St Catherine of Siena

ST CATHERINE OF SIENA.

St Catherine of Siena 

St. Catherine of Siena was born during the outbreak of the plague in Siena, Italy on March 25, 1347. She was the 25th child born to her mother, although half of her brothers and sisters did not survive childhood. Catherine herself was a twin, but her sister did not survive infancy. Her mother was 40 when she was born. Her father was a cloth dyer.

At the age of 16, Catherine's sister, Bonaventura, died, leaving her husband as a widower. Catherine's parents proposed that he marry Catherine as a replacement, but Catherine opposed this by fasting and cutting her hair short in an attempt to mar her appearance.

Although her parents attempted to resist this move, to avoid marriage, they were unsuccessful. Catherine’s fasting and her devotion to her family, convinced them to relent and allow her to live as she pleased. Catherine once explained that she regarded her father as a representation of Jesus and her mother as Our Lady, and her brothers as the apostles, which helped her to serve them with humility. Having this view would be a challenge at any stage but in today’s world it may help family life considerably to have this attitude.

Despite Catherine's religious nature, she did not choose to enter a convent and instead she joined the Third Order of St. Dominic, which allowed her to associate with a religious society while living at home.Fellow Dominican sisters taught St. Catherine how to read. Meanwhile, she lived quietly, isolated within her family home. St. Catherine developed a habit of giving things away and she continually gave away her family's food and clothing to people in need. She never asked permission to give these things away, and she quietly put up with their criticisms.

When she was 21, she had a mystical experience which had a profound effect upon her and changed her. She described an experience she referred to as her "mystical marriage to Christ." There are debates over whether or not St. Catherine was given a ring with some claiming she was given a bejewelled ring, and other claiming the ring was made of Jesus's skin. St. Catherine herself started the rumour of the latter in her writings, but she was known to often claim the ring itself was invisible.

INFLUENCE IN PUBLIC LIFE

Such mystical experiences change people, and St. Catherine was no exception. In her vision, she was told to re-enter public life and to help the poor and sick. She immediately re-joined her family and went into public to help people in need.

She often visited hospitals and homes where the poor and sick were found. Her activities quickly attracted followers who helped her in her mission to serve the poor and sick.

St. Catherine was drawn further into the world as she worked, and eventually she began to travel, calling for reform of the Church and for people to confess and to love God totally. She became involved in politics, and was key in working to keep city states loyal to the Pope. She was also credited with helping to start a crusade to the Holy Land. On one occasion, she visited a condemned political prisoner and was credited with saving his soul, which she saw being taken up to heaven at the moment of his death.

St. Catherine allegedly was given the stigmata, but like her ring, it was visible only to herself. She took Bl. Raymond of Capua has her confessor and spiritual director.

From 1375 onward, St. Catherine began dictating letters to scribes. She petitioned for peace and was instrumental in persuading the Pope in Avignon to return to Rome.

She became involved in the fractured politics of her time, but was instrumental in restoring the Papacy to Rome and in brokering peace deals during a time of factional conflict and war between the Italian city states.

She also established a monastery for women in 1377 outside of Siena. She is credited with composing over 400 letters, her Dialogue, which is her definitive work, and her prayers. These works are so influential that St. Catherine would later be declared a Doctor of the Church. She is one of the most influential and popular saints in the Church. By 1380, the 33-year-old mystic had become ill, possibly because of her habit of extreme fasting. Her confessor, Raymond, ordered her to eat, but she replied that she found it difficult to do so, and that possibly she was ill.

In January of 1380, her illness accelerated her inability to eat and drink. Within weeks, she was unable to use her legs. She died on April 29, following a stroke just a week prior.

PATRONESS AND FEAST DAY

St. Catherine's feast day is April 29, she is the patroness against fire, illness, the United States, Italy, miscarriages, people ridiculed for their faith, sexual temptation, and nurses.

The Parable and the Viineyard Mk 12:1-12

GOSPEL OF MARK SERIES.

 

THE BIBLE: GOSPEL OF MARK SERIES ICON.

During 2019, each week, I will write a weekly post about the Gospel of Mark, as I review and explore each of the 16 chapters and how it may be applied in our daily lives. If you are following this series for the first time, you will find this series under Scripture- New Testament- Gospel of Mark. 

Click here to read the first post in the series. I have written this series in different years (2012, 2015, 2018) with some irregularity, but am determined to complete this series this year since I am more than half way through this Gospel.

My goal is to understand and pray the Gospel of Mark. I hope you will join me on this journey as we travel through the liturgical season.  In today's post we explore chapter 12:1-12 which is called The Parable and the Vineyard.

