of love for us (Phil 2:7).

A fine way to expand the symbolism of the beads is to let them remind us of our many relationships, of the bond of communion and fraternity which unites us all in Christ,

ANNOUNCING EACH MYSTERY

Announcing each mystery, and perhaps even using a suitable icon to portray it, is as it were to open up a scenario on which to focus our attention. The words direct the imagination and the mind towards a particular episode or moment in the life of Christ. This is a methodology, moreover, which corresponds to the inner logic of the Incarnation: in Jesus, God wanted to take on human features. It is through his bodily reality that we are led into contact with the mystery of his divinity.

LISTENING TO TO THE WORD OF GOD

In order to supply a Biblical foundation and greater depth to our meditation, it is helpful to follow the announcement of the mystery with the proclamation of a related Biblical passage, long or short, depending on the circumstances. No other words can ever match the efficacy of the inspired word. As we listen, we are certain that this is the word of God, spoken for today and spoken “for me”.

If received in this way, the word of God can become part of the Rosary’s methodology of repetition without giving rise to the ennui derived from the simple recollection of something already well known. It is not a matter of recalling information but of allowing God to speak.

SILENCE

Listening and meditation are nourished by silence. After the announcement of the mystery and the proclamation of the word, it is fitting to pause and focus one’s attention for a suitable period of time on the mystery concerned, before moving into vocal prayer. A discovery of the importance of silence is one of the secrets of practicing contemplation and meditation. One drawback of a society dominated by technology and the mass media is the fact that silence becomes increasingly difficult to achieve. Just as moments of silence are recommended in the Liturgy, so too in the recitation of the Rosary it is fitting to pause briefly after listening to the word of God, while the mind focuses on the content of a particular mystery.

THE OUR FATHER

After listening to the word and focusing on the mystery, it is natural for the mind to be lifted up towards the Father. In each of his mysteries, Jesus always leads us to the Father, for as he rests in the Father’s bosom (cf. Jn 1:18) he is continually turned towards him. He wants us to share in his intimacy with the Father, so that we can say with him: “Abba, Father” (Rom 8:15; Gal 4:6). By virtue of his relationship to the Father he makes us brothers and sisters of himself and of one another, communicating to us the Spirit which is both his and the Father’s. Acting as a kind of foundation for the Christological and Marian meditation which unfolds in the repetition of the Hail Mary, the Our Father makes meditation upon the mystery, even when carried out in solitude, an ecclesial experience.

THE TEN HAIL MARYS

This is the most substantial element in the Rosary and also the one which makes it a Marian prayer par excellence. Yet when the Hail Mary is properly understood, we come to see clearly that its Marian character is not opposed to its Christological character, but that it actually emphasizes and increases it. The first part of the Hail Mary, drawn from the words spoken to Mary by the Angel Gabriel and by Saint Elizabeth, is a contemplation in adoration of the mystery accomplished in the Virgin of Nazareth. These words express, so to speak, the wonder of heaven and earth; they could be said to give us a glimpse of God’s own wonderment as he contemplates his “masterpiece” – the Incarnation of the Son in the womb of the Virgin Mary. If we recall how, in the Book of Genesis, God “saw all that he had made” (Gen 1:31), we can find here an echo of that “pathos with which God, at the dawn of creation, looked upon the work of his hands”.36The repetition of the Hail Mary in the Rosary gives us a share in God’s own wonder and pleasure: in jubilant amazement we acknowledge the greatest miracle of history. Mary’s prophecy here finds its fulfillment: “Henceforth all generations will call me blessed” (Lk 1:48).

