No Need To Write A Book On Life

At one point I thought it would be useful to write a book on living life but today I realize that people far more talented and resourceful have already done it.  I am glad I had not attempted it, not only because I would have failed at it, but also because it would have been an exercise in futility since everyone will live his/her life in the way he/she sees fit because of Free Will and not because someone uttered some words, whether such words are from earthly sages or Christ Himself.

Having said that, I now contradict myself and say this (in futility):  Life is about becoming invisible yourself and transparent like a piece of glass so others see a bit of Christ through you. [1]


[1] These words were inspired by Sainte Jean-Marie Baptiste Vianney [2] who said:

 "If we had faith, we would see God hidden in the priest like a light behind glass, like wine mixed with water."  See http://www.how-to-pray-the-rosary-everyday.com/saint-john-marie-vianney-quotes.html#priesthood

[2] Pronunciation by  spl0uf at http://www.forvo.com/word/jean-marie_baptiste_vianney/#fr

On Charity And Love By Two Saints

For Thérèse de Lisieux, born January 2, 1873, it was not enough that she devoted her entire life to Christ as a Carmelite nun beginning at the tender age of 15 on April 9, 1888. [1]  She desired martyrdom, not just one kind of martyrdom -- she wanted to have them all, to be scourged and crucified, to be flayed like St. Bartholomew, to be plunged into boiling oil like St. John [2] (even though he was unharmed).  Since this was not possible, she asked, "O my Jesus! what is your answer to all my follies?" [3]

Her answer came during her meditation when she opened the Epistles of St. Paul to find it.  There she read that "all cannot be apostles, prophets, doctors, etc., that the Church is composed of different members, and that the eye cannot be the hand at one and the same time." [4] Emphasis original.  That answer did not satisfy her.  She continued reading and a subsequent sentence "consoled" her:  "'Yet strive after THE BETTER GIFTS, and I point out to you a yet more excellent way.'  And the Apostle explain[ed] how all the most PERFECT gifts are nothing without LOVE.  That Charity is the EXCELLENT WAY that leads most surely to God." [5] Emphasis original.  Then Saint Thérèse concluded: "I understood that LOVE, COMPRISED ALL VOCATIONS, THAT LOVE WAS EVERYTHING, THAT IT EMBRACED ALL TIMES AND PLACES....IN A WORD, THAT IT WAS ETERNAL!" [6] Emphasis original.

About 648 years earlier was born another saint, Saint Thomas Aquinas, "circa 1225," [7] who had this to say on charity and love [8]:  

  I am the Good Shepherd. Surely it is fitting that Christ should be a shepherd, for just as a flock is guided and fed by a shepherd so the faithful are fed by Christ with spiritual food and with his own body and blood. The Apostle said: You were once like sheep without a shepherd, but now you have returned to the guardian and ruler of your souls. The prophet has said: As a shepherd he pastures his flock.

  Christ said that the shepherd enters through the gate and that he is himself the gate as well as the shepherd. Then it is necessary that he enter through himself. By so doing, he reveals himself, and through himself he knows the Father. But we enter through him because through him we find happiness.

  Take heed: no one else is the gate but Christ. Others reflect his light, but no one else is the true light. John the Baptist was not the light, but he bore witness to the light. It is said of Christ, however: He was the true light that enlightens every man. For this reason no one says that he is the gate; this title is Christ’s own. However, he has made others shepherds and given that office to his members; for Peter was a shepherd, and so were the other apostles and all good bishops after them. Scripture says: I shall give you shepherds according to my own heart. Although the bishops of the Church, who are her sons, are all shepherds, nevertheless Christ refers only to one person in saying: I am the Good Shepherd, because he wants to emphasise the virtue of charity. Thus, no one can be a good shepherd unless he is one with Christ in charity. Through this we become members of the true shepherd.

  The duty of a good shepherd is charity; therefore Christ said: The good shepherd gives his life for his sheep. Know the difference between a good and a bad shepherd: the good shepherd cares for the welfare of his flock, but the bad shepherd cares only for his own welfare.

