The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed - November 2, 2014

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First Reading Commentary

Souls are justified by the One and Supreme Sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Many tears flow during funeral Masses.  Ideally, there’s a twofold reason for that: First, they should be tears of joy as our faith tells us that our beloved one, our friend is in the Hands of God.  Secondly they are tears of sorrow because we have lost a loved one and we don’t know when we’ll see our beloved again.  Perhaps the latter often overtakes the former and it is for this reason that this Reading calls us “foolish”.  But the former offers great words of comfort: “But they are in peace.” 

The Benedictine monk Antoine Augustin Calmet sees a reference to the martyrs in the verse: “For if before men, indeed, they be punished, yet is their hope full of immortality; chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worthy of Himself.” 

If our hope for joy were confined to this world, then the sadness we endure in the here and now would likely grow beyond control.  But no, the faithful ones are the recipients of God’s grace, mercy and care.  

Second Reading Commentary

Hope is always a pertinent word in the deaths of the faithful; and this Reading tells us that “Hope does not disappoint.” 

Most of us would like to believe that if the circumstance presented itself, we would die for a loved one.  But truthfully, how we would react in such a situation is unknown until we actually face it.  Heroic acts are not uncommon to the human person but neither is self-preservation.  It is certainly an avenue one hopes to never travel. 

This whole topic would really take a turn towards the bizarre or ridiculous if we start considering the possibility of sacrificing our life for people who couldn’t care less or even hate us.  Saint Jerome’s understanding of the Greek text appears as: “Scarcely would anyone die for a just cause; for who would ever think of dying in defense of injustice?”  But this is the reality of God’s mysterious love for humanity.  Jesus Christ did not die on the Cross only for those who love Him back.  He died for all of us, right down to those who falsely accused Him as well as the one who hammered the nails into His Flesh. 

The Latin Vulgate asks the question: “For why did Christ, when as yet we were weak, according to the time, die for the ungodly?”  The answer is easy to speak but difficult to grasp and explain - God loves us.

Optional Second Reading Commentary

In our hustle-bustle, technological western world, there’s an overall vibe when witnessing a baptism, that it is merely just another religious ceremony and is nowhere near as exciting as High-Definition Television or being able to send and receive emails through your cell phone.  The reality, however, is that where there’s a baptism there is found the newest son or daughter of God’s beloved family who has an eternal destiny.  And from that moment on, the newly baptized are called to a newness of life; but unfortunately, rampant secularism detracts and distracts from the seriousness of that newness. 

As Saint Paul points out, we must think of ourselves as dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.  The words “are you unaware” really set the tone for the entire reading.  You truly get a - pounding on the table - “Don’t you get it?”- sense of zeal in this letter from Saint Paul.  The main point here is: If Jesus Christ died but defeated death and was raised, then, He can’t ever die again.  Consequently, if our old, sinful bodies died through the waters of baptism and rose to a new life, then we must be faithful to that newness by never sinning again - or in reality, making every effort not to sin.  “If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.”              

Gospel Commentary

Both Saints Hilary and Augustine teach us that in this Gospel passage Jesus recommends to us His humility.  And that those who come to Jesus shall not be cast away but shall be incorporated with Him.  Let us remember, however, that only a lively faith and humility can truly come to Jesus. 

There is great joy in knowing that when we come to Jesus He will not lose or cast aside what has been given to Him.  It is the will of our heavenly Father that those who follow Jesus, those who come to His beloved Son, shall have eternal life.  This weekend as we remember all of our dearly departed, let us hold fast to these truths. 

Simplicity

This brief meditation by Abbé Henri de Tourville teaches us about the main ingredient present in all the saints – Simplicity – which consequently is a very challenging grace to possess, because it is “the true way of living” – a way that is very counter-cultural. This meditation closes by touching on the simplistic lives that have been chosen by God for mysticism, and they come from “all sorts of walks of life.”

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Perfection is not to be found in playing it safe, but in doing the least harm that we can, having regard to our present state and the difficulties inherent to our natures. It means not straining our abilities, but holding firm to a very unassuming simplicity and rejecting any attempts to become more perfect inwardly or in outward appearance than we really are. The saints were not those who played it safe and obeyed the rules, but the greatest gamblers in the world. They hardly wished to go beyond that ordinary amount of grace which they recognized and could feel without doubt they possessed. Let us share in such simplicity.

