The Mirror of the Eucharist - Homily. Fr. Raymond

Catmint border, 7 Trees in Memorial Grove of Atlas Martys  

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From: Raymond J. . .>
To: . . .> 
Sent: Sunday, 5 August 2012, 18:34
Subject: The Mirror of the Eucharist

The Mirror of the Eucharist - Sun 18 B 

• The Eucharist is, of course the most precious jewel among the gifts of our faith. But there are many facets to that precious jewel. It is the GREATEST of the Sacraments; it is the most WONDERFUL of the sacraments; It is the most POWERFUL, of the sacraments; It is the most BEAUTIFUL and INSPIRING of the sacraments, and it is so many other things for us.  It sums up the whole meaning of God’s relations with his children.  It is bursting with the promise of an unspeakable destiny of communion with God for us.
• But today we would do well to concentrate on another quite different aspect of the Eucharist; one that’s brought to our attention in today’s first reading. This aspect can hardly be described under any of these terms.  It is neither wonderful nor beautiful nor loving nor inspiring.  The only word to describe it is perhaps – “challenging”.  I don’t mean challenging in the sense that it challenges our faith; although it certainly does that!  From the very first mention Jesus made of eating his flesh and drinking his blood it has been a challenge to our faith.  But there is another way in which it challenges us who do believe in it still further. I mean the challenge we read about in the Book of Exodus. Today’s first reading is about the gift of the Manna in the desert foreshadowing the gift of the Eucharist in the life of the Church ever after.  We read there that when God gave Moses this gift he said that it was given, not so much to feed them as to test them; to test whether it would induce them to follow his Laws.  Now this character of a “Test” is still very much an important aspect of the role of the Eucharist in our lives.  God has given us this unspeakable gift!  Yes, we believe in it!  But do we appreciate it? Do we partake of it?  Do we live by it?  Or do we neglect it?  The Eucharist is a kind of Mirror of our souls.  Jesus looks into that mirror, and he longs and hopes to see the frequent reflection of our faces there.  The original Manna was given to test whether the children of the O.T. would follow the Old Commandments.  The New Manna of the Eucharist is given to test whether we, the Children of the New Testament, will follow the New Commandment To love him as he has loved us.
• Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you cannot have life in you

Learn to trust in providence, yes, but not to tempt providence. Mk. 6:7-11

Nunraw compilation SCO-Joe McGrath

Homily; Fr. Raymond ...

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From: Raymond
To: . . .
Sent: Sunday, 15 July 2012, 12:18
Subject: Sun 15 B

Sun 15 B

In the Sacred Scriptures, both in the OT and in the NT we often find twin stories or dyptichs, as they are called.  The second story is almost identical with the first but with some detail added or changed.   This addition or change in detail underlines the meaning of the first story and emphasises it or it adds something to it.    We have a typical example of this in today’s story about Jesus sending his Apostles out on their mission.  This very same event, in almost identical words, occurs both at the beginning and the end of Jesus ministry:  a typical “Dyptich”.       In the first instance, the one in today’s Gospel;  we hear about the original mission given to the Apostles; the beginning of the preaching of the Good News,  Jesus sends them out with the proviso that they are to “take nothing for the journey, nothing except a staff – no bread, no haversack, no coppers for their purses.  In the second instance, the one that occurred at the very end of Jesus life, at the last Supper in fact, he reminds them of how he sent them out at first and he asks them “did you lack for anything then?”, “No” they answered. “Well now” he tells them:  “Go out to the whole world and preach the Good News but now, this time,  be sure to take all you need:  take purse and haversack and even a sword.    

                                                                                

One of the lessons to be learned from this strange change of tactics is surely that the first story teaches us the reality of the Lord’s presence and power accompanying his apostles on their mission; and the second story gives us the assurance that this same presence and power will always be there in his church, accompanying her in her mission to preach the good news of salvation.  But, he expects her, while still having faith and confidence in him, to take all human means and effort to accomplish her goal.  She must trust in providence, yes, but mustn’t tempt providence.   The church, and each one of us has to live by that same principle: we must learn to trust in providence, yes, but not to tempt providence, and when we feel that we are unable to cope by ourselves in whatever circumstance of life we find ourselves, we must remember those wonderful words God spoke to Paul when he felt that he was at the end of his tether: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness”.

