Spiritual aridity is as different from spiritual apathy as Rome is from Tokyo. There can be many causes for spiritual aridity, but explaining each cause would turn this into a book of Christian spirituality and psychology, Let’s settle for the existential experience of spiritual aridity.
Existentially, spiritual aridity can best be described as thirst in a sandy desert. Once looks for a connection with God in prayer, the Sacraments, the Church, even the Gospel. At the end, not finding that spring that we once experienced in the spiritual life, we become despondent. We argue that there is no spiritual gain in prayer, the Mass, the Church, or even those around us.
The biggest problem is that we fault all religious activity as falling short and not meeting our spiritual needs. We fail to look into our soul. We are afraid of the darkness we might find there. Our reasoning ability becomes weak.
But God is not found through human reasoning, As complete and perfect, God is far superior to the collective of human wisdom.
God is that body that illuminates the night. The darker the night, the more visible are the stars of space. The stars that shine in the night are the sunlight that light up our day. Do we give up on prayer, the Sacraments, and the Church because of the human weakness that we find there, or the catastrophic mess that we are?
We need to remember that through the centuries, many have seen the weakness that we see…however, some of those people cry out to God to brighten the darkness that they see around them. Some of our most admirable saints have spent years calling out to God, the light of the night and the water in an oasis.
The more the cry out to God, “come be my light,” the stronger we become without realizing it. Grace is not a human feeling. It’s a seed planted in the soul where the Divine Gardener will water it and protect it from death as long as we persevere, “Come be my light”.
We carry on with whatever good the Church, Sacraments, and the Sacred Scriptures will offer. But each time we come into contact with the cold desert night, we call out to Him who can be the light we seek. The search for the light of God, however, requires that we never give up on calling, “Come, be my light”. God has never abandoned one who called out to Him. Those who give up calling out to God will be burned by the light of the Son whom they have given up. Man gives up hoping for the light. The Light for each man will always allow Itself to be seen; but only when God knows that it will do some good for us and through us.
We can never forget that we are the sheep that can’t find the Good Shepherd. But He is always closer to us when the desert looks the darkest or feels the coldest.
May the Immaculata always guide us through the dark desert.
“Saint Francis Praying before the Crucifix at San Damiano,” Giotto, c. 1295, fresco
Francis was asked by Jesus to rebuild His house. Francis thought it referred to the chapel of San Damiano.
As time passed, after Francis had rebuilt San Damiano, his emptiness and his desire for truth continued to burn in his heart. It was only when his father dragged him to be judged by the Bishop that Francis realized that the house he was meant to renew was within him.
Francis stripped himself of his past when he returned to his father his money and everything he was wearing. Only when we strip ourselves of the past and the present do we realize how small and insignificant we are. When we strip ourselves of attachments, prejudices, opinions, material possessions, and past dreams and desires, we become like a vacant lot of land ready for a new building, a new house, a house where God is the master.
To realize that God is the master, we must realize our sinfulness. Sins that only God can blot away. No matter if we have been absolved in Confession, our attachment to sin has become part of the soil where God is to build His house. The previous house has been demolished and the surface of the field is clear, but beneath the top soil are the roots of sin, which, if not acknowledged, cannot be dug out like the weeds they are. Being absolved cleanses us of the eternal punishment we deserve, but the attached roots that remain must be acknowledged and God’s help must be begged to weed them out.
“Without me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me and I in him, he is like a branch that is thrown away”.
– Jn 15:5
This is the most difficult truth that Francis had to face, if he was going to be raised as a living stone in Christ’s Church. It’s the lesson that Francis leaves for his followers. Live aware of the roots of sin in you, also remain aware of Christ’s presence through whom all things are possible.
“With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” – Mt 19:26
“The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” – Ps 118:22
“Nothing is impossible for God” (Lk 1:37). He is more powerful and closer to us than the roots of sin. When we
see our nakedness, where the only thing left are the roots of sin, God is closer than those roots. Unlike the roots of sin, God is alive.
May the Immaculate always light our empty lot so that we may see our attachments to sin and her living Son always willing to clear the ground and help us build his house.
“Love lives through sacrifice and is nourished by giving. Without sacrifice, there is no love.”
Today we celebrate someone whose short life was an embodiment of these words: St. Rose of Lima.
