All Graces Come From The Heart Of Jesus

Continuing with reflections on the Sacred Heart of Jesus from the Carthusian Order, this next installment is from Dom Dominic of Treves, born in Prussia in 1384, and a Carthusian of both Sierk and Treves.

Out of the good treasure of his heart he bringeth forth that which is good. (Saint Luke 6:45)

If you wish to be easily and thoroughly cleansed from sin, freed from all your imperfections, and enriched with many graces, you must cut off all unnecessary occupations, and surrender yourself to the eternal charity which is taught by the Holy Ghost, in order to become its disciple. Without any effort of the imagination, but by the sole force of the mind and the will, frequently offer, give up, and cast your heart and soul into the most sweet Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ, your Creator, your Redeemer, your crucified Friend -- into His Heart so full of love; into His Heart, the abode of the most Holy Trinity; into His Heart, where "dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead corporally" (Colossians 2:9); into His Heart, through which "we have access both in one Spirit to the Father" (Ephesians 2:18); into His Heart, finally, which, in Its infinite love, contains and embraces all the elect in Heaven and on earth.

Lift up your heart to the bountiful Heart of your God, taking care above all to be very recollected at all times and in all places, especially when you are singing the Divine praises, and during your prayers and other exercises. Thus God commands you in these or similar words: "Come unto Me, and take My yoke upon you (Saint Matthew 11:28,29). Give Me thy heart, and let thine eyes keep My ways (Proverbs 23:26). Put Me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm…" (Canticle of Canticles 8:6). Let your humble reply be: "My heart is ready (Psalm 107:2), I will extol Thee, O God my King, and will bless Thy Name forever, yea forever and ever (Psalm 144:1); I will lift up my hands and my heart unto Thee." And is not this His right since all virtues are found in the Heart of Jesus? There we find mercy, justice, meekness, strength. There we find salvation, the fountain of life, perfect consolation, "the true light which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world" (Saint John 1:9), especially the man who makes this Divine Heart his refuge in trials and sorrows. Truly, all the blessings we can desire come most abundantly from Jesus, and every grace we receive is poured out upon us from no other source than that of His Heart sweeter than honey. His Heart is the furnace of Divine love, always burning with the fire of the Holy Spirit and purifying, kindling and transforming into Himself all who yield themselves to Him, or who wish to be His.

Since all good flows from the most sweet Heart of Jesus, you must offer back to His Heart all the gifts, graces and blessings which have been bestowed upon you and upon all men. You should do this for the greater glory of God and for the benefit of the Holy Church, not attributing to yourself anything of the good you may have done, nor regarding with self-satisfaction the gifts of God, but ascribing all to Him, and returning all to their original Source, which is the Heart of Jesus. Make this offering especially when you say the Gloria Patri or recite psalms and hymns which speak of the glory of God.

Place all your sins in the Heart of Jesus. Through that Heart you should ask for grace and pardon, and should praise and bless God, not only for yourself, but for all who are committed to your care and for the whole Catholic Church, whose triumph you desire, invoking from the depth of your misery the depth of God's mercy ("Deep calleth on deep" Psalm 41:8). Out of gratitude you will then often kiss a picture of the Heart of Jesus, of this most kind Heart, of this Heart in which are hidden all the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God (Colossians 2:3). If you have not a picture of the Sacred Heart, you can make use of one of Jesus on the Cross.

Desire unceasingly to behold your Savior face to Face. Confide to Him your troubles. Draw His Heart into yours, with Its spirit and Its love, Its graces and Its virtues. Abandon yourself lovingly to It in sorrow and in joy. Confide in It and cling to It. Dwell in the Heart of Jesus, being "careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Ephesians 4:3), so that He in turn may vouchsafe to take up His abode within your heart. Lastly, sleep and take your rest in the Heart of Jesus. The hearts of mortals will prove false or will forsake you; but the most faithful Heart of Jesus will never abandon you.

Do not neglect moreover to honor devoutly and to invoke the glorious Mother of God, the Mother of mercy, the most sweet Virgin Mary, that she may vouchsafe to obtain for you from the most sweet Heart of her Son all that you need. Offer what you have received to the Heart of Jesus through the blessed hands of His Mother. Beseech her Maternal goodness to help you, so that, with all the saints and elect of God, you may praise and bless the Lord for all the benefits He has bestowed upon you down to the present time, and for all those He will grant to all eternity. Amen.

As Pentecost Week Continues...

When we look abroad upon a mighty kingdom that rules from sea to sea, when we behold on every side evidences of its greatness and stability, when we contemplate the wisdom of its institutions and the happiness of its people, when we find that genius, and learning, and taste – the wealth of human intellect and the poetry of human feeling – have all been lavished to build up and to adorn and to make as nearly perfect as the work of human hands can be, the vast fabric of its greatness, we find rising within us a desire to trace it back to the remote antiquity of its origin. How much would this instinct find to awaken its energy, in the spectacle of such a mighty Kingdom as the Church of God, of which we, by God’s grace, are members, and whose long glories are our very own. For never yet was seen on earth a kingdom such as this; never was wisdom so perfect, sway so boundless, stability so absolutely secure. And it is our happy privilege, guided by the liturgy of the Church, to go back to what we may well call the inauguration of her power on the day of Pentecost.