Comment Sunday Readings

Dear Anne Marie,

Many thanks.

The Reading, Ist.Kings 19: 9a, 11-13a silenced my whist too.

"Stand on the mountain before the Lord".

. . .

Donald

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Anne Marie. . .
To: Donald . . .
Sent: Sun, 7 August, 2011 21:33:20
Subject: Mass readings
I was very moved by the first reading today.  

A beautiful image of God in the gentle breeze.
I read it over and over again, not to understand it, not imagine it, not to compare it, or make links, but to feel it.  

Wonderful.

Anne Marie
Sent from my iPad

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William,
Thank you.
The river over the bridge but no Chopper at your beck. 
Your own events catch up with Elijah and Peter.
. . .
Donald

In pictures: Carlisle floods

BBC
Carlisle was hit by floods at the weekend after a month's rain fell in 24 hours. Several people were airlifted from buildings.

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: WILLIAM  . . .
To: Fr Donald . . .
Sent: Mon, 8 August, 2011 9:28:45
Subject: Re: [Blog] Mt 14:31 faith...doubt

Dear Father Donald,

 

There is a footbridge over the river in this city where pedestrians see the racing flood waters just beneath their feet through open slats. St. Augustine's words will now always come to mind as I cross it, bringing Peter's courage and cry to heart: all the world's swell and turmoil there beneath your feet that would surely engulf you, devouring, never sustaining.

 

The rushing water is sufficiently intimidating!

 

. . .in Our Lord,

William

Sunday, 7 August 2011, 20:43

 [Dom Donald's Blog] Mt 14:31 "O you of little faith, why did you doubt"Think, then, of this world as a sea, whipped up to tempestuous heights by violent winds. A person's own private tempest will be his or her unruly desires. If you love God you will have power to walk upon the waters, and all the world's swell and turmoil will remain beneath your feet. But if you love the world it will surely engulf you, for it always devours its lovers, never sustains them. If you feel your foot slipping beneath you, if you become a prey to doubt or realize that you are losing control, if, in a word, you begin to sink, say: Lord, I am drowning, save me! Only he who for your sake died in your fallen nature can save you from the death inherent in that fallen nature.  

[Edit. Augustine para 4]

Sunday, 17 July 2011 Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gladioli alias Glad!
in the sanctuary 