Born Isabel Flores in 1586 in Lima (Peru), she felt called by God from a very young age, consecrating herself to Him at the age of 10 and practicing great austerities which she offered as redemptive suffering. She wore a thick circlet of silver on her head which, unbeknownst to others, was studded on the inside like a crown of thorns.
Forensic reconstruction of the face of St. Rose (2015). Click for details.
She received Confirmation by St. Turibius with the name “Rose of St. Mary”, thus consecrating the nickname she bore from childhood. She bravely opposed her parents’ wishes in order to give herself entirely to Christ. With the eccentricity typical of many saints, she rejected the admiration of her beauty by cutting her hair and rubbing her face with pepper to produce disfiguring blotches.
Forbidden by her parents to become a nun, she imitated her model (St. Catherine of Siena) and joined the Third Order of St. Dominic. She then built and lived in a hermitage in the garden of the family home. A great penitent and mystic, she only left her hermitage to attend Church or to serve the needy – particularly the indios who suffered great discrimination. In time, she set up a room in the family house where she cared for homeless children, the elderly, and the sick. She would say:
<<When we serve the poor and the sick we serve Jesus. We must not fail to help our neighbors, because in them we serve Jesus.>>
St. Rosa in her hermitage, source of engraving unknown. (Click for more)
On top of her penances and illnesses, she was often tormented by the devil, but she received reassurance by another Third Order Dominican from Lima: St. Martin de Porres. When someone brought her to the attention of Inquisition interrogators, they quickly affirmed that she was under the influence of divine grace. She had many visions of divine origin, including one in which the Lord called her “Rose of my heart“. She deeply and sincerely loved Christ, and once wrote:
<<Without the burden of afflictions it is impossible to reach the height of grace. The gift of grace increases as the struggle increases. Apart from the Cross, there is no other ladder by which we may get to Heaven.>>
In 1614, severely ill, she was forced by her family to relocate to the house of a devout family who tended to her care (currently, her Monastery stands in this place). There she died 3 years later, aged 31. Her holiness was so well-known, that such crowds gathered as to cause her funeral to be delayed by several days. She was privately buried in the cloister of the Church of St. Dominic at her own request.
St. Rose of Lima and St. Martin de Porres – author unknown
She was beatified in 1668 and canonized only 3 years later. She was proclaimed the Primary Patron of the New World, and was celebrated as the first canonized saint of the Americas.
Today we celebrate the glorious Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God! Our Eastern brethren refer to this historical event as the Dormition of the Theotokos.
What a solemn moment in the history of humanity and in the economy of salvation! “The Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory“! (“Munificentissimus Deus“)
Humanity joins angelic choirs in singing with you:
<<O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?>>
1Cor 15:55
This was fitting, for Our Lady alone, “in the first instance of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin“. (“Ineffabilis Deus”, IT EN)
Of both historical events Our Lady herself gives witness when, appearing to little Bernadette (St. Marie-Bernard), identifies Herself with the words:
These words, this identity, becomes so near and dear to the heart of that great lover of God and knight of the Immaculate, Saint Maximilian Maria Kolbe, that he would write:
“It is a question of drawing nearer to [the Immaculata] through the will, of letting our wills become one with hers, just as her will is united in a most perfect way with the will of God. Beyond this nothing else is necessary. Let us intensify continuously, every day, every instant, our love for the Immaculata, and let us do our best so that others may love her as we do and even more than we do.”
Indeed, Lord Jesus Christ, we praise and glorify you with the words of St. Ephraem:
“Certainly you alone and your Mother are from every aspect completely beautiful, for there is no blemish in you, my Lord, and no stain in your Mother”.
Hymn.B. Maria 13:5-6 (quoted by Rev. Matthew Mauriello in the Fairfield County Catholic on January 1996, in turn quoted here).
Truly St. Germanus wrote well when he wrote about the Immaculate:
“You are she who, as it is written, appears in beauty, and your virginal body is all holy, all chaste, entirely the dwelling place of God, so that it is henceforth completely exempt from dissolution into dust. Though still human, it is changed into the heavenly life of incorruptibility, truly living and glorious, undamaged and sharing in perfect life”
“It was fitting” – writes St. John Damascene – that
“she, who had kept her virginity intact in childbirth, should keep her own body free from all corruption even after death. It was fitting that she, who had carried the Creator as a child at her breast, should dwell in the divine tabernacles. It was fitting that the spouse, whom the Father had taken to himself, should live in the divine mansions. It was fitting that she, who had seen her Son upon the cross and who had thereby received into her heart the sword of sorrow, should look upon him as he sits with the Father. It was fitting that God’s Mother should possess what belongs to her Son, and that she should be honored by every creature as the Mother and as the handmaid of God.”
