Ijournal entry 04-03-17 #13. April, month of the Holy Eucharist. The rule of St. Benedict. 5th Week of Lent. Quotes by St. Augustine, St. Gregory I, and Fr. Eric Hollas, OSB. Remembering Father Feeney, by Francis Maluf, M.I.C.M. Article: "What a Saint Is", by Fr. Leonard Feeney, M.I.C.M. YouTube video: Sermon: "Tabernacle Of The Lord: A Day With Mary", by Fr.Jude Ifeorah, SMMM.
"The Eucharist is the secret of my day. It gives strength and meaning to all my activities of service to the church and to the whole world". By St.John Paul II
Lent Week 5
MC= How disturbed do we let our spirits get from just an unkind look, a harsh word, etc? (For me, sadly too disturbed). What if someone were to spit in our face? (Unimaginable, yet Jesus for me, said yes to many torments and suffered so much pain during that ordeal necessary for my/our salvation.
The Rule of St. Benedict
"The life of a monk ought at all times to be Lenten in its character; but since few have the strength for that, we therefore urge that in these days of Lent the brethren should lead lives of great purity, and should also in this sacred season expiate the negligences of other times. This will be worthily done if we refrain from all sin and apply ourselves to prayer with tears, to reading, to compunction of heart and to abstinence. In these days, therefore, let us add something to the wonted measure of our service, such as private prayers and abstinence in food and drink. Let each one, over and above the measure prescribed for him, offer to God something of his own free will in the joy of the Holy Spirit. That is to say, let him stint himself of food, drink, sleep, talk and jesting, and look forward with the joy of spiritual longing to the holy feast of Easter. Let each one, however, tell his abbot what he is offering, and let it be done with his consent and blessing; because what is done without the permission of the spiritual father shall be reckoned as presumption and vainglory and not as merit. Everything, therefore, is to be done with the approval of the abbot"
MC= The Lenten season in fading fast, and on the horizon we see Easter approaching. Let us begin anew, today is the day to step it up to in our Lenten practices if we have been lax. If today..
"The life of a monk ought at all times to be Lenten in its character; but since few have the strength for that, we therefore urge that in these days of Lent the brethren should lead lives of great purity, and should also in this sacred season expiate the negligences of other times. This will be worthily done if we refrain from all sin and apply ourselves to prayer with tears, to reading, to compunction of heart and to abstinence. In these days, therefore, let us add something to the wonted measure of our service, such as private prayers and abstinence in food and drink. Let each one, over and above the measure prescribed for him, offer to God something of his own free will in the joy of the Holy Spirit. That is to say, let him stint himself of food, drink, sleep, talk and jesting, and look forward with the joy of spiritual longing to the holy feast of Easter. Let each one, however, tell his abbot what he is offering, and let it be done with his consent and blessing; because what is done without the permission of the spiritual father shall be reckoned as presumption and vainglory and not as merit. Everything, therefore, is to be done with the approval of the abbot"
MC= The Lenten season in fading fast, and on the horizon we see Easter approaching. Let us begin anew, today is the day to step it up to in our Lenten practices if we have been lax. If today..
🔘"Do not say that you have chaste minds if you have unchaste eyes, because an unchaste eye is the messenger of an unchaste heart." By St. Augustine
🔵"Now, though the era of persecution is gone, yet our peace has its martyrdom, because though we bend not the neck to the sword, yet with a spiritual weapon we slay fleshly desires in our hearts." By Pope St. Gregory I
⚪️ "St. Benedict in his Rule wasted no time writing about transformative experiences on top of a mountain. For him most anything of value takes place slowly and deliberately, and generally in the most ordinary of times and places". By Fr. Eric Hollas, OSB
🔵"Now, though the era of persecution is gone, yet our peace has its martyrdom, because though we bend not the neck to the sword, yet with a spiritual weapon we slay fleshly desires in our hearts." By Pope St. Gregory I
⚪️ "St. Benedict in his Rule wasted no time writing about transformative experiences on top of a mountain. For him most anything of value takes place slowly and deliberately, and generally in the most ordinary of times and places". By Fr. Eric Hollas, OSB
A couple of weeks ago this poem was shared with you all (welcome to the newcomers Joy & Shannon)
and one week later a find from a new site was discovered which served as my "hi five". The results from the find were an apropos quote that served as a morning text mess for the "Fone Apostolate", a confirmation for the poetic composition, and the wonderful potato dish in this Ijournal entry.
