Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross 14 September 2015

  

   

The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

The Instrument of Our Salvation

 

By Scott P. Richert

Catholicism Expert

  http://catholicism.about.com/od/holydaysandholidays/p/Exaltation-Of-The-Holy-Cross.htm   
With acknowledgement - appreciated.

The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

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The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 14) celebrates the instrument of our salvation. Learn more about this ancient feast.

The Discovery of the True Cross, by Italian painter Agnolo Gaddi c.1350-96. Fresco, c.1385. Basilica di Santa Croce, Florence, Italy.  Leemage/UIG/Getty Images.

The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross celebrates three historical events: the finding of the True Cross bySaint Helena, the mother of the emperor Constantine; the dedication of churches built by Constantine on the site of theHoly Sepulchre and Mount Calvary; and the restoration of the True Cross to Jerusalem by the emperor Heraclius II. But in a deeper sense, the feast also celebrates the Holy Cross as the instrument of our Salvation.

This instrument of torture, designed to degrade the worst of criminals, became the life-giving tree that reversed Adam's Original Sin when he ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden.

Quick Facts

• Date: September 14
• Type of Feast: Feast
• Readings: Numbers 21:4b-9; Psalm 78:1bc-2, 34-35, 36-87, 38; Philippians 2:6-11; John 3:13-17 (full text here)
• Prayers: The Sign of the Cross
• Other Names for the Feast: Triumph of the Cross, Elevation of the Cross, Roodmas, Holy Cross

History of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

After the death and resurrection of Christ, both the Jewish and Roman authorities in Jerusalem made efforts to obscure the Holy Sepulchre, Christ's tomb in the garden near the site of His crucifixion. The earth had been mounded up over the site, and pagan temples had been built on top of it. The Cross on which Christ had died had been hidden (tradition said) by the Jewish authorities somewhere in the vicinity.

According to tradition, first mentioned by Saint Cyril of Jerusalem in 348, Saint Helena, nearing the end of her life, decided under divine inspiration to travel to Jerusalem in 326 to excavate the Holy Sepulchre and attempt to locate the True Cross.

A Jew by the name of Judas, aware of the tradition concerning the hiding of the Cross, led those excavating the Holy Sepulchre to the spot in which it was hidden.

Three crosses were found on the spot. According to one tradition, the inscriptionIesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum ("Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews") remained attached to the True Cross. According to a more common tradition, however, the inscription was missing, and Saint Helena and Saint Macarius, the bishop of Jerusalem, assuming that one was the True Cross and the other two belonged to the thieves crucified alongside Christ, devised an experiment to determine which was the True Cross.

In one version of the latter tradition, the three crosses were taken to a woman who was near death; when she touched the True Cross, she was healed. In another, the body of a dead man was brought to the place where the three crosses were found, and laid upon each cross. The True Cross restored the dead man to life.

In celebration of the discovery of the Holy Cross, Constantine ordered the construction of churches at the site of the Holy Sepulchre and on Mount Calvary. Those churches were dedicated on September 13 and 14, 335, and shortly thereafter the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross began to be celebrated on the latter date. The feast slowly spread from Jerusalem to other churches, until, by the year 720, the celebration was universal.

In the early seventh century, the Persians conquered Jerusalem, and the Persian king Khosrau II captured the True Cross and took it back to Persia. After Khosrau's defeat by Emperor Heraclius II, Khosrau's own son had him assassinated in 628 and returned the True Cross to Heraclius. In 629, Heraclius, having initially taken the True Cross to Constantinople, decided to restore it to Jerusalem. Tradition says that he carried the Cross on his own back, but when he attempted to enter the church on Mount Calvary, a strange force stopped him. Patriarch Zacharias of Jerusalem, seeing the emperor struggling, advised him to take off his royal robes and crown and to dress in a penitential robe instead. As soon as Heraclius took Zacharias' advice, he was able to carry the True Cross into the church.

For some centuries, a second feast, the Invention of the Cross, was celebrated on May 3 in the Roman and Gallican churches, following a tradition that marked that date as the day on which Saint Helena discovered the True Cross. In Jerusalem, however, the finding of the Cross was celebrated from the beginning on September 14.