Our Blessed Lord had appeared to His disciples after His Resurrection, and had discoursed with them about the Kingdom of God – the Church which He had purchased by His Blood. In those mysterious walks by the Sea of Tiberias He had delivered to them, so to speak, the constitution of His newly-established Kingdom, and had commissioned them to preach the Gospel to every creature.

But when forty days had come and gone, He went up, and the heavens opened, and the clouds closed over the glory of His passing, and they that loved Him, saw Him no more. They were left alone, left to recall half sadly the features of that glorious Face, and to feed upon the memory of that tender Heart. They were left, so to speak, desolate upon the dreary world, and it is no wonder they stood, looking up to heaven, as realizing sadly that earth could never be a home to them again, now it was no longer gladdened by His Divine beauty. Desolate they stood, yet not desolate, for He had left them a sacred promise. He had told them in words which He had repeated more than once: “It is expedient for you that I go, for if I do not go the Paraclete will not come to you. But if I go, I will send Him to you. And He, being come, will teach you all truth.”

From that Upper Room in Jerusalem a power went forth, such as earth had never seen before. A spirit of life breathed upon the corruption of pagan society, and voices from the catacombs penetrated the chambers of pagan palaces. In time she came forth from those recesses where, in days of peril, her children had found at once a home, a temple, and a grave, and she saw the rulers of haughty Rome fling down their diadems in the dust before the shrines of her martyred saints. She has seen centuries pass by, and yet she grows not old; she has seen kingdoms rise, and rule, and perish, and yet she has not failed. Today, the voice, the successor of Saint Peter, whose throne is raised above the dust of saints, can speak with irresistible authority to the hearts and consciences of multitudes.

The great and special favors which God has bestowed upon His Church find, so to speak, their counterparts in His dealing with the individual soul. As the mission of the Holy Ghost was to the Church, so to each of us individually, the same Holy Spirit has a mission also.

To our individual selves – the Holy Ghost is our teacher; He enlightens our intellect, strengthens our will, discloses to us the order of God’s law, and the freedom of God’s service – gives us the grace to make our knowledge profit us to works of sanctification, and enables us to persevere to the end.

If we wish to receive the Holy Ghost we must prepare our hearts by retirement and prayer. “I will lead her,” said the Holy Ghost, “into solitude, and there I will speak to her heart.” Even in the material world, as if God wished to give us a constant lesson, silence usually attends upon, as it were, the condition of the most perfect power. What rules so widely as the light, and yet, what ever comes so quietly as the silent footsteps of the dawn? The trees grow, the flowers bloom, the stars move on through heaven, the forces of nature do their appointed tasks, and all in silence.

And so it is, too, in the spiritual world. In the sanctification of a soul, which is a far greater work than the creation of a world, the Holy Ghost seems to demand silence and recollection as the indispensable conditions of His operation. And from silence and recollection springs necessarily, prayer. Prayer, that reaches from earth to heaven, and places at the disposal of the weak whisper of a sinner’s heart the very omnipotence of God.

You have been placed in a singularly favorable position for the unimpeded operations of the Holy Spirit. He has enlightened you by faith, and placed you in the bosom of His Church.

What will avail the graces we have received, the lights which have enlightened us, the good works, the fasting, and the prayer, nay, the very sacraments of Christ, if, in the end, not persevering, we should lose our souls? What boots it to have fought through the longest day, if night closes around disaster and defeat? In earthly battles defeat does not necessarily imply disgrace. We may honor the dead soldier though his cause be lost, and recognize his bravery even through the shadows of defeat. But in the fight for eternal salvation the case is far otherwise. There, defeat must mean eternal ruin and eternal loss, tortured by the memory of long-gone hopes, that once were ready at a touch of grace to blossom into fulfillment, and ripen into the fruit of everlasting life, but which withered and died and were made vain, in the deadly atmosphere of unrepented sin.

Ask, then, the grace of final perseverance for yourselves and for your brethren. May God grant it – to me who speaks, and to you who listen, that enlightened by the Holy Spirit, corresponding with His inspirations, knowing through Him the will of God, and doing it with all our might, and so persevering to the end, we may one day, in God’s good time, find ourselves with the saints who have gone before, keeping Pentecost in heaven. Amen.

~ Father Joseph Farrell, ordained in 1865, a Professor at Carlow College, Ireland

Three Lessons From The Heart Of Jesus

The Carthusian Order has had their share of reflections on the Sacred Heart of Jesus. During this, the month of June, the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, I’ll share, Lord willing, some of these treasures which have issued from the monastic cells of solitude at the Charterhouses. This first reflection is from Ludolph of Saxony, a fourteenth century Carthusian at Strasburg and an ecclesiastical writer.

