AngelQueen posted a report on a Russian Orthodox Church which had succumbed to fire and one astute commentator said that today it is only the schismatics, in one form or another, who are actually maintaining doctrinal, liturgical and moral traditions of the past. However one might argue that is exactly what you would expect from a schismatic since they are a law unto themselves. Personally I prefer to maintain these traditions while trying to understand the modern Church's belief and practice.

Cardinal Newman on St. John the Baptist

For the feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist a sermon from Cardinal Newman on rebuking evil, which is perhaps pertinent to this present age when there seems to be so much of it.

"John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife." Mark vi. 18.

In the Collect of this day, we pray God to enable us "boldly to rebuke vice" after the example of St. John the Baptist, who died a Martyr in the faithful discharge of this duty.

Herod the Tetrarch had taken his brother's wife. John the Baptist protested against so heinous a sin; and the guilty king, though he could not bring himself to forsake it, yet respected the prophet, and tried to please him in other ways; but Herodias, the proud and cruel woman whom he had married, resented his interference, and at length effected his death. I need not go through the details of this atrocious history, which are well known to every reader of the Gospels.

St. John the Baptist had a most difficult office to fulfil; that of rebuking a king. Not that it is difficult for a man of rude arrogant mind to say a harsh thing to men in power,—nay, rather, it is a gratification to such a one; but it is difficult to rebuke well, that is, at a right time, in a right spirit, and a right manner. The Holy Baptist rebuked Herod without making him angry; therefore he must have rebuked him with gravity, temper, sincerity, and an evident good-will towards him. On the other hand, he spoke so firmly, sharply, and faithfully, that his rebuke cost him his life.

We who now live have not that extreme duty put upon us with which St. John was laden; yet every one of us has a share in his office, inasmuch as we are all bound "to rebuke vice boldly," when we have fit opportunities for so doing. I proceed then to make some remarks upon the duty, as enforced upon us by today's Festival.

Now, it is plain that there are two sorts of men in the world; those who put themselves forward, and speak much; and those who retire, and from indolence, timidity, or fastidiousness, do not care to express an opinion on what comes before them. Neither of these classes will act the part of St. John the Baptist in their intercourse with others: the retiring will not rebuke vice at all; the bold and ill-mannered will take a pleasure in giving their judgment, whether they are fit judges or not, whether they ought to speak or not, and at all times proper and improper.

These self-appointed censors of vice are not to be countenanced or tolerated by any serious Christian. The subjects of their attacks are often open to censure, it is true; and should be censured, but not by them. Yet these men take upon them, on their own authority, to blame them; often, because those whose duty it is, neglect to do so; and then they flatter themselves with the notion that they are energetic champions of virtue, strenuous and useful guardians of public morals or popular rights. There is a multitude of such men in these days, who succeed the better, because they conceal their names; and are thus relieved of the trouble of observing delicacy in their manner of rebuking, escape the retaliation which the assailed party may inflict on an open assailant, and are able to dispense with such requisites of personal character and deportment as are ordinarily expected from those who assume the office of the Baptist. And, by speaking against men of note, they gratify the bad passions of the multitude; fond, as it ever is, of tales of crime, and malevolent towards the great; and thus they increase their influence, and come to be looked up to and feared.

Now such officious accusers of vice are, I say, to be disowned by all who wish to be really Christians. Every one has his place, one to obey, another to rule, a third to rebuke. It is not religious to undertake an office without a commission. John the Baptist was miraculously called to the duties of a reformer and teacher. Afterwards, an order of men was appointed for the performance of the same services; and this order remains to this day in an uninterrupted succession. Those who take upon them to rebuke vice without producing credentials of their authority, are intruding upon the office of God's Ministers. They may indeed succeed in their usurpation, they may become popular, be supported by the many, and be recognised even by the persons whom they attack; still the function of censor is from God, whose final judgment it precedes and shadows forth; and not a whole generation of self-willed men can bestow on their organ the powers of a divine ambassador. It is our part, then, anxiously to guard against the guilt of acquiescing in the claims of such false prophets, lest we fall under the severity of our Lord's prediction: "I am come in My Father's name," He says, "and ye receive Me not. If another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive." [John v. 43.]

I notice this peculiarity of the Reprover's office, as founded on a Divine Commission, and the consequent sin of undertaking it without a call, for another reason. Besides these bad men, who clamour against vice for gain and envy's sake, I know there are others of a better stamp, who imagine that they ought to rebuke, when in truth they ought not; and who, on finding that they cannot do the office well, or on getting into trouble in attempting it, are perplexed and discouraged, or consider that they suffer for righteousness' sake. But our duty is commonly a far more straightforward matter than excited and over-sensitive minds are apt to suppose, that is, as far as concerns our knowing it; and, when we find ourselves perplexed to ascertain it, we should ask ourselves, whether we have not embarrassed our course by some unnecessary or self-willed conduct of our own. For instance, when men imagine it to be their duty to rebuke their superiors, they get into difficulties, for the simple reason, that it is and ever will be difficult to do another man's duty. When the young take upon them to set right their elders, private Christians speak against the Clergy, the Clergy attempt to direct their Bishops, or servants their masters, they will find that, generally speaking, the attempt does not succeed; and perhaps they will impute their failure to circumstances,—whereas, the real reason is, that there was no call on them to rebuke at all. There is ever, indeed, a call on them to keep from sin themselves in all things, which itself is a silent protest against whatever is wrong in high places,—and this they cannot avoid, and need not wish to avoid; but very seldom, only in extreme cases, for instance, as, when the Faith is in jeopardy, or in order to protect or rescue the simple-minded, is a man called upon in the way of duty, directly to blame or denounce his superiors.

And in truth we have quite enough to do in the way of rebuking vice, if we confine our censure to those who are the lawful subjects of it. These are our equals and our inferiors. Here, again, it is easy to use violent language towards those who are below us in station, to be arrogant, to tyrannize; but such was not St. John the Baptist's manner of reproving. He reproved under the prospect of suffering for his faithfulness; and we should never use a strong word, however true it be, without being willing to acquiesce in some penalty or other, should it so happen, as the seal of our earnestness. We must not suppose, that our inferiors are without power to annoy us, because they are inferior. We depend on the poor as well as on the rich. Nor, by inferiors, do I mean those merely who are in a lower rank of society. Herod was St. John's inferior; the greatest king is, in one sense, inferior to God's ministers, and is to be approached by them, with all honour indeed and loyal service, but without trepidation of mind or cowardice, without forgetting that they are servants of the Church, gifted with their power by a divine appointment. And what is true even in the instance of the King himself is much more applicable in the case of the merely wealthy or ennobled. But is it a light matter to reprove such men? And can we do so without the risk of suffering for it? Who is sufficient for these things, without the guidance and strength of Him who died to purchase for His Church this high authority?

Again, parents are bound to rebuke their children; but here the office is irksome for a different reason. It is misplaced affection, not fear, which interferes here with the performance of our duty. And besides, parents are indolent as well as overfond. They look to their home as a release from the world's cares, and cannot bear to make duties in a quarter where they would find a recreation. And they have their preferences and partialities about their children; and being alternately harsh and weakly indulgent, are not respected by them, even when they seasonably rebuke them.

And as to rebuke those who are inferior to us in the temporal appointments of Providence, is a serious work, so also, much more, does it require a ripeness in Christian holiness to rebuke our equals suitably;—and this, first, because we fear their ridicule and censure; next, because the failings of our equals commonly lie in the same line as our own, and every considerate person is aware, that, in rebuking another, he is binding himself to a strict and religious life, which we naturally shrink from doing. Accordingly, it has come to pass, that Christians, by a sort of tacit agreement, wink at each other's faults, and keep silence; whereas, if each of us forced himself to make his neighbour sensible when he did wrong, he would both benefit another, and, through God's blessing, would bind himself also to a more consistent profession. Who can say how much harm is done by thus countenancing the imperfections of our friends and equals? The standard of Christian morals is lowered; the service of God is mixed up with devotion to Mammon; and thus society is constantly tending to a heathen state. And this culpable toleration of vice is sanctioned by the manners of the present age, which seems to consider it a mark of good breeding not to be solicitous about the faith or conduct of those around us, as if their private views and habits were nothing to us; which would have more pretence of truth in it, were they merely our fellow-creatures, but is evidently false in the case of those who all the while profess to be Christians, who imagine that they gain the privileges of the Gospel by their profession, while they bring scandal on it by their lives.

Now, if it be asked, what rules can be given for rebuking vice?—I observe, that, as on the one hand to perform the office of a censor requires a maturity and consistency of principle seen and acknowledged, so is it also the necessary result of possessing it. They who reprove with the greatest propriety, from their weight of character, are generally the very men who are also best qualified for reproving. To rebuke well is a gift which grows with the need of exercising it. Not that any one will gain it without an effort on his part; he must overcome false shame, timidity, and undue delicacy, and learn to be prompt and collected in withstanding evil; but after all, his mode of doing it will depend mainly on his general character. The more his habitual temper is formed after the law of Christ, the more discreet, unexceptionable, and graceful will be his censures, the more difficult to escape or to resist.