The centre of gravity in the Hail Mary, the hinge as it were, which joins its two parts, is the name of Jesus. Sometimes, in hurried recitation, this centre of gravity can be overlooked, and with it the connection to the mystery of Christ being contemplated. Yet it is precisely the emphasis given to the name of Jesus and to his mystery that is the sign of a meaningful and fruitful recitation of the Rosary. Pope Paul VI drew attention, in his Apostolic Exhortation Marialis Cultus, to the custom in certain regions of highlighting the name of Christ by the addition of a clause referring to the mystery being contemplated. This is a praiseworthy custom, especially during public recitation. It gives forceful expression to our faith in Christ, directed to the different moments of the Redeemer’s life. It is at once a profession of faith and an aid in concentrating our meditation, since it facilitates the process of assimilation to the mystery of Christ inherent in the repetition of the Hail Mary. When we repeat the name of Jesus – the only name given to us by which we may hope for salvation (cf. Acts 4:12) – in close association with the name of his Blessed Mother, almost as if it were done at her suggestion, we set out on a path of assimilation meant to help us enter more deeply into the life of Christ.

From Mary’s uniquely privileged relationship with Christ, which makes her the Mother of God, Theotókos, derives the forcefulness of the appeal we make to her in the second half of the prayer, as we entrust to her maternal intercession our lives and the hour of our death.

THE GLORIA

Trinitarian doxology is the goal of all Christian contemplation. For Christ is the way that leads us to the Father in the Spirit. If we travel this way to the end, we repeatedly encounter the mystery of the three divine Persons, to whom all praise, worship and thanksgiving are due. It is important that the Gloria, the high-point of contemplation, be given due prominence in the Rosary. In public recitation it could be sung, as a way of giving proper emphasis to the essentially Trinitarian structure of all Christian prayer.

To the extent that meditation on the mystery is attentive and profound, and to the extent that it is enlivened – from one Hail Mary to another – by love for Christ and for Mary, the glorification of the Trinity at the end of each decade, far from being a perfunctory conclusion, takes on its proper contemplative tone, raising the mind as it were to the heights of heaven and enabling us in some way to relive the experience of Tabor, a foretaste of the contemplation yet to come: “It is good for us to be here!” (Lk 9:33).

THE CONCLUDING SHORT PRAYER

In current practice, the Trinitarian doxology is followed by a brief concluding prayer which varies according to local custom. Without in any way diminishing the value of such invocations, it is worthwhile to note that the contemplation of the mysteries could better express their full spiritual fruitfulness if an effort were made to conclude each mystery with a prayer for the fruits specific to that particular mystery. In this way the Rosary would better express its connection with the Christian life.

CONCLUSION

If prayed in this way, the Rosary truly becomes a spiritual itinerary in which Mary acts as Mother, Teacher and Guide, sustaining the faithful by her powerful intercession. Is it any wonder, then, that the soul feels the need, after saying this prayer and experiencing so profoundly the motherhood of Mary, to burst forth in praise of the Blessed Virgin, either in that splendid prayer the Salve Regina or in the Litany of Loreto. This is the crowning moment of an inner journey which has brought the faithful into living contact with the mystery of Christ and his Blessed Mother.

One fine liturgical prayer suggests as much, inviting us to pray that, by meditation on the mysteries of the Rosary, we may come to “imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise”.

The Rosary is then ended with a prayer ( One Our Father, One Hail Mary and One Glory Be) for the intentions of the Pope, as if to expand the vision of the one praying to embrace all the needs of the Church. It is precisely in order to encourage this ecclesial dimension of the Rosary that the Church has seen fit to grant indulgences to those who recite it with the required dispositions.”

What else can I say? To Pray the Rosary is to Pray the Gospels. What are the Gospels? The Good News and who is the Good News? Jesus Christ. You Pray the Rosary; You Pray Jesus through Mary.

Padre Pio called the Rosary “His Weapon.” When he was being attacked by the evil one, he yelled to a young friar,” Bring me my weapon! Bring Me My Weapon!” The young friar responded, “Padre, you’re a franciscan; you don’t have a weapon.” Padre Pio told him, “Get my Rosary!.” Our Rosary is a weapon against the evil one and all the demons; they hate the Rosary.