  The Good Shepherd does not demand that shepherds lay down their lives for a real flock of sheep. But every spiritual shepherd must endure the loss of his bodily life for the salvation of the flock, since the spiritual good of the flock is more important than the bodily life of the shepherd, when danger threatens the salvation of the flock. This is why the Lord says: The good shepherd lays down his life, that is, his physical life, for his sheep; this he does because of his authority and love. Both, in fact, are required: that they should be ruled by him, and that he should love them. The first without the second is not enough.

No wonder they are saints but we, all of us, are not far from being saintly, if we simply take time to meditate on the true meaning of the Passion which, in short, is God's immense love for all of us sinners.  Therefore, the clearest path that is shown to us by God, by Christ and by His and our Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the path to take to return to God, is love, our unconditional love for God.



[1] Thérèse, de Lisieux, Saint.  Story of a Soul The Autobiography of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux . 3rd Edition. Translated by John Clarke, O.C.D.  Washington D.C.:  Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites, Inc., 1996, p.7.
[2] Ibid., 193.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid., 193-4.
[5] Ibid., 194.
[6] Ibid. Everything in this quotation, including the four-dot suspension point  "...." is original.
[7] St. Thomas Aquinas. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/st-thomas-aquinas-9187231 [Accessed 28 Aug 2013].
[8]  Office Of Readings. Tuesday, August 27, 2013. Second Reading.  An exposition on John by Saint Thomas Aquinas.  The remnant of Israel shall be led to pasture. [Internet]. 2013. Universalis website. Available from http://universalis.com/20130826/readings.htm [Accessed 28 Aug 2013].  NOTE: This particular passage may not be available on the Universalis' website at a later date since the readings are updated periodically with the recent replacing the past.

The Religious Vows

The vows of the religious scare me because I know I could never live up to them if ever I had sworn to abide by them.  It has always been my philosophy that one ought not to take those vows unless one adheres to them without exception, no matter how difficult, no matter the intensity of the temptations. [1] 

Further to my point, I have read today in Canto V of The Divine Comedy, The Paradiso by Dante, the words of Beatrice [2]:

"Of all creation's bounty realized,
God's greatest gift, the gift in which mankind
is most like Him, the gift by Him most prized,

is the freedom He bestowed upon the will.
All His intelligent creatures, and they alone,
were so endowed, and so endowed are still.

From this your reasoning should make evident
the value of the vow, if it is so joined
that God gives His consent when you consent.

When, therefore, God and man have sealed the pact,
the man divests himself of that great treasure
of which I speak--and by his own free act,

What can you offer, then, to make amends?
How can you make good use of what is His?
Would you employ extortion to good ends?

..."

What that means, as explained by translator John Ciardi, follows:

"THE SANCTITY OF HOLY VOWS.  Dante has asked if a man may not, by other good works, make amends for an unfulfilled vow.  Beatrice replies that God's greatest gift to man is his free will, and that a vow is a direct compact with God wherein man, of his free will, offers that freedom back to God.  Once God accepts, the man's will is no longer free for it has been given to God.  How then is a man free to will what is good, his will and freedom now belonging to God?  To assert a free will that is no longer his is to seek to embezzle his way to the good." [3]

[1]  I am spiritually weak and lack the requisite unwavering commitment to holiness which each and every religious ought to have.  Therefore, I have never taken those vows and probably never will.  Because of this fact, I am sad for myself, a sadness only my Free Will can cure.  This is one of the heavy crosses I bear.  I choose to bear this heavy cross because the heavier cross of hypocrisy I would not be able to bear.
[2] Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy. The Paradiso, Canto V, page 632. Trans. John Ciardi. New York: New American Library, 2003.
[3] Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy. The Paradiso, Notes, page 635. Trans. John Ciardi. New York: New American Library, 2003.

The Miracle Of Prayer

Prayers lead to miracles. [1], [2]  When praying for help, pray with unyielding faith, complete humility, maximum hope and no expectation.  Remember always to say prayers of gratitude.  Miracles do not just happen; they require time and energy, divine time and energy.  But too often miracles are taken for granted because of Sin, the same Sin Adam and Eve committed, believing all they had were theirs even though everything they had came from God.