There are three that give testimony on earth; the Spirit, and the Water, and the Blood. (1 Saint John 5:8)

"One of the soldiers with a spear opened His Side" (Saint John 19:34). From this last circumstance of our Savior's Passion we learn three useful lessons.

First we learn that if, by renouncing the world and sin, we are truly dead with Jesus Christ, we must be wounded with Him by the sharp spear of Divine love. This is the sentiment with which the Bridegroom in the Canticle exclaims: "Thou hast wounded my heart, my sister, my spouse" (Canticle of Canticles 4:9). And it was in the same way that Saint Augustine desired to be wounded when he said: "O my sweet Savior, by the life-giving Wounds Thou hast received on which have shed Thy Precious Blood for our redemption, pierce, I beseech Thee, my sinful soul for which Thou hast vouchsafed to die; pierce it through and through with the burning darts of Thy supreme charity. I beseech Thee, most merciful Lord, so to penetrate my heart with the flaming arrows of Thy mighty love, that tears of devout tenderness may spring abundantly from this blessed wound. Strike, O good Jesus, this hard and unfeeling heart of mine with the irresistible force of Thy holy love, so that it alone may fill my thoughts and my affections." Thus speaks Saint Augustine.

From this same event of the Passion we also learn, according to Saint John Chrysostom, that we should receive the Sacraments of the Church with the same fervor and devotion as if they still flowed for us from the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ. The Wound of His Heart is the Source of the Sacraments. As Eve was formed from the side of the first Adam sleeping in Paradise, so our Mother the Church received life by means of the Blood and the Water which flowed from the Sacred Side of the second Adam sleeping on the Cross.

Finally we learn that we must conform our wills to the will of God by accepting all things that are pleasing to Him. Why indeed was the Heart of Jesus wounded for us with this Wound of love? It was in order that we might enter through the Door of His Side into His Divine Heart. There we can return Him love for love; there we can unite our love to His love, so that both may form but one, as white-hot iron in a furnace forms a portion of the fire which consumes it. Since Jesus has suffered His holy Hands and Feet to be pierced for love of us, we ought, for love of Him, to consecrate to Him our hands and feet by offering Him all our affections and our actions. Above all we should offer our hearts to God by conforming our will to His, in gratitude for this Wound of love which Jesus Christ received for us upon the Cross, when His most sweet Heart was pierced through with the dart of an insuperable love. Saint Augustine had entered the Heart of Jesus by this Wound when he said: "Longinus with his spear has opened for me the Side of Jesus Christ; I have entered there, and there I repose securely. The nails and lance cry out that I am risen with Him if I give Him all my love."

Let us then bear in mind, Christian souls, the very great love Jesus has shown towards us by allowing His Side to be opened wide in order that we might have easy access to His Heart. Let us hasten to enter into the Heart of Jesus, bringing there all our love, and uniting it to His Divine love. Our most loving Jesus draws from His Heart the Sacraments which open for us the gates of everlasting life; let us then address Him thus: --O Jesus, after dying for us on the Cross, Thou didst will that Thy Side should be opened by a spear, so that blood and water, emblems of the Sacraments, might flow out. Wound, I beseech Thee, my heart with the spear of Divine love, that I may merit to receive with good dispositions the Sacraments which flow from Thy most holy Side. In opening Thy Heart, Thou hast set ajar for Thine elect the door of everlasting life. Thou, O Lord, art this door through which the just shall pass in. Blot out, I beseech Thee, my iniquities, or they will close for me the Door reserved by Thy care for truly penitent sinners.

Our superabundant redemption springs from the pierced Heart of Jesus. Its source is found there as a hidden treasure. Shall not then this wounded Heart of Jesus wound our hearts? Shall we not feel compassion for Him? Shall we not love Him? It is evident that "with the Lord there is mercy and with Him plentiful redemption--apud Dominum misericordia et copiosa apud eum redemptio"(Psalm 129:7). Yes, most plentiful ! It was not a few drops, but streams of Blood, which flowed from His five Wounds. He shed it all to the last drop. The Blood circulating under the skin flowed in the scourging, that of the Head in the crowning with thorns, that of the veins when His Feet and Hands were pierced. A few drops still remained in the Breast and in the Heart of Jesus, but they gushed out when the soldier pierced His Side.

The Bread Of Life

From the Gospel of Saint John (6:44-52)
No man can come to Me, except the Father, Who has sent Me, draw him; and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets: And they shall all be taught of God. Everyone that has heard of the Father, and has learned, comes to Me. Not that any man has seen the Father; but He Who is of God, He has seen the Father. Amen, amen I say unto you: He that believes in Me, has everlasting life. I am the Bread of Life. Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are dead. This is the Bread which comes down from heaven; that if any man eats of it, he may not die. I am the living Bread which came down from heaven. If any man eats of this Bread, he shall live for ever; and the Bread that I will give, is My Flesh, for the life of the world.

