Author Archives: Father L
A Christian’s outer life
Friends in Christ, in the gospel today, the Lord heals this deaf man – another miracle. The people were seeing these miracles – how Jesus handled himself, his poise, his wisdom, and power – and this lead them to say: ‘He has done all things well.’
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Jesus Christ lived as the perfect man, and therefore to be around him, to see him, was to see a person who had that ideal balance of the virtues, and in this we might say he had perfect ‘decorum.’ In older books on the spiritual life, they would often speak of how one should handle oneself in various situations and encounters. St. Thomas Aquinas devotes some serious ink to this subject which he calls ‘modesty in our outward movements.’
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We are meant to live rightly on the inside for sure, and then to conduct ourselves with decorum on the outside. Sometimes delicate situations arise and they should be handled with sensitivity. In the gospel we see how Our Lord handles the situation with this man who is deaf and dumb. Notice what he does. A deaf person can easily feel embarrassed around crowds; but Jesus shows the most tender consideration for his situation: it says that he took him aside from the crowd in order to help him, privately. In everything our Lord did, he shows the grace and refinement that we should seek.
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Today, it is not uncommon to see people who are boisterous, impolite, or even crude – they display no subtlety or tact. But if we are to imitate Jesus, we must conduct ourselves better.
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In his book ‘tour of the Summa’ Mgsr. Glenn says that this sense of decorum should inform all our outward behavior, even how we dress. Those who dress in a very sloppy way do not have this modesty about themselves, and it conveys a vulgar approach to living. St. Ambrose says, the way we dress should not go strongly against custom, provided the custom is decent. And our clothes should be clean and ourselves clean.
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Thomas Aquinas tells us that we need this decorum even in how we recreate. In leisure activities or sports or games we should have courtesy toward others and really participate, without being addicted to the game.
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This virtue also calls us to avoid ostentation or show; after Christ healed that deaf man, we see how he tells the people to say nothing about the miracle; he knew they would tell, but he wanted to teach the apostles to be reserved, and shun any pretention.
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Having a gracious attitude in how we handle ourselves in all situations will show a real refinement worthy of a disciple of Christ.
Our Lady of Lourdes (Mary’s light)
Friends in Christ, today is the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.
In 1858, the Blessed Virgin appeared to St. Bernadette in Lourdes, France. Bernadette, having told a number of people that she was seeing a beautiful Lady who prayed the rosary with her and spoke to her – well, many doubted her story at first. Her parents and teachers, and even the parish priest were skeptical of the claims of this young girl.
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Bernadette went each day, for 14 days, to the grotto to see the Blessed Virgin. By the final days, some 20,000 people were there with her, full of Faith. Why did the people have this faith? To see this, we might consider what St. Bonaventure says. Bonaventure says that the sun in the sky is a type of Jesus Christ, shining its light. But the moon is a type of the Blessed Virgin, who shines brightly in the night sky, yet in actuality, it is reflecting the light of the Sun to the earth. So to see the bright light of the moon at night, is to see the light of the Sun. The reflection is there.
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To look upon Mary is to feel the warmth of the love of Christ; she reflects it to us. With this in mind, we ask again, what was it that caused those people of Lourdes to believe that Bernadette was seeing Mary? Was it because of the miraculous spring which came forth to heal many? Did this make them believe? Was it because of Bernadette’s sincerity and persistence? Perhaps something else.
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Those 20,000 people believed Bernadette, because of the effect that Our Blessed Mother had on her. Because Mary, who reflects the light of Christ, reflected her light upon Bernadette, which they could see.
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An unbeliever who was a skeptic, who went to the grotto to see Bernadette, he writes about his experience: ‘She was on her knees, her eyes wide open and fixed on the grotto. She had in her folded hands her Rosary, which she began to pray. At the 3rd Hail Mary she entered into ecstasy. As soon as the Lady appeared, Bernadette’s smile became lovely and her face changed. It was a delight to see her. Tears were streaming from both her eyes. She was smiling and her face was lovely – lovelier than anything I’ve ever seen. To see her face like that brought tears to your eyes.’[i]
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So, it was Bernadette’s face – a face of heavenly joy, seeing Mary reflected in her face, that caused those thousands of people to believe. Another witness wrote this: ‘I was facing her, only about 2 yards away; if you had only seen her eyes! It was enough to bring you to your knees.’[ii] Her smile[iii] was beyond all description – I felt that I was on the threshold of Paradise.[iv]
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That’s where Mary wants to bring us; to the arms of Jesus in Paradise.
