Homily #100225 ( 04min) Play – Fr. Bonaventure preaches on today’s Gospel that tells us of the need to love God above all else because he knows what we need and we can love all others through Him.
Ave Maria! Mass readings
1: Esth C:12,14-16,23-25
R: Ps 138:1-3,7-8
G: Mt 7:7-12

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Homily #100131t ( 09min) Play – Faith is not practiced in mind only but with your whole self. Hope is Faith in action, and Charity must precede all virtues.

Ave Maria! Mass readings

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Homily #100124 ( 14min) Play – From today’s Gospel Fr Bonaventure preaches on the fact that Jesus is God and our Salvation. He contrasts this to the ancient heresy of Gnosticism that placed the hope of salvation in human knowledge. Listen as he explains that this was an early form of Modernism, containing a very dangerous, prideful intellectualism which has become an almost universal mindset today and how only Christ can guide us away from shipwreck.

Ave Maria!

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mass readings
1: Neh 8:2-4,5-6,8-10
R: Ps 19:8-10,15
2: 1 Cor 12:12-30
G: Lk 1:1-4; 4:14-21

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Marycast #108 ( 10min) Play – Dr. Miravalle discusses how Our Lady of America tells us that suffering is very fruitful in a spiritual, redemptive sense and that it is, in fact, unavoidable. Listen to this startling but hopeful message that Our Lady has given to Americans.

To ask questions regarding Mary, email Dr Mark Miravalle: marycast@airmaria.com

Ave Maria!

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The Greatness of the Power of Mary to defend those who invoke her when tempted by the Devil.

STORY
In Reichersperg, in Bavaria, there was a canon regular of the name of Arnold, surnamed the Pious on account of the sanctity of his life, and who had the most tender devotion to our Blessed Lady.  When at the point of death, and having received the last sacraments, he summoned his religious brethren, and begged that they would not abandon him in his last passage.  Scarcely had he uttered these words, when, in the presence of all, he began to tremble, to roll his eyes, and bathed in a cold sweat, with a faltering voice said, “Ah, do you not see the devils who are endeavouring to drag me to hell?” He then cried out, “Brothers, implore the aid of Mary for me; in her I confide; she will give me the victory.”  On hearing this his brethren recited the Litany of our Blessed Lady, and as they said “Holy Mary, pray for him,” the dying man exclaimed, “Repeat, repeat the name of Mary, for I am already before God’s tribunal.”  He was silent for a moment, and then added, “It is true that I did that, but I have done penance for it.”  And then turning to our Blessed Lady, he said, “O Mary, I shall be delivered if you help me.” Again the devils attacked him; but he defended himself with his crucifix and the name of Mary.  Thus was the night spent; but no sooner did morning dawn than Arnold exclaimed with the greatest calmness, and full of holy joy, “Mary my sovereign Lady, my refuge, has obtained me pardon and salvation.”  Then casting his eyes on that Blessed Virgin who was inviting him to follow her, he said, “I come, O Lady, I come!” and making an effort to do so even with his body, his soul fled after her to the realms of eternal bliss, as we trust, for he sweetly expired.

PRAYER
Behold at your feet, O Mary my hope, a poor sinner, who has so many times been by his own fault the slave of hell.  I know that by neglecting to have recourse to you, my refuge, I allowed myself to be overcome by the devil.  Had I always had recourse to you, had I always invoked you, I certainly should not have fallen.  I trust, O Lady most worthy of all our love, that through you I have already escaped from the hands of the devil, and that God has pardoned me.  But I tremble lest at some future period I may again fall into the same bonds.  I know that my enemies have not lost the hope of again overcoming me, and already they prepare new assaults and temptations for me.  Ah, my Queen and refuge, do you assist me.  Place me under your mantle; permit me not again to become their slave.  I know that you wilt help me and give me the victory, provided I invoke you; but I dread lest in my temptations I may forget you, and neglect to do so.  The favour, then, that I seek of you, and which you must grant me, O most holy Virgin, is that I may never forget you, and especially in time of temptation; grant that I may then repeatedly invoke you, saying, “O Mary, help me; O Mary, help me.”  And when my last struggle with hell comes, at the moment of death, ah then, my Queen, help me more than ever, and you yourself remind me to call on you more frequently either with my lips or in my heart; that, being thus filled with confidence, I may expire with your sweet name and that of your Son Jesus on my lips; that so I may be able to bless you and praise you, and not depart from your feet in Paradise for all eternity.  Amen.

