Rejoice, O mystical rod of Jesse

“Rejoice, O mystical rod which blossomed the unfading Flower.”
(excerpt from the Akathist Hymn to the Theotokos)

Jesse TreeThe genealogy of Jesus is very interesting and impressive for a variety of reasons. The Gospel of Saint Luke traces Jesus’ ancestry back from Joseph to Adam to show His connection to the inception of humanity; the Gospel of Saint Matthew begins his genealogy with Abraham –the Father of the Hebrew Nation– and moves forward, linking Him to the kingly line of David. Both strains of lineage demonstrate, therefore, that Jesus is the fulfillment of all Old Testament prophecies because He is a direct descendent of King David, the rightful heir to be the new “King of Israel.” 

This, too, was prophesied by Isaiah who proclaimed that, “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him” (Is. 11:1-2); Jesse is the father of King David.

God fulfills His promise. The icon presented here depicts  mystical “root” often depicts the Virgin Mary in the center of a vine of the historic forefathers presents to the world the blossomed Fruit or Flower, Jesus, seated upon her throne-like lap.

Today, is a time to contemplate the Promise made Flesh in the birth of our Lord and Savior! For it is “Jesus who brought the fire of the Spirit, which takes away the desire for the things that are here, and removes us to another love” (Saint John Chrysostom).

Blessed Christmas

Asian NativityPuer natus est nobis, et filius datus est nobis, cuius imperium super humerum eius, et vocabitur nomen eius magni consilii Angelus.

A Child is born for us, and a son is given to us; his scepter of power rests upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Messenger of great counsel.

Here’s a thought from St. Augustine: “Let us all together then, perfectly united in mind and heart, celebrate today the birthday of the Lord…. In the one who for our sake sprang up from the earth, let us in turn take possession of heaven.”

Mutual prayers!

Blessed Jutta of Disibodenberg

Until I read somewhere else today, I never heard of Blessed Jutta of Disibodenberg (c. 1084-1136), a German noble woman, an anchoress, and the teacher of children, especially Saint Hildegaard of Bingen.

Blessed Jutta’s history says that taught female students from wealthy families at her hermitage. She taught and raised them all, most notably the child Hildegard of Bingen.

Jutta was known for her sanctity and her life of extraordinary penance; Justta was known as a healer.

On the Day of All Saints, November 1, 1112, Hildegard was given over as a Benedictine oblate into the care of Jutta. It was Jutta who taught Hildegard to write; to read the psalms used in the Liturgy;  to chant the recitation of the Canonical hours. She probably also taught Hildegard to play the zither-like string instrument called the psaltery.

Saint Hildegaard of Bingen, succeeded Jutta as abbess; Benedict XVI named Hildegard a Doctor of the Church and we would make the claim that she owes her fundamental knowledge of life to Blessed Jutta. Let us pray for those who were our first teachers of life and faith.

4th Sunday of Advent

visitationThe Psalm for today’s Mass has us singing: “Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved” (80). See in this verse what is happening between Mary and Elizabeth. Think of the baby Jesus leaping for joy in the womb of Mary at meeting of his cousin John. Have you been able to help others to experience, i.e., to see and to hear the Good News of Jesus coming into history this week? Have we made a place for Christ in hearts today?

A prominent Cistercian Father guides our reflection –Blessed Guerric of Iggy taught:

“’Be ready to go out to meet the Lord, O Israel, for he is coming…’ Do, Lord, rise up to meet me as I run to meet you. Since I have not the strength to scale your summits unless you stretch out your hand to me whom your hands have made, rise to meet me, and see whether there is any sinful way in me. If you find any sinful way in me at all, take it from me. Grant me the grace to live by your law and lead me in the ways of eternity, that is, in Christ who is the way by which we journey and the eternity which is our journey’s end: and undefiled way and a blessed dwelling place.”

Finding Yoda in the 14th c.

yoda

The craze happening today regarding the new Star Wars movie is not surprising as the work of some adventuresome scholars who found that Yoda was NOT unique to the Steven Spielberg and his team of artists for the movie series. Yoda seems to be a figure known in a 14th century manuscript called “The Decretals of Gregory IX with gloss of Bernard of Parma.”

Read the article here.

Blessed Teresa of Kolkata to be made saint

Saint TeresaIt is reported today that His Holiness, Pope Francis authorized on Thursday the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate a decree regarding a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Teresa (nee Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu). The Pope met privately with Cardinal Amato on December 17th. The relevant data was presented to the experts (bishops, theologians, doctors, etc) who help discern with the Pope the reputed sanctity of a candidate and the miracle said to be attributed to the person. The miracle at Blessed Teresa’s intercession was of a Brazilian man cured of brain abscesses.