Perfection consists in holding fast to the very greatest simplicity. Simplicity is the final word in regards to the true way of living. It is the lesson our Lord teaches us when He proclaims that the Kingdom of heaven is for children and those that are child-like. But as with other virtues exhibited by children, so it is with simplicity; the virtues of children are in accordance to their age, not fruits of a victory obtained by the hard fought effort of the will. It is easy for us to have simplicity in childhood, but is even easier for us to lose it. And once we have lost it, it is only by a long and painful journey in our maturity that we achieve it again.

It happens to some souls to whom God has chosen to extend His grace, that they have a greater experience of the Indwelling of God. The mystery of grace given through mystical experience can never be explained. We only know that it happens to certain souls who can be in all sorts of walks of life.

Scala Perfectionis

The following is excerpted from the spiritual classic, “The Ladder of Perfection” by the fourteenth century English mystic, Walter Hilton. After studying at the University of Cambridge, Walter Hilton later became a hermit and eventually joined the Augustinians at Thurgarton Priory and there lived out the rest of his years. This particular work of his is addressed to a Carthusian recluse and teaches the soul how to advance in perfection by the removal of sin and earthly thoughts and occupations. It also defines the differences in the lives of ascetics, mystics, contemplatives and actives. It is considered one of the great treatises on contemplation. Walter Hilton was in close touch with the Carthusians and has been mistaken as a Carthusian, though he was not.

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I pray that in the calling to which our Lord has called you for His service, that you are contented, stand firm in it, travailing busily with all the powers of your soul; and by the grace of Jesus Christ, to fulfill in true righteousness the state which you have taken in exterior likeness and appearance; and as you have forsaken the world like a dead man, and turned to our Lord bodily in the sight of men, so let your heart be as if dead to all earthly loves and fears, and turned wholly to our Lord Jesus Christ. For you must know that a turning of the body to God, not followed by the heart, is but a figure and likeness of virtues, and not the truth in itself.

I do not say that on the first day you can be turned to Him in your soul through the full mastery of virtue as easily as you can be enclosed with your body in your cell, but you should know that the cause of your bodily enclosure is that you may the better come to spiritual enclosure; and as your body is enclosed from bodily association with men, just so should your heart be enclosed from the fleshly loves and fears of all earthly things.

The contemplative life consists in perfect love and charity, felt inwardly through spiritual virtues, and in a true knowledge and sight of God in spiritual things. This life belongs especially to them who for the love of God forsake all worldly riches, honors, worships and outward businesses, and give themselves entirely, body and soul, to the service of God through spiritual occupation, according to their strength and ability.

It is your duty to be busy night and day in labor of body and spirit, to attain as near as you can to that life by such means as you think best for you. In your prayer you must not aim your heart at a material thing, but your effort must be to draw your thoughts inward from any attention to such things, so that your desire might be as it were bare and naked from all that is earthly, always rising upward into God. You cannot see Him in the body, or imagine Him in a bodily likeness, but you can feel His goodness and His grace when your desire is eased and helped, and as it were strengthened and set free from all carnal thoughts and affections; when it is greatly lifted up by a spiritual power into spiritual savor and delight in God, held still in this for much of your prayer time, so that you have no great thought of any earthly thing, or else the thought harms you only a little. If you pray like this, then you know how to pray well.

For prayer is nothing but a desire of the heart rising into God by its withdrawal of all earthly thoughts; and so it is compared to a fire, which of its own nature leaves the lowness of the earth and always goes up into the air. Just so, when desire in prayer has been touched and set alight by the spiritual fire which is God, it keeps rising naturally to Him from Whom it came.

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time - October 26, 2014

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First Reading Commentary

One of the biggest obstacles to overcome when taking the tiny steps that eventually lead to a conversion experience is whether or not a life in service to the Lord will take away one’s freedom because “You shall not” are words frequently used in the laws of God.  Love is the key to it all.  Even our limited knowledge of God’s gift of love and our duty to share and spread His love is enough to know that when exercised properly, “You shall not”  need not be burdensome.  Even with the miniscule knowledge we have on this vast and portions unreachable subject of love, it’s obvious that killing, committing adultery, stealing, molesting, oppressing, or wronging anyone in anyway has absolutely nothing to do with love.  And if we understand that, then “You shall not” is not something we need to exhaust our energies on.  On the other hand, love is hovering, but not obviously visible in the words “You shall not”. 