Encomium in Dormitionem Dei Genetricis Semperque Virginis Mariae, Hom. II, n. 14 (quoted in Munificentissimus Deus)
Holy Mother Church has traditionally ascribed the chant of Psalm 44:11-12,14 to the Holy Mass for the Assumption:
<<Hear, O daughter, and see; turn your ear; for the King shall desire your beauty. All glorious is the King’s daughter as she enters; her raiment is threaded with spun gold. Alleluia, alleluia!>> “Mary is taken up into Heaven: the choirs of the angels rejoice! Alleluia!”
There also exists a solemn Preface to the Blessed Virgin Mary that was traditionally chanted on this Solemnity, and is still occasionally used (known as “Preface I of the Blessed Virgin Mary” in the current editio typica of the Roman Missal):
It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks, Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God, and to praise, bless, and glorify your name on [the Assumption] of the Blessed ever-Virgin Mary
For by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit she conceived your Only Begotten Son, and without losing the glory of virginity, brought forth into the world the eternal Light, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Through him the Angels praise your majesty, Dominions adore and Powers tremble before you. Heaven and the Virtues of heaven and the blessed Seraphim worship together with exultation. May our voices, we pray, join with theirs in humble praise, as we acclaim:
[Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts…]
Preface of the Blessed Virgin Mary (chanted in Latin by H.E. Archbishop Alexander Sample at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in 2018 )
Our Eastern brothers have some beautiful prayers and chants “remembering our most holy, pure, blessed, and glorious Lady, the Theotokos and ever virgin Mary” that testify, if not directly at least indirectly, to this “day of joy” on which “mors stupebit et natura” in observing a human being rise in body and soul to the glory of Heaven… For lack of time and space, we shall only quote a couple:
<<It is truly proper to glorify you, O Theotokos! The ever blessed, Immaculate, and the Mother of our God!
More honorable than the Cherubim, and beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim! Who, a virgin, gave birth to God the Word! You, truly the Theotokos, we magnify!>>
<<Beneath your compassion we take refuge o Virgin Theotokos! Despise not our prayers in our need but deliver us from danger, for you alone are pure…. for you alone are pure… for you alone are pure and blessed!>>
Let us rejoice and fully entrust Holy Mother Church, our souls, and the entirety of creation to the maternal care of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and, as St. Maximilian Kolbe reminds, us, “a loving mother [to whom God] entrusted the whole economy of mercy….. He made her so good that she is unable to abandon even the worst of sinners who has recourse to God’s Infinite Heart“ (KW 1248).
<<Arise, O Lord, into your resting place:
you and the ark, which you have sanctified>>
– Psalm 132
<<My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant!
On this Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Supreme Court of the United States has formally held that the United States Constitution does not confer a right to abortion.
Furthermore, SCOTUS overruled both “Roe v. Wade” and “Planned Parenthood v. Casey” and stated that, in the United States, “the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives“.
We wish to quote some salient points from the Statement:
the Constitution makes no express reference to a right to obtain an abortion
procuring an abortion is not a fundamental constitutional right
the right to abortion is not deeply rooted in the Nation’s history and tradition
the Fourteenth Amendment clearly does not protect the right to an abortion
Roe and Casey have led to the distortion of many important but unrelated legal doctrines…that effect provides further support for overruling those decisions
The Court emphasizes that this decision concerns the constitutional right to abortion and no other right.
A few more points worth quoting from the SCOTUS Statement:
until a few years before Roe, no federal or state court had recognized such a right. Nor had any scholarly treatise. Indeed, abortion had long been a crime in every single State.
by the time the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted, three-quarters of the States had made abortion a crime at any stage of pregnancy
Finally, the Court considers whether a right to obtain an abortion is part of a broader entrenched right that is supported by other precedents. The Court concludes the right to obtain an abortion cannot be justified as a component of such a right.
The nature of the Court’s error. Like the infamous decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, Roe was also egregiously wrong and on a collision course with the Constitution from the day it was decided. Casey perpetuated its errors
An even more glaring deficiency was Roe’s failure to justify the critical distinction it drew between pre- and post-viability abortions. The arbitrary viability line, which Casey termed Roe’s central rule, has not found much support among philosophers and ethicists […] viability has changed over time and is heavily dependent on factors—such as medical advances and the availability of quality medical care—that have nothing to do with the characteristics of a fetus.
