Eternal Shepherd, you made Blessed Benedict known for his great love of the brethren and his service to Your flock. By the help of his prayers may we ever be ardent in our fellowship and with one heart be steadfast in the household of the Church.
Being in God’s…according to Saint Benedict
In the days leading up to the feast of Saint Benedict (Jul 11) I thought I’d look at some reflections on his influence on us today. The Saint has set the stage for so much in the Church today, especially for the spiritual life, that we need to pay clear attention to what he has to say.
Living in the presence of God, according to Benedict, shapes
all realms of human life: prayer, work, interaction with creation, and
relationships with other people. “Fellowship,” that great slogan of
our time, was for Benedict no contradiction to a devout love of God. The social
dimension is always already religious, for in the brother as in the sister we
encounter Christ himself.
Faith in God is made concrete for Benedict in a
belief in the good core of the fellow human being. There faith is expressed in
a new way of being with one another. That, for Benedict, is the basis of true
humanity. It is not an uplifting ideal, but reality that confronts us again and
again in daily situations.
Thus Benedict says in the chapter on the monastic
counsel that the abbot is to call all the brothers to counsel because “the
Lord often reveals what is better to the younger.” For Benedict, then, it
is clear that the Lord speaks to us through people, that he can speak to us
through anyone, even a younger person who may have less experience and
knowledge.
Anselm Grun, OSB, Benedict of Nursia: His Message For Today
Saint Maria Goretti
“What does this fra
gile but christianly mature girl say to today’s young people, through her life and above all through her heroic death?” Pope John Paul II asked on her feast day in 2003.
The Pope went on to say: “Marietta, as she was lovingly called, reminds the youth of the third millennium that true happiness demands courage and a spirit of sacrifice, refusing every compromise with evil and having the disposition to pay personally, even with death, faithful to God and his commandments. How timely this message is.
Today, pleasure, selfishness and directly immoral actions are often exalted in the name of the false ideals of liberty and happiness. It is essential to reaffirm clearly that purity of heart and of body go together, because chastity ‘is the custodian’ of authentic love.”
A Thomistic perspective in honoring the Fatherland
St Thomas Aquinas didn’t have a theological opinion on America’s Independence for obvious reasons, but he did have at least two thoughts on the virtue of the fatherland and a Catholic’s perspective in honoring one’s homeland. He sets in clear terms the proper order of our praise for our origins. Aquinas wrote:
“The virtue of
piety helps us pay worship not only to one’s father but also to one’s
fatherland” (II-II, Q. 102, a3).
And in another place he said, “Our existence and guidance in life come
primarily from God, secondarily from our parents and our native country.
Religion gives expression to the faith, hope and charity which fundamentally
unite us to God; in the same way loyalty expresses the love we have for our
parents and native country” (II-II, Q101, a2).
Independence Day in the USA
God of love, Father of us all in wisdom and goodness You guide creation to fulfillment in Christ Your Son. Open our hearts to the truth of His gospel, that Your peace may rule in our hearts and Your justice guide our lives.
A blessed 4th of July!
Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati: pointing us to an authentic spiritual renewal of the world
Prayer to Follow Pier Giorgio
O Father, You gave to the young Pier Giorgio Frassati the joy of meeting Christ and of living his faith in the service of the poor and the sick; through his intercession may we, too, walk the path of the beatitudes and follow the example of his generosity, spreading the spirit of the Gospel in society. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
When he beatified Pier Giorgio twenty years ago John Paul remarked in his homily that,
“Today’s celebration invites all of us to receive the message which Pier Giorgio Frassati is sending to the men and women of our day, but especially to you young people, who want to make a concrete contribution to the spiritual renewal of our world, which sometimes seems to be falling apart and wasting away because of a lack of ideals. By his example he proclaims that a life lived in Christ’s Spirit, the Spirit of the Beatitudes, is “blessed,” and that only the person who becomes a “man or woman of the Beatitudes” can succeed in communicating love and peace to others. He repeats that it is really worth giving up everything to serve the Lord. He testifies that holiness is possible for everyone, and that only the revolution of charity can enkindle the hope of a better future in the hearts of people.”
Read Pope John Paul II’s homily at the beatification of Pier Giorgio.
More information on Blessed Pier Giorgio at Frassati USA
A prayer to Mary
Mary, humble servant of God Most High, the Son to whom you gave birth has made you the servant of humanity. Your life was a humble and generous service. You were servant of the Word when the angel announced to you the divine plan of salvation. You were servant of the Son, giving him life and remaining opening to his mystery. You were servant of redemption, standing courageously at the foot of the cross, close to the Suffering Servant and Lamb, who was sacrificing himself for love of us. You were servant of the Church on the day of Pentecost and with your intercession you continue to generate her in every believer, even in these our difficult and troubled times. Let the young people of the third millennium look to you, young daughter of Israel, who have known the agitation of a young heart when faced with the plan of the Eternal God. Make them able to accept the invitation of your Son to give their lives wholly for the glory of God. Make them understand that to serve God satisfies the heart, and that only in the service of God and of his Kingdom do we realize ourselves in accordance with the divine plan, and life becomes a hymn a glory to the Most Holy Trinity. Amen.
Pope John Paul II
11 May 2003
Saint Thomas, the apostle
Taking the extraordinary example of faith Thomas has, let live as though the real Presence meant something: My Lord and my God.
With the Church we pray:
Almighty Father, as we honor Thomas the apostle, let us always experience the help of his prayers. May we have eternal life by believing in Jesus, whom Thomas acknowledge as Lord, for He lives and reigns with Your and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
A “new liturgical movement” according to Pope Benedict
Some may have heard the idea “the new liturgical movement” used nowadays to describe a recovery of the sacred Liturgy that understands a continuity in the Liturgy that has existed through the ages and not just made up by scholars and hacks. John Allen explores the origin of this idea according to the thinking of Pope Benedict in a brief NCR article, “What Benedict means by a ‘new liturgical movement.’
I would also recommend the book referenced by John Allen, Milestones. It is necessary reading for all sorts of things, not just trying to understand Joseph Ratzinger.
Blessed Junípero Serra
God most High, Your servant Junipero Serra brought the gospel of Christ to the peoples of Mexico and California and firmly established the Church among them. By his intercession, and through the example of his apostolic zeal, inspire us to be faithful witness of Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.
Blessed Junipero was born at Petra, Island of Majorca, November 24, 1713; he died at Monterey, California, August 28, 1784. Serra was beatified by Pope John Paul II on September 25, 1988.