[1] Pray the prayers of the Rosary, prayers on http://universalis.com/, and one's own prayers of love for God, His Son, Jesus Christ, Whose Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Holy Spirit with thoughts that express your deepest and most vulnerable love that you generally do not express to anyone else.
[2] One can pray while walking or waiting in traffic, but probably not a good idea to do so while the car is in motion.  Yesterday I was trying to memorize the Apostle's Creed in Latin while driving when I got impatient with the cab driver in front of me [3] and in the middle of recalling the words of the prayer in Latin I cussed him out in English.  Cussing anyone one out in the middle of a prayer cannot be good.  To make the matter worse, I used the name God in an expression, "Oh My God," because I was shocked to realize what I had just done.  Using God in an expression means saying the name of God in vain (I learned that recently) because that would be calling for God's attention without any intention to address God.  Of course I tried to make up for it immediately.  Perhaps it was a miracle that I did not rear-end the cab -- that would be rather ironic.  On second thought, perhaps it was but certainly not in the way I would expect it to happpen.  By cussing, all my senses were awakened from the semi-hypnotic state of memorization and sharpened.
[3] It was frustrating enough not being to say the prayer smoothly while wondering if I had all the words right, then I had to refocus because the driver in front was driving like he was running out of gas, literally and figuratively, far slower than the normal flow of traffic.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Perfection Is Not Democratic

Perfection requires no compromise.  Since democracy is a child of compromise, it does not come into being in perfection.  Since God is perfect and has made all things perfect [1], there is no occasion for conflict and no need for compromise.

Obviously the eternal and inalterable truth that God is perfect did not go over well with Lucifer who left God to become Satan, the enemy of God.  Nor does it go over well with earth's secularists who think they are smarter than God, who by creating a God-less and loveless society based on democracy and passing laws mandating the redistribution of wealth, allowing abortions and permitting unbridled access to all information think that they can achieve equality that would lead to justice and peace, something that God has failed to achieve.  They cannot be more wrong just as Lucifer was wrong and like Lucifer, they would go the way of the Fallen Angel to Hell. [2], [3]


[1] Did God make a mistake in creating an imperfect couple in Adam and Eve?  No.  Adam and Eve were given Free Choice and Free Choice is perfection.  It was Adam and Eve who made the wrong choice to go on a path that led them away from God, and it was the Son of God, Jesus and His Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary who showed us the path back to God by making the right choices that are perfect in every way, that conform without exception to God's every desire.
[2] The prayer of Fatima will most benefit these souls.  There are many versions of this prayer.  The ones I like are:  Oh my Jesus, save us from the fires of Hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who have most need of Your mercy, and "O mi Jesu, dimitte nobis debita nostra, libera nos ab igne inferni, conduc in caelum omnes animas, praesertim illas quae maxime indigent misericordia tua."  See comment by EUSTACHIUS at http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=5237  They desperately need this prayer to diminish Satan's insidious influence and liberate them from its inexorable grip.
[3] This provides an opening to a discourse in running the world based on the teachings of Christ, a discourse that is beyond the scope of this blog, even though the conclusion is simple: Love one another.

Does God Exist And Does It Even Matter?

Whether God exists is not a question to be pondered in this millennium.  God exists with the second part of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit Who facilitated the birth of the third part of the Holy Trinity, Jesus Christ, from the virgin womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of Christ.

If there is doubt, one can refer to the many, many apparitions, some with healings and others with warnings, of the Blessed Virgin Mary around the world [1], of which only a handful were deemed supernatural by the Vatican, many not.  For the non-believer, that does not matter but the non-believers are not what is troubling me at this writing.

At this writing I fear for those who know, for a fact, that God is real, that Christ died for the remission of sins and that the Blessed Virgin Mary has been trying to save every single soul from eternal damnation by her continual appearances and warnings but who, for one reason/excuse or another relegate God to an afterthought, show indifference to Christ's Passion and consider the Virgin Mary's apparitions as forgettable and her warnings as dismissable. [2]

I also fear for us who do not know what exactly to do that could save our own souls and help save the souls of others.

