Given March 21, 2014

                R. Pray for These Things

                1) Pray for the priests, the Church and the world!
                2) Pray for the spread of prayer chapters,
                    also for the spread of priests doing prayer chapters.
                3) Pray for the spread of Blue Books.
                4) People going to Florida and China.
                5) Vocations to all 7 categories.
                6) Pray for spread of Consecration and Rosary.
                7) Pray for pope helping us.
                8) Blue Book 13 cover; Blue Book 12, Blue Book 13 - all involved.
                9) All intentions on my list, Jerry's list.
              10) Priests getting Fr. Joe's book.
              11) Donors and members and their families.
              12) Healing of the Family tree.
              13) Dan & Melanie, Catherine & mom, Gary, Mary Jo,
                    Jim, Fr. Ken, Monsignor, Tom's wife, Kerry.
              14) All who asked us to pray for them.
              15) All we promised to pray for.
              16) Rita, John, Doris, Sheila, Jerry, Regina, Sanja,
                    Betty, Sophie, Rosie, Lisa, Eileen, Fr. Mike, Jeff,
                    Louie, 2 Dons, Mary Ellen, Fr. Joe, all priests helping us.
              17) 2 babies and moms.
              18) Funds and insurance.
              19) Special intentions.
              20) Jerry's garage.
              21) Spread the Blood of Jesus on all of us here.
              22) Consecrate all hearts.
              23) Cast the devil out of all of us here and all in Movement.

                April 5, 2014

                R. The reading from Friday were beautiful.

                Yesterday's Readings

And this is the false argument they use, 
‘Our life is short and dreary, 
there is no remedy when our end comes, 
no one is known to have come back from Hades.

Let us lay traps for the upright man, since he annoys us 
and opposes our way of life, 
reproaches us for our sins against the Law, 
and accuses us of sins against our upbringing. 
He claims to have knowledge of God, 
and calls himself a child of the Lord. 
We see him as a reproof to our way of thinking, 
the very sight of him weighs our spirits down; 
for his kind of life is not like other people’s, 
and his ways are quite different. 
In his opinion we are counterfeit; 
he avoids our ways as he would filth; 
he proclaims the final end of the upright as blessed 
and boasts of having God for his father. 
Let us see if what he says is true, 
and test him to see what sort of end he will have. 
For if the upright man is God’s son, God will help him 
and rescue him from the clutches of his enemies. 
Let us test him with cruelty and with torture, 
and thus explore this gentleness of his 
and put his patience to the test. 
Let us condemn him to a shameful death 
since God will rescue him—or so he claims.’

Error of the godless

This is the way they reason, but they are misled, 
since their malice makes them blind. 
They do not know the hidden things of God, 
they do not hope for the reward of holiness, 
they do not believe in a reward for blameless souls.

 

Psalm 34: 17-22

Zade
They cry in anguish and Yahweh hears, 
and rescues them from all their troubles.

Qoph
Yahweh is near to the broken–hearted, 
he helps those whose spirit is crushed.

Resh
Though hardships without number beset the upright, 
Yahweh brings rescue from them all.

Shin
Yahweh takes care of all their bones, 
not one of them will be broken.

Taw
But to the wicked evil brings death, 
those who hate the upright will pay the penalty. 
Yahweh ransoms the lives of those who serve him, 
and there will be no penalty for those who take refuge in him.

 

John 7: 1-2, 10, 25-30

After this Jesus travelled round Galilee; he could not travel round Judaea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. 

    As the Jewish feast of Shelters drew near,

    However, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went up as well, not publicly but secretly.

The people discuss the origin of the Messiah

Meanwhile some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, ‘Isn’t this the man they want to kill? And here he is, speaking openly, and they have nothing to say to him! Can it be true the authorities have recognised that he is the Christ? Yet we all know where he comes from, but when the Christ appears no one will know where he comes from.’ 

