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Fi News #68 – Bushfire at Perth Friary ! ( 05min) >>> Play

In the afternoon of March 1st, 2010 a bushfire started near the friary in Perth, Australia and grew quickly. It jumped the main road and approached our backyard. We decided to evacuate the friary. We took the Blessed Sacrament, a few liturgical items of worth, a few personal items (passports, etc.) and the computers and loaded up the cars. We turned on the lawn sprinklers on the side facing the fire, closed all windows and doors, placed a statue of Our Lady to watch over the fire and drove down the road to a safe distance to wait it out. Roads were blocked by the police. After noticing that the smoke in the immediate area of the friary had died down and after the police told us the friary was ok, we went to a benefactor’s house for something to eat and drink only to be allowed back onto the property around 10:00pm. Damage was limited to a few sheds in the area, no homes or loss of life but about 47 hectares (115 acres) burned.

Homily #100209 ( 07min) Play – For the Jews the Temple in Jerusalem was the dwelling place of God and so was central to their spiritual life. Listen as Fr. Angelo relates this to the Blessed Sacrament to which we should make frequent visits to give true worship.
Ave Maria! Mass readings
1: 1 Kings 8:22-23,27-30
R: Ps 84:3-5,10-11
G: Mk 7:1-13

Audio (MP3)

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Ave Maria Meditations  

“The Lord is in the midst of you.”

It is St. John the Baptist who speaks to us in the Gospel (Jn1:I9~28),   ” There is one in the midst of you whom you know not.” John, a man of faith, was telling the Jews with full conviction that Jesus had been living among them for thirty years and that they did not know Him because He had not yet manifested Himself by miracles.

His words have value for us too; Jesus is really present in our midst: present in our tabernacles by the Eucharist, present in our souls by grace. But who recognizes Him? Only those who believe. Revive, then, your faith; you will find Jesus, and will know Jesus according to the measure of your faith in Him. Sometimes He conceals Himself from you, and you think that you will never find Him, never feel Him again. This is the time to redouble your faith, to walk “in pure faith.” “Blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed”(Jn.20:29). Such was the faith of St. John the Baptist, who had not seen Jesus’ miracles, and never­theless believed.

Such was Mary’s faith, to which the Vesper antiphon refers, “Blessed art thou, O Mary, that hast believed the Lord; those things will be fulfilled in thee,  which were spoken to thee.” (Lk.1:45). Even Mary lived by faith; she had to believe in the words of the Angel, and when she agreed to become the Mother of God, she had to accept a mystery which she did not understand. But Mary did believe, and by her faith, God’s words were accomplished in her. And so shall they be in you; you will see all your hopes fulfilled, you will be able to realize your ideal of intimate union with God if you have faith in Him and in His promises. (more…)

Ave Maria Meditations

The Eucharistic sacrifice and the ordinary life of the Christian.

The Second Vatican Council reminds us that the sacrifice of the Cross and its sacramental renewal in the Mass are, apart from the difference in the manner of offering, one and the same sacrifice of praise, of thanksgiving, of propitiation and of satisfaction. The ends which Our Savior gave to His sacrifice on the Cross are usually summed up in these four.

The four ends of the Mass are achieved in different ways and to a different extent. The ends that refer directly to God, namely, adoration, praise and thanksgiving, are always produced infallibly and with all their infinite value, independently of our collaboration.  This is true even when the Mass is celebrated without the presence of a single member of the faithful, or, if there is one, if he assists in a distracted way. God, our Lord is praised infinitely every time the Eucharistic Sacrifice is celebrated, and thanksgiving is offered up which satisfies God fully. This oblation, says Saint Thomas, pleases God more than all the sins of the world offend him, since Christ himself is the actual Priest who offers, as well as being the actual victim who is offered in every Mass.

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In possessing me, my poor Lord possesses a nothing,

and I, in possessing Him, possess everything.

St. Anthony Mary Claret, feast day is October 24th

I will ask the Blessed Virgin for an all-embracing charity and perfect union with God, a most profound humility, and the desire for contempt from others. I will greatly esteem virtues in others.  I will look on everybody as my superior, judging well of all his works, reprehending, cen­suring, and judging only myself. This will be for my own profit. Any other kind of judgment will not profit me in the least.

I will remember what our Lord once said to a mis­sionary, namely, that he had preserved him from falling into hell, so that he might work for the salvation of souls. For my part, I too, will think that God delivered me from the untimely death of drowning and from other perils, so that I might labor afterwards for his greater honor and glory, and for the salvation of souls which he redeemed at so great a price.

