Urgent Prayer Request

Please pray for my brother-in-law who is in critical condition and for his wife, my sister- that God's will be done and for the strength and faith to accept His will.

Make Us Love You More and More

Let this be our prayer.

Celebrating Corpus Christi With Our Eyes, Ears, Minds, Hearts and Souls

Still trying to rediscover a sense of awe and amazement in the Eucharist?  Perhaps our beloved St. Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic Doctor, has just what you need this Corpus Christi. 

There are arguably no more beautiful and moving hymns than the three he composed for this great feast day:  Pange Linga, Tantum Ergo and Adore te Devote.

But they are in Latin, you say, and you don't understand that language. But your heart can, if you just let these hauntingly beautiful melodies penetrate it. Your mind can certainly "rap itself around" the English translations of these classics if you would but invest some time pondering and reflecting on these heavenly lyrics.

Settle down. Close your eyes for a few minutes. Be silent for a time. Cast aside the trials and tribulations of this day. Ask God to allow the words you are about to ponder, the melodies you will hear, and the images you will see penetrate your entire being and bring this great Eucharistic mystery alive in your heart, mind and soul.

This is what I suggest. Feel free to ignore this suggestion. Take one hymn at a time. Read the lyrics. Read them more than once. Then click the name of that hymn.  There will be two versions of each hymn. Listen and watch the video that will appear. You may want to do this a few times as well. Go back, re-read the lyrics and then listen to the hymn again. Repeat this process for the remaining two hymns.  

Pange Lingua

(Sing My Tongue)

Of the glorious Body telling,

O my tongue, its mysteries sing,

And the Blood, all price excelling,

Which the world's eternal King,

In a noble womb once dwelling

Shed for the world's ransoming.

Given for us, descending,

Of a Virgin to proceed,

Man with man in converse blending,

Scattered he the Gospel seed,

Till his sojourn drew to ending,

Which he closed in wondrous deed.

At the last great Supper lying

Circled by his brethren's band,

Meekly with the law complying,

First he finished its command

Then, immortal Food supplying,

Gave himself with his own hand.

Word made Flesh, by word he maketh

Very bread his Flesh to be;

Man in wine Christ's Blood partaketh:

And if senses fail to see,

Faith alone the true heart waketh

To behold the mystery.

Therefore we, before him bending,

This great Sacrament revere;

Types and shadows have their ending,

For the newer rite is here;

Faith, our outward sense befriending,

Makes the inward vision clear.

Glory let us give, and blessing

To the Father and the Son;

Honour, might, and praise addressing,

While eternal ages run;

Ever too his love confessing,

Who, from both, with both is one.

Amen.

If you are not ready to move on to the next hymn, it's okay. Here's another version. Stay here as long as you like. Proceed at your own pace.

Tantum Ergo

(Down in Adoration)

Down in adoration falling,

Lo! the sacred Host we hail,

Lo! oe'r ancient forms departing

Newer rites of grace prevail;

Faith for all defects supplying,

Where the feeble senses fail.

To the everlasting Father,

And the Son Who reigns on high

With the Holy Spirit proceeding

Forth from each eternally,

Be salvation, honor, blessing,

Might and endless majesty.

Amen.

R. Thou hast given them bread from heaven.
V. Having within it all sweetness.

Let us pray: O God, who in this wonderful Sacrament left us a memorial of Thy Passion: grant, we implore Thee, that we may so venerate the sacred mysteries of Thy Body and Blood, as always to be conscious of the fruit of Thy Redemption. Thou who livest and reignest forever and ever. R. Amen.

Go here if you want to experience a more traditional version of this hymn.


Our final hymn:

Adore te Devote

(I Devoutly Adore You) 

1. Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore,

Masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more,

See, Lord, at thy service low lies here a heart

Lost, all lost in wonder at the God thou art.

2. Seeing, touching, tasting are in thee deceived:

How says trusty hearing? that shall be believed;

What God's Son has told me, take for truth I do;

Truth himself speaks truly or there's nothing true.

3. On the cross thy godhead made no sign to men,

Here thy very manhood steals from human ken:

Both are my confession, both are my belief,

And I pray the prayer of the dying thief.

4. I am not like Thomas, wounds I cannot see,

But can plainly call thee Lord and God as he;

Let me to a deeper faith daily nearer move,

Daily make me harder hope and dearer love.

5. O thou our reminder of Christ crucified,

Living Bread, the life of us for whom he died,

Lend this life to me then: feed and feast my mind,

There be thou the sweetness man was meant to find.

6. Bring the tender tale true of the Pelican;

Bathe me, Jesu Lord, in what thy bosom ran---

Blood whereof a single drop has power to win

All the world forgiveness of its world of sin.

7. Jesu, whom I look at shrouded here below,

I beseech thee send me what I thirst for so,

Some day to gaze on thee face to face in light

And be blest for ever with thy glory's sight.

Amen.

I suspect you're looking for another version?

