Thursday 30 April 2015

Joseph the Worker

Friday, 01 May 2015
Community Mass

St. Joseph the Worker




Saint Joseph the Worker
        Every day St. Joseph had to provide for the family's needs with hard manual work. Thus the Church rightly points to him as the patron of workers.
        Today's is also a wonderful occasion to reflect on the importance of work in the life of the human person, the family and the community.
        The human being is the subject and the primary agent of work, and in the light of this truth, we can clearly perceive the fundamental connection between the person, work and society. Human activity - the Second Vatican Council recalls - proceeds from the human person and is ordered to the person. According to God's design and will, it must serve the true good of humanity and allow "man as an individual and as a member of society to cultivate and carry out his integral vocation" (cf. Gaudium et spes, n. 35).
        In order to fulfil this mission, a"tested spirituality of human work"must be cultivated that is firmly rooted in the "Gospel of work" and believers are called to proclaim and to witness to the Christian meaning of work in their many activities and occupations (cf.Laborem exercens, n. 26).
        May St. Joseph, such a great and humble saint be an example that inspires Christian workers, who should call on him in every circumstance. Today I wish to entrust to the provident guardian of the Holy Family of Nazareth the young people who are training for their future profession, the unemployed, and those who are suffering from the hardship of the shortage of employment, families and the whole world of work, with the expectations and challenges, the problems and prospects that characterize it.
(John Paul II - General audience,Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Wednesday, 19 March 2003)
- Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana

May 01 - Homily: St. Joseph, Prayerful Worker

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQGDJrYACMk  
Published on 1 May 2014
Fr. John Joseph on the feast of St. Joseph the Worker reflects on the words of St Gertrude the Great regarding the spiritual merits to doing our work well, making work a prayer. St Joseph is our example as he labored to feed and provide for the Holy Family.
Ave Maria!
Mass: St. Joseph the Worker - Feast - Form: OF
Readings: Thursday 2nd Week of Easter
1st: act 5:27-33
Resp: psa 34:2, 9, 17-18, 19-20
Gsp: joh 3:31-36
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For Audio go to http://airmaria.com?p=42474

iBreviary
For the Memorial of Saint Joseph the Worker

SECOND READING


From the Pastoral constitution on the Church in the modern world of the Second Vatican Council
(Gaudium et spes, nn. 33-34)

The worldwide activity of man


By his labor and abilities man has always striven to improve the quality of his life. Today, particularly by means of science and technology, he has extended his mastery over almost the whole of nature, and still continues to extend it. Through the development of the many means of communication among nations, the human family is coming to see itself, and establish itself, as a single worldwide community. As a result, where formerly man looked especially to supernatural forces for blessings, he now secures many of these benefits for himself, thanks to his own efforts.

In the face of this vast enterprise now engaging the whole human race, men are asking themselves a series of questions. What is the meaning and value of all this activity? How should these benefits be used? Where are the efforts of individuals and communities finally leading us?

The Church is the guardian of the deposit of God’s word, from which are drawn the principles of the religious and moral order. Without always having a ready answer to every question, the Church desires to integrate the light of revelation with the skilled knowledge of mankind, so that it may shine on the path which humanity has lately entered.

Those who believe in God take it for granted that, taken by itself, man’s activity, both individual and collective—that great struggle in which men in the course of the ages have sought to improve the conditions of human living—is in keeping with God’s purpose.

Man, created in God’s image, has been commissioned to master the earth and all it contains, and so rule the world in justice and holiness. He is to acknowledge God as the creator of all, and to see himself and the whole universe in relation to God, in order that all things may be subject to man, and God’s name be an object of wonder and praise over all the earth.

This commission extends to even the most ordinary activities of everyday life. Where men and women, in the course of gaining a livelihood for themselves and their families, offer appropriate service to society, they can be confident that their personal efforts promote the work of the Creator, confer benefit on their fellowmen, and help to realize God’s plan in history.

So far from thinking that the achievements gained by man’s abilities and strength are in opposition to God’s power, or that man with his intelligence is in some sense a rival to his Creator, Christians are, on the contrary, convinced that the triumphs of the human race are a sign of God’s greatness and the effect of his wonderful providence.

