Category: Lesson
The Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God ~ Br. Brent Whetstone, OPI
In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Today is a very special feast day for me, as a Dominican Friar, and someone who is reading for Holy Orders. Today is the day we celebrate our special patroness, the patroness of the Dominican Order, and my personal patroness: someone I have devoted my ministry to. Our Lady has found favor with the Order of Preachers because at her core she exemplifies everything that we as Dominicans hold dear. We wear her scapular, we pray her rosary and we daily seek her intervention on our behalf every night when we close evening prayer with the Salve Regina!
Salve Regina, Mater Misericordiae,
vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve!
Ad te clamamus, exsules filii Hevae,
ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes,
In hac lacrimarum valle.
Eja ergo, Advocata nostra,
Illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte
Et Jesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui,
Nobis, post hoc exilium, ostende,
O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria.
Hail Holy Queen, Mother of mercy our life, our sweetness and our hope! To thee do we cry, poor banished chidren of Eve, To thee do we send up our sighs, Mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn, then, o most gracious advocate, Thine eyes of mercy toward us and after this our exile Show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, o loving, o sweet Virgin Mary.
I was reading a book the other day by one of my favorite Catholic Theologians, Dr. Scott Hahn, called Hail Holy Queen: the Mother of God in the Word of God, and in it Dr Hahn talks about the many Marian types in the Old Testament. He says that:
“Marian types abound in the Old Testament. We find Mary prefigured in Eve, the mother of all living; In Sarah, the wife of Abraham, who conceived her child miraculously; in the queen mother of Israel’s monarchy, who interceded with the king on behalf of the people of the land; and in many other places, in many other ways (for example, Hannah and Ester). The type addressed most explicitly in the New Testament, the ark of the covenant….as the ancient ark was made to bear the old covenant, so the Virgin Mary was created to bear the new covenant.”
It is because of this that we celebrate Our Lady today. The Blessed Virgin Mary is the God Bearer, the Theotokos, and what a responsibility it was for her to take on the role of the ark of the new covenant. Imagine with me, if you will, your life as a 13 or 14 year old: not much responsibility, school, maybe a part time job working for you family, but mostly a care free life. Then one day it all changes. Not many teenagers would be up for the challenge, and not many would willingly say “yes” to such an awesome task being placed upon their shoulders. But Mary did. She did so in faith, and she did so willingly trusting her God. She knew the stigma that would be placed on her. She knew the possibility that her fiancé would leave her, and she would be left to raise a child on her own. But she also knew that God was there by her side.
It was because of this one act of obedience that Salvation was brought to the world. It was because a young girl was willing to put aside her own will and walk in the will of God. That is what we celebrate today. We celebrate an act of obedience that changed the world. We celebrate her today: Mary, the Mother of God, the Queen of Heaven, and our greatest advocate before her Son.
Each year on this day, I recommit myself to my Dominican vocation, as I recount her willingness to freely give herself to God. I too, willingly give myself to God through my vocation, so that I may be able to praise, to bless and to preach God’s message of salvation to the world.
Let us pray:
O God, you willed that the Order of Preachers be founded for the salvation of souls under the special patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and that the Order be filled with her unfailing gifts. Grant to us who call upon you, protected by the aid of her whose feast we celebrate, that we may be brought to the glory of heaven. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
—Collect for the Patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary over the whole Order of Preachers
Tis the Season….For the Family! ~ Br. Matt Pepple, Novice
The “Holy Family” is the designation given to the family unit of Jesus Christ. It is comprised of Jesus Christ – The Divine Son of God, The Virgin Mary – the Mother of Christ, and Jesus’ Earthly “Adoptive” father, Joseph. The canonical Gospels do not speak much of the Holy Family, just primarily the birth of Jesus, the flight into Egypt, and when Mary and Joseph find Jesus in the Temple. While the precise facts of the day-to-day life of the Holy Family might be shrouded in mystery, we can still absorb a lot from the stories we do have. Devotion to the Holy Family is a more current development. The love of Jesus and his Family is something that grows naturally.
The Feast of the Holy Family became really popular in the 17th century, where several religious organizations were founded under this label. It was also depicted in art works during this time. On October 26th, 1921 the Congregation of Rites led by Pope Benedict the 15th, introduced the Feast of the Holy Family into the Latin Rite common calendar. Before that time it was observed provincially. Popes before Benedict the 15th such as Leo the 13th sponsored the feast as a way to counter the dissolution of the family unit. The church today observes the Feast on the Sunday between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Before 1969, the Feast was held on the first Sunday following the Epiphany.
In our Reading today from Hebrews 2:10-18, the writer of Hebrews is stating that in bringing children to glory will make their development of redemption perfect through suffering; that the one who consecrates and those who are sanctified all have one unifying Father and because of this, Jesus is not ashamed to call us all brothers and sisters. He states, “I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters, in the center of the churchgoers I will praise you.” And also, “I will put my trust in him.” And “Here am I and the offspring whom God has given me.” Since, then, the children share flesh and blood, he himself similarly shared the same things, so that through death he might end the one who has the control of death, that is, the devil, and permit those who all their lives were seized in bondage by the fear of death. For it is clear that he did not come to aid angels, but the children of Abraham. So he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every aspect, so that he might be a compassionate and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of compensation for the sins of the people. As he himself was tried by what he suffered, he is able to aid those who are being tried and tested.