Faith, Hope, and Charity

“And now there remain faith, hope, and charity, these three: but the greatest of these is charity.” (1 Cor. 13: 13).

For St. Paul life was Christ, a life of faith in the Son of God. Death was gain, a passing in joyful hope from this earthly habitation to the blessedness of Heaven. Both in life and death he belonged to God and was motivated solely by love of God and neighbor. Faith, hope and charity were the source of his unparalleled zeal for souls. These theological virtues, poured into the soul by the Holy Spirit, practiced heroically by ones generous response, and ordered to union with God, are the foundation for any authentic and fruitful missionary zeal.

In the first instance, it is the primary duty of the apostle, prophet, teacher, miracle worker, healer, etc., to evangelize by his life. How accurate and sobering it is to say, ‘My life is the word I preach’. If Christ is our life, if we are in Christ Jesus, then our word is the Word who dwells in our hearts through faith (cf. Eph. 3: 17). If not, then “I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal … I am nothing … “ and my words and actions “profiteth me nothing” (cf. I Cor. 13:1-3); my ministry is void. Men such as this are “lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, dis­obedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, without affection, without peace, slanderers, incontinent, unmerciful, with­out kindness, traitors, stubborn, puffed up, and lovers of pleasures more than of God: having an appearance indeed of godliness, but denying the power thereof … Ever learn­ing, and never attaining to the knowledge of truth” (II Tim. 3:2-7). Our Saint exhorts Timothy, and in him all mission­aries, to be “vigilant, labor in all things, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill thy ministry. Be sober” (II TIm. 4:5).

The invitation to lead lives of prayer, silence, and suf­fering comes directly from the Heart of our Blessed Savior. It is He who earnestly desires us to be vigilant in practicing and proclaiming the life of virtue. Thus, when our intellect encounters suffering, it is stu­pefied by the mystery. It must exercise the virtue of super­natural faith in accepting and offering the variety of sacri­fices so necessary for the vitality of the Church’s mission to save souls from eternal damnation. Without faith in Jesus Crucified we become “enemies of the Cross of Christ” (Phil. 3:18). Without faith we cannot accept the joy of sacrifice to which Christ deigns to calls us. Without faith we become overwhelmed by the suffering which is sent to us and instead of rejoicing always with gratitude at our little portion of the Cross, we become grumblers, irritated ourselves and irritable to others. Without faith we lack that ongoing generosity and spirit of self-denial which ought to charac­terize a follower of the Crucified Lord.

However, with faith we live in profound communion with the Suffering Savior and rejoice to endure all things out of love for God and neighbor. With faith a life pen­ance and mortification is freely embraced as a gift from God and, in turn, frees us to embrace a sinful world with the infinite love of God. With divine faith our thoughts, our words, our actions become fountains of divine grace in an arid world of sin and death. Ultimately our faith, our assent to revealed truth, will give way to the Beatific Vision of Truth Himself. “But he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved.” (Mt. 10:22).

In our soul there is also the faculty of memory- cogni­zant of the past, pressing towards the future, and living in the present moment. When the memory is confronted with the sins, failings, and difficulties of the past, the uncertainty of the future, and the responsibility of the present, there is a need for theological hope. Sacred silence is a supreme act of hope which transends this passing world and looks to the Creator of heaven and earth to be ones help now and ones possession in eternal bliss. How frequently the idle word hinders us from our everlasting goal “of the heavenly voca­tion of[God in Christ Jesus” (Ph. 3:13-14).  In a culture saturated with diversion and distraction, it has become more important than ever that we still our tongues, our minds, our bodies, and our hearts in the presence of God.  The practice of prolonged moments of recollection, of trustful surrender to divine providence, of curbing out tongues from vain and unnecessary speech, these are efficacious ways to exercise and strengthen our virtue of hope.

Without hope we become addicted to noise and dis­tractions of every kind. Why is this? No one who fails to hope in God can stand silence. In the quiet he is confronted with his need for God, his sinfulness, his emptiness,  his boredom.  So his soul runs from reality, hoping to hide from the despair and discouragement that so characterize one without hope. This in part explains the diabolical obsession of our modern culture for endless anxiety and non­stop, even deafening, noise.

