All Saints (C) – Homily of Fr. Aelred.

Friday if First of November

   All Saints: First Friday of the Month.
On the first attempt with CanCord, it back fired that the inner memory was full, and could not record. Hope to lerarn more.
D.

All Saints (C) – Homily of Fr. Aelred.

Intro   Today is the Solemnity of All  Saints, when we celebrate the canonised saints and those saints known to God alone.

Homily In the saints the Church presents the heroes and heroines of Christianity as models and intercessors. Although the saints had their personal failings, they still provide us with admirable examples at divine power at work in human beings. Alban Butler wrote in the 18^th century: “The lives of the saints furnish the Christian with a daily spiritual entertainment, which is not less agreeable than affecting and instructive”. And speaking of the saints Vatican II said, “ To look on the lives of those who have faithfully followed Christ is to be inspired with a new reason for seeking the city which is to come … God shows us in a vivid way his presence and his presence and his face in the lives of those companions of ours who are more perfectly transformed into the image of Christ”.

Like St. Paul the saints can say, “I live, not now I, but Christ lives in me”” Therefore honour given to the saints is given to Christ.

The 1^st  Reading from the Book of the Apocalypse shows us in heavenly symbolic fashion the saints around the throne in heaven. These have the seal of the living God on their foreheads. This divine signet ring is like of an orients monarch which marked  and sealed as his property. The sealing of God’s servants does not symbolize protection from tribulation and death but means being sustained in and through tribulation.  These martyrs have won their victory by suffering death, like Christ himself, not by inflicting hurt. A glorious destiny awaits the saints, and us too, but precisely as faithful followers of the suffering Christ. “Was it not necessary that Christ should suffer and so enter into his glory.” This is the divine pattern.

According to St. Paul the more excellent way of following Christ is through the exercise of agape, love. It is the highest of the divine gifts, and its acquisition was the foremost aim of all the saints. St. John of the Cross said, “At the evening of life, we shall be judged by our love”. And another great Catholic sage, Jaque Maritain, said, “In the evening of life there is no greater than to have loved Jesus Christ”.

Prayer Lord God, grant us, with all the saints, the peace and joy of heaven. We ask this thro’ Christ our Lord.

Note:
The Monastic Night Office Second Reading, Anastasius of Sinai (PC 89, 1192-1193) 

All Saints by St. Bernard 'Let us make haste to our brethren who are awaiting us'

The Monsaric Office of  Second Readings offers agenerous selection of iptions.
In fact the Breviary already has the most favoured Redind is from Saint Bernard, as below.

iBreviary    

Friday, 1 November 2013

All Saints

Office of Readings

SECOND READING

From a sermon by Saint Bernard, abbot
(Sermo 2: Opera omnia, Edit Cisterc 5 [1968], 364-368)

Let us make haste to our brethren who are awaiting us

Why should our praise and glorification, or even the celebration of this feast day mean anything to the saints? What do they care about earthly honors when their heavenly Father honors them by fulfilling the faithful promise of the Son? What does our commendation mean to them?

The saints have no need of honor from us; neither does our devotion add the slightest thing to what is theirs

Clearly, if we venerate their memory, it serves us, not them

But I tell you, when I think of them, I feel myself inflamed by a tremendous yearning.

Calling the saints to mind inspires, or rather arouses in us, above all else, a longing to enjoy their company, so desirable in itself

We long to share in the citizenship of heaven, to dwell with the spirits of the blessed, to join the assembly of patriarchs, the ranks of the prophets, the council of apostles, the great host of martyrs, the noble company of confessors and the choir of virgins

In short, we long to be united in happiness with all the saints

But our dispositions change

The Church of all the first followers of Christ awaits us, but we do nothing about it

The saints want us to be with them, and we are indifferent

The souls of the just await us, and we ignore them

Come, brothers, let us at length spur ourselves on

We must rise again with Christ, we must seek the world which is above and set our mind on the things of heaven

Let us long for those who are longing for us, hasten to those who are waiting for us, and ask those who look for our coming to intercede for us

We should not only want to be with the saints, we should also hope to possess their happiness

While we desire to be in their company, we must also earnestly seek to share in their glory

Do not imagine that there is anything harmful in such an ambition as this; there is no danger in setting our hearts on such glory.

When we commemorate the saints we are inflamed with another yearning: that Christ our life may also appear to us as he appeared to them and that we may one day share in his glory

Until then we see him, not as he is, but as he became for our sake

He is our head, crowned, not with glory, but with the thorns of our sins

As members of that head, crowned with thorns, we should be ashamed to live in luxury; his purple robes are a mockery rather than an honor

When Christ comes again, his death shall no longer be proclaimed, and we shall know that we also have died, and that our life is hidden with him

The glorious head of the Church will appear and his glorified members will shine in splendor with him, when he forms this lowly body anew into such glory as belongs to himself, its head.

