Purity of Intention - ~Fr. Eugenio Escribano

Good works, by themselves, are valueless in the eyes of God. What imparts real value to them, supernatural value, is our right intention informed by diving grace. Therefore, the soul of every virtue is the intention. The divinest act with a perfect intention will be most pure; with an indifferent intention, indifferent; with a wicked intention, abominable.

For example, a kiss imprinted on Christ’s brow. When the lips were those of His Mother Mary, burning with motherly and divine love, it was the sublimest act of religion and devotion, the blending and fusing of all the highest acts of human love into the adoration of the Son of God; when the kiss came from the lips of some woman in the Nazareth neighbourhood who, not knowing Who Jesus was, kissed Him simply because He was a comely and winsome child, the act was morally an indifferent one; from the lips of Judas in the Garden, it was the most monstrous crime that ever defiled the race of Adam.

This doctrine is applicable to every free-willed act of my life. Scrutinising my deepest intention, God judges me accordingly.

The light which lights up your good works, rendering them visible and either acceptable or displeasing to God, is your intention; so, if your intention is resplendent with clarity, rectitude, and holiness, all your works bask in splendour; if your intention is crooked, obscure, and evil, your works are darkness itself, because the very principle of light, your good intention, is extinguished.

There is no truly human work that cannot become worthy of God and which God cannot claim for Himself, provided it keeps within the limits imposed by the divine commandments; even eating, drinking, and sleeping. To eat or drink from a motive that is not virtuous, is unreasonable, or which does not enter into the supernatural order, would be something unworthy of the Christian. To practice the smallest work of virtue just because we take the notion, without any reference to God, would be unpleasing to Him and of no value.

With the light of faith and reason I shall enter resolutely into the murky chasms of my intentions, and I shall try to discover at least the measure and quality of these intentions as they inform each of my actions. No doubt I shall find, with no small shock to my pride, that there has been such a swarm of vile little passions and worldly interests, each clamouring for and obtaining with no great difficulty its own particular share of satisfaction, in all my duties, that God, the only rightful Claimant, has been left empty-handed or with only a meagre portion, and a portion certainly not the most presentable.

If this be so, I shall have to confess I have wasted my time, and that I can hope for no further reward. Amen dico vobis, recepístis mercédem vestram (Matt. 6:16).

Ave Roma Immortális -- St. John Lateran

*†* Sacrosancta Lateranénsis ecclésia ómnium urbis et orbis ecclesiárum mater et caput *†*

*†* Sacrosancta Lateranénsis ecclésia ómnium urbis et orbis ecclesiárum mater et caput *†*

Daily Meditations

REMEMBER, O Christian soul, that thou hast this day and every day of thy life: God to glorify-- Jesus to imitate-- the Angels and Saints to invoke-- a soul to save-- a body to mortify-- sins to expiate-- virtues to acquire-- Hell to avoid-- Heaven to gain-- Eternity to prepare for-- time to profit by-- neighbors to edify-- the world to despise-- devils to combat-- passions to subdue-- death perhaps to suffer-- Judgment to undergo.

Christ made my soul beautiful with the jewels of grace and virtue. I belong to Him Whom the angels serve. ~Saint Agnes

No one heals himself by wounding another. ~Saint Ambrose

God in his omnipotence could not give more, in His wisdom He knew not how to give more, in His riches He had not more to give, than the Eucharist. ~Saint Augustine

Conquer thyrself and the world lies at thy feet. ~Saint Augustine

A Tree (Mary) is known by Its Fruit (Jesus). ~St. Louis de Montfort

If there is anything divine among man's possessions which might excite the envy of the citizens of heaven -could they ever be swayed by such a passion-, this is undoubtedly the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, by means of which men, having before their eyes, and taking into their hands the very Creator of Heaven and earth, experience, while still on earth, a certain anticipation of Heaven. ~Pope Urban VII

Dies Iræ

1. Dies iræ! dies illa

Solvet sæclum in favilla

Teste David cum Sibylla!

2. Quantus tremor est futurus,

quando judex est venturus,

cuncta stricte discussurus!

3. Tuba mirum spargens sonum

per sepulchra regionum,

coget omnes ante thronum.

4. Mors stupebit et natura,

cum resurget creatura,

judicanti responsura.

5. Liber scriptus proferetur,

in quo totum continetur,

unde mundus judicetur.

6. Judex ergo cum sedebit,

quidquid latet apparebit:

nil inultum remanebit.

7. Quid sum miser tunc dicturus?

Quem patronum rogaturus,

cum vix justus sit securus?

8. Rex tremendæ majestatis,

qui salvandos salvas gratis,

salva me, fons pietatis.

9. Recordare, Jesu pie,

quod sum causa tuæ viæ:

ne me perdas illa die.