  http://www.simnet.is/e.booth/english/16Sund11.htm

Fr. Edward OP
Homily

16 Sunday 2011

•                The parable of the tares sown amongst the wheat, as also the sequel of the woman introducing leaven into the bread-dough follow on naturally from the parable of the sower. One feels the presence of the tidy mind of Matthew bringing them together as thematically linked.
•                The problem of finding tares sown amongst wheat is a more complex problem than those with the terrain. Wind-blown tare seed must be a common hazard, but more intense when some farmers seek to keep their fields in cultivation when a neighbouring field has been neglected after cultivation in it ceased. I am always conscious of the close and luxuriant growth of very large weeds together in the patch of land just under the hotel here, as one turns towards the swimming pool. I believe that with genuine tares it is not immediately evident what they are as they germinate along with the wheat. The lack of experience and intelligence of the labourers is very evident as they propose to pull and dig out the weeds immediately. That would have meant the impossible task of separating out the root systems, with the consequent halting of growth for the wheat. The field-owner had much more experience, and rightly rejected their suggestion instantaneously. Let them grow together and separate the tares from the wheat at the harvest-time, before the tare-seeds had fallen and, like the wheat-seeds, were still on the stem. They can be burnt. They would add a little potash to the soil to increase its fertility. And so a toleration of the presence of weeds as an everyday phenomenon, gains a universal knowledge of a much more significant field of human action which is the need under certain circumstances to tolerate the presence and even the development of evil in the short term, with extension into practical ergonomics in the area of the economising of human effort. Actually the amount of more than common sense which is called for to solve the questions is virtually zero.
•                But the consequences can be extrapolated to the divine tolerance of evil, and the divine power of bringing good out of evil. But in dealing with evil from a divine point of view there must be more than abstract principles. There must be a connaturality with the divine as such which has grown with that special activation of spiritual gifts rising to the contemplation of God which is the heart, the source, the appropriate atmosphere which is better when the contemplative atmosphere is widespread, leading to the gaining of perhaps only a little of the immense wisdom of God.
•                Then Our Lord contemplates the incredible energies present in the growth of a mustard seed, leaving us with the birds, whose song delights us, feeling secure in the nests which they build amongst the foliage of its branches. That the woman bakes her own bread coincides with a present day trend for people who are rightly suspicious of the use of low quality ingredients. In previous times bakers have been described as the most honest of men. According to a shrewd Catholic writer, half- English and half-French, it is because they have to get up earlier than other men and so they can contemplate the beauty of a slow sunrise which other  men miss as they swallow a little unnourishing breakfast, and then are subjected to the stress of road traffic, or hide themselves behind the pages of the early editions of the newspapers  in their stop-start commuter trains and buses, arriving in no fit state to apply their tired judgements to a pile of routine work.
•                Again Our Lord says nothing extraordinary. But his own contemplative capacities were enormous, and through these lines the contemplative search is passed on to us as listeners or readers. There is a repetition of the allusion to the "mysteries of the Kingdom" as it is found in the parable of the sower. He says "I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world." The secret of tare-growth and its treatment? The growth of the mustard tree? The introduction of yeast to bread-dough - when he has omitted the addition of warm sugar solution which can spur the yeast-growth to a far higher degree?
•                But when these images are applied with a sensitive and experienced knowledge of what is obtained in prayer, then curtains are drawn and closed doors are opened, as the cutting-edge of the mind is applied both to the mind itself and through the mind itself cuts through to the knowledge of the Tri-une God at its enormous depth, working always at its own rate, with defined purposes, as it removes the rust in our own souls, renewing us through and through. Amen.

Epiphany events Theophanies

FEAST OF THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD
Sunday, January 9
Matthew 3:13-17  

Mass Homily  

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From: Raymond . . .
Sent: Sun, 9 January, 2011 17:24:34
Subject: Baptism of Lord

Baptism of Lord 2010

The Baptism of the Lord is the closing event of the Christmas season, not because it is joined to the infancy of Christ chronologically, it happened during the adulthood of Jesus, of course, but because it is joined to the epiphany events theologically.  It is one of the great epiphanies, one of the great revelations of God.  However, unlike the manifestation to the shepherds or the Magi, it manifests the divinity of Christ in the context of the Blessed Trinityitself.  

This is what gives it its own particular character.  The story of the Incarnation and the hidden years in Nazareth opens with the Trinity and closes with the Trinity.  The angel Gabriel announces to Mary that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and the Power of the Most High would overshadow her and therefore the Holy One to be born of her would be called the Son of God; and the Church closes the Christmas season with the Trinity as revealed in the Baptism of Jesus.

Highly significant too are the words spoken to Jesus by the Father:  “You are my beloved Son.  In you I am well pleased”.  This saying is at first glance similar to the words spoken by the Father at the Transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain top.  But there is, on closer inspection a notable difference.  At the transfiguration the voice of the Father was directed to the Apostles “This is my beloved son....Listen to him.” whereas at the Baptism the voice addresses Jesus himself directly “You are my beloved Son.....”  The Father here focuses his gaze on Jesus alone; he has eyes for only Jesus, and this draws from him, as it were, a spontaneous cry of love: “How I love you my son”.  It is as if we are privileged for an instant to witness the inner life of the Blessed Trinity itself; the eternal and ineffable love that passes between the Three Divine Persons themselves.
This is a precious moment for us indeed, a moment that surpasses in a way all the great Theophanies of the Old Testament, from the Divine voice in the Garden of Eden to the mystic visitors of Abraham and the visions of the great prophets.

