THE ROSARY IS THE COMPENDIUM OF THE GOSPEL, SEASON III, PART 31

FINDING PEACE IN THE PRAYING OF THE ROSARY

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. (John 14:27)

The word "peace" invokes a passive picture, one showing an absence of civil disturbance or hostilities, or a personality free from internal and external strife, such as, of a nation from war or enemies, or inwardly, within the soul. The biblical concept of peace is larger than that and rests heavily on the Hebrew root “shalom”. The general meaning of the root word is of entering into a state of wholeness and unity, a restored relationship. It also conveys a wide range of nuances: fulfillment, completion, maturity, soundness, wholeness, harmony, tranquility, security, well-being, welfare, friendship, agreement, success and prosperity.

The biblical concept of peace does not focus on the absence of trouble. Biblical peace is unrelated to circumstances; it is a goodness of life that is not touched by what happens on the outside. The New Testament speaks of two kinds of peace—the objective peace that has to do with your relationship to God, and the subjective peace that has to do with your experience in life.

The Rosary is by its nature a prayer for peace, since it consists in the contemplation of Christ, the Prince of Peace, the one who is “our peace” (Ephesians 2:14). Anyone who assimilates the mystery of Christ, and this is clearly the goal of the Rosary, learns the secret of peace and makes it his life’s project. Moreover, by virtue of its meditative character, with the tranquil succession of “Hail Mary’s”, the Rosary has a peaceful effect on those who pray it, disposing them to receive and experience in their innermost depths, and to spread around them, that true peace which is the special gift of the Risen Lord ( John 14:27; 20.21).

The Rosary is also a prayer for peace because of the fruits of charity which it produces. When prayed well in a truly meditative way, the Rosary leads to an encounter with Christ in his mysteries and so cannot fail to draw attention to the face of Christ in others, especially in the most afflicted.

How could one possibly contemplate the mystery of the Child of Bethlehem, in the joyful mysteries, without experiencing the desire to welcome, defend and promote life and to shoulder the burdens of suffering children all over the world? How could one possibly follow in the footsteps of Christ the Revealer, in the mysteries of light, without resolving to bear witness to his “Beatitudes” in daily life?

And how could one contemplate Christ carrying the Cross and Christ Crucified, without feeling the need to act as a “Simon of Cyrene” for our brothers and sisters weighed down by grief or crushed by despair? Finally, how could one possibly gaze upon the glory of the Risen Christ or of Mary Queen of Heaven, without yearning to make this world more beautiful, more just, more closely conformed to God’s plan? In a word, by focusing our eyes on Christ, the Rosary also makes us peacemakers in the world.

By its nature as an insistent choral petition in harmony with Christ’s invitation to “pray ceaselessly” (Luke 18:1), the Rosary allows us to hope that, even today, the difficult “battle” for peace can be won. Far from offering an escape from the problems of the world, the Rosary obliges us to see them with responsible and generous eyes, and obtains for us the strength to face them with the certainty of God’s help and the firm intention of bearing witness in every situation to “love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony” (Col 3:14).

Mary, Mother of Peace, Pray for us!!!

@2017

THE ROSARY IS THE COMPENDIUM OF THE GOSPEL, SEASON III, PART 30

“EVANGELII NUNTIANDI” AND THE GLORIOUS MYSTERIES

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.(Matthew 28:19-20)

Pope Paul VI wrote in 1975, an apostolic exhortation on evangelization called “Evangelii Nuntiandi” in English “On Evangelization In The Modern World.” This document was realized 10 years after the second Vatican Council. This is an inspirational document for Pope Francis. It is of no wonder Pope Francis has cited it at least 31 times on at least 11 different occasions, including 13 times in his new apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel).

The document poses three questions: Firstly, in our day, what has happened to that hidden energy of the Good News, which is able to have a powerful effect on man’s conscience? Secondly, to what extent and in what way is that evangelical force capable of really transforming the people of this century? And lastly, what methods should be followed in order that the power of the Gospel may have its effect?

Evangelii Nuntiandi focuses on what is essential in the life and mission of the Church. It states ‘Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelize, that is to say, in order to preach and teach, to be a channel of the gift of grace, to reconcile sinners to God, and to perpetuate Christ’s sacrifice in the Mass, which is the memorial of His death and glorious resurrection”.

Evangelii Nuntiandi is so significant because it was the motivation for Catholics to get their faith outside of themselves and to share it with others. The Church is born of the evangelizing activity of Jesus and the Twelve. She is the normal, desired, most immediate and most visible fruit of this activity: "Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations...."(Matthew 28:19)

Among the key themes of Evangelii Nuntiandi are human liberation, the cooperative personal and ecclesial dimensions of evangelization, the leadership role of the Holy Spirit, and the role of prayer (both liturgical and devotional) in equipping evangelizers for their task. Pope Paul also stresses the role that the local Church plays in evangelization. 

The Church is an evangelizer, but she begins by being evangelized herself. She has a constant need of being evangelized, if she wishes to retain freshness, vigor and strength in order to proclaim the Gospel.

“In Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, who died and rose from the dead, salvation is offered to all people as a gift of God’s grace and mercy”. It identifies the Lord Jesus himself as the first “Evangelizer,” and it suggests eight methods for bringing the Gospel message to our contemporaries: the witness of life, a living preaching, Liturgy of the Word, catechesis, mass media, personal contact, the Sacraments, and popular piety.

The mastermind of Evangelii Nuntiandi is the willingness to ask the difficult questions, to call each person to deeper conversion, and to call us to put Christ at the center of all that we say and do as a Church, as a society, and as individuals. The Good News proclaimed by the witness of life has to be proclaimed by the word of life. There is no true evangelization if the name, the teaching, the life, the promises, the kingdom and the mystery of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God are not proclaimed.

It is the Holy Spirit who, today just as at the beginning of the Church, acts in every evangelizer who allows himself to be possessed and led by Him. The Holy Spirit places on his lips the words which he could not find by himself, and at the same time the Holy Spirit predisposes the soul of the hearer to be open and receptive to the Good News and to the kingdom being proclaimed.

Were you evangelized or catechized or both?

To Be Continued….

Mary, Queen of Patriarchs, Pray for us!!

THE ROSARY IS THE COMPENDIUM OF THE GOSPEL, SEASON III, PART 29

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE GLORIOUS MYSTERIES

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8) …. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20)

The Holy Spirit Renews, Regenerates, Trains, Teaches, and Transforms us. The Holy Spirit is God. He is the Chief Evangelist. He equips us for the mission. This implies evangelization without the Holy Spirit will not yield much fruits or even be fruitless.

Acts 1:12-26 tells of the nine days the believers spent before the coming of the Holy Spirit. Mary, Mother of the Church was with them as they waited and prayed. The remainder of the Acts of the Apostles describes the activity of the Holy Spirit in the Church. Jesus promised to send the Paraclete who will remind them of all that he has thought them (John 14:14-31). We see a great testimony of the power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the believers. (Romans 8) and the effects of the Holy Spirit is bearing fruits as enumerated in Galatians 5:22-23. Peter in the first Pentecost sermon saw in Joel 3:1-5, a prophesy of the coming of the Holy Spirit.

The patterns of our lives are probably just like Peter’s, with many ups and downs. There are times when we seem to hear from the Lord clearly and act boldly. Yet there are times when we may act impulsively without thinking, times when we may act cowardly, and times when we may act timidly when we should be bold.

The good news is that our heavenly Father is just as eager to renew in us the Holy Spirit as it was on that first Pentecost. With the Holy Spirit moving in us, we can do the similar things that Peter did. We can be just as effective in our ability to love other people and in our attempts to share the gospel with them. Like Peter, we too can find the wisdom we need, even the right words to speak (Matthew 10:20), so that we can bear fruit for the kingdom of God in our evangelization efforts.

It’s not enough to preach about Christ and tell people about the joy that the Gospel brings. We Christians in our ordinary lives need to demonstrate that joy and fullness of life by the way we live.  We have received the Holy Spirit, especially at baptism and confirmation.