No date has been set for the canonization.

Mother Teresa is likely the most recognizable Catholic in the world because of her work among the poor. Blessed Teresa was born in Albania on August 26, 1910 and died September 5, 1997. She was foundress of the Missionaries of Charity in 1950.

Reflecting on the declaration of Blessed Teresa’s being declared a saint, Archbishop Thomas D’Souza, the Archbishop of Calcutta [Kolkata] said, “Her entire life was spent doing works of mercy,” he said. “Her entire life was spent in service to the poor…she was reflecting God’s love here among the poorest of the poor, and so it comes as a very significant event in this Year of Mercy that the Holy Father has given to the Church.”

Mother Teresa was beatified by Saint John Paul II on October 19, 2003.

Itala Mela named Blessed by Pope

Itala MelaWe have a new Benedictine oblate Blessed!
 
Today, Pope Francis and the Congregation of Saints approved of the miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Servant of God Itala Mela.
 
The new Blessed was a Benedictine Oblate of the Abbey of Saint Paul outside the Walls (Rome). She was in La Spezia (Italy) on 28 August 1904 and died on 29 April 1957.
 
Itala also went by the name of Sister Maria of the Trinity.
 
Mela’s particular mission was to make the Holy Trinity known and loved. Dom Aldo Piccinelli, OSB, wrote a book on Mela’s teaching, The Spiritual Experience of Itala Mela: A life incandescently immersed in the Trinity (2015).
 
Thanks be to God for the gift of new Blessed from among the Benedictine Oblates!

Saint John of the Cross

Juan de la CruzToday, we mark the liturgical memorial of a magnificent saint (all saints are magnificent!), the 16th century Carmelite friar, John of the Cross.

A friend posted the following on contemplation:

“Contemplation is nothing less than a secret, peaceful and loving infusion from God. The road of contemplation is where God himself feeds and refreshes the soul directly, without the soul’s help or meditation.

There is a remarkable transformation of the heart’s desires as a result of surrendering to God in our soul’s center. Our desire and God’s desire now join in a consonance of desire.

The nature of love is to be united, linked up with and at one with the object of its love. Only love unites and cements the soul with God. The soul lives in that which it loves.

Prayer, by its nature, involves a sense of incompleteness and thus of longing in truth.

The more God wants to give us, the more He makes us desire–even to the point of leaving us empty in order to fill us with goods. Be careful that you do not lack the desire to be poor and in want.

In following Christ in the contemplative way, without laying down one’s own ground rules and conditions, we grow into dimensions of the reality of God’s love which lie beyond what we can comprehend, experience or place in any systematic order. We are stripped of all guarantees which are rooted in the self, and we begin to live on the faith, trust and love that we have for God. We now experience God more as he is–as sheer Mystery.

Prayer ultimately leads us to go beyond anything that can be known. We travel unknowing into an unknown land and we learn how to stay there, knowing naught.”

Distinguished from Christ

the BaptistWe have arrived at Gaudete Sunday, the Third Sunday of Advent. It’s a short time before the celebration of the Lord’s Nativity. In both forms of the sacred Liturgy we encounter the Lord’s cousin, Saint John the Baptist. The supreme lesson the Baptist teaches is that we are not Jesus, which seems obvious to say but in reality so many think they are the messiah and therefore do not live in humility. Here is an excerpt from a meditation by Saint Augustine on the Prophet Saint John the Baptist:

“What does to prepare the way mean, except to pray as you ought, to be humble-minded? Take an example of humility from John himself. He is thought to be the Christ, but he says he is not what people think. He does not use the mistake of others to feed his own pride. Suppose he had said: I am the Christ. How easily would he have been believed, since that was what people were thinking before he spoke! But he did not say it. He acknowledged who he was, distinguished himself from Christ, humbled himself.”

Our Lady of Guadalupe

OL GuadalupeMary, the Mother of God is an example of the tenderness that is at the heart of the Gospel. It is also said that Mary is at the center of what is called “the revolution of tenderness” by the Pope. Today as we remember Our Lady of Guadalupe. Saint Juan Diego said in 1531:

Do listen, do be assured of it, my littlest one, that nothing at all should alarm you, should trouble you, nor in any way disturb your countenance, your heart. For am I not here, I, your mother? Are you not in the cool of my shadow? In the breeziness of my shade? Is it not I that am your source of contentment? Are you not cradled in my mantle, cuddled in the crossing of my arms? Is there anything else you need?