This is the first time that the Blessed Trinity is brought into focus for the whole people of God; the first Epiphany, not of the Word made flesh, but of the Triune Personhood of God.  That this revelation should be made through an expression of the Fathers’ love for the Son is so beautifully fitting for the God who is love itself.  And that this expression of the Father’s love for his Son should also be made precisely when the Son, through his baptism, identifies himself with us in our sinfulness and need of cleansing assures us that we ourselves are caught up in that love of the Father for his Son.

Fourth Sunday of Advent "This Is How ......"

Homily Fr. Raymond 

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THIS IS HOW......                                            

“This is how Jesus Christ came to be  born”.  St Mathew begins his account of the Christmas story with these simple words.  But when we look into the depths of the mystery of the incarnation we find that we can apply this same phrase to the opening of any chapter in the long history of salvation, from the story of the garden of Eden to the last trumpet of judgement itself.  

When God first threw the planets into space it was to support our own insignificant little orb because that was where he intended to make his abode among us.........
“This is how Jesus Christ came to be  born”.
When he first set about making this planet a beautiful garden for Adam and Eve to live in it was to create a human family into which he could be born......... 

“This is how Jesus Christ came to be  born”.

When he directed the lives of the patriarchs down the centuries it was to set aside a suitable lineage from which the messiah could come. .........
“This is how Jesus Christ came to be  born”.

When he led Israel out of Egypt and into Palestine it was to establish a people and a homeland for the Messiah .........
“This is how Jesus Christ came to be  born”.

All of history before the first Christmas was planned to lead up to it and all that has happened since flows from it.

Pray Continually Luke 18 1-8

 

----- Forwarded Message ----

From: Raymond . . .

To: Donald . . . .

Sent: Tue, 19 October, 2010 8:01:32

Subject:  Pray Continually

SUN 29 OCT 2010   Homily: Fr. Raymond.

In today’s  Gospel Jesus told his disciples about “..the need to pray continually”.  In doing this he was well aware that he would also have to tell them about the need “never to lose heart”  The two things go together: “praying continually” and “not losing heart”.....perseverance and trust.  In this story of the widow and the unjust judge, Jesus is obviously inviting us to consider how the unjust Judge yields to the perseverance and trust of the widow’s prayers and he is inviting us to compare this with how God yields to the perseverance and trust of our own prayers.

This is not the only time in the gospels when Jesus teaches us that our persevering prayers are always heard, our persevering prayers are always answered:   “Ask and you shall receive.  Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened to you.”  What teaching could be clearer?  Whatever you ask the Father in my name will be granted you”.   What could be more explicit?

Unfortunately, however, our own personal experience doesn’t seem to give us proof of the validity of this teaching.  How often have we not prayed long and earnestly and sincerely for something and yet not got it? So, if Jesus’ teaching is true, as indeed it must be, then we are forced to conclude that God’s answers to our prayers are often something different from what we expect them to be, they are something that we cannot understand, they are something that comes under the category of “God’s ways and not our ways”.  

Perhaps one way to consider this problem is to realise that we are like children before him.  We ask for things unreasonably, we ask for things that would be harmful for us in one way or another:  we ask for things that might even destroy us if we got them. We ask for things that would even separate us from the God from whom we are asking them.  God, as a truly loving Father then, cant answer such requests, not in the way we would hope anyway.  But one thing is certain, God, as a loving Father, will never ignore our requests.

There is no such thing as an unanswered prayer.

Daily Gospel 09 Oct

                    

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Saturday, 09 October 2010

Bl. John Henry Newman, priest, founder of a religious community, theologian († 1890)

 Other saints of the day

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Blessed John Henry Newman
Priest, founder of a religious community, theologian
(1801-1890)

        This day that has brought us together here in Birmingham is a most auspicious one. In the first place, it is the Lord's Day, Sunday, the day when our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead and changed the course of human history for ever, offering new life and hope to all who live in darkness and in the shadow of death. (...)Yet there is another, more joyful reason why this is an auspicious day for Great Britain, for the Midlands, for Birmingham. It is the day that sees Cardinal John Henry Newman formally raised to the altars and declared Blessed.(...)