    Then, as Jesus was teaching in the Temple, he cried out: 

    You know me 
        and you know where I came from. 
    Yet I have not come of my own accord: 
    but he who sent me is true; 
    You do not know him, 
    but I know him 
    because I have my being from him 
    and it was he who sent me. 

    They wanted to arrest him then, but because his hour had not yet come no one laid a hand on him.

                R. The priest at Mass yesterday gave such a homily!

                He said that at the cross, Jesus' Apostles except
                    for John, weren't there –
                    Jesus, the Son of God, was not surrounded by
                        followers when he was put to death.

                    On Palm Sunday they were so in favor of
                        Jesus –
                    On Friday they yelled out
                        "Crucify Him, Crucify Him, Crucify Him.

                Jesus had enemies!
                Jesus did the Father's will.

                Jeremiah had enemies and he suffered, but
                    what he did had more effect after
                    his death –

                They would not listen to Jeremiah.
                Jeremiah was thrown in a cistern to die –

                They were trying to kill Jesus!!
                Jesus was not afraid of them.
                Jesus did God's will –
                Jesus did what He came to do.

                In the first reading we recall what it is to love
                    our brothers.

                We see during Lent, God may allow some of us
                    to suffer with willful men –
                    some of us suffer with men who are blind
                        and do not even understand us.

                I talked to Fr. Mike and he said when we are really
                    given suffering dealing with others
                    we are carrying the cross of Jesus on our
                    backs.

                Jesus allows us to suffer.
                Jesus loves us so much and He probes
                    our heart!

                Jeremiah was ready to suffer for God –
                He remained loving.

                Listen to the reading of Jeremiah 11: 18-20
 

Jeremiah persecuted at Anathoth

Yahweh informed me and I knew it; you then revealed their scheming to me. I for my part was like a trustful lamb being led to the slaughterhouse, not knowing the schemes they were plotting against me, ‘Let us destroy the tree in its strength, let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name may no longer be remembered!’ 

Yahweh Sabaoth, 
   whose judgement is upright, 
tester of motives and thoughts, 
I shall see your vengeance on them, 
for I have revealed my cause to you.

                R. Death/Resurrection

                God wants us to die to our sinful ways, not
                    likened to him, but we can be blind and
                    not even know how, for we are slipping
                    into thoughts we give into that are not
                    loving to God and others. Love finds a
                    way. Love can help others to grow in the
                    ways of Jesus.

                Today is April 5, 2014, First Saturday – I remember
                    my grandma's birthday was April 7th and how much
                    I loved my grandma. We had almost 60 first cousins
                    on that side of the family because she had 11
                    children. She tried to visit all the families and
                    we loved her to come. My dad was the oldest and his
                    younger sister was more than 20 years younger
                    than him. It is very interesting how big families
                    were than and how they could be united.

                    On the other side, my mom's side there was
                only one cousin – even though she had 4 brothers
                and sisters.

                It seems to me that the families were bigger back
                then and there were fewer divorces.

                    When we look at the Father's family and Mary
                as our spiritual Mother we can think of that family
                and how big it is.

                    Fr. Joe read a book "The Invisible String"
                it talked about the connection we have in our
                hearts – even when someone is far away – we have
                a connection in our hearts. We are even connected
                in our hearts to our grandma and grandpa and mom
                and dad we assume who went to heaven –

                    We know about life in heaven and purgatory from
                this writing of Fr. Carter.

Excerpt from Response in Christ by Fr. Edward Carter, S.J.

e) Relationship with Members of the Church

There is but one true Church of Christ. Yet this one Church has three different states of existence. There is the pilgrim Church, the Church of this world, composed of members who have received the grace of Christ and strive for its development. They have not yet obtained the goal of their efforts, as have the members of the heavenly Church, who enjoy God in eternal happiness. The Church suffering is an intermediate state of existence necessary for those who had not achieved the required purification as members of the pilgrim Church. Although there are these three phases of the Church’s existence, there is a profound union existing between all the members. All these members possess the same basic life of grace in Christ, and this common life establishes the most intimate bonds of love. In our preceding chapter, we discussed the pilgrim Church. Let us now consider the Church suffering and the heavenly Church.