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[i] St. Bernadette Soubirous, p. 52, 63
[ii] p. 66
[iii] It was a sight to see – thousands of people, in a profound silence, as if in Church.
[iv] p. 112, 125, 126
St. Scholastica
Friends in Christ,
Today is the Feast of St. Scholastica. St. Scholastica was born in the year 480, and she was actually the twin sister of St. Benedict. Under her brother’s direction, she founded a community of nuns not too far from Benedict’s monastery at Monte Cassino. Like her brother, she dedicated herself to God in the monastic life. She died in 547.
We do not know too much about her, but we DO have an incident which was famously told by St. Gregory the Great about her. He writes: Scholastica had been consecrated to God from her youth, and she was accustomed to visiting her brother once a year, at a little place between his monastery and her convent.
One time Benedict went as usual with some of his companions to meet her; they spent the whole day praising God and talking of sacred things. Their spiritual conversation went on, and the hour grew late.
When darkness was setting in, having taken their meal together, his sister said to him: ‘Please do not leave tonight brother, let us keep talking about the joys of heaven until morning. ‘What are you saying, sister?’ he replied. ‘You know that I cannot stay away from the monastery.’ “At her brother’s refusal Scholastica folded her hands on the table and rested her head upon them in earnest prayer. As she raised her head from the table, there suddenly appeared in the otherwise clear sky, menacing, dark clouds, and then a burst of lightning and thunder. As her prayer ended, there came such a downpour of rain that Benedict and his friends were unable to set foot outside the door.
Realizing that he could not return to the abbey in the storm, Benedict complained bitterly. ‘God forgive you, sister!’ he said. ‘What have you done?’ Scholastica answered, ‘When I appealed to you, you would not listen. So I turned to God and He heard my prayer. Now leave if you can. Leave me here and go back to your monastery!’
This, of course, he could not do, and so he stayed against his own will. They therefore passed the whole night, engrossed in conversation about the spiritual life. Benedict did not know that his sister would leave this earth only three days hence.
St Gregory says that her prayer was more effective than his because God is love, and she loved more.
A Heart after Christ
Friends in Christ, in the gospel today we see that as soon as Jesus gets out of the boat, people were mobbing him; it says they came from all over, and they brought him those who were sick and they kept wanting to touch him.
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In reading a commentary last night on this passage, it is asked if Jesus, just for once, would have liked people to come to him not just to ‘get something for themselves’, but to give something.
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We all know people who sort of ‘use’ their friends. Some people you never hear from unless they want something from you. They think people exist only to help them with their own needs.
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It’s easy for the young to simply ‘use’ their homes. Home is only there to provide for their needs and comforts, not a place to contribute in the upbuilding of their family.
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Some see the Church as a place to make use of. They show up to baptize their children, or to get married, or for a funeral – otherwise, you never see them. Just give me the ‘service’ that I want!, they seem to say.
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And then there is the Lord Jesus. How often do people ignore him, until they are in great need. It is not uncommon to hear a child in confession say, ‘Father, I feel bad because I only talk to Jesus when I want something.’ Even some sensitive children realize this is not good, I always think there is a beautiful soul in there. Too often we only call to the Lord in our wants.
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For sure, he wants us to ask, he told us this: ‘Ask, and it shall be given; knock, and the door will be opened.’ But how happy Jesus would be if we went to him sometimes, to thank him, to praise him, to embrace him; just to love him.
The Hidden years of Christ
Friends in Christ, it has been said that God could have saved us by doing some spectacular, shocking miracle for the world – like filling the sky with fire and booming out his voice for days and days, speaking to us, and even declaring us saved – or doing that every week for us to never doubt his power and authority. But he didn’t do that.
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At an enormous risk, the Son of God decided instead to quietly join himself to our humanity – to take on our own human condition and live our life and die our death – perfect solidarity with his creatures, with his beloved children.
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But the risk of this way, is that familiarity would breed contempt – that the respect due to Our Lord would not be given, because – how can a God do the things that we do? Human things?
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Today in the gopsel, Jesus returns to Nazareth where he grew up; by now he has disciples; it is said that he had worked miracles; but – Jesus seemed just TOO human to the people of his town. They had seen him grow up there. ‘Isn’t this the carpenter, Mary’s son?, they asked sarcastically.