What I mean is this: cultivate in your general deportment a cheerful, honest, manly temper; and you will find fault well, because you will do so in a natural way. Aim at viewing all things in a plain and candid light, and at calling them by their right names. Be frank, do not keep your notions of right and wrong to yourselves, nor, on some conceit that the world is too bad to be taught the Truth, suffer it to sin in word or deed without rebuke. Do not allow friend or stranger in the familiar intercourse of society to advance false opinions, nor shrink from stating your own, and do this in singleness of mind and love. Persons are to be found, who tell their neighbours of their faults in a strangely solemn way, with a great parade, as if they were doing something extraordinary; and such men not only offend those whom they wish to set right, but also foster in themselves a spirit of self-complacency. Such a mode of finding fault is inseparably connected with a notion that they themselves are far better than the parties they blame; whereas the single-hearted Christian will find fault, not austerely or gloomily, but in love; not stiffly, but naturally, gently, and as a matter of course, just as he would tell his friend of some obstacle in his path which was likely to throw him down, but without any absurd feeling of superiority over him, because he was able to do so. His feeling is, "I have done a good office to you, and you must in turn serve me." And though his advice be not always taken as he meant it, yet he will not dwell on the pain occasioned to himself by such a result of his interference; being conscious, that in truth there ever is much to correct in his mode of doing his duty, knowing that his intention was good, and being determined any how to make light of his failure, except so far as to be more cautious in future against even the appearance of rudeness or intemperance in his manner.

These are a few suggestions on an important subject. We daily influence each other for good or evil; let us not be the occasion of misleading others by our silence, when we ought to speak. Recollect St. Paul's words:—"Be not partaker of other men's sins: keep thyself pure." [1 Tim. v. 22.]

The Importance of St Augustine

Dr. Pius Parsch considers St. Augustine's importance as the founder of a religious Order, doctor of the Church and above all a man.

1. St. Augustine's ideal was a common life for clerics in imitation of the apostles, which became the norm for cathedral canons and clerks regular. In celebrating his feast we are united with all his spiritual children who have observed or are observing his rule, whether already in glory or still labouring on earth.
2. St. Augustine ranks among the greatest doctors because he was a teacher according to the liturgical sense, for God "opened his mouth in the midst of the Church." Most of the great feasts contain excerpts from his homilies and commentaries in the Office of Matins, especially those on the Psalms which are among the most profound.
3. St. Augustine as a man is unique because in his life we can easily observe the workings of divine grace and the struggle between the good and evil. When he became a Manichean it caused his mother intense sorrow, she prayed and wept constantly. A bishop consoled her that a son of so many tears would not be lost. Yet the evil spirit, capitalizing on his passion and pride, led him into moral degeneracy. It seemed that God was playing a waiting game, allowing him to plunge into the depths of sin that he might rise stronger in sanctity. Augustine soon realised that a heart is restless unless it rests in God and through St. Ambrose allowed God to enter the depths of his heart and give him the peace he sought.

St. Augustine of Hippo

Tomorrow's feast of St. Augustine of Hippo, bishop, confessor, doctor and father of the Church, has a special place in the Order of Preachers, for it was his rule which St. Dominic adopted for his Order.

Since readers will be familiar with his life it suffices to sketch some of the more salient points. Firstly he was born to a pagan father and Christian mother, who brought him up in the faith but as was the custom did not have him baptised. Through the aid of a generous benefactor he enrolled in the rhetoric school at Carthage and while studying he took a concubine, who bore him a son. He also became a member of the Manichean sect, which claimed to have special knowledge that led to salvation, believed in good and evil powers, rejected the Old Testament as coming from the evil power, looked upon the body as evil and practiced asceticism, and claimed to offer a rational solution to life's problems. The other influence on his life at the time was the pagan philosophers Cicero, Seneca, Plato and above all Plotinus.

After teaching in Carthage he went to Rome and received an appointment as professor of rhetoric in Milan. It was there came under the influence of St. Ambrose who received him into the Church, the prayers, sacrifices and tears of his mother having finally been answered. Together with his mother, son and a few friends he set sail back to North Africa but at the port of Ostia his mother died and he remained in Rome a year before finally returning to Carthage and Thagaste, where he established a small religious community.

While visiting Hippo, Augustine was made the bishop's auxillary and ordained. He turned himself to turning the city into a place of learning and sanctity, overseeing the formation of a number of bishops who would contribute to the greatness of the Church of North Africa in the fifth century. On the death of the bishop, Augustine ascended to the see in 396. For the remaining four decades of his life he divided his time between providing for the needs of his diocese and writing against the Donatist, Manichean and Pelagian heresies. St. Augustine died on August 28, 430 while the Vandals were laying siege to Hippo.

Lord Jesus, let me know myself and know You,
And desire nothing save only You.
Let me hate myself and love You.
Let me do everything for the sake of You.
Let me humble myself and exalt You.
Let me think of nothing except You.
Let me die to myself and live in You.
Let me accept whatever happens as from You.
Let me banish self and follow You,
And ever desire to follow You.
Let me fly from myself and take refuge in You,
That I may deserve to be defended by You.
Let me fear for myself, let me fear You,
And let me be among those who are chosen by You.
Let me distrust myself and put my trust in You.
Let me be willing to obey for the sake of You.
Let me cling to nothing save only to You,
And let me be poor because of You.
Look upon me, that I may love You.
Call me that I may see You,
And for ever enjoy You. Amen.

Whosoever receives this child in My Name receives Me

Today we commemorate St. Joseph Calasanctius, founder of the Order of Poor Clerks Regular of the Mother of God of the Pious Schools or Piarists.

Born into a noble Spanish family as the youngest of five children, after completing classical studies he took up philosophy and jurisprudence, earning a doctorate in law, then completed his theological studies. While studying theology he overcame the wiles of a noble woman, preserving his virginity which he vowed to God. His father desired him to be a soldier and marry but God interfered by sending him a near fatal illness, during which he examined his life and discovered a religious vocation. After his ordination he was appointed secretary to the bishop, distinguishing himself in reviving zeal among the laity and discipline among the clergy, eventually becoming vicar-general. Once again God intervened in his life, calling him to renounce his inheritance and journey to Rome.

In Rome he found a protector in Cardinal Colonna, who retained him as an adviser and tutor for his nephew. Such was the saint's love for the works of mercy, he made the visit to the seven churches every night to honour the Roman martyrs and during several plagues had a holy rivalry with St Camillus in aiding the sick and burying the dead. Upon joining the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, St. Joseph dedicated himself to instructing neglected and homeless children, eventually opening the first free public school in Europe. With the support of the pope, the saint gathered together a small community at S. Andrea della Valle and laid the foundation of the Piarists. In 1612 the community moved to near S. Pantaleone, where St. Joseph remained for the rest of his life.

During its foundation, the Order faced many obstacles due to St. Joseph's friendship with Galileo, objections from the ruling class to the education of the poor and objections from other religious who feared the Piarists would take over their work. In later years the Order was torn apart by accusations of incompetence against St. Joseph and dissent. The saint was even led as a criminal through Rome and imprisoned. Despite being acquitted by a papal commission and reappointed superior, in 1646 Pope Innocent X dissolved the Piarists and placed its priests under their local bishops. Eight years after the saint's death, the Order was reorganized and after another thirteen years restored.

Dr Pius Parsch notes it was Christ who first revealed the sanctity of childhood, as the state closest to the kingdom of God. The Church continues to express this by her maternal care but above all in the sacraments and sacramentals. She is at pains to confer as soon as possible the sacrament of baptism. She seeks to call the child at an early age to confirmation and communion. She has numerous blessings for children, mothers during pregnancy, before childbirth, for sick children, for children to obtain the mercy of God and for children publicly presented in church. Above all it is the burial of infants which shows how much they are treasured, for there they are clothed in the white of innocence and honoured with the joyous Mass of the Angels.

What can a group of young Catholics assisting or attending the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM)seriously do at World Youth Day? Why should they even bother attending given the sacrilege and scandal which has accompanied previous World Youth Day's? Surely they could achieve far more and provide a better example by offering the sacrifice of the Mass in their TLM communities, rather than give their silent support to a modern Church which has become derailed by ecumenism, liberalism and secularism?

I admit these criticisms of Juventutem have some validity but before critics start throwing stones they should take a serious look at the glasshouses they have built around themselves because for the vast majority of Catholics the TLM is only ever associated with fundamentalism, legalism, sentimentalism and schism. Now there is nothing wrong with upholding tradition and truth or observing rubrics and rules, in fact Catholics should be encouraged to do so. However it must be realised that many young Catholics have neither been educated in nor experienced them firsthand. World Youth Day provides an opportunity, one of many, to extend an invitation to young Catholics to experience the TLM, learn about what the Catholic has taught for generations and immerse themselves in authentic Catholic culture. It also serves to give them encouragement in being signs of contradiction, and stand up against the forces which are destroying faith, morals and worship. All this without them worrying about the canonical status of Juventutem or being asked to submit to one of the other popes who is floating about.

What are Catholics in the modern Church being fed when they see apparitions of Our Lord and His mother amidst assorted foodstuffs, yet don't see the only real and true miracle taking place in the world, when every day at the altar, at the evocation of the priest, Christ is made present body and blood, soul and divinity?

While many will no doubt regard this as mere ignorance, it is still irreverence and needs to be corrected. Recently Pope Benedict XVI lamented Catholics losing their sense of the sacred and it would appear this is what happens, Catholics go looking for it in the wrong places or not at all.

Quotable Quote 27

Professor Giovanni Maria Vian in response to the question should Christianity be considered a culture said:

"Absolutely not, belief in Jesus, as [the] definitive revelation of God, being something that surpasses every culture. However, Christianity, founded precisely on the incarnation of the Divine Word in a specific historical and cultural context, is rooted in different cultures, which it undoubtedly transcends but of which it is, at the same time, inseparable."