The members of the Church suffering are those who have departed from this life in an incomplete state of Christian development. Their development is incomplete in the sense that grace has not fully taken possession of them, and, as a result, they are yet closed in upon themselves to a greater or lesser degree. They as yet cannot open themselves out in complete love to the Triune God in the beatific vision. They must undergo a further purification, a purification which could have been achieved upon earth with merit. Now the purification must be achieved with no merit attached. The pain of this purification is mixed with the certain expectation of achieving the vision of God. We can hasten the advent of this vision for this people by the offering of prayers and other good works. Scripture itself refers to our action on behalf of those in purgatory in Chapter 12 of the Second Book of Maccabees beginning with verse 38.

The members of the heavenly Church are those in whom the life of grace has taken full possession and has reached its completion in the life of glory. Faith now is unnecessary, as the light of glory gives the human intellect a new strength and capacity for seeing God face-to-face. While the Christian was a wayfarer, he received the imprint of the indwelling Trinity as he shared in God’s own life. Now in heaven that grace-life and possession of God reaches its completion—the absolute completion is not achieved, however, until the resurrection of the body. The divine persons give Themselves to the beatified in a profound union far surpassing that of the indwelling of the Trinity experienced here below.

This life of heaven is still the Christ-life, for just as we possess a share in Trinitarian life here below as mediated by Christ, and exercise this grace-life as structured by Him, so also in heaven is the mediation of Christ present. In the words of Rahner, "One always sees the Father through Jesus. Just as immediately as this, for the directness of the vision of God is not a denial of the mediatorship of Christ as man."¹⁴ And not only does the humanity of Christ unite the blessed to God, but also, in some way, to the whole of creation. This is merely a completion of what is begun here below, namely, the union with Christ in His humanity establishing the Christian in a special relationship with God, with other men, and with the whole of creation. We have a glimpse, therefore, of the fullness of life which members of the heavenly Church possess.

The heavenly Church, as St. Thomas says, is the true Church.¹⁵ The Church of this earth and the Church of purgatory are, each in its own way, reaching out in loving hope for the heavenly Jerusalem. Vatican II puts it very simply: "The Church, to which we are called in Christ Jesus, and in which we acquire sanctity through the grace of God, will attain her full perfection only in the glory of heaven."¹⁶

The members of the heavenly Church can help us in living our life of grace until we too share its fullness with them. Their power of intercession on our behalf is but another ramification of the communal aspect of Christianity. We are meant to help others grow in Christ. We, in turn, are intended by God to receive aid from others—yes, from members of the heavenly Church, as well as from those with whom we dwell here below.

Not only can we be aided by the saints’ intercession, but the example of the canonized saints can also be of great value to us. They have concretely proved that full holiness is possible. Such an inspiration is of real worth when we are tempted to think that Christian sanctity in its higher degrees is impossible of attainment. Moreover, the canonized saints, in their diversity, teach us that there are many authentic versions of Christian holiness. They can be innovators in showing us that there are numerous possibilities in assimilating the mystery of Christ, although the basic assimilation remains the same for all Christians of all times. In the opinion of Rahner this is one of the chief roles the canonized saints exert in the life of the Church.¹⁷

 

---

NOTES:

 ¹⁴Karl Rahner, Theological Investigations, Vol. III (Baltimore: Helicon, 1967), p. 44.
 ¹⁵ Cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, In Ad Ephes., c. 3, Lect. 3.
 ¹⁶Second Vatican Council, Constitution on the Church, No. 48.
 ¹⁷Cf. Karl Rahner, Op. cit., pp. 100-101.

