Gloria!

Silence, softly creeping

Storytime

Gentleness

"Truth must be always charitable; for bitter zeal does harm instead of good. Reprehensions are a food of hard digestion, and ought to be dressed on a fire of burning charity so well, that all harshness be taken off; otherwise, like unripe fruit, they will only produce gripings. Charity seeks not itself nor its own interests, but purely the honor and interest of God: pride, vanity, and passion cause bitterness and harshness: a remedy injudiciously applied may be a poison. A judicious silence is always better than a truth spoken without charity."

-- St. Francis of Sales 

Words, they give light and life

That child, born in Bethlehem of the Virgin Mary, came not only for the people of Israel, represented by the shepherds of Bethlehem, but also for all humanity, represented today by the wise men from the East.  It is on the Magi and their journey in search of the Messiah that the Church today invites us to meditate and to pray.

These wise men from the East were the first in that great procession of which the prophet Isaiah spoke in today’s first reading (cf. 60:1-6): a procession which from that time on has continued uninterrupted; in every age it hears the message of the star and finds the Child who reveals the tenderness of God.  New persons are always being enlightened by that star; they find the way and come into his presence.

According to tradition, the wise men were sages, watchers of the constellations, observers of the heavens, in a cultural and religious context which saw the stars as having significance and power over human affairs.  The wise men represent men and woman who seek God in the world’s religions and philosophies: an unending quest.

The wise men point out to us the path of our journey through life.  They sought the true Light.  As a liturgical hymn of Epiphany which speaks of their experience puts it:“Lumen requirunt lumine”; by following a light, they sought the light.  They set out in search of God.  Having seen the sign of the star, they grasped its message and set off on a long journey.

It is the Holy Spirit who called them and prompted them to set out; during their journey they were also to have a personal encounter with the true God.

Along the way, the wise men encountered many difficulties.  Once they reached Jerusalem, they went to the palace of the king, for they thought it obvious that the new king would be born in the royal palace.  There they lost sight of the star and met with a temptation, placed there by the devil: it was the deception of Herod.  King Herod was interested in the child, not to worship him but to eliminate him.  Herod is the powerful man who sees others only as rivals.  Deep down, he also considers God a rival, indeed the most dangerous rival of all.  In Herod’s palace the wise men experience a moment of obscurity, of desolation, which they manage to overcome thanks to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, who speaks through the prophecies of sacred Scripture.  These indicate that the Messiah is to be born in Bethlehem, the city of David.

At that point they resume their journey, and once more they see the star; the evangelist says that they “rejoiced exceedingly” (Mt 2:10).  Coming to Bethlehem, they found “the child with Mary his mother”  (Mt 2:11).  After that of Jerusalem, this was their second great temptation: to reject this smallness.  But instead, “they fell down and worshiped him”, offering him their precious symbolic gifts.  Again, it is the grace of the Holy Spirit which assists them.  That grace, which through the star had called them and led them along the way, now lets them enter into the mystery.  Led by the Spirit, they come to realize that God’s criteria are quite different from those of men, that God does not manifest himself in the power of this world, but speaks to us in the humbleness of his love.  The wise men are thus models of conversion to the true faith, since they believed more in the goodness of God than in the apparent splendour of power.

And so we can ask ourselves: what is the mystery in which God is hidden?  Where can I find him?  All around us we see wars, the exploitation of children, torture, trafficking in arms, trafficking in persons…  In all these realities, in these, the least of our brothers and sisters who are enduring these difficult situations, there is Jesus (cf. Mt 25:40,45).  The crib points us to a different path from the one cherished by the thinking of this world: it is the path of God’s self-abasement, his glory concealed in the manger of Bethlehem, on the cross upon Calvary, in each of our suffering brothers and sisters.

The wise men entered into the mystery.  They passed from human calculations to the mystery: this was their conversion.  And our own?  Let us ask the Lord to let us undergo that same journey of conversion experienced by the wise men.  Let us ask him to protect us and to set us free from the temptations which hide the star.  To let us always feel the troubling question: “Where is the star?”, whenever – amid the deceptions of this world – we lose sight of it.  To let us know ever anew God’s mystery, and not to be scandalized by the “sign” which points to “a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger” (Lk 2:12), and to have the humility to ask the Mother, our Mother, to show him to us.   To find the courage to be liberated from our illusions, our presumptions, our “lights”, and to seek this courage in the humility of faith and in this way to encounter the Light, Lumen, like the holy wise men.  Amen.

(Homily of His Holiness Pope Francis, from Vatican Radio)

In the service of souls

Watch, O Lord

Watch, O Lord, with those who wake, or watch, or weep tonight, and give Your angels and saints charge over those who sleep.
Tend Your sick ones, O Lord Christ.
Rest Your weary ones.
Bless Your dying ones.
Soothe Your suffering ones.
Pity Your afflicted ones.
Shield Your joyous ones, and all for Your love's sake. Amen.

-- St. Augustine

Wisdom of the heart

This “wisdom” is no theoretical, abstract knowledge, the product of reasoning. Rather, it is, as Saint James describes it in his Letter, “pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without uncertainty or insincerity” (3:17). It is a way of seeing things infused by the Holy Spirit in the minds and the hearts of those who are sensitive to the sufferings of their brothers and sisters and who can see in them the image of God. So let us take up the prayer of the Psalmist: “Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Ps 90:12).

-- Message of Pope Francis for the 23rd world day of the sick 2015

Curious about another

St. Aloysius was born in Castiglione, Italy. The first words St. Aloysius spoke were the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. He was destined for the military by his father (who was in service to Philip II), but by the age of 9 Aloysius had decided on a religious life, and made a vow of perpetual virginity. To safeguard himself from possible temptation, he would keep his eyes persistently downcast in the presence of women. St. Charles Borromeo gave him his first Holy Communion. A kidney disease prevented St. Aloysius from a full social life for a while, so he spent his time in prayer and reading the lives of the saints. Although he was appointed a page in Spain, St. Aloysius kept up his many devotions and austerities, and was quite resolved to become a Jesuit. His family eventually moved back to Italy, where he taught catechism to the poor. When he was 18, he joined the Jesuits, after finally breaking down his father, who had refused his entrance into the order. He served in a hospital during the plague of 1587 in Milan, and died from it at the age of 23, after receiving the last rites from St. Robert Bellarmine. The last word he spoke was the Holy Name of Jesus. St. Robert wrote the Life of St. Aloysius.

St. Aloysius Gonzaga, please pray for me.

Praise and Adoration, my God

For reaching out...

New Year Blessings

Reading 1                                                                                   NM 6:22-27

The LORD said to Moses:
“Speak to Aaron and his sons and tell them:
This is how you shall bless the Israelites.
Say to them:
The LORD bless you and keep you!
The LORD let his face shine upon
you, and be gracious to you!
The LORD look upon you kindly and
give you peace!
So shall they invoke my name upon the Israelites,
and I will bless them.”

Happy and Blessed New Year 2015!

Consecration

As builders raise a wall by a ruler or plummet that no unevenness may spoil their work, so must we make the sincere attention to the divine glory our rule in our prayers, fasts, eating, drinking, buying, selling, silence, and discourse. This must be our great staff, our arms, our rampart, our immense treasure: wherever we are, and whatever we say or do, we must bear this motto always written in our heart, "To the glory of God".

-- St. John Chrysostom in his homily on the Calendar's First Day of the Year