Quotable Quote 26

From Pope Benedict XVI to participants of the 57th Italian National Liturgical Week:

"In the liturgy of the Church, in her prayer, in the living community of believers, we experience the love of God, we perceive his presence and, in this way, also learn to recognize it in our daily life ... On freeing man's heart from daily anxieties the celebration of the liturgy gives new confidence; the moment of celebration communicates the joy of hoping for a better world, of living in the Church, of being loved by God and of being able to love again, of being forgiven and saved ... For this reason, the believer must be helped to understand that to guard, revive and communicate hope he must again celebrate, contemplate Jesus, the Risen One ... Then prayer opens our life to God's plan, it leads us to be docile instruments in his hands to transform our way of living and, consequently, the history of our environment ... Thus, the liturgical celebration embraces several aspects of existence: the world of emotions and relationships, shared frailty and weaknesses, the experience of work and rest, always proclaiming the primacy of the love of God."

UCANews reports the Syro-Malabar Church has requested greater authority and more dioceses to provide for the pastoral care of the faithful and prevent them turning to Pentecostal churches.

Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil of Ernakulam-Angamaly has referred to the fact that despite Church law allowing Oriental-rite Catholics to practice their faith according to their own liturgical, spiritual and theological traditions, and particular church discipline, as well as take steps for the preservation and growth of individual Catholic churches throughout the world, nonetheless thousands of Syro-Malabar Catholics who live outside Syro-Malabar Church jurisdiction have no parish, church or institutions and are forced to follow the Latin tradition for more than 50 years.

Father Babu Kalathil added the hierarchy must do something to restore to the Syro-Malabar rite its dignity and tradition since many Syro-Malabar Church priests and nuns are silenced and there is no forum where we can express our concerns.

As one fortunate to have attended Mass in the Syro-Malabar rite and met with one their bishops, I am greatly disappointed the Vatican continues to give them the 'cold shoulder'. I think that before the Pope engages in dialogue with the Orthodox Churches, he should provide for the welfare of Eastern Catholics and perhaps do something more about the prevalence of dissent and liturgical abuses.

Luther and the Law

While working at the library I came across an interesting article on the demise of reason, written by a Catholic priest and defender of the unborn. The following is a few extracts.

Five hundred years ago, Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk who not only detested philosophy, but also refuted the very notion of logic in theology, led a rebellion against the Church that split Christendom asunder. He rejected "reason contrary to faith" and, in doing so, discarded the God-given means by which we discern what is good and what is evil. In short he declared war on the Natural Law. Luther's rebellion with its catch phrases sola fides (goodbye to reason), sola scriptura (goodbye to natural law) detached his followers from any exterior authority (the Church) and transformed then into a law unto themselves (each person becoming his own pope). And so were laid the philosophical foundations for the elevation of the human will and the autonomous self a the prime determinant of truth in all human affairs. Luther's intellectual heirs, the ideologues of the so-called Enlightenment, also held a disdain for reason that was only surpassed by their hatred for God and man ... Martin Luther's ideas have armed nature against us. The Church he attacked still stands by what she has always said: Nature reveals the mind of God and is not governed except by its [the mind of God's] rules and ordinances. The modern world following the mind of Luther tells us that to be happy we must overcome the prejudices inherited from tradition and free ourselves from every teaching authority. The Church tells us that to be happy we must put on the mind of Christ and live according to His law which is made known, even to unbelievers, through reason and the natural law.

Cardinal Newman on St. Bartholomew

"Guilelessness" from Volume 2 of Cardinal Newman's Plain and Parochial Sermons

What then do we learn from his recorded character and history? It affords us an instructive lesson.

When Philip told him that he had found the long-expected Messiah of whom Moses wrote, Nathanael (that is, Bartholomew) at first doubted. He was well read in the Scriptures, and knew the Christ was to be born in Bethlehem; whereas Jesus dwelt at Nazareth, which Nathanael supposed in consequence to be the place of His birth,—and he knew of no particular promises attached to that city, which was a place of evil report, and he thought no good could come out of it. Philip told him to come and see; and he went to see, as a humble single-minded man, sincerely desirous to get at the truth. In consequence, he was vouchsafed an interview with our Saviour, and was converted.

Now, from what occurred in this interview, we gain some insight into St. Bartholomew's character. Our Lord said of him, "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!" and it appears, moreover, as if before Philip called him to come to Christ, he was engaged in meditation or prayer, in the privacy which a fig-tree's shade afforded him. And this, it seems, was the life of one who was destined to act the busy part of an Apostle; quietness without, guilelessness within. This was the tranquil preparation for great dangers and sufferings! We see who make the most heroic Christians, and are the most honoured by Christ!

An even, unvaried life is the lot of most men, in spite of occasional troubles or other accidents; and we are apt to despise it, and to get tired of it, and to long to see the world,—or, at all events, we think such a life affords no great opportunity for religious obedience. To rise up, and go through the same duties, and then to rest again, day after day,—to pass week after week, beginning with God's service on Sunday, and then to our worldly tasks,—so to continue till year follows year, and we gradually get old,—an unvaried life like this is apt to seem unprofitable to us when we dwell upon the thought of it. Many indeed there are, who do not think at all;—but live in their round of employments, without care about God and religion, driven on by the natural course of things in a dull irrational way like the beasts that perish. But when a man begins to feel he has a soul, and a work to do, and a reward to be gained, greater or less, according as he improves the talents committed to him, then he is naturally tempted to be anxious from his very wish to be saved, and he says, "What must I do to please God?" And sometimes he is led to think he ought to be useful on a large scale, and goes out of his line of life, that he may be doing something worth doing, as he considers it. Here we have the history of St. Bartholomew and the other Apostles to recall us to ourselves, and to assure us that we need not give up our usual manner of life, in order to serve God; that the most humble and quietest station is acceptable to Him, if improved duly,—nay, affords means for maturing the highest Christian character, even that of an Apostle. Bartholomew read the Scriptures and prayed to God; and thus was trained at length to give up his life for Christ, when He demanded it.

But, further, let us consider the particular praise which our Saviour gives him. "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!" This is just the character which (through God's grace) they may attain most fully, who live out of the world in the private way I have been describing,—which is made least account of by man, and thought to be in the way of success in life, though our Saviour chose it to make head against all the power and wisdom of the world. Men of the world think an ignorance of its ways is a disadvantage or disgrace; as if it were somehow unmanly and weak to have abstained from all acquaintance with its impieties and lax practices. How often do we hear them say that a man must do so and so, unless he would be singular and absurd; that he must not be too strict, or indulge high-flown notions of virtue, which may be good to talk about, but are not fit for this world! When they hear of any young person resolving on being consistently religious, or being strictly honest in trade, or observing a noble purity in language and demeanour, they smile and think it very well, but that it will and must wear off in time. And they are ashamed of being innocent, and pretend to be worse than they really are. Then they have all sorts of little ways—are mean, jealous, suspicious, censorious, cunning, insincere, selfish; and think others as low-minded as themselves, only proud, or in some sense hypocritical, unwilling to confess their real motives and feelings.

To this base and irreligious multitude is opposed the Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile. David describes his character in the fifteenth Psalm; and, taken in all its parts, it is a rare one. He asks, "Lord, who shall abide in Thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in Thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour. In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not."

I say, it is a difficult and rare virtue, to mean what we say, to love without dissimulation, to think no evil, to bear no grudge, to be free from selfishness, to be innocent and straightforward. This character of mind is something far above the generality of men; and when realized in due measure, one of the surest marks of Christ's elect. And the instances which we may even now and then discover of it among Christians, will be an evidence to us, if evidence be wanting, that, in spite of all that grovelling minds may say about the necessity of acquaintance with the world and with sin, in order to get on well in life, yet after all, inexperienced guilelessness carries a man on as safely and more happily. For, first, it is in itself a great privilege to a rightly disposed mind, not to be sensible of the moral miseries of the world; and this is eminently the lot of the simple-hearted. They take everything in good part which happens to them, and make the best of every one; thus they have always something to be pleased with, not seeing the bad, and keenly sensible of the good. And communicating their own happy peace to those around them, they really diminish the evils of life in society at large, while they escape from the knowledge of them themselves. Such men are cheerful and contented; for they desire but little, and take pleasure in the least matters, having no wish for riches and distinction. And they are under the tyranny of no evil or base thoughts, having never encouraged what in the case of other men often spreads disorder and unholiness through their whole future life. They have no phantoms of former sins, such as remain even to the penitent, when he has subdued their realities, rising up in their minds, harassing them, for a time domineering, and leaving a sting behind them. Guileless persons are, most of all men, skilful in shaming and silencing the wicked;—for they do not argue, but take things for granted in so natural a way, that they throw back the sinner upon the recollection of those times of his youth, when he was pure from sin, and thought as they do now; and none but very hardened men can resist this sort of appeal. Men of irreligious lives live in bondage and fear; even though they do not acknowledge it to themselves. Many a one, who would be ashamed to own it, is afraid of certain places or times, or of solitude, from a sort of instinct that he is no company for good spirits, and that devils may then assail him. But the guileless man has a simple boldness and a princely heart; he overcomes dangers which others shrink from, merely because they are no dangers to him, and thus he often gains even worldly advantages, by his straightforwardness, which the most crafty persons cannot gain, though they risk their souls for them. It is true such single-hearted men often get into difficulties, but they usually get out of them as easily; and are almost unconscious both of their danger and their escape. Perhaps they have not received a learned education, and cannot talk fluently; yet they are ever a match for those who try to shake their faith in Christ by profane argument or ridicule, for the weakness of God is stronger than men.