For now, the only thing I know how to and can do is to pray for myself and others.  Perhaps that is enough, if each and everyone one of us on this planet pray everyday, many times a day for the forgiveness of our sins as we truly forgive those who have sinned against us. Perhaps that is asking for a lot because for so many God is totally irrelevant next to Satan's gifts of power and/or wealth.  The hearts of these people are pitifully depraved and the prayer of Fatima will most benefit them. [3]



[1] http://www.marianapparitions.org/apparitions/history
[2] It is not a good idea to disregard the apparitions of the Virgin Mary, whether or not approved by the Vatican.  Read about the most recent well-known apparition was in Kibeho, Rawanda here:  http://www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/approved_apparitions/kibeho_rwanda/index.html and here:  http://www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/messages/kibeho_messages.html
[3] There are many versions of this but mine are:  On my Jesus, forgive us our sins, especially those who have most need of Your mercy, or O mi Jesu, dimitte nobis debita nostra, libera nos ab igne inferni, conduc in caelum omnes animas, praesertim illas quae maxime indigent misericordia tua. 

Feast Of The Assumption Of The Blessed Virgin Mary - 2012 Homily

Quote verbatin below is the August 15, 2012, homily of Pope Benedict XVI, on The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary [1]:

HOLY MASS ON THE SOLEMNITY

OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI

St Thomas of Villanova Parish, Castel Gandolfo

Wednesday, 15 August 2012

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

On 1 November 1950, Venerable Pope Pius XII proclaimed as Dogma that the Virgin Mary “having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory”. This truth of faith was known by Tradition, was affirmed by the Fathers of the Church, and was a particularly important aspect in the veneration of the Mother of Christ. Precisely this devotional element, so to speak, was the driving force behind the formulation of this Dogma. The Dogma appears as an act of praise and exaltation of the Holy Virgin. It also emerges from the text of the Apostolic Constitution, where it affirms that the Dogma is proclaimed for “the honour of her Son... for the increase of the glory of that same august Mother, and for the joy and exultation of the entire Church”. What was already celebrated in the veneration and devotion of the People of God as the highest and most permanent glorification of Mary was thus expressed in the form of a dogmas; the act of the proclamation of the Assumption was presented almost as a liturgy of faith. And in the Gospel which we have just heard, Mary herself prophetically pronounces a few words that orientate us in this perspective. She says: “For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed” (Lk 1:48). It is a prophecy for the whole history of the Church. These words of the Magnificat, recorded by St Luke, indicate that praising the Blessed Virgin, Mother of God, intimately united to Christ her Son, regards the Church of all ages and of all places. The fact that the Evangelist noted these words presupposes that the glorification of Mary was already present in the time of St Luke and he considered it to be a duty and a commitment of the Christian community for all generations. Mary’s words tell us that it is a duty of the Church to remember the greatness of Our Lady for the faith. This Solemnity is an invitation to praise God, and to look upon the greatness of Our Lady, for we know who God is in the faces of those who belong to him.

But why is Mary glorified by her Assumption into Heaven? St Luke, as we have heard, sees the roots of the exaltation and praise of Mary in Elizabeth’s words: “Blessed is she who believed” (Lk 1:45). And the Magnificat, this canticle to God, alive and active in history is a hymn of faith and love, which springs from the heart of the Virgin.

She lived with exemplary fidelity and kept in the inmost depths of her heart the words of God to his people, the promises he made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, making them the content of her prayer: the Word of God in the Magnificat became the word of Mary, the lamp for her journey, thus preparing her to receive even in her womb the Word of God made flesh. Today’s Gospel passage recalls this presence of God in history and in the unfolding of events; in particular, there is a reference to the Second Book of Samuel Chapter Six (6:1-15), in which David moves the Holy Ark of the Covenant. The comparison is clear to the Evangelist: Mary expecting the birth of her Son Jesus is the Holy Ark that contains the presence of God, a presence that is a source of consolation, of total joy. John, in fact, leaps in Elizabeth’s womb, just as David danced before the Ark. Mary is the “visit” of God that creates joy. Zechariah, in his song of praise says explicitly: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people” (Lk 1:68). The house of Zechariah experienced the visit of God by the unexpected birth of John the Baptist, but above all by the presence of Mary, who bore within her womb the Son of God.

