Friday 5 December 2014

St. John Damascene Advent: December 4th Thursday


Advent: December 4th

Optional Memorial of St. John Damascene, priest and doctor

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Daily Readings for:December 04, 2014
(Readings on USCCB website)

Collect: Grant, we pray, O Lord, that we may be helped by the prayers of the Priest Saint John Damascene, so that the true faith, which he excelled in teaching, may always be our light and our strength. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Old Calendar: St. Peter Chrysologus, bishop, confessor and doctor; St. Barbara, virgin and martyr
St. John Damascene was a learned theologian who carefully gathered together and transmitted to us the teaching of the Greek Fathers, and is thus one of the most trustworthy witnesses to oriental tradition. He also wrote many liturgical hymns still in use today. St. John Damascene died in 749. Leo XIII proclaimed him a Doctor of the universal Church.
According to the 1962 Missal of Bl. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, today is the feast of St. Peter Chrysologus, bishop, confessor and doctor whose feast in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite is celebrated on July 30. It is also the feast of St. Barbara, a virgin and martyr who died at Nicomedia about 235.
St. John Damascene
John of Damascus or Damascene, the last of the Greek Fathers, was one of the principal defenders of the veneration of images against the Iconoclasts, who condemned this practice.
When John was born, Damascus was under the jurisdiction of caliphs, but Christians were allowed to hold high offices. John's father was chief revenue officer of the caliph and a sterling Christian. He entrusted his son's education to a monk, Cosmas, who had been brought from Sicily as a slave, and who schooled the young man in theology, the sciences, and poetry.
John succeeded his father in office, and while living at the court gave an example of a model Christian. But he had set his sights higher, and after resigning his office he became a monk at St. Sabbas monastery near Jerusalem. Here he spent his time writing books and composing hymns. When Leo the Isaurian issued decrees against the veneration of images, John took up the challenge and wrote treatises defending this ancient practice.
At this time the Patriarch of Jerusalem, desirous of having John among his clergy, ordained him priest and brought him to Jerusalem. After some time, however, John returned to the monastery and devoted the rest of his life to writing. His most important work is his Fountain of Wisdom, in which he compiled and collated the teachings of all the great theologians before him; this is the first attempt at aSumma Theologica, a summary of philosophy and theology, that has come down to us. John's writings are a rich treasure of ancient traditions, and are held in high esteem. Pope Leo XIII declared him a Doctor of the Church in 1890.
St. John was such a great orator that he was known asChrysorrhoas ("golden-stream"). He was the last of the Greek Fathers of the Church, and the first of the Christian Aristotleans. He also adapted choral music for use in the liturgy. His eloquent defense of Christian images has given him the title of "Doctor of Christian Art."
— A Saint A Day © 1957
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The Miraculous Medal and Our Lady's Immaculate Conception 8th December homily sermon by Tommy Lane

