R. Thomas Richard's Blog, page 20

It's Time to Wake Up! – Re-evangelization, Part I

Jesus sent His Church to "make disciples" (Mt 28:19). Pope Paul VI wrote that the Church exists to evangelize:

Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelize, that is to say, in order to preach and teach, to be the channel of the gift of grace, to reconcile sinners with God, and to perpetuate Christ's sacrifice in the Mass, which is the memorial of His death and glorious resurrection.(1)

Is the Church evangelizing? Is she making disciples? Is she gathering new believers into the living Body of Christ, as Jesus sent us to do? Membership in the Catholic Church in America is growing, but not because of the evangelization and conversion of new members. The only reason that the Catholic Church in America is not in decline in membership, is because of the Catholic immigrants pouring in. Without them, our Church would be shrinking. In America, out of those adult Catholics born and raised in the Church ("cradle Catholics"), only 68% remain. Of the 32% who left the Church, 18% converted to some other religion and 14% abandoned "church" altogether.(2) This is dismal and shameful!

Many non-Catholic denominations and even non-Christian religions have the Catholic Church to thank for some of their new membership. About one in ten Protestants were raised Catholic. Over one in four (27%) who have no religious affiliation at all today were raised Catholic. Over one in four (26%) Jehovah Witnesses were raised Catholic. Or did you already know that from the many "former Catholics" now knocking on doors evangelizing you to join them in the Jehovah Witnesses? Even the Buddhists! Almost one in four (22%) Buddhists were raised Catholic.

To me, the most staggering statistic of all is this one: about one in ten (10.1%) of all American adults are former Catholics! Imagine looking out upon some large crowd of typical Americans at a ball game, or watching a parade, or shopping in a mall – about one out of every ten that you are looking at is a former Catholic! These 10% of all the adults in this country saw fit, somehow, to leave the Faith that Jesus died to give us, the faith held dear through centuries of martyrs who bled to remain faithful even unto death themselves. Something is very, very wrong.

Here's my solution. I have a plan. Evangelize! Be Church! Let us wake up and do what God gave us grace and mercy to do: make disciples.

First step: before making new disciples, let us regather those who are lost. Let us knock on doors and ring bells and find the lost sheep, the ones scattered and astray, and shepherd them home again. If we could find and regather just those who left and have no connection with any church at all, the Catholic Church would grow by 14%! If we could help those who became Protestants to see the great blessings and treasure awaiting them in their return home as a Catholic, and they returned, we would grow by 18%! The harvest is plentiful – do we have any laborers?

We need to take the apostolate of seeking the sheep who are scattered, the "inactive Catholics," more seriously. Didn't Jesus teach about leaving the ninety-nine in the wilderness to go out in search of the one that was lost? We have 32% of our flock wandering out there – almost a third – and they deserve to know that they are missed, and needed, and wanted and loved by the Lord and by their brothers and sisters waiting for them at home, in the Church.

In the next installment of this post, I'll try to focus on some specifics, and posibilities.

(1) Evangelii Nuntiandi #14

(2) See the PEW FORUM ON RELIGION & PUBLIC LIFE, especially HERE

Building a Nation on Quicksand?

What is the "bottom line" for this presidential election? Is it still, "the economy, stupid"? Most campaign speeches so far say yes: the crucial, essential issue for this country is economic: jobs! If only we can get the debt reduced, the budget balanced, the housing market active, and more jobs, then America can be secure and strong – "that shining city upon the hill" once more.

Such hope is shallow and misplaced. Unless this country begins to see more deeply into what did make America great, and thus what our priorities must be now, we will surely continue our slide to decadence, corruption, disintegration and poverty.

Rick Santorum is the only candidate that I have heard recognize this truth: "… at the core of the American experience is the family, and … without strong families, we cannot have a strong and vibrant nation." Santorum seems to know the central importance of the family for any culture and nation. The family is the foundational cell of any society, and when the family is weak, the nation is at peril. Our nation is at peril.