But now let us ask ourselves: how does the Assumption of Mary help our journey? The first answer is: in the Assumption we see that in God there is room for man, God himself is the house with many rooms of which Jesus speaks (cf. Jn 14:2); God is man’s home, in God there is God’s space. And Mary, by uniting herself, united to God, does not distance herself from us. She does not go to an unknown galaxy, but whoever approaches God comes closer, for God is close to us all; and Mary, united to God, shares in the presence of God, is so close to us, to each one of us.

There is a beautiful passage from St Gregory the Great on St Benedict that we can apply to Mary too. St Gregory the Great says that the heart of St Benedict expanded so much that all creation could enter it. This is even truer of Mary: Mary, totally united to God, has a heart so big that all creation can enter this heart, and the ex-votos in every part of the earth show it. Mary is close, she can hear us, she can help us, she is close to everyone of us. In God there is room for man and God is close, and Mary, united to God, is very close; she has a heart as great as the heart of God.

But there is also another aspect: in God not only is there room for man; in man there is room for God. This too we see in Mary, the Holy Ark who bears the presence of God. In us there is space for God and this presence of God in us, so important for bringing light to the world with all its sadness, with its problems. This presence is realized in the faith: in the faith we open the doors of our existence so that God may enter us, so that God can be the power that gives life and a path to our existence. In us there is room, let us open ourselves like Mary opened herself, saying: “Let your will be done, I am the servant of the Lord”. By opening ourselves to God, we lose nothing. On the contrary, our life becomes rich and great.

And so, faith and hope and love are combined. Today there is much discussion on a better world to be awaited: it would be our hope. If and when this better world comes, we do not know, I do not know. What is certain is that a world which distances itself from God does not become better but worse. Only God’s presence can guarantee a good world. Let us leave it at that.

One thing, one hope is certain: God expects us, waits for us, we do not go out into a void, we are expected. God is expecting us and on going to that other world we find the goodness of the Mother, we find our loved ones, we find eternal Love. God is waiting for us: this is our great joy and the great hope that is born from this Feast. Mary visits us, and she is the joy of our life and joy is hope.

What is there to say then? A great heart, the presence of God in the world, room for God within us and room for us in God, hope, being expected: this is the symphony of this Feast, the instruction that meditating on this Solemnity gives us. Mary is the dawn and the splendour of the Church triumphant; she is the consolation and the hope of people still on the journey, it says in today’s Preface.

Let us entrust ourselves to her Motherly intercession, that she may obtain that he strengthen our faith in eternal life; may she help us to live the best way the time that God has given us with hope. May it be a Christian hope, that is not only nostalgia for Heaven, but a living and active desire for God who is here in the world, a desire for God that makes us tireless pilgrims, nourishing in us the courage and the power of faith, which at the same time is the courage and the power of love. Amen.



© Copyright 2012 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

[1] The link for this page is at: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2012/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20120815_assunzione_en.html  
I believe that the Assumption of The Blessed Virgin Mary, a divine truth founded on faith is a necessary conclusion following another divine truth founded on faith, the Immaculate Conception, because The Blessed Virgin Mary was undefiled by Adam's original sin, argued eloquently by John Dun Scotus at http://www.christendom-awake.org/pages/marian/scotus&immac.htm, or at http://lemomentdepaix.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-immaculate-conception.html .  Accordingly, the Blessed Virgin Mary is described as "sanctissima, inviolata, intemerata, pulcherrima," or "most holy, inviolate, undefiled, most beautiful."  See comment by GreenWhiteBlue on 13th June 2007 at http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=535471.  My Salve Regina prayer at http://lemomentdepaix.blogspot.com/2013/08/salve-regina-hail-holy-queen.html
includes these words.