Mississippi’s Gestational Age Act is supported by the Mississippi Legislature’s specific findings, which include the State’s asserted interest in “protecting the life of the unborn.” These legitimate interests provide a rational basis for the Gestational Age Act, and it follows that respondents’ constitutional challenge must fail.
Today’s decision of the US Supreme Court overturning the fateful Roe v. Wade is certainly welcomed by all those who recognize that human life begins at conception and that this is a scientific and biological fact and not merely a religious belief or ideological theory. As such the unborn child should be welcomed in life and protected by law. […]
We hope that dismantling Roe will allow legislation protecting the unborn to move forward in our state legislatures and to survive constitutional challenges in the future.
Abortion too often is seen as the solution to an unforeseen problem, a fall back position if contraception failed or was not used. But abortion is no solution — and it is no right. It is a wrong, a grievous wrong that has prematurely ended the lives of more than 60 million souls in this country alone since 1973.
A number of sources, among which we quote this one(without by this intending to endorse in any way the source) have summarized the current situation as far as individual States banning abortion:
Would ban most or all abortions.
Bbortion bans within one month
Abortion bans within weeks or months
Abortion bans uncertain
Abortion likely to remain for a while
(Click on map to enhance)
We encourage you to continue praying – in private, with your community, even with us – and to find out locally (as well as through the major Catholic institutions and associations) how you can continue supporting this aspect of the pro-life ministry at this crucial moment in the history of the United States.
The date chosen by Divine Providence is very fitting indeed. Today we celebrate Our Lord’s Most Sacred Heart, and tomorrow we celebrate the Immaculate Heart of Mary, ever-virgin, the most pure Theotokos who, when in her kindness she appeared at Fatima, promised triumph!
We continue united in prayer and action, against all violence and evil, proclaiming the sanctity of human life and reaching out – as much if not more than before – to women and men facing a crisis pregnancy.
Most pro-life eyes are currently focused on one particular issue, namely the reversal of Roe v. Wade, etc. Surely this is due to the great hopes it has generated, after decades of prayer, penance, and advocacy…but also in no small part because of the dismal violence ensuing from the pro-abortion hordes (even locally), for which we have started a Rosary Crusade.
However, there is another critical pro-life issue that is spreading subtly, like poison, throughout several U.S. legislatures: euthanasia (assisted suicide).
The letter below comes from Mr. Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (which has a USA chapter). It provides an excellent summary of the situation here in America. With his permission to share, we invite you to read it in detail, bearing in mind that what we are beginning to witness in our Country is merely the tip of the iceberg.
Other countries either already have, or are in the process of approving laws that legalize this killing, not only of adults with full faculties but also of:
[For clarification on the map above, passive euthanasia refers to denying someone, who is not otherwise dying, the basic necessaries of life to intentionally cause their death – and it is notmorally acceptable. We will have a more in-depth article on these teachings published in the near future. ]
If we do not take action now – primarily and particularly through prayer and penance, followed by being proactive on these life issues in our ministries – when will we? Will we wait for euthanasia to (continue to) be legalized across the USA? Will it take a new kind ofRoe v Wade, this time Euthanasia-centered, for the pro-life movement to stand up and speak up in unison against these evils?
Bear in mind that the Church infallibly upholds the sanctity and dignity of all human life – from conception to natural death!
Without further ado, here’s the letter (click on each page to enlarge!)
More than half of the Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States have agreed on a draft that reviews the constitutionality of Roe v Way as it was written in 1973. The conclusive verdict is to be handed down later this spring or early summer.
As Franciscans of Life, this review has captured our attention. More importantly, we have become aware that people who object to this review have gathered to protest in front of the Justices’ homes, without regard for the safety of the families who live inside. As citizens, we have the right to protest and communicate our demands to the government in peaceful and safe demonstrations. There is, however, no moral justification for the dangers arising when angry mobs gather, especially before the homes of private citizens. Spouses, children, grandchildren, seniors living in the homes are not public figures. They have the right to a quiet and peaceful life as the rest of us. Disturbance of the peace and instilling fear in private citizens is immoral and – as we have stated above – dangerous to the collective safety.