A Homily by Saint Augustine
How are we to solve this question, “No man can come unto Me, except the Father, Who has sent Me, draw him”? If he is drawn, says someone, he comes unwillingly. If he comes unwillingly, then he believes not; but if he believes not, neither does he come. For we do not run to Christ on foot, but by believing; nor is it by a motion of the body, but by the inclination of the heart that we draw near to Him. Do not think that you are drawn against your will. The mind is drawn also by love. Nor should we be afraid. I say it is not enough to be drawn by the will; you are drawn even by delight. What is it to be drawn by delight? “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” There is a pleasure of the heart to which that Bread of heaven is sweet. If it was right in the poet to say, “Every man is drawn by his own pleasure,” -- not necessity, but pleasure; not obligation, but delight -- how much more boldly should we say that a man is drawn to Christ when he delights in the truth, when he delights in blessedness, delights in righteousness, delights in everlasting life, all of which Christ is?

But what is this, “Whom the Father shall draw,” when Christ Himself draws? Why did He say, “Whom the Father shall draw”? Let us, brethren, turn our minds to, and, as far as we can, apprehend how He would have us understand it. The Father draws to the Son those who believe in the Son, because they consider that God is His Father. For God begot the Son equal to Himself, so that he who ponders, and in his faith feels and muses that He on Whom he has believed is equal to the Father, this same is drawn of the Father to the Son. One whom the Father has drawn says: “You are Christ, Son of the living God.” Not as a prophet, not as John, not as some great and just man, but as the only, the equal, “You are Christ, Son of the living God.” See that he was drawn, and drawn by the Father. “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona: for flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but my Father Who is in heaven.” This revealing is itself the drawing.

“Amen, amen, I say unto you, he that believes in Me, has everlasting life.” He willed to reveal Himself, what He was: He might have said in brief, He that believes in Me has Me. For Christ is Himself true God and eternal life. Therefore, he that believes in Me, He says, goes into Me; and he that goes into Me, has Me. But what is the meaning of "to have me"? To have eternal life! Eternal Life took death upon itself; Eternal Life willed to die; but for you, not of itself; for you it received that whereby it may die on your behalf. Of men, indeed, He took Flesh, but yet not in the manner of men. For having His Father in heaven, He chose a Mother on earth. Accordingly, Life took upon itself death, that Life might slay death. “For he that believes in Me,” He says, “has eternal life." Eternal Life gave eternal life also to the flesh which it assumed. He came to die; but on the third day He rose again. Between the Word taking Flesh and the Flesh rising again, death which came between was consumed.

“I am,” He says, “the Bread of Life.” And what was the source of their pride? “Your fathers,” He says, “did eat manna in the desert, and are dead.” What is it you are proud of? “They ate manna, and are dead.” Why did they eat and die? Because they believed that which they saw; what they saw not, they did not understand. Moses ate manna, Aaron ate manna, and many ate manna, who were pleasing to the Lord, and they are not dead. Why? Because they understood the visible food spiritually, hungered spiritually, tasted spiritually, that they might be filled spiritually. For even we at this day receive visible Food: but the sacrament is one thing, the virtue of the sacrament another. How many do receive at the altar and die, and die indeed by receiving? Whence the apostle says, “Eats and drinks judgment to himself.” It was not the mouthful given by the Lord that was the poison to Judas. And yet he took it; and when he took it, the enemy entered into him: not because he received an evil thing, but because he received a good thing in an evil way. See, then, brethren, that you eat the heavenly Bread in a spiritual sense; bring innocence to the altar. Though your sins are daily, at least let them not be deadly.

“This is the Bread which comes down from heaven.” Manna signified this Bread; God's altar signified this Bread. Those were sacraments. In the signs they were diverse; in the thing which was signified they were alike. The real Christ is in the Word and in Flesh. “This is the Bread which comes down from heaven, that if any man eats of it, he shall not die.” But this is what belongs to the virtue of the sacrament, not to the visible sacrament; he that eats within, not without; who eats in his heart, not who presses with his teeth.

“I am the living Bread, which came down from heaven.” Living, because I came down from heaven. The manna also came down from heaven; but the manna was only a shadow, this is the Truth. “If any man eats this Bread, he shall live for ever: and the Bread that I will give is My Flesh, for the life of the world.” When did flesh comprehend this Flesh which He called Bread? “Is My Flesh,” He says, “for the life of the world.” Believers know the Body of Christ, if they neglect not to be the Body of Christ. Let them become the Body of Christ, if they wish to live by the Spirit of Christ. None lives by the Spirit of Christ but the Body of Christ. Understand, my brethren, what I mean to say. You are a man; you have both a spirit and a body. I call that a spirit which is called the soul; that whereby it consists that you are a man, for you consist of soul and body. And so you have an invisible spirit and a visible body. Tell me which lives by the other: does your spirit live by your body, or your body by your spirit? Every man that lives can answer. My body, of course, lives by my spirit. Would you, then, also live by the Spirit of Christ. Be in the Body of Christ. For surely my body does not live by your spirit. My body lives by my spirit, and your body by your spirit. The Body of Christ cannot live but by the Spirit of Christ. It is for this that the Apostle Paul, expounding this Bread, says: “One Bread,” he says, “we being many are one Body.” O mystery of piety! O sign of unity! O bond of charity! He that would live knows where to live. Let him draw near, let him believe; let him be embodied, that he may be made to live. Let him be a fair, fit, and sound member; let him cleave to the Body, live for God by God: now let him labor on earth, that hereafter he may reign in heaven.