The more the power of men increases, the wider is the scope of their responsibilities, as individuals and as communities.

It is clear, then, that the Christian message does not deflect men from the building up of the world, or encourage them to neglect the good of their fellowmen, but rather places on them a stricter obligation to work for these objectives.  

RESPONSORY
See Genesis 2:15


The Lord God put man in the garden of Eden
 to cultivate the garden and care for it, alleluia.

From the beginning of time, this has been man’s lot.
 To cultivate the garden and care for it, alleluia.

CONCLUDING PRAYER

Let us pray.

God our Father,
creator and ruler of the universe,
in every age you call man
to develop and use his gifts for the good of others.
With Saint Joseph as our example and guide,
help us to do the work you have asked
and come to the rewards you have promised.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
 Amen.


Baldwin Dom Donald's Blog: Baldwin of Ford (?-c.1190), Cistercian abbot, then...


 Night Office Readings, (Augustinian Press 2001).

COMMENT: 
Need explanation of Baldwin's explanation of "the two Resurrections"

  Statue of Baldwin of Forde from the exterior of Canterbury Cathedral 



      Dom Donald's Blog: Baldwin of Ford (?-c.1190), Cistercian abbot, then...: Statue of Baldwin of Forde from the exterior of  Canterbury Cathedral              Tuesday, 20 January 2015 Tuesday of the...  

++++++++++

FOURTH WEEK OF EASTER
THURSDAY  Year I
30 April 2015

First Reading
Revelation 19:11-20:15
Responsory          1 Cor 15:25-26; see Rv 20:13-14
Christ must reign until God has put all his enemies under his feet.
+ And the last enemy to be destroyed is death, alleluia.
V. Then death and Sheol will give up their dead, and will be cast into the fiery lake. + And the last ...


Second
R
eading
From a treatise by Baldwin
of Can
terbury (Tract.4: PL 204, 429-431.441-442)

 
   
The two resurrections

Our Lord's glorious resurrection teaches us that the fruits of obedience are resurrection and
life. These were the fruit of the obedience practiced by Christ who is the
resurrection and the life personified.

However, Christ died only once, and rose again only
once. A single resurrection
answered to a single
death. But for us who have been dragged
down to the depths by the burden of a twofold mortality, one resurrection cannot
suffice. Because we
have fallen so low, a single resurrection is not enough to bring us to the blessed life of heaven. We need two.

Nevertheless,
the resurrection of Christ is the cause and
ex­emplar, the model and
the effective sign of both our resurrections, first and second
alike. It is by our faith in   and our
sacramental imitation of the resurrection of Christ that we are re-created,
justified, sanctified, and raised from death. This is our first resurrection,
the resurrection of our soul, through which we are now dead to sin and live for
holiness, walking in newness of life as we wait for that redemption of our
bodies, which will mean that we have at last fully realized our adoption as
God's children. That will take place at the second resurrection, when Christ
will refashion these wretched bodies of ours and make them like his own
glorious body.

Our first resurrection begins when we first
show obedience to God, and is brought to completion by our perseverance in
doing his will. Our second resurrection begins with our glorification and
endures for all eternity. If we continue in obedience till the end of our
lives, then we shall also abide in a glory that knows no end.

The first resurrection has a glory of its own,
a glory of both body and soul. Let us see what the apostle says about this twofold
glory. Of bodily glory here below he says: Far be it from me to glory in anything
but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
As for the soul's glory, he explains that our glory is in the hope of adoption
as God's children.  

But the glory belonging to the second resurrection
will be the glory of the soul that sees God in the glory of his divinity, and
the glory of the body in its state of incorruptibility, when this perishable
nature of ours puts on imperishability and this mortal nature puts  on immortality. In that future life the saints
will be doubly clad. Robed in white and holding lyre and harp, they will sing
and play in their glory, praising God together for all eternity. Their mouths
will be filled with songs of rejoicing and their lips with hymns of gladness,
as they praise and honour our Lord Jesus Christ, who is God enthroned over all,
blessed forevermore. Amen.