Link to the poem:
gigapostolate.weebly.com/poems/-in-the-spiritual-life-the-goal-is-to-do-exceedingly-well-it-should-not-be-just-about-avoiding-hell
Text Mess:
Br.André Marie, M.I.C.M."1 subject dat all of da sound authors in this area touch upon — &something generally accepted 2day —is what is called da “universal call 2 holiness.” This is da doctrine which asserts dat all of Christ’s faithful,by virtue of their common baptism,R called not merely 2escape hell,but 2achieve da heights of sanctity, 2become saints,even 2possess on earth dat state properly known as da mystical life.Sanctity,many authors continually &rightly remind us,is not something reserved 4a special caste in da Church—not da religious,not da priest,not da bishop—although these contract by vow R orders,certain additional obligations in regard 2 sanctity.No 1 group in da Mystical Body was meant 2have a monopoly on da precious pearl of da interior life lived 2an excellent degree"
MC=It seems what da priest & religious directly contract by vow or order, we do so indirectly by Baptism, desire, & taking on da name "Christian". No 1 gets a free pass from not wholeheartedly striving 4 holiness. If u were 2 die right now, would UR dress, actions, life style, thoughts, words, deeds,etc. B holy & pleasing in da site of God? Well 4 me,the answer is no, no, no. So that is why it's 2 work hard, frequent da Sacrament of Reconciliation, sacrifice, beg 4 graces that will help open my hart 2 hear & listen 2truth, 2 following it in da light, &studying. It's 2 after every failure get up & begin again. Think about ur state & C what & how u are seriously doin in spiritual race of Holiness. After all it's Lent,a good time 4 all of us 2do so.
Link to the poem:
gigapostolate.weebly.com/poems/-in-the-spiritual-life-the-goal-is-to-do-exceedingly-well-it-should-not-be-just-about-avoiding-hell
Text Mess:
Br.André Marie, M.I.C.M."1 subject dat all of da sound authors in this area touch upon — &something generally accepted 2day —is what is called da “universal call 2 holiness.” This is da doctrine which asserts dat all of Christ’s faithful,by virtue of their common baptism,R called not merely 2escape hell,but 2achieve da heights of sanctity, 2become saints,even 2possess on earth dat state properly known as da mystical life.Sanctity,many authors continually &rightly remind us,is not something reserved 4a special caste in da Church—not da religious,not da priest,not da bishop—although these contract by vow R orders,certain additional obligations in regard 2 sanctity.No 1 group in da Mystical Body was meant 2have a monopoly on da precious pearl of da interior life lived 2an excellent degree"
MC=It seems what da priest & religious directly contract by vow or order, we do so indirectly by Baptism, desire, & taking on da name "Christian". No 1 gets a free pass from not wholeheartedly striving 4 holiness. If u were 2 die right now, would UR dress, actions, life style, thoughts, words, deeds,etc. B holy & pleasing in da site of God? Well 4 me,the answer is no, no, no. So that is why it's 2 work hard, frequent da Sacrament of Reconciliation, sacrifice, beg 4 graces that will help open my hart 2 hear & listen 2truth, 2 following it in da light, &studying. It's 2 after every failure get up & begin again. Think about ur state & C what & how u are seriously doin in spiritual race of Holiness. After all it's Lent,a good time 4 all of us 2do so.
Remembering Father Feeney, by Francis Maluf, M.I.C.M.