The third glorious mystery is a special time to examine our relationship to the Holy Spirit. Do we, prompted by the Holy Spirit, daily make the decision to love others as Jesus loves us?

Evangelization is “a beggar telling another beggar here he has found bread”. Evangelization today, then, is more about being than about doing or speaking. One thing you can be sure of is that Jesus wants to use you, and perhaps in a way you never expected.

So don’t be afraid to say yes to the call to evangelization. Each day we are faced with decisions and need counsel and guidance. We have tasks to perform and need courage. This mystery is a time to pray for the assistance of the Holy Spirit.  

To Be Continued…

Mary, Refuge of Sinners, Pray for us!!

THE ROSARY IS THE COMPENDIUM OF THE GOSPEL, SEASON III, PART 28

“THE JOY OF THE GOSPEL” AND THE GLORIOUS MYSTERIES

But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him?  (Romans 10:14)

An Apostolic Exhortation is a type of communication from the Pope that is written to encourage people to undertake an implementation of a particular set of recommendations listed in the document. It is Apostolic, because it is written by the Pope who is the successor of the Apostle Peter, the visible head of the body of Christ. And an Encyclical Letter deals with specific doctrine, where the doctrine is clarified, or explained in greater details. One of the areas dealt by Pope Francis in the apostolic Exhortation “The Joy of the Gospel” is evangelization.

Evangelization is, literally, sharing with people the good news that God is a God of incredible love and mercy, who can lead us to a life of meaningfulness and joy. This is the love embodied in Jesus in his life and ministry and expressed most radically by his giving his life for us on the cross, a life that broke the bonds of death in his resurrection.

In virtue of their baptism, all the members of the People of God have become missionary disciples (Cf. Matthew 28:19). All the baptized, whatever their position in the Church or their level of instruction in the faith, are agents of evangelization, and it would be insufficient to envisage a plan of evangelization to be carried out by professionals, while the rest of the faithful would simply be passive recipients. The new evangelization calls for personal involvement on the part of each of the baptized”.

Evangelization must lead to the personal encounter with Jesus. This encounter must also be free, willed, and spontaneous, not purely nominal, juridical or habitual. This means that the ultimate purpose of evangelization is not the transmission of a doctrine, but an encounter with a person, Jesus Christ. The possibility of such a face to face encounter depends on the fact that Jesus, risen, is alive and desires to walk next to every believer, as he really walked with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus; more than that, as he was in their very heart, when they returned to Jerusalem, after having received him in the broken bread.

Pope Francis focuses on the challenges to proclaiming the joy of the Gospel in today's world.  He mentions that consumerism, complacency, blunted consciences, excuse-making, relativism, secularist rationalism, violence, poverty, indifference, greed, narcotics, false autonomy and spiritual worldliness all weaken the impulse of missionary renewal in the Church.

The third Glorious Mysteries is the descent of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4). After the decent of the Holy Spirit on the Disciples of Christ, something happened. There was a radical change in transmitting the Gospel to all the ends of the earth.  Their era is gone…now it is out turn to proclaim and live the Gospel of Christ. Hence the urgency of a new evangelization, namely, of an evangelization that moves from bases that are different from the traditional ones and that takes into account the new situation. It is, in practice, about creating for the men of today occasions that enable them to take, in the new context, that free, personal and mature decision that Christians took at the beginning on receiving baptism, and that made them real, not nominal, Christians.

Go & Make all my disciples...Are you ready?

To Be Continued…

Mary, Queen of the Prophets, Pray for us!!

THE ROSARY IS THE COMPENDIUM OF THE GOSPEL, SEASON III, PART 27

“THE JOY OF THE GOSPEL” AND THE GLORIOUS MYSTERIES

On the Feast of Christ the King (Nov 2013), our Holy Father issued his first Apostolic Exhortation, entitled “The Joy of the Gospel” in Latin “Evangelii Gaudium”. It is seemingly the Pope’s response to the Synod last October on “The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Catholic Faith”. The Pope speaks on numerous themes, including evangelization, peace, homiletics, social justice, the family, respect for creation, faith and politics, ecumenism, interreligious dialogue, and the role of women and of the laity in the Church. “In this Exhortation, I wish to encourage the Christian faithful to embark upon a new chapter of evangelization marked by this joy, while pointing out new paths for the Church’s journey in years to come.”  

The joy of the gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus. Those who accept his offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness and loneliness. With Christ, joy is constantly born anew. Pope Francis sees the Christian life as being based on knowing and experiencing God’s love, mercy and salvation offered to all through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Evangelization programs and catechesis must be designed to help people return to that basic knowledge and experience and help them understand church teaching in light of God having revealing himself as loving and merciful.

The Lord does not disappoint those who take this risk; whenever we take a step towards Jesus, we come to realize that he is already there, waiting for us with open arms. … With a tenderness that never disappoints, but is always capable of restoring our joy, he makes it possible for us to lift up our heads and to start anew. Let us not flee from the resurrection of Jesus, let us never give up, come what may. The document touches on three themes of love. These are:

Firstly, the Gospel proclaims above all is that we are loved by God—each one of us personally, and all of us as a human community. God loves us tenderly and faithfully in Jesus Christ, who has come to join us, to be our brother and to save our world. That is the central proclamation of this letter from the pastor of our world-wide Church. The Christian vocation to joy, even in the midst of the tears and tragedies of life in this world, must be proclaimed. Receiving and returning the tender love of God in Jesus Christ is the inexhaustible fountain of Christian joy. Sharing that love with others, through daily life lived as a missionary disciple, is what matures and completes the joy. (cf. No.3)

A second burning conviction of The Joy of the Gospel is that the encounter with Christ, as it wakes us up to the astonishing fact that we are God’s beloved, changes us. It unites us to our brother Jesus, and it also turns us in love and respectful concern towards the world. We become missionary disciples. (cf. No. 8)

The third burning conviction of this letter is about how centrally the Lord of the Gospel belongs with the poor, the afflicted, the excluded and the ignored, success-addicted world. The heart of the Christian moral message is love for one another, which must motivate Christians to share the Gospel, help the poor and work for social justice.

Every Christian is challenged, here and now, to be actively engaged in evangelization; indeed, anyone who has truly experienced God’s saving love does not need much time or lengthy training to go out and proclaim that love. Every Christian is a missionary to the extent that he or she has encountered the love of God in Christ Jesus. We no longer say that we are “disciples” or “missionaries” but rather that we are “missionary disciples.” (cf. No.120)

It is very interesting to note that , Pope Francis highlights Mary not only as a model of faith and fidelity, but as a strong woman and mother who shared many of the joys and sorrows facing people today and, therefore, understands the challenges they face.

If you can’t add any value to the lives of people you encounter, at least, do not leave them worse than they met you. Give them hope! Give them the joy of the Gospel! Give them Jesus!

What is Apostolic Exhortation?

To be Continued…

Mary, Queen of Peace, Pray for us!!!

THE ROSARY IS THE COMPENDIUM OF THE GOSPEL, SEASON III, PART 26

“LAUDATO SI” AND THE GLORIOUS MYSTERIES

You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. (Psalm 8:6-8)

Many things have to change course, but it is we human beings above all who need to change. We lack an awareness of our common origin, of our mutual belonging, and of a future to be shared with everyone. This basic awareness would enable the development of new convictions, attitudes and forms of life. A great cultural, spiritual and educational challenge stands before us, and it will demand that we set out on the long path of renewal. (cf. No. 202)

We need to change and develop new convictions, attitudes and forms of life, including a new lifestyle. This requires not only individual conversion, but also community networks to solve the complex situation facing our world today. Essential to this is a spirituality that can motivate us to a more passionate concern for the protection of our world. Christian spirituality proposes a growth and fulfillment marked by moderation and the capacity to be happy with little. Love, overflowing with small gestures of mutual care, is also civic and political, and it makes itself felt in every action that seeks to build a better world.