I’m saying all of this because, as Franciscans of Life, we know that human life is sacred from conception to natural death. Life is the supernatural act of God in favor of humanity, a humanity that His Son, Jesus Christ, would assume at a precise moment in history, society, and ethnicity.
We believe that the Second Person of the Holy Trinity became man, developed in the womb of a human mother, was born of her, and was unjustly executed on the cross. Taking on our human nature side by side with His divine nature, and being executed, was an act of God’s love for humanity.
Our Country fought a civil war for many reasons, the most important being the belief that no human being can own another human being – not even one’s mother. We have no ownership of the person in the womb, thus killing an unborn baby is claiming ownership and authority that is not ours. Abortion is a false belief that the preborn child has less rights than a slave, and that the child in the womb is as much the property of the mother as a lung.
The Franciscans of Life are inviting everyone we know to join our Rosary Crusade, to pray that Congress and state governments will pass laws that protect the right to life of every person, from conception to natural death.
We invite you, your family, and friends to pray the Holy Rosary every Saturday, starting this Saturday, which the Church reserves for Our Heavenly Mother, until the Saturday before the Feast of the Assumption (August 13).
You don’t have to go to the parish church. You can pray from your home, car, or any quiet place. Just pray. The Rosary is the most powerful private prayer in our armory. Popes have called it “scourge of the devil,” “treasure of graces,” “heavenly instrument,” “glory of the Church”.
We are now in November (where has the year gone??) and, as usual, we dedicate special prayers and penance for the Holy Souls in Purgatory. This year, Holy Mother Church graciously extends the related indulgences through November, just as it was done last year, for similar reasons. One of our brothers found out via the FSSP newsletter, and we gladly share here the good news. Please see below the details!
“a.- the Plenary Indulgence for those who visit a cemetery and pray for the deceased, even if only mentally, normally established only on the individual days from 1 to 8 November, may be transferred to other days of the same month, until its end. These days, freely chosen by the individual believers, may also be separate from each other;
b- the Plenary Indulgence of 2 November, established on the occasion of the Commemoration of all the deceased faithful for those who piously visit a church or oratory and recite the “Our Father” and the “Creed” there, may be transferred not only to the Sunday before or after or on the day of the Solemnity of All Saints, but also to another day of the month of November, freely chosen by the individual faithful.
The elderly, the sick and all those who for serious reasons cannot leave their homes […] will be able to obtain the Plenary Indulgence as long as they join spiritually with all the other faithful, completely detached from sin and with the intention of complying as soon as possible with the three usual conditions (sacramental confession, Eucharistic communion and prayer according to the Holy Father’s intentions), before an image of Jesus or the Blessed Virgin Mary, recite pious prayers for the deceased, for example, Lauds and Vespers of the Office of the Dead, the Marian Rosary, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, other prayers for the deceased dearest to the faithful, or occupy themselves in considered reading of one of the Gospel passages proposed by the liturgy of the deceased, or perform a work of mercy by offering to God the sorrows and hardships of their own lives.
Finally, since the souls in Purgatory are assisted by the prayers of the faithful and especially by the sacrifice of the Altar to God (cf. Conc. Tr. Sess. XXV, decr. De Purgatorio), all priests are strongly invited to celebrate Holy Mass three times on the day of the Commemoration of all the deceased faithful, in accordance with the Apostolic Constitution “Incruentum Altaris“, issued by Pope Benedict XV, of venerable memory, on 10 August 1915.”
Below are some prayers from the Liturgy for the Saints and for the Holy Souls!
We have observed in the span of a few days, some major celebrations, namely the feast of our patron Saint Maximilian Kolbe OFM Conv., confessor and martyr, and the great Solemnity of the Assumption of Our Lady!
The fact that St. Max was martyred on the vigil of the Assumption and his body cremated in the ovens of Auschwitz is no coincidence. He spent his existence at the service of his Queen, striving to earn the two spiritual crowns She had offered him when just a boy – purity and martyrdom – and he once wrote to his brothers:
Would that my ashes might be scattered to the four winds in order to bring Jesus to souls, to bring to them the cause of His Mother and our Mary!
We invite you to read more about St. Max on our blog as well as on St. Max’s Parish website, but in this article we’d like to highlight the glory that is the Assumption (known in some places as the Dormition) of the Blessed Virgin Mary!