                R. Jesus has told us about being members of
                the mystical body of Christ.

1 Corinthians 12: 27-30

    Now Christ’s body is yourselves, each of you with a part to play in the whole. And those whom God has appointed in the Church are, first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers; after them, miraculous powers, then gifts of healing, helpful acts, guidance, various kinds of tongues. Are all of them apostles? Or all prophets? Or all teachers? Or all miracle–workers? Do all have the gifts of healing? Do all of them speak in tongues and all interpret them?

                R. We see the connection we have in families. How
                children come from their parents, how brothers
                and sisters come from the same parents. How
                we had grandmas and grandpas and cousins –
                We see blood relationships and we understand
                them. We see traits in heredity that are passed down,
                blue eyes, brown eyes, a longer second toe, an
                ability that one of our parents had.

                    We see heredity and its traits.

                    Can we understand the spiritual family?
                We are all descendants of Adam and Eve
                and we have original sin, excerpt for the
                Blessed Mother. How Adam and Eve sinned
                against God and we have a wounded human
                nature and that we have tendencies toward the
                deadly sins of pride, greed, envy, wrath, lust,
                gluttony, and sloth even though we
                have had baptism we still have a wounded
                human nature.

                    Eve was taken from the side of Adam –
                The Church from the side of Christ –
   

Fr. Carter had a dream.

Excerpt from Priestly Newsletter Book 1 -  May June 1996

Christ and His Church (excerpt)

Bonaventure, the Franciscan saint and doctor of the Church, comments on the pierced Heart of the Good Shepherd: “Then, in order that the Church might be formed out of the side of Christ sleeping on the cross…the divine plan permitted that one of the soldiers pierce open His sacred side with a lance. While blood mixed with water flowed, the price of our salvation was poured forth, which gushing forth from the sacred fountain of the heart, gave power to the sacraments of the Church…”²

And very importantly, the Second Vatican itself tells us: “The wonders wrought by God among the people of the Old Testament were but a prelude to the work of Christ the lord in redeeming mankind and giving perfect glory to God. He achieved His task principally by the paschal mystery of His blessed passion, resurrection from the dead, and glorious ascension, whereby ‘dying, he destroyed our death, and, rising, he restored our life.’ For it was from the side of Christ, as He slept the sleep of death upon the cross that there came forth the wonderful sacrament which is the whole Church.”³

Yes, the Church was born from the pierced side of the Good Shepherd. The Church today is existing in very critical times. The world is experiencing a great multitude of problems, some of these most critical ones. The Church herself, which is a God-given source of light to the world, is herself beset with numerous challenges and problems. One of these problems is the numerous types of divisions existent in the Church. These are hampering her ability to be a light to this troubled world.

We priests, through the sacrament of orders, have been brought into a very special union with Christ.The interests of Christ must, consequently, be the interests of the priest in a most special manner. Consequently, since Christ has a most passionate love for His Church, the priest must strive to imitate this love. The priest must have a deep desire to help heal the wounds of the Church. He must have a burning desire to help her be more what God destines her to be. We must help her become a brighter light to lead a troubled world back to God.

Thoughts on the Church Today

• The Church as Body of Christ is the earthly, visible continuation of the Incarnation. Christ is the Head of the Body, we are His members. Since the Church is the terrestrial manifestation of the mystery of Christ, her life is patterned after His. The various mysteries or events of Christ, especially the central ones of death and resurrection, are to be relived by the Church's members. Indeed, the image of the Church is a Christic one.
  
  For the Church to be constituted in the image of Christ is both a great privilege and a great responsibility. The more the Church can project the image of Christ, the more she is capable of being an instrument of continued redemption. Jesus led a life of material simplicity. Is this characteristic sufficiently manifest in the life of the Church? Jesus came to minister, not to be served. Do we as members of the Church properly project to one another and to the world an attitude of loving service? Jesus manifested a special concern for the poor, the lowly, the helpless. Do we do likewise? Jesus hungered and thirsted for justice's sake. Do the many flagrant violations of justice in our own day really bother us? Jesus loved each individual and forgave His enemies. Do we love everybody and do we forgive? Jesus was ridiculed, rejected, spat upon, beaten, crowned with thorns, abandoned by His friends, lifted up on a cross. This was all a proof of how much He loved His Church and the world. How much are we willing to suffer for the Church and the world?
  