            Responsory          Rom 6:3.8; Rv 20:6
All of
us who were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death. + If we have died with Christ we shall also
live with him, alleluia.
v. Blessed and holy are
they who share in the first resurrection. The second death will have no power
over them; they shall be priests of God and of Christ.+ If we have ...

   
Lambeth Palace  built on land bought by Baldwin of Forde
       

Monday 27 April 2015

SAINT RAPHAEL 243 Around the Tabernacle all the activity of the Cistercian monastery turns.

COMMENT:  
      
Fr. Raymond, among the Abbots, was at Rome for the canonisation of Saint Raphael. He remembers the feast at the large outside celebration and shared with by the group from Spain. In the company the friends rejoiced for their own new saint. 

At the community Maas, Fr. Raymond asked if us monks might be included in the Saints.
I love to add a couple of pages from St. Rafael.  especially, the focus on, "Tabernacles; In La 'Trapa, the thing which is accounted of least regard is La Trapa and the Trappists. The first, the only thing, is a Tabernacle in which is concealed the greatness and the immensity of God."   
243 Around the Tabernacle all the activity of the Cistercian monastery turns. 
 
78      TO KNOW HOW TO WAIT THE EUCHARISTIC LIFE     79

... I suffer I cease to do so in realizing that He wants it is thus.

234 Ah, Lord Jesus, how I love You! Were I to have a thousand lives, a thousand I would give You. With Your divine grace and the help of Mary I can do it all.   May You be blest. .

235 True humiliation is our inability to receive God elsewhere; it has to be here, within our wretchedness, in our soul which is subject to matter, to this matter which drags us clown when the eyelids heavy with sleep wan t to close.

236 Jesus is in the Tabernacle, there He receives His friends, consoles, heals and forgives them. How great is the intimacy of .Jesus with those who sorrow!

237 Everywhere on earth there is strife, but there is this difference among the combatants; the triumphs of those who while fighting are united with the Tabernacle, will only be seen in Heaven.

238 In La 'Trapa, the thing which is accounted of least regard is La Trapa and the Trappists. The first, the only thing, is a Tabernacle in which is concealed the greatness and the immensity of God.

239 Let us hide ourselves with Jesus in the Mystery of the Sacrament; may we live with our hearts united with the Tabernacle ..

240 May your life be a continued act of love for Jesus.
   
 
241 There arc a multitude of Tabernacles all round the world, bur only one God; who is Jesus in the most holy Sacrament, Jesus the true comforter, who unites the monk in his choir, the missionary in pagan lands, the layman in his parish, regardless of distance, age. At the foot of the Tabernacle we are all united by God, let us ask Him through the mediation of Mary that one day, there in Heaven, we may gaze upon that God who for love of man, conceals Himself under the species of bread and wine.
I would like to make reparation for the forsaken Tabernacle.

242 If this God who veils Himself in a little piece of bread weren't so forsaken, men would be happier, but they don't want that.

243 Around the Tabernacle all the activity of the Cistercian monastery turns.

244 The sorrows and the tears which overwhelm me for Him, have turned into peace and calm, for I have the Lord; let me live united with His Tabernacle, pick...





Sunday, 26 April 2015

St. Raphael Arnáiz Barón, monk (1911-1938)