Let us end in prayer:

Heavenly Father, increase our faith in the Real Presence of your Son, Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. We are obliged to adore Him, to give Him thanks and to make reparation for sins. We need Your peace in our hearts and among nations. We need conversion from our sins and the mercy of Your forgiveness. May we obtain this through prayer and our union with the Eucharistic Lord. Please send down the Holy Spirit upon all peoples to give them the love, courage, strength and willingness to respond to the invitation to perpetual Eucharistic Adoration. We beseech You to spread perpetual exposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament in parishes around the world. We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. Amen.

Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament help us spread the glory of Your Son through perpetual exposition of the Holy Eucharist.

(With thanksgiving to Deacon John Setera and the Eucharistic Adoration Society in the Diocese of Buffalo, NY)

June 23, 2011

The Eucharist, the Mass and the Feast of Corpus Christi

Although polling information varies, there is likely somewhere between 68 and 70 million Catholics in the U.S. and (shockingly) another 30 million or so who identify themselves as being "former" Catholics.

Other polls claim that more than 70 per cent of those who claim to be Catholic no longer attend Sunday Mass and 70 percent of those who do attend Mass no longer believe that Jesus is really, truly and substantially present, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, in the Sacred Eucharist. What a tragedy, if true, that so very few people who identify themselves as Catholics believe an essential dogma of their faith.  What an affront to our Lord who remains far too often an ignored and unappreciated prisoner in the tabernacles of His Churches.

Instead of cursing this darkness, ignorance and disbelief, let's do something affirmative this Corpus Christi (Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ) to console Our Lord, to reinstate a sense of the "sacred" and to rediscover a sense of "awe and amazement" in this gift of the Eucharist, as Blessed John Paul II and Benedict XVI have so frequently urged us to do. 

It will take a little time, but why not look at this and this and even this.  If you find these videos inspiring and if they have stirred a spark of "awe and amazement" within your heart, pass them on to family and friends, particularly those who have absented themselves from the Mass and the Eucharist for some time. Maybe your act will be the spark to draw them back. Better yet, follow up with a phone call and ask one of those family members or friends to accompany you to Mass this Sunday as the universal Church commemorates the great gift of the Eucharist.

Come on! Don't be afraid! You can do it! You should do it! You must do it! You will do it if you love your Lord and the family and friends He longs to see and whose souls He seeks.

Eucharistic Reflection For The Rest of The Week

While showing St. Margaret Mary His Sacred Heart, Jesus said:

“Behold this heart, which has loved men so much that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming itself, in order to testify to them its love. In return I receive from the greater number nothing but ingratitude by reason of their irreverence and sacrileges, and by the coldness and contempt which they show Me in this sacrament of love. But what I feel the most keenly is that it is hearts which are consecrated to Me that treat Me thus. Therefore, I ask of you that the Friday after [the] Octave of Corpus Christi be set apart for a special feast to honor My heart, by communicating on that day and making reparation to it by a solemn act, in order to make amends for the indignities which it has received during the time it has been exposed on the altars. I promise you that My heart shall expand itself to shed in abundance the influence of Its divine love upon those who shall thus honor it and cause it to be honored.”

Need A Laugh?

Though I am not a frequent flyer, I understand that being a passenger in a commercial airliner these days is not always pleasant or comfortable. I needed a good chuckle. With thanks to Father Phil, OP at Dominie, da mihi hanc aqua

The Silence Must End: Souls Are Being Lost

Enough is enough!

I picked up the local paper recently and saw (not for the first time unfortunately) another headline broadcasting Governor Andrew Cuomo’s on-going aggressive support to legalize gay marriage in New York State. As an individual, he is free to support and believe anything he wishes. As one who purports to be Catholic, however, he can not support legislation which is contrary to God’s law without jeopardizing his eternal soul and potentially the souls of many others. While one can only pray that his Bishop has privately shared this truth with him, it appears that the Governor has ignored that advice.  

Sadly, recent polls show that a majority of those professing to be Catholic in New York State concur with the Governor and see no reason to oppose gay marriage. Many do so out of a false and confused understanding of compassion, justice  and tolerance. How can this be? This issue has been around for years. The reasons why Catholics must enter the public arena and strenuously oppose this legislation are set forth here and here. Why are so many Catholics still woefully ignorant about the Church's teaching on this subject?  Why has the Church failed to properly catechize its flock at the parish level on such a vital issue?

It would be a very simple and relatively inexpensive process (not to mention a spiritual necessity) to include such information in the weekly bulletins of every Catholic Church in this state.  How many of our Bishops have directed their priests to do so? If not, why not?  Archbishop Thomas Dolan has written in defense of marriage and against gay marriage but how many parishes have distributed his comments to their members? Why not?

We have an obligation to lovingly share the truth to those who may not know it. If we intentionally fail to do so, we not only jeopardize the salvation of the person who needed to hear that truth but our own as well. As difficult as it may be, we Catholics, lay, religious and ordained, must heed and follow the advice of St. Therese of Lisieux: “Dislike me for it, if you want, but I will tell you the truth right up until my death.”

Despite the Governor’s assertions to the contrary, this is no longer a private issue, but a public scandal to faithful Catholics. This Catholic politician's frequent public support of legislation contrary to Church teaching and inimical to the best interest of our society requires a public response from our Bishops. The Church's silence on this and other pressing moral issues must end!