Nor is it only among the poor and lowly that this blessed character of mind is found to exist. Secular learning and dignity have doubtless in their respective ways a powerful tendency to rob the heart of its brightness and purity; yet even in kings' courts, and the schools of philosophy, Nathanaels may be discovered. Nay, like the Apostles, they have been subjected to the world's buffetings, they have been thwarted in their day, lived in anxiety, and seemingly lost by their honesty, yet without being foiled either of its present comfort or its ultimate fruit. Such was our great Archbishop and Martyr, to whom perchance we owe it, that we who now live are still members of a branch of the Church Catholic; one of whose "greatest unpopular infirmities," according to the historian of his times, was "that he believed innocence of heart, and integrity of manners, was a guard strong enough to secure any man in his voyage through this world, in what company soever he travelled and through what ways soever he was to pass. And sure," he adds, "never any man was better supplied with that provision."

I have in these remarks spoken of guileless men as members of society, because I wished to show that, even in that respect in which they seem deficient, they possess a hidden strength, an unconscious wisdom, which makes them live above the world, and sooner or later triumph over it. The weapons of their warfare are not carnal; and they are fitted to be Apostles, though they seem to be ordinary men. Such is the blessedness of the innocent, that is, of those who have never given way to evil, or formed themselves to habits of sin; who in consequence literally do not know its power or its misery, who have thoughts of truth and peace ever before them, and are able to discern at once the right and wrong in conduct, as by some delicate instrument which tells truly because it has never been ill-treated. Nay, such may be the portion (through God's mercy) even of those who have at one time departed from Him, and then repented; in proportion as they have learned to love God, and have purified themselves, not only from sin, but from the recollections of it.

Lastly, more is requisite for the Christian, even than guilelessness such as Bartholomew's. When Christ sent forth him and his brethren into the world, He said, "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves." Innocence must be joined to prudence, discretion, self-command, gravity, patience, perseverance in well-doing, as Bartholomew doubtless learned in due season under his Lord's teaching; but innocence is the beginning. Let us then pray God to fulfil in us "all the good pleasure of His goodness, and the work of faith with power;" that if it should please Him suddenly to bring us forward to great trials, as He did His Apostles, we may not be taken by surprise, but be found to have made a private or domestic life a preparation for the achievements of Confessors and Martyrs.

Flayed for the Faith

Today we honour the holy apostle St. Bartholomew. After the Ascension, he preached in Egypt and Ethiopia before journeying to India, where he gave to his converts the gospel of St. Matthew In Armenia he converted King Polymius and the citizens of several cities but so enraged the pagan priests they caused the king's brother Astyages to have the apostle flayed alive and beheaded.

The Golden Legend by Jacob de Voraigne describes his visit to a temple in India where an idol, reportedly capable of curing the sick, suddenly stopped doing so. The sick in desperation went to another temple and enquired of that temple's idol the cause of their prayers going unanswered.

The devil, for in truth the idols were but devils is disguise, said, "Your god is bound with chains of fire that he neither dare draw breath nor speak after that Bartholomew, the apostle of God, entered into the temple."
And they [the sick] said to him: "Who is that Bartholomew?"
And the devil said: "He is the friend of God Almighty, and he is come into this province for to avoid all the gods of India."
And then they [the sick] said: "Tell us some tokens and signs that we may know him and find him."
And the devil said to them: "He hath his hairs black and crisp, his skin white, eyes great, his nostrils even and straight, his beard long and hoar a little, and of a straight and seemly stature. He is clad in a white coat, and a white mantle, which in every corner hath gems of purple and precious stones therein. And it is saith twenty-six years that his clothes never waxed old nor foul. He prayeth and worshippeth God on his knees a hundred times a day, and a hundred times by night. The angels go with him, which never suffer him to be weary nor to be an hungered, he is always of like semblance, glad and joyous. He seeth all things before, he knoweth all things, he speaketh all manner languages, and understandeth them, and he knoweth well what I say to you. And when ye seek him, if he will he may show himself to you, and if him dost not, not shall ye find him. And I pray you, when ye find him, that ye pray him that he come not hither, that his angels do not to me as they have done to my fellow."

***************************************

Tradent enim vos in conciliis,

et in synagogis suis flagellabunt vos,

et ante reges et praesides ducemini

propter me in testimonium illis, et Gentibus.

A Doctor of Body and Soul

Today we commemorate St. Philip Benizi, who was born on the feast of the Assumption and died on its Octave.

A precocious student, he began his medical and philosophical studies in Paris, finished them in Padua and practiced medicine in Florence for about a year. Since childhood he had wanted to be a servant of Mary and only at his father's insistence he became a doctor but finally Our Lady granted his desire by appearing in a vision and directing him to the Servites at Monte Senario.
He entered the Order as a lay brother to live a penitential life in atonement for his sins and tried to hide his learning but with little success. His superiors had him ordained to the priesthood and soon the Pope requested his services to persuade the people of Forli to return their loyalty to Rome. While preaching in the city he was physically attacked by a mob but simply turned the other cheek, an act witnessed by the future St. Peregrine Laziosi.

Appointed master of novices, his rare abilities were daily discovered and he became prior of several communities before his election as prior general for the entire Order. On the death of Pope Clement IV he was chosen a candidate for the papacy but fled to a cave and remained there for the duration of the conclave. St. Philip attended the Council of Lyons, defended the Order from being disbanded in the wake of restrictions to mendicant orders, restored peace to places ravaged by civil war, helped St Juliana of Mount Cornillon found the Servite third order and sent the first Servite missionaries to the East.

Throughout his life St Philip was constantly imploring God's mercy and daily reciting the Penitential Psalms. On his death bed he recited the Miserere several times and suddenly was overcome with fear of being rejected by God. A few minutes later his doubts disappeared and holding a crucifix to his breast, breathed his last.

Affectionate Salutations to Mary

This prayer was composed by St John Eudes and propagated by Fr Paul of Moll, the Benedictine wonderworker, for the conversion of sinners.

I greet thee, Mary, Daughter of God the Father.
I greet thee, Mary, Mother of the Son of God.
I greet thee, Mary, Spouse of the Holy Spirit.

I greet thee, Mary, Temple of the Blessed Trinity.
I greet thee, Mary, White Lily of the resplendent Trinity.
I greet thee, Mary, Fragrant Rose of the heavenly court.
I greet thee, Mary, Virgin full of meekness and humility, of whom the King of Heaven willed to be born and nourished by thy milk.
I greet thee, Mary, Virgin of virgins.
I greet thee, Mary, Queen of Martyrs, whose soul was pierced by the sword of sorrows.
I greet thee, Mary, Lady and Mistress, to whom all power has been given in Heaven and on earth.
I greet thee, Mary, Queen of my heart, my sweetness, my life and all my hope.
I greet thee, Mary, Mother most amiable.
I greet thee, Mary, Mother most admirable.
I greet thee, Mary , Mother of beautiful love.
I greet thee, Mary , Conceived without sin.
I greet thee, Mary , Full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, and blessed be the Fruit of thy womb.

Blessed be thy spouse, Saint Joseph.
Blessed be thy father, Saint Joachim.
Blessed be thy mother, Saint Anne.
Blessed be thy Angel, Saint Gabriel.
Blessed be the Eternal Father, Who has chosen thee.
Blessed be thy Son, Who has loved thee.
Blessed be the Holy Ghost, Who has espoused thee.
May all those who love thee bless thee.

O Blessed Virgin, bless us all now and in the hour of our death in the name of Jesus thy dear Son. Amen

Pilgrims at the shrine of Lourdes

AngelQueen has a post on how drunkeness is shattering the peace and sanctity of Lourdes.
http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=107707#107707

No wonder Medjugorje attracts so many pilgrims when Lourdes is been desecrated by revelers who come there to "party after being reverential all day" and enage in "drunken and lewd behaviour"

In other Marian news from AngelQueen, forest fires have forced the evacuation of the stone house in Ephesus believed to be Our Lady's home when she was taken in by St John.

Courageous yet Gentle

Today we commemorate St. Jane Frances de Chantal, founder of the Order of the Visitation of our Lady. Born to the president of parliament and future leader of the royalists, at the age of fifteen she confuted with a Presbyterian and when he gave her a gift, threw it into the fire saying, "That is how heretics will burn in hell for not believing Christ when he speaketh." When her mother died, she placed herself under the protection of Our Lady and devoted herself to religious works.

At twenty she married Baron de Chantal and took charge of his household. She restored its previous prosperity, ensured her children and servants were taught the faith, and relieved the poor and suffering. At twenty eight her husband was killed in a shooting accident and she took a vow of chastity, rejecting many influential and wealthy suitors. Resolving to remain a widow and devote herself to charitable works, she branded with a hot iron the Holy Name into her breast. To safegard her children's property she lived for a time in the home of her father-in-law, where she patiently endured the wickedness of the servant in charge, eventually triumphing over him by her virtue.

In 1604 she heard St. Francis de Sales preach a Lenten sermon and recognised him as the figure in a dream she had earlier. After providing for the welfare and education of her children, she went to Annecy to found the Order of the Visitation, for the spiritual advancement of young women and widows, adopting St. Francis' method of attaining perfection through abandoning oneself to God and seeking His holy will. For the rest of her life she was either in the cloister, praying for the conversion of her son, receiving those who came to ask her advice and founding new convents. At her death, St. Vincent de Paul had a vision of her soul ascending to heaven and being met by St. Francis. She left behind a number of works including instructions on the religious life, a deposition for the beatification of St. Francis and letters.

Dr. Pius Parsch notes that in the Common for Holy Women, the Church emphasises their courage and strength which seems odd since it is their compassion and obdeience which frequently come to mind. However these are but complementary virtues and were displayed by Our Lord Himself. One need only contrast his driving the merchants from the Temple or rebuking St. Peter as 'Satan' with his condescension towards St. Mary Magdalene or receiving the poor and sick.