Yes the economy is important, but only after we recover our national moral sanity. If money remains the foundation of this nation then we are already doomed. Jesus said we must seek first His kingdom and righteousness, and all these other things will be provided. National strength begins in strong moral families standing upon the rock of sure truth. May we awaken soon, before it is too late.

The Immaculate Conception and Consecration to Jesus through Mary

The place and role of Mary in salvation history continues to unfold in the mind and heart of the Church. St. Louis de Montfort sees this development as headed to a great blossoming, or even explosion, of "true devotion" as the days approach the Last Days. These two presentations are a tiny offering toward the hope of appropriate, authentic true devotion to Jesus through Mary.

Thomas and Deborah

These were two presentations to our Parish in an Advent Morning of Prayer in honor of the feast of the Immaculate Conception, Dec. 8.

Suffering with Patience, in Innocence

So much suffering has come upon so many around us. There is one effective, efficacious truth that we can cling to – it speaks to us from the Cross – it is the saving love of God. Jesus showed us this love in His patient suffering on our behalf on the Cross – and in doing so, He also showed us the path to holiness: Take up your own cross, and follow.

I am copying below a portion of a Retreat presentation on this theme that was delivered by the holy priest, Fr. John Hardon, S.J. The italics were added by me for emphasis. The presentation can be read in its entirety HERE.

… But that is not the lesson of the patience of God in the person of Christ. The lesson that Christ's patience teaches us is that someone must suffer, and there is such a thing as someone else suffering for the sins I have committed, and I suffering for the sins that others have committed against a just God. What Christ's patient suffering teaches us is there is a mysterious solidarity among the members of the human family, which is why God became Man: to join the human family, so that the sin of one member of the human family can obtain from God the mercy the sinner needs by the suffering of another member of the human family.

Christ's patience teaches us that by our patience, not by our pain, not even by our suffering, but by our patience we become more and more like Jesus Christ who, having joy set before him, chose the Cross. I just wish I had preached and taught this way twenty-five years ago. I didn't realize, I'm sure I don't fully realize it yet; but no words can describe what faith tells us: the value of patient suffering out of love for God is the most precious treasure that man can possess in this world. Oh, the blindness of the human heart! With the short few moments, which we happen to call years, spent in this life, we fail to realize the priceless value of patient suffering in union with Jesus Christ.

….

We are not to be surprised that suffering is part of our faithful following of Christ. Don't be surprised; that's the way it is.

There is a necessary relation between sin and pain. Sin, we believe, is an offense against the will of God. Our created will says no to the will of God, that's sin. Pain is the experience of something against our will. There are two wills involved, the will of God and the will of man. Whatever is against the will of God is sin; whatever is against the will of man is pain.

God sent pain into the world in order to expiate the evil of sin. In other words, had there been no sin there would have been no pain. But now, in God's mysterious providence, he enables us to suffer in order that sin might be expiated.

Everyone suffers, but not everyone suffers willingly. To suffer willingly is always to expiate the evil of sin. Let me repeat. To suffer willingly is always to expiate the evil of sin, either my own sins or the sins of others. And we don't have to read the Washington Post or the Chicago Tribune or the New York Times to know there are mountains, Himalayas of sin.

My Jesuit confrere, St. Francis Xavier, exhausted himself for ten years in India. There were one hundred thousand known baptisms that he personally performed. He kept writing back to Europe, pleading with the easygoing, well-fed, well-groomed European gentry. "How can you be lolling in ease and not doing all you can to keep souls from going to hell?"

All the patience we are talking about in this meditation, the willing endurance of pain, has a purpose. What's the purpose? To prevent souls from going to hell. That's why, faith tells us, God became Man.

The more holy a person is, and therefore the less sins that individual, man or woman, has to expiate, sins which they have themselves committed, the more innocent the sufferer, the more sinless the one who endures pain, the more pleasing that suffering is to God, and the more expiatory in the salvation of souls. Because, you see, it was the innocent Lamb of God, the all-holy Son of God who became man and who suffered. Needless to say there were no sins of his own that he had to expiate. What are we being told? To become as holy as we can, so that when we experience suffering, and patiently endure pain, our sufferings, like that of Christ's, will be sublimely effective in the eyes of God.