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Now because they said this, it surely meant that Joseph had already died. No doubt, for years, Jesus had continued the carpentry work of St. Joseph, so he himself was known as ‘the carpenter.’ So without Joseph, this is why he was called ‘Mary’s son.’
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Our translation refers to Jesus’ brothers and sisters, but this simply means cousins or relatives, because they used the same word for all these things.
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The Son of God chose, for 33 years of his life, not to do miracles or even preach or teach or heal anyone – he chose to live an ordinary life as a workman, a carpenter. Jesus lived as a working man, a person like us. He wanted to experience full, ordinary, human life.
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You know, Alexander the Great, after he had conquered Darius and subdued Persia, he wished to gain the affection of the people; so he went around dressed up in the Persian style of clothing. Well – God has acted in the same way. In order to show us how much he loves us, God the Son chose to not only clothe himself in our human nature, but to spend most of his life as a common workman, living among his dearest creatures.
St. Blaise
Friends in Christ, today is the Feast of St. Blaise.
Blaise was the Bishop of Sebaste, Armenia, and he was also a doctor. Because of persecution, he lived in a cave on Mt. Argeus; there, it is said, birds brought him food, and many animals were attracted to him. He would bless them, and cure them of their illnesses.
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One day, some hunters came near, and saw a large herd of animals near the cave; they saw Blaise, and reported it to the governor; he ordered that Blaise should immediately be captured because he was a Christian.
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As the soldiers were bringing him along, he encountered a woman whose pig was being attacked by a wolf; he commanded the wolf to release the pig, which it did at once.
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Brought before the governor, Blaise was told to renounce Jesus Christ, but he refused. He was beaten with clubs, and then put into prison. So there he was, in his gloomy prison, more of a dungeon; but that woman whose pig Blaise had saved – she came to him, and gave him two candles to light up his dark cell. He thanked her, and said: ‘Each year, offer a candle in the Church and all will be well with you.’
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The next day, Blaise was tortured; hung from rafters, his flesh was torn with iron spikes. ‘Either adore the gods of Rome or not, said the governor. He refused, and so was ordered to be thrown into the lake. At that moment, Blaise made the sign of the cross over the lake, and like Christ, he was able to walk on top of the water. Standing there, he said to the crowd: ‘If your gods are really gods, then show their power by walking on the water to me. 65 pagans promptly walked in and drowned. He was then ordered to be beheaded.
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While being taken away, a lady urgently came to him because her son was choking on a fishbone, caught in his throat. Blaise laid hands on him and prayed for the child, and said that anyone who invoked his intercession would be protected from diseases, especially of the throat. The child was instantly cured.
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St. Blaise was martyred in the year 283. Many miracles accompanied his relics, and to this day, we have the blessing of throats on his feast day. St. Blaise is the patron saint of animals, construction workers, veterinarians, coughs, and throat diseases.
Presentation of the Lord
Beloved in Christ,[i] today is the feast of the Presentation of the Lord. It is often called Candlemass, and today we bless all the candles for the year.
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The Presentation of the Lord is when the Child Jesus was presented in the Temple. At the time of Christ, the Law required that a first-born son should be brought to the temple and offered to God. And so Mary and Joseph did this, bringing Jesus to the Temple.
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At that time however, the Blessed Virgin did not offer her Son as other mothers did. Others offered them to God in a merely religious ceremony, but Mary offered her Son, knowing that this offering of Jesus was going to be completed by his death on the cross. God willed that his Son should pay the penalty that we deserved, but just as God would not become man without the consent of his mother, so too, the life of Jesus would not be sacrificed without the consent of his Mother. Thomas Aquinas says that mother’s have a special right over their children, and so it was fitting that Jesus would not be condemned for the sins of the world without the consent of his Mother.
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It was for the love of mankind, that Mary delivered her Child into the arms of Simeon as an offering to God. As St. Bernard says, ‘when God was to redeem the human race, he deposited the whole price in Mary’s hands.’ St. Epiphanius calls her a priest, because she offered him up to God. Only with difficulty then, did Simeon announce to Mary that her Son would be a sign of contradiction, and that her own soul will be pierced.
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Because this Child is offered to God, and crucified, how many martyrs will there be? How many thousands of men and women will be torn to pieces by lions and put to death, because of this Child.’ A sign of contradiction.
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During the Passion of Christ, when he was unjustly accused, Mary was silent. She said nothing to Pontius Pilate, who even seemed inclined to set him free. It was for love of us, that Mary consented to the Crucifixion, to complete the offering of her Child, first made in the Temple today.