Quotable Quote 25

From St. Peter of Alcantara, spiritual director of St. Teresa of Avila

In mental prayer the soul is purified from its sins, nourished with charity, confirmed in faith, and strengthened in hope; the mind expands, the affections dilate, the heart is purified, truth becomes evident; temptation is conquered, sadness dispelled; the senses are renovated; drooping powers revive; tepidity ceases; the rust of vices disappears. Out of mental prayer issues forth, like living sparks, those desires of heaven which the soul conceives when inflamed with the fire of divine love. Sublime is the excellence of mental prayer, great are its privileges; to mental prayer heaven is opened; to mental prayer heavenly secrets are manifested and the ear of God ever attentive.

The latest Commentary has an interesting article on a Catholic cathedral in Norway, which was appropriated by the Lutherans in the 16th century but avoided the fate of so many cathedrals and churches that remained in Catholic hands. Last year the Traditional Latin Mass was celebrated in the cathedral and two other churches, which have also retained their original architecture and art. As the Fathers say, hopefully the Lutherans will extend the invitation this year as well and perhaps in the future consider making this more than an annual event.

While the Church in Australia might not be perfect, at least it is better than in Canada where it has been thoroughly secularised. There priests and religious openly criticize the Magisterium on family and life issues, Catholic newspapers push a Marxist agenda, Catholic educators encourage students to be dissenters, or worse reformers and revolutionaries, and bishops simply turn a blind eye. Let us pray for the social reign of the Sacred Heart, which once adorned the flag of Quebec.

Inner Peace - Forget the New Age Psycho-babble

From Denis the Carthusian's Commentary on Luke

The way to attain the perfection of divine love is thus stated. Do you think that I have come to bring peace on earth? In other words: Do not imagine that I have come to offer people a sensual, worldly, and unruly peace that will enable them to be united in their vices and achieve earthly prosperity. No, I tell you, I have not come to offer that kind of peace, but rather division — a good, healthy kind of division, physical as well as spiritual. Love for God and desire for inner peace will set those who believe in me at odds with wicked men and women, and make them part company with those who would turn them from their course of spiritual progress and from the purity of divine love, or who attempt to hinder them.

Good, interior, spiritual peace consists in the repose of the mind in God, and in a rightly ordered harmony. To bestow this peace was the chief reason for Christ's coming. This inner peace flows from love. It is an unassailable joy of the mind in God, and it is called peace of heart. It is the beginning and a kind of foretaste of the peace of the saints in heaven — the peace of eternity.

Denis was a mystic and theologian of the 15th century. Despite being a Carthusian, he was a prolific scholar and writer on liturgy, morality, philosophy, scripture, spirituality, and theology. He also wrote works on Christian living for clergy and laity of every rank and profession, and at the request of Nicholas of Cusa, a treatise against Mohammedanism. Notably he upheld the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception in two treatises on the Blessed Virgin Mary. He is considered the last great Scholastic writer.

Quotable Quote 24 and Supernatural Smoke

The Open Book posted about the chocolate which looked a statue of Our Lady, prompting one commenter to note that while Protestants go crazy over end time prophecies, with Catholics its apparitions and images of Mary.

In other news, the previously mentioned church in Melbourne which was subject to fire, now has four 'mysterious' crosses on the wall behind the altar. While CFA fire officer Ken Evans said "For the smoke to form in definite shapes is very unusual. It's supernatural or something", Ms Lynne Kelly author of The Skeptics Guide to the Paranormal prefers "a more rational explanation" and to "know a lot more" before claiming the miraculous.

Perhaps a more credible case for divine intervention is the fire which destroyed a historic Anglican church hall that was used for the Hollywood adaptation of Steven King's Salem's Lot, a film which the rector described as 'eminently forgettable'. Fire fighters did however manage to save the adjacent bluestone church and a nearby house.

From the other Mass and Office

The first reading of the Office for today is rather interesting because it includes the episode in the life of Isaiah when a seraph descended from heaven to cleanse the prophet's lips with a burning coal, which is forever recalled by the Traditional Mass in the prayer of the deacon or priest before proclaiming the gospel.

In the second reading at Mass the followings words of St. Paul stand out, "See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil." St. John Chrysostom in the second reading of the Office echoes the words of the Apostle. Of particular import is the saint's interpreation of Our Lord's words as an exhortation to those who preach and teach in the Church to be unafraid of being a sign of contradiction.

"Ye are the salt of the earth." Implying, that of absolute necessity He enjoins all this. For "not for your own life apart," saith He, "but for the whole world, shall your account be. For not to two cities, nor to ten or twenty, nor to a single nation am I sending you, as I sent the prophets; but to earth, and sea, and the whole world; and that in evil case." For by saying, "Ye are the salt of the earth," He signified all human nature to have "lost its savor,"and to be decayed by our sins. For which cause, you see, He requires of them such virtues, as are most necessary and useful for the superintendence of the common sort. For first, the meek, and yielding, and merciful, and righteous, shuts not up his good deeds unto himself only, but also provides that these good fountains should run over for the benefit of others. And he again who is pure in heart, and a peacemaker, and is persecuted for the truth's sake; he again orders his way of life for the common good. "Think not then," He saith, "that ye are drawn on to ordinary conflicts, or that for some small matters you are to give account." "Ye are the salt of the earth."

What then? did they restore the decayed? By no means; for neither is it possible to do any good to that which is already spoilt, by sprinkling it with salt. This therefore they did not. But rather, what things had been before restored, and committed to their charge, and freed from that ill savor, these they then salted, maintaining and preserving them in that freshness,which they had received of the Lord. For that men should be set free from the rottenness of their sins was the good work of Christ; but their not returning to it again any more was the object of these men's diligence and travail.

Seest thou how by degrees He indicates their superiority to the very prophets? in that He saith they are teachers, not of Palestine, but of the whole world; and not simply teachers, but awful ones too. For this is the marvellous thing, that not by flattering, nor soothing, but by sharply bracing them, as salt, even so they became dear to all men.

"Now marvel not," saith He, "if leaving all others, I discourse to you, and draw you on to so great dangers. For consider over how many cities, tribes, and nations, I am to send you to preside. Wherefore I would have you not only be prudent yourselves, but that you should also make others the same. And such persons have great need to be intelligent, in whom the salvation of the rest is at stake: they ought so much to abound in virtue, as to impart of the profit to others also. For if ye do not become such as this, ye will not suffice even for your own selves.

"Be not then impatient, as though my sayings were too burdensome. For while it is possible for others who have lost their savor to return by your means, you, if you should come to this, will with yourselves destroy others also. So that in proportion as the matters are great, which ye have put into your hands, you need so much the greater diligence." Therefore He saith,
"But if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men."

For other men, though they fall never so often, may possibly obtain indulgence: but the teacher, should this happen to him, is deprived of all excuse, and will suffer the most extreme vengeance. Thus, lest at the words, "When they shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you," they should be too timid to go forth: He tells them, "unless ye are prepared to combat with all this, ye have been chosen in vain." For it is not evil report that ye should fear, but lest ye should prove partners in dissimulation. For then, "Ye will lose your savor, and be trodden under foot:" but if ye continue sharply to brace them up, and then are evil spoken of, rejoice; for this is the very use of salt, to sting the corrupt,and make them smart. And so their censure follows of course, in no way harming you, but rather testifying your firmness. But if through fear of it you give up the earnestness that becomes you, ye will have to suffer much more grievously, being both evil spoken of, and despised by all. For this is the meaning of "trodden under foot."

After this He leads on to another, a higher image. "Ye are the light of the world."
"Of the world" again; not of one nation, nor of twenty states,but of the whole inhabited earth. And "a light" to the mind, far better than this sunbeam: like as they were also a spiritual salt. And before they are salt, and now light: to reach thee how great is the gain of these strictprecepts, and the profit of that grave discipline: how it binds, and permits not to become dissolute; and causes clear sight, leading men on to virtue.

"A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid, neither do men light a candle, and put it under the bushel."

Again, by these words He trains them to strictness of life, teaching them to be earnest in their endeavors, as set before the eyes of all men, and contending in the midst of the amphitheatre of the world. For, "look not to this," He saith, "that we are now sitting here, that we are in a small portion of one corner. For ye shall be as conspicuous to all as a city set on the ridge of a hill, as a candle in a house on the candlestick, giving light."

Where now are they who persevere in disbelieving the power of Christ? Let them hear these things, and let them adore His might, amazed at the power of the prophecy. For consider how great things he promised to them, who were not known even in their own country: that earth and sea should know them, and that they should by their fame reach to the limits of the inhabited world; or rather, not by their fame, but by the working of the good they wrought. For it was not fame that bearing them everywhere made them conspicuous, but also the actual demonstration by their works. Since, as though they had wings, more vehemently than the sunbeam did they overrun the whole earth, sowing the light of godliness.

But here He seems to me to be also training them to boldness of speech. For to say, "A city set on a hill cannot be hid," is to speak as declaring His own powers. For as that city can by no means be hidden, so it was impossible that what they preached should sink into silence and obscurity. Thus, since He had spoken of persecutions and calumnies, of plots and wars, for fear they might think that these would have power to stop their mouths; to encourage them, He saith, that so far from being hid, it should over-shine the whole world; and that on this very account they should be illustrious and renowned.

By this then He declares His own power. In what follows, He requires that boldness of speech which was due on their part; thus saying,

"Neither do men light a candle and put it under the bushel, but on the candlestick, and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven."

"For I," saith He, "it is true, have kindled the light, but its continuing to burn, let that come of your diligence: not for your own sakes alone, but also for their sake, who are to profit by these rays, and to be guided unto the truth. Since the calumnies surely shall not be able to obscure your brightness, if you be still living a strict life, and as becomes those who are to convert the whole world. Show forth therefore a life worthy of His grace; that even as it is everywhere preached, so this light may everywhere accompany the same.