With hope there is contentment in God alone. With hope there is powerful awareness that we shall literally rise victorious in Christ. With hope one lives, even now, as a citizen of Heaven. The man of hope is serene in simplicity, in silence. He seeks only to be in Christ and to do “the good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will of God” (Rm. 12:2). Ultimately our hope will pass into the permanent possession of God Himself in Heaven.

The highest faculty of the soul is the will. Herein lies our ability to love, and what practice of charity can com­pare with prayer? Prayer is the supreme act of charity-­loving God in pure adoration, acknowledging and repenting of offenses committed against the Creator in contrition, being soliticous for the eternal destiny of others by supplications, and offering everything with gratitude to the Giver of all good things. It is in prayer that we converse with God as our Friend, as our Beloved. It is in prayer that we enter more and more into a communion of life and love with Him. Abiding in Him, we become fruitful and capable of doing all things in Christ who strengthens us (cf. Ph. 4: 13).

Without prayer we will lose our soul – “for without Me you can do nothing.” (Jn. 15:5). It is infallibly true that if our lives are not rooted in Christ we will live for ourselves. The charity of prayer infinitely surpasses the emptiness of ‘nice guy philanthropy’ divorced from God. When push comes to shove, the man of deep prayer will endure long-suffering and even lay down his life for the love of God and the salvation of souls. Whereas the politi­cally correct person, on the other hand, will scarcely be found if he must sacrifice all. He is like the rich young man in the Gospel who appears to be virtuous from youth, but when the moment comes to follow Christ at all costs his charity vanishes like morning mist in the heat of sun.

The  man of prayer and contemplation bears all things patiently, even joyfully. His is the life of the virtues and the beatitudes. He turns to Divine Love with all his being in an upward, inward surge of the mind and heart. He seeks constant prayer, uninterrupted dialogue, incessant union with the Almighty. His words and actions radiate Christ and set souls ablaze with the consuming fire of divine char­ity. The man of prayer emulates the great Saints, like St. Paul, in their efficacious zeal and labor for souls. In the end, charity is elevated, absorbed as it were in Him who is Charity.

If we love God and our neighbor for His sake, we shall be found worthy of eternal rewards be­yond measure. If, however, we lack this charity in our souls, that is, if we are in that most dreadful state of mortal sin, then the inextinguishable flames and the worm that dieth not shall be our endless punishment. “He that loveth not, knoweth not God: for God is Charity.” (I Jn. 4:8).

used with permission of Friar M.M. De Cruce, FI  (In Pursuit of Immortal Souls: Meditations on the Role of Redemptive Suffering, Silence, and Prayer in the Missions)

The Promptitude of Mary in assisting those who invoke her.

STORY
We read in the life of St Francis de Sales that he experienced the efficacy of this prayer.  When he was about seventeen years of age he was living in Paris, where he was pursuing his studies. At the same time he devoted himself to exercises of piety and to the holy love of God, in which he found the joys of paradise.  Our Lord, in order to try him, and to strengthen the bands which united him to himself, allowed the evil spirit to persuade him that all that he did was in vain, as he was already condemned in the eternal decrees of God. The darkness and spiritual dryness in which God was pleased at the same time to leave him (for he was then insensible to all the sweeter thoughts of the goodness of God) caused the temptation to have greater power over the heart of the holy youth: and, indeed, it reached such a pitch that his fears and interior desolation took away his appetite, deprived him of sleep, made him pale and melancholy; so much so, that he excited the compassion of all who saw him.

As long as this terrible storm ,lasted, the saint could only conceive thoughts and utter words of despondency and bitter grief.  “Then,” said he, “I am to be deprived of the grace of my God, who up to now has shown himself so lovely and sweet to me!  O Love, O Beauty, to which I have consecrated all my affections, I am no longer to enjoy Your consolation!  O Virgin, Mother of God, the fairest among all the daughters of Jerusalem, then I am never to see you in heaven!  Ah, Lady, if I am not to behold your beautiful countenance in Paradise, at least permit me not to blaspheme you in hell!”  Such were the tender sentiments of that afflicted, but at the same time loving heart.  The temptation had lasted a month, when it pleased our Lord to deliver him by the means of that comfortress of the world, the most Blessed Mary, to whom the saint had some time before consecrated his virginity, and in whom, as he declared, he had placed all his hopes.  One evening, on returning home, he entered a church, and saw a tablet hanging on the wall.  He read it, and found the following well known prayer; commonly called “ the prayer of St Bernard:”  “Remember, O most pious Virgin Mary, that it never has been heard of in any age, that any one having recourse to your protection was abandoned.”  Falling on his knees before the alter of the divine Mother, he recited this prayer with tender fervor, renewed his vow of chastity, promised to say the Rosary every day, and then added:  “My Queen, be my advocate with your Son, whom I dare not approach.  My Mother, if I am so unfortunate as not to be able to love my Lord in the next world, and whom I know to be so worthy of love, at least do you obtain that I may love him in this world as much as possible.  This is the grace that I ask and hope for from you.”  Having thus addressed the Blessed Virgin, he cast himself into the arms of divine mercy, and resigned himself entirely to the will of God.  Scarcely had he finished his prayer, when in an instant he was delivered from his temptation by his most sweet Mother.  He immediately regained the peace of his soul and with it his bodily health; and from that time forward lived most devout to Mary, whose praises and mercy he constantly extolled, both in his sermons and writings, during the remainder of his life.