Why Do We Celebrate the Feast of the Holy Cross?

It's easy to understand that the Cross is special because Christ used it as the instrument of our salvation. But after His Resurrection, why would Christians continue to look to the Cross?

Christ Himself offered us the answer: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me" (Luke 9:23). The point of taking up our own cross is not simply self-sacrifice; in doing so, we unite ourselves to the sacrifice of Christ on His Cross.

When we participate in the Mass, the Cross is there, too. The "unbloody sacrifice" offered on the altar is the re-presentation of Christ's Sacrifice on the Cross. When we receive theSacrament of Holy Communion, we do not simply unite ourselves to Christ; we nail ourselves to the Cross, dying with Christ so that we might rise with Him.

"For the Jews require signs, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews indeed a stumbling block, and unto the Gentiles foolishness . . . " (1 Corinthians 1:22-23). Today, more than ever, non-Christians see the Cross as foolishness. What kind of Savior triumphs through death?

For Christians, however, the Cross is the crossroads of history and the Tree of Life. Christianity without the Cross is meaningless: Only by uniting ourselves to Christ's Sacrifice on the Cross can we enter into eternal life.    

Luisa Piccareta, God centered His Love toward man. 31 May 2015 Most Sacred Trinity

Saturday, 30 May 2015

Luisa Piccareta, How in all created things God centered His Love toward man. 31 May 2015 Most Sacred Trinity

   

COMMENT: internet Picture.

The illustration above, Trinity, is apt in the words of Luisa Piccarreta in prayer, theology,catechism, mysticism.... 

From the Journal of

Luisa Piccarreta

Book of Heaven

VOLUME 20   

  http://hymnsandchants.com/Texts/Fiat/FiatVolumes/FiatVolume20/FiatVolume20.htm   

October 29, 1926

How in all created things God centered His Love toward man.  Outpouring of love in creating him, and how the Fiat made him live in the reflections of his Creator.           
- Most Sacred Trinity 

1.             I continued my rounds throughout Creation, following every action of the Supreme Will in each created thing.  My always lovable Jesus came out from within me and accompanied me everywhere under the vault of heaven.  As we reached each created things, Jesus trembled with joy and love. 

2.            He paused to tell me: “My daughter, when I created the heavens, Icentered My Love for man there, and to delight him even more, I studded them with stars.  It was not the heavens I loved, but man in the heavens; I created them for him.  My Love was so vast and strong that I extended this azure vault over the head of man and adorned with brilliant stars, as a pavilion for him.  No emperor or king could ever have one like it.”

3.             “However, I was not content with centering My Love for man in these heavens that I made purely for his delight.  I wanted to delight in love for him, so I created the sun, where I centered all my love for man.  It wasn’t the sun I loved; I loved man in the sun.  It was necessary to put my love there because the sun was necessary for the earth, the plants and the well-being of man.  There was love of the light that illuminates him, and love of the fire that warms him, and all the other innumerable effects that this sphere produces.  It is an on-going miracle placed in the vault of the heavens, where its light comes down for the good of all.  I centered so many kinds of love for man in the sun, one for each of all the many good effects it produces.” 

4.             “If only the creature at least paid attention to My Love the sun brings to her, how happy I would be.  I would be repaid for the great love I placed in this ambassador of My Divinity, the bearer of My Love and My Light.” 

5.             “As My Supreme Will operated, It established Itself as the life of each created thing, so It could give Itself as life for generations of humankind.  It is through each created thing that My Love, making its way in My Eternal Fiat, orients Itself around loving mankind.  In each created thing, in the wind and sea, a little flower or the little bird that sings, I centralized My Love in each of these so they may all bring him love.  This is My language of love.  However, mankind cannot hear, much less understand it unless they love Me.  If they don’t, all of Creation is dead silence for them.”

6.             “Then, after I created everything, I shaped the nature of man with My own creative hands.  As I formed the bones, extended the nerves and made the heart.  I also centralized My Love in him.  I clothed him with flesh, shaping him so he was more beautiful than any statue ever made by any sculpture.  I looked at him with so much affection that I was unable to contain My Love, and It overflowed as I breathed on him, infusing him with life.”