If we pray the Rosary with the example I gave from Venerable Pope John Paul II; they will truly hate it. One more thing, when you pray or after receiving Jesus’ body and blood; do not make the fast Sign of the Cross but show that you truly believe what you have received by making a slow and reverent Sign of the Cross; also the devil and the demons tremble when we do this.

God bless

Sermon 1

This is Sermon 1; at least this one is numbered; so might be more than one.

Today my friends and every person,

our place where we live, work, play and studied; are loosing God and have lost God. We ourself are loosing God in our family; because we are taken by what Pope Benedict XVI calls, “the false god of capitalism and Public Opinion” Making our money and everything that deals with capitalism into a false god and worrying too much about making money or if I will have any savings or anything else and Public Opinion; wondering what everyone thinks of us or caring too much on it; we have replaced the One True God with false gods that is one of many that is destroying ourself, our culture and our society.

I know I should keep all weight off my lap to let my injured groin and other things heal; but when I heard words on the tv show Women of Grace on the Rosary and how the family wasn’t praying it; I knew I had to put down my book of Thomas Aquinas and put on my lap my laptop to write this for you.

In the past writing on the Vocation for Men as Husband and Father; I told you about my broken home; it’s so broken; we do not pray as a family anymore; my mom prays when she can and I do my praying in my makeshift hospital bed in the family room by Watching Mass on EWTN, praying the Rosary by myself or with Mother Angelica and the Divine Mercy Chaplet by myself and a lot of other devotions we are given by the Church.

We are overtaken by the false gods which I’ve talked of up above and by the Pope; it was his opening words of the Synod for the Middle East and I shared that with my friends on Facebook and in the subject line I put, Ah, Pope Benedict doing what he does best!; which is laying out the truth in black and white and being the lawman of the world.

The words by Venerable Pope John Paul II on how the families aren’t praying the Family Rosary anymore; which got me thinking and I wondered about my friends who are married and their husbands aren’t Catholic or the spitten out of the mouth of Our Lord’s mouth “catholics” luke warm.

Those who are married and have spouses like this; even themself; each other are to bring one another into Full Communion with the Roman Pontiff; The Pope and the Church. Or, even into the Church; which is what that special permission the bishop gave you; so you could marry that man or woman in the Church. You are to raise your children Catholic; Nice and Hot; too Hot to handle Catholics; not luke warm or cold or worse; freezing. You are to instruct even your spouse as well. To bring them into the Church in that certain amount of time you both have agreed to with the priest or bishop or both.

As Venerable Fr. Peyton always said, “The Family that Prays together stays together and the world at prayer is a world at peace.” This is true and I’m betting no one has peace in their family; don’t get the false peace mixed up from True Peace which comes from God Himself.

Fr. Corapi always said, “If you don’t have peace in your family; there will be no peace out there.” “If you want peace out there; have peace inside.” Peace must come from the family and that comes from God and that is why Mary came to the children of Fatima. Heaven’s Peace Plan Fr. Andrew Apostoli calls it.

I know some will say oh the Pope still needs to consecrate Russia; oh but he did; in 1983 I think it was by Pope John Paul II in St. Peter’s Square Vatican City and he called or wrote to Sr. Lucia to see if it was done right and she said; “Yes”. If you say otherwise; you are a heretic. You deny that it had been done. Pope Benedict on his trip to Fatima; the message or Prophetic Message of Fatima is not done. Venerable Pope John Paul II said the same thing.

St. Pope Pius V asked us to pray the Rosary and the Navy that he got together to protect the West from the Muslim Invaders by sea; with the Rosary; we won a great Naval Battle. If the Rosary can win us a great Naval Battle and bring Peace to the World and to the Family; we must pray.

How many when we hear the voice of God harden their hearts? I say many but those who hear and follow; are few. In the Psalm that is used a lot is, “When you hear His voice, harden not your hearts.”

If you are the only one praying the Rosary in your family; good and keep going; be that example and soon more will join you.