        England has a long tradition of martyr saints, whose courageous witness has sustained and inspired the Catholic community here for centuries. Yet it is right and fitting that we should recognize today the holiness of a confessor, a son of this nation who, while not called to shed his blood for the Lord, nevertheless bore eloquent witness to him in the course of a long life devoted to the priestly ministry, and especially to preaching, teaching, and writing. He is worthy to take his place in a long line of saints and scholars from these islands, Saint Bede, Saint Hilda, Saint Aelred, Blessed Duns Scotus, to name but a few. In Blessed John Henry, that tradition of gentle scholarship, deep human wisdom and profound love for the Lord has borne rich fruit, as a sign of the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit deep within the heart of God's people, bringing forth abundant gifts of holiness.

        Cardinal Newman's motto, Cor ad cor loquitur, or "Heart speaks unto heart", gives us an insight into his understanding of the Christian life as a call to holiness, experienced as the profound desire of the human heart to enter into intimate communion with the Heart of God. He reminds us that faithfulness to prayer gradually transforms us into the divine likeness. As he wrote in one of his many fine sermons, "a habit of prayer, the practice of turning to God and the unseen world in every season, in every place, in every emergency - prayer, I say, has what may be called a natural effect in spiritualizing and elevating the soul. A man is no longer what he was before; gradually ... he has imbibed a new set of ideas, and become imbued with fresh principles" (Parochial and Plain Sermons, iv, 230-231). Today's Gospel tells us that no one can be the servant of two masters (cf. Lk 16:13), and Blessed John Henry's teaching on prayer explains how the faithful Christian is definitively taken into the service of the one true Master, who alone has a claim to our unconditional devotion (cf. Mt 23:10). Newman helps us to understand what this means for our daily lives: he tells us that our divine Master has assigned a specific task to each one of us, a "definite service", committed uniquely to every single person: "I have my mission", he wrote, "I am a link in a chain, a bond of connexion between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good, I shall do his work; I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place ... if I do but keep his commandments and serve him in my calling" (Meditations and Devotions, 301-2).

        The definite service to which Blessed John Henry was called involved applying his keen intellect and his prolific pen to many of the most pressing "subjects of the day". His insights into the relationship between faith and reason, into the vital place of revealed religion in civilized society, and into the need for a broadly-based and wide-ranging approach to education were not only of profound importance for Victorian England, but continue today to inspire and enlighten many all over the world. I would like to pay particular tribute to his vision for education, which has done so much to shape the ethos that is the driving force behind Catholic schools and colleges today. Firmly opposed to any reductive or utilitarian approach, he sought to achieve an educational environment in which intellectual training, moral discipline and religious commitment would come together. The project to found a Catholic University in Ireland provided him with an opportunity to develop his ideas on the subject, and the collection of discourses that he published as The Idea of a University holds up an ideal from which all those engaged in academic formation can continue to learn. And indeed, what better goal could teachers of religion set themselves than Blessed John Henry's famous appeal for an intelligent, well-instructed laity: "I want a laity, not arrogant, not rash in speech, not disputatious, but men who know their religion, who enter into it, who know just where they stand, who know what they hold and what they do not, who know their creed so well that they can give an account of it, who know so much of history that they can defend it" (The Present Position of Catholics in England, ix, 390). On this day when the author of those words is raised to the altars, I pray that, through his intercession and example, all who are engaged in the task of teaching and catechesis will be inspired to greater effort by the vision he so clearly sets before us.