Advent – 2011

Pope Benedict's Anglelus Address for the First Sunday in Advent helps us to begin this beautiful season well.  Commenting on the Mass Readings, he said:

"…"Stay awake!" This is Jesus' call in today's Gospel. He directs it not only to his disciples, but to everyone: "Stay awake! (Mt, Mk 13:37)…

"Isaiah, the prophet of Advent, also makes us think today with his heartfelt prayer addressed to God in the name of his people. He dwells on the shortcomings of his people and at a certain point says: 'There is no one who calls on your name, or attempts to take hold of you; you have hidden your face from us, and have delivered us into the hands of iniquity'. How can we not be struck by this description? It seems to reflect certain aspects of the post-modern world: cities where life has become anonymous and horizontal, where God seems to be absent and only man is master, as if he were the universal architect. Building, work, economy, transport, science, technology, everything seems to depend only upon man. And at times, in this apparently perfect world, terrible things happen, either in nature or society, which make us think that God has withdrawn and has, so to say, left us to our own devices.

"In reality, the real 'master' of the world is not man but God. The Gospel says: 'stay awake for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly'. Advent comes every year to remind us of this fact, that our lives might find their just orientation towards the face of God. The face not of a 'master', but of a Father and a Friend".

How very important it is to listen to the Pope's urging:  "Stay awake"!  There is so little evidence of Advent around us.   Most of the world is busy preparing for the "Holidays", with  little or no thought of Christ's Coming.  Even we who participated in the Advent liturgy on Sunday, may have forgotten the purple vestments and the lighting of the Advent candle already.  I wonder sometimes how many Catholics appreciate the season of Advent.  How many stop to ponder that  purple is a color of penance?  How many ponder the painful longing of the world weighted down by sin before Jesus?  How many think of the stillness of that moment of Incarnation, or that moment of Birth or the Humility of God Who became Man for Love of us?  There seems so little stillness or quiet, unless we resolve to quiet our souls, and resolve to find stillness in our hearts for prayer.

As Advent begins I am often especially mindful of Mary, as she waited to see the Face of God made Man who dwelt within her womb.  This year, however, I am also mindful in a deeper way than in previous years of St. Joseph, her humble and righteous husband.

By God's Grace, St. Joseph was certainly awake, as Mary was, to the coming of our Savior.  They knew the longing of the whole people of God to see the fulfillment of His Promise.  How did they prepare for Christ's Coming?  I believe that prayer, (as St. John Vianney defines prayer :  "Prayer is nothing other than union with God") is the key.

Like us, Mary and Joseph lived (seemingly) ordinary lives, but "ordinary" only as to the external appearances.  Interiorly, they were "watching and waiting" with the lamps of Love's Fire burning  in their hearts.  While Joseph was preparing wood in his carpenter's shop and Mary was preparing food in their home, what Great Work God was accomplishing in their souls!   For they did all their work in a spirit of love – with their whole hearts, and souls and minds and strength.  The hardships they endured and their joys were offered in love.  When the Father looked upon them He was pleased.  His Son Jesus resting within Mary's womb was adored, and loved;  Jesus was safe and protected by Joseph.  How the world needs other Marys and other Josephs today to welcome Him!

The image below is a wood-carving, entitled, "St. Joseph, Shadow of the Eternal Father" and I believe it conveys the beautiful work God accomplished in Joseph.  It speaks also to the work God, our Master Artisan and Loving Father,  wills to accomplish in each soul who longs to receive Him.  This Advent is a time of preparation not only to remember Christ's First Coming, but His also His continual coming to us, especially in Eucharist, and that Final Coming when at last He comes to take us to our Eternal Home.   St. Joseph can help us this Advent to gaze upon both Mary and Jesus, and learn as he did to become the saint each of us is called to be.