Change is a dynamic tool which must be seen from its upward adjustment or the positive aspect of change. Change can also be retrogression. Here, our focus is to make the world a better place by employing the positive aspect of change. Change therefore, must be seen in areas such that change must be (towards):

1. Towards a new lifestyle:  Changes in lifestyle and consumer choices can bring much “pressure to bear on those who wield political, economic and social power”. If we can overcome individualism, we will truly be able to develop an alternative lifestyle and bring about significant changes in society. (cf. No. 206-208).

2. Educating for the covenant between humanity and the environment:  It is able to affect daily actions and habits, the reduction of water consumption and focus on conservation, the sorting of waste and even “turning off unnecessary lights” (cf. No. 211).

3. Ecological conversion: Faith and Christian spirituality offer profound motivations toward “a more passionate concern for the protection of our world”, following the example of St Francis of Assisi. Ecological conversion implies gratitude and generosity and develops creativity and enthusiasm (cf. No.216-220).

4. Joy and peace:, “happiness means knowing how to limit some needs which only diminish us, and being open to the many different possibilities which life can offer”. “One expression of this attitude is when we stop and give thanks to God before and after meals”. (cf. No. 221-227)

5. Civic and political love: “An integral ecology is also made up of simple daily gestures which break with the logic of violence, exploitation and selfishness”. With its civic and political dimensions, “love for society and commitment to the common good are outstanding expressions” of charity. (cf. No. 228-233)

6. Sacramental signs and the celebration of rest: We encounter God not only in intimacy, but also in the contemplation of creation which bears a sign of his mystery. The Sacraments show, in a privileged way, how nature was assumed by God. In particular, the Eucharist joins heaven and earth; it embraces and penetrates all creation. Thus, the Eucharist is also a source of light and motivation for our concerns for the environment, directing us to be stewards of all creation. (cf. No. 236)

Our struggles and concerns do not take away the joy of hope, because in the heart of this world, the Lord of life, who loves us so much, is always present and his love always compels us to search for new ways.

Mary, who cares for Jesus, now lives with him and is Mother and Queen of all creation. At her side, Joseph appears in the Gospel as a just man and worker, full of the tenderness of one who is truly strong. Both can teach and motivate us to protect this world that God has given us.  What change are you bringing onboard?

To Be Continued…

Mary, Queen of The Apostles, Pray for us!!

THE ROSARY IS THE COMPENDIUM OF THE GOSPEL, SEASON III, PART 25

"LAUDATO SI" AND THE GLORIOUS MYSTERIES

You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance. The grasslands of the desert overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness. The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing. ( Psalm 65: 11-13)

At the heart of ‘Laudato si’ we find this question: “What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up?” (cf. No. 160). Pope Francis continues: “This question does not have to do with the environment alone and in isolation; the issue cannot be approached piecemeal”. This leads us to ask ourselves about the meaning of existence and its values at the base of social life: “What is the purpose of our life in this world? Why are we here? What is the goal of our work and all our efforts? What need does the earth have of us? ” Unless we struggle with these deeper issues – says the Pope – I do not believe that our concern for ecology will produce significant results.

It is clear that, after Laudato si’, the examination of conscience (the instrument that the Church has always recommended to orient one’s life by reflection on one’s lived relationship with the Lord) should include a new dimension. One would regularly review, not only how one has lived in communion with God, with others and with oneself, but also with all creatures and with nature.

Love for creation, however, cannot obscure the “pre-eminence” of the human person, and at times “more zeal is shown in protecting other species than in defending the dignity which all human beings share in equal measure”.  “A sense of deep communion with the rest of nature cannot be real if our hearts lack tenderness, compassion and concern for our fellow human beings”. Care for the natural world is fine as long as we do not ignore our brothers and sisters who are suffering. These two concerns are related: “when our hearts are authentically open to universal communion, this sense of fraternity excludes nothing and no one. It follows that our indifference or cruelty towards fellow creatures of this world sooner or later affects the treatment we mete out to other human beings” (cf. No. 90-92).

Although science and technology “can produce important means of improving the quality of human life,” they have also “given those with the knowledge, and especially the economic resources to use them, an impressive dominance over the whole of humanity and the entire world.” Francis says we are enthralled with a technocratic paradigm, which promises unlimited growth. But this paradigm “is based on the lie that there is an infinite supply of the earth’s goods, and this leads to the planet being squeezed dry beyond every limit.”

As “the order of God’s love”,  creation is in further need of development, and that demands the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit and human cooperation, as well as our creativity and the ingenuity that is often evident in the sciences (cf. No.77-81). As people in relationship and subjects who are co-creators, we are called to treat other living beings as subjects to be encountered, not objects to be dominated or controlled.

Lord Jesus died for you and for me, to restore man to the state he was created. What are you doing to participate in this restoration? May the work of man not disfigure the created order but enhance it. And this is what it means to Alleluia people!!

To Be Continued…

Mary, Vessel of Honor, Pray for us!!

THE ROSARY IS THE COMPENDIUM OF THE GOSPEL, SEASON III, PART 24

"LAUDATO SI" AND THE GLORIOUS MYSTERIES

You visit the earth and water it, you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide the people with grain, for so you have prepared it. You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth. (Psalm 65:9-10)

The Encyclical Letter –“Laudato Si”, written by Pope Francis in 2015, takes its name from the invocation of Saint Francis of Assisi, “Praise be to you, my Lord” which in the Canticle of the Creatures reminds us that the earth, our common home “is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us”. We ourselves “are dust of the earth (cf. Genesis 2:7); our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters”. “This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her”. Her cry, united with that of the poor, stirs our conscience to “acknowledge our sins against creation”. Taking the words of the “beloved” Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the Pope reminds us: “For human beings… to destroy the biological diversity … by causing changes in its climate …; to contaminate the earth’s waters, its land, its air, and its life – these are sins” (cf. No. 2-8).

Pope Francis makes it clear that his inspiration, not only for the encyclical but for his papacy as well, is Saint Francis of Assisi. In the letter he comments early on: “I believe that Saint Francis is the example par excellence of care for the vulnerable and of an integral ecology lived out joyfully and authentically.” We are invited to embody this message in the world today, living out the example of our model Saint Francis, and hearing clearly the cry of the poor and vulnerable and the cry of the earth.

The encyclical proposes some areas that require such careful analysis.

The first deals with pollution and climate change. Many types of pollution are leading to a broad spectrum of health hazards, especially for the poor, and technology is not the only way to solve these problems (cf. No. 20-26)

The second area is that of water. Fresh drinking water is an issue of primary importance, since it is indispensable for human life and for supporting terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems; the situation is particularly serious in relation to the poor, causing many deaths and the spread of water-related diseases. The encyclical is clear in stating that access to safe drinking water is a basic and universal human right (cf. No. 27-31).

The third area deals with loss of biodiversity. Extinction of plant and animal species caused by humans changes the ecosystem, and future consequences cannot be predicted. This loss entails not only the elimination of resources for us, but the disappearance of species that have value in themselves. We must recognize the fact that all creatures are connected, and that all are dependent on one another (cf. No. 32-42).

The fourth area deals with the decline in the quality of human life and the breakdown of society. We must take into account the effects of environmental deterioration, current models of development and the throwaway culture on people’s lives (cf. No. 43-47).

The fifth area is that of global inequality. Pope Francis clearly states that “the deterioration of the environment and of society affects the most vulnerable people on the planet,” the poorest and the excluded, who are the majority of the planet’s population, and who are often treated in international discussions as an afterthought or as collateral damage (cf. No. 48-52).

Meditation on the glorious mysteries must lead us to understand our role and purpose on the earth. We must participate in the act of restoring the environment not only for the present time but also for the future.

To Be Continued…

Mary, Queen of Martyrs, Pray for us!!!

THE ROSARY IS THE COMPENDIUM OF THE GOSPEL, SEASON III, PART 23

On this night of Resurrection everything begins anew; creation regains its authentic meaning in the plan of salvation. It is like a new beginning of history and of the cosmos, because Christ is risen, ‘the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep’ (1 Corinthians 15:20). Christ, the ‘last Adam,’ has become ‘a life-giving spirit’ (1 Corinthians 15:45).”