   The Miraculous Medal and Our Lady's Immaculate Conception  

homily sermon, The Miraculous Medal and Our Lady's Immaculate Conception

Homily for December 8th - The Immaculate Conception of Our Lady
by Fr. Tommy Lane
(As people are confused about the meaning of the Immaculate Conception this is our celebration of Our Lady’s conception free from original sin and hence we celebrate her birth 9 months later on September 8th. We celebrate the conception of Jesus on March 25th in the Annunciation of his birth to Mary and we celebrate his birth 9 months later on December 25th.)
I know that very many of you wear the Miraculous Medal. You may not know that it really is the medal of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady, and today being the Solemnity of Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception I thought you would like to know more about the medal and why it is connected with today’s feast. You may know that Our Lady requested St. Catherine Labouré during an apparition to have the miraculous medal struck. This is the story.
Catherine Labouré was born on May 2nd 1806 to the Labouré family living about 200 miles south of Paris. Catherine was the third youngest of ten children. When she was nine years old her mother died. Then she turned to Mary, her heavenly Mother, for consolation. One day she was seen standing on a chair embracing the family statue and saying, “From now one you will be my mother.” Some time afterwards her elder sister entered the Daughters of Charity. Catherine rose at 5am each day and walked two miles to the next village for daily morning Mass since there was no priest for their parish church. She prayed in their local church every evening.
One night she dreamt she was in a church and a strange priest was saying Mass. Still in her dream after Mass she called to a sick person and the priest was in the house. He said, “It is good to look after the sick” and he also said that though she would go away from him then she would come back to him later because God had special plans for her. Sometime later Catherine visited a convent of the Daughters of Charity, the congregation her sister had entered. On the wall of the parlor she saw a picture and realized it was the priest in her dream, St Vincent de Paul, who founded the Daughters of Charity 200 years previously.
At the age of twenty-one she asked her father’s permission to enter the Daughters of Charity. He refused but relented a few years later and in January 1830 she joined the congregation. A few months after she entered she was moved to the congregation’s mother house in a street called rue du Bac in Paris to begin her training. At 11.30 pm on July18th, the eve of the feast of St. Vincent de Paul, she was wakened by a child of four or five whom she took to be her guardian angel and who led her to the convent chapel where Our Lady appeared to her at midnight. Our Lady sat on the priest’s chair for two hours and invited Catherine to kneel beside her. She gave Catherine a message for herself and all the world, “Come to the foot of this altar. There graces will be poured out for all who ask for them.” Our Lady told her God had a special mission for her but did not tell her what it was.
Later that year, on November 27th, she received a second apparition of Our Lady when she was praying in the convent chapel at 5.30 pm. Our Lady was standing on a globe with her foot crushing the head of a serpent and there were rays of light coming from gems on her fingers. Our Lady said, “Behold the symbol of graces that I will shower down on all who ask me for them.” An oval frame surrounded Our Lady and Catherine could read this prayer in gold lettering on the oval frame, “O Mary conceived without sin pray for us who have recourse to thee.” Those of you who wear the miraculous medal know that this is the image on the front of the medal. The frame turned and Catherine could see a cross with a large “M” representing Mary beneath it. Beneath the cross were two hearts, one surrounded with thorns which Catherine understood to represent Jesus, and the other heart was pierced by a sword which Catherine took to represent Mary recalling the words of Simeon in the Temple to Mary that a sword of sorrow would pierce her soul (Luke 2:35). Those of you who wear the miraculous medal know that this is the image on the rear of the medal. Catherine was told to have a medal struck according to this model. Our Lady said that those who wear the medal properly blessed and repeat the prayer, “O Mary conceived without sin pray for us who have recourse to thee” will have great graces. Following Our Lady’s request, Catherine told no one but her spiritual director about these apparitions. He went to the archbishop of Paris who allowed the medal to be struck. Originally it was known as the medal of the Immaculate Conception but so many cures and miracles were attributed to it that it was called the Miraculous Medal.  
In 1831, the year after her apparitions, Catherine was appointed to another convent. No one knew which Daughter of Charity had received these apparitions of Our Lady although Catherine was suspected because of her piety. In 1876 she felt her life was drawing to a close and she told the mother superior of the Daughters of Charity that she was the sister. When she died the sisters released the news that the sister who had seen Our Lady had died, and though unknown throughout her life she was now the most talked about person.
At the time Our Lady appeared to Catherine in 1830, the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady, although widely believed, was not a dogma required to be believed. Pope Pius IX is thought to have been influenced by the apparitions to Catherine in the rue du Bac when he decided to consult with the Church if the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady should be declared a dogma. He received overwhelming support and on December 8th 1854 declared Our Lady to have been free of sin from the moment of her conception. Four years later in 1858 Our Lady appeared to Bernadette at Lourdes and when asked who she was she replied, “I am the Immaculate Conception.” So the apparitions in the rue du Bac in 1830 and the Miraculous Medal prepared for the dogma of the Immaculate Conception to be proclaimed in 1854 and the apparition at Lourdes in 1858 confirmed it.