        While it is John Henry Newman's intellectual legacy that has understandably received most attention in the vast literature devoted to his life and work, I prefer on this occasion to conclude with a brief reflection on his life as a priest, a pastor of souls. The warmth and humanity underlying his appreciation of the pastoral ministry is beautifully expressed in another of his famous sermons: "Had Angels been your priests, my brethren, they could not have condoled with you, sympathized with you, have had compassion on you, felt tenderly for you, and made allowances for you, as we can; they could not have been your patterns and guides, and have led you on from your old selves into a new life, as they can who come from the midst of you" ("Men, not Angels: the Priests of the Gospel", Discourses to Mixed Congregations, 3). He lived out that profoundly human vision of priestly ministry in his devoted care for the people of Birmingham during the years that he spent at the Oratory he founded, visiting the sick and the poor, comforting the bereaved, caring for those in prison. No wonder that on his death so many thousands of people lined the local streets as his body was taken to its place of burial not half a mile from here. One hundred and twenty years later, great crowds have assembled once again to rejoice in the Church's solemn recognition of the outstanding holiness of this much-loved father of souls. What better way to express the joy of this moment than by turning to our heavenly Father in heartfelt thanksgiving, praying in the words that Blessed John Henry Newman placed on the lips of the choirs of angels in heaven:

Praise to the Holiest in the height
And in the depth be praise;
In all his words most wonderful,
Most sure in all his ways!
(The Dream of Gerontius).

(Homily of his holiness Benedict XVI - Mass with the beatification of venerable cardinal John Henry Newman - Birmingham - Sunday, 19 September 2010)

- Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Papal Visit Homily

A unique historic moment in Scotland.  

The picture illustration if the the Queen welcoming Pope Benedict xvi at Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh.

From there the Pope went to Glasgow for the celebration of Holy Mass at Belahouston Park, with representives from every Parish in Scotland.  