Reaping the whirlwind of abortion

From Bishop Thomas Doran of Rockford, Illinois as printed in the dicoesan paper The Observer. (Tip of the Hat to New Advent)

I want to touch on this matter before we get too close to the November madness. As human beings, as citizens of a “first world country,” as Americans, and as Catholics, most importantly, we have to take count of the circumstances in which we live. We know that the only creatures of God that outlast time are those created having intellect and will. All other things, with the passage of time, break up or break down.

Many of the issues that confront us are serious, and we know by now that the political parties in our country are at loggerheads as to how to solve them. We know, for instance, that adherents of one political party would place us squarely on the road to suicide as a people.

The seven “sacraments” of their secular culture are abortion, buggery, contraception, divorce, euthanasia, feminism of the radical type, and genetic experimentation and mutilation. These things they unabashedly espouse, profess and promote. Their continuance in public office is a clear and present danger to our survival as a nation.

Since the mid-1940s we have been accustomed to look askance at Germans. They were protagonists of the Second World War and so responsible for fifty million deaths. We say, “How awful,” and yet in our country we have, for the most part, allowed the party of death and the court system it has produced to eliminate, since 1973, upwards of forty million of our fellow citizens without allowing them to see the light of day. They have done their best to make ours a true culture of death. No doubt, we shall soon outstrip the Nazis in doing human beings to death.

I do not think that we should spend a great deal of time in lamentation over the children whose lives have been snuffed out by the barbaric practice of therapeutic abortion. They passed from their lives quickly in this world and have gone into the hands of the Lord of Life and Mercy for all eternity. We must make it clear too, that many who have sought to have practiced on themselves therapeutic abortion are in many instances driven to it by persons heedless of their welfare, or by well-meaning but inept parents or guardians who regard abortion as a solution and not as what it is — an immense problem. There are some, I think few, largely given over to immoral lives who regard abortion as a good, but their number is not great.

What we have to remember is that violence breeds violence. When we tolerate unjust attacks upon the tiniest innocents among us, we habituate ourselves to violence. And so we have allowed these barbaric practices to corrupt our laws, our medical practice, and even our ordinary lives. How accustomed we have become to the immense loss of life in our wars throughout the world! Those who have killed millions under their mother’s hearts cannot be expected to balk at a mere few thousand killed in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Somalia, in Darfur, in Bosnia, in Madrid, in London, in Baghdad, in Beirut, in Washington, in New York. The violence of abortion coarsens the lives of all of us.

Once it was said, “... for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” (Matthew 26:52) So we see the rise in the number of predations among youth, even among the youngest, the rise of domestic violence. We speak of road rage as a common thing. It is true what the theologians have said, that sin darkens the intellect, and weakens the will.

Having sown the wind of abortion we now reap the whirlwind. This appears in every quarter of our culture and on every day. And that just from the first of the “sacraments of death” of our secular human culture.

The toleration of sexual perversions among inverts, widespread contraception, easy access to “no fault” divorce, the killing of the elderly, radical feminism, embryonic stem cell research — all of these things defile and debase our human nature and our human destiny. Should we cry out with the prophet “To the mountains, ‘Cover us,’ and to the hills, ‘Fall on us’” (Hosea: 10:8), lest other peoples see and, God forbid, imitate us?

I ran across, in one parish, prayers of the faithful with the intention that “we pray for those who work and demonstrate for the cause of life and the unborn, the aged and the defected, that they may persevere in spite of the ridicule they receive sometimes, even from pastors and priests.” I shudder to think that might be true. We know from the sad experience of recent years that some Catholics (even among priests) are so warped and perverted from their Catholic vocation, that they are capable of enormities. But, they should know that it was no prelate or bishop or pope that said, “Suffer the little children to come to me and do not hinder them” (Matthew 19:14). The Invisible Head of the Church will one day come to judge the living and the dead and the world by fire, particularly those who have either by acts of omission or commission, destroyed innocent human life.

It is the duty of every Catholic to support the work of the parish Pro-Life directors and commissions and to work for the extirpation from our society of all those who in any way foster or promote these things. I wholeheartedly endorse the activities of our Pro-Life Office in the sure and certain knowledge that divine justice will not allow those who act against human life to prosper.

These unholy sacraments of our secular culture are the seeds of the destruction of our nation.

Think for yourself: what nation that kills its young, perverts marriage, prevents new life, and destroys the family, kills those deemed useless, makes the war of the sexes into a real war, and manipulates the genetic basis of human nature, can long endure?

These comments apply to other Western countries as well, which are following America's lead.

Have all those Catholic priests and layfolk alike who claim the recently deceased now reside in heaven forgotten that while the Church may be in limbo over limbo, it certainly has not purged itself of purgatory? It seems that many Catholics have adopted the Protestant position of baptism as a free ticket to heaven, contrary to Scripture and the Fathers.

On a related matter, Dom Hubert van Zeller offers the following consideration on purgatory:
The imagination is not more help to us in the matter of purgatory than in the matter of death. Nor do the emotions bring anything to our consideration of purgatory - save perhaps a nervous dread. All we have to go upon are a few texts from Scripture, the doctrine and tradition of the Church, and the cold light of reason. But in fact this more than enough. We can prepare for purgatory in the way that we prepare for death. In fact we can further than in the case of death, because we can experience a foretaste of purgatory in a more real way than we experience a foretaste of death. By ready suffering we can advance the pains which are due for the purification of our souls. Since only the pure of heart may see God, there has to be a process of cleansing either here or hereafter. So why not, by willingly embracing the pains and sorrows of this life, begin the purgatorical process now?

Quotable Quote 23

Msgr Daniel Kutys, USCCB deputy secretary for catechesis, in an address to Catholic educators said

"As Catholics, we need to find a proper balance of tolerance, one that does not condemn nor judge negatively on the basis of differences in faith and culture, but at the same time maintains the recognition that the Catholic faith contains the fullness of truth ... We need to remember that any teacher in a Catholic school, no matter what subject area they are responsible for, is a teacher of the faith."

Source: Barbara Watkins, St. Louis Review

St. John Eudes II

Dr. Pius Parsch takes today’s feast as an opportunity to reflect on the priesthood. Although Christ is the true and only Priest, the one Mediator through prayer and the sacraments, He shares His office with the Church, His mystical body and bride. Therefore St. Peter refers to Christians as ‘a royal priesthood’. There is, moreover, a consecrated priesthood to dispense the mysteries of God and act as mediator of divine life. The priest is a spiritual father by conferring divine life through the sacraments. He is a second Christ because he acts in His name and person, breaking the twofold bread of instruction and life, the word of God and Holy Eucharist. Hence the sublimity of the mission and office of a priest. Priests must therefore educate the faithful in the Scriptures and Liturgy, must give to them the Bible, the Missal and the Breviary. Only then can they fulfill their priestly office.

O Jesus, eternal High Priest, divine Sacrificer, Thou who in an unspeakable burst of love for men, Thy brethren, didst cause the Christian priesthood to spring forth from Thy Sacred Heart, vouchsafe to pour forth upon Thy pirests continual living streams of infinite love.

Live in them, transform them into Thee; make them, by Thy grace, fit instruments of Thy mercy; do Thou act in them and through them, and grant, that they may become wholly one with Thee by their faithful imitation of Thy virtues; and, in Thy Name and by the strength of Thy spirit, may they do the works which Thou didst accomplish for the salvation of the world.

Divine Redeemer of souls, behold how great is the multitude of those who still sleep in the darkness of error; reckon up the number of those unfaithful sheep who stray to the edge of the precipice; consider the throngs of the poor, the hungry, the ignorant and the feeble who groan in their abandoned condition.

Return to us in the person of Thy priests; truly live again in them; act through them and pass once more through the world, teaching, forgiving, comforting, sacrificing and reneweing the sacred bonds of love between the Heart of God and the heart of man. Amen

(An indulgence of 300 days once a day. A plenary indulgence on the usual conditions for the daily recitation of this prayer for one month.)

St. John Eudes

Born in Normandy, St. John Eudes was educated by the Jesuits and joined the Congregation of the Oratory. Ordained to the priesthood at 24, he became the most prodigious missionary in France since St. Vincent Ferrer and over twenty years conducted more than 110 missions, each lasting several weeks. Through his missionary work he saw how essential a clergy zealous for souls was for the salvation and sanctification of the people.

In 1634 he left the Oratory to found the Congregation of Jesus and Mary for the restoration of a Christian spirit among the faithful and training of priests. The Congregation’s seminaries were influential in combatting the errors of Jansenism by stressing the infinite compassion of God. But the Jansenists responded with a campaign of calumny directed against the Sisters of Our Lady of Refuge, which the saint founded for penitent women and would later produce the Sisters of the Good Shepherd.

For a time St. John was suspended from preaching and hearing confession, so he directed his efforts towards writing on devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary. St. John’s popularising the devotion led to the first feasts in honour of the Sacred Heart and Immacuate Heart, with a proper Mass and Office which he himself composed. In addition he wrote several works on aspects of the priesthood. On this day in 1690, with the words ‘Jesus’ and ‘Mary’ on his lips, St. John died in peace, worn out by more than sixty years of missionary work.

More than Brothers

St. Dominic receives a group of sisters

Today Dominican's celebrate the feast of Bl. Mannes Guzman, older brother of St. Dominic.