What has our Lord not done for the glory of his Father and for the salvation of souls? Ah, I see him agonizing on the cross, despised, and loaded with suffer­ings. Then am I, for the same reason, and aided by his grace, firmly resolved to suffer, to toil, to be despised, to be laughed at, calumniated and persecuted, and even to suffer death itself. Thanks be to God I am having my share of these crosses in my life. I live, but my life is that of Christ’s, and in possessing me, my poor Lord possesses a nothing, and I, in possessing Him, posses everything.

I pray to Him like this: O Lord, you are my love. You are my honor, my hope, and my refuge, my glory, and my last end. 0 my love, my happiness, my conserver, my joy, my reformer and my master! You are my father, the spouse of my life and of my soul! I do not seek or desire to know anything but your holy will, in order to do it. I love only you, my God, and all other things only for you, in you, and for your sake. You are more than sufficient for me, and I love you, my strength, my refuge, and my consolation. You are my Father, my brother, my spouse, my friend, and my all. Help me to love you as you love me, and as you will that I should love you.

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Ave Maria Meditations

excerpts from ECCLESIA DE EUCHARISTIA:

On the Eucharist in its relationship to the Church

Encyclical Letter of Pope John Paul II, April 2003

The Church draws her life from the Eucharist. This truth does not simply express a daily experience of faith, but recapitulates the heart of the mystery of the Church. In a variety of ways she joyfully experiences the constant fulfillment of the promise: “Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28:20), but in the Holy Eucharist, through the changing of bread and wine into the body and blood of the Lord, she rejoices in this presence with unique intensity…The Second Vatican Council rightly proclaimed that the Eucharistic sacrifice is “the source and summit of the Christian life.  For the most holy Eucharist contains the Church’s entire spiritual wealth: Christ himself, our Passover and living Bread. Through his own flesh, now made living and life-giving by the Holy Spirit, he offers life to men”. Consequently the gaze of the church is constantly turned to her Lord, present in the Sacrament of the Altar, in which she discovers the full manifestation of his boundless love.

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Ave Maria Meditations

Pope St. Pius X

Feast day is August 21st

Pope St. Pius X was born as Giuseppe Sarto to a poor family in 1835. He was ordained to the holy priesthood in 1858 was elected Pope in 1903. One biography says this on his pontificate: He lowered the age of First Communion to the age of 7 and encouraged frequent, even daily Communion. He reformed the liturgy, promoted clear and simple homilies, and brought Gregorian chant back to services. He revised the Breviary, and the teaching of the Catechism. He fought Modernism, which he denounced as “the summation of all heresies”. He reorganized the Roman curia and initiated the codification of canon law. He promoted the reading of Sacred Scripture and the foreign missions. His will read: “I was born poor; I lived poor; I wish to die poor.” He died in August of 1914.  He is known as the Pope of the Blessed Sacrament and also as the Pope who suppressed modernism and that suppression lasted for decades until  it roared again to life in the turbulent times following the second Vatican Council.

His great encyclical addressing and condemning modernism can be found at

http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius10/p10pasce.htm

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excerpts from

PASCENDI DOMINICI GREGIS ON THE DOCTRINE OF THE MODERNISTS ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PIUS X, SEPTEMBER 8, 1907

VENERABLE BRETHREN, HEALTH AND THE APOSTOLIC BLESSING:

1. One of the primary obligations assigned by Christ to the office divinely committed to Us of feeding the Lord’s flock is that of guarding with the greatest vigilance the deposit of the faith delivered to the saints, rejecting the profane novelties of words and the gainsaying of knowledge falsely so called. There has never been a time when this watchfulness of the supreme pastor was not necessary to the Catholic body, for owing to the efforts of the enemy of the human race, there have never been lacking men speaking perverse things, vain talkers and seducers,erring and driving into error.

It must, however, be confessed that these latter days have witnessed a notable increase in the number of the enemies of the Cross of Christ, who, by arts entirely new and full of deceit, are striving to destroy the vital energy of the Church, and, as far as in them lies, utterly to subvert the very Kingdom of Christ. Wherefore We may no longer keep silence, lest We should seem to fail in Our most sacred duty, and lest the kindness that, in the hope of wiser counsels, We have hitherto shown them, should be set down to lack of diligence in the discharge of Our office.