The world needs saints!  We need to bring Jesus into the world as Mary did and defend Him as Joseph did.  We need to bring His Light into the darkness that keeps us from knowing, loving, and serving Him as we were born to do.  May this Advent be more simple, more quiet and more loving interiorly — no matter what our exterior situations may be.  If we are called to go somewhere unexpectedly, so were Mary and Joseph.  Let us trust God as they did.  Will we face difficulties?  Let us trust God as Mary and Joseph did.  This Christmas may we hold the Eucharistic Jesus in the poor stable of our hearts as they did and know in newer deeper ways, the perfect joy Mary and Joseph knew sharing  utter poverty of spirit with Him.

Blessed Advent 2011 to all!

Thanks, on this Thanksgiving Day

Today is Thanksgiving Day, 2011. This is a troubling time for me, in many ways, as I see what is happening around the world. Western civilization was built on a foundation of "common sense" – the philosophical realism and natural moral law that were made clear and specific in Judeo-Christian revelation. Today, I see such a poverty of that common sense – today, such irrationality and amorality, such cultural insanity. The phrase "suicide of the West" is now often applied to this tragic movement in our culture. These are dark times.

But God is not finished yet with His work: a world-wide work bigger than the West, reaching to all the peoples and cultures and lands He created with His intention of eternal ends and purposes. These are dark times, but Son-rise is coming.

A beautiful sign of the coming daybreak is the New Evangelization called for by Blessed John Paul II and now recalled by Pope Benedict XVI. This morning in Zenit's daily email of relevant Catholic news, we find a report of a "Europe and the New Evangelization" seminar held Tuesday in Rome, in which Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization, said this: the new evangelization is necessary to respond to the anthropological, ethical and social crisis caused by the neglect of God. Yes, this is the problem simply said: the neglect of God, the "practical atheism" that permeates our modern world. The West chooses to live "as though God does not exist."

So yes, this is the firm ground the West needs to recover – the reference point of all reality, the standard of all authentic morality is God and He will not be ignored forever. Nor can His Church ignore her vocation and her mission, in this pivotal time! Too many of our parishes remain in the universe of their own parochial boundaries, both in the literal and the figurative senses! The Church in the person of the Pope sees the need to reach out and live our vocation to "make disciples" – but the churches in the places of the local parishes mostly continue to look within, with internal concerns, even while the world outside staggers toward the precipice.

The Zenit article reports the call for "the enthusiasm of a faith that embraces reason is the key for a rebirth in truth and liberty of the whole world." Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Pope's secretary of state, stressed that for "baptized persons whose faith is extinguished and who are no longer practicing, the Gospel must be proclaimed with new ardor, new methods and new expressions." The Cardinal said it is the time to rediscover the "first love," that is "reflected in the immense love that God the Father has shown for us by giving us his Son," because that "first love" is the force that moves the hearts and steps of so many new evangelizers: individuals, families, communities, ecclesial movements.

On this Thanksgiving Day I cry out "Thank God!" for the simple truth that He continues to speak through His Church. Are we listening? Are we hearing? Are we responding? It is clear to me that the parishes in America had better get their priorities rightly ordered, and soon, while there is still time. The enemy of souls is not sleeping, and he is forming and placing his workers even now to advance his dark agenda. Is the Church awake? Is the Church aware of the forces at work in the world, in this country, in our cities and towns, in our children?

Thank you, God! You will bring about your Kingdom, whether with us or in spite of us. Give us the grace to be gatherers into life with you, even in the midst of the dividing and the scattering that is taking root deeply all around us. Thy Kingdom come.

Religion: "No"; Relationship: "Yes"?

Forgive me for the deep sadness when I hear – much too frequently, these days – evangelicals and also some Catholics depreciating "religion" in favor of "a personal relationship" with Jesus. There is a contrast made between the old, unacceptable and mere "practice of religion" and the current, acceptable and authentic bond of "a personal relationship" with Jesus. "Religion" is perceived, if not defined, as merely external, institutional, formal and dead. "Personal relationship" is perceived, if not defined, as of the heart, meaningful, dynamic and alive.

Religion is a good thing! The deep sadness I experience when I hear this caricature, this demeaning, of religion is due to the grains of truth in it. People are created religious beings! God made us to seek Him, to find Him, to worship Him and to find life in Him! That quest and journey is the religious life! Yet somehow, many have come to think of "religion" as ceremony without content; rituals without meaning: theatrics sprinkled with holy water. What a colossal tragedy for the Church.