And in Matthew 2:13-23, the adoptive father of Jesus, Joseph is given a remarkable vision in a dream by the angel of the Lord and is telling Joseph to take the baby Jesus and his mother Mary into Egypt, because King Herod is seeking the boy to kill him. They all travel by night into Egypt. There they remained until Herod died and was so fulfilled by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.” Herod was tricked by the wise men and in his anger; killed all the children in the proximity of Bethlehem who were two years old or under, thus fulfilling what the prophet Jeremiah spoke: “A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.” After the death of Herod, the angel again visited Joseph in a dream and told him to take Jesus and his mother Mary back to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking to kill the boy are now dead. After Joseph learned that Archelaus was now ruler of Judea in Herod’s place, he felt great fear, and after being advised in a dream, he went to a district of Galilee. He made their home in Nazareth, so that the words of the prophets would be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazarene.”
Sometimes family can be a really daunting thing. We may not all get along well with our family; brothers and sisters have disagreements, perhaps you may have grown up in a family of all brothers or all sisters. We may not all work like a well-oiled machine. Sometimes Mothers and Fathers go through seasons where they do not mesh effectively. Maybe you grew up in a unit that was not like a “typical” family. Each person may be going through something that could make connections a bit difficult. Parents could be struggling at work, with work, children dealing with their own struggles in school with friends or teachers or homework. One thing to remember during this holiday season is that our differences really aren’t that different. It’s not that difficult to relate to something a parent faces as much as it is observing a child in their day to day life.
When we think about the hardships of the Holy Family, how Mary and Joseph struggled in their travels from Nazareth to Bethlehem, or going into Egypt by night, it’s not really much different than what most families go through either once or many times. If a parent gets a new job and the entire family has to relocate, that means new schools for the children. One thing that weighed heavily on the Holy Family was that the entire journeys were done on foot, even atop a donkey is not much easier. Joseph had a great responsibility to protect this child, the baby Jesus, and his wife, Mary. Just imagine what it must have been to have known that there were people out there seeking this child’s life! And for Mary, a woman of whom had just given birth, keeping on the move for miles and miles.
During this time of the year, when you are spending time with your family, think of your family, think of the sacrifices your parents or guardians made to help get you where you are in life. As a parent or guardian, take time to reflect on the children that you have raised, to the great kids that they are or fantastic adults that they have become. Give thanks for each other during this time of year and be open with one another. If your family is not one to spend a lot of time together, give them a call, send them an e-mail, break open the fog of silence and start communicating. Family is an integral part to the community aspect of being a Dominican. So, work past your differences, and forgive often! Spend time with friends, rejoice with them through all the good times, and be with them during the hard times. Spend quality family time during this time of meals and merriment. It really is a season of growing together as a family. Amen.
Feast of the Holy Innocents ~ Br. Brent Whetstone, OPI
In the name of The Father, and of The Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Lully, lullay, thou little tiny child,
Bye bye, lully, lullay.
Lully, lullay, thou little tiny child,
Bye bye, lully, lullay.
O sisters too, how may we do
For to preserve this day
This poor youngling for whom we sing,
“Bye bye, lully, lullay”?
Herod the king, in his raging,
Chargèd he hath this day
His men of might in his own sight
All young children to slay.
That woe is me, poor child, for thee
And ever mourn and may
For thy parting neither say nor sing,
“Bye bye, lully, lullay.” * (Link below)
These haunting words come from a song called the Coventry Carol. The “Coventry Carol” is an English Christmas carol dating from the 16th century. The carol was traditionally performed in Coventry in England as part of a mystery play called The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors. The play depicts the Christmas story from chapter two in the Gospel of Matthew: the carol itself refers to the Massacre of the Innocents, in which Herod ordered all male infants under the age of two in Bethlehem to be killed, and takes the form of a lullaby sung by mothers of the doomed children.
Now here we are on the fourth day of Christmas. In the midst of a time of happiness and joy and celebration and family and friends. A time where we forget about all the negativity in the world and celebrate the things that we have, and yet on our liturgical calendar we have a reminder of a great tragedy that occurred around the time of the birth of our Lord.
This tragedy sets the stage for what will become a common theme in Christianity, and that is the persecution of the Church. Today we set aside our celebrations to pause and pray and to remember those who have come before us and who have faced persecution for their belief in Christ and for those who are currently part of the persecuted Church.
According to a recent CNN report, 2015 was the most violent year for Christian persecution in modern history. More than 7,100 Christians were killed for their faith; that is up 3,000 from the previous year, and this year alone, according to Open Door, a watchdog organization that follows Christians persecution worldwide, in 2016 there were 322 Christians killed each month. In addition to the loss of life, each month there were 214 churches and Christian-owned properties destroyed; there were 722 acts of violence committed on Christians, ranging from abductions to rape. That is each month.