THE PARABLE AND THE VINEYARD.

Mark has placed this parable of Jesus after the confrontation with Jesus by the Jerusalem leaders in the temple.  Their hostility already points to their final rejection of him and their condemnation of him to death.

The parable of Jesus about the vineyard is not direction to His disciples, as his earlier parables were, but to His opponents, the Jewish leaders who confronted Him and challenged His authority.  It is a parable of God seeking the fruits of true faith from a people whom He has repeatedly nourished through many prophets and holy people, and now through his beloved Son, the Son of God (1L11, 8:7).

The parable has obvious allegorical implications in its different details, and Jesus himself seems to have intended these.  The Jews who first fear the parable, as well as the early Christians at the time when Mark wrote, would see these allegorical details.  The vineyard carefully planted and lovingly cared for by God, is a common metaphor for the people of Israel in the writings of the Old Testaments (Ps80:8, Is5:1, Jer 2:21). The tenant farmers who cultivate the vineyard during the owner’s absence are the leaders of Israel, the priests, the scribes and the elders of the people.  The slaves who are sent by the owner of the vineyard and badly treated by the farmers are the persecuted prophets of the Old Testaments.  The son killed by the farmers is Jesus as the Messiahs, rejected and crucified by the Jerusalem authorities.

The teaching of Jesus about the corner -stone which holds the whole building together quotes a psalm in the Old Testament (118:22-23).  It implies a final vindication of Jesus by God.

The Jerusalem leaders do not listen, but see only an attack upon themselves as leaders in Israel.  The last sentence underlines their wilful separation from Jesus and their continuing hostility to him.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

In our journal and/or our discussion group we may wish to reflect on this passage as follows:

• Name the key points that you have learnt about the person of Jesus in this passage of scripture?

• Imagine that you are one of the disciples- What do you see and hear and feel. What can I learn from this?

• Imagine being Jesus telling the disciples and the and knowing that they did not understand- what would you have felt?  

• What is reading the Gospel passage with the eyes and ears of disciple mean to me?

• How does Jesus show Himself as the ‘’the vineyard dresser’’ to me om this passage?
• Consider a situation in your life today where the parable of Jesus about the vineyard might have a meaning for you.
• Pray for people called to be God’s servants and messengers in places and situations where they are treated badly. Is there a situation or a person in your parish who is treated badly for doing the right thing?
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• Consider how much my faith gives a special ‘taste’ to my day to day living as a Christian, that is, one who follows Jesus as the Christ?

• What are the areas in my life I need to bring to Jesus in the light of this parable? What questions do I want to ask Him?

• Am I willing to look into myself with honesty and ask how much do I grasp what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus in the light of this teaching? 

• Is my faith in the divine power of Christ, whom we follow, large enough to make us ready to follow the teachings of Jesus?

Collect Second Sunday Eastertide- Mercy Sunday

THE COLLECT SERIES

THE MASS: COLLECT SERIES ICON

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COLLECT

God of everlasting mercy,

who in the very recurrence of the pascal feast,

Kindle the faith of the people You have made Your own,

Increase, we pray, the grace You have bestowed,

That all may grasp and rightly understand

in what font they have been washed,

By whose Spirit they have been reborn,

By whose Blood they have been redeemed.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,

who lives and reigns with You

In the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

In making this prayer tangible, the following reflection questions emerged:

1.  What does God’s mercy mean to me?
2.  How have I experienced God’s mercy in my life?
3.  What grace has God bestowed on me? 
4.  What does my baptism mean to me and how does it affect my daily life?
5.  What does it mean to me to be redeemed by Jesus? 
6.  How can I live a life of mercy?

7.  What does living Easter entail for me during Eastertide and throughout the year?

GOSPEL REFLECTION.

Today we hear the Gospel of the meeting of the Risen Lord  with St Thomas. It has evoked much writing from The Fathers of the Church and has also proven to be a source of inspiration for numerous artists who have in their work tried to represent the reality of the risen Christ to His disciples 8 days after the resurrection.

Perhaps we can see ourselves in the doubting Thomas and so we can identify with his initial unbelief.  He wanted proof. Put ourselves in his shoes for a moment. Imagine being told someone you have loved and had been buried a week before is now alive.  What would really be our reaction.  Probably like Thomas- I want to see this for myself.