The circumstances of Bl. Mannes's studies and ordination are unknown but it is recorded that he was given to prayer and contemplation. When Bishop Diego of Osma returned to Spain requesting missionaries for France to combat the Albigensians, Mannes answered the call and joined his brother Dominic, labouring for ten years to root out heresy and restore peace. During this time he dedicated himself to the service of God and salvation of souls with great fortitude and zeal.

Of his many virtues, his humility shines brightest, for upon joining the Order he was perfectly obedient to Dominic, who in the world was his younger brother. After receiving the habit, Mannes was sent to Paris, helping to found the famous St James' Convent and Studium, and gaining a reputation as a gifted orator.

From Paris he was sent back to Spain to take charge of a group of sisters whom Dominic had received and clothed in the habit. The choice of Mannes was because of several factors. Firstly old age and missionary labour were taken a toll on his health. Secondly, his natural disposition was for the contemplative life and this would afford him opportunity for deeper prayer. More importantly, he was a practical, prayerful and prudent. For the second general chapter, Mannes travelled to Bologna and returned with a letter from Dominic to the sisters, the only extant writing of the saint. Mannes remained in Madrid as superior of the convent, while continuing preaching in and around the city.

After Dominic's canonization, he journeyed to Caleruega and persuaded the people to build a Church in honour of his brother. It is likely that while engaged in this act of piety he became sick and died in the Cistercian monastery at Gumiel de Izan, where his tomb became a site of numerous miracles. Six hundred years after his death, Pope Gregory XVI beatified him, granting the Order a proper Mass and Office.

For the octave of the Assumption, a quotation from St. Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople and opponent of the Iconoclasts.

Most truly and with grateful heart I say: You, O Mother of God, are not cut off from us even though you have been removed from our midst. You are not far from this perishable world, you who now live in imperishable life; but on the contrary you draw near to those who call on you, you are found by those who seek you in faith.

Indeed you left the earth to prove that the mystery of the awe-inspiring incarnation did in fact take place. Through your awaiting the natural end of human life, God who was born of you would be believed to have come from you also as perfect man, son of a true mother who was herself subject to the constraints of nature, the decrees of God, and the limitations of an earthly lifetime. For because you had a body like the rest of us, you could not escape death, the lot of all humankind.

And so, having undergone death to finite things, you have moved to God's dwelling in the imperishable mansions of eternity. You are his companion, O Mother of God: your communion with him will never end.

Today we honour St. Agapitus, whose obstinate orthodoxy moved the Emperor Aurelian to have him whipped, imprisoned for four days without food, covered in embers, whipped again, suspended above a fire, covered with boiling water, thrown to wild beasts and finally beheaded. All this aged only fifteen.

Dr. Pius Parsch asks what lesson St. Agapitus has for modern youth and answers that while they are not called to martyrdom, they must stand firm against the allurements of sin, in humble obedience to Christ. Thus shall they be found youthful heroes in the sight of God.

I am currently reading Father Ralph by Gerald O'Donovan, written in 1913, and it contains the following descriptions of the Jesuits and Carmelites, uttered by two Carmelites and a Jesuit respectively.

She kept Ralph supplied with religious books from the Carmelite library, "to keep his thought from the bad books he has to read at that Jesuit school." She consulted Father Eusebius on the subject. He shook his head and looked grave.

"Personally, I think the Jesuits go too far," he said. "A good Catholic has no need of pagan learning. All a priest really wants to know of the classics is to be able to read the missal and the breviary. The Jesuits, no doubt, are very good men, very good indeed. A very old order, that is, as years go. Four hundred years or so. Quite young, of course, in comparison with our own order. Blessed Elias founded the Carmelites thousands of years ago. Like all young people the Jesuits are - shall I say it? - a little vain, and ape the ways of the world. In a few hundred years they will have settled down to steady ways."

"Ah, these Jesuits," Fr. David said, shaking his head sadly. "Of course they are an ornament to the Church, no doubt of that ... in the eyes of heretics and infidels at least. They have learning - pagan learning mostly, I'm afraid. One cannot handle pitch too much and not be defiled. I did some classics myself, but thank God, I've forgotten them, Arma virumque cano, I'm afraid I remember very little now. But some of these Jesuits meditate on Virgil and Horace all through their lives. Poor St. Ignatius never intended it. He must have many a sad hour in heaven. Fighting the world with the weapons of the world sounds well, but believe me, Ralph, it makes men worldly too."

Hilda blushed. "Ralph doesn't like teaching, " she said hesitatingly.

"A horrid profession! I don't know why I like it. So many of our own men don't," Father Best said, taking another scone. "But the Society of Jesus spreads it nets very wide - teachers, preachers, students, administrators, social workers, contemplatives, we have them all. Whatever a man has a special aptitude or taste for - there lies his work with us, provided, of course, it is good for him. It is a great resource, Mrs. O'Brien, even in the spiritual life, to have many strings to one's bow. It's a restless age, and men never get tired of harping on the one theme, or get worried over their work. That chocolate cake is very tempting. May I have some? Thanks. Variety has its advantages in the spiritual life just as in food. The Carmelites now! Preaching, the confessional, and the singing of the office sums up their energies. Their round of spiritual duties is almost as monotonous as their meals. The order suits many men undoubtedly. Many Carmelites are holy men, as you say. A certain type of man likes the food and the life."

Tomorrow the Church honours one of the first Dominicans and an illustrious preacher, St. Hyacinth. Born of noble ancestry, he received his doctorate in law and divinity before becoming a canon at Crackow. He accompanied his bishop to Rome where he met St. Dominic and asked to be received into the fledgling order. Sent to preach the faith in Poland, St. Hyacinth won many souls to Christ and the Church, while founding several friaries. St. Hyacinth continued his mission as far north as Lithuania, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, as far south as Turkey and Greece, as far east as Russia, Ukraine, Tibet and China. He returned to his native Poland and aged seventy-two went to his eternal reward on the feast of the Assumption, having recited matins and received the last sacraments. His last words were those which Christ Himself uttered upon the Cross, "Into the hands, O Lord, I comment my spirit"

St. Hyacinth inherited from St. Dominic a tender devotion to Our Lady and attributed his success entirely to her. When the Tartars sacked Kiev, he had just finished saying Mass and without removing his vestments took with him the ciborium. As he passed a statue of Our Lady he heard a voice say "Hyacinth, my son, why dost thou leave me behind? Take me with thee and leave me not to mine enemies." Despite the statue's weight, he carried it and the Blessed Sacrament to the river Dnieper. There he and his companions walked dry shod across the river, using his cloak for a bridge, protected from the Tartars by the waters.

Dr. Pius Parsch commenting on St. Hyacinth's last words says the office of Compline is a fitting preparation for death, for it presents two different death scenes. In the responsary we recall Christ's last words and entrust our souls to His care, while in the canticle we recall Simeon's last words and pray we too may be worthy of eternal rest and peace.

Today a fire practically gutted St. Joseph's Catholic Church here in Melbourne's south, causing thousands of dollars in damage and putting the congregation out for possibly a year. The parish priest who had been appointed less than two years ago, is the National Director of the Guild of St. Stephen. It was the second suspicious fire in the area, following a blaze which destroyed a discount store.

St. Joachim

Today the Church honours St. Joachim, father of the Blessed Virgin Mary. According to the apocryphal Protoevangelium of James, St. Joachim came to make an offering at the Temple and was taunted for being without seed. In grief he retired to the desert where he remained in fasting and prayer for forty days, hoping the Lord would give him a child. Meanwhile his wife St. Anne was mourning the loss of her husband and her childlessness, when her maid-servant Judith reminded her the day of the Lord was approaching, prompting St. Anne to go into the garden to pray.

Simultaneously, an angel appeared to Sts. Joachim and Anne announcing their prayers were heard, prompting St. Joachim to instruct his shepherds to bring 10 lambs, 12 calves and 100 goats to offer in thanksgiving. As he lead the flock homeward, St. Anne awaited him at the city gate and when she saw him in the distance, ran out to embrace him. St. Joachim took his offerings to the Temple, where God gave him a sign he was without sin, and he returned home justified.

After Our Lady was born, her parents dedicated her to God and at the age of three she was taken to the Temple, where they arranged for virgins to stand with lamps to see if her heart would be captivated by the Temple. When Our Lady entered the Temple and did not turn back, her parents went down praising God.

In the fourth century St. Helena built a Church on the site of Sts Joachim and Anne's home but by the close of the ninth century it had become a Muslim school. In 1889 their tomb was discovered in Jerusalem. Today's feast was first celebrated in the Greek Churches, the Latin Churches having celebrated it at different times on March 20, September 19, December 9 or the Sunday after the Assumption.

Laudemus virum gloriosum in generatione sua,

quia benedictionem omnium gentium dedit illi Dominus,

et testamentum suum confirmavit super caput ejus

While the eyes of the world are fixed on the Holy Land, spare a thought for those in Sri Lanka where the latest attacks have resulted in:

• a Catholic Church being accidentally bombed killing 15
• a former children's home being bombed killing 61 schoolgirls and injuring another 129
• a bomb exploding in the capital Colombo, near where the Pakistani High Commissioner was passing through

Unfortunately the Catholic Church has not been immune from ethnic division with bishops in the south, predominantly of Sinhalese extraction, failing to place religion before race and speak out against the atrocities being committed by both sides. Even when Catholic aid groups like Caritas voice their concerns, these bishops seem to be more interested in supporting themselves like the Buddhist monks who were part of a mob which attacked an orphanage run by the Dutch Reformed Church because of plans to expand their facilities. So much for practicing tolerance and seeking peace!!

The latest Commentary from that site (you probably know which one) makes reference to a very interesting rite, the Degradation from the Order of Bishop, which appears in the Pontificale Romanum.