Finally, Blessed John Cardinal Henry Newman said, “to live we must change; to live well is change often.” Not change faith or churches or Spiritual Communities; but we do not leave the Church but if we want to live a life of holiness; we must change or keep doing penances and converting our life all the way through until the end and we will be changed and our life will be perfected by God.

God bless

The Incarnation of God: Part One

The Incarnation of Christ; when God became Man. A great mystery and truth of our Holy Faith. What happened when God became Man; He humbled Himself so much and became Man to redeem us.

Man caused the fall and Man shall redeem. No mere Man could go through what it took to redeem us and God knew it all long and had in His plans that He will become a Man.

This drove the soon to be bad angels nuts; because they are higher than Man but Man can do something no angel could ever do: Receive the Body and Blood of Christ and have a open loving relationship with God as Father.

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God; The Word is God and came to bring light into the darkness. The light is God; because God is pure spirit and that is fully light.

In the beginning before creation; He already had in mind the way of redemption before anything happened. His thought was on Himself; because God is eternal and so His thought had to be eternal and on Himself; which brings the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity and with the Spirit between The Creator, The Word; is the Spirit that came between them; but God is always One but has three divine Persons; The Father and Son are so closely and joined perfectly; if you could see it in a model or a object; you would think there is One; which there is. The Holy Spirit is the love between God the Father and God The Son; which flow from the Father to the Son by the Thought of God.

Now, God becoming Man was the only way we could be redeemed. To have any other man redeem Man could not be; because when Man fell from the share of the Divine Life of God or having no Sanctifying Grace in their soul and the stain of Original Sin. Only Two people through out all of Redemption History who were born free from Sin: Mary and Jesus.

That is why God had to become a man; to come down from His mighty throne and walk among us and experience everything we have to experience; sickness, injuries, hardships, being tired, going to the bathroom.

God wanted to make sure that we would know that we are not alone and think God doesn’t know what is going on in my life; but He does; because He walked on the earth and became Man and was born in the cold dead of night of winter.

When God became Man; even before; right after the fall; Redemption History began. Because God told the snake or devil that the Woman and her offspring; which is God; would strike at the devil’s heal.

God became Man to show His Mercy and Love to us and to help us come to know Him better and how to get to Heaven. God showed us His love and Mercy by dying on the Cross and founding the Church and the Seven Sacraments.

To show our love to God; is to follow His Commandments and to love one another as He has loved us. Even when God became Man and ascended back into Heaven; we are to carry on and do His Will on earth; we are to prepare and as Fr. Mitch says it, “We are the people selling Salvation and God is the Store Manager.” Yes, we are in the bussiness of saving souls but there are those who chose hell and are afraid to go to Heaven.

We are not to damn souls but we are to save souls through the God-Man; without Him; we can do nothing and through Him; we can do everything and greater works than those He did 2000 years ago.

He does not want us to worry on small things or vanity things; but we are to worry on Spiritual things; when we do not practice our faith; we should be worried for the souls who come closer to death or could be on the death bed and they do not even know it; which we are all on and we must be filled with courage in this time of the world; where the world will hate us, kill us, imprison us and beat us; but; that is the price of Christian Witness of the God-Man; He gave His life for us and we are called to give our life for Him.

God bless

Proof That God Is Real

Let us look at St. Augustine and then I will talk afterward.

“Do not go outside yourself but turn back within. Truth dwells in the inner self. And if you find your nature given to frequent change, go beyond yourself. Move on, then, to that source where the light of reason itself receives its light.” On True Religion.

Now, I will talk on this subject and will build on from St. Augustine’s short reading and meditation.

In the world we want to find Truth and Truth is God and we look to the things outside ourself and we become led astray into different occults or we even are led so far astray; we leave and forget about God rather than moving toward Him in searching for Him.

When we turn into self and look inward; we find Truth; because in our soul; we find the Blessed Trinity and the Blessed Trinity is God in His three divine Persons.

God created us with a body and soul; with the soul our body is capable of moving and we are capable of being a live Spiritually and Literally.