And yet what a response from Thomas after he saw His risen Lord. Jesus’ response to Thomas, after he recognized Him as ‘My Lord and my God’, has a mysterious fascination that must relate not so much to the disciples—those who ‘have seen’—but rather to those, like us, who were added to their number afterwards. ‘You have come to believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.’ (Jn 20:29)

The Second Sunday of Easter (the ‘eight days after,’ which is the Sunday after the Resurrection), permits us to tie our reflection to one of the most significant Eucharistic hymns composed by another Thomas, St Thomas Aquinas. In the Adore Te Devote, which refers to the Eucharist, we read: ‘Sight, touch, taste are all deceived in their judgement of you. But hearing suffices firmly to believe’. Combining these words with today’s Gospel we can justly affirm that the experience ‘to see’ was not denied to us, but it is in contrast with the Apostle Thomas’ physical experience, who was able to put his own finger into the holes in Christ’s hands and side, whilst we can only comprehend it in the faith which is guarded and transmitted by the Church, our Mother and Teacher.

That which we ‘have not seen’ is therefore the glorious Body of the Risen One. However, today we have the ability to ‘listen’ to the Word of God and the Magisterium of the Church and so we can ‘see’the real Body of Christ which is the Eucharist. We can ‘see’ His Mystical Body which is the Church. We can ‘see’ Him in our lives and in the lives of our many brothers who, after meeting the Lord in a real but mysterious way, are united to Him in His Spirit!

Like Thomas, Christ calls us to fill the holes left by the instruments of the passion in His Body with our own hands so that our lives and the verbal witness that we give proclaim His Resurrection. Our senses could betray us, but we know that we have met the Risen One and we have recognised Him!

MERCY SUNDAY

 This Sunday is popularly known as Mercy of God Sunday. Between 1930 and 1938 Christ appeared to Sister Faustina, a Sister of Mercy in Poland who initiated the Divine Mercy devotion. She was canonised on April 30, 2000, the Sunday after Easter, the Feast of Divine Mercy. 

On Good Friday, 1937, Jesus requested that Blessed Faustina make a special novena before the Feast of Mercy, from Good Friday through the following Saturday. Jesus also asked that a picture be painted according to the vision of Himself as the fountain of mercy. He gave her a chaplet to be recited and said that it was appropriate to pray the chaplet at three o'clock each afternoon (the Hour of Great Mercy).

Jesus to Sr. Faustina

On one occasion, I heard these words: "My daughter, tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates through which graces flow are opened. 

Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity. Everything that exists has come forth from the very depths of My most tender mercy. Every soul in its relation to Me will contemplate My love and mercy throughout eternity. The Feast of Mercy emerged from My very depths of tenderness. It is My desire that it be solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter. Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy.

"[Let] the greatest sinners place their trust in My mercy. They have the right before others to trust in the abyss of My mercy. My daughter, write about My mercy towards tormented souls. Souls that make an appeal to My mercy delight Me. To such souls I grant even more graces than they ask. I cannot punish even the greatest sinner if he makes an appeal to My compassion, but on the contrary, I justify him in My unfathomable and inscrutable mercy. Write: before I come as a just Judge, I first open wide the door of My mercy. He who refuses to pass through the door of My mercy must pass through the door of My justice.

"From all My wounds, like from streams, mercy flows for souls, but the wound in My Heart is the fountain of unfathomable mercy. From this fountain spring all graces for souls. The flames of compassion burn Me. I desire greatly to pour them out upon souls. Speak to the whole world about My mercy."

Excerpted from Diary of Sr. M. Faustina Kowalska.

Anzac Day and mateship

Image by Gerard Dutton from Pixabay 

Today is Anzac Day. This day has many meanings but often the Anzac spirit is portrayed as 'mateship'.

It strikes me that mateship in difficult circumstances such as war helps the human spirit to persevere and to know that they are not going through it alone. We remember the ultimate sacrifice of those who served and lost their lives in the battle and those like my late father who served in World War 2 who came home and began their lives anew after giving their best years of their lives in service of their country. Many in later years still carried the scars physically and emotionally from their service with some suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). 

Anzac Day in our home was important with its tradition. Dad went to the Mass and most years he then marched. Each year the medals came out the night before and placed carefully on his suit jacket which he wore with just pride the next day. My grandfather on both sides were also veterans. Before dad passed away, he had his medals made for myself and my siblings as miniatures. It was indeed a gesture of great love on his part.  Now that dad has passed away, the memory of Anzac day tradition lingers in my mind and I remember what this day meant to him and our family.

Mum was also up early on Anzac morning. She always got a couple of batches of Anzac Biscuits in the oven before Mass so that we could enjoy them warm whilst we were watching the March on the TV and trying to pick out dad.  This morning I got up and made the biscuits. I wish I could make them like mum.  Just have not got her same knack.!!!!