Therefore, we should aim at attaining this glory with a wholehearted and prudent desire

That we may rightly hope and strive for such blessedness, we must above all seek the prayers of the saints

Thus, what is beyond our own powers to obtain will be granted through their intercession.

RESPONSORY

Revelation 19:5, 6; Psalm 33:1

Solemnity of All Saints 

http://rcspiritualdirection.com/blog/2013/11/01/solemnity-all-saints?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CatholicSpiritualDirection+(Catholic+Spiritual+Direction)

Today, November 1st, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of All Saints.  Who are these “Icons of Human Love,” as Father Thomas Dubay, S.M. called them in Saints: A Closer Look?  They are those “who have lived upon earth as we have, who have known our miseries, our difficulties, our struggles,” writes Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalene, O.C.D. in Divine Intimacy.  Some are easy to recognize, “for the Church has raised them to the honor of the Altar, but the great majority are entirely unknown to us.  They are humble people who lived obscurely in the accomplishment of duty, without display; without renown, whom no one here below remembers, but whom the heavenly Father looked upon, knew in secret, and, having proved their fidelity, called to His glory.”
St. Bernard, the Abbott, tells us that it doesn’t serve them at all for us to venerate them…but it serves us:  “Calling the saints to mind inspires, or rather arouses in us, above all else, a longing to enjoy their company…[and a desire] that Christ our life may also appear to us as he appeared to them and that we may one day share in his glory” (from Sermo 2, Opera omnia, Edit. Cisterc. 5 [1968] 364-368; Second Reading, Liturgy of the Hours).
So, today, let us honor all the Saints and ask for their prayers and intercession.  We look to them as examples of conversion, self-giving, sacrifice and piety, as examples of how to love as Christ loved…through the narrow gate of the Cross, so as to be happy with Him forever in heaven, sharing in that eternal joy of praising and of glorifying God.
Art:  Icon of All Saints, Siemeon Khromoy, ca 1616; PD-US; copyright expired; Wikimedia Commons.

Read more: http://rcspiritualdirection.com/blog/2013/11/01/solemnity-all-saints#ixzz2jOtOm5vW

November, 2013 - The month of November is dedicated to the Souls in Purgatory,

A familiar fresco - I would like to identify it.

November, 2013 - Overview for the Month

 

The month of November is dedicated to the Souls in Purgatory, whose feast is celebrated on November 2. November falls during the liturgical season known as Ordinary Time and is represented by the liturgical color green.

The Holy Father's Intentions for the Month of November 2013

General: That priests who experience difficulties may find comfort in their suffering, support in their doubts, and confirmation in their fidelity.

Missionary: That as fruit of the continental mission, Latin American Churches may send missionaries to other Churches. (See also www.apostleshipofprayer.net)

Feasts for November

The feasts on the General Roman Calendar celebrated during the month of November are:

1. All Saints, Solemnity
2. All Souls, Feast
3. Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time, Sunday
4. Charles Borromeo, Memorial
9. Lateran Basilica, Feast
10. Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Sunday
11. Martin of Tours; Veterans Day (USA), Memorial
12. Josaphat, Memorial
13. Frances Xavier Cabrini, Memorial
15. Albert the Great, Opt. Mem.
16. Margaret of Scotland; Gertrude, Opt. Mem.
17. Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Sunday
18. Churches of Peter and Paul; Rose Philippine Duchesne (USA), Opt. Mem.
21. Presentation of Mary, Memorial
22. Cecilia, Memorial
23. Clement I; Columban; Bl. Miguel Agustín Pro (USA), Opt. Mem.
24. Christ the King, Solemnity
30. Andrew, Feast

Focus of the Liturgy

The Gospel readings for the Sundays in November 2013, are taken from St. Luke and are from Year C, Cycle 1.

November 3rd - 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time	The Gospel relates the story of Jesus meeting with Zacchaeus.
November 10th - 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time	Jesus says that "God is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive."
November 17th - 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time	In this Gospel Jesus talks about the end of the world.
November 24th - Solemnity of Christ the King	The Gospel recounts the story of the good thief.