(Mancipia Immaculati Cordis Mariae = Latin: Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary; religious order)
Info from this site:
catholicism.org/remembering-father-feeney.html
"During the long years (1942-1978) in which I was privileged to associate with Father Feeney on a daily basis, I kept a record of statements he would make from time to time, in his sermons or lectures, or in ordinary conversation that struck me at that moment as proceeding from a deep mystical realization or apprehension. I felt an irresistible impulse to record these sayings that same day. There was a supernatural quality and intensity that I clearly felt at the time, but which, after the passage of years, I now find impossible to reproduce convincingly as evidence. Some of these statements were original thoughts of Father, and some were traditional maxims or well-known quotes from famous saints or Doctors of the Church. I recorded them because, in my judgment, they manifested a deep and significant insight into the spiritual life of his great soul.
I have selected twelve of these sayings to share with our readers. In a few cases I will add special comments but, on the whole, it shall be left to the reader to deal with them as we do with a fragment from some ancient sage. The truths are simple and childlike, but it was the spiritual intensity with which they were uttered that made so many of us who were his disciples change our lives because of them. It is by such truths that saints are made; it is by such truths that we will be judged.
📓We are not made for this world.What fools we are when we think otherwise!
📓We should mean what we say when we pray.
📓God created the world for the saints and, above all, for Mary.
📓We contemplate with love and admiration two great attributes of women — virginity and motherhood. We feel sad that one value must be sacrificed for the other.What joy! what triumph! that both meet everlastingly in Mary. After Mary, virginal life becomes fruitful.
📓We have only one business on earth: to become saints. What a pity if we miss out!
📓There is no true charity other than to help people save their souls.
📓When I pray: Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, assist me now and in my last agony, I cannot believe that Jesus and Mary come in their glorified bodies, but Joseph as a detached soul. (Father believed that St. Joseph is also in heaven, body and soul. Some saints believed and preached the same, e.g., St. Bernadine of Siena and St. Francis de Sales. However, Father did not preach that as a dogma because the Church has not defined it. In his characteristic humorous way he would say, “Take it de Feeney definita,” punning on the traditional theological note, de fide definita.)
📓“God cannot be outdone in generosity.” In Heaven we shall see how true that is. (Father was quoting a favorite maxim of M. Martin, the father of St. Thérèse. He used to apply that maxim especially to children who die unbaptized — he had a baby brother who was such — yet he never allowed this very legitimate, but sentimental, consideration to dictate his theology on the necessity of baptism. The Church has never allowed that unbaptized children can attain the Beatific Vision. There must be a merciful way by which God takes care of these children, but He has not revealed it to us, and we must believe that there is an infinite difference between baptized and unbaptized persons.)
📓“No one who prays sincerely for salvation will be lost,” because God, whose arm cannot be shortened, will supply all that is needed. (Father was here quoting Saint Augustine. Again, we must wait for eternity to find out how it is done.)
📓Heaven will prove to be full of surprises, but no surprise will prove false any word of God.
📓When we speak to the saints, the saints hear us. (It takes faith to believe that we can actually talk to the saints! The truth of that is in the article we profess in the Creed: “The communion of saints.” When faith in the communion of saints becomes weak, very few people pray to the saints.)
📓We are one, and nothing and nobody will ever divide us! (Father was here speaking about our order, the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the Crusade of Saint Benedict Center. He made this statement with strong emphasis as if he sensed forces working for this end, so I noted the exact day on which he said it—the Feast of the Purification, February 2, 1971. He proceeded to elaborate on the great edification we could be, and the multitude of souls we could help to save, if we stayed loyal to the doctrine which, in turn, would guarantee unity and charity among ourselves.)"