Consider the humble state to which the Son of God chose to abase himself; he not only vouchsafed to take upon him the form of a servant, but that of a sinful servant : In the likeness of sinful flesh? Therefore St. Bernard writes:  “He not only assumed the form of a servant, that he might be under subjection, but even that of a wicked servant, that he might be beaten”; He not only would assume the condition of a servant to be subject to others, he who was Lord of all; but even the appearance of a criminal servant, to be punished as a male factor, he who was the Saint of all saints. For this end he clothed himself with the same flesh of Adam which had been infected by sin. And although he did not contract the stain of sin, nevertheless he took upon himself all the miseries which human nature had contracted as a penalty for sin.

Our Redeemer, in order to obtain for us salvation, offered himself voluntarily to his Father to make satisfaction for our sins: He was offered because it was His own will. And his Father loaded him with all our crimes: He has laid on Himself the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6). And thus behold the Divine Word, innocent, most pure, and holy, behold him even from his infancy charged with all the blasphemies, with all the unsightliness, with all the sacrileges, and with all the crimes of men; become for the love of us the object of the divine malediction.

On account of the sins for which he had bound himself to satisfy the divine justice. So that Jesus charged himself with as many maledictions as there have ever been, or ever shall be, mortal sins committed by all mankind. And thus he presented himself to his Father, when he came into the world.

The great hymn of the Exsultet, which the deacon sings at the beginning of the Easter liturgy, points us quite gently towards a further aspect. It reminds us that this object, the candle, has its origin in the work of bees. So the whole of creation plays its part. In the candle, creation becomes a bearer of light. But in the mind of the Fathers, the candle also in some sense contains a silent reference to the Church. The cooperation of the living community of believers in the Church in some way resembles the activity of bees. It builds up the community of light. So the candle serves as a summons to us to become involved in the community of the Church, whose raison d’être is to let the light of Christ shine upon the world.

What makes the Glorious Mysteries so special is that, these mysteries are stories of triumph and victory. After all the sadness of the Sorrowful Mysteries, the stone in front of the tomb is rolled away. A bright light shines out in the predawn darkness. “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15: 55). The Glorious Mysteries remind us that no matter how bad things get, we can never give up on the hope that Christ will win over everything.

If Christ’s death had ended the story of his life, there would be no gospel, no God News. But death leads to glory, glory so great that even the terrible sufferings of Christ were overcome.  St Paul will say: “I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us.” (Romans 8:18)

To be Continued…

Mary, Mother most Admirable, Pray for us!!

THE ROSARY IS THE COMPENDIUM OF THE GOSPEL, SEASON III, PART 22

CHARITY, LOVE AND THE JOYFUL MYSTERIES

Man’s highest activity is love, and there is no nobler object of his love than God. So the First and Greatest commandment  is: 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ (Matthew 22:37). Nothing is more important than that. “Would that I had as many hearts as there are grains of sand in the depths of the seas to love Thee with, O God”.

When the word agape is used in the context of vertical action (God toward man and/or man toward God), it is translated as "love." When the word agape is used in the context of horizontal actions (man toward neighbor or enemy), it is translated as "charity." The word "love," as we use it today, carries more than one meaning.

Where we have one word, "love," the Greeks had four words:
agape was the word used to identify love that was selflessly committed to the well-being of another , unconditional love; phileo was the word used for the non-sexual affection of those sharing a strong bond, like "brotherly love;" eros was the word used for romantic feelings.  In the Gospel of John (22: 15-17), it is remarkable that in these three questions –“Do you love me…?” Jesus uses the verb ‘agape’, and Peter always replies using the verb ‘phileo’.

Charity means participating in tangible acts of loving-kindness toward all others (friend or enemy) in unconditional and self-sacrificial ways. St. Paul's classical description of charity is found in the New Testament (I Corinthians 13). In Christian theology and ethics, charity is most eloquently shown in the life, teachings, and death of Jesus Christ.

The dignity of the human person is rooted in his creation in the image and likeness of God; it is fulfilled in his vocation to divine beatitude. It is essential to a human being freely to direct himself to this fulfillment. By his deliberate actions the human person does, or does not, conform to the good promised by God and attested by moral conscience. Human beings make their own contribution to their interior growth; they make their whole sentient and spiritual lives into means of this growth. With the help of grace they grow in virtue, avoid sin, and if they sin they entrust themselves as did the prodigal son to the mercy of our Father in heaven.  In this way they attain to the perfection of charity. (CCC #1700)

Is agape equivalent to charity?

To Be Continued …

Mary, Mother Most Amiable,  Pray for us!!!

THE ROSARY IS THE COMPENDIUM OF THE GOSPEL, SEASON III, PART 21

CHARITY, LOVE AND THE JOYFUL MYSTERIES

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:34-35). So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love (I Corinthians 13:13).

Charity is the epitome of perfection in the Christian life. It is the greatest of the three abiding virtues. It is the bond of perfectness and the end of the commandment. Charity is the love we have towards other men. By charity, we love God above all and our neighbor as ourselves. Christian charity is modeled on the love of Jesus and strengthens us to keep the commandments. Charity, the greatest of the virtues, makes us God’s children and helps us relate to others in joy, mercy, and peace (C 1812- 1829). The Christian family is a communion of persons, a sign of the unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is a domestic church—a community of faith, hope, and charity (C 2201- 2206).

Here consider that the divine Father, in sending his Son to be our Redeemer and mediator between himself and man, has in a certain sense bound himself to forgive us and love us, on account of the covenant He made to receive us into His favor, providing his Son satisfied for us His divine justice. On the other hand, the Divine Word, having accepted the decree of his Father (who, by sending him to redeem us, has given Him to us), has also bound himself to love us; not, indeed, for our own merits, but in order to fulfil the merciful will of his Father.

God is love and he who dwells in God, dwells in love. God is the source of love; we are able to love because he loved us first. (I John 4:19) Mary was loved as a mother by Jesus, who is God. Her capacity for love had to be boundless, and the love she poured out on Jesus must surely have been the greatest maternal love ever known. Jesus was infinitely lovable, and his goodness constantly elicited even more love from Mary. There can be no doubt, therefore, that Mary’s love for God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit was greater than that of any other saint. It was her love for Jesus that impelled her to stand at the foot of his cross. By her presence at the cross, joined her will to that of her son and participated in His sacrifice.

Mary’s special relationship to the Holy Spirit is another assurance of her great love for God. It was the grace of the Holy Spirit that overshadowed her, causing her to conceive Jesus in her womb. The great gift of the Holy Spirit is love, and this gift was granted to Mary in the person of Jesus and in her ongoing relationship to the Holy Spirit. Mary’s love was so vast that Jesus could entrust to his Mother the beloved disciple, and disciples of every age, knowing that she would love them as her won.

What makes the difference between charity and love?

To be continued…

Mary, Morning Star, Pray for us!!

THE ROSARY IS THE COMPENDIUM OF THE GOSPEL, SEASON III, PART 20

HOPE AND THE JOYFUL MYSTERIES

The theological virtues are so named because they are gifts of God and direct our relationship to God. By faith we believe in God and accept the truths that God reveals. We express our faith by good works, by professing it, and by spreading it. By hope we desire heaven as our final goal and have confident assurance of achieving it with the help of God’s grace. Hope keeps us from despair and self-centeredness and leads us to the happiness that comes from charity. Hope is proclaimed in Christ’s teaching, sustained by his merits, and nourished at prayer.

The Holy Spirit, through sacred Tradition, teaches the Church how to pray. The sources of prayer are Scripture; liturgy; the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love; and the ordinary events of daily life (CCC #2650-2662).