7.             “However, We were still not satisfied.  With superabundant love, the Most Sacredt Trinity endowed him by giving him intellect, memory and will.  We enriched him with all the attributes of Our Divine Being, as much as a creature in capable of receiving.  The whole of the Divinity was intent on loving man, so It poured Itself into him.  From the very first moment of his life, he felt all the strength of Our Love, and from the depth of his heart, he gave voice to his love for his Creator.” 

8.             “We were so happy when We heard this statue We made as part of Our work, speaking about his perfect love for Us.  It was the reflection of Our own Love that he was expressing.  This love had not yet been contaminated by his will, so it was still perfect; he still had all Our Love within him.  Out of everything We created up until then, none of them had ever told Us it loved Us.”

9.             “When We heard man expressing his love for Us, We were content.  We were so full of joy that, in the midst of our feasting, We crowned him as king of the entire universe.  He was the most beautiful jewel Our creative hands had ever made.  Man was so beautiful early in his creation.  He was Our reflection, so beautiful that Our Love was in rapture.  As Our reflection, everything he did was perfect.  The glory he gave to his Creator, his adoration, his work and his love, they were all perfect.  The perfect harmony of his voice resounded throughout Creation.  It was the Divine harmony of the same Fiat that had given him life.” 

10.         “Everything about him was in perfect order, like the image of his Creator that Our Will had given him.  It made him happy, and he grew in Our Likeness, according to Our words: ‘Let Us make man in Our Image and Likeness.’  His every action was done in the Unity of the Light of the Supreme Fiat, each one a touch of the Divine Beauty he was given.  His every word added another note of resounding harmony.   Everything about him was a love that he sang in praise of Our Glory, Power and infinite Wisdom.  The heavens, the earth and sun, everything gave him joy, happiness and the love of He who had created him.” 

11.         “If you could make a statue exactly the way you wanted, and make it come to life within the empire of the freely given love you have poured into it, how much would you love it?  How much would you want it to love you?  Wouldn’t you want it completely for yourself?  Wouldn’t you get so jealous over it that you would want its every heartbeat to be just for you?  If you could see yourself in this statue, wouldn’t you feel torn up inside if it didn’t do every little thing just for you?”

12.         “That’s how I am.  Every time the creature does something that isn’t just for Me, My feelings get torn apart.  What makes it worse is that the earth that supports her is Mine; the sun that illuminates and warms her is Mine; the water she drinks and the food she eats are Mine.  Everything is Mine and she lives at My expense.  I give everything to this beautiful statue, yet she is not there for Me.  Can you image My sorrow at how outrageously offensive this statue is to Me?  Think about it, My daughter.”

13.         “You know that only My Will can give Me back My beautiful statue, just as I made it.  My Will is the preserver of all Our works.  It is the bearer of all Our reflections, the habitat of the soul.  When she loves, it is with the perfection of Our Love; when she works, it is with the perfection of Our works.  Everything she does is perfect and gives her so many different shades of beauty that her Maker, who formed her, is captivated by love.”

14.         “I would love so much that the Supreme Fiat be known and form Its Kingdom among generations of humankind.  I want to re-establish relations between Creator and creature.  I want her to return and share all Our wealth in common with her.  Our Will alone has this power.  Without It, there can’t be much good, nor could Our statue return to Us, as beautiful as We made it with Our creative hands.”

Luisa Picarreta

Posted by DonaldJames McGlynn at  12:35  

Labels: Mass, Mystics, Souls-pray

 

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Baptism of Jesus January 11 Feast

Mass Feast:   
Thanks to iBreviary.
Unusual article from Antonio Borelli.
I would like to learn from the writer from the past.
iBreviary has the gallery of Baptism of Jesus pictures.