Had you attended the 11 AM Mass this morning at St. Max, you’d have heard a wonderful theological sermon on the subject by our good friend and “out of the ordinary” preacher, Dcn. Pierre. You were right – I should have taken notes!
We will however do our best to celebrate the momentous occurrence with a few words.
Fr. Ludwig Ott wrote in his eminent work on Dogmatic Theology, “it seems fitting that Mary’s body, which was by nature mortal, should be, in conformity with that of her Divine Son, subject to the general law of death…” and, on that same note, St. John Damascene wrote:
It was fitting that she, who had kept her virginity intact in childbirth, should keep her own body free from all corruption even after death. It was fitting that she, who had carried the Creator as a child at her breast, should dwell in the divine tabernacles. It was fitting that the spouse, whom the Father had taken to himself, should live in the divine mansions. It was fitting that she, who had seen her Son upon the cross and who had thereby received into her heart the sword of sorrow which she had escaped in the act of giving birth to him, should look upon him as he sits with the Father. It was fitting that God’s Mother should possess what belongs to her Son, and that she should be honored by every creature as the Mother and as the handmaid of God.
“Encomium in Dormitionem Dei Genetricis Semperque Virginis Mariae, Hom. II, n. 14” (as quoted by Ven. Pius XII)
and, in a more “eastern” tone, bishop Theoteknos of Livia wrote:
It was fitting that the most holy body of Mary, God-bearing body, receptacle of God, divinized, incorruptible, illuminated by divine grace and full glory, should be entrusted to the earth for a little while and raised up to heaven in Glory, with her soul pleasing to God.
The Venerable Pius XII, who infallibly defined what the Church always believed on this matter in his Apostolic Constitution “Muneficentissimus Deus” on November 1st, 1950, also wrote in the same document:
Immaculate in her conception, a most perfect virgin in her divine motherhood, the noble associate of the divine Redeemer who has won a complete triumph over sin and its consequences, finally obtained, as the supreme culmination of her privileges, that she should be preserved free from the corruption of the tomb and that, like her own Son, having overcome death, she might be taken up body and soul to the glory of heaven where, as Queen, she sits in splendor at the right hand of her Son, the immortal King of the Ages.
Such is a summary of a doctrine that was already believed and accepted by Christianity from the very beginning! Indeed Ven. Pius XII reminds us:
the liturgy of the Church does not engender the Catholic faith, but rather springs from it, in such a way that the practices of the sacred worship proceed from the faith as the fruit comes from the tree…it follows that the holy Fathers and the great Doctors, in the homilies and sermons they gave the people on this feast day, did not draw their teaching from the feast itself as from a primary source, but rather they spoke of this doctrine as something already known and accepted by Christ’s faithful
I delivered to you first of all, which I also received: how that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures: and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures: and that he was seen by Cephas; and after that by the eleven.
[…] if the dead rise not again, neither is Christ risen again. And if Christ be not risen again, your faith is vain […] But now Christ is risen from the dead, the firstfruits of them that sleep […]
For by a man came death, and by a man the resurrection of the dead. And as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. But every one in their own order: the firstfruits Christ, then they that are of Christ, who have believed in his coming.
Our Lord Jesus Christ never found more perfect believer in his coming that She who conceived Him in her immaculate womb, so much so that Christ Himself found it fitting to underscore this aspect of the Immaculata’s glory:
A certain woman from the crowd, lifting up her voice, said to him: “Blessed is the womb that bore thee…” But He said: “Rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it!”
How does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled!
This blessing, this glory, is in primis of Our Lady, the perfect disciple. In imitation of Christ, she died, was buried, rose again, and she was seen by so many witnesses (we bear in mind in a special way St. Francis, St. Maximilian Kolbe and St. Bernadette…though so many from the very early days of the Church attest to Her visits and support…).
Yet, a most kind mother, and in perfect alignment with the divine economy, she wills us to be her imitators in her belief until that glorious day when we, too, will be reunited to our glorified bodies and rejoice with the angels and the saints, God willing.
What Deacon Pierre stated this morning, St. Ambrose made extremely clear in one of his own homilies:
Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit after conceiving a son; Mary was filled before. “You are blessed,” said Elizabeth, “because you have believed.”
You too are blessed because you have heard and believed. The soul of every believer conceives and brings forth the Word of God and recognizes his works. Let Mary’s soul be in each of you to glorify the Lord. Let her spirit be in each of you to rejoice in the Lord. Christ has only one Mother in the flesh, but we all bring forth Christ by faith. Every soul free from contamination of sin and inviolate in its purity can receive the Word of God.