(Mancipia Immaculati Cordis Mariae = Latin: Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary; religious order)
Info from this site:
catholicism.org/remembering-father-feeney.html
"During the long years (1942-1978) in which I was privileged to associate with Father Feeney on a daily basis, I kept a record of statements he would make from time to time, in his sermons or lectures, or in ordinary conversation that struck me at that moment as proceeding from a deep mystical realization or apprehension. I felt an irresistible impulse to record these sayings that same day. There was a supernatural quality and intensity that I clearly felt at the time, but which, after the passage of years, I now find impossible to reproduce convincingly as evidence. Some of these statements were original thoughts of Father, and some were traditional maxims or well-known quotes from famous saints or Doctors of the Church. I recorded them because, in my judgment, they manifested a deep and significant insight into the spiritual life of his great soul.
I have selected twelve of these sayings to share with our readers. In a few cases I will add special comments but, on the whole, it shall be left to the reader to deal with them as we do with a fragment from some ancient sage. The truths are simple and childlike, but it was the spiritual intensity with which they were uttered that made so many of us who were his disciples change our lives because of them. It is by such truths that saints are made; it is by such truths that we will be judged.
📓We are not made for this world.What fools we are when we think otherwise!
📓We should mean what we say when we pray.
📓God created the world for the saints and, above all, for Mary.
📓We contemplate with love and admiration two great attributes of women — virginity and motherhood. We feel sad that one value must be sacrificed for the other.What joy! what triumph! that both meet everlastingly in Mary. After Mary, virginal life becomes fruitful.
📓We have only one business on earth: to become saints. What a pity if we miss out!
📓There is no true charity other than to help people save their souls.
📓When I pray: Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, assist me now and in my last agony, I cannot believe that Jesus and Mary come in their glorified bodies, but Joseph as a detached soul. (Father believed that St. Joseph is also in heaven, body and soul. Some saints believed and preached the same, e.g., St. Bernadine of Siena and St. Francis de Sales. However, Father did not preach that as a dogma because the Church has not defined it. In his characteristic humorous way he would say, “Take it de Feeney definita,” punning on the traditional theological note, de fide definita.)
📓“God cannot be outdone in generosity.” In Heaven we shall see how true that is. (Father was quoting a favorite maxim of M. Martin, the father of St. Thérèse. He used to apply that maxim especially to children who die unbaptized — he had a baby brother who was such — yet he never allowed this very legitimate, but sentimental, consideration to dictate his theology on the necessity of baptism. The Church has never allowed that unbaptized children can attain the Beatific Vision. There must be a merciful way by which God takes care of these children, but He has not revealed it to us, and we must believe that there is an infinite difference between baptized and unbaptized persons.)
📓“No one who prays sincerely for salvation will be lost,” because God, whose arm cannot be shortened, will supply all that is needed. (Father was here quoting Saint Augustine. Again, we must wait for eternity to find out how it is done.)
📓Heaven will prove to be full of surprises, but no surprise will prove false any word of God.
📓When we speak to the saints, the saints hear us. (It takes faith to believe that we can actually talk to the saints! The truth of that is in the article we profess in the Creed: “The communion of saints.” When faith in the communion of saints becomes weak, very few people pray to the saints.)
📓We are one, and nothing and nobody will ever divide us! (Father was here speaking about our order, the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the Crusade of Saint Benedict Center. He made this statement with strong emphasis as if he sensed forces working for this end, so I noted the exact day on which he said it—the Feast of the Purification, February 2, 1971. He proceeded to elaborate on the great edification we could be, and the multitude of souls we could help to save, if we stayed loyal to the doctrine which, in turn, would guarantee unity and charity among ourselves.)"
Article: "What a Saint Is", by Fr. Leonard Feeney, M.I.C.M.
Info from this site:
http://catholicism.org/what-a-saint-is.html
"God wanted from all eternity to make us one with Himself. That is why He created us. He wanted not merely to be our Creator, but our Father, giving us the title and the right to say to Him, “Our Father, who art in Heaven.” Jesus, the Eternal Son of God, who became man, prays for us — after we receive sanctifying grace which divinizes our souls, and after we receive the Holy Eucharist which makes us concorporeal with Jesus — that we “may be one, as Thou Father in Me and I in Thee.