  Vatican II speaks concerning the Church and its relationship with the world: "Though mankind today is struck with wonder at its own discoveries and its power, it often raises anxious questions about the current trend of the world, about the place and role of man in the universe, about the meaning of the universe, about the meaning of his individual and collective strivings, and about the ultimate destiny of reality and of humanity. Hence, giving witness and voice to the faith of the whole People of God gathered together by Christ, this Council can provide no more eloquent proof of its solidarity with the entire human family with which it is bound up, as well as its respect and love for that family, than by engaging with it in conversation about the various problems.
  
  "The Council brings to mankind light kindled from the gospel, and puts at its disposal those saving resources which the Church herself, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, receives from her Founder. For the human person deserves to be preserved; human society deserves to be renewed. Hence the pivotal point of our total presentation will be man himself, whole and entire, body and soul, heart and conscience, mind and will.
  
  "Therefore this sacred Synod proclaims the highest destiny of man and champions the godlike seed which has been sown in him. It offers to mankind the honest assistance of the Church in fostering that brotherhood of all men which corresponds to this destiny of theirs. Inspired by no earthly ambition, the Church seeks but a solitary goal: to carry forward the work of Christ Himself under the lead of the befriending Spirit. And Christ entered this world to give witness to the truth, to rescue and not to sit in judgment, to serve and not be served."⁴
   
• There is an errant philosophy of individualism rampant in today's world that can certainly influence the contemporary Christian. This philosophy is patently false. It provides a type of individualism that is inimical to community because it teaches that one must look out for oneself regardless of the consequences to others. Do your own thing, in other words, whenever and wherever you please, and let the chips fall where they may. This type of individualism is obviously wrong and pernicious.
  
  There is, on the other hand, a kind of individualism that is positive and in perfect harmony with the tenets of community, and, in our present context, with life within the Church: "An absolutely individual Christianity in the most personal experience of grace and ecclesial Christianity are no more radically opposed than are body and soul, than are man's transcendental essence and his historical constitution, or than are individuality and intercommunication. The two condition each other mutually. The very thing which we are from God is mediated in the concreteness of history by what we call church. And it is only in and through this mediation that it becomes our own reality and our salvation in full measure. For this reason church exists and has to exist."⁵

• The above remarks easily lead us to a quotation of John Henry Cardinal Newman. Newman's words remind us that each of us has a God-given role to fulfill in the Church, and that no one else can accomplish this mission. This is a great privilege, and a great responsibility: "Everyone who breathes, high and low, educated and ignorant, young and old, man and woman, has a mission, has a work. We are not sent into this world for nothing, we are not born at random...God sees every one of us. He creates every soul, He lodges it in a body, one by one, for a purpose."⁶

• Here are words of Pope John Paul II to a group of seminarians: "As you know, I have just had a long working session with your bishops. It was a particularly important conversation, in the course of which we were able, we who are jointly in charge of all the churches, to face up to our responsibilities in order to assume them according to what pleases God. And now, it seems quite natural to continue this conversation, in a way, with those who are preparing to become collaborators of the episcopal order, and to be associated in this way, in the Person of Christ, with the preaching of the Gospel and the guidance of the People of God. You are still young, certainly, but already you divine a great many things. You understand that your gift must be complete and that, the further you go, the more you will discover the necessity of making it-if I may venture to say so-even more complete. It is at this level, therefore, that I will take up my position with you, taking into account, of course, the fact that a way such as yours takes time, and a long spiritual, intellectual and pastoral maturation, and that the mere desire to become a priest is not enough in itself to meet the requirements of the priesthood.
  