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Ave Maria Meditations

St. Clare of Assisi (1194-1253)

Feast Day is August 11th

In the year 1240, St Clare saved her sisters and her convent from plundering hordes of Saracen mercenaries through the miracle of the Eucharist. As the Saracens were placing ladders against the walls of the convent she placed a monstrance containing the Eucharist in the sight of the men while she lay prostrate before Jesus and prayed. Here is an account of the incident from The History of Saint Clare, Virgin, written by Tommaso da Celano:

“By imperial order, regiments of Saracen soldiers and bowmen were stationed there (the convent of San Damiano in Assisi, Italy), massed like bees, ready to devastate the encampments and seize the cities. Once, during an enemy attack against Assisi, city beloved of the Lord, and while the army was approaching the gates, the fierce Saracens invaded San Damiano, entered the confines of the monastery and even the very cloister of the virgins. The women swooned in terror, their voices trembling with fear as they cried to their Mother, Saint Clare.

“Saint Clare, with a fearless heart, commanded them to lead her, sick as she was, to the enemy, preceded by a silver and ivory case in which the Body of the Saint of saints was kept with great devotion. And prostrating herself before the Lord, she spoke tearfully to her Christ: ‘Behold, my Lord, is it possible You want to deliver into the hands of pagans Your defenseless handmaids, whom I have taught out of love for You? I pray You, Lord, protect these Your handmaids whom I cannot now save by myself.’ Suddenly a voice like that of a child resounded in her ears from the tabernacle: ‘I will always protect you!’ ‘My Lord,’ she added, ‘if it is Your wish, protect also this city which is sustained by Your love.’ Christ replied, ‘It will have to undergo trials, but it will be defended by My protection.’ Then the virgin, raising a face bathed in tears, comforted the sisters: ‘I assure you, daughters, that you will suffer no evil; only have faith in Christ.’

Upon seeing the courage of the sisters, the Saracens took flight and fled back over the walls they had scaled, unnerved by the strength of she who prayed. And Clare immediately admonished those who heard the voice I spoke of above, telling them severely: ‘Take care not to tell anyone about that voice while I am still alive, dearest daughters.’”

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In this Year of the Priest it is a special pleasure to consider the Patron Saint of ALL Priests, St. John Vianney.  He had been the Patron of Parish Priests but our Holy Father has extended that patronage to all Priests.

Ave Maria Meditations

August 1st: St. Alphonsus Liguori, founder of the Redemptorist Order

SAINT ALPHONSUS LIGUORI Bishop and Doctor of the Church (1696-1787)

An Act of Spiritual Communion

My Jesus, I believe that You are truly in the Blessed Sacrament. I love You above all things and I long for you in my soul. Since I cannot now receive you sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart as though You have already come. I embrace You and unite myself entirely to you; never permit me to be separated from You!

I say that it is the will of God that all graces should come to us by the hands of Mary. Sooner would heaven and earth be destroyed than would Mary fail to assist anyone who asks for her help, provided he does so with a good intention and with confidence in her.

To learn more of this good doctor, continue on…

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Ave Maria Meditations

Pope Benedict XVI / St. Jean Vianney

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St. John Vianney, the great parish priest of Ars, France said in his catechism lesson on priesthood:

The priest is not a priest for himself; he does not give himself absolution; he does not administer the Sacraments to himself. He is not for himself, he is for you… When people wish to destroy religion, they begin by attacking the priest, because where there is no longer any priest there is no sacrifice, and where there is no longer any sacrifice there is no religion…
What joy did the Apostles feel after the Resurrection of Our Lord, at seeing the Master whom they had loved so much! The priest must feel the same joy at seeing Our Lord whom he holds in his hands. Great value is attached to objects which have been laid in the drinking cup of the Blessed Virgin and of the Child Jesus, at Loretto. But the fingers of the priest, that have touched the adorable Flesh of Jesus Christ, that have been plunged into the chalice which contained His Blood, into the pyx where His Body has lain, are they not still more precious? The priesthood is the love of the Heart of Jesus.

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The Mystery of Faith: TRANSUBSTANTIATION

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The words of Our Lord cannot be watered down: the ­bread which I

shall give is my flesh for the life of the world.

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This is the mystery of Faith, we proclaim immediately after the

Consecration at Mass. It has been and is the touchstone of the Catholic

faith. By transubstantiation, the species of bread and wine are no

longer common bread and common drink, but rather the sign of

something sacred and the sign of spiritual food. But they take on a

new expressive­ness and a new purpose for the very reason that they

contain a new reality: which we are right to call ’ontological’. For

beneath these appearances there is no longer what was there before

but something quitedifferent, since on the conver­sion of the bread and

wine’s substance, or nature, into the Body and Blood of Christ,

nothing is left of the bread and wine but the appearances alone.

Beneath these appearances Christ is present whole and entire, bodily

present too, in his physical reality although not in the manner in

which bodies are present in a place.

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We look at Jesus present in the Tabernacle, perhaps just a few yards

away, and we tell him that we know, through faith, that he is present.

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