Info from this site:
http://catholicism.org/what-a-saint-is.html
"God wanted from all eternity to make us one with Himself. That is why He created us. He wanted not merely to be our Creator, but our Father, giving us the title and the right to say to Him, “Our Father, who art in Heaven.” Jesus, the Eternal Son of God, who became man, prays for us — after we receive sanctifying grace which divinizes our souls, and after we receive the Holy Eucharist which makes us concorporeal with Jesus — that we “may be one, as Thou Father in Me and I in Thee.
Holy Communion makes us concorporeal with God-made-man. After receiving It we are one body, one life, one breath, one heartbeat with Jesus. No one who reads the Bible, God’s book, can fail to see that the whole purpose of creation by God was the divinization of those whom He had created. Our time is to be eternity. Our life is to be everlasting. Our happiness is to be that which God has in being God. In all the prayers of the Catholic Church, one of the most constant utterances is per omnia saecula saeculorum, which means forever and ever.
A saint is a created being who has corresponded completely with God’s intention of divinizing him and making him holy. The word saint comes from the word sanctus in Latin, which means holy. The term sanctifying grace means the divine favor by which God elevates a created being to His own state of holiness, and shares with him the everlasting glory of being God’s own by adoption.
The Communion of Saints is the greatest brotherhood or sisterhood that there ever could be in creation. It is the union of all those who have been sanctified by God. The word saint , used in its highest sense, means someone already in the Beatific Vision whose heroism and holiness, achieved on this earth, have been acknowledged and approved by the Roman Catholic Church. But in a simple and initial sense, anyone can be called a saint who is in the state of sanctifying grace. Saint Paul in his epistles refers to all early Christians living on earth as “the saints.” He does this over thirty times. Our Lord’s beautiful way of letting everyone know that the early Christians were truly saints was when He said to Saint Paul, who was then called Saul, not“Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou My followers?” but “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?”
The greatest of all expressions of Christian belief is the Apostles’ Creed. In the Apostles’ Creed there are twelve articles, each one of which was written by one of the Twelve Apostles. The ninth article of the Apostles’ Creed is the expression of belief that those who are in the state of sanctifying grace are saints, “the Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints.” Those who die in the state of sanctifying grace, even when they go to Purgatory, are saints. Those who have been purged in Purgatory of all their offenses, and have gone to Heaven, are saints forever. Those who have been outstandingly holy in achieving this goal while on earth are saints in the highest sense.
There are, therefore, three states of sanctity applied to the saints by the Catholic Church. They are: the Church Militant (those who are or can be put in the state of sanctifying grace and are fighting to keep it as living members of the one, true Church); the Church Suffering (those who have died in the state of sanctifying grace and are being purged of their defects in Purgatory); and the Church Triumphant (those who have gone forever to see God and know God as God knows Himself, and are united to God in His eternity, in His infinity, in His glory and in His happiness, forever and ever.)
The word Communion when used in the term Holy Communion means that in our flesh and blood we are made participators of the Body and Blood of Jesus. So intense is this unity in what is called Holy Communion that, after having received it, any Catholic is entitled to say along with Saint Paul:
A saint is a created being who has corresponded completely with God’s intention of divinizing him and making him holy. The word saint comes from the word sanctus in Latin, which means holy. The term sanctifying grace means the divine favor by which God elevates a created being to His own state of holiness, and shares with him the everlasting glory of being God’s own by adoption.
The Communion of Saints is the greatest brotherhood or sisterhood that there ever could be in creation. It is the union of all those who have been sanctified by God. The word saint , used in its highest sense, means someone already in the Beatific Vision whose heroism and holiness, achieved on this earth, have been acknowledged and approved by the Roman Catholic Church. But in a simple and initial sense, anyone can be called a saint who is in the state of sanctifying grace. Saint Paul in his epistles refers to all early Christians living on earth as “the saints.” He does this over thirty times. Our Lord’s beautiful way of letting everyone know that the early Christians were truly saints was when He said to Saint Paul, who was then called Saul, not“Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou My followers?” but “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?”