Liturgically however this year, the liturgy of the Anzac Mass will not be celebrated as it falls in the Easter Octave. The Easter Octave gets precedence. However, mention of Anzac Day can be noted in the prayers of the faithful for example.  I appreciate this liturgical point, but feel a little cheated. I normally play/sing at Mass on Anzac Day and wear my grandfather and father’s medals. It has become my personal tradition on Anzac Day and a way of remembering dad and grandpa especially. 

However, it has always struck me that mateship is keeping the commandment to love- the veterans loved one another in an appropriate manner to put each other first, watching each other’s backs in combat, gave their lives in service and some paid the ultimate price of death.   In psychological terms, the whole experience bonded them so that years later, they could still come together and feel that sense of union with each other.

For those of us who have not served in this way, we can commend them and be grateful for their bravery. 

We can follow in their example of mateship, which in essence is keeping the commandment to love in its fullest meaning as Christ specified.

Lest we forget.

No 97 How does Mary cooperate in the divine plan of salvation?

COMPENDIUM SERIES

No 97 How does Mary cooperate in the divine plan of salvation? (493- 494, 508-511)

WHAT DOES THE COMPENDIUM SAY?

Compendium states: 

By the grace of God, Mary was kept free from every personal sin her whole life long. She is the one ‘’full of grace’’ (Lk 1:28),’’the all holy’’.  When the angel announced to her that she would give birth to ‘’Son of the Most High’’ (Lk 1.32), she freely gave consent with the obedience of faith (Romans 1:5). Mary thus gave herself entirely to the person and work of her Son Jesus espousing wholeheartedly the divine will regarding salvation

PERSONAL RESPONSE

What does this mean for me?

• I can thank God constantly for His love for giving Mary to me as my heavenly mother.
• I can be thankful that Mary was preserved from not only original sin but from personal sin throughout her whole life. 
• I can pray and ask Mary to avoid the occasions of sin.
• I can ask Mary to gain the graces of God and to avoid sin in my life. 
• I can pray to Mary to give my yes to God in all my undertakings in my life.

Questions to consider.

1. How would I explain Mary being free from personal sin all her life so that  it would have  an impact on the life of the other person to whom the on explaining them?

2.       What benefit does it have to me knowing that Mary cooperated with the divine will of salvation?

3.     When I think of Mary born without original sin, and free from personal sin all her life, does it inspire me to avoid the occasions of sin? 

4.  How can I incorporate praying to Mary (e.g. saying the rosary) into my life each day?
 

Gospel Acclamation

About the Mass Series:

The Mass: About the Mass Vol 2 icon.

 About Alleluia

‘Alleluia’, from the Hebrew means ‘Praise Yahweh’, or ‘Praise God’. In the Old Testament this joyful cry appears at the beginning or end of Psalms 146-150, intended for use in the temple liturgy.  In the New Testament, the alleluia’s only occurrence appears in the Book of Revelation (19:1-9), where it forms part of the victory hymn sung by the redeemed in Heaven. It is the second time-after the Gloria that the earthly liturgy borrows its song from the angels, who will return again in the singing of the Sanctus (Holy Holy). So, in our liturgy, we are surrounded by the angelic multitudes each time Mass is offered. What does this mean to You at Mass?

Structure of Gospel Acclamation

The Gospel Acclamation’s simple order Rite is nevertheless most significant. The deacon takes the Book of the Gospels (Gospel book), the Word of Christ from the altar, which represents Christ, and he carries it to the lectern, the place of the Word of God. In most parishes, there is no deacon, so the priest moves to the lectern, where the lectionary is already placed. The altar servers move, collect their candles symbolically reminding us of Christ as the light.  To hold a candle correctly, the left hand goes under the base; the right hand is around the knob (or about 60 cm above the right hand).  This places the right hand about opposite the breast.  When candle-bearers go in pairs, the outside hand goes above and the inside hand at the base. Candles should be held at a right angle to the floor. It is important to keep them straight. 

We, as the congregation, praise Christ who comes to proclaim the good news of salvation.  The Gospel Acclamation is normally expressive of Pascal joy, a reflection upon the Word of God already proclaimed, and a preparation for the Gospel accompanies the Gospel procession.  At St. Augustine’s, the ‘Gospel book’ is carried through the church reflecting the Gospel Acclamation Rite.