10. Quærens me, sedisti lassus:
redemisti Crucem passus:
tantus labor non sit cassus.

11. Juste judex ultionis,

donum fac remissionis

ante diem rationis.

12. Ingemisco, tamquam reus:

culpa rubet vultus meus:

supplicanti parce, Deus.

13. Qui Mariam absolvisti,

et latronem exaudisti,

mihi quoque spem dedisti.

14. Preces meæ non sunt dignæ:

sed tu bonus fac benigne,

ne perenni cremer igne.

15. Inter oves locum præsta,

et ab hædis me sequestra,

statuens in parte dextra.

16. Confutatis maledictis,

flammis acribus addictis:

voca me cum benedictis.

17. Oro supplex et acclinis,

cor contritum quasi cinis:

gere curam mei finis.

18. Lacrimosa dies illa,

qua resurget ex favilla

judicandus homo reus.

Huic ergo parce, Deus!

19. Pie Jesu Domine,

dona eis requiem. Amen.

Invocation of Saints

Q. What is the doctrine and practice of the Catholic Church with regard to the invocation of Angels and Saints?
A. We hold it to be pious and profitable to apply ourselves to them in the way of desiring them to pray to God for us; but not so as to address ourselves to them as if they were the authors or disposers of pardon, grace or salvation; or as if they had any power to help us independently of God's good will and pleasure.

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Q. But in some of the addresses made to the Saints or Angels, I find petitions of mercy, aid of defence; what do you say to that?

A. The meaning of those addresses, so far as they are authorized by the Church, is no other than to beg mercy of the Saints in this sense -- that they would pity and compassionate our misery, and would pray for us. In like manner, when we beg their aid and defence, we mean to beg the aid and defence of their prayers, and that the Angels, to whom God has given charge over us, would assist us and defend us against the angels of darkness. This is no more than what the Protestant Church asks in the collect for Michaelmass day, praying that, “as the Holy Angels always serve God in Heaven, so, by His appointments, they may succor and defend us upon earth."

Q. Have you any reason to believe that it is pious and profitable to beg the prayers of the Saints and Angels?
A. We have the same reason to desire the Saints and Angels to pray for us, and to believe it profitable to do so, as we have to desire the prayers of God’s servers here upon earth; or as St. Paul had to desire so often the prayers of the faithful, to whom he wrote his epistles. For if it is pious and profitable to desire the prayers of sinners here upon earth, how can it be otherwise than pious and profitable to desire the prayers of the Saints and Angels in Heaven? Have the Saints and Angels in Heaven less charity for us than the faithful upon earth? This cannot be since "Charity never faileth" (1 Cor. 13:8); and, instead of being diminished, is increased in Heaven.

Q. But is it not an injury to the mediatorship of Christ to desire the intercession of the Angels and Saints?
A. No more than we desire the intercession of God’s servers here (on earth); because we desire no more of the Saints than we do of our brethren upon earth; that is, we only desire of them to pray for us, and with us, to Him Who is both our Lord and their Lord, by the merits of His Son, Jesus Christ, Who is both our Mediator and their Mediator.

Q. Have you anything else to add in favor of the Catholic doctrine and practice of the invocation of Saints?
A. Yes:
1) That it is agreeable to the Communion of Saints, which we process in the Creed and of which the Apostles speaks (Heb. 12:12-24). “You are come to Mount Sion, and to the city of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the company of many thousands of Angels, and to the Church of the first-born, who are written in Heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the Just, made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Testament.”

2) That it is agreeable to the doctrine and practice of the ancient fathers, Saints and Doctors of the Church; and this by the confession even of our adversaries. “I confess,” says Mr. Fulk in his Rejoinder to Bristow, p. 5, “that Ambrose, Augustine and Hierome held invocation of the Saints to be lawful;…”

3) This stands upon the same foundation as all other Christian truths, viz., upon the authority of the Church of Christ, which the Scripture commands us to hear, with which both Christ and His Holy Spirit will remain forever, and against the gates of hell cannot prevail.

Q. What do you think of making addresses to the Angels or Saints upon our knees? Is not this giving them divine worship?
A. No more than when we desire the blessing of our fathers or mothers upon our knees; which is, indeed, the very case, since what we ask of our parents when we desire their blessings is that they would pray to God for us; and this same we ask of the Angels and Saints.

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~The Glories of the Catholic Church, Vol. I

Low Mass by a Prelate

Last Saturday, there was a Mass in Santiago, Chile in memory of Bl. Charles of Austria. It was a Low Mass celebrated by His Eminence Cardinal Medina according to the traditional Order of the Mass. His Eminence was invited by the Knights of Malta to say this Mass.