Part of the cause for this false dichotomy – and it is false – is the "grain of truth" that it is possible to appear to be religious when one is not. It is possible to go through the religious ceremonies and celebrations while one's heart never enters them. It is possible to appear to be in solemn worship of God, when in truth worship has never begun within the person. It is possible, in other words, to be an actor in the weekly religious play, and not a religious man or woman who is in "full, conscious and active participation" in the liturgy of worship.

Part of the reason for the popularity of this misunderstanding (especially among evangelicals) is the false philosophy of individualism prevalent in Western culture. "I can worship God better at my golf course." I am closer to God in my fishing boat, alone." I like to read the paper and enjoy a cup of hot coffee Sunday mornings, and God and I have our little conversation." And so evangelicals who have indeed encountered Christ in their hearts begin to plan a way to draw such marginalized Christians (painfully often, marginalized Catholic Christians) back into a church building for a Sunday experience of "real relationship with Jesus."

God does seek true worshippers. Jesus said, in John's Gospel,

Jn 4: 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him.

24 God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.

What is "worship in Spirit and truth"? It does require real and personal relationship – the Spirit gathers persons into a communion of holy love in truth, and love is most certainly personal. And because that Spirit-led love is bigger than merely "Jesus-and-me", He calls us to much more than "Jesus-and-me" in a private conversation. Love calls us to a communion or persons as big as the heart of Jesus, to an embrace as wide as His outstretched arms, to a love as universal and world-wide as His. The full truth of His holy love is defined at the Cross: there, at the Cross, is where we find both relationship and religion.

The Catholic Church does offer the Father true worship, in every holy Mass. We offer the same self-sacrifice of Christ His Son! And in the Holy Mass, to every worshipper is offered a most personal communion in that perfect self-sacrifice of love. There can be no holier or more complete worship! In each Mass, the Cross of Calvary is made present; for every man and woman present in that Mass, the offering of Jesus for the salvation of the world upon that Cross is made present for them individually, personally and collectively to embrace with their own human and personal "yes".

In the Mass, worship of the Father in spirit and truth is a real supernatural possibility for every man and woman. In the Mass, at the Cross, all men and women are offered their very personal vocations in completeness, to the glory of God their Creator and Redeemer. Jesus has made into one, religion and relationship. In the Mass, all become one.

Ps 85: Near indeed is his salvation for those who fear him;

glory will dwell in our land.

11 Love and truth will meet;

justice and peace will kiss.

12 Truth will spring from the earth;

justice will look down from heaven.

Thomas

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The Straight Way to Jesus

Many non-Catholics (and now many Catholics as well) simply don't understand why we venerate Mary and the saints. The common question is, "Why not just go straight to Jesus?" In fact Scripture tells us to! (Doesn't it?) Yes, the Lord does want us to go straight to Jesus, and through Him to the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit. However, the straight path to Jesus, and through Him into the life of the Holy Trinity, is by way of His Church: in the firm truth of Catholic teachings, in the grace of Catholic sacraments, in the moral living of Catholic Christian life, and in the Catholic communion of prayer.

The straight way to Jesus is in and through His Church! And the greatest of her members as examples, models and prayer-companions for each of us in His Church are the saints. And among the saints, one holy woman is above them all by God's choice, intention and provision: Mary. The straight way to Jesus is with Mary.

Many non-Catholics (and now many Catholics as well) simply don't understand why we give such attention and honor to Mary. Doesn't this subtract from the attention and honor we give to Jesus? No, the opposite is true: Mary enables us to see Him more clearly. Mary orients us straight to Him, that we may honor Him more fully, more intensely, more completely.

To understand the veneration and honor that is due to Mary, I think one has to understand and appreciate the value of a true model or example of something. If as a boy your Dad told you to do something for the family – such as cut the grass in the yard, for example, but never showed you what a good grass-cutting looked like, you would have a hard time doing it right. You might have to try many ways, many attempts by trial and error, seeking the best way to do it. We need an example to follow. If your father first told you to come, watch him very carefully as he did it, then you would have an example to follow.