 In 1933 as part of the canonization process St. Catherine Labouré’s body was exhumed and found to be in perfect preservation and was removed to the convent in the rue du Bac where it may now be seen behind glass in the spot where she received the request from Our Lady for the medal. In 1947 Pope Pius XII declared her to be Saint Catherine Labouré and called her the ‘saint of silence.’
Every day we have to overcome temptation and sin. We ask Mary immaculate to help us overcome all temptation and sin in our lives. O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.
Copyright © Fr. Tommy Lane 2013
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Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal (France)


Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal (France)   Published on 30 Mar 2012
"O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee." This invocation, included in many prayers, was revealed to Catherine Laboure during an apparition of Our Lady on November 27, 1830 in Paris. During vespers in the chapel of the convent of the Sisters of Charity, located on Rue du Bac, France, the young novice saw the Blessed Mother for the second time. The first appearance dates back to the previous July, when the Virgin had confided that she had a difficult mission to accomplish. Above the altar, two pictures represent two sides of a medal. Catherine Laboure, who was then 24 years, heard the voice of Mary, who told her: "Have a medal struck upon this model. Those who wear it will receive great graces". It was a request reiterated by Our Lady, who would appear again to the sister in December of the same year, again in the chapel of the Rue du Bac. In 1832, with the permission of the Bishop of Paris, Msgr. de Quellen, the first medals were cast. Some years later, in Rome, the great graces coming from the devotion were recognized, from those who adhered to the faith of the Church and wore this medal. Known worldwide as the Miraculous Medal, it is a reminder that above all, the love God has for mankind is truly  miraculous. The image of Mary represented on the medal, with 12 stars around her head, would later inspire the European flag, as its creator, Arsène Heitz once explained. At the time of the three apparitions to Catherine Laboure, Mary spoke of the graces and gifts that God wanted to spread upon the Earth, but mankind no longer asks for through prayer. These are the words of Mary:"Come to the foot of this altar and here graces will be bestowed upon all,who ask with confidence and fervour." "The rays are the symbol of the graces which I scatter on those who ask me". "This small globe represents the entire world, particularly France and every single person." "Have a medal struck upon this model. Those who wear it will receive great graces."The medal is the extension of this faith in God, is a faith that Catherine Labourée lived in such silence that no one - except her spiritual director Fr. Aladel- knew that she had received apparitions, until her death. In Rome during 1917, St. Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish Franciscan friar who was later killed in the Auschwitz concentration camp taking the place of a father of a family, used this medal as the distinctive symbol for the Pious Union of the Militia of the Immaculata, which he founded. On July 27, 1947, Pope Pius XII canonized Sister Catherine Labourée, just 70 years after her death. Since then the body of the saint has been buried in the Chapel of the Rue du Bac in Paris, at the foot of the very altar where she saw the Madonna. PRAYER:You are blessed among all women!Blessed are you, for you have believed! The Almighty did wonders for you! The wonder of the divine motherhood! And now, the glory of your Son. You never cease to intercede for us poor sinners. You watch over the Church for you are its Mother. You watch over each of your Children. From God, you obtain for us, all graces that are symbolized by the rays of light which radiate from your open hands, and the only condition that you demand of us is that we approach with the confidence, the hardiness, and the simplicity of a child. And it is thus that you bring us before your Divine Son. Amen (Prayer of John Paul II, May 31, 1980, Rue du Bac) http://www.mariedenazareth.com http://www.chapellenotredamedelamedai...