The Door Of The Sheep

From the Gospel of Saint John (10:1-10)
Amen, amen I say to you: He that enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up another way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter opens; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out. And when he has let out his own sheep, he goes before them: and the sheep follow him, because they know his voice. But a stranger they follow not, but fly from him, because they know not the voice of strangers. This proverb Jesus spoke to them. But they understood not what He spoke to them. Jesus therefore said to them again: Amen, amen I say to you, I am the Door of the sheep. All others, as many as have come, are thieves and robbers: and the sheep heard them not. I am the Door. By Me, if any man enters in, he shall be saved: and he shall go in, and go out, and shall find pastures. The thief comes not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly.

A Homily by Saint Augustine
There are many who, according to a custom of this life, are called good people -- observers as it were of what is commanded in the law -- observing all that the law requires, yet are not Christians; and for the most part ask, "Are we blind also?" The Lord has set forth the similitude of His own flock, and of the Door that leads into the sheepfold. Pagans may say, then, “We live well.” If they enter not by the Door, what good will that do them? For to this end shouldn’t good living benefit every one, that it may be given to him to live forever? For to whom eternal life is not given, of what benefit is living well? No one has the true and certain hope of living always, unless he knows the Life, that it is Christ; and enters by the Gate into the sheepfold.

The Pharisees were in the habit of reading, and in what they read, their voices re-echoed the Christ, they hoped He would come; they boasted, of being among the wise, and they disowned the Christ, and entered not in by the Door. Whoever would enter the sheepfold, let him enter by the Door; let him preach the true Christ. Not only let him preach the true Christ, but seek Christ's glory, not his own; for many, by seeking their own glory, have scattered Christ's sheep, instead of gathering them. For Christ the Lord is a low Gateway: he who enters by this Gateway must humble himself. But he that is not humble, but exalts himself, wishes to climb over the wall; and he that climbs over the wall, is exalted only to fall.

The Lord Jesus speaks in covert language; not as yet is He understood. He names the Door, He names the sheepfold, He names the sheep. All this He sets forth, but does not yet explain. For He gives us what is plain, for food; what is obscure, for exercise. “He that enters in by the Door is the shepherd of the sheep: to him the porter opens.” Concerning this porter we shall make inquiry, when we have heard of the Lord Himself what is the door and who is the shepherd. “And the sheep hear his voice: and he calls his own sheep by name.” For He has their names written in the book of life! “He calls his own sheep by name.” Hence, says the apostle, “The Lord knows them that are His -- and He leads them out. And when He brings forth His own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow Him: for they know His Voice. And a stranger do they not follow, but flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.” These are veiled words, full of topics of inquiry, filled with sacramental signs. Let us follow then, and listen to the Master as He makes some opening into these obscurities; and perhaps by the opening He makes, He will cause us to enter.

“This proverb Jesus spoke to them; but they understood not what He spoke to them.” Nor we also, perhaps! As we listen to these words with a pious mind, in as far as, before we understand them, we believe them to be true and divine. It has said the truth, and what it has said is good, but we do not understand it. He that believes knocks, that he may be worthy to have it opened up to him, if he continues knocking.

Jesus Himself is the Door. We have come to know it; let us enter, or rejoice that we are already within. “All others, as many as have come, are thieves and robbers.” Before His coming came the prophets: were they thieves and robbers? God forbid! They did not come apart from Him, for they came with Him. When He was about to come, He sent heralds, but retained possession of the hearts of His messengers. If He is the truth, with Him came those who were truthful. As many, therefore, as were apart from Him, were "thieves and robbers," that is, had come to steal and to destroy.

“But the sheep did not hear them.” This is a more important point, “the sheep did not hear them.” Before the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ, when He came in humility in the flesh, righteous men preceded, believing in the same way in Him Who was to come, as we believe in Him Who has come. Times vary, but not faith. He is to come, has one sound; He has come, has another: there is a change in the sound between He is to come, and He has come: yet the same faith unites both -- both those who believed that He would come, and those who have believed that He has come. At different times, indeed, but by the one Doorway of faith, that is, by Christ, do we see that both have entered. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin, that He came in the flesh, suffered, rose again, ascended into heaven. In that faith a partnership is also held with us by those fathers who believed that He would be born of the Virgin, would suffer, would rise again, would ascend into heaven; for to such the apostle pointed when he said, “But we having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak.” The prophet said, “I believed, therefore have I spoken.” The apostle says, "We also believe, and therefore speak.” But to let you know that their faith is one, listen to him saying, “Having the same spirit of faith, we also believe.” So also in another place, “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea: and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink.” The Red Sea signifies baptism; Moses, their leader through the Red Sea, signifies Christ; the people, who passed through, signify believers; the death of the Egyptians signifies the abolition of sins. Under different signs there is the same faith. As many, then, at that time believed, whether Abraham, or Isaac, or Jacob, or Moses, or the other patriarchs or prophets who foretold of Christ, were sheep, and heard Christ. His Voice, and not another's, did they hear.