PRAYER
O Mother of God, Queen of angels and hope of men, give ear to one who calls upon you and has recourse to your protection.  Behold me this day prostrate at your feet; I, a miserable slave of hell, devote myself entirely to you.  I desire to be forever your servant.  I offer myself to serve and honor you to the utmost of my power during the whole of my life.  I know that the service of one so vile and miserable can be no honor to you, since I have so grievously offended Jesus, your Son and my Redeemer.  But if you will accept one so unworthy for your servant, and by your intercession change me, and thus making me worthy, this very mercy will give you that honor which so miserable a wretch as I can never give you.  Receive me, then, and reject me not, O my Mother.  The Eternal Word came from heaven on earth to seek for lost sheep, and to save them he became your Son.  And when one of them goes to you to find Jesus, will you despise him?  The price of my salvation is already paid; my Saviour has already shed his blood, which suffices to save an infinity of worlds.  This blood has only to be applied even to such a one as I am.  And that is your office, O Blessed Virgin; to you does it belong, as I am told by St Bernard, to dispense the merits of this blood to whom you please.  To you does it belong, says St Bonaventure, to save whomsoever you will, “whomsoever you will, will be saved.”  Oh, then, help me, my Queen; my Queen, save me.  To you do I this day consecrate my whole soul; do you save it.  O salvation of those who invoke you, I conclude in the words of the same saint, “O salvation of those who call upon you, do you save me.”

Mary is the Hope of Sinners

STORY
St Antonine relates that there was a sinner who was at enmity with God, and who had a vision in which he found himself before the dread tribunal; the devil accused him, and Mary defended him.  The enemy produced the catalogue of his sins; it was thrown into the scales of divine justice, and weighed far more than all his good works.  But then his great advocate, extending her sweet hand, placed it on the balance, and so caused it to turn in favour of her client; giving him thereby to understand that she would obtain his pardon if he changed his life; and this he did after the vision, and was entirely converted.

PRAYER
O most pure Virgin Mary, I venerate your most holy heart, which was the delight and resting-place of God, your heart overflowing with humility, purity, and divine love.  I, an unhappy sinner, approached you with a heart all loathsome and wounded.  O compassionate Mother, disdain me not on this account; let such a sight rather move you to greater tenderness, and excite you to help me.  Do not stay to seek virtues or merit in me before assisting me.  I am lost, and the only thing I merit is hell.  See only my confidence in you and the purpose I have to amend.  Consider all that Jesus has done and suffered for me, and then abandon me if you can.  I offer you all the pains of His life; the cold that He endured in the stable; His journey into Egypt; the blood which He shed; the poverty, sweats, sorrows, and death that He endured for me; and this in your presence.  For the love of Jesus, take charge of my salvation.  Ah, my Mother, I will not and cannot fear that you will reject me, now that I have recourse to you and ask your help.  Did I fear this I should be offering an outrage to your mercy, which goes in quest of the wretched, in order to help them.  O Lady, deny not your compassion to the one to who Jesus has not denied his blood.  But the merits of this blood will not be applied to me unless you recommend me to God.  Through you do I hope for salvation.  I ask not for riches, honors, or earthly goods.  I seek only the grace of God, love towards your Son, the accomplishment of His will, and His heavenly kingdom, that I may love Him eternally.  Is it possible that you will not hear me?  No; for already you have granted my prayer, as I hope; already you pray for me; already you obtain for me the graces that I ask; already you take me under your protection.  My Mother, abandon me not.  Never, never cease to pray for me, until you see me safe in heaven at your feet, blessing and thanking you forever.  Amen.