When a young man begins to sense something in his heart that he thinks might be love for a young woman, it would be good if he has a model of what real conjugal love is – what it looks like. We need examples of doing things – of cutting the grass, or of forming a bond of human love, or of any other human reality. But if our examples are mixtures – goodness mixed in with imperfections, mistakes or downright errors – then such examples are of mixed value in helping us know and "see" what to really strive for ourselves.

Thus the saints are beautiful examples for young people and for us all, of the human call to holiness and the perfection of charity, or holy love. But even the saints in their earthly lives were flawed. Even the saints had original sin and human imperfections as we also have. They can show us models of the heroic overcoming of original inclinations for the sake of Christ! But their examples are not perfect, nor complete. They can't show us the perfection (without spot or blemish) to which we are all called, and toward which we all ought to aim. The saints can show us how they, in their individuality and gifts, could in a limited way bring Christ to the world in their own personal lives. But only one human person can show us the perfection of the human vocation to bring Christ to the world! Only one person, His mother Mary, can show us both the literal and the spiritual bringing forth of Christ to the world, in the fullness of her "yes" to the will of God.

Jesus does show us the perfection of humanity, but He is not a human person – He is a divine Person, God the Son, the second Person of the Holy Trinity. Mary is a human person as we are human persons, and Mary, uniquely, is the perfect example of a human person, having no sin at all nor any sinful inclinations at all, ever. Mary is the perfect human example for us all of the universal human call to holiness and the perfection of charity – the perfect example for all, for men and for women.

Mary is more than that, but she is that – and that is one thing to keep in mind. That alone makes her worthy of devotion – veneration – highest regard and respect.

Mary is also our mother in the order of grace. Mary was given to all disciples at the Cross, in the person of John the Apostle called "the disciple whom Jesus loved." John showed us our proper response to this gift from God in his Gospel, "he took her into his own." We too are called to "take her into our own," as spiritual mother. Though all who keep the Word of God are "brother, sister and mother" to Jesus, Mary is uniquely one who "kept" and who "keeps" the Word of God, literally and spiritually, thus here too she is uniquely mother to all who keep and treasure and obey the "words" of "the Word."

In her maternal love, Mary is uniquely ordered to be intercessor for us in prayer. All the saints delight in the work of intercession on our behalf because of the holy love – charity – that they live in glory! But Mary above all, in her perfection in grace, in her maternal vocation, tends to her children by God's design and intention, in a full and unique way.

These were some of the thoughts that helped me to understand de Montfort's vision and insight into a truth that changed the spirituality of the man who would be called John Paul II: the mystery of the call to Jesus through Mary – the journey of discipleship to Jesus through Mary – the coming into union with Jesus through Mary.

Mary, because God made her as He did, is the perfect – literally and uniquely the perfect – lens though which (through whom) we fallen human beings can begin to see, in ever growing clarity, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, true God and true man. Yes, our vision is clouded by the imperfections and wounds of the fallen nature in us, and in those we look to for guidance and help. Jesus is our Savior, and our intercessor before the Father! Oh how we need to look to Jesus, and to see Him as He is! In our wounds and imperfections, however, we can fail to see Him as He is and instead we can begin to see Him as less than He is. We can begin to see Him as we want.

So God created a New Eve, a new mother for a new generation and a new creation, and her first-born was the Christ, come to save us from our sins. She was made to be the mold in whom His perfect humanity was to be formed and brought forth; hers was the milk to nurture Him and the arms to rock Him to sleep. Hers was the love to mother Him, even to the foot of His Cross. Hers was the maternal heart Jesus entrusted with His beloved disciple, and all His beloved disciples. She is the perfection of His Church, sent to be light to the nations until the end, showing forth with every human movement the way to Jesus our Lord.

I urge you the reader – if you do not yet share that vision of de Montfort, Jesus through Mary – to begin to seek to see it as John Paul II did as a young man. It is a process of growing in appreciation of God's work and mystery – a journey more and more beautiful in every step.