Those of us who are parents understand that any warnings given to our children are done because we love them and want what’s best for them, even though that is not always evident to our children.  In the same way, God warns His children because He loves us far beyond what we are capable of grasping; and like the children of God we are, His love is not always perceived by us in the words “You shall not”.         

Second Reading Commentary

Do you have a favorite saint?  If so, perhaps it’s because there’s something in his/her personality that you can identify with; or maybe you have nothing in common with them but in your mind their particular brand of holiness in life is something you would like to achieve. 

Our personal connection to saints, for the most part, is the result of our desire to be imitators of them and ask God to grant us the same graces He gave them.  It has been suggested, however, that saints choose us – we don’t choose them.  Saint Paul tells the Thessalonians that they became imitators of him and the Lord.  And, of course, our attempt to imitate any saint is an attempt to imitate the Lord. 

Some of us are fortunate to have a model for all believers in our personal life; that is, a person or persons who are destined to be saints when their earthly journey ends.  The sanctity of other souls, whether still in a human body or residents of heaven, can greatly influence us for the better; just as associating ourselves with quite the opposite can do great harm.  Through the intercession of the saints as well as the beautiful people in our lives, may we too become models for all believers and saints for all eternity.           

Gospel Commentary

Jesus sums up the law as “Love”.  Love the Lord your God and your neighbor; and do it with your whole heart, soul and mind.  To quote from “Reflections” by the late Father Leo Clifford, OFM: “A song is not a song until it has been sung; a bell is not a bell until it has been rung.  And love is not love until it has been given away.” 

Every gift we have received from God is intended to be shared.  And yet, love is that one gift in which the damages of hoarding it can actually be experienced interiorly if we’re paying attention.  If love for one another does not abound, then surely apathy or hate will.  When love is not offered to others, then what possesses our lives is that all too familiar trinity of me, myself, and I. 

It’s human nature to run away from the cross.  But that greatest outpouring of love by our Lord Jesus Christ continues to flow into us and is then, by the combination of free will and illimitable celestial motivation, poured out from us when the world has to bear its heavier crosses such as 9/11, the tsunami, Katrina, ISIS, Ebola, to name only some.  There is an enigmatic connection to suffering and love.  But perhaps what makes this suffering/love union so ambiguous, is that its Source is our invisible God. 

Our Lord and Savior often communicates to our souls, by equally obscure means, that our avoidance of the cross at all costs will ultimately lead to the undesirable encounter with the humbling and gasping reality of just how temporal we are capable of being. 

From another aspect, the great calamities of the world always seem to produce a supernatural outpouring of heartfelt labor, financial donations and prayer services on behalf of the victims.  Certainly, this delineates our convictions and a level of submissiveness to be a people of God.  The battle between making a difference and indifference continues to wage within us -- the grueling vicissitudes of being human.

The Kiss of Communion

Our Lord Jesus Christ said to Saint Marguerite-Marie Alacoque: “Look at this Heart which has loved people so much.”

It is this Heart that we gaze upon in Eucharistic Adoration which is enflamed with an unfathomable love for us. This Most Sacred Heart which has loved so much unfortunately is also an Organ which does not receive what It gives as Jesus also to Saint Marguerite-Marie: “And yet they do not want to love Me in return.”

The Heart of Jesus was rejected for us, suffered for us and died for us. And this Heart even today suffers from rejection and loneliness as chapels and churches are empty as He waits for us in the Tabernacle.

Saint Jean-Marie Vianney was not silent about the sufferings Jesus continues to endure in the Blessed Sacrament: “The death of Jesus Christ on Calvary was violent and painful, but at least all nature seemed to bear witness to His pain. The least sensible of creatures appeared to be affected by it, and thus wishful to share the Savior’s sufferings. Here there is nothing of this: Jesus is insulted, outraged by a vile nothingness, and all keeps silence; everything appears insensible to His humiliations. May not this God of goodness justly complain, as on the tree of the Cross, that He is forsaken?”

Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, stood in place of Saint John Paul II at the Colosseum for the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday 2005, due to John Paul's failing health. At the Ninth Station, here is some of the reflection shared by Cardinal Ratzinger: “Should we not also think of how much Christ suffers in His own Church? How often is the holy Sacrament of His Presence abused, how often must He enter empty and evil hearts! How often do we celebrate only ourselves, without even realizing that He is there! How often is His Word twisted and misused! What little faith is present behind so many theories, so many empty words! How much filth there is in the Church, and even among those who, in the priesthood, ought to belong entirely to Him! How much pride, how much self-complacency! What little respect we pay to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, where He waits for us, ready to raise us up whenever we fall! All this is present in His Passion. His betrayal by His disciples, their unworthy reception of His Body and Blood, is certainly the greatest suffering endured by the Redeemer; it pierces His Heart. We can only call to Him from the depths of our hearts: 'Kyrie eleison - Lord, save us!'”

Of course, we can’t really cry out "Kyrie eleison" until we can understand on a deep personal level our own guilt.

Canonized five years ago was a young lady from Nobol, Ecuador named Narcisa de Jesús Martillo Morán. She may have found great difficulty in discerning her own guilt for neglecting the Heart of Jesus, even though she was remarkably humble. This was a very devout young lady whose constant prayers often became songs. One of her favorites contained the words, “reaching the Heart of Him Who well deserved it.” Her father converted a small room in their house into a chapel as he recognized the extraordinary sanctity of his daughter.

She would often go into ecstasy. One of her experiences of being rapt in the love of Christ came one day following Holy Communion. She saw Jesus standing before her; He removed His Most Sacred Heart from His Bosom and placed It before the lips of Narcisa who in turn kissed It. Saint Ambrose said: “We kiss Christ with the kiss of Communion.” Although never entering religious life, it was revealed after Narcisa’s death that she had made private vows of poverty, perpetual virginity, obedience, enclosure, the eremitical life, fasting on bread and water, daily Communion, Confession, mortification and prayer.

On this Optional Memorial of Saint Marguerite-Marie Alacoque, the saint of the Sacred Heart, may we return to truly loving our Savior’s Sacré-Coeur and passionately kissing Him in Holy Communion!

The Whole Soul Loving Him

Today is the liturgical Memorial of Saint Teresa of Avila. From the Divine Office, at Matins, the Carthusians listened to this great Saint in her own words. Here’s what the monks heard and reflected on.

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In the beginning, when I attained to some degree of supernatural prayer - I speak of the prayer of quiet - I labored to remove from myself every thought of bodily objects; but I did not dare to lift up my soul, for that I saw would be presumption in me, who was always so wicked. I thought, however, that I had a sense of the presence of God: this was true, and I contrived to be in a state of recollection before Him. This method of prayer is full of sweetness, if God helps us in it, and the joy of it is great. And so, because I was conscious of the profit and delight which this way furnished me, no one could have brought me back to the contemplation of the Humanity of Christ; for that seemed to me to be a real hindrance to prayer. O Lord of my soul, and my Good! Jesus Christ crucified! I never think of this opinion, which I then held, without pain; I believe it was an act of high treason, though done in ignorance.

The first consideration is this: there is a little absence of humility - so secret and so hidden, that we do not observe it. Who is there so proud and wretched as I, that, even after laboring all his life in penances and prayers and persecutions, can possibly imagine himself not to be exceedingly rich, most abundantly rewarded, when our Lord permits him to stand with Saint John at the foot of the Cross? I know not into whose head it could have entered to be not satisfied with this, unless it be mine, which has gone wrong in every way where it should have gone right onwards. Then, if our constitution - or perhaps sickness - will not permit us always to think of His Passion, because it is so painful, who is to hinder us from thinking of Him risen from the grave, seeing that we have Him so near us in the Blessed Sacrament, where He is glorified?

No trial befalls me that is not easy to bear, when I think of You standing before those who judged You. With so good a Friend and Captain ever present, Himself the first to suffer, everything can be borne. He helps, He strengthens, He never fails, He is the true Friend. I see clearly, and since then have always seen, that if we are to please God, and if He is to give us His great graces, everything must pass through the Hands of His most Sacred Humanity, in Whom His Majesty said that He is well pleased. I know this by repeated experience: our Lord has told it to me. I have seen clearly that this is the door by which we are to enter, if we would have His supreme Majesty reveal to us His great secrets. So, then, I would have you seek no other way, even if you have arrived at the highest contemplation. This way is safe.

Our Lord is He by Whom all good things come to us; He will teach you. Consider His life; that is the best example. What more could we want than so good a Friend at our side, Who will not forsake us when we are in trouble and distress, as they do who belong to this world! Blessed is he who truly loves Him, and who always has Him near him! Let