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The Prelate on his way to get ready to say the Mass

The reading of the Introit

Communion of the Celebrant

Thanksgiving immediately after Mass


Veneration of a relic of Bl. Charles

The relic was brought by the granddaughter of Bl. Charles (Alexandra)

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I am not sure how many were present at the event, but from what the M.C. there told me, the whole event was a little of a last minute surprise and there was not enough time to make the proper announcements for such an event. In spite of that, the M.C. says that Mass was "hermosísima!"

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For more information on this event, go to http://www.scholaacolitorumspv.blogspot.com/

Cardinal Mindszenty

A video of people marching outside of St. Peter's Basilica to protest (with the Pope) the arrest of Cardinal Mindszenty.

Protesting the arrest of Card. Mindszenty

~The History of Jesus Christ, 1965

"No one is so innocent that he does not merit death as a sinner."

"If ever a man has need of an advocate, a champion to justify him, especially in his own eyes, it is at the moment of his death."

"It is a constant principle in the affairs of this world that one must wait until one's adversary is hard pressed by hunger, poverty, or necessity, to force him to kneel and accept injustice. This is an abominable system... It is here that man becomes the wolf of man."

"A man's vocation is in fact the instrument of his crucifixion. Verbum crucis."

"... it is high time to tell science that it extrapolates, that it exaggerates, that it exasperates, that it is in our service and not we in its service and that, even if it is as big as Goliath, we do not recognize its right to make us bow down and worship it."

"There is in every man and in every Christian an inalienable part of himself that is related only to God, and that infinitely precious part is to be governed only by God."

"Modern intellect has severed the umbilical cord that once attached it to the divine design, it has deliberately rejected its royal function and all ambition for true wisdom. Since Descartes, philosophy has determinedly sought the keys to the universe within the universe; now philosophy knows that the universe will not give up its secret, perhaps because it has no secret but is only presenting charades."

"I have seen the Indians in Mexico performing their devotions in the basilica at Guadalupe: they probably did not know how to read or write and very likely did not get enough to eat, but they had the faith of the centurion, the authenticity of which blazed out with a clarity so strong that it put superstition to shame..."

"Come on, comrade Communists, you who deafen us with your assertions that religion is an opium that prevents the coming of that radiant and fraternal city 'where the free development of each is the condition of the free development of all.' Come and consider honestly for once this religion [Christianity] in which one cannot harm the poor, the weak, the humble without offending God Himself and His Christ, in which honor and service rendered to the poor, the weak, and the humble redounds to God Himself. We on our side are quite willing to admit that sometimes Christians are bad practitioners of their religion and that they often store up for themselves a terrible awakening on the Day of Judgment, but do you on your side have the gerenosity to acknowledge that this religion threatens no one. Make us ashamed of not being worthy of it, but do not blaspheme it: you cannot touch it without threatening the lives and the honor of the poor, the weak, and the humble."

"Science can do much good and has done so at its level. It can do much evil, for unlike religion it is purely utilitarian, it does not concern itself with final ends... Science is neither salvation nor apocalypse, it is no more than a (barely) domesticated animal, which should always be kept on a tight leash."

Heart of Jesus - Prayer

PRAYER

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Looking at the Heart of Jesus say:

O Heart of Jesus, drowned in sorrows for my vain joys. Heart of Jesus, loaded with heaviness for my sinful pastimes. Heart of Jesus, seized with fears for the rashness of my desires. Heart of Jesus, covered with confusion for the shame of my sins. Heart of Jesus, wounded with infinite dolors for the enormity of my crimes. O Heart of Jesus, pierced a thousand times by the number of my disorders!

O Heart of Jesus, sweet, tender, peaceful, compassionate, sincere, charitable, and faithful; O furnace of Love! O treasure of all Graces! O amiable and endless source of all the sorrows of love that ever did, do, or will enter the hearts of men, infuse into my miserable heart all that sorrow, grief, affliction, and sighing, which you fostered in the hearts of so many holy penitents.

As my heart has sinned as much as theirs, why should it not be filled with as much sorrow? May a holy contrition emanate from the heart of Jesus into mine, with dispositions to receive it. May tears, O Jesus, flow in abundance, accompanied with sorrow, shame, hatred, and love. A Savior so lovely and so loving, but so little loved, and so much offended.

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Then say to your own heart:

Oh, miserable heart of mine, all defiled with sin, filled with malice, swollen with pride, poisoned with self-love! Oh, heart filled with vices, and wholly devoid of virtues! Oh, heart all open to sentiments of nature, and wholly closed against motions of grace! So covetous and at the same time so prodigal; so sparing toward the Creator, and so lavish to the creature! Oh, heart so beloved of Jesus and loving Jesus so little!

Oh, my poor heart, foul, libertine, impious, ungrateful, envious, covetous, sensual, choleric, revengeful, slothful, negligent, miserable, earthly heart, so sensible to everything that relates to the world, and so insensible to your own disorders; so yielding to your own passions, and so hardened to all divine inspirations. Oh, wicked, treacherous heart; heart of stone, nay, harder than the very rocks, for they afford the richest fountains of water, and you, with so much difficulty, afford a few drops of tears, even at the very season when you see your Savior covered with streams of blood, shed in His agony and bloody sweat in the garden, in His unmerciful scourging, and in His crucifixion for your sake.