Thomas

"Take Up the Rosary Once Again" — Blessed John Paul II

…I look to all of you, brothers and sisters of every state of life, to you, Christian families, to you, the sick and elderly, and to you, young people: confidently take up the Rosary once again. Rediscover the Rosary in the light of Scripture, in harmony with the Liturgy, and in the context of your daily lives.

May this appeal of mine not go unheard! At the start of the twenty-fifth year of my Pontificate, I entrust this Apostolic Letter to the loving hands of the Virgin Mary, prostrating myself in spirit before her image in the splendid Shrine built for her by Blessed Bartolo Longo, the apostle of the Rosary. I willingly make my own the touching words with which he concluded his well-known Supplication to the Queen of the Holy Rosary: "O Blessed Rosary of Mary, sweet chain which unites us to God, bond of love which unites us to the angels, tower of salvation against the assaults of Hell, safe port in our universal shipwreck, we will never abandon you. You will be our comfort in the hour of death: yours our final kiss as life ebbs away. And the last word from our lips will be your sweet name, O Queen of the Rosary of Pompei, O dearest Mother, O Refuge of Sinners, O Sovereign Consoler of the Afflicted. May you be everywhere blessed, today and always, on earth and in heaven".

The above quote is the conclusion to the Apostolic Letter of Blessed John Paul II, "On the Most Holy Rosary",  given to the Church on October 16, 2002.    I just finished re-reading this beautiful letter, today, Oct. 7 -  the Feast of the Rosary.     I found in this re-reading, far more than I remembered receiving when I first read it, but that isn't unusual.  How often do we  find after time and hopefully more grace has been given us, we begin to see what we had not seen before or had not appreciated enough!

HERE is a link to this letter, if you would like to read it today, or at least begin to read it, and ponder it over the course of a few days.  It is not a very long document, but it  is one that is written with the heartfelt love of a son for his Mother.

Perhaps, after you have read it you may be willing to share your comments.  I hope, that after you have read even a part of it, you will begin to take up the Rosary again, as Blessed John Paul II encouraged us to do, with a renewed love for Jesus and our Mother Mary.  May we all be blessed to learn from her to contemplate the Face of Christ.

The Cleansing Power of Grief

Self-knowledge is so very important in our life of prayer, in our seeking after God and His life. We can deceive ourselves so cleverly! The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector at prayer comes to mind:

Lk 11:9 He then addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.

10 "Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.

11 The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, 'O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity—greedy, dishonest, adulterous—or even like this tax collector.

12 I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.'

13 But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, 'O God, be merciful to me a sinner.'

14 I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

We can so easily blind ourselves to our own faults and idolatries, and thus so easily enter and leave the temple of sacred prayer in ignorance and presumption. May the Lord give us in grace the courageous honesty – the simplicity and hope in the mercy of God – shown us by the tax collector, "O God, be merciful to me a sinner."

In the world we see so many in desperate flight, it seems, from His mercy and ready forgiveness. Like Adam and Eve hiding in the Garden after their sin, modern man hides from God, and from the darkening consequences of his escape from Truth, from God. Indeed modern man wants to deny "consequences" themselves! Yet consequence remain, as surely as effect follows cause and suffering follows sin. The abortions, the immorality and amorality, the subversion of love and of marriage and of family, the turning from actuality in preference for fantasies, fictions and "virtual" reality, the borrowing against the future to finance the excess and the self-indulgence of the present – all these are added to the scales, the weight of debt grows, and the time of reckoning grows closer.

Sept. 11, 2011, ten years after the horrific awakening that exploded upon America, was yesterday. All the videos were replayed, all the tapes again were heard, the anguish again was uncovered and the deep, deep sorrow again invited us to repentance. How the world needs a holy People of God! How the world needs to hear the saving Gospel! How the world needs the Church to be Church, calling this lost world to the one Truth that can save us.

O God, be merciful to me a sinner. Save us all Lord from the sterile self-satisfactions of pharisaism, the nest-building when we ought to be out evangelizing. Deliver us from all false security with our outward structures, and point us to what is inside the cup. Thy Kingdom come, O Lord.