Where is its zeal for the salvation of souls? 

Eucharistic Reflection For the Day

During my time of adoration

I was quite full of the thought

that it was impossible for me

to enjoy a more blessed privilege.

Is it not, indeed, a foretaste of Paradise

to find oneself in the presence of

Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacarament?

St. Eugene de Moazenod

Another Powerful Picture With Words

With thanks to LifeAction.org for creating this image and In Spiritu et Veritate for sharing it:

A Forgotten Spiritual Treasure

It is a shame that some Catholics have succumbed to the falsehood that any spiritual book written prior to Vatican II is antiquated and of no value for the souls of contemporary Catholics hungering for spiritual nourishment and guidance.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

Have you ever heard of The Little Book of Eternal Wisdom written by Blessed Henry Suso, O.P., a fourteenth century Dominican priest and mystic? I just discovered this gem and will be spending a great deal of time mining the wisdom contained in this forgotten book. While its language needs some updating (which I have attempted to do in the following excerpts), its insights are eternal. It’s a little lengthy but worth the read.

The book sets forth an on-going dialogue between God (Eternal Wisdom) and a man (the Servant) who is searching for Wisdom and Truth. In Chapter XXIII (How We Ought Lovingly To Receive God) the Servant comes to a life-changing realization of how he has taken the Eucharist for granted. Let’s listen in on a portion of the conversation between this soul and His God. We will no doubt find much fruit for our own contemplation:

“The Servant…Lord, teach me how I should behave myself towards You, how, with due honor and love, I should receive You.

Eternal Wisdom.--You should receive Me worthily, you should partake of Me with humility, you should keep Me earnestly, you should embrace Me with conjugal love, and have Me in My godly dignity before your eyes. Spiritual hunger and actual devotion must impel you to Me more than custom…

The Servant…I have plucked the red roses and have not smelt them; I have wandered among the blooming flowers and have not seen them; I have been as a dry branch amid the fresh dews of May. Never, O never can I sufficiently repent Your having been for many a day so near me, and my having been so far from You. O, sweet guest of pure souls, what a sorry welcome have I hitherto given You, what an ill return have I so frequently made You! How little desirous have I not shown myself of the sweet bread of angels! I had the precious balsam in my mouth, and felt it not. Ah, Thou delight of all angelic eyes, never as yet did I feel true delight in You! If it were announced to me that a bodily friend would visit me in the morning should I not rejoice at it all the night before? And yet, never did I prepare myself for the reception of You, as in reason I ought, You worthy guest, whom heaven and earth equally honor… O God, how often have I stood distracted and without devotion on the very spot where You were before me, and with me in the Blessed Sacrament; my body indeed stood there, but my heart was elsewhere. How often have I thought so little of You in Your presence, that my heart has not even offered You an affectionate salutation, with a devout inclination? Gentle Lord, my eyes ought to have looked at You with joyous delight, my heart ought to have loved You with the fullness of desire, my mouth ought to have praised You with heartfelt, fervent jubilee; all my strength ought to have melted in Your glad service. What did not Your servant David do who leapt so joyously with all his might before the ark, in which there was nothing but corporal bread of heaven, nothing but corporal things! Lord, now do I stand here before You, and before all Your angels, and with bitter tears fall at Your feet…O, forgive me all the dishonor that ever I offered You, for I am sorry for it, and must ever be sorry for it; for the light of Your wisdom begins only now to enlighten me; and the place where You art, not only according to Your divinity, but according to Your humanity, shall be honored by me evermore…Tell me, gentle Lord, what is it You give Your beloved with Your real presence in the Sacrament, provided she receives You with love and desire?

Eternal Wisdom.--Is that a fitting question for a lover? What have I better than Myself? He who possesses the object of his love, what else has he to ask for? He who gives himself, what has he refused? I give Myself to you, and take you from yourself, and unite you to Me. You lose yourself, and art wholly transformed into Me. What does the sun in his brightest reflection bestow on the unclouded sky? Yes, what does the bright star of the morning dawn bestow on the dark night? Or what do the fair and ravishing adornments of summer bestow after the cold, wintry, melancholy season?

The Servant.--O Lord, they bestow precious gifts.

Eternal Wisdom.--They seem precious to you because they are visible to you. Behold, the smallest gift that flows from Me in the Blessed Sacrament reflects more splendor in eternity than any sunny brightness; it sheds more light than any morning star; it adorns you more ravishingly in eternal beauty than ever did any adornment of summer the earth. Or is not My bright divinity more radiant than any sun, My noble soul more resplendent than any star, My glorified body more ravishing than any ravishment of summer? And yet all these things have you truly received here.

            You can find this classic at The Library of Christian Classics.

June 7, 2011

Eucharistic Reflection For The Day

By means of the angels,

 Jesus calls the poor and simple shepherds,

in order to manifest Himself to them.

He calls the learned men by means of their science.

And all of them, moved by His inner grace,

 hasten to adore Him.

He calls all of us by divine inspiration, and

 communicates with us by means of His grace.

 How many times has He invited us, too?

And how readily have we responded?

My God, I blush and become embarrassed

 when I have to answer such a question."

St.Padre Pio