It is hard for us to imagine in the United States what it is like for our brothers and sisters who are in predominately Muslim countries where a majority of this persecution occurs. We have the opportunity to attend church on Sunday, usually without fear of anything happening to us or our loved ones, we can safely walk the streets and not worry about being harassed because of our faith. But our brothers and sisters are not so fortunate.
I believe that today we are called to remember those who are part of the persecuted church. I think that it is important to leave you with a few ideas on what you can do to help our brothers and sisters who are facing this persecution.
First we must understand that we are called to support our brothers and sisters. In Saint Paul’s First letter to the church at Corinth he says that, “we are one body. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.” We must support organizations that help our brothers and sisters in these areas of persecution.
Second, we must bring awareness to the fact that the persecuted church does, in fact, exist. Talk to your friends and family and church leaders and see what you can collectively do together to support our brothers and sisters, especially in the Middle East.
Finally and most importantly, we must pray. Make prayer for the persecuted church part of your daily devotion. There is power in prayer and by praying and putting your faith into action. With prayer we can see miracles take place as we saw in November, when the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Qaraqosh celebrated its first mass in two years.
This is what we are called to do as Christians, to take action and to pray. To always remember the persecuted who have come before us and the persecuted who part of the Church today.
Let us pray:
O God, whom the Holy Innocents confessed and proclaimed on this day, not by speaking but by dying, grant, we pray, that the faith in your which we confess with our lips may also speak through our manner of life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIvH5GdY4JE
St. John the Evangelist – Proclaiming Through Experience ~ Br. Mark Dickson-Patrick – Novice
Today the Church celebrates the feast of St. John the Evangelist, the “Beloved Disciple,” who is traditionally believed to be the author of the Gospel of John. John was a historical figure, one of the “pillars” of the church in Jerusalem following Jesus’ death and resurrection. Around 95 AD, he is believed to have been exiled to the island of Patmos, where he wrote the book of Revelation and taught various believers who came to visit him in exile. He is the only one of the original 12 apostles to not have been killed for his faith and died in old age around the year 100 AD. Depicted in art as a young man, John is also represented by an eagle, which is one of the figures envisioned by the prophet Ezekiel and in John’s Revelation.
Have you ever gone on a long trip or ever moved away from your dear family and friends, and desired so much to be with them, to spend time with them, to talk to them and enjoy their company? Oftentimes, we pick up the phone and we can hear the voices of our loved ones. We in our modern world use video chat services like FaceTime and Skype to see and interact with them on a deeper level. That, however, is very rarely enough to satisfy our desire to be with one another, to learn from our elders and relatives and to laugh and be silly with our friends. Being with them gives an added sense of love and friendship and guidance and comfort that indirect means of communication cannot do.
In our first reading for this great feast, we read John’s own words discussing what he had the immense blessing in his life to experience with regard to the message of the Gospel. John, as one of the original 12 apostles, got to walk with Jesus, hear the message of the Good News of salvation from His mouth, see the miracles He worked, and even see the salvation of the world as his Teacher, his Master, hung dying on the cross with the weight of the world’s sins past, present, and future, on his shoulders. John says that what he does in preaching the Gospel is because of “what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life” (1John 1:1). John was in a very special place to witness these miracles, as Scripture calls him “the beloved disciple,” “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” and he is the one to whom Jesus gave his mother to be taken care of. In preaching the Good News of salvation, and in his writings to the Christians who came to hear him, he is preaching what he himself has personally witnessed and is passing on to the readers of his letter, even down to us today. How truly blessed was he who touched the feet which bore the wounds which brought us salvation! How truly blessed to experience the miracles, the healings, and the walking on the water. How truly blessed to preach from his own experience that Jesus is Lord.
Sometimes in our Christian journey, it feels like we have to connect to the Lord through indirect means, like we would be connected with one another through FaceTime or Skype, or even the phone. Because we can’t physically touch Jesus, physically hear His voice as He speaks words of grace, of healing, of miracle, we may feel disconnected from Him and the work that He does in the world. We sometimes can feel like our prayer isn’t getting through and that we aren’t having the relationship with Jesus that we so desperately feel called to have. While it may feel that we can only connect to Him through indirect means we too, like John, can have those direct experiences with the mercy and grace and goodness of God. While in our life’s journey we become distracted, we should take a breath and look around and see the blessings, the graces, and the miracles that our Lord is working around us each and every day. Look at the beauty of the created world and the blessing of faith, and like John, share it. Like John, let us proclaim Jesus Christ, for “this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us” (1John 1:2). We don’t need technology to feel connected to the Lord. We need only look around us, listen for His voice, and share His goodness and love, and the Good News of salvation.
St. John the Evangelist, the Beloved Disciple, pray for us.
