Saturday, August 28, 2010

"In detachment, the spirit finds quiet and repose for coveting nothing. Nothing wearies it by elation, and nothing oppresses it by dejection, because it stands in the center of its own humility."

-St. John of the Cross

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Blessed Feast Day-Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary

Blessed Virgin Mary

Solemnity

August 15

(This post is copied from a wonderful daily e-mail service: Joy2Day2U@aol.com simply send an email asking to be signed up.  You will be thrilled with the great reflections and quotes you will wake up to everyday. Highly recommend you try receiving her emails! the pictures here are not the same ones she posted in today's email or order but that is due my email program being stubborn and not letting me cut-n-paste)



Today, she who "belongs to Christ" by a unique, abiding, and unrepeatable

privilege, the most holy Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary, follows where He

has gone, "through the greater and more perfect tent not made by human hands,

that is, not of this creation . . . into the Holy Place" (Heb 9:11). "Today the sacred

and living ark of the living God, who conceived her Creator Himself,

takes up her abode in the temple of God." ~ St. John Damascene



“Above all, let us listen to Mary Most Holy, in whom the mystery of the Eucharist appears, more than in anyone else, as a mystery of light. Gazing upon Mary, we come to know the transforming power present in the Eucharist. In her we see the world renewed in love. Contemplating her, assumed body and soul into heaven, we see opening up before us those 'new heavens' and that 'new earth' which will appear at the second coming of Christ. Here below, the Eucharist represents their pledge, and in a certain way, their anticipation: 'Veni, Domine Iesu!'’” (Rev 22:20).

Bl. John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 62



"The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the oldest Marian Feast, returns every year in the heart of summer. It is an opportunity to rise with Mary to the heights of the spirit where one breathes the pure air of supernatural life and contemplates the most authentic beauty, the beauty of holiness. The atmosphere of today’s celebration is steeped in paschal joy. “Today”, the antiphon of the Magnificat says, “the Virgin Mary was taken up to Heaven. Rejoice, for she reigns with Christ for ever. Alleluia”. This proclamation speaks to us of an event that is utterly unique and extraordinary, yet destined to fill the heart of every human being with hope and happiness. Mary is indeed the first fruit of the new humanity, the creature in whom the mystery of Christ – his Incarnation, death, Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven – has already fully taken effect, redeeming her from death and conveying her, body and soul, to the Kingdom of immortal life. For this reason, as the Second Vatican Council recalls, the Virgin Mary is a sign of certain hope and comfort to us (cf. Lumen Gentium, n. 68). Today’s feast impels us to lift our gaze to Heaven; not to a heaven consisting of abstract ideas or even an imaginary heaven created by art, but the Heaven of true reality which is God himself. God is Heaven. He is our destination, the destination and the eternal dwelling place from which we come and for which we are striving."

- Homily of His Holiness, Benedict XVI, August 15th 2008

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

John Tauler (c.1300-1361), Dominican at Strasbourg
Sermon 9


"O woman, great is your faith!"


«Have pity on me, Lord, son of David!» This is a cry for help of immense force..., a groan emerging as if from fathomless depths. It greatly surpasses our nature for it is the Holy Spirit himself who puts forth this groaning within us (Rom 8,26)... But Jesus says to her: "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." ... And what did she do, thus dismissed as she was?... She descended even more deeply into the abyss. Stooping down and humbling herself she continued to trust and said: "Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters."

Ah! If only you, too, could manage to penetrate the depths of truth so truly, not through learned treatises, grandiose words or even with the senses, but within your own real depths. Neither God nor any creature would be able to tread you under foot or crush you if only you would remain in the truth, in trustful humility. People might affront, despise or rebuff you but you would stand firm in your perseverance, pushing down even deeper still, filled with complete confidence, and would increase in persistence even more. Everything depends on this and whoever reaches this point will succeed. These paths, and these alone, are what truly lead to God without any stopping places in between. Yet there are few who remain in this great humility in this way, with the perseverance and whole and entire confidence like this woman.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

"Holy Angel at my side go to church for me. Kneel in my place at Holy Mass where I desire to be. At Offertory in my stead take all I am and own And place it as a sacrifice up on altar throne. At Holy Consecration bell adore with seraph love My Jesus hidden in the Host come down from Heaven above Pray for those I dearly love and those who cause me grief That Jesus' Blood may cleanse all hearts and suffering souls relieve"

Monday, August 2, 2010

DOCTORS of the CHURCH
St. Gregory the Great · St. Ambrose · St. Augustine · St. Jerome · St. John Chrysostom · St. Basil · St. Gregory Nazianzus · St. Athanasius of Alexandria · St. Cyril of Alexandria · St. Cyril of Jerusalem · St. John Damascene · St. Bede the Venerable · St. Ephrem · St. Thomas Aquinas · St. Bonaventure · St. Anselm · St. Isidore · St. Peter Chrysologus · St. Leo the Great · St. Peter Damian · St. Bernard of Clairvaux · St. Hilary of Poitiers · St. Alphonsus Liguori · St. Francis de Sales · St. Peter Canisius · St. John of the Cross · St. Robert Bellarmine · St. Albertus Magnus · St. Anthony of Padua · St. Lawrence of Brindisi · St. Teresa of Avila · St. Catherine of Siena · St. Thérèse of Lisieux ·
 Prayer before Holy Communion
by St Alphonsus Ligouri
 
 "Come my Lord, implant Yourself in my heart.  Lock its doors forever.
I want nothing cheap to enter it and take away the love that belongs
to You.  You alone must run my life.  If I swerve from you, steer me
straight once more.  Make me search for one pleasure:  the pleasure
of pleasing You.  Make me yearn for one joy:  the joy of visiting You.
Make me crave for one delight:  the delight of receiving Your body.
So many people chase after such hollow things!  But all I care about
is Your love, and I am here to beg it from You today.  Let me forget
myself and keep You ever before my mind.   ~  Amen."