image Other saints of the day


SAINT RAPHAEL ARNÁIZ BARÓN
Monk
(1911-1938)
        Raphael Arnáiz Barón was born in Burgos (Spain) April 9, 1911, into a prominent, deeply Christian family. He was baptised and confirmed in Burgos and began his schooling at the Jesuit college in the same city where, in 1919, he was admitted to first Communion.
        It was at this time that he had his first experience of illness: persistent fevers due to colibacillosis forced him to interrupt his studies. To mark his recovery, which he attributed to a special intervention of the Virgin Mary, his father took him to Zaragoza and consecrated him to the Virgin of Pilar. This experience, which took place in the late summer of 1921, profoundly marked Raphael.
        When the family moved to Oviedo, he continued his secondary schooling with the Jesuits there, obtaining a diploma in science. He then enrolled in the School of Architecture in Madrid, where he succeeded in balancing his studies with a life of fervent piety.
        Possessing a brilliant and eclectic mind, Raphael also stood out because of his deep sense of friendship and his fine features. Blessed with a happy and jovial nature he was also athletic, had a gift for drawing and painting as well a love for music and the theatre. But as he matured, his spiritual experience of the Christian life deepened.
        Although the study of architecture required a great deal of hard work and discipline, at that time he began the practice of making a long daily visit to the Blessed Sacrament in the Chapel of "Caballero de Gracia". He even joined the Nocturnal Adoration Association, and faithfully took his turn before the Blessed Sacrament.
        In this way his heart became well disposed to listening, and he perceived an invitation from God to lead the contemplative life.
        Raphael had already been in contact with the Trappist monastery of San Isidro de Dueñas, and he felt strongly drawn to this place, responding to his deepest desires. In December of 1933 he suddenly broke off his professional studies and on January 16, 1934 entered the monastery of San Isidro.
        After the first months of the noviciate and his first Lent, which he lived with great enthusiasm, embracing all the austerities of Trappist life, God mysteriously chose to test him with a sudden and painful
infirmity: a serious form of diabetes mellitus which forced him to leave the monastery immediately and return to his family in order to receive the proper care.
        Barely recovered, he returned to the monastery, but his illness forced him to leave the monastery for treatment again and again. But whenever he was absent he wanted to return, responding faithfully and generously to what he understood to be a call from God.
        Sanctified by his joyful and heroic fidelity to his vocation, in his loving acceptance of the Divine will and the mystery of the Cross, in his impassioned search for the Face of God, fascinated by his contemplation of the Absolute, in his tender and filial devotion to the Virgin Mary-"the Lady", as he liked to call her-his life came to an end on April 26, 1938. He was barely 27 years old. He was buried in the monastery cemetery, and later in the Abbey church.
        The fame of his sanctity rapidly spread beyond the walls of the monastery. The example of his life together with his many spiritual writings continue to spread and greatly profit those who get to know him. He has been described as one of the great mystics of the twentieth century.
        On August 19, 1989, the Holy Father John Paul II, on World Youth Day at Santiago de Compostella, proposed him as a model for young people today, and beatified him on September 27, 1992.
        Pope Benedict XVI canonized him on October 11, 2009 and presented him as a friend and intercessor for all the faithful, especially for the young.


- Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana


Friday 24 April 2015

Eastertide; " ... to be present in the act of the Resurrection of my Son!". Mysteries; Resurrection and Mass (Redemption)

Sent: Friday, 24 April 2015, 13:09
Subject: act Resurrection as all Eastertide

Mystic prayer "act Resurrection".
Queen of Heaven lessons on, first Resurrection,  second the Mass, below....
Not with picture missing.

Sent from my iPad.   
   Piggy Back

COMMENT:
the highest and most sublime mysteries of our holy religion are:  Jesus in the Sacrament and the resurrection of our bodies to glory.  These are profound mysteries, which we will comprehend only beyond the stars; but Jesus in the Sacrament makes us almost touch them with our own hands, in different ways.  First, His Resurrection; second, His state of annihilation under those species, though it is certain that Jesus is there present, alive and real.  (Quote from Book of Heaven - Volume 1).




Feast of Easter               (act Resurrection)

Feast of Easter


From the Writings of
The Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta
The Little Daughter of the Divine Will
     http://luisapiccarreta.me/feasts/feast-of-easter    

 The Resurrection is the Confirmation of the Fiat Voluntas Tua on earth as It is in Heaven.


The Queen of Heaven in the Kingdom of the Divine Will. Limbo.

Day 28 – The Expectation.
Victory over Death: the Resurrection.

