Communio – Page 82 – …bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Transitus of St Francis of Assisi

This evening the Franciscans (friars, nuns, sisters, laity) recall in a prayerful manner Holy Father Saint Francis, who passed from this world 790 years ago.

Francis is recalled by his biographer Thomas of Celano:

While therefore the brothers were weeping very bitterly and grieving inconsolably, the holy father commanded that bread be brought to him. He blessed and broke it and gave a small piece of it to each one to eat. Commanding also that a book of the Gospels be brought, he asked that the Gospel according to St. John be read to him from the place that begins: “Before the feast of the Passover.” He was recalling that most holy supper which the Lord celebrated as his last supper with his disciples. He did all of this in reverent memory of that supper, showing thereby the deep love he had for his brothers.

(The Remembrance of the Desire of a Soul by Thomas of Celano, The Second Book, Chapter CLXIII, #217, p. 387.)

The Transitus experience is an expression of the Franciscan order which is rather unique: it is the anniversary of the saint’s death but the uniqueness lies in the question: what does it mean to live the spirit of Francis in our midst today? Or, how is the life and work and spiritual patrimony of Francis as light for our world today?

St Theodore Guerin

A little known saint in these parts is an American woman called Saint Mother Theodore Guerin. Today is her liturgical commemoration. Mother Theodore is the foundress of the Sisters of Providence in Indiana. For the time being, Saint Theodore’s liturgical devotion is restricted to the dioceses in Indiana. She is a recognized saint of the Church, and her ability to assist us in our efforts to live holy lives is well documented. She was known for her great trust in God’s Providence and her holiness of life.

In October 1840, Mother Theodore and a group of sisters was invited from France to Indiana to serve in this portion of the Lord’s Kingdom. Travel to the USA and to Indiana caused them great hardships. And their challenges did not end there. Mother Theodore had many requests for her small community to serve the needs of the new diocese in Indiana. Mother Theodore and her sisters set to work serving those in their neighborhood, and quickly set to work establishing schools for the poor. On a personal level, she suffered many hardships, from the severe conditions of their rugged dwellings to personal health problems that eventually led to an early death in 1856.

Saint Mother Theodore, Pray for us!

Blessed Columba Marmion

The month of October is dedicated to the Holy Rosary. It is a profound prayer and a way to drawn closer to Christ by being a child of Mary, the Mother of God. Today, we commemorate the feast of the Benedictine abbot, Blessed Columba Marmion. When he was elected abbot of his abbey, he chose Rosary Sunday for the Abbatial Blessing in 1909. He had, as we ought to have, a sincere devotion to Our Lady of the Rosary. He writes:

Here is an example to help you understand the efficacy of the Rosary. You remember the story of David who vanquished Goliath. What steps did the young Israelite take to overthrow the giant? He struck him in the middle of the forehead with a pebble from his sling. If we regard the Philistine as representing evil and all its powers: heresy, impurity, pride, we can consider the little stones from the sling capable of overthrowing the enemy as symbolizing the Aves of the Rosary.

The ways of God are entirely different from our ways. To us it seems necessary to employ powerful means in order to produce great effects. This is not God’s method; quite the contrary. He likes to choose the weakest instruments that He may confound the strong: “God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong — Infirma mundi elegit ut confundat fortia” (1 Cor 1:27).

Have you not often met poor old women who are most faithful to the pious recitation of the Rosary? You also must do all that you can to recite it with fervour. Get right down, at the feet of Jesus: it is a good thing to make oneself small in the presence of so great a God.

Columba Marmion
Christ, the Ideal of the Priest

A prayer to a guardian angel

October 2nd is the day to commemorate the Guardian Angels. While it is a Sunday, the feast gets trumped by the Sunday observance.

The teaching we hold dear about the Guardian Angel is that an angel is (a created, non-human, non-corporeal being) that has been assigned to guard a particular person, with concern for that person to avoid spiritual and physical dangers and work out one’s salvation. The Directory on Piety and the Tradition of the Church says serenity and confidence in facing difficult situations, since the Lord guides and protects the faithful in the way of justice through the ministry of His Holy Angels.

In sacred Scripture, the Prophet Daniel speaks of Michael as “the great prince who has charge of your [Daniel’s] people” (Dan. 12:1). Michael is depicted as the guardian angel of Israel.