The Feast of St. Stephen the Martyr ~ The Rev. Lady Sherwood, OPI
St. Stephen the Martyr=The link with Jesus’s birth
Reading 1:Acts 6:8-10, 7:54-59
Psalm:PS 31: 3CD-4, 6 & 8AB, 16BC & 17
Gospel: MT 10:17-22
Yesterday, we celebrated Christmas, the birth of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We contemplated the newly born baby Jesus lying in a stable manager, we sang carols, feasted, and heard the tidings of peace and joy for the whole world. Although we are still very much in a festive mood, with the carols still ringing in our ears and the feasting still bloating us, today’s Feast of St Stephen the first Martyr, is a stark contrast to that of yesterday, but there is indeed a true deep link between the birth of Our Lord Jesus and Today’s Feast of martyrdom.
We all too easily forget among all the joyous festivities of Christmas, that our Lord Jesus was born amongst us, into a hard, cold, and violent world. Our dear Lord Jesus, the Son of God, was born not in a fancy palace or building. No, of all places,he was born in a manger within a simple stable. Not long after his birth, King Herod was looking to have him killed. This was only the very beginning of the violence and persecution which our Lord Jesus was going to face in his life upon the earth, and this would ultimately lead to to his execution upon the cross, paying the ultimate price for our sins and to gain for us eternal life and salvation.
So, when we truly reflect upon both the joy of Christmas and Today’s martyrdom of St Stephen, we can see the deep connection between the divine love and tenderness and human violence and persecution. Our Lord Jesus Christ came to heal our human hate and violence with his divine tenderness and love for us. This was expressed in mercy and by Forgiveness, this was also witnessed to us by the martyrdom of St Stephen. Just as Stephen believed and showed to us, let us also believe the truth, that ugliness and the evil of human hate and violence can only truly be changed with the divine tenderness of love and Forgiveness.
It is only through God’s mercy, love and Forgiveness and of our showing it as servants of our Lord Jesus Christ, just as St Stephen did, that hardened hearts will be turned into loving hearts.
What’s On Your Plate? ~ The Rev. Dcn. Scott Brown, OPI
Having a full plate. Too much on your plate. Just what does this idiom mean? Imagine a plate of food so full that some food might fall off. We don’t have to imagine it; we’ve all seen guy at the all you can eat buffets. The idioms dealing with a “full plate” refer to the same kind of thing, except instead of food, our imaginary plates are filled with anxiety, work, things to do, problems that need to be solved. We have much on our plates and Joseph had much on his. Let’s read the Gospel for today:
This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.
MT 1:18-24
Let’s look at what was placed on Joseph’s plate.
Joseph must have had huge doubts about Mary when she was found to be pregnant. Joseph and Mary had not lived together (consummated the marriage), so Joseph had every right to believe Mary had been unfaithful to him, until an Angel of the lord appeared to him in a dream. The angel spoke to Joseph, assuring him that Mary had not been unfaithful, rather she was carrying the Son of God. What a trusting man Joseph must have been! How would you react? Wouldn’t that seem a little too far-fetched to be believable? Wouldn’t you just think that a dream is a dream and nothing more? Joseph didn’t: he had faith that what he had been told by the Angel was fact. I would like to think that if placed in the same situation, I would be able to react with faith as Joseph did. But most likely I would still be skeptical of the validity of the whole situation.
What do we know about Joseph? Not much actually, other than he was betrothed to Mary, which means that his marriage to Mary had been arranged by his and her parents; it is believed my many theologians that he was young, probably 16 or 17. We know that he was a devout man, a carpenter by trade, and he was from Bethlehem, but lived in Nazareth. Not a lot of detail about the man who would raise Jesus to adulthood.
We know that he was “pledged to be married” to Mary. What newer versions of the Bible call “pledged to be married,” the older versions call “betrothed.” This refers to an ancient Jewish marriage custom. In those days, most marriages were arranged by the parents–with or without the children’s approval. The two sets of parents would meet and draw up a formal marriage contract. When the contract was signed, the man and woman were legally “pledged” to each other other. This period of betrothal would last up to a year, at the end of which period they were formally married in a public wedding ceremony. Now that sounds like our practice of engagement, but there were some major differences. In the first place, the “pledge” was considered as sacred as marriage itself. During that year, the couple were called husband and wife but they did not live together. If the man died during that year, the woman would be considered a widow even though the wedding ceremony had never taken place. The only way to break the betrothal was through a legal divorce. In essence, to be “pledged” to each other was the same thing as being married, except that you could not live together until the wedding ceremony took place. The whole idea was that the one-year waiting period was meant to be a time for testing commitment and faithfulness.
Now Mary turns up pregnant. Joseph only knows one thing for sure. He’s not the father. What words describe a man at a time like this? Anger … Confusion … Frustration … Embarrassment … Shame … Rage … Disappointment. What did he say to her? What did she say to him? Did she tell him about the angel Gabriel? If she did, can you blame him for not believing her? Did he say to her, “Mary, how could you? You were pledged to me. We were going to get married. I think Joseph cried harder that day than he had ever cried in his life.