The soul to her Queen Mother:
My pierced Mama, your little child, knowing that You are alone, without your beloved Good, Jesus, wants to cling to You to keep You company in your most bitter desolation. Without Jesus, all things change into sorrow for You. The memory of His harrowing pains, the sweet sound of His voice which still resounds in your ear, the charming gaze of dear Jesus, now sweet, now sad, now swollen with tears, but which always enraptured your maternal Heart – as You don’t have them with You any more, they are like sharp swords which pierce your maternal Heart through.
Desolate Mama, your dear child wants to give You relief and compassion for each pain. Even more, I would like to be Jesus, to be able to give You all the love, the comforts, the reliefs and the compassion which Jesus Himself would have given You in your state of bitter desolation. Sweet Jesus gave me to You as your child; therefore, put me in His place in your maternal Heart, and I will be all for my Mama; I will dry your tears, and I will always keep You company.
Lesson of the Desolate Queen and Mother:
Dearest child, thank you for your company; but if you want your company to be sweet and dear to Me, and bearer of relief to my pierced Heart, I want to find in you the Divine Will operating and dominating, and that you do not surrender even one breath of life to your will. Then will I exchange you with my Son Jesus, because, His Will being in you, in It I will feel Jesus in your heart. Oh, how happy I will be to find in you the first fruit of His pains and of His death! In finding my beloved Jesus in my child, my pains will change into joys, and my sorrows into conquests.
Now, listen to Me, child of my sorrows. As my dear Son breathed His last, He descended into Limbo, triumpher and bearer of glory and happiness to that prison in which were all the Patriarchs and the Prophets, the first father Adam, dear Saint Joseph, my holy parents, and all those who had been saved by virtue of the foreseen merits of the future Redeemer. I was inseparable from my Son, and not even death could take Him away from Me. So, in the ardor of my sorrows I followed Him into Limbo, and was spectator of the feast and of the thanksgivings which that whole great crowd of people gave to my Son, who had suffered so much, and whose first step had been toward them, to beatify them and to bring them with Himself into celestial glory. So, as He died, conquests and glory began for Jesus and for all those who loved Him. This, dear child, is symbol of how, as the creature makes her will die through union with the Divine Will, conquests of divine order, glory and joy begin – even in the midst of the greatest sorrows.
Even though the eyes of my soul followed my Son and I never lost sight of Him, at the same time, during those three days in which He was buried, I felt such yearning to see Him risen, that in the ardor of my love I kept repeating: “Rise, my Glory! Rise, my Life!” My desires were ardent, my sighs, of fire – to the point of feeling consumed.
Now, in these yearnings, I saw my dear Son, accompanied by that great crowd of people, leaving Limbo and going back to the sepulcher. It was the dawn of the third day, and just as all nature had cried over Him, now it rejoiced; so much so, that the sun anticipated its course to be present at the act in which my Son was rising. But – oh marvel! – before rising again, He showed that crowd of people His Most Holy Humanity – bleeding, wounded, disfigured; the way it had been reduced for love of them and for all. All were moved, and admired the excesses of love and the great portent of Redemption.
Now, my child, oh, how I wish you to be present in the act of the Resurrection of my Son! He was all Majesty; from His Divinity, united to His soul, He unleashed enchanting seas of light and beauty, such as to fill Heaven and earth. Then, triumphantly, making use of His power, He commanded His dead Humanity to receive His soul again, and to rise, triumphantly and gloriously, to immortal life. What a solemn act! My dear Jesus triumphed over death, saying: “Death, you will be death no longer – but life!”
With this act of triumph, He placed the seal on the fact that He was Man and God; and with His Resurrection, He confirmed the Gospel, His miracles, the life of the Sacraments, and the whole life of the Church. And not only this, but He obtained triumph over the human wills, weakened and almost extinguished to true good, to let triumph over them the life of that Divine Will which was to bring the fullness of Sanctity and of all goods to creatures. And at the same time, by virtue of His Resurrection, He sowed into the bodies the seed of resurrection to everlasting glory. My child, the Resurrection of my Son encloses everything, says everything, confirms everything, and is the most solemn act that He did for love of creatures.
Now, listen to Me, my child; I want to speak to you as a Mother who loves her child very much. I want to tell you what it means to do the Divine Will and to live of It; and the example is given to you by my Son and by Me. Our life was strewn with pains, with poverty, with humiliations, to the point of seeing my beloved Son die of pains; but in all this ran the Divine Will. It was the life of our pains, and We felt triumphant and conquerors, to the extent of changing even death into life; so much so, that in seeing Its great good, We voluntarily exposed ourselves to sufferings because, since the Divine Will was in Us, no one could impose himself on It, or on Us. Suffering was in our power, and We called upon it as nourishment and triumph of the Redemption, so as to be able to bring good to the entire world.
Now, dear child, if your life and your pains have the Divine Will as their center of life, be certain that sweet Jesus will use you and your pains to give help, light and grace to the whole universe. Therefore, pluck up courage; the Divine Will can do great things where It reigns. In all circumstances, reflect yourself in Me and in your sweet Jesus, and move forward.
The soul:
Holy Mama, if You help me and keep me sheltered under your mantle, acting as my celestial sentry, I am certain that I will convert all my pains into Will of God; and I will follow You, step by step, along the unending ways of the Supreme Fiat, because I know that your charming love of Mother and your power will win over my will, and You will keep it in your power and exchange it with the Divine Will. Therefore, my Mama, I entrust myself to You, and I abandon myself into your arms.
Little Sacrifice:
Today, to honor Me, your will say seven times: “Not my will, but Yours be done”, offering Me my sorrows to ask Me for the grace always to do the Divine Will.    