God lives in our soul and if you haven’t been baptized but there is something called Baptism by desire. Means you desire to be Baptized and so you are baptized. I do not know if this is for the living or the people who are dying; I know the dying can be baptized by the desire.

Which means you are cleaned from the stain of Original Sin from our first parents: Adam and Eve and it also removes Mortal Sin. Now, babies only have the stain of Original Sin.

What if you aren’t Christian and you don’t believe in God? Yes very hard indeed but not impossible. Even though you do not believe in God or think there isn’t a God; the effect of God is there; because nothing can not create nothing; no matter how you look at it.

God is spirit and when God created everything out of nothing; He had the One Thought and His Only Word is God as it says in St. John’s Gospel. God spoke that Word; that thought/ word are so closely perfectly fitted together and that is the Second Person and the spirit between the two is the Holy Spirit. God spoke His Only Word and the universe, heaven and the angels were created out of nothing.

We were created out of nothing and God gave us body and soul. When you say you don’t believe God is real or you are angered at God.

He does not change and what you are angry at; is truths that are revealed but you do not know them or the rules given by God which you think go against your freedom. But your freedom doesn’t come from you but from God.

He gives you your rights, freedom. He gives you Free Will; which means you can choose to love God and to serve Him or you can say no and do evil.

Which is what St. Augustine talked about; we look outward and chose our own way and we are led astray into evil and when we turn inward we find Truth; because God is in our soul and God created us and is Our Father.

I wanted to touch on this reading from St. Augustine one more time or many times if I need to. Blessed Cardinal Newman said in his rules for writing a sermon; keep repeating and keep writing to make it easier for the reader or hearer to understand it. That is what I am going to try to do.

In Holy Writ or Holy Scripture; Jesus gives us the example of looking inward for Truth; because he told the tax collector and told the Apostles, “Whoever sees me, sees the Father.” To us Christians; that is true; because when we are baptized and confirmed; the Trinity is in us and living. So, God is within us. Now to those who do not believe in God or says there is no God; but yet they live a respectable life and stay out of trouble and what we would call mortal sin.

How or why are they living a respectable life; when they believe this is it and nothing is there when they die?

They could be living like a Rock Star to experience what it’s like or someone with fame; but they are living a life style God would be proud of. How?

They could have children and the children wake up the people and make them grow up and be mature; instead of acting like children or the mom and dad getting upset; but the children teach the parents how to act. The mother becomes like Christ; when that baby barely moves and she is there to take care of him or her; Jesus does the same thing; when we barely move; He’s there to take care of us and check on us.

So, the children are showing the examples of who God is and who God accepts into the Kingdom of Heaven.

The child teaches the parent; to be a parent like God; teaching the parent to have that sense when she or he is moving and be right there in hurry to check on them.

God is a parent and He does when we are in trouble, sick, hurt and most of all when we call on Him. He is also the Creator of everything,

Now, what if the non-believers don’t have children yet but are still living a life God would be proud of?

How did Christ show His love for us and His bride? By giving Himself up freely and dying for us all; including His bride. Do you think the husband would not die for his wife to protect her? Do you think the wife would not die for her husband?

One of the greatest acts of love; is giving up of yourself to die for those you love. Which Jesus did for His bride; the Church. Husbands are to be Christ-Like and do this if time comes for it and also should the wife if the husband is the one needing protection.

Both love each other and they would never think of cheating and always submissive to each other; as St. Paul writes that husbands and wives should be.

They maybe unbelievers but when it comes down to protecting the one you love or taking care of your child; you learn about God in a real way; by imitating Him when He’s on the Cross and God as a parent checking on His children.

You never look outward for the truth but you always look inward; because you feel the burning deep inside when you look at your child or when you rush in to take care of him or her. But also when the love of your life is being threatened and you jump in and take the bullet for her; so that she may live and raise the children. You know God more than you ever thought; by imitating what He told us to imitate of Him.

God bless