I shudder to think that if this situation happened today it might end in an abortion. Thankfully, Joseph and Mary didn’t have that option. Abortion was very rare in ancient Israel and Planned Parenthood hadn’t opened up a clinic in Nazareth yet. Joseph’s dilemma was of a different variety. He was an observant Jew and under the Law he had the right to divorce Mary for unfaithfulness. In fact, the Law forbade him to marry her under those circumstances. Here is the greatness of Joseph. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man (that means he wanted to do what was right in the eyes of God) and did not want to expose her to public disgrace (that means that he although he thought she had been unfaithful, he still didn’t want to humiliate her) , he had in mind to divorce her quietly. In those days, a man could get a divorce in two ways: First, he could get a public divorce by going before a judge at the gate of the city. That would mean that the whole town would know about Mary’s shame. Second, he could get a private divorce by giving her the papers in the presence of two witnesses. It is entirely to Joseph’s credit that he chose to do it privately and thus spare Mary the humiliation of a public divorce. Having made his decision … he didn’t do it. He had every legal and moral right to divorce Mary but he just couldn’t do it. He hesitated, waited, thought long and hard. Day after day he pondered the matter. Time was running out. With each passing day, it became more obvious that Mary was pregnant.
He had a dream and in the dream God spoke to him. An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” To us, this seems strange. But not to Joseph. God often spoke to people through dreams in the Bible. It was one way he used in those ancient days of communicating to his people. He couldn’t marry Mary until he was sure it was all right. He had to know the truth. God met him at the point of his need at exactly the right moment. He told Joseph the one thing he most wanted to hear: “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife.” The angel explains just enough and nothing more. The baby is “from the Holy Spirit” and thus not of man. Nothing more is said. We are not told precisely how the virginal conception of Jesus in the womb of Mary took place. It remains one of the great mysteries of the Christian faith. After 2000 years of debate, we know nothing more about it than Joseph did.The angel added a detail about who this baby will be. His name is Jesus, which means “Savior.” His mission is to save his people from their sins.
We give more attention to Mary and rightly so. But Joseph deserves his credit, too. He is a model of the man of faith, struggling with his doubts, persuaded to believe what God has said and ultimately acting upon his persuasion.
In these days of confusion, Joseph is a wonderful model of what a godly man looks like:
He was tough when he could have been weak.
He was tender when he could have been harsh.
He was thoughtful when he could have been hasty.
He was trusting when he could have doubted.
He was temperate when he could have indulged himself.
Joseph had much on his plate. And he accepted it and met it with faith. What about you? What’s on your plate? How do you handle what life throws at you?
Let us pray:
Loving God, Help us to be more like Joseph, trusting, tender, thoughtful and temperate. Give us the strength to accept the situations before us and make the appropriate decisions for each situation. Amen.
Blessed Sebastian Maggi
Sebastian Maggi lived in a colorful and troubled age, the time of Savonarola; he was, in fact, a friend of the friar of Ferrara and always staunchly defended him.
Sebastian entered the Dominican Order as Brescia as soon as he was old enough. His early years were remarkable only for his devotion to the rule, for the purity of his life, and the zeal with which he enforced religious observance. He was superior of several houses of the order, and finally was made vicar of the reformed congregation of Lombardy, which made him the superior of Jerome Savonarola, the dynamic reformer around whom such a tragic storm was brewing.
Perhaps, if Sebastian Maggi had lived, he might have saved Savonarola from the political entanglements that sent him to his death. Sebastian was his confessor for a long time, and always testified in his favor when anyone attacked the reformer’s personal life. It is hard to say just where he stood politically in the long and complex series of events concerning the separation of Lombard province from the province of Italy. But all that has been written of him conveys the same impression: he was a kind and just superior, who kept the rule with rigid care, but was prudent in exacting it of others.
Several times Sebastian Maggi was sent on missions of reform, and he died on one of these. On his way to a convent for visitation, he became ill at Genoa and died there in 1496. His body is incorrupt at the present time (1963) (Benedictines, Dorcy).
Born: 1414 at Brescia, Italy
Died: 1496 at Genoa, Italy of natural causes; body was still incorrupt in 1963
Beatified: April 15,1760 by Pope Clement XIII (cultus confirmed)
Doing What Is Right ~ The Feast of St. Lucy ~ Br. Michael Marshall, Novice
Saint Lucy was born to a rich and noble family around 283 A.D. Her father died when she was young, so she was raised by her mother, Eutychia; and her mother had been considered to focus much of her own life around wealth and status. Lucy, on the other hand, believed that the poor should be cared for instead of focusing on worldly goods. Because of her will to advocate for the poor, she desired to consecrate herself and her virginity to God; yet was unwillingly forced into an arranged relationship with Paschasius by her mother, which Lucy was able to postpone for a few years.