Highlights of the Month

During November, as in all of Ordinary Time (Time After Pentecost), the Liturgy signifies and expresses the regenerated life from the coming of the Holy Spirit, which is to be spent on the model of Christ's Life and under the direction of His Spirit. As we come to the end of the Church year we are asked to consider the end times, our own as well as the world's. The culmination of the liturgical year is the Feast of Christ the King. "This feast asserts the supreme authority of Christ over human beings and their institutions.... Beyond it we see Advent dawning with its perspecitive of the Lord's coming in glory."— The Liturgy and Time, A.G. Mortimort

This month the main feasts are the Solemnity of All Saints (November 1), All Souls (November 2),St. Charles Borromeo, (November 4), Lateran Basilica (November 9), St. Martin of Tours,(November 11), St. Josaphat (November 12), St. Frances Xavier Cabrini (November 13), St. Albert the Great (November 15), Sts. Margaret of Scotland and Gertrude (November 16),Presentation of Mary (November 21), St. Cecilia (November 22), Sts. Clement I and St. Columban (November 23), the Solemnity of Christ the King (November 24), St. Catherine of Alexandria (November 25), and St. Andrew (November 30).

The feasts of St. Martin de Porres (November 3), St. Leo the Great (November 10), and St. Elizabeth of Hungary (November 17) are superseded by the Sunday Liturgy. The feast of St. Andrew Dung-Lac and Companions (November 24) is superseded by the Solemnity of Christ the King.

Thanksgiving

The national holiday (USA) of Thanksgiving also falls on the last Thursday of November. There is a special liturgy which may be used on this day. (Read more here.)

The tradition of eating goose as part of the Martin's Day celebration was kept in Holland even after the Reformation. It was there that the Pilgrims who sailed to the New World in 1620 became familiar with this ancient harvest festival. When, after one year in America, they decided to celebrate a three days' thanksgiving in the autumn of 1621, they went in search of geese for their feast. We know that they also had deer (a present from the Indians), lobsters, oysters, and fish. But Edward Winslow, in his account of the feast, only mentions that "Governor Bradford sent four men on fowling that so we might after a more special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruit of our labours." They actually did find some wild geese, and a number of wild turkeys and ducks as well.

.....

Exerpted from the Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs, Francis X. Weiser

Thurs. 31 Oct. COMMENT: This exquisite and moving apostrophe was uttered in similar language in the Passion-week

COMMENT:
Luke Verse 34. - O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee! This exquisite and moving apostrophe was uttered in similar language in the Passion-week, just as Jesus was leaving the temple for the last time.

 

Thursday, 31 October 2013

Thursday of the Thirtieth week in Ordinary Time

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 13:31-35.

Some Pharisees came to Jesus and said, "Go away, leave this area because Herod wants to kill you."
He replied, "Go and tell that fox, 'Behold, I cast out demons and I perform healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I accomplish my purpose.
Yet I must continue on my way today, tomorrow, and the following day, for it is impossible that a prophet should die outside of Jerusalem.'
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how many times I yearned to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were unwilling!
Behold, your house will be abandoned. (But) I tell you, you will not see me until (the time comes when) you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

30th Thurs. Oct. As a hen gathers her chicks

----Forward Message---- 

From: Nivard ....

Subject: 30th Thursday As a hen gathers her chicks ...

 Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2013 ...

29 Thurs 23 Oct 13 Lk 12_49-53

Jesus said to them, "Go and tell that fox...   Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures.”

   

Dominus-Flevit-view-of-Jerusalem-Dawn

Jesus calls Herod a fox". Foxes are animals "that make havoc with the vineyards".

   

Jesus tells us how such damage occurs. _"You refused". Only our un-willingness can" come between us and the love of Christ".

   By our ‘yes’, God "will not refuse anything he can give" along with his Son.

   

In the First Reading St Paul says “We are reckoned as sheep for the slaughter" - sheep who "triumph" over the fox.

 "Father, Fill our hearts with love and mercy for others that we may boldly witness to the truth and joy of the gospel by word and example, through Christ our Lord."

+ + + 

Rabanus Maurus: No One Learns Anything through Speech unless the Mind is Anointed with the Spirit

Night Office 29/10/2013

COMMENT:  

The Night Office this morning gave us the First Reading from Rabanus Maurus. The commentary on Jeremiah has six weighty paragraphs in our Lectionary. The Internet version has a more helpful layout of sentences, i.e. §1-19.
The Website 'Enlarging the Heart' is a Link to some of the Readings from the 'Monastic Office Vigils', a resource of Patristic authors.