Oh, Immaculata, beloved mother, who in your great sorrow consoled your Lord and Savior on the way to Calvary, rejoice and be glad, for today He in His great joy consoles you on the way to Eternity! Pray for us, your children, your servants! We are all yours, o Mary, this is our fiat to you, o Immaculata, that through your intercession we poor sinners may be made fit instruments to extend the kingdom of Christ!
Image edited by one of our brothers, based on the icon of the IV Station of the Cross at St Maximilian Kolbe Parish
Born of a noble family, she chose to follow the example of her townsman St. Francis, wishing to follow the Lord with her whole heart in an austere life of poverty, but rich in the practice of charity and loving care.
She professed vows in the hands of Saint Francis on March 18, 1212, thus founding the “second order”, whose nuns would be first known as Poor Ladies. (In her honor, in 1263 Pope Urban IV officially changed the name of the Poor Ladies to the Order of Saint Clare.)
St. Damiano – where Christ had deigned to speak to St. Francis – was eventually the chosen residence of their first community. St. Clare was joined by her sister Agnes and even by her own mother!
Much could be said about their spiritual relationship to the other Franciscan orders, and to how she encouraged and supported St. Francis (particularly after he received the Stigmata, whose secret he kept from all but a few…)….of her miracles…of how she protected Assisi…but perhaps she would like us to remember in particular her Franciscan devotion to holy poverty, whom Franciscan scholars point out as the foremost characteristic of her spirituality.
When Cardinal Ugolino (Pope Gregory IX) imposed the Benedictine rule on them, for years she strived to have a rule in the spirit of Saint Francis for her sisters, and her rule was approved by Pope Innocent IV two days before her death, the privilege of “highest poverty” being the final gift in this earthly life by her Divine Spouse…she died at the age of 60 on August 11, 1253.
“The Apostolic See usually acquiesces in the pious and honest wishes of those who ask that a kindly favor be given them. Therefore, beloved Daughters in the Lord, inclined to your prayers, we confirm with the same apostolic authority the Rule and way of life of your Order…”
“Solet Annuere (1245)”, Pope Innocent IV
At her funeral, Pope Innocent IV insisted the brothers perform the Office for the Virgin Saints rather than the Office for the Dead…indeed, she was formally canonized just two years later by Pope Alexander IV, who would call her “Clara claris praeclara meritis“, “a clear mirror of example”, and would say of her: “O clarity of blessed Clare to be admired!“
“O blessed poverty who bestows eternal riches on those who love and embrace her!” – she would write. And to her Divine Spouse she would say: “Contempt of the world has pleased You more than honors, poverty more than earthly riches“.
She wrote several letters to St. Agnes of Prague, who was the daughter of Queen Constance and King Ottokar I of Bohemia. St. Agnes of Bohemia (as she is also known) refused marriage proposals from the kings of Germany and England, and from the Holy Roman Emperor himself – all for the sake of following in the footsteps of Christ! Her family financed the construction of a monastery in Prague, where she entered with seven other ladies in 1236. Pressured to be elected Abbess, she insisted she be called “senior sister” and often cooked for the sisters. She died on March 2nd 1282, was beatified in 1874, and was canonized in 1989. To one such letter belongs the title of this article, specifically found in today’s Office of Readings:
“Happy indeed is she who is given the grace of sharing this holy way of life, of clinging to it with every fiber of her being…behold the poverty of him who was laid in the manger…What wondrous humility! What astonishing poverty! Note the countless toils and sufferings he endured to redeem the human race…As you meditate in this way remember me, your poor mother, and know that I have inscribed your happy memory deeply on the tablets of my heart”
from a Letter of St. Clare to St. Agnes of Prague
I wish to close this post with some of today’s antiphons. They are, in themselves, a powerful summary of our Holy Mother’s life.
“Clare was concerned with the things of the Lord to be holy in body and spirit……she wore and humbled her body with fasts…she accounted all else rubbish therefore she found better and more permanent possessions. She spurned the world’s perishable glory to gain Christ.
The hand of the Lord strengthened her, she will therefore be blessed forever. She cast all her care upon God. She hoped in him and he came to her assistance.
Come, let us adore Christ the king whom Clare loved with all her heart.“
Franciscans of Life 