Gospel Acclamation Structure ( Music)

The Gospel Acclamation’s structure is as follows: The choir or cantor intones the alleluia, which is then repeated by congregation. Then the verse, taken from the Gospel, is sung followed by a repeat of the alleluia.  We greet Christ with Alleluia to remind us that we celebrate on Sunday the Lord’s Resurrection.

However, although the Gospel Acclamation’s structure remains unaltered, there are no alleluias sung or said during Lent or Advent. Instead, one of the following phrases are used to replace the word ‘alleluia’

 Praise to You Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless Glory.

 Glory and praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ.

 Glory to you, Word of God, Lord Jesus Christ.

The change of body posture is important, and as a congregation that we are now standing.  Just as we stand in respect when introduced to an important person, we also stand when meeting Christ in the Gospel as a sign of reverence.

When a deacon (a man usually 6-12mths from ordination of priesthood, or a permanent deacon) reads the Gospel, he asks the Bishop or Priest for a blessing who says

‘the Lord be in your heart and on your lips that you may worthily proclaim his Gospel’,blessing him with the sign of the Cross and the deacon answers Amen. 

Perhaps, this could be our prayer too- that we too will worthily proclaim the gospel worthily in our lives.                                   

The principles of love

12 STEP CATHOLIC SPIRITUALITY SERIES

I started this series in September 2018 and will continue with the series this year.  If you have not read the first posts, click here to read.  This series is based on the 12 Steps of AA and could have easily been called 12 Step Christian Anon programme.  However, I prefer to think of it as a 12 Step guide to Catholic spirituality

Today we continue on with Step 3: We decide to turn our lives over to Jesus Christ

 STEP 3 We decide to turn our lives over to Jesus Christ.

Living a life of love.

Because the meaning of love has so many varied meanings and has been sullied by society’s meanings as well, the word now is no longer clear to many people.

Let us discuss further the meaning of love.

In C.S Lewis book, the 4 loves he outlines the meaning of love as:

1.Storge: love that a parent has for child or child for parent, and also a fondness as a result of familiarity for certain people, pets or material goods.

2.Philia: friendship particularly that which binds people together under a common umbrella of interest.

3. Eros: Romantic love which entwines sexual fulfillment with the procreation of the species.

4.Agape: love which comes to us by no merit of our own and with no ulterior motives.

It is a pure love.

The first three loves are important as they have the function of providing our security needs (storge), esteem (philia) and pleasure (eros).  However, what is required to avoid selfishness is Agape since it enables us to experience all our human loves more deeply whilst keeping a healthy perspective. Agape provides a spiritual perspective and because it has no ulterior motive is pure from contamination of self and selfish motives. In other words, Agape will help us live the Christian life principles at a higher and deeper level. The other loves will be wrapped in this kind of love and will therefore be experienced more deeply too.

Becoming a new person does not mean abandoning our human life or denying who we are.

Becoming a Christian and deepening our lives as Christians means to incorporate the Christian principles into our lives.  It means we no longer ask what is going to bring us pleasure, esteem or safety but rather what is the loving thing to do in the situation we find ourselves. In doing this, we will find that security, pleasure and esteem will be transformed- present yes, but at a deeper, more mature and integrated manner.

As Jesus of Nazareth is the incarnation of love itself, we are to ask ourselves if we are to be His disciples ‘’ what would Jesus do’’? If we are to answer authentically, then we need to get to know Jesus of Nazareth so that we can carry out to the best of our abilities the answer to the question ‘’what would Jesus do’’.  In other words, we cannot truly answer the question if we do not have a relationship with Him. When we are in relationship with Him, we can easily turn to Jesus and ask ‘’ I have a problem with this situation/this person. I don’t know what to do. What would you do and what is the most loving thing to do in this circumstance? We apply the Christian principle of love.

In order to get to know Jesus, we need prayer (conversation with Him), Scripture Church Teaching and a Christian community to support us as we formally understand who Jesus is and how we can integrate His principles of love in our lives. We need to have a solid foundation with Jesus as the cornerstone on which to turn our lives around and move towards a total commitment to living a life of love where Christian faith filled principles are learned and understood and then applied through practical application in our lives. Then we can ask the question again in our daily life ‘’ what would Jesus do’’ and know that our answer has an integrity. This is really important because sometimes sadly people maintain they have asked the question but use religion and Jesus as an excuse to do whatever they want. This is not living the Christian life fully.

It actually gives Christians/Catholics bad press.

Applying the principles of love in our lives out of love for Jesus takes a close relationship with Him. We are all capable of having a closer relationship with Jesus where ever we are on our faith journey. We need to put in the work and effort and Jesus will more than meet us half way. He will ready with open arms to greet us.