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Then say to the Heart of Jesus, and to your own heart:

What a difference between hearts! Between Your Heart, O Jesus, and mine! O my Jesus, grant that my heart might become like yours by grace. Let our hearts be no longer two, but one – one faithful, devout, gracious, charitable, and holy heart; this O my Savior, shall henceforth be my whole study and endeavor – to entertain nothing in my heart but what finds place in yours, namely humility, purity, patience, fortitude, charity, and love. Nothing but Jesus and His Love; my heart is no longer mine: it entirely belongs to Jesus.

~The Glories of the Catholic Church , Vol. III

Relics

Reverence to Relics and other Religious Objects

The Catholic Church teaches that the images or representations of Jesus Christ, of His Blessed Virgin Mother, and of the Saints in general, are to be honored with “due honor;” not, indeed, for what they are in themselves, but for what they represent. This honor is called relative honor, because it relates or refers to the person represented. Thus, it would be simply a token of affection toward our parents if it were to kiss the likeness of a dear father or mother. At the House of Lords, it is a customary to mark of respect to Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen [of England] to bow before her chair of state, even though it be empty. Again, men honor her Majesty by putting her portrait in a distinguished place and by bowing before it. It would be dishonoring the Queen herself to treat her portrait with any disrespect.

The reverence paid by Catholics to Holy Images does not offend against the commandment of God. It is true that the latter part of the first commandment declares: “Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing,” but this is explained by the words that follow: “Thou shalt not adore them (non adorábis ea), nor serve them” (Exodus xx. 4, 5, and Deuteronomy v. 9). The meaning, therefore, clearly is: Thou shalt not make unto thyself a graven thing or idol for the sake of adoring it as a false god or idol. The words, “bow down,” in the Protestant version, instead of “adore” are calculated unhappily to mislead unreflecting persons. This commandment cannot be taken to condemn the use of images intended to promote the honor and worship of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the True Living God, or the inferior honor due to the Holy Angels and the Saints, as this is not worship of strange gods, and therefore, not idolatry.

It was thus understood by the Jews, who by the commandment of God placed two graven images of the Cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant (3 Kings vi. 23), and other images of Angels in the Temple of Solomon (2 Paralipomenon –or 2 Chronicles- iii. 10, 11). It is, in fact, thus practically understood also by those Protestants who have no scruple in making graven images, and even setting them up in their places of worship.

No Christian certainly could find in his heart to treat the Crucifix, that affecting image and appealing likeness of Our Crucified Savior, as an idol, and trample it under his foot. Christian feeling would prompt him to respect it, as he respects and reveres the precious word, the sound, the very letters, of the Holy Name of Jesus.

It would be idolatry to worship any Saint, or the image of any Saint as God, but it is not idolatry to honor the Saints for what they are, namely the faithful servants of God, and to honor pictures of them for what these pictures represent.

Josue and the ancients did not break the commandment of God when they remained a whole day prostrate before the Ark of the Covenant and the likeness of the Cherubim, as stated in the book of Josue (vii. 6) in these words: “But Josue rent his garments, and fell flat on the ground before the Ark of the Lord until the evening, both he and all the ancients of Israel.”

As to those who fear lest it be idolatrous to pay honor to relics, I would only refer them to St. Jerome, who opposing Vigilantius for pretending that the honor paid by the faithful to relics was idolatrous, argued with him in this way: “Not only do we not adore the relics of the martyrs, but we do not even adore the Angels, the Archangels, the Cherubim and Seraphim. Yet we honor the relics of the Martyrs that we may adore Him Whose martyrs they are. We honor the Servants that the honor bestowed on them may redound to their Master.”

That God wills we should bestow honor on the relics of His Saints, we gather from the marvelous virtue with which it pleases God sometimes to honor their bones and other relics. Thus, in the Fourth Book of Kings we read, “Some that were burying a man … cast the body into the sepulcher of Eliseus [Elisha]. And when it had touched the bones of Eliseus, the man came to life, and stood upon his feet” (xiii. 21).

The afflicted woman in the Gospel who, full of faith and humility, trusted for her cure in the touch of the hem of the garment of Our Lord (St. Matt. 9:20); and those who had confidence in the “shadow” of St. Peter to cure their sick (Acts 5:15); and those who confided in the “handkerchiefs” and “aprons” that had touched the body of St. Paul, and brought them to the sick (Acts 19:12) – all these were not disapproved by Our Lord nor by His Apostles, but rewarded by God, Who, by these humble means, cured them.

~The Glories of the Catholic Church, Vol. II