Why is it, then, that I have said: This is a more important point? What is there about it obscure and difficult to understand? Listen, I beseech you. See, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself came and preached. Much more surely was that the Shepherd's Voice which was uttered by the very Mouth of the Shepherd. For if the Shepherd's Voice came through the prophets, how much more did the Shepherd's own Tongue give utterance to the Shepherd's Voice? Yet all did not hear Him. What are we to think? Those who did hear, were they sheep? Judas heard, and was a wolf: he followed, but, clad in sheep-skin, he was laying snares for the Shepherd. Some, again, of those who crucified Christ did not hear, and yet were sheep; for such He saw in the crowd when He said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall you know that I am He.” Now, how is this question to be solved? They that are not sheep do hear, and they that are sheep do not hear. Some, who are wolves, follow the Shepherd's Voice; and some, that are sheep, contradict it. Last of all, the sheep slay the Shepherd. The point is solved; for someone in reply says. But when they did not hear, as yet they were not sheep, they were then wolves: the voice, when it was heard, changed them, and out of wolves transformed them into sheep; and so, when they became sheep, they heard, and found the Shepherd, and followed Him. They built their hopes on the Shepherd's promises, because they obeyed His precepts.

“The Lord knows them that are His.” Such sometimes do not know themselves, but the Shepherd knows them, according to the foreknowledge of God. According, then, to this Divine foreknowledge, how many sheep are outside, how many wolves within, and how many sheep are inside, how many wolves without! How many are blaspheming Christ who will yet believe in Him! Nevertheless at present they are hearing the voice of another, they are following strangers. In like manner, how many are praising within who will yet blaspheme; are standing who will by and by fall! These are not the sheep. For we speak of those who were predestinated -- of those whom the Lord knows are His; and yet these, so long as they keep right, listen to the Voice of Christ. These hear, the others do not; and yet, according to predestination, these are not sheep, while the others are.

One has come to Christ, and has heard word after word of one kind and another, all of them true, all of them salutary; and among all the rest is also this utterance, "He that endures to the end, the same shall be saved." He who has heard this is one of the sheep. But there was, perhaps, some one listening to it, who treated it with dislike, with coldness, and heard it as that of a stranger. If he was predestinated, he strayed for the time, but he was not lost for ever: he returns to hear what he has neglected, to do what he has heard. For if he is one of those who are predestinated, then both his very wandering and his future conversion have been foreknown by God: if he has strayed away, he will return to hear that Voice of the Shepherd. A good voice, brethren, it is; true and shepherd-like, the very voice of salvation in the tabernacles of the righteous. For it is easy to hear Christ, easy to praise the Gospel, easy to applaud the preacher: but to endure unto the end, is peculiar to the sheep who hear the Shepherd's Voice. A temptation befalls you; you endure to the end, for the temptation will not endure to the end. And what is that end to which you shall endure? Even till you reach the end of your pathway. For as long as you do not hear Christ, He is your adversary in the pathway, that is, in this mortal life. And what does He say? “Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are in the way with Him.” You have heard, have believed, have agreed. If you have been at enmity, agree. If you have the opportunity of coming to an agreement, keep up the quarrel no longer. For you do not know when your way will be ended, and it is known to Him. If you are a sheep, and if you endure to the end, you shall be saved.

According to my ability, as He gave me, I have either explained to you or gone over with you a subject of great profundity. If any have failed fully to understand, let him retain his piety, and the truth will be revealed. Let all of us be guided by Him to Whom we say, "Lead me, O Lord, in Your way, and I will walk in Your truth.”

Reading, Meditation, Prayer, Contemplation

Reading is the careful study of the Scriptures, concentrating all of one’s powers on it.

Meditation is the busy application of the mind to seek with the help of one’s own reason the knowledge of hidden truth.

Prayer is the heart’s devoted turning to God to push away evil and obtain what is good.

Contemplation is when the mind is in some manner lifted up to God, and held above itself, so that it tastes the joys of everlasting sweetness.

Reading seeks the sweetness of a blessed life, meditation perceives it, prayer asks for it, contemplation tastes it.

Reading as it were puts food whole into the mouth, meditation chews and breaks it up, prayer extracts its flavor, contemplation is the sweetness itself which gladdens and refreshes.

Reading comes first and is, as it were, the foundation. It provides the subject matter to be considered for meditation. Meditation considers more carefully what is to be sought after. Prayer lifts itself up to God with all its strength, and begs for the treasure it longs for, which is contemplation. Contemplation… rewards the labors of the other three; it inebriates the thirsting soul with the dew of heavenly sweetness.