Homily of the Pope at Belahouston, Glasgow ----- Forwarded Message ---- From: "scmo.org" - - - To: nunraw  - - - Sent: Thu, 16 September, 2010 15:06:44 Subject: Pope Benedict's Homily - Bellahouston Park HOLY SEE PRESS OFFICE GLASGOW - 16.09.2010 - 17.15  Bellahouston Park  Holy Mass  Original text  Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,  “The Kingdom of God is very near to you!” (Lk 10:9).  With these words of the Gospel we have just heard, I greet all of you with great affection in the Lord.  Truly the Lord’s Kingdom is already in our midst!  At this Eucharistic celebration in which the Church in Scotland gathers around the altar in union with the Successor of Peter, let us reaffirm our faith in Christ’s word and our hope – a hope which never disappoints – in his promises!  I warmly greet Cardinal O’Brien and the Scottish Bishops; I thank in particular Archbishop Conti for his kind words of welcome on your behalf; and I express my deep gratitude for the work that the British and Scottish Governments and the Glasgow city fathers have done to make this occasion possible. Today’s Gospel reminds us that Christ continues to send his disciples into the world in order to proclaim the coming of his Kingdom and to bring his peace into the world, beginning house by house, family by family, town by town. I have come as a herald of that peace to you, the spiritual children of Saint Andrew and to confirm you in the faith of Peter (cf. Lk 22:32). It is with some emotion that I address you, not far from the spot where my beloved predecessor Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass nearly thirty years ago with you and was welcomed by the largest crowd ever gathered in Scottish history.  Much has happened in Scotland and in the Church in this country since that historic visit. I note with great satisfaction how Pope John Paul’s call to you to walk hand in hand with your fellow Christians has led to greater trust and  friendship with the members of the Church of Scotland, the Scottish Episcopal Church and others.  Let me encourage you to continue to pray and work with them in building a brighter future for Scotland based upon our common Christian heritage. In today’s first reading we heard Saint Paul appeal to the Romans to acknowledge that, as members of Christ’s body, we belong to each other (cf. Rom 12:5) and to live in respect and mutual love. In that spirit I greet the ecumenical representatives who honour us by their presence. This year marks the 450th anniversary of the Reformation Parliament, but also the 100th anniversary of the World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh, which is widely acknowledged to mark the birth of the modern ecumenical movement. Let us give thanks to God for the promise which ecumenical understanding and cooperation represents for a united witness to the saving truth of God’s word in today’s rapidly changing society. Among the differing gifts which Saint Paul lists for the building up of the Church is that of teaching (cf. Rom 12:7). The preaching of the Gospel has always been accompanied by concern for the word: the inspired word of God and the culture in which that word takes root and flourishes. Here in Scotland, I think of the three medieval universities founded here by the popes, including that of Saint Andrews which is beginning to mark the 600th anniversary of its foundation. In the last 30 years and with the assistance of civil authorities, Scottish Catholic schools have taken up the challenge of providing an integral education to greater numbers of students, and this has helped young people not only along the path  of spiritual and human growth, but also in entering the professions and public life. This is a sign of great hope for the Church, and I encourage the Catholic professionals, politicians and teachers of Scotland never to lose sight of their calling to use their talents and experience in the service of the faith, engaging contemporary Scottish culture at every level. The evangelization of culture is all the more important in our times, when a “dictatorship of relativism” threatens to obscure the unchanging truth about man’s nature, his destiny and his ultimate good. There are some who now seek to exclude religious belief from public discourse, to privatize it or even to paint it as a threat to equality and liberty. Yet religion is in fact a guarantee of authentic liberty and respect, leading us to look upon every person as a brother or sister. For this reason I appeal in particular to you, the lay faithful, in accordance with your baptismal calling and mission, not only to be examples of faith in public, but also to put the case for the promotion of faith’s wisdom and vision in the public forum. Society today needs clear voices which propose our right to live, not in a jungle of self-destructive and arbitrary freedoms, but in a society which works for the true welfare of its citizens and offers them guidance and protection in the face of their weakness and fragility. Do not be afraid to take up this service to your brothers and sisters, and to the future of your beloved nation. Saint Ninian, whose feast we celebrate today, was himself unafraid to be a lone voice. In the footsteps of the disciples whom our Lord sent forth before him, Ninian was one of the very first Catholic missionaries to bring his fellow Britons the good news of Jesus Christ. His mission church in Galloway became a centre for the first evangelization of this country. That work was later taken up by Saint Mungo, Glasgow’s own patron, and by other saints, the greatest of whom must include Saint Columba and Saint Margaret. Inspired by them, many men and women have laboured over many centuries to hand down the faith to you. Strive to be worthy of this great tradition! Let the exhortation of Saint Paul in the first reading be your constant inspiration: “Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering and persevere in prayer” (cf. Rom 12:11-12). I would now like to address a special word to the bishops of Scotland. Dear brothers, let me encourage you in your pastoral leadership of the Catholics of Scotland. As you know, one of your first pastoral duties is to your priests (cf. Presbyterorum Ordinis, 7) and to their sanctification. As they are alter Christus to the Catholic community, so you are to them. Live to the full the charity that flows from Christ, in your brotherly ministry towards your priests, collaborating with them all, and in particular with those who have little contact with their fellow priests. Pray with them for vocations, that the Lord of the harvest will send labourers to his harvest (cf. Lk 10:2). Just as the Eucharist makes the Church, so the priesthood is central to the life of the Church. Engage yourselves personally in forming your priests as a body of men who inspire others to dedicate themselves completely to the service of Almighty God. Have a care also for your deacons, whose ministry of service is associated in a particular way with that of the order of bishops. Be a father and a guide in holiness for them, encouraging them to grow in knowledge and wisdom in carrying out the mission of herald to which they have been called. Dear priests of Scotland, you are called to holiness and to serve God’s people by modelling your lives on the mystery of the Lord’s cross. Preach the Gospel with a pure heart and a clear conscience. Dedicate yourselves to God alone and you will become shining examples to young men of a holy, simple and joyful life: they, in their turn, will surely wish to join you in your single-minded service of God’s people. May the example of Saint John Ogilvie, dedicated, selfless and brave, inspire all of you. Similarly, let me encourage you, the monks, nuns and religious of Scotland to be a light on a hilltop, living an authentic Christian life of prayer and action that witnesses in a luminous way to the power of the Gospel. Finally, I would like to say a word to you, my dear young Catholics of Scotland. I urge you to lead lives worthy of our Lord (cf. Eph 4:1) and of yourselves. There are many temptations placed before you every day - drugs, money, sex, pornography, alcohol - which the world tells you will bring you happiness, yet these things are destructive and divisive. There is only one thing which lasts: the love of Jesus Christ personally for each one of you. Search for him, know him and love him, and he will set you free from slavery to the glittering but superficial existence frequently proposed by today’s society. Put aside what is worthless and learn of your own dignity as children of God. In today’s Gospel, Jesus asks us to pray for vocations: I pray that many of you will know and love Jesus Christ and, through that encounter, will dedicate yourselves completely to God, especially those of you who are called to the priesthood and religious life. This is the challenge the Lord gives to you today: the Church now belongs to you! Dear friends, I express once more my joy at celebrating this Mass with you. I am happy to assure you of my prayers in the ancient language of your country: Sìth agus beannachd Dhe dhuibh uile; Dia bhi timcheall oirbh; agus gum beannaicheadh Dia Alba. God’s peace and blessing to you all; God surround you; and may God bless the people of Scotland