The bible presents Mary as a model of hope. She could say that all generations would call her blessed only because she had hope of eternal happiness. She relied not on her won strength, but on God her Savior, the Mighty One (Luke 1:47-49). She became Mother of Jesus Christ by the grace of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35), and she prayed for the coming of the Spirit upon the Church (Acts 1:14)

Every situation in Mary’s life that required faith also demanded hope. For faith is the assurance of things hoped for… (Hebrews 11:1). Mary had to hope that the angel’s promises to her would return safely from exile in Egypt. She had to hope, as she pondered Jesus’ enigmatic answer after he was found in the Temple, that God would somehow help her understand. She had to hope, as she stood at the foot of the cross, that life would overcome death. She had to hope, that Jesus would bring her through the trails of this life to the joy of heaven. Her hopes were realized. And the greatest sign of their fulfilment is her Assumption. Her glory in heaven pledges that Christ brings eternal life to all who put their hopes in him.

Where is your source of Hope?

To Be Continued…

Mary, Tower of David, Pray for us!!

THE ROSARY IS THE COMPENDIUM OF THE GOSPEL, SEASON III, PART 19

FAITH, FIAT AND THE JOYFUL MYSTERIES

Faith, according to the Letter to the Hebrews, is “the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen” (11:1). Mary believed that God could fulfill his promise, not because she could see clearly every step of the journey, but because she freely surrendered herself to the One whose identity and plan were beyond her understanding, yet worthy of her trust. Saint Thomas Aquinas writes, “Just as the Blessed Virgin conceived Christ in her body, so every pious soul conceives Him spiritually.”

In order to contemplate with tenderness and love the birth of Jesus, we must pray to the Lord to give us a lively faith. If without faith we enter into the grotto of Bethlehem, we shall have nothing but a feeling of compassion at seeing an infant reduced to such a state of poverty that, being born in the depth of winter, he is laid in a manger of beasts, without fire, and in the midst of a cold cavern. But if we enter with faith, and consider what an excess of bounty and love it was in a God to humble himself to appear like a little child, wrapped in swaddling-clothes, placed on straw, crying and shivering with cold, unable to move.

Faith is itself a free gift of God. Faith is a fountain of grace. As a gift of God, it called theological virtue. The virtue by which we believe in God and all that God has said and revealed to us, because He is truth itself (CCC#1814). Mary accepted what she heard from Gabriel because its truth was guaranteed by God. On this account, the Catechism called her the perfect embodiment of faith (148). The Bible praises her for her faith: “And blessed is she who believed that there would be fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord” (Luke 1:45).

“Fiat” is a Latin word which means “let it happen”. Which can see traces of this in the creation stories (Genesis 1&2). In the gospel of Luke, Mary said among other things ...Let it be done unto me according to your Word (Luke 1:38). Therefore when we refer to Mary’s fiat, we are referring to Mary’s submission to the will of God.

The Bible tells us of signs that accompanied the birth of her son: angels, magi (three wisemen/ Kings/ Shepherds), a star, and the presentation in the temple, etc. In all these, Mary had but to walk with faith without knowing all the answers or seeing everything perfectly. She marked out a path of faith in God, and we can follow in her footsteps. When we doubt and waver, we can turn to her for the courage and strength we need to believe and to trust.

Which kind of faith do you have in God?

To Be Continued…

Mary, Mirror of Justice, Pray for us!!

THE ROSARY IS THE COMPENDIUM OF THE GOSPEL, SEASON III, PART 18

FAITH AND THE JOYFUL MYSTERIES

Gladness fills the scene in Bethlehem, when the birth of the divine Child, the Savior of the world, is announced by the song of the angels and proclaimed to the shepherds as “news of great joy” (Luke 2:10).

Consider that the eternal Father, in giving us his Son for a Redeemer, for victim and price of our ransom, could not have given us stronger motives for hope and love, to inspire us with confidence, and to oblige us to love him. In giving us His Son, St. Augustine of Hippo remarked, He could give us nothing more.

To execute the great work of the Incarnation, it required all the omnipotence and in finite wisdom of God, in order to unite human nature to a divine person, and that a divine person should so humble himself as to take upon him human nature. Thus God became man, and man became God; and hence, the divinity of the Word being united to the soul and body of Jesus Christ, all the actions of this Man-God became divine: his prayers were divine, his sufferings divine, his infant cries divine, his tears divine, his steps divine, his members divine, his very blood divine, which became, as it were, a fountain of health to wash out all our sins, and a sacrifice of infinite value to appease the justice of the Father, who was justly offended with men.

He desires that we should avail ourselves of this immense gift in order to gain for ourselves eternal salvation, and every grace that we want; whilst in Jesus we find all that we can desire; we find light, strength, peace, confidence, love, and eternal glory; for Jesus Christ is a gift which contains all the gifts that we can seek for or desire.

No human being could completely understand the mystery of the incarnation of, the second person of the Blessed Trinity, the Son of God; for no one knows Jesus totally except the Father (Matthew 11:27). Mary had to walk by faith without knowing all the answers or seeing everything perfectly. Mary helps us to believe in the presence and the promises of God in the great events of life and the insignificant, in the triumphs and the tragedies. What we rejoice in or suffer through, Mary has celebrated or endured. By Faith she prevailed. She has marked out a path of faith in God, and we can follow in her footsteps. When we doubt and waver, we can turn to her for courage and strength we need to believe and to trust. No wonder she is a model of faith!!!

BUT WHAT THEN IS FAITH?

To Be Continued…

Mary, Vessel of Honor, Pray for Us!!

THE ROSARY IS THE COMPENDIUM OF THE GOSPEL, SEASON III, PART 17

HUMILITY AND THE JOYFUL MYSTERIES

Consider that God, having created the first man, in order that he might serve him and love him in this life, and be conducted afterwards to reign with him forever in Paradise, enriched him for this end with knowledge and grace. But ungrateful man rebelled against God, refusing him the obedience which he owed him in justice and gratitude; and thus, miserable sinner, was he left with all his posterity as a rebel, deprived of divine grace, and forever excluded from paradise. Behold, then, after this ruin, caused by sin, all men lost! All were living in blindness, or in the darkness of the shadow of death. The devil had dominion over them, and hell destroyed innumerable victims amongst them.

But God, seeing men reduced to this miserable state, was moved with pity, and resolved to save them. And how? He did not send an angel, a seraph; but to show to the world the immense love that he bore, He sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. He sent his own Son to become man, and to clothe himself with the same flesh as sinful men, in order that, by his suffering and death, he might satisfy the divine justice for their crimes, and thus deliver them from eternal death; and, reconciling them with his divine Father, might obtain for them divine grace, and might render them worthy to enter into life eternal. Yes! God has visited his people through the Virgin’s fiat. The virgin mother shares her joy with her cousin Elizabeth through her visit and on this account that the baby in her womb leap for joy. The Mother of God waiting on others???

Mary shows that humility means recognizing the good in ourselves, all the while realizing that God makes it possible. Mary teaches that humility does not mean thinking poorly of ourselves. Instead, it means thinking so much of God and others that we do not worry about ourselves. Mary found self-acceptance and happiness in giving herself to God’s service and to care for others. Adam and Eve show that pride is excessive focus on oneself. Mary demonstrates that humility is an expression of the love of God and neighbor.

The love, graciousness, and friendship that characterized the relationship between Mary and Elizabeth invite us to examine the place of these virtues in our lives.  The Truth is that if you pray your Rosary daily, and meditate on its mysteries, it will bring down many graces from heaven to you. It will strengthen you to overcome temptation, and to grow holy. It will lead you to heaven, and away from the devil. 

To Be Continued…

Mary, Ark of the Covenant, Pray for us!!

THE ROSARY IS THE COMPENDIUM OF THE GOSPEL, SEASON III, PART 16

Obedience and the Joyful mysteries

The first five decades, the “joyful mysteries”, are marked by the joy radiating from the event of the Incarnation. To meditate upon the “joyful” mysteries is to enter the ultimate causes and the deepest meaning of Christian joy, and focus on the realism of the mystery of the Incarnation and on the obscure foreshadowing of the mystery of the saving Passion. Mary leads us to discover the secret of Christian joy, reminding us that Christianity is, first and foremost, euangelion- “good news”, having as its heart and its whole content the person of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh (John 1:14), the one Savior of the world.