      
Ejaculatory Prayer:
My Mama, for the sake of the Resurrection of your Son, make me rise again in the Will of God   

http://luisapiccarreta.me/
on the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta on the occasion of the ... Towards evening of February 11, I heard these words addressed to me by Our Lady: “I am the ...     

Book of Heaven – Volume 1
…Now, while seeing Jesus or the priest celebrating the Divine Sacrifice, Jesus would make me understand that in the Mass there is all the depth of our sacrosanct religion.  Ah! yes, the Mass tells us everything and speaks to us about everything.  The Mass reminds us of our redemption; It speaks to us, step by step, about the pains that Jesus suffered for us; It also manifests to us His immense love, for He was not content with dying on the Cross, but He wanted to continue His state of victim in the Most Holy Eucharist.  The to be present in the act of the Resurrection of my Son!also tells us that our bodies, decayed, reduced to ashes by death, will rise again on the day of the judgment, together with Christ, to immortal and glorious life.  Jesus made me comprehend that the most consoling thing for a Christian, and the highest and most sublime mysteries of our holy religion are:  Jesus in the Sacrament and the resurrection of our bodies to glory.  These are profound mysteries, which we will comprehend only beyond the stars; but Jesus in the Sacrament makes us almost touch them with our own hands, in different ways.  First, His Resurrection; second, His state of annihilation under those species, though it is certain that Jesus is there present, alive and real.  Then, once those species are consumed, His real presence no longer exists.  And as the species are consecrated again, He comes again to assume His sacramental state.  So, Jesus in the Sacrament reminds us of the resurrection of our bodies to glory:  just as Jesus, when His sacramental state ceases resides in the womb of God, His Father, the same for us – when our lives cease, our souls go and make their dwelling in Heaven, in the womb of God, while are bodies are consumed.  So, one can say that they will no longer exist; but then, with a prodigy of the omnipotence of God, our bodies will acquire new life, and uniting with the soul, will go together to enjoy the eternal beatitude.  Can there be anything more consoling for a human heart than the fact that not only the soul, but also the body will be beatified in the eternal contentments?  It seems to me that on that day it will happen as when the sky is starry and the sun comes out.  What happens?  With its immense light, the sun absorbs the stars and makes them disappear; yet the stars exist.  The sun is God, and all of the blessed souls are the stars; with His immense light, God will absorb us all within Himself, in such a way that we will exist in God and will swim in the immense sea of God.  Oh! how many things Jesus in the Sacrament tells us; but who can tell them all?  I would really be too long.  If the Lord allows it, I will reserve saying something else on other occasion.    
    

Sancta Maria Abbey: http://www.nunraw.com.uk (Website)