1. Jeremiah 36:32 So Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to ...

   ... and he wrote on it at Jeremiah's dictation all ... gave it to Neriah's son Baruchthe scribe. He ... the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burnt ...

   biblehub.com/jeremiah/36-32.htm - Cached

Rabanus Maurus (c.780-856): Commentary on Jeremiah, 13 (PL 111:1073-75); from the Monastic Office of Vigils, Tuesday of Week 30 in Ordinary Time, Year 1  

http://enlargingtheheart.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/raban-maur_alcuin_otgar.jpg

Rabanus Maurus: No One Learns Anything through Speech 

unless the Mind is Anointed with the Spirit 

 Monday, Nov 7 2011 

Early Latin Monks and MONASTIC and PATRISTIC and Rabanus Maurus grace, heart, Holy Spirit, interior life, mind, scripture Mark Armitage 8:55 am  

Rabanus Maurus (c 780 – 856) (left),
supported by Alcuin (c 735–804) (middle),
presents his work to Otgar of Mainz,
from a Carolingian Manuscript, c840.

(On Jeremiah 36)

In the Gospel he who is Truth himself says to his disciples:

1.     When you stand before kings and princes, do not think how you are to speak, or what you are to say; what you are to say will be given you at the time, for it is not you who will be speaking but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

2.     We must realise that the grace of the Holy Spirit is necessary not only for those who teach but also for those who are taught.

3.     Unless the Spirit is present in the heart of the listener, the teacher is wasting his breath.

4.     Unless there is a teacher within us, the teacher without works in a vacuum.

5.     In Church we all hear the same voice speaking, but all do not understand it in the same way.

6.     Since there is no difference in what is said, why is there a difference in our understanding of it, unless there is an interior teacher giving certain people special instruction through their understanding of words of admonition addressed to all?

7.     Concerning this grace of the Holy Spirit, John says: His anointing will teach you everything.

8.     No one learns anything through speech, therefore, unless the mind is anointed with the Spirit.

9.     Because King Jehoiachim and his servants were not inwardly illumined by the grace of the Holy Spirit who inspired the Prophet, their bodily ears could hear the words of God, but the ears of the heart were deaf to them.

10.                        It is this interior listening which our Lord demands in the Gospel when he says: Those who have ears to hear, let them hear.

11.                        One has to marvel at the blindness of the human mind and the wickedness of the hardened heart.

12.                        Those whom salutary admonitions should have filled with compunction and sorrow for their sins were at pains to burn the scroll containing the words of the Lord.

13.                        They also took every opportunity to insult the Prophet whom they ought to have honoured for his inspired teaching and admonitions.

14.                        And why did they do this? Was it not because there was in them the sort of wicked spirit that always resists grace – a spirit that contrived to produce in their hearts not subtle obedience but intractable obduracy so that they should not be saved by believing and doing penance?

15.                        Yet human pride is impotent when it sets itself to resist divine sovereignty.

16.                        An earthly King gave orders for the Prophet and his scribe to be arrested and sent to prison;

17.                        the King of heaven shielded his blameless saints from human malice so that they came to no harm.

18.                        Jeremiah took another scroll and gave to the scribe Baruch, son of Neriah, and he wrote on it at Jeremiah’s dictation all the words of the book that Jehoiakim King of Judah had burnt in the fire; and much more was added.

19.                        Why was this done if not because, when Judah was ejected by reason of its infidelity, the books of the law and the prophets were preserved for the salvation of the Gentiles, to whom on Christ’s coming passed the whole glory of the Old Testament; for all these things that happened to them were symbolic and they were written down as a warning to us, upon whom the end of the age has come.

Rabanus Maurus (c.780-856): Commentary on Jeremiah, 13 (PL 111:1073-75); from the Monastic Office of Vigils, Tuesday of Week 30 in Ordinary Time, Year 1  

• Benedict of Nursia

  But in process of time and growth of faith, when the heart has   once been enlarged, the way of God’s commandments is run with unspeakable sweetness of love.
• ~ Benedict of Nursia ~ [The 'ABOUT] of "Enlarging of the Heart",Website

Autumn - Overture Dawn. 29/10/2013 Romans 8:18-25

 

Autumn Dawn, flash reflection from the sun

Tuesday, 29 October 2013

Tuesday of the Thirtieth week in Ordinary Time

Mass Introducrion

Fr. Aelred: 

Today’s Reading from the Letter to the Romans is about the expectation of glory. For St. Paul salvation means final salvation, that is, it includes the glorification of our bodies. And he pictures the whole of creation eagerly awaiting the glories revealing of the sons and daughters of God.  But not only the creation awaits it – we ourselves grain inwardly as we wait in hope. 

First Reading, Romans 8:18-25.