Baptism of Jesus January 11 (celebration mobile)

The feast of the Baptism of Jesus, has always been the best opportunity to reflect on the Baptism of Christians; The Fathers of the Church said that Jesus descending into the waters of the Jordan, ideally has sanctified the waters of all Baptisteries; from simple and modern, at the entrance of the churches, those that rise to the eternal glory of Sacramento and art, close to the great cathedrals of the past centuries. Martyrology: Feast of the Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ, in which he admirably declared God's Son, the beloved, the waters are sanctified, man is purified and all creation rejoices.  Listen to RadioRai:

Writing of the Baptism of Jesus, it is the task of theologians and exegetes, because in the act of baptism that Jesus endured, there is all the symbolism of the doctrine of Christianity, that lacing up the Tradition of the Old Testament, paves the way for the new concept of " sons of God "and then shared with Christ the joy of the Father, through the Holy Spirit.  In the year of the reign of Tiberius XV (ie between 28 and 29, or between 27 and 28 AD), John the Baptist, the Precursor , the last of the Prophets of the Old Testament, he arrived in the desert south of Judah, near the Dead Sea, where it joins the River Jordan, preaching the coming of the Kingdom of God, exhorting to conversion and administering a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  This was done by immersion in the river, as Ezekiel prophesied: "The nations will know that I am the Lord, when I shall be sanctified in you before them. I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle water and be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. " The prophet Ezekiel explained to Israel that if after sin to God, for which he received the exile, wants to revive again in connection with his God and receive His Spirit, to be totally redone, purified, saying the symbolism of water, "I will sprinkle with water and be clean." And with this spirit of purification that John baptized, many flocked to him from Jerusalem, from all Judea and from regions around the Jordan. And two thousand years ago on the banks of the river appeared the young Jesus, about 30 years old, a citizen of Galilee which was a province of the vast Roman Empire and watched the crowd of penitents who were heading to the rite of purification and forgiveness; while John was saying at all, because it was rumored that he was the Messiah: "I baptize you with water; but he who is mightier than I, who am not worthy to untie the thong sandals; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire .... "  Even Jesus, innocent of all guilt, wanted to get closer to receive Baptism, to show solidarity with those penitents in search of salvation and sanctification of the soul with his presence the act, which does not will be more than one purification, but also the coming of the Spirit of God in everyone and be the reconciliation of God with mankind, after original sin.  John recognized him, drew back, saying: "I have need to be baptized by you, and you come from me? "and Jesus said," Allow it now, it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. " Then John baptized him; just out of the water, the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3: 13-17). Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and retreated to the desert for forty days in meditation before beginning his public life in Galilee. We complete this brief note, however, that go in-depth consultation with the reflections of competent scholars, by describing the importance of which in the Sacrament Catholic Church. Founded by Jesus Christ with his direct Baptism The ritual consists of ablution accompanied by the Trinitarian formula: "I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit";matter of Baptism is natural water and its use as mentioned above is a symbol of purification of the soul; can be applied in three different ways "immersion" in use in the Eastern Churches and the Ambrosian liturgy; for "infusion" water that is poured on the head of the baptized (generally used by the fifteenth century in the Western Church); "Spray" (water thrown on the person of the baptized, in special cases). The baptism erases original sin and the sins committed up to the day that you receive, puts all the pains, makes the baptized share in the grace of God, capable of faith, a member of the Church;giving it the indelible character of Christian. It is the first of the seven sacraments; is administered to infants up to the age of reason, with only the consent of the parents and the presence of at least a godfather, with which the baptized person contracts a spiritual relationship; Adults will receive at their request, after receiving proper religious instruction. The sacrament is administered routinely by ministers (bishop, priest, deacon), but in case of danger of death, any person including non-Christian can baptize , provided they act according to the intention of the Church. We add that the official theology also recognizes the baptism of desire, namely the baptismal grace obtained by a vote to receive baptism, even if circumstances prevented; then the baptism of blood, that is, the martyrdom took place before you receive. With the ceremony of baptism is necessary in the name baptized, mostly Christian, chosen by the parents if it is minor. The Baptism constituted, as regards the West , the official registration of the birth of a child, in the parish archives; active in the early centuries, this practice was abandoned to be taken from the fifteenth century, becoming law with the Council of Trent. In Italy the recording in the parish offices, worked until it was established the Office of 'marital status' by the Kingdom of Italy. Returning to the Baptism of Jesus, it was a ffavouritesubject of artists of all Christian centuries and the scene wheel normally around the two figures of Jesus and s. John, and takes place in the open air; Jesus was depicted initially immersed in water and then subsequently it is depicted naked, with the Baptist who pours water on his head.  In conclusion, the feast of the Baptism of Jesus, has always been the best opportunity to reflect on Baptism Christians; The Fathers of the Church said that Jesus descending into the waters of the Jordan, ideally has sanctified the waters of all Baptisteries; from simple and modern, at the entrance of the churches, those that rise to the eternal glory of Sacramento and art, close to the great cathedrals of the past centuries. Jesus himself in the Gospel of s. Mark (16:16) says: "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." Author: Antonio Borrelli

LATER: the picture open the story.