Lucy’s mother developed a hemorrhage which lasted several years, and sought to have it cured by travelling to visit the relics of Saint Agatha who had been executed 52 years prior. Upon visiting the relics, Eutychia was cured; and because of this occasion Lucy saw the opportunity to convince her mother to distribute wealth to help the poor. Because of the healing, Eutychia allowed Lucy to follow her vocation. When Lucy did so, Paschasius was not pleased in losing his future spouse and he had her ordered to be put to death. Some accounts of her last days speak of being accused and condemned of prostitution, as well as set on fire, but God saved her because of her great devotion. While other accounts speak of having her tortured to the point of blindness; she eventually was put to death by the sword. She died in 304 A.D. and has been declared a martyr by the Church. In iconography, the emblem of eyes on a cup or plate apparently reflects popular devotion to her as protector of sight, because of her name, Lucia (from the Latin word “lux” which means “light”). In paintings St. Lucy is frequently shown holding her eyes on a golden plate. Lucy was represented in Gothic art holding a dish with two eyes on it. She also holds the palm branch, symbol of victory over evil.
In today’s first reading from Zephaniah, we see that God is angry with the people for the negative actions, therefore Zephaniah declares he shall make things right with God, that way God will no longer be displeased. He declares that he shall purify the hearts of people, and rid them of the wrongdoings against others. He sees that it is the right thing to do in order for the people to have a relationship with God.
In the Gospel, we read that Jesus is challenging the chief priests and elders about their conduct. He uses the parable of two sons being asked to go out and work in the vineyard by their father; one initially refuses to work but eventually does go out and works, while the other son says he will work but never does. Jesus asks the chief priests and elders which son did his father’s will, and of course they answer him by saying the first son. Jesus affirms that they are correct, yet challenges them by telling them that they have “talked the talk, but not walked the walk.” Their actions speak of following God, but they have consistently done the complete opposite – just like the second son in the parable. Jesus points out that there have been people who have turned from their bad ways, and chosen to follow God and who are, therefore, like the first son, and will enter heaven before the chief priests and elders.
The life of Saint Lucy connects with these readings very well. She possessed the same mentality and conviction as Zephaniah. She knew that there was injustice in society and felt it was her calling to make things right. Lucy’s influence, growing up in wealth, yet desiring to consecrate herself to God and help the poor, ties in with her whole life being like the first son in the parable. She answered the call to help the poor instead of continuing the tradition in which she was raised. She saw that it was her vocation to do what was right, and actually follow through with the cause until the very end. She could very well have been like the second son by acknowledging God but continuing to bask in wealth and do nothing.
Saint Lucy is somebody who we should look to as an example as a way of living. Granted her story is about distributing wealth to the poor, that is only one form of a vocation of helping people in need. Everybody has gifts and talents which can be applied to help others. During my first journey in religious life, I was fortunate enough to know a religious sister who facilitated a ministry center which offered many community outreach programs to help the lives of those in need. The center offered after school meals, a program for immigrants to learn English, as well as classes to learn Life Skills. This sister knew it was her calling to provide the local community with the necessities of life. Yet what are WE going to do in order to be like Lucy; or the first son, if we turned from bad ways? Do we have resources which we are not fully sharing; money or simply time to put toward a ministry? Can we be like this sister I knew? Is there a whisper in your ear from God which you hear, but to which you are responding? Are we wanting to be like the second son, who says yes but then does not act on that yes? We have a week and a half before Christmas, so maybe this might be a time to reflect upon if there is something which we are called to do.
Father, may we be like Saint Lucy, and open our eyes and ears to recognize our true vocation in life. May we follow her example to be of presence and assistance within our own communities, and be like the first son who ultimately says yes. This we ask through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.
Our Lady of Guadalupe ~ The Rev. Dcn. Dollie Wilkinson, OPI
When I first became a Christian, I looked for the presence of God in my life. See, I was initially a non-believer, so I asked God for a sign. I’m sure He got a good laugh out of that one. The presence of our Lord was all around me, I just had to open my eyes to see. Yet in Luke 1:39-47, we learn that an unborn child recognized God’s presence in Mary’s womb.
“Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” And Mary said: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior.” “
Now imagine if the blessed Virgin Mary appeared to me, just as she did to Juan Diego a long time ago. Would I have been so ready to accept her presence, just as he did? The opening of the New World brought with it both fortune-seekers and religious preachers desiring to convert the native populations to the Christian faith. One of the converts was a poor Aztec Indian named Juan Diego. On one of his trips to the chapel, Juan was walking through the Tepayac hill country in central Mexico. Near Tepayac Hill he encountered a beautiful woman surrounded by a ball of light as bright as the sun. Speaking in his native tongue, the beautiful lady identified herself:
“My dear little son, I love you. I desire you to know who I am. I am the ever-virgin Mary, Mother of the true God who gives life and maintains its existence. He created all things. He is in all places. He is Lord of Heaven and Earth. I desire a church in this place where your people may experience my compassion. All those who sincerely ask my help in their work and in their sorrows will know my Mother’s Heart in this place. Here I will see their tears; I will console them and they will be at peace. So run now to Tenochtitlan and tell the Bishop all that you have seen and heard.”