Saint Matthew’s Gospel speaks of Jesus talking about are guardian angels for all persons, particularly little children. He says: See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that in heaven their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven (Matt. 18:10).

‘A prayer to the good angel’

O sweet angel, to me so dear,
Who night and day standeth me near
Full lovingly, with mild mood, [gentle mind]
Thanks, honour, love and praising,
Offer for me to Jesu, our king,
For his gifts great and good.

As thou goest betwixt him and me,
And knowest my life in every degree,
Telling it in his presence,
Ask me grace to love him truly,
To serve my Lord with heart duly,
With my daily diligence.

Keep me from vice and all perils,
While thou with me daily travels
In this world of wickedness;
Cause my petitions to be granted
By thy prayer daily haunted,
If it please thy holiness.

O sweet angel, who keepest me,
Bring me to bliss, I pray thee!

From the manuscript from which this prayer comes we can note that it was in a volume owned by Margaret Beauchamp, the Duchess of Somerset, mother of Margaret Beaufort, and grandmother of Henry VII.

Religious Lyrics of the XVth Century, ed. Carleton Brown (Oxford, 1939)

Know your angels

Angels are everywhere. Do you notice the angels? Do you know they possess us? Are you in friendship with your Guardian Angel? On the 29th of September we had the feast of the Holy Archangels and on the 2nd of October we have the feast of Guardian Angels. Catholic theology, like that of Jewish theology, teaches the existence and work of angels. Some catechesis on video and some book recommendations:

Watch Mike Aquilina: Angels

Watch Scott Hahn: Angels and Saints

Watch Mark Miravalle: The Nine Choirs of Angels and their relation to Mary the Queen of Angels

St Therese of Lisieux–the Little Flower

Some thoughts from The Little Flower:

“Without love, deeds, even the most brilliant, count as nothing.”

“If I did not simply live from one moment to another, it would be impossible for me to be patient, but I only look at the present, I forget the past, and I take good care not to forestall the future.”

“Our Lord does not come from Heaven every day to stay in a golden ciborium; He comes to find another heaven, the heaven of our soul in which He loves to dwell.”

St Jerome

Typically remembered as curmudgeon, the Church remembers Saint Jerome, priest, monk and Doctor of the Church known for the depth of scriptural learning and his translation of the Bible into what we call the Vulgate, the Latin version of sacred Scripture. Among the many significant things Jerome was known for is his insistence on the necessity for Christians knowing the Old Testament.

The Church has experience with human nature an never fails to recognize the God-given mission of his people: Jerome is the patron saint of people with difficult personalities. You’ll notice many of the pictures of Jerome position him in the regalia of a cardinal (a position that did not exist in Jerome’s era) yet more realistic is his sacrificial life, the ascetic life for the training of all Christians to be in relationship with Christ Jesus, with others for the sake of building the Kingdom of God.

Historians tells us that Jerome was born around 340 as Eusebius Hieronymous Sophronius in present-day Croatia, and homeschooled in the Christian faith from his father and later was sent him to Rome for instruction in rhetoric and classical literature. Pope Liberius baptized Jerome in 360.

Drawn to monastic and intellectual centers of the newly Christian empire (remember that Christianity had recently become legal), he set out to learn and be formed by a proper sense of culture (focussed on the Savior) and knowing the history, language, and sacred writ. His studied under Chromatius and Heliodorus, who were outstanding teachers of orthodox theology. Both were named saints.

Saint Jerome once said, “I interpret as I should, following the command of Christ: ‘Search the Scriptures,’ and ‘Seek and you shall find.’ For if, as Paul says, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, and if the man who does not know Scripture does not know the power and wisdom of God, then ignorance of Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.”

Saint Jerome died in his Bethlehem monastery in 420.

Alfred Pampalon’s witness

Alfred Pampalon died 121 years ago today at the age of 28. Classmates called him “the Lamb of God” as a testimony to his piety and gentleness while others called him the “Hail Mary Saint” because of his love for the Blessed Virgin Mary. Alcoholics and drug addicts and their caregivers rely on his testimony of faith and cleaning living to inspire personal change

The human and spiritual qualities of Alfred (an excellent athlete, a good student, devout, prayerful, and helpful, a desire to devote to God’s service) made him a solid candidate for priesthood. His spiritual and intellectual training couple with a great heart allowed him to be renowned as a confessor and spiritual director, especially among the poor.