Assumption of BVM

MASS

The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Friends visiting the Carfin Lourdes Grotto on Assumption Day.

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Raymond  …>
To: Donald …>
Sent: Sun, 15 August, 2010 18:59:05
Subject: Assumption

The Bodily Assumption of Mary into Heaven

By Fr. Raymond

The Bodily Assumption of Mary into Heaven is one of the three great personal privileges of Mary: The Immaculate Conception; the Divine Motherhood and the Assumption.  The Immaculate Conception prepared Mary for her Divine Motherhood and her Assumption into Heaven was a consequence of it. This connection between the Devine Motherhood and the Assumption can perhaps be best understood if we think of the debt any man owes to his Mother. It is a debt that can never be repaid. Our Mothers gave us our very life and existence. They formed us in their wombs; the nursed us at their breasts. ‘No man can pay the price of his life’ as the psalmist reminds us. The best we can do to repay our Mothers for the gift of life is for us to love and honour and respect them, and of course to care for them in their old age.

But things are not so between Mary and the Divine Son she bore. He was Almighty God and was well able to make a fitting recompense to his Mother for giving him his body of flesh. He repaid this debt of gratitude by taking her own body of flesh and blood and preserving it from the corruption of the grave and assuming her, in her bodily entirety, into heaven just as he himself had been at his Ascension. Nor is this just something personal to Mary. We must wait, of course, till the last day for our bodily assumption into heaven, but Mary’s bodily assumption, like the ascension of Christ himself,  gives us already a kind of pledge and guarantee of the ultimate destiny of our own body of flesh and blood. Christ, the New Adam, has entered the New Paradise, of which the Old Paradise was just a foreshadowing, and Mary, the New Eve, has been given to him as his first companion in the fullness of her humanity.

     When the doctrine of the Assumption was first defined, our separated brethren asked, “Where is this in Scripture? We can’t believe what is not in Scripture”. But we can answer that this wonderful event is well prepared for in Holy Scripture. The mind of faith is prepared for it by such events as the lifting up of Elijah from this earth in the fiery chariot. We are prepared for it by the disappearance from this earth of the bodies of Enoch and Moses for example.  But by far the most important foreshadowing of Mary’s Assumption takes place in the very first chapters of Genesis where it is said of the first Adam: “It is not good for Man to be alone”. There were plenty of other living creatures around, but none “like unto himself” to share his life with him on a fully human level. So too surely it must be with the New Adam in the new Paradise. There are plenty of angels and spirits of the just there too but, for the fullness and perfection of all beauty and truth, he needs one by his side who can share his life in the fullness of his glorified humanity, body as well as spirit. Yes even for the New Adam in the New Paradise “It is not good for Man to be alone”.