The formula of the rite is recited by the pontiff and begins:

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. Because We, having learned by way of accusation or condemnation or investigation of the crime committed by Bishop [name], owing to his own confession or legal proofs, find clearly that he has committed the very crime. And because the crime is not only great but also damnable and ruinous and so enormous that consequently it is not only offensive to the Divine majesty but also the entire community has been disturbed, and because of this he has been rendered unworthy of office and of ecclesiastical benefit, We, therefore, by the authority of Almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and by Our own authority, formally deprive him forever of every such office and ecclesiastical benefit by this Brief, and We depose him from these by word and pronounce him in deed really and truly deposed and degraded according to the tradition of the Canons.

The formula continues:

We strip you of the prerogatives of episcopal office, which is symbolized in the pallium, because you have abused these. We denude your head of the mitre, that is to say, the adornment of the episcopal office, because you have dirtied it in your exercise of it. Give back the Book of Gospels. Because by your office of preaching, through which the grace of God is spread, you have made yourself unworthy, we justly deprive you of it. The ring, to be sure, the sign of the Faith, we rightly take away from you, because you have purposefully violated the Church, the bride of Christ. We take back from you your pastoral crosier, in order that consequently you will not be able to exercise the office of correction that you have defiled. We thus strip you of spiritual blessing and the dispensation of mystical grace, as far as we can, in order that you lose the office and effect of offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and of blessing. [At this point the pontiff cuts the formerly anointed hands and fingers of the degraded bishop with a knife to prevent his offering Mass or blessing again.] We void by erasing the faculties of consecration, blessing, and anointing handed down to you, and we strip you of the rank of bishop, for which you have been rendered unfit. [At this point the pontiff cuts head of the degraded bishop with a knife, where he was made a cleric by tonsure. Finally, the pontiff strips the degraded bishop of his very shoes.]

Since the modern Church places great emphasis on episcopal autonomy and collegiality, it seems very unlikely the pope would ever resort to this rite. However the Church should be mindful of the words of Sts. John Chrysostom and John Eudes, "the road to hell is paved with the skulls of bishops."

Newman on the Assumption

According to tradition, St. Thomas was not present at the death of Our Lady

but witnessed her Assumption and received as testimony to the event Our Lady's girdle.

On the Fitness of the Glories of Mary from Discourses to Mixed Congregations by Cardinal Newman:

But in a festive season, my dear brethren, I must not weary you with argument, when we should offer specially to the Blessed Virgin the homage of our love and loyalty; yet, let me finish as I have begun;—I will be brief, but bear with me if I view her bright Assumption, as I have viewed her immaculate purity, rather as a point of doctrine than as a theme for devotion.

It was surely fitting then, it was becoming, that she should be taken up into heaven and not lie in the grave till Christ's second coming, who had passed a life of sanctity and of miracle such as hers. All the works of God are in a beautiful harmony; they are carried on to the end as they begin. This is the difficulty which men of the world find in believing miracles at all; they think these break the order and consistency of God's visible word, not knowing that they do but subserve a higher order of things, and introduce a supernatural perfection. But at least, my brethren, when one miracle is wrought, it may be expected to draw others after it for the completion of what is begun. Miracles must be wrought for some great end; and if the course of things fell back again into a natural order before its termination, how could we but feel a disappointment? and if we were told that this certainly was to be, how could we but judge the information improbable and difficult to believe? Now this applies to the history of our Lady. I say, it would be a greater miracle if, her life being what it was, her death was like that of other men, than if it were such as to correspond to her life. Who can conceive, my brethren, that God should so repay the debt, which He condescended to owe to His Mother, for the elements of His human body, as to allow the flesh and blood from which it was taken to moulder in the grave? Do the sons of men thus deal with their mothers? do they not nourish and sustain them in their feebleness, and keep them in life while they are able? Or who can conceive that that virginal frame, which never sinned, was to undergo the death of a sinner? Why should she share the curse of Adam, who had no share in his fall? "Dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return," was the sentence upon sin; she then, who was not a sinner, fitly never saw corruption. She died, then, as we hold, because even our Lord and Saviour died; she died, as she suffered, because she was in this world, because she was in a state of things in which suffering and death are the rule. She lived under their external sway; and, as she obeyed Caesar by coming for enrolment to Bethlehem, so did she, when God willed it, yield to the tyranny of death, and was dissolved into soul and body, as well as others. But though she died as well as others, she died not as others die; for, through the merits of her Son, by whom she was what she was, by the grace of Christ which in her had anticipated sin, which had filled her with light, which had purified her flesh from all defilement, she was also saved from disease and malady, and all that weakens and decays the bodily frame. Original sin had not been found in her, by the wear of her senses, and the waste of her frame, and the decrepitude of years, propagating death. She died, but her death was a mere fact, not an effect; and, when it was over, it ceased to be. She died that she might live, she died as a matter of form or (as I may call it) an observance, in order to fulfil, what is called, the debt of nature,—not primarily for herself or because of sin, but to submit herself to her condition, to glorify God, to do what her Son did; not however as her Son and Saviour, with any suffering for any special end; not with a martyr's death, for her martyrdom had been in living; not as an atonement, for man could not make it, and One had made it, and made it for all; but in order to finish her course, and to receive her crown.

And therefore she died in private. It became Him, who died for the world, to die in the world's sight; it became the Great Sacrifice to be lifted up on high, as a light that could not be hid. But she, the lily of Eden, who had always dwelt out of the sight of man, fittingly did she die in the garden's shade, and amid the sweet flowers in which she had lived. Her departure made no noise in the world. The Church went about her common duties, preaching, converting, suffering; there were persecutions, there was fleeing from place to place, there were martyrs, there were triumphs; at length the rumour spread abroad that the Mother of God was no longer upon earth. Pilgrims went to and fro; they sought for her relics, but they found them not; did she die at Ephesus? or did she die at Jerusalem? reports varied; but her tomb could not be pointed out, or if it was found, it was open; and instead of her pure and fragrant body, there was a growth of lilies from the earth which she had touched. So inquirers went home marvelling, and waiting for further light. And then it was said, how that when her dissolution was at hand, and her soul was to pass in triumph before the judgment-seat of her Son, the apostles were suddenly gathered together in the place, even in the Holy City, to bear part in the joyful ceremonial; how that they buried her with fitting rites; how that the third day, when they came to the tomb, they found it empty, and angelic choirs with their glad voices were heard singing day and night the glories of their risen Queen. But, however we feel towards the details of this history (nor is there anything in it which will be unwelcome or difficult to piety), so much cannot be doubted, from the consent of the whole Catholic world and the revelations made to holy souls, that, as is befitting, she is, soul and body, with her Son and God in heaven, and that we are enabled to celebrate, not only her death, but her Assumption.

And now, my dear brethren, what is befitting in us, if all that I have been telling you is befitting in Mary? If the Mother of Emmanuel ought to be the first of creatures in sanctity and in beauty; if it became her to be free from all sin from the very first, and from the moment she received her first grace to begin to merit more; and if such as was her beginning, such was her end, her conception immaculate and her death an assumption; if she died, but revived, and is exalted on high; what is befitting in the children of such a Mother, but an imitation, in their measure, of her devotion, her meekness, her simplicity, her modesty, and her sweetness? Her glories are not only for the sake of her Son, they are for our sakes also. Let us copy her faith, who received God's message by the angel without a doubt; her patience, who endured St. Joseph's surprise without a word; her obedience, who went up to Bethlehem in the winter and bore our Lord in a stable; her meditative spirit, who pondered in her heart what she saw and heard about Him; her fortitude, whose heart the sword went through; her self-surrender, who gave Him up during His ministry and consented to His death.

Above all, let us imitate her purity, who, rather than relinquish her virginity, was willing to lose Him for a Son. O my dear children, young men and young women, what need have you of the intercession of the Virgin-mother, of her help, of her pattern, in this respect! What shall bring you forward in the narrow way, if you live in the world, but the thought and patronage of Mary? What shall seal your senses, what shall tranquillise your heart, when sights and sounds of danger are around you, but Mary? What shall give you patience and endurance, when you are wearied out with the length of the conflict with evil, with the unceasing necessity of precautions, with the irksomeness of observing them, with the tediousness of their repetition, with the strain upon your mind, with your forlorn and cheerless condition, but a loving communion with her! She will comfort you in your discouragements, solace you in your fatigues, raise you after your falls, reward you for your successes. She will show you her Son, your God and your all. When your spirit within you is excited, or relaxed, or depressed, when it loses its balance, when it is restless and wayward, when it is sick of what it has, and hankers after what it has not, when your eye is solicited with evil and your mortal frame trembles under the shadow of the tempter, what will bring you to yourselves, to peace and to health, but the cool breath of the Immaculate and the fragrance of the Rose of Sharon? It is the boast of the Catholic Religion, that it has the gift of making the young heart chaste; and why is this, but that it gives us Jesus Christ for our food, and Mary for our nursing Mother? Fulfil this boast in yourselves; prove to the world that you are following no false teaching, vindicate the glory of your Mother Mary, whom the world blasphemes, in the very face of the world, by the simplicity of your own deportment, and the sanctity of your words and deeds. Go to her for the royal heart of innocence. She is the beautiful gift of God, which outshines the fascinations of a bad world, and which no one ever sought in sincerity and was disappointed. She is the personal type and representative image of that spiritual life and renovation in grace, "without which no one shall see God". "Her spirit is sweeter than honey, and her heritage than the honeycomb. They that eat her shall yet be hungry, and they that drink her shall still thirst. Whoso hearkeneth to her shall not be confounded, and they that work by her shall not sin.