Inside the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

Posted on 2012/11/27 by Gretchen
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Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal
Do you know the full meaning and history behind the most famous of all Catholic medals, the Miraculous Medal?
November 27 is the feast day of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. Two staff members here at The Catholic Company recently made pilgrimages to France where they visited many of France’s holy sites, including the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Paris.
This chapel is the actual location where Our Lady appeared to St. Catherine Laboure and requested that a medal be struck with her image surrounded by the words, “O Mary, Conceived Without Sin, Pray for Us Who Have Recourse to Thee”.  This is where Mary took on the new title of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, which is closely related to the Immaculate Conception feast day on December 8.  The Miraculous Medal truly has a fascinating history which you can read more about here.
Both of our staff members enjoyed a wonderful time of spiritual renewal and came home with a deeper appreciation of the Miraculous Medal. And, since most of us either have not or cannot visit this holy site in France, here is a little virtual tour of the chapel via The Catholic Company blog.  There is also a video posted below.
Above is an image of the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Paris with little numbers marking the significant spots inside the church. Listed below is what is located at each number.
1) Bottom left of the altar near the bottom of the photo:  This is the exact spot of the first apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Catherine Laboure on July 18-19, 1830.  At that time July 19 was the feast day of St. Vincent de Paul. On the eve of the feast day Sister Laboure asked for St. Vincent de Paul’s intercession that she might see the Blessed Virgin Mary.  At 11:30pm she was awoken by her guardian angel who told her to go to the chapel. After thirty minutes of praying, she saw the Blessed Virgin Mary sitting on the priest’s chair.  St. Catherine knelt before Mary, placed her hands in Our Lady’s lap, and a two-hour conversation ensued.
2) Statue to the right of the altar: This is a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary with a golden globe in her hands.  This is the exact spot where the Miraculous Medal was revealed in a vision to St. Catherine on November 27, 1830.
3) To the left of the altar: This is the shrine of St. Louise de Marillac, co-foundress with St. Vincent de Paul of the Daughters of Charity, the religious order to which Sister Catherine Laboure belonged.
4) Above the altar: Another apparition location where Our Lady revealed herself to St. Catherine for the third time in December of 1830.
5) Wall fresco surrounding the altar: This is the fresco depicting the apparition that occurred in this chapel on July 18, 1830 (mentioned in #1).
6) Near bottom right of image: This is the body of St. Catherine Laboure kept in a glass case near the altar.
7) To the far right of the altar:  This is the reliquary containing the heart of St. Vincent de Paul, through whose intercession Our Lady appeared to St. Catherine Laboure.

If you don’t wear a Miraculous Medal, I highly recommend it.  Our Lady not only personally designed this medal and requested its production and promotion, but she also requested that it be worn around the neck. Many graces are promised and given to those who wear it with faith in their hearts.
Have you been blessed by wearing the Miraculous Medal?  Do you have any stories to share with our readers?
Video tour of the chapel:
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LUISA PICCARRETA - The Little Daughter of the Divine Will 1°

Uploaded on 26 Oct 2008
Documentary on the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta. 1

Italy - Priests in Divine Will.
We have chosen on the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to bring you our new website dedicated to all Priests, and entrusted to the maternal love of Mary Queen of the Divine Will,
Mother of Jesus Christ the High Priest, and of all Priests, with the occasion of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, having proclaimed a Jubilee Year for Priests, on the 150th anniversary of the “dies natalis” of St. John M. Vianney. 
Our purpose is to invite all priests to grow in unity with the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit by means of a greater knowledge of the priesthood that Jesus has participated to us and of his priesthood life, lived in the Divine Will.  With the help of the Sacred Scriptures, Tradition and Magisterium of the Church and the life and writings of the Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta.  All for the Glory of the Father, our total transformation in him and the establishment of the Kingdom.



We have chosen on the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to bring you our new website dedicated to all Priests, and entrusted to the maternal love of Mary Queen of the Divine Will,
Mother of Jesus Christ the High Priest, and of all Priests, with the occasion of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, having proclaimed a Jubilee Year for Priests, on the 150th anniversary of the “dies natalis” of St. John M. Vianney. 

Priesthood in the Divine Will
www.priestinthedivinewill.org296 × 221Search by image
Luisa Piccarreta October, 21 1921 Volume 13
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Thursday 4 December 2014

Divine Will. Luisa Piccarreta

  1. "Catholic Divine Will " ... in thirty-six volumes by Luisa Piccarreta

    THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 2008

    Divine Will Volume Thirty-five

    VOLUME 35

    Fiat!!!
    In Voluntate Dei!

  2. Divine Will Volume Thirty-five - Catholic Divine Will

    catholicdivinewill.blogspot.com/2008/.../divine-will-volume-thirty-five.h...
    26 Jun 2008 - Fiat!!! In Voluntate Dei! My sweet Life, myHighest Good - Jesus, come .... How glorified and happy we willbe, because the Sovereign Queen ... Therefore, She prays unceasingly. ..... The great good of one act done in His Divine Will. ...... How She made herself a precious pledge in the creative hands of God.
October 25, 1937
The Sovereign Queen is the Heiress of the Divine Will, and therefore the Heiress of the Divine Life. How She made herself a precious pledge in the creative hands of God. The great good contained in one act in my FIAT.