Archbishop Heenan of Liverpool, "I slipped away from the Eternal City
to see for myself what is on on here in Naples". Spring 1961

Apostle St. James the Greater became the Patron Saint of Spain

the largest incense burner in the world (thurible)
the rope swinging thurible seen across the window lunette

Mass Feast, 

Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Published on 26 Jul 2013

Recorded November 6, 2012

Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia in northwestern Spain. The city has its origin in the shrine of Saint James the Great, now the city's cathedral, as destination of the Way of St. James, a leading Catholic pilgrimage route originated in the 9th century. In 1985 the city's Old Town was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Left at the end of the rope, group pulling on the Incense Burner   

Cathedral for St James, Santiago de Compostela, June 2013 - Incense Burner  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=341PAHELA9k  

Published on 13 Jun 2013

The Camino de Santiago de Compostela or The Way of St. James is a Pilgrimage ending in the Cathedral. A mass his held for the Pilgrims and sometimes the largest incense burner in the world (thurible) is used during the service. It takes several men to control and swing the thurible. This mass was in June 2013

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The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica

Monastic Office of Vigils,

Streets Of Gold  The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica
   http://olivyaz.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/the-dedication-of-lateran-basilica.html 

 Saturday, 9 November 2013

The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica
Office of Readings
SECOND READING  
From a sermon by Saint Caesarius of Arles, bishop
(Sermo 229, 1-3: CCL 104, 905-908

We have all been made temples of God through baptism  

My fellow Christians, today is the birthday of this church, an occasion for celebration and rejoicing. We, however, ought to be the true and living temple of God. Nevertheless, Christians rightly commemorate this feast of

the church, their mother, for they know that through her they were reborn in the spirit. At our first birth, we were vessels of God’s wrath; reborn, we became vessels of his mercy. Our first birth brought death to us, but our second restored us to life.

Indeed, before our baptism we were sanctuaries of the devil; but after our baptism we merited the privilege of being temples of Christ. And if we think more carefully about the meaning of our salvation, we shall realize that we are indeed living and true temples of God. God does not dwell only in structures fashioned by human hands, in homes of wood and stone, but rather he dwells principally in the soul made according to his own image and fashioned by his own hand. Therefore, the apostle Paul says: The temple of God is holy, and you are that temple.

When Christ came, he banished the devil from our hearts, in order to build in them a temple for himself. Let us therefore do what we can with his help, so that our evil deeds will not deface that temple. For whoever does evil, does injury to Christ. As I said earlier, before Christ redeemed us, we were the house of the devil, but afterward, we merited the privilege of being the house of God. God himself in his loving mercy saw fit to make of us his own home.

My fellow Christians, do we wish to celebrate joyfully the birth of this temple? Then let us not destroy the living temples of God in ourselves by works of evil. I shall speak clearly, so that all can understand. Whenever we come to church, we must prepare our hearts to be as beautiful as we expect this church to be. Do you wish to find this basilica immaculately clean? Then do not soil your soul with the filth of sins. Do you wish this basilica to be full of light? God too wishes that your soul be not in darkness, but that the light of good works shine in us, so that he who dwells in the heavens will be glorified. Just as you enter this church building, so God wishes to enter into your soul, for he promised: I shall live in them, and I shall walk the corridors of their hearts.

RESPONSORY
See Ezekiel 47:1, 9

I saw water flowing eastward from beneath the threshold of the temple, alleluia.
Wherever the river flowed everything became alive;
– those who were saved by it cried out:
Alleluia, alleluia.

When the temple was dedicated,
the people sang songs of praise and beautiful hymns.
– Those who were saved by it cried out:
Alleluia, alleluia.