Reading, meditation, prayer and contemplation are linked together, each one working for the other. The first degrees are of little or no use without the last, while the last can never or hardly be won without the first.

What is the use of spending one’s time in continuous reading, unless we extract nourishment from it by chewing and digesting this food in order that its strength can pass into our inmost heart? If meditation is to be fruitful, it must be followed by devoted prayer, and the sweetness of contemplation may be called the efficacy of prayer.

Let all my world be silent in Your presence, Lord, that I may hear what the Lord God may say in my heart. Your words are so softly spoken that no one can hear them except in deep silence. He who sits alone and listens will be raised above himself.

Guigo II, Scala Claustralium

Dominica Pentecosten -- Pentecost Sunday

Acts 2:1-11
Shavuot, a Jewish festival mandated by the Law of Moses is the root of the Christian celebration of Pentecost. Shavuot commemorates the day when on Mount Sinai the Torah was given to the Jewish people. In Scripture it is called the "festival of weeks" (cf. Exodus 34:22 & Deuteronomy 16:10). It is also labeled the "feast of the harvest" (cf. Exodus 23:16) and the "day of firstfruits" (cf. Numbers 28:26). Pentecost or "Pentekoste," the transliterated word from the Greek, means "the fiftieth" and is linked to Shavuot because Pentecost arrives fifty days after Easter, although literally celebrated on the forty-ninth day; and Shavuot recalls the Torah being given on Mount Sinai fifty days after Israel's departure from the land of Egypt. It is actually during Shavuot "when the time for Pentecost was fulfilled".

Blessed Columba Marmion wrote: "The Holy Spirit appeared under the form of tongues of fire in order to fill the apostles with truth and to prepare them to bear witness to Jesus. He also came to fill their hearts with love. He is the Person of Love in the life of God. He is also like a breath, an aspiration of infinite Love, from which we draw the breath of life. On the day of Pentecost the Divine Spirit communicated such an abundance of life to the whole Church that to symbolize it 'there came a sound from heaven, as of a violent wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they [the apostles] were sitting.' The Holy Spirit came to remain with the Church forever. This is the promise of Jesus Himself. He dwells in the Church permanently and unfailingly, performing in it without ceasing, His action of life-giving and sanctification. He establishes the Church infallibly in the truth. It is He Who makes the Church blossom forth with a marvelous supernatural fruitfulness, for He brings to life and full fruition in Virgins, Martyrs, Confessors, those heroic virtues which are one of the marks of true sanctity" (Les Mysteres du Rosaire). To expound a little on Blessed Columba's thoughts about the tongues of fire preparing the apostles to bear witness to Jesus, the image of tongues perhaps more specifically points to the power that would be prevalent in the apostles' preaching. Also coming to mind is a statement made by Saint John the Baptist: "He [Christ] will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire" (Luke 3:16).

Our liturgical text reads that the tongues "parted" which means that before the parting they were together indicating the unity the Holy Spirit would give to the Church; and then by parting intimates the dispersion of the Good News to all nations and peoples. The universality of the Church is revealed by the many nations and languages present and yet all understanding the proclamations "of the mighty acts of God".

Acts 1:14 indicates that the Blessed Virgin Mary was present in the Upper Room. If there was ever a time the ancient world needed a mother's assurance and love, this was it. Jesus is no longer physically present to the apostles. It was surely a stressful time; but they were all "persevering with one mind in prayer" (Acts 1:14). Perhaps it was the Blessed Virgin Mary who opened their hearts to prayer. She did, after all, exemplify trust in God at the Annunciation: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38).

Pope John Paul II shared these words: "In the atmosphere of expectation that prevailed in the Upper Room after the Ascension, what was Mary's position in relation to the descent of the Holy Spirit? Having already had a unique experience of the effectiveness of such a gift, the Blessed Virgin was in a condition to appreciate it more than anyone; indeed, she owed her Motherhood to the mysterious intervention of the Spirit, Who had made her the way by which the Savior came into the world. Unlike those in the Upper Room who were waiting in fearful expectation, she, fully aware of the importance of her Son's promise to the disciples, helped the community to be well disposed to the coming of the Paraclete. Thus, while her unique experience made her ardently long for the Spirit's coming, it also involved her in preparing the minds and hearts of those around her. It was appropriate that the first out pouring of the Spirit upon her, which had happened in view of her divine Motherhood, should be repeated and reinforced. Indeed, at the foot of the Cross Mary was entrusted with a new Motherhood, which concerned Jesus' disciples. It was precisely this mission that demanded a renewed gift of the Spirit. The Blessed Virgin therefore wanted it for the fruitfulness of her spiritual Motherhood. While at the moment of the Incarnation the Holy Spirit had descended upon her as a person called to take part worthily in the great mystery, every thing is now accomplished for the sake of the Church, whose Image, Model and Mother Mary is called to be. Thus Pentecost is also a fruit of the Blessed Virgin's incessant prayer, which is accepted by the Paraclete with special favor because it is an expression of her Motherly love for the Lord's disciples. Responding to the prayer of the Blessed Virgin and the community gathered in the Upper Room on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit bestows the fullness of His gifts on the Blessed Virgin and those present, working a deep transformation in them for the sake of spreading the Good News. The Mother of Christ and His disciples are granted new strength and new apostolic energy for the Church's growth" (L'Osservatore Romano, June 4, 1997).