I was doing my round in the acts of the Divine Will and, arriving at the Conception of the Blessed Virgin, I stopped to offer to God the Power and the Love which the Divine Persons had in conceiving this Celestial Lady, in order to obtain the coming of Their Kingdom on earth. My sweet Jesus, surprising me, said: “My daughter, as this Holy Virgin was conceived, our feast with mankind started again. In fact, since the first instant of her Conception she inherited our Divine Will, which soon began Its Divine crafting within her beautiful soul. In each of Her heartbeats, thoughts and breathes, our Will formed, with Its Creative Power, enchanting prodigies of Sanctity, Beauty and Grace, to the extent that We Ourselves - Actors and Spectators together with our Divine Will - remained enraptured. In our emphasis of Love We said: ‘How beautiful the creature is, when together with our Will! She gives us ease to form our most beautiful works, and she gives life to our Life within herself!’
Our Love rejoiced and celebrated, because our divine Heiress - the Heiress of our Will and of our very Life, had come into the light of time. And since, by virtue of our Will operating in Her, She was all ours - exclusively ours; looking at Her we felt our breathing, our heartbeat, our ever burning, ever loving Love, and our motions in Hers. Our Beauty shone through the movements of her pupils, of her little hands, and in the sweet enchantment of her enrapturing voice. She kept us so busy and so in feasting, that not even for one instant could we remove our gaze from her. So, she belonged to us - completely our own - and our Will was already hers - by right. We recognized in this Holy Creature our divine Heiress, and by possessing our Will she already possessed all.
This Holy Virgin had her own Humanity, in which she bound the whole human family, as limbs to the body. So, in seeing in her the whole of humankind, as she was conceived, for love of her we gave the first kiss of peace to all humanity, making it heir of our Divine Heiress - with the exclusion of some ungrateful who would not want to receive it. See then, how certain it is that the Kingdom of our Will must come upon earth: there is already a creature who inherited It, and since this creature belongs to the human race, all creatures acquired the right of being able to possess It.
This Celestial Sovereign, taken by love, made herself into a pledge in our creative hands, so that all could receive the Kingdom. This pledge, possessing the Life of my Will, contained an infinite value; therefore she could commit herself for all. What a sweet dear pledge this Holy Creature was, in our hands! By making her life and her acts flow into our Divine Volition, she formed divine coins to be able to pay us for those who were to inherit our Divine FIAT. And then my Humanity came - united to the Eternal Word. With my life, sufferings and death, I paid a sufficient price to buy back our Divine Will and give It to the creatures as their Inheritance. One act, one breath, one movement in my Will contains such value as to be able to buy Heaven and earth - anything that one may desire. Therefore, may my Will, and my Will only, be your life and your all.”
Then, I continued to sink inside the Divine Volition... What an enrapturing strength It possesses! Its sweetness - the attractions of Its enchantments - are such that one would not want to lose, even a breath. My sweet Jesus added: “My daughter, the prodigies of my Will are unheard-of. Its Power is so great that, as the creature operates in my Will, It calls into action all that she has done before, uniting it together, and then offering again to each act, its merit, goodness and Power, as if the creature were doing it again - enriching it with so much grace and beauty as to form the enchantment of all Heaven. Then, as celestial dew, it invests all the Saints, giving them the new glory and happiness which the work of the creature in my Will contains. It pours this dew upon all the pilgrim souls, so that they may feel its power and grace in their own acts. How many souls, burned by passions, sin and brutal pleasures, feel the freshness of this divine dew and remain transformed in good.
One act in my Will overwhelms Heaven and earth, and if It cannot find souls disposed to receive such a good, It puts Itself on the lookout; spying the circumstances, the opportunities and the disillusions of life; ready to invest them, embalm them and give them the good It possesses. The acts in my Will are never lazy. They are full of Light, Love, Sanctity and divine sweetness; they feel the need to give light to those who live in darkness; to give love to those who are cold; to give sanctity to those who live in sin; to give divine sweetness to those who feel embittered. These acts true children of My Divine FIAT - never stop. They keep wandering, even for centuries, if necessary, in order to give the good they possess. And since they are animated and armed by Its Power, they can say: ‘We can do everything, because an omnipotent Divine Will gave us life.’”
Fiat!!!

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