Consider, on the one hand, the immense ruin that sin brings upon souls, as it deprives them of the friendship of God and of Paradise, and condemns them to an eternity of pain. And, on the other hand, consider the infinite love which God showed in this great work of the incarnation of the Word, causing his only-begotten Son to sacrifice his divine life by the hands of executioners on a cross (John 3:16), in a sea of sorrows and of infamy, to obtain for us pardon and life eternal. Oh, in contemplating this great mystery and this excess of divine love, how can we do otherwise than exclaim: O infinite goodness! O infinite mercy! O infinite love! For a God to become man, and to die for me!

The very first mystery, the Annunciation, is clearly marked by the joy radiating from the event of the Incarnation. Gabriel's greeting to the Virgin of Nazareth is linked to an invitation to messianic joy: “Rejoice, Mary”. The whole of salvation history, in some sense, the entire history of the world, has led up to this greeting. If it is the Father's plan to unite all things in Christ (Ephesians 1:10), then the whole of the universe is in some way touched by the divine favor with which the Father looks upon Mary and makes her the Mother of his Son. The whole of humanity, in turn, is embraced by the fiat with which she readily agrees to the will of God.

The Biblical background of the Annunciation includes the announcement of the Birth of John the Baptist and its effect on John’s parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth (Luke 1:5-24, 57-66). Related to the Annunciation also are New Testament teachings on obedience to the will of God. Mary’s words, ‘Let it be with me according to your word’ (Luke 1:38b), call to mind the obedience of Jesus and the words of the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy will be done” (Luke11:2).

What would have happened if Mary should have said "no way"?

To Be Continued...

Mary, Spiritual Vessel, Pray for us!!!

THE ROSARY IS THE COMPENDIUM OF THE GOSPEL, SEASON III, PART 15

...And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!"  (Luke 2:113-14)

Some insight into the Joyful Mysteries by Oscar Lukefahr !!.

Christ came to bring joy to the world, as the angels announced at his birth (Luke 2:10). This joy is not to be confused with fun. It is rather the inner peace and happiness (ataraxia) that flow from the Holy Spirit and the knowledge that we are God’s children because we belong to Christ (Galatians 5:22-23)

Perfect joy, can come only in heaven. The joyful Mysteries of the Rosary show that joy on earth is not limitless. The Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38) brought Mary happiness of Christ’s presence, and the awesome responsibility of caring for him. The Visitation (Luke 1:39-56) gave Mary the joy of Elisabeth’s company, but was followed the problem of explaining her pregnancy to Joseph. The birth of Jesus (Luke 2:1-21) summoned the joy of angels’ song from heaven and the terror of Herod’s wrath from hell. With Simeon’s praise at the Presentation (Luke 2:22-40) came his warning of a sword to pierce Mary’s heart. The joy of finding Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:41-52) came at the cost of three days of anxious searching. These mysteries teach us on one hand not to be surprised that our lives are imperfect, and on the other that joy is possible even in the midst of affliction.

In the litany of Loreto, Mary is invoked as “cause of our joy”. She is certainly that because she gave birth to Christ, turning the darkness of night into the brightness of God’s glory (Luke 2:9). Her life stands as testimony to the truth of what Jesus promised: ‘Your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you’ (John 16:22).

The rosary is "the Bible translated into prayer", then into the book of our lives. For almost a thousand years, Catholics and some non-Catholics have entered into the mysteries of the Bible through the Rosary. We see how joys of Mary and Jesus can touch lives and the lives of those for whom we pray.

To Be Continued…

Mary, Cause of Our Joy, Pray for us!!

THE ROSARY IS THE COMPENDIUM OF THE GOSPEL, SEASON III, PART 14

CHRISTIAN SUFFERING AND THE SORROWFUL MYSTERIES

I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:10-11)

If there were an easy answer to the problem of pain, Jesus would have given it. Instead, he immersed himself in our suffering. He became a cosufferer with us.

St Paul accepted hunger, beatings, stonings, and imprisonment. In these sufferings, he felt Jesus enter his very being. “I have been crucified with Christ”, he wrote, “and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:19-20). His experience has been repeated in the lives of saints for two thousand years.

How can anyone believe in a God who allows so much suffering, especially in innocent children? Some may deny God’s existence because they cannot understand the suffering of humanity- especially little children & the youth.

The mystery of Christ’s presence in those who suffer does not eliminate their pain, nor does it explain why innocent people endure affliction. But his presence is real, and somehow we must translate the mystery into life.

Mary is also a consoler, a cosufferer. Her presence at the cross was a consolation to Jesus as he was ridiculed by the people he had come to save. Her presence at Joseph’s deathbed brought him comfort and peace as he breathed his last. She has ministered to the suffering and dying for two thousand years. Out of this fact, experienced by innumerable Christians, has come the prayer, “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.”

The blessed assurance in the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary is that we are never alone in our sufferings.

To Be Continued...

Mother Most Amiable, Pray for us!!!

THE ROSARY IS THE COMPENDIUM OF THE GOSPEL, SEASON III, PART 13

CHRISTIAN SUFFERING AND THE SORROWFUL MYSTERIES

"Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Matthew 5:11-12

We must understand God’s chief purpose for our lives is to be conformed to the image of Christ and He has determined in His plan to use an aspect of suffering for our spiritual development. If we are going to endure suffering and the trials of life, however, we must also understand and believe in the other purposes and reasons for suffering as they are related to the chief purpose.

Some sufferings are self-inflicted wounds, other sufferings come from “the world”. Making your life the pursuit of money, sex, power, pleasure, drugs, the occult, etc., like so many people spend their lives doing, is a surefire ticket to hell.  Suffering is one way to realize that one day we will die, and to start preparing to meet God.  The real reason that God allows suffering to come into the world is for the greater good of us all.  We can't see this now, because we see through a glass darkly (1 Corinthians 13:12), but we will see it all in the afterlife. Jesus' suffering on the cross is the greatest example of horrible suffering bringing about the greater good for humanity. It is just like our suffering, although the magnitude of the suffering and the resultant benefit are different.

The Church is the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ shares in the sufferings of Christ Himself. As St. Paul says, we “complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His Body, the Church”(Colossians 1:24). This means that man’s suffering is joined with the Paschal mystery. The suffering Christ endured is by no means incomplete or insufficient, but our participation in it, as His Body, is what must be completed. Christ leaves this redemptive suffering open so that it can be completed in us. Christ’s Body, the Church, lives this redemptive suffering throughout its history.

Paul interprets his own suffering as a means of ensuring that he be ever conscious of his own weakness, so that he remembers always that the power at work in him is from God and not himself and so that he is not deluded into relying on his own power ( 2 Corinthians 1:8-10 ; 4:7-12 ). Similarly, Paul says God sent him a "thorn in the flesh" to keep him from becoming conceited on account of his surpassingly great revelations (2 Corinthians 12:7).

What are you still suffering for as a Christ-bearer ?

To Be Continued…

Mary, Succor of Sufferers, Pray for us!!!

THE ROSARY IS THE COMPENDIUM OF THE GOSPEL, SEASON III, PART 12

CHRISTIAN SUFFERING AND THE SORROWFUL MYSTERIES

The suffering of the righteous also has a restorative function. God disciplines the righteous individual, taking preventative and corrective measures in order to keep the heart of the righteous from turning away from him. Proverbs 3:11-12 says: "My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves as a father the son he delights in".

Apart from an individual's suffering because of his or her belonging to a nation under God's judgment or on account of the sins of a previous generation, the Old Testament (with some exceptions) and the New Testament portray God as dealing with each human being on the principle of retributive justice. Retributive justice has to do with giving proportionately to offender the measure of the punishment they deserve.