1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13
What Saint Paul is trying to impress upon us is that "different kinds of spiritual gifts" or "different forms of service" or "different workings" should not cause division. We are a great diversity of people called to unity. The physical body and its "many parts" is useful imagery for trying to understand the mystical body. Saint Paul uses the word "different" three times in this short Reading. We are all different – in fact, we are all unique. No two people are exactly the same. God produces spiritual gifts in each of us and calls us to service for the sake of the entire mystical body.

Saint Ambrose very directly taught: "Recall then that you have received the spiritual seal, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgment and courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence, the spirit of holy fear in God's Presence. Guard what you have received. God the Father has marked you with His sign; Christ the Lord has confirmed you and has placed His pledge, the Spirit, in your hearts" (De mysteriis). The need to guard anything suggests that it could escape or be taken away.

Our Savior tells us that whosoever shall drink of the water which He gives, it shall become a well of water springing up unto everlasting life (cf. John 4:14). Saint Paul tells us in the Reading that this drink is the Spirit. Once again, Saint Ambrose continues with that thought and adds: "This well is clearly the grace of the Spirit, a stream proceeding from the living Fount. The Holy Spirit, then, is also the Fount of eternal life" (ibid.).


John 20:19-23
Our Lord's appearance through locked doors might seem like forced entry and thus incompatible with Love. But God knows our hearts, therefore, our Savior not only loves with a boundless love all those who are on the other side of the door, but He also knows that they love Him and it is out of fear that the doors are locked. In the spiritual life perhaps there are aspects of it in which we have locked the doors of our hearts. Sacramentally, here are some common things that are said: "I can't go to Confession and tell Father what I have done – what will he think of me?" Or, "The priest is just a man, what do I need him for? Can't I just go directly to God?!"

Back in 1947 there was a rather humorous movie titled: "Life with Father". The film centers on a turn of the century upper-class family in New York. The eccentric husband and his wife are the parents of five sons. It is discovered early on in the film that the father had never been baptized. From that point on his family keeps gnawing at him to get baptized even though he is dead set against it. In the end when he finally agrees or actually is kind of tricked into it, as the mother gathers up her five children in order for the family to hop on a horse and carriage and head off to church to get their father baptized, the father asks somewhat angrily, "Must the children witness this indignity?"

The sacraments were instituted by our Savior; and as far as entertaining thoughts of: "There must be another way," only Jesus knows. Even the father in the film in his wishful thinking boldly said: "They can't keep me out of heaven on a technicality!" All we know by means of Scripture and Tradition is how Jesus architected the dispersing of grace and our Lord's specific design for Reconciliation is revealed in this Gospel: "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained." When adult baptism is seen as undignified or the many excuses that arise for avoiding Confession, perhaps it is a sign that there are hearts with locked doors. And it doesn't mean that God is loved less because of our excuses or fears of embarrassment or the fear of emptying ourselves to a priest.

The more attention that one gives to the spiritual life, the more one realizes that we're all in a war zone. The battle for the human soul is waged all around us nonstop. The third chapter of the Book of Genesis tells us that the serpent is the craftiest of all; and original sin has already inflicted us with a disease that is adamant about being in control of everything ourselves. Knowing that, it's quite convenient for the serpent to bombard us with the thought of: "Did God really say…?" (Genesis 3:1).

Jesus touches us through His Holy Spirit and challenges us to meditate on "His Hands and His Side". This is Almighty God Who stands before us with these Wounds. From a human perspective, shouldn't our Lord feel undignified or embarrassed? A deep absorption into these Wounds, however, will undoubtedly disclose that love is the reason for them – and love conquers all. In this Gospel the apostles get that. Don't forget they love Him too as we love Him; and what should have been a room full of uncomfortable looking faces staring at this marred Man, instead there was rejoicing. Since they love Jesus, if the doors of their hearts locked Him out because of the shame of abandoning Him, Jesus, because there is mutual love, is able by His Divine Power to go through those locked doors.

In our own fears of embarrassment, shame, mockery or just the struggle to surrender our will to God, which can make fulfilling the mission of being sent an obstacle, as long as Jesus is loved, He will in His own time appear through those locked doors. If we're willing to keep fighting the good fight in this life full of distractions and temptations, the day will come when we will close our eyes to this world and finally gaze upon the Face we have been seeking our whole life and He may say: "Peace be with you." And then what will follow is an undeniable assurance that this Peace will remain with us uninterrupted for all eternity.