Mary, our Hope.

STORY
St Gregory relates that there was a young woman named Musa, who was very devout to the Mother of God; to whom, when she was in great danger of losing her innocence by the bad example of her companions, Mary appeared one day with many saints, and said:  “Musa, do you also wish to be one of these?”  On her answering “Yes,” she added, “Well, withdraw from your companions, and prepare yourself, for in a month you shall come.”  Musa did so, and related the vision.  On the thirteenth day she was at the point of death, when the most Blessed Virgin again appeared, and invited her to come.  She replied, “Behold, I come, O Lady,”  and sweetly expired.

PRAYER
O Mother of holy love, our life, our refuge, and our hope, you well know that your Son Jesus Christ, not content with being himself our perpetual advocate with the eternal Father, has willed that you also should interest yourself with him, in order to obtain the divine mercies for us.  He has decreed that your prayers should aid our salvation, and has made them so efficacious that they obtain all that they ask.  To you therefore, who are the hope of the miserable, do I, a wretched sinner, turn my eyes.  I trust, O Lady, that in the first place through your intercession, I shall be saved.  Of this I am certain; and my confidence in you is such, that if my eternal salvation were in my own hands, I should place it in yours, for I rely more on your mercy and protection than on all my own works.  My mother and my hope, abandon me not, though I deserve that you should do so.  See my miseries, and, being moved thereby with compassion, help and save me.  I own that I have too often closed my heart, by my sins, against the lights and helps that you have procured for me from the Lord.  But your compassion for the miserable, and your power with God, far surpass the number and malice of my sins.  It is well known to all, both in heaven and on earth, that whosoever is protected by you is certainly saved.  All may forget me, provided only that you do remember me, O Mother of an omnipotent God.  Tell him that I am your servant; say only that you defend me, and I shall be saved.  O Mary, I trust in you; in this hope I live; in it I desire and hope to die, repeating always, “Jesus is my only hope, and after Jesus the most Blessed Virgin Mary.”

This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven. (Acts 1:11)

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The Ascension of Jesus gives rise to manifold sentiments in the faithful soul that contemplates it. If Christ no longer merits, His Ascension has, however, the virtue of efficaciously producing the graces that it signifies or symbolizes.

It strengthens our faith in the Divinity of Jesus; it increases our hope by the vision of the glory of our Head by stirring us up to the observance of His commandments on which our merits rest, and that are themselves the principle of our future beatitude, it still further enkindles our love.  It engenders in us wonder at so marvelous a triumph, and gratitude for the share in it that Christ gives to us. Lifting up our souls towards heavenly realities, it quickens in us detachment from passing things: Seek the things that are above; where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, not the things upon the earth. (Col.3:.1-2) It gives us patience in adversity for, says St. Paul, if we suffer with Christ, we shall also share in His glory: so if we suffer with Him, we may be also be glorified with Him. (Rom.8:17)

There are two dispositions upon which I would dwell with you a few instants because, springing with special abundance from the contemplation of this mystery, they are singularly profitable for our souls: they are joy and confidence.

And first of all why should we rejoice?

Our Lord Himself said to His Apostles before leaving them: if you loved Me, you would indeed be glad because I go to the Father. (Jn.14:28) To us, too, Christ repeats those words. If we love Him, we shall rejoice in His glorification; we shall rejoice in that having finished His course, He ascends to His Father’s right hand, to be there exalted to the highest heaven; there to taste, after His labors, sufferings, and death, eternal repose in incommensurable glory. Bliss, such as is incomprehensible to us, envelops and penetrates Him forever in the bosom of the Divinity. Supreme power is given Him over every creature.

How can we fail to rejoice in that justice is rendered in all fullness to Jesus, by His Father. See how the Church invites us, in her liturgy, to celebrate with gladness this elevation of her Bridegroom, our God and our Redeemer.

With this deep joy we ought to combine unwavering confidence. This confidence especially rests on the almighty power of mediation that Christ has with His Father, not only as an invincible King entering into His triumph, but as a supreme High Priest interceding for us, after having offered to His Father an oblation of infinite worth. Now, it is on the day of His Ascension that Jesus, in a special manner, began this unique mediation. We have here a very interior aspect of the mystery on which it is highly useful to dwell for some instants. May the Holy Spirit grant us to understand how marvelous are the divine works.

Blessed Columba Marmion: Christ in His Mysteries