The greatest of all expressions of Christian belief is the Apostles’ Creed. In the Apostles’ Creed there are twelve articles, each one of which was written by one of the Twelve Apostles. The ninth article of the Apostles’ Creed is the expression of belief that those who are in the state of sanctifying grace are saints, “the Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints.” Those who die in the state of sanctifying grace, even when they go to Purgatory, are saints. Those who have been purged in Purgatory of all their offenses, and have gone to Heaven, are saints forever. Those who have been outstandingly holy in achieving this goal while on earth are saints in the highest sense.
There are, therefore, three states of sanctity applied to the saints by the Catholic Church. They are: the Church Militant (those who are or can be put in the state of sanctifying grace and are fighting to keep it as living members of the one, true Church); the Church Suffering (those who have died in the state of sanctifying grace and are being purged of their defects in Purgatory); and the Church Triumphant (those who have gone forever to see God and know God as God knows Himself, and are united to God in His eternity, in His infinity, in His glory and in His happiness, forever and ever.)
The word Communion when used in the term Holy Communion means that in our flesh and blood we are made participators of the Body and Blood of Jesus. So intense is this unity in what is called Holy Communion that, after having received it, any Catholic is entitled to say along with Saint Paul:
God wanted from all eternity to make us one with Himself. That is why He created us. He wanted to be not merely our Creator, but our Father. He wanted to give us the title and right to say with the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, God the Son, when we speak to God the Father, “Our Father, who are in Heaven.” God the Creator becomes God our Father.
Every little Christian child who has been baptized and who has died before reaching the age of reason — before the age where he can commit any willful mortal sin, or fail to confess the one, true Faith to which by Baptism he belongs — goes immediately to the Beatific Vision. He, or she, is a little saint by sheer grace. There are millions of such baptized infants in Heaven, and they can be prayed to, and they pray for us.Anyone who wants to be a saint can become one. Our Lord’s challenge in this invitation is most beautiful and clear and definite.
Every little Christian child who has been baptized and who has died before reaching the age of reason — before the age where he can commit any willful mortal sin, or fail to confess the one, true Faith to which by Baptism he belongs — goes immediately to the Beatific Vision. He, or she, is a little saint by sheer grace. There are millions of such baptized infants in Heaven, and they can be prayed to, and they pray for us.Anyone who wants to be a saint can become one. Our Lord’s challenge in this invitation is most beautiful and clear and definite.
Those who are meek, who are mourning for holiness, who are hungry and thirsty for what God wants to give them, who are admittedly poor in spirit — shall possess the land, and shall be comforted, and shall have their fill, and theirs shall be the kingdom of Heaven. Those who want to be saints shall receive God’s mercy. They shall see God, shall be called the children of God and shall possess the kingdom of Heaven, if their own sanctification is their first goal and if they want to be saints. They are the salt of the earth. They are the light of the world. Everyone in the world is called to be a saint. Those who are not Catholics are called to become Catholics.
Everyone who is in the Catholic Church is called to be a good Catholic, or to come back to the state of sanctifying grace through the Sacrament of Penance if he has lost it by sin. Every Catholic in the state of sanctifying grace is called to be holier and holier, so holy that the Church can declare him, or her, a saint. Anyone who wants to be a saint can become one. Our Lord’s challenge in this invitation is most beautiful and clear and definite. Ours shall be the kingdom of Heaven. We shall possess the land. We shall be comforted. We shall have our fill. All we need to be is meek, and longing with tears for what is to come, and hungry and thirsty for what God has to give us. We are called to be the salt of the earth. God wants us, and will make us the light of the world. That is, if our aim is to be a saint."
YouTube video: Sermon: "Tabernacle Of The Lord: A Day With Mary", by Fr.Jude Ifeorah, SMMM
Link to YouTube video:
youtu.be/-tFdhxn4Zpg
Link to YouTube video:
youtu.be/-tFdhxn4Zpg