Juan, age 57, and who had never been to Tenochtitlan, nonetheless immediately responded to Mary’s request. He went to the palace of the Bishop-elect Fray Juan de Zumarraga and requested to meet immediately with the bishop. The bishop’s servants, who were suspicious of the rural peasant, kept him waiting for hours. The bishop-elect told Juan that he would consider the request of the Lady and told him he could visit him again if he so desired. Juan was disappointed by the bishop’s response and felt himself unworthy to persuade someone as important as a bishop. He returned to the hill where he had first met Mary and found her there waiting for him. Imploring her to send someone else, she responded:
“My little son, there are many I could send. But you are the one I have chosen.”
She then told him to return the next day to the bishop and repeat the request. On Sunday, after again waiting for hours, Juan met with the bishop who, on re-hearing his story, asked him to ask the Lady to provide a sign as a proof of who she was. Juan dutifully returned to the hill and told Mary, who was again waiting for him there, of the bishop’s request. Mary responded:
“My little son, am I not your Mother? Do not fear. The Bishop shall have his sign. Come back to this place tomorrow. Only peace, my little son.”
Unfortunately, Juan was not able to return to the hill the next day. His uncle had become mortally ill and Juan stayed with him to care for him. After two days, with his uncle near death, Juan left his side to find a priest. Juan had to pass Tepayac Hill to get to the priest. As he was passing, he found Mary waiting for him. She spoke:
“Do not be distressed, my littlest son. Am I not here with you who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Your uncle will not die at this time. There is no reason for you to engage a priest, for his health is restored at this moment. He is quite well. Go to the top of the hill and cut the flowers that are growing there. Bring them then to me.”
While it was freezing on the hillside, Juan obeyed Mary’s instructions and went to the top of the hill where he found a full bloom of Castilian roses. Removing his tilma, a poncho-like cape made of cactus fiber, he cut the roses and carried them back to Mary. She rearranged the roses and told him:
“My little son, this is the sign I am sending to the Bishop. Tell him that with this sign I request his greatest efforts to complete the church I desire in this place. Show these flowers to no one else but the Bishop. You are my trusted ambassador. This time the Bishop will believe all you tell him.”
At the palace, Juan once again came before the bishop and several of his advisers. He told the bishop his story and opened the tilma letting the flowers fall out. But it wasn’t the beautiful roses that caused the bishop and his advisers to fall to their knees; for there, on the tilma, was a picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary precisely as Juan had described her. The next day, after showing the Tilma at the Cathedral, Juan took the bishop to the spot where he first met Mary. He then returned to his village where he met his uncle who was completely cured. His uncle told him he had met a young woman, surrounded by a soft light, who told him that she had just sent his nephew to Tenochtitlan with a picture of herself. She told his uncle:
“Call me and call my image Santa Maria de Guadalupe”.
It’s believed that the word Guadalupe was actually a Spanish mis-translation of the local Aztec dialect. The word that Mary probably used was Coatlallope which means “one who treads on snakes”. Within six years of this apparition, six million Aztecs had converted to Catholicism. The tilma shows Mary as the God-bearer – she is pregnant with her Divine Son. Since the time the tilma was first impressed with a picture of the Mother of God, it has been subject to a variety of environmental hazards including smoke from fires and candles, water from floods and torrential downpours and, in 1921, a bomb which was planted by anti-clerical forces on an altar under it. There was also a cast-iron cross next to the tilma and when the bomb exploded, the cross was twisted out of shape, the marble altar rail was heavily damaged and the tilma was…untouched! Indeed, no one was injured in the Church despite the damage that occurred to a large part of the altar structure.
In 1977, the tilma was examined using infrared photography and digital enhancement techniques. Unlike any painting, the tilma shows no sketching or any sign of outline drawn to permit an artist to produce a painting. Further, the very method used to create the image is still unknown. The image is inexplicable in its longevity and method of production. It can be seen today in a large cathedral built to house up to ten thousand worshipers. It is, by far, the most popular religious pilgrimage site in the Western Hemisphere.
Mary’s appearance to Juan Diego as one of his people is a powerful reminder that Mary and the God who sent her accept all peoples. In the context of the sometimes rude and cruel treatment of the Indians by the Spaniards, the apparition was a rebuke to the Spaniards and an event of vast significance for Native Americans. While a number of them had converted before this incident, they now came in droves. According to a contemporary chronicler, nine million Indians became Catholic in a very short time. In these days when we hear so much about God’s preferential option for the poor, Our Lady of Guadalupe cries out to us that God’s love for and identification with the poor is an age-old truth that stems from the Gospel itself.
PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE
O Virgin of Guadalupe,
Mother of the Americas,
grant to our homes the grace of loving
and respecting life in its beginnings,
with the same love with which
you conceived in your womb
the life of the Son of God.
Blessed Virgin Mary,
Mother of Fair Love,
protect our families so that
they may always be united
and bless the upbringing of our children.
Our hope, look upon us with pity,
teach is to go continually to Jesus,
and if we fall
help us to rise again and return to Him
through the confession of our faults
and our sins in the Sacrament of penance,
which gives peace to the soul.