In the Old Testament and the New Testament, suffering more frequently is causally linked to the sins of the descendants of the first man and woman. God established a moral order in creation, with the result that retributive justice is meted out in life experience. In this worldview, the appearance of suffering in human experience is not random, but has its causal antecedents in an individual's or community's moral decisions. Retributive justice is sometimes conceived as the working out of a moral law forthcoming in creation, as in the Book of Proverbs. At other times, it is the direct judgment of God manifesting itself through such things as drought, disease, or foreign invasion.

The Book of Job poses this question of suffering. Job’s friends think suffering is simply retribution for wrong-doing, a just punishment for sin. The Old Testament strongly supports that line of thinking: the existence of moral evil (sin) justifies the existence of suffering as punishment. To sin is to break the divine Law, it is to transgress against the divine Law-giver, God; it is an objective necessity that a just Law-giver should punish evil and reward good.

Job challenges the principle that all suffering is the result of sin. God acknowledges that Job is innocent in the matter, but the suffering of the innocent remains a mystery which God does not reveal. While some suffering is punishment for sin, not all suffering is: it can be a test of righteousness. This all points to the suffering (Passion) of Christ in the New Testament.  Suffering as punishment (such as Israel endured when it strayed from her covenant with God) had an educational value as well. Punishment repays evil, but it also provides an opportunity to rebuild the good that was missing. Punishment is ordered towards penalty, but also conversion, mercy, and rehabilitation.

There is a “Gospel of Suffering” written by the witnesses of Christ’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection. Mary, His Mother, is the foremost witness, because she was present at the side of Christ throughout His life, sharing in His suffering from Simeon’s prophecy through to the Crucifixion. Christ told His disciples to bear hardships, carry their own crosses, and deny themselves, all of which are a sharing in His suffering, and which join His disciples to Him. The promise of suffering (often in the form of persecution for Christ) requires courage and fortitude, placing hope in Christ and His victory over the world through His suffering. The fact that Christ retains the wounds of the crucifixion even on His resurrected body is a testimony to suffering being more that an encounter with evil.

To Be Continued…

Mary, Cause of Our Joy, Pray for us!!!

THE ROSARY IS THE COMPENDIUM OF THE GOSPEL, SEASON III, PART 11

CHRISTIAN SUFFERING AND THE SORROWFUL MYSTERIES

We should always keep in mind, whatever may come our way, good, bad or in-between, especially when we face our own death, to conform ourselves to Christ, recalling “that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared to the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18)

I want to share some insights from Pope St. John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter on the Christian Meaning of Human Suffering entitled, Salvifici Doloris (“redemptive suffering”), published in 1984.

Suffering, like all human things, finds its true meaning in Jesus Christ. It is both a burden and a joy. Why it is a burden is evident; why it is a joy requires reflection into the mystery of redemption in Jesus Christ. Suffering is a constant theme throughout human existence. Human suffering is deeper than animal pain, because suffering is transcendent and involves a sense of injustice. Redemption came through Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross: it came through suffering. Thus, our redemption is directly related to Christ’s suffering, and our suffering is linked somehow to our redemption. Suffering leads to compassion, respect, and intimidation. (cf. No.1-8)

The “why” of suffering is answered truly in the revelation of divine love: God gives the definitive answer and solution to the problem of suffering through the cross of His Son Jesus Christ. Suffering for Christ also means suffering for His Kingdom, which means suffering for others as well. This participation in suffering “makes us worthy” of that Kingdom, so we are in a sense repaying the infinite price of Christ’s Passion and death. (cf. No.13-21)

Suffering is a trial, but in our weakness, the glory and strength of Christ is made manifest, as St. Paul pointed out. Christ’s “weakness” in being “lifted up” in the Crucifixion was infused with power because of its redemptive quality. So too, Christians who suffer on account of Christ have no need to feel shame. Suffering leads to endurance, which leads to character, which leads to hope; thus, suffering is a call for virtue. (cf. No. 23)

God has always chosen to be vulnerable, from Creator to Savior. In His freedom and demonstration of His love toward all creation, especially humankind, He has shown us a spectrum of His own suffering. There is no greater demonstration of suffering than Jesus’ death on the cross. There is plenty of time spent in the Gospels describing the torture that led to Calvary and the pain Jesus suffered while nailed to a piece of wood. Jesus paid for our salvation. Through Jesus’ pain and suffering, we see a God who is relationally intimate with all creation. We also see that Jesus experienced very human emotions, just like us.

WHY DOES THE INNOCENT  SUFFER?

To Be Continued…

Mystical Rose, Pray for us!!!

THE ROSARY IS THE COMPENDIUM OF THE GOSPEL, SEASON III, PART 10

CHRISTIAN SUFFERING AND THE SORROWFUL MYSTERIES

For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps. He committed no sin; no guile was found on his lips.  When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he trusted to him who judges justly.  He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.( 1 Peter 2:21-25)

Suffering is anything which hurts or irritates. In the design of God, it is also something to make us think. It is a tool God uses to get our attention and to accomplish His purposes in our lives in a way that would never occur without the trial or irritation. Suffering is hard. It is never easy. Regardless of what we know and how hard we apply the principles, it is going to hurt (1Peter 1:6). Suffering is somewhat mysterious. We may know some of the theological reasons for suffering from Scripture, yet when it hits, there is still a certain mystery. Why now? What is God doing? In this, it is designed to build our trust in the Almighty.

Suffering is not without meaning in spite of its mystery. It has as its chief purpose the formation of Christ-like character (Romans 8:28-29). There is still a mystery here.  Why suffering as a means to holiness and final redemption?  The key to answering this mystery lies in the reality of sin, the ancient evil wherein Man rejects God, refuses to serve and obey, and exalts himself against his Creator and Father. Without sin, there would be no need for suffering, for it is suffering, John Paul states, that allows us “to become particularly susceptible, particularly open to the working of the salvific powers of God, offered to humanity in Christ”.  Suffering allows us to see ourselves as we really are, by revealing to us in our “weakness and emptying of self”, that, at the end of the day, and at the end of our lives, we are totally and utterly dependent upon God.

“Suffering is against nature, but through the supernatural grace of Our Lord, we can accept what our nature rejects. Do not feel that suffering is an obstacle on the road to heaven; it can be the road itself. To help another person physically, you must be present. To help another person spiritually, you do it through Our Lord and His Blessed Mother. Be a Missionary…Don’t let pain go to waste! Save a soul – and save your own!”

Suffering creates an opportunity for others to show love. The natural human response is called being a “Good Samaritan”, but this act of love is a vocation and an apostolate when it is done with an evangelical motive driving it on. Thus, added to human solidarity are the Christian virtues (especially love of neighbor) which together overcome indifference to suffering. These acts of love are carried out by individuals, and not simply institutions, which can never replace the pure human element of compassion.  Just as Christ could suffer for others, while needing none himself, so too we can suffer for others, even if we need it not. 

WHAT ARE YOU SUFFERING FOR?

To Be Continued….

Comforter of the Afflicted, Pray for us!!!

THE ROSARY IS THE COMPENDIUM OF THE GOSPEL, SEASON III, PART 9

A LOOK AT THE SUFFERINGS OF SAINT POPE JOHN PAUL II & MARIAN DEVOTIONS

Karol Josef Wojtyla was just a month short of nine years when he lost his mother (Emilia Kaczorowska) as a result kidney and heart problems in 1929. At nineteen, Karol turned to Mary to be his mother. From the shaping of Marian devotion in his early childhood to his final hours, when an image of suffering Christ and a painting of the Blessed Mother hung near his bed in his papal apartment, and even is death, when a cross and the solitary letter “M” adorned his casket, the Blessed Mother never left him. Young Karol took Mary into everything about his life, and her indwelling wove the Marian Thread in his priestly vocation.