Ask the Lord to make a saint of the Catholic Church. We need his intercession today. I see the need for his beatification especially there are many, many priests who are affected by the abuse of alcohol and they refuse to change their life for their own good, and the good of the Church.

Feast of the Archangels

In the Matins service this feast the Church prays: “Wherever your grace casts its shadow, O Captain and Archangel Michael, the Devil is driven out, for Lucifer, the fallen morning star, cannot bear to behold your light. We, therefore, beg you to quench the fiery darts he casts against us and deliver us from his temptations.”

All of us —you, me, the angels, the Son of God— have a mission given by God the Father. For a moment, let us consider the heavenly beings, the archangels.

The archangel Raphael bears a name which means God Has Healed; he appears clothed as a traveler. Raphael wears the traveler’s dress throughout the Book of Tobit because he guides young Tobias on his journey and brings God’s deliverance and healing to Tobit and Sarah. His traveler’s staff takes the form of a caduceus, indicating his special care for those engaged in healing ministries; it’s also conveying God’s healing to Tobit of his blindness. Moreover, Raphael is traditionally seen as the protector of travelers and physicians, plus having agency in bringing Tobias and Sarah together and therefore, he is often invoked by those seeking a loving marriage and a godly spouse.

The archangel Gabriel, Strength of God, is the Angel of the Annunciation, who identified himself to Zachary (Lk. 1:19) as one who stand(s) in the presence of God. He stands here closest to the Star and with his feet planted firmly on rock, for his message brings light and joy to all

the earth. In Gabriel’s left hand he holds an icon of the Theotokos of the Sign, indicating the Incarnation of the Eternal Word, the Son of God, and in his right he grips a staff surmounted by a lily, symbol of peace, a role he had of sounding the Last Trumpet (cf. Rev. 8:2-5). Christians consider Gabriel to be the angel of mercy and consolation.

Clad in armor and bearing a shimmering sword, the Archangel Michael, Who Is Like God?, is the champion of justice and angel of righteousness. Michael raises up an image of Man clothed in the white robe of Baptism, while casting into hell Satan (cf. Rev.12:7-9) and the fallen angels who serve him. In several ways Michael is like Gabriel because he is the link between the Old and New Covenants: he is invoked in time of warfare, both physical and spiritual, and to rescue souls from the clutches of the Devil, especially at the moment of death. As Pope Leo XIII reminded the Church, Michael is a powerful heavenly being in the struggle against evil.

May we revere the Archangels all the more by invoking their protection.

Ss. Michael, Gabriel and Raphael

The psalm response for today’s Novus Ordo Mass is: “In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.” Indeed, this is our position before the Divine Majesty.

On the Novus Ordo liturgical calendar the St Michael is joined with Gabriel and Raphael. The only angels mentioned by name (though Uriel is sometimes noted as an angel). Recall, an angel is a messenger, sent, and is deputed by God for a particular purpose, hence, there is no generic angel doing vague things.

These days attention is drawn to St Michael due to his fighting the fallen angel and his minions –fighting evil in the world. He is invoked for assistance in doing spiritual battle. The image above is that of the famed church in Normandy, Mont Saint-Michel. Dedicated to the honor of St Michael it was for centuries locus of a Benedictine monastery of monks and today it is home for monastic Community of Jerusalem.

Fr. Dennis Brown writes: Gabriel patronize my intellect; Raphael patronze my will; Michael patronize my heart. Take time to reflect here.

Here is a reflection on Michael the Archangel. Pray for his intercession today (and every day).

As often as anything very mighty is to be done, we see that Michael is sent, that by that very thing, and by his name, we may remember that none is able to do as God doeth. Hence that old enemy whose pride hath puffed him up to be fain to be like unto God, even he who said, I will ascend unto heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will be like the Most High, Isa. xiv. 13, 14, this old enemy, when at the end of the world he is about to perish in the last death, having no strength but his own, is shown unto us a-fighting with Michael the Archangel, even as saith John, Apoc. xii. 7: There was war in heaven Michael and his Angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels.

From the Sermons of Pope St. Gregory the Great.
34th on the Gospels.