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We repeat this offering at every Mass in the Temple of heaven. Mary in Scripture is a symbol of the Church, and so as Mother Mary offered Christ for our salvation, Mother Church brings Jesus and offers him in God’s temple at every Mass, for our sins. But not only is Jesus offered, every Christian with Christ, is offered.
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All the candles that are blessed today, remind us that Christ is the Light who has come into the world. We too, are supposed to be other ‘Christs’ – other Lights in the world.
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[i] Glories of Mary, p. 395-399
A Labor of Love
Latin Mass: Septuagesima Sunday
Beloved in Christ Jesus,[i] today we are presented with this interesting Gospel, about the workers who came late to work, yet were paid the same as those who worked all day. Our Lord knew of course, that this would rankle the hearer; this payment method would not produce very good morale at a company – but Our Lord has something else in mind rather than business policy.
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Here is what St Gregory the Great says about this passage:
The morning of that workday represents the early beginning of the world, and so it represents the time from Adam up to Noah. The vineyard is God’s kingdom on earth, and the promised payment of one denarius represents salvation.
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God’s covenant with Adam, was the agreed-upon wage; Adam could not say that he did not know the reward which was promised. But the rest who came later – they had no contract with God and no covenant.
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The third hour of the day, is the period from Noah up to Abraham, the sixth hour, is from Abraham up to Moses, and the ninth hour is from Moses to the coming of Christ. So the workers at the third, sixth, and ninth hours represent the ancient Jewish people, chosen in the beginning, who served the Lord in his vineyard.
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But at the eleventh hour the Gentiles are called. Now these Gentiles for so many ages of the world did not labor for the Lord, they stood by idle. But notice what they say to the Master: ‘No one has hired us. And it is true: neither the Patriarchs, nor Abraham, nor Noah, nor the prophets had ever come to the Gentiles to invite them. The Gentiles say: ‘No one has preached to us this way of life.; but finally the Gentiles are sent also, into the vineyard.
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When the time of payment comes, this is the end of the world. And so the Lord said to the steward – that is, to the Holy Spirit, ‘Call the laborers, and give them their wage. And so those who were called at the beginning of the world receive the same reward as those who came late. Thus says, St. Gregory the Great.
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It is certain that Jesus, in telling this parable, has in mind the Gentiles, who came later than the Jews to the Covenant. But it must also be true, that Christ has in mind something else. Our Lord is speaking of the calling given by God to each of us individually,[ii] pressing us, to labor during this life for his kingdom.
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The morning is our childhood, the 3rd hour is our youth, the sixth hour is adulthood, the eleventh hour is old age. The Lord calls his laborers at all these various hours, and they should agree to work for him, because the wage, is salvation.
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Some are baptized into the Faith as infants; these are those called in the morning, and they must not put off laboring for the Lord in his vineyard – who knows it they will even be alive at the 11th hour?
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They that are called at the 3rd hour may be dead at the 6th. On the other hand, in his mercy, God calls some late in life; but if we should die at midday, that last call will not help us. Besides, God has not promised us a 2nd call if we excuse ourselves from the first.
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Today in the old calendar, we begin this period of Septuagesima. If the time of Lent is a house, then Septuagesima is the porch. These weeks are the entry to Lent, a time to begin to think, and ask ourselves: ‘How have I been laboring for the Lord in his vineyard?’
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We have been so blessed, to be among the Gentiles called by Christ. And we have been blessed to be in the Lord’s Catholic Church. But have we been going to work in his vineyard?
We need the Lord’s help to build his Kingdom – laboring in our own souls for holiness – laboring also in the world for souls.
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And if we need the Lord’s help, we should also ask Mary’s help – a lady was near death and surrounded by a family of non-practicing children who saw no use for a priest. But the priest asked to speak to her alone, and they gladly left the room. As he spoke to her of the Lord and his mercy, she seemed uneasy, and her long distance from Christ made her feel despair. But then the priest mentioned that Mary was praying for her, and no sooner did he say ‘Mary,’ that did her face light up, and she blurted out ‘I love her!’ Well from there, the rest was easy, and she was reconciled to Christ.
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Mary, you lead us to Jesus, even if we come late; help us not to put off his call to work daily, in his vineyard.
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[Entrusted to the prayers of St. Joseph]
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[i] See Catena, Matthew 20:1-16
[ii] Gueranger, The Liturgical Year, Vol 4, p. 125.