One cannot understand St Pope John Paul II’s total gift f self without knowing something of the life and spirituality of St Louis Marie. Louis Marie was a priest who described his vocational objectives in this way_ “I feel a great desire to make Our Lord and His Holy Mother loved, and to go about in a poor and simple way, catechizing poor country people”. As a young man Karol Wojtyla would discover through Saint Louis Marie’s writing that the purpose of sound devotion to the Blessed Mother is to establish devotion to Jesus more perfectly. In his episcopal arms is the motto “Totus Tuus” which expresses the total belonging to Jesus through Mary. “I am all yours and all I have is yours, O dear Jesus, through Mary, your holy Mother”. Karol never ceased to ask Mary for prayers, this he does by visiting the Marian Shrines in Poland. Some of his devotions were Our Mother of Perpetual Help, Our Lady of the Angels, Our Lady of Czestochowa (Black Maddona) on whose account the Polish were given victory in a series of battles.

His life was marked with suffering. Even before he was born, his infant sister (Olga) died. Three years after his mother’s death, his 26 year old brother (Edmund), a Physician, also died of Scarlet fever (contracted from one of his patients). Then came the greatest tragedy of all: the death of his father whose example he described as ‘my first seminary’.

In 1944, he was hit by a truck. Thrown onto the curb, he hit his head and lay unconscious. By divine providence he was rescued by German military officer, he was picked up and made sure he was taken care of at the nearest hospital. He was beset by physical difficulties including broken thigh that led to femur-replacement surgery, the removal of his precancerous tube from his colon and a fall that led to a dislocated shoulder. On the feast on Our Lady of Fatima, a bullet ripped into his stomach, right elbow, and left hand in St Peter’s Square. The Parkinson’s disease that he later developed may well have been caused by the wounds. It is said that he missed death by “a matter of millimeters”. Even more remarkable are the x-rays that would reveal the trace of the bullet through the Pope’s body, which formed the letter “M”.

St John Paul II wrote two encyclicals: Redemptoris Mater (1987) and Mulieris Dignitatem (1988) and in a series of seventy Wednesday audience catecheses (1995-1997) to draw our mind back to the salvific role of the Mother of the Redeemer. No wonder he is rightly known as “Mary’s Pope” or the “Most Marian Pope in History”.

It is fitting that, like the sorrowful Mother, he becomes known as “a man of suffering, accustomed with infirmity” (Isaiah 53:3), and who never run away from the cross. The cross in our lives can mean loneliness, rejection, ridicule, and unjust accusations. Never climb down from the cross, for Jesus never did.

To Be Continued….

Mother of Perpetual Help, Pray for us!!!

THE ROSARY IS THE COMPENDIUM OF THE GOSPEL, SEASON III, PART 8

Fifth Luminous Mystery is the institution of the Holy Eucharist. It is very obvious to see the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist at play here.

‘A final mystery of light is the institution of the Holy Eucharist, in which Christ offers his body and blood as food under the signs of bread and wine, and testifies 'to the end' his love for humanity (John 13:1), for whose salvation he will offer himself in sacrifice.’ The Last Supper narration in the New Testament can be found in Matthew (26:26-30), Mark (14:22-26), Luke (22:14-20) and I Corinthians (11: 23-26). Although the different accounts represent slightly different traditions, they agree in essence that Jesus gave His disciples His Flesh and Blood as food and drink under the symbols of bread and wine. By ‘doing this in memory of Him’ we become partakers in His life-giving Spirit and are nourished unto a future resurrection. This is the doctrine that John teaches us in pointedly in Chapter 6 of his Gospel.

Jesus visits us daily in the Word and the Sacrament. Jesus’ presence in the Holy Eucharist is unique. The early Church used a certain Greek word to describe this reality. They called it “Parousia”, which means “presence, arrival, coming, or advent”. Today non-Catholics and many Catholics use the word Parousia to denote the so-called second coming of Christ at the end of time- distinct from His daily coming in the Holy Eucharist. Christ comes first in the incarnation, secondly in the Eucharist and would come at the last in the new cup that we would drink with Him in His Father’s kingdom. Although a final Parousia will come one day, the Holy Eucharist is the Parousia here and now. What the ancients saw in the liturgy was the coming of Christ; and what they meant by Parousia is what we today should mean by the real presence of Christ. This is a powerful reality, full of Christ’s heavenly glory, though we cannot yet see Him in all His glory.

The fifth Luminous Mystery is a meditation on the first consecration of the Holy Eucharist and the establishment of this Holy Eucharist within the spiritual life of the Church. The Holy Eucharist is the true presence of Jesus Christ under the appearance of bread and wine with his soul and divinity. Christ is the light of the world and the light of the Church. The Holy Eucharist is a mystery of light because it is a mystery of Christ.

At the Last Supper, Jesus Christ consecrated the Holy Eucharist once for all Time and Place. All other consecrations of the Holy Eucharist, by priests and Bishops at holy Mass, are effective only because Christ Himself consecrated the Eucharist, everywhere and every-when, all at once, in one Divine act, at that first Eucharist.

In summary, the five Luminous Mysteries are a meditation on the Seven Sacraments established by Christ during His Ministry on earth. These Mysteries of Light teach us about the Sacramental Life of the Church. Whoever prays this chaplet of the Rosary should understand that the Luminous Mysteries are closely related to the Seven Sacraments. The Sacraments bring the true light of Christ to His Holy Church.

To Be Continued…

Mary Full of Grace, Pray for us!!

THE ROSARY IS THE COMPENDIUM OF THE GOSPEL, SEASON III, PART 7

The Fourth Luminous Mystery is the Transfiguration of our Lord.(Matthew 17:1-7). In this mystery, we can underline the Sacrament of Confirmation and the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

The mystery of light par excellence is the Transfiguration, traditionally believed to have taken place on Mount Tabor. The glory of the Godhead shines forth from the face of Christ as the Father commands the astonished Apostles to 'listen to him' (cf. Luke 9:35). The three Synoptic Gospels i.e., Matthew, Mark and Luke record this event of Jesus. John did not record this event.  Christ’s Transfiguration aims at strengthening the apostles’ faith in anticipation of his Passion: the ascent onto the 'high mountain' prepares for the ascent to Calvary. Christ, Head of the Church, manifests what his Body contains and radiates in the sacraments: 'the hope of glory' [CCC 568].

On the mountain (Tabor), three of the disciples (Peter, James and John) saw the glory of God’s Kingdom shining out of Jesus. On the mountain they are overshadowed by God’s holy cloud. On the mountain—in the conversation of the transfigured Jesus with the Law and the Prophets—they realize that the true Feast of Tabernacles has come. On the mountain they learn that Jesus himself is the living Torah, the complete Word of God. On the mountain they see the 'power' (dynamis) of the Kingdom that is coming in Christ.

The transfiguration confirmed that the kingdom of the Messiah would be characterized by glory. In the transfiguration the three selected disciples saw a foretaste of the glory and victory of Jesus. This posture of victory would be even clearer to them after Jesus' resurrection, and it was really only then that the disciples began to put it all together. This scene is also the key to understanding the cross of Jesus and his commitment to it. In Luke's version of the story he tells us that Jesus spoke with Moses and Elijah about his approaching death in Jerusalem (Luke 9:31). It was the first lesson in Jesus' attempt to get them to understand his Messiahship and what it entailed. 

In essence, the true meaning of the Transfiguration is to invite us to experience Christ's agony and joy, so that we can live a life transfigured by the Spirit. Which Sacraments transfigure us in this way?

Through the Sacrament of Confirmation, each Christian is offered the gifts of the Spirit needed to participate more fully in Christ's suffering and glory. Confirmation offers us a life transfigured by the Spirit. Christ's transfiguration on the mountain was a foreshadowing of the transfiguration of each of his disciples through the Sacramental life of the Church.

In addition, some men are called by the Holy Spirit to join Christ in His agony and His glory in a special way, by receiving the Sacrament of Holy Orders. More so than the other Sacraments does this Sacrament offer a transfiguration in the Spirit to those chosen by God. Those who receive Holy Orders are called to become as much like Christ as they can be, to leave behind the world and themselves, and to be transfigured in the Spirit, just as Christ was transfigured on the mountain.

To Be Continued….   

Mary, Tower of David, Pray for us!!!