Brothers and sisters: I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us. 
For creation awaits with eager expectation the revelation of the children of God;for creation was made subject to futility, not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it, in hope 
that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.

Gospel: Lule 13:18-21

Jesus said, “What is the Kingdom of God like? To what can I compare it?. . . 

Grateful to Saint Jude

Saint Jude Thaddeus

COMMENT:

And I Will Manifest Myself to Him

By

Dom Mark

 on May 7, 2007 9:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Fifth Monday of Paschaltide
Acts 14:5–18
Psalm 113B:1–2, 3–4, 15–16 (R.1ab)
John 14:21–26
Grateful to Saint Jude
We are grateful to the Apostle Saint Jude for the marvelous dialogue recounted in today’s Gospel. Our Lord reveals what it means to love Him and to be loved by Him. He declares that anyone who loves Him will be loved by the Father. He promises to love the one who loves him and to manifest Himself to him. “He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him” (Jn 14:21).
The Way of Love
Saint Jude doesn’t immediately grasp what Our Lord is saying. He cannot conceive of a way of knowing Christ apart from the obvious way given to all. Jude seems to think that it is enough to observe Jesus: something that everyone can do. That there should be a higher way of knowing, a more intimate way, the way of love, completely eludes him. “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” (Jn 14:22).
The Divine Indwelling
Our Lord explains that the manifestation of Himself to His disciples will be inseparable from His Father’s love for them. He promises a mysterious indwelling: “We will come to him and make our home with him” (Jn 14:23). He declares that anyone who loves Him will hold fast to His words. Those who let go of his words, those who fail to store them up in their hearts, will not enjoy the manifestation reserved to His friends. They will remain strangers to the joy of the indwelling of the Father and the Son.
Friends of the Sacred Heart
How can we not relate this Gospel to the tender love Our Lord revealed in manifesting Himself to the friends of His Sacred Heart over the centuries. To each one of them He said in a unique way, “Behold, I love you and manifest Myself to you, even as I promised.”
I am thinking above all of the Virgin Mother beneath whose own Pure Heart His Sacred Heart of flesh first began to beat. I am thinking of Saint John the Beloved Disciple who, inflamed by his experience of the Heart of Jesus, was compelled to write: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we saw it, and testify to it” (1 Jn1:1–2).
I am thinking of Saint Bernard, Saint Gertrude, Saint Mechthilde, Saint Lutgarde, and Saint Bonaventure. I am thinking of Saint Margaret Mary and of Saint Claude la Colombière, of Mother Marie Adèle Garnier of Tyburn, Mother Clelia Merloni, and Blessed Marie de Jésus Deluil–Martiny; of Blessed Charles de Foucauld, and of Blessed Marie–Joseph Cassant. For each one of these men and women Our Lord fulfilled the promise he makes in today’s Gospel: “He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him” (Jn 14:21).
A Gift Without Price
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, before being a gift of ours offered to Christ is a gift that He offers us. “If you but knew the gift of God!” (Jn 4:10). This is the clear teaching of Pope Pius XII in Haurietis Aquas: “We are perfectly justified in seeing in this same devotion . . . a gift without price which our divine Saviour . . . imparted to the Church, His mystical Spouse in recent centuries when she had to endure such trials and surmount so many difficulties” (HA, art. 2).
The Holy Spirit, First Gift of the Heart of Christ
For Pope Pius XII, the Holy Spirit is the first Gift from the Heart of the risen Christ. This too is announced in today’s Gospel: “The Counselor, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (Jn 14:26). The work of the Holy Spirit is threefold. (1) The Holy Spirit is our Advocate with the Father, “interceding for us with sighs too deeps for words” because “we do not know how to pray as we ought” (Rom 8:26). (2) The Holy Spirit is sent to teach us all things, that is, to make clear for us “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Eph 3:8). (3) The Holy Spirit is sent to quicken the memory of the Church, to bring to remembrance all that Christ said, lest any word of His be neglected or forgotten.
Advocate, Teacher, and Prompter
The Holy Spirit is our Advocate, our Teacher, and our Prompter. As Advocate, the Holy Spirit aligns us with the prayer of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to the Father; “the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (Rom 8:27), that is, according to the Heart of Christ. As Teacher, the Holy Spirit gives us “the power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge” (Eph 3:18); in a word, the Holy Spirit teaches us the Heart of Christ. As Prompter, the Holy Spirit calls to mind the words by which Christ communicates to us all “the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col 2:3) hidden in His Sacred Heart.

Thank you, Dom M
http://vultus.stblogs.org/sacred-heart-of-jesus/2007/05/

St. Jude statue