  "One of these requirements, the most fundamental one, is that you should be deeply rooted in Jesus Christ. I invite you to this with all my heart. If you could learn, through prayer and contemplation, to live, preach, love and suffer like Christ, it seems that the main lines of your mission would gradually take shape clearly, and that you would also feel a vital need to join men and bring them what they really need. In such a proceeding, there is already the soul of the apostolate, so that 'action' is indissolubly linked with 'being', and vice versa. Here it is not useful to pursue vain discussions, nor is it good to prefer one to the detriment of the other. The Church intends to form you in complete interior unity, in which the mission requires intimacy with God, and in which the latter calls for the former.
  
  "Do you want to be yourselves, 'good shepherds'? The good shepherd gives his life, and he gives his life for his sheep. Very well, then! It is necessary to discover the sense of self-sacrifice, linked with the sacrifice of Christ, and offer yourselves for others, who expect this witness from you. That can be said of all the faithful, but with all the more reason and in a very special way of priests and future priests. May your daily participation in the Eucharist, and the efforts you make to increase Eucharistic devotion within you, keep you along this way!"⁷

• The People of God are just that, people, and this implies that they are subject to imperfections and sinfulness like the rest of the human race. The Church is a pilgrim Church, made up of people struggling to be good, but at times failing, sinning, neglecting to live the Gospel ideal as well as they ought. But a pilgrim Church must endure this darker side of human nature. The pilgrim Church is still on its way, having much of the journey yet to travel. The pilgrim Church is in need of constant conversion of heart as it keeps reaching out to assimilate the Gospel of Jesus in deeper faith, hope and love.
  
  Despite the imperfections and sinfulness of the Church, we should always be striving to love more loyally this organization which is the Body of Christ. We are to love the Church, not with a blind loyalty which covers over her faults and blemishes and sinfulness, but with a loyalty that strives to help the Church become more what she should be. We are also to love the Church in a way which allows us not only to look at what is wrong with her, but which also permits us to see all that is right with her. We are to love the Church as a gift coming forth from the pierced Heart of Jesus. To fail to love this Church, then, is to fail to love this precious gift which Jesus has left us in the shedding of His blood. Christ and His Church are inseparably connected. To grow in love of Christ is to grow in love of His Church.

• In so many different ways we receive support from this organization called Church. Certain disillusioned members of the Church think they could better go it alone in trying to live the Gospel and in trying to influence social structures with Christian principles. They forget how much support they have received from the institutional Church. Donald Thorman, when he was editor of The National Catholic Reporter (a publication which has not hesitated to point out the faults of the institutional Church) observed: "Of course, there are many...cases in which the individual carries the burden of witnessing for Christ and the Christian message through his presence in the civic and social community. But without the 'support system' of an organized Church, which preached to him, helped prepare and motivate him, and which now continues to support him liturgically and educationally, his chances of maintaining himself without such support are negligible."⁸

• Vatican II clearly reminds us that the Church's life is centered in her liturgy: "...the liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the church is directed; at the same time it is the fountain from which all her power flows. For the goal of apostolic works is that all who are made sons of God by faith and baptism should come together to praise God in the midst of His Church, to take part in her sacrifice, and to eat the Lord's supper.
  
  "The liturgy in its turn inspires the faithful to become 'of one heart in love' when they have tasted to their full of the paschal mysteries; it prays that 'they may grasp by deed what they hold by creed.' The renewal in the Eucharist of the covenant between the Lord and man draws the faithful into the compelling love of Christ and sets them afire. From the liturgy, therefore, and especially from the Eucharist, as from a fountain, grace is channeled into us; and the sanctification of men in Christ and the glorification of God, to which all the other activities of the Church are directed as toward their goal, are most powerfully achieved."⁹

The Father: Origin of the Church's Life

                R. Connection –

                    The Church was born from
                        the pierced Heart of Christ –

                    Eve came from the side of Adam –

                We are to put on Christ –