We beg you to grant us a great love
of all the holy Sacraments,
which are, as it were,
the signs that your Son left us on earth.
Thus, Most Holy Mother,
with the peace of God in our consciences,
with our hearts free from evil and hatred,
we will be able to bring to all others
true joy and peace,
which come to us from your Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ,
who with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Amen.
11 December 2016 – Third Sunday of Advent (Gaudete)
Gaudete in Domino semper: iterum dico, gaudete. Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice.
Today is Gaudete Sunday, the Third Sunday of Advent, one of the penitential seasons of the liturgical calendar. During Advent, we prepare ourselves for the coming of our Savior into the world.
This preparation can take many forms, including devotionals such as the Rosary, novenas, Advent calendars, and Advent candles and wreaths. Sometimes there is fasting among the faithful, and always the liturgical color is purple, symbolic of solemnity and somberness.
Except for today. Today’s candle and vestment color is rose. Today, near the midpoint of the Advent season, we are reminded to be joyful. “Rejoice in the Lord always.”
During Lent and during Advent, we are given sort of a break in our solemn preparations. But while in Lent, the rejoicing of Laetare Sunday implies open rejoicing, showing our joy, during Advent the Gaudete joy is rather internal, between us and God…or rather between us and the baby Jesus.
When I was a child, the Christmas season was always characterized by silence, peace, still nights, often slowly falling snow, and always carols and sacred music. It was a contemplative time. It was a personal time and I was comforted by the images of the manger, the Holy Family, the adoring shepherds and animals. In fact, I was rarely in a somber mood and saw no need for rejoicing on the third Sunday. But I was a child, and I thought as a child, and the anticipation of Christmas was more about the feasting and the celebrating and the gift giving.
But I was putting material things in place of the Holy Spirit, wasn’t I? Don’t we all?
Let’s go back to the Introit, the introductory part of the Mass and read the words again: “Rejoice in the Lord always.” How I missed the whole message!
Jesus told us, “The kingdom of God is among you.” He was saying that he was the One the Pharisees were awaiting, the Messiah, and here he was standing among them. And now that he has come among us, not the just Pharisees, but all of us, we must recognize his presence: “Rejoice in the Lord always.”
“Hold on a minute, Brother!” I can hear you say. “How did we get there so fast? It’s not even Christmas yet and you’ve jumped ahead to Jesus’ meeting with the Pharisees! Back up!”
OK, I’ll back up.
Let’s look at the First Reading wherein Isaiah is describing how the land will be when God finally comes among us and rescues us from the desert of sin and death. “Glory,” “splendor,” “vindication,” “joy and gladness.” All of these things will come to pass eventually. But for now, we must wait in anticipation.
And today’s psalm also speaks of the wonders of the Lord and his love for everyone and how he will reign forever.
Then James tells us to be patient. “Behold, the Judge is standing before the gates.”
And finally, the exemplar of waiting, of anticipation, of preparation for the coming of the Kingdom, John the Baptist finally can wait no longer and asks Jesus, in the Gospel, if he is “the one who is to come.”
He is coming. He is near. He is here. “The kingdom of God is among you.”
So on three Sundays in Advent, we are solemnly waiting, contemplating the day of his coming, performing our devotionals, and on one day in Advent, Gaudete, we are reminded that the kingdom of God is already here. Jesus is standing among us, as he stood among the Pharisees, and telling us, in the present and continuing tense, Maranatha, The Lord is come.
And being the mortals that we are, we need that reminding over and over. For some of us, myself especially, we need that reminder daily.
Maranatha – The Lord has come, the Lord is coming, the Lord is come. “Come, Lord” we entreat.
So let’s look today through rose-colored glasses and see the world as it really is, blessed by the coming of our Lord, full of love, life, and hope.
And so we pray, Gaudete!
(Play this hymn sometime today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omtAIwRsy5c)
Gaudete in Domino semper: iterum dico, gaudete. Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice.
Puer natus is a 14th Century hymn written for this time of year.
| Puer natus in Bethlehem, Alleluia. Unde gaudet Jerusalem. Alleluia. Hic jacet in præsepio, Alleluia. Cognovit bos et asinus, Alleluia. Reges de Sabâ veniunt, Alleluia. Intrantes domum invicem, Alleluia. De matre natus virgine, Alleluia. Sine serpentis vulnere, Alleluia. In carne nobis similis, Alleluia. Ut redderet nos homines, Alleluia. In hoc natali gaudio, Alleluia. Laudetur sancta Trinitas, Alleluia. |
tr. Hamilton Montgomerie MacGill, 1876A Child is born in Bethlehem; Exult for joy, Jerusalem! Alleluia. Lo, He who reigns above the skies The ox and ass in neighbouring stall And kingly pilgrims, long foretold, And enter with their offerings, He comes, a maiden mother’s Son, And, from the serpent’s poison free, Our feeble flesh and His the same, That we, from deadly thrall set free, Come then, and on this natal day, And to the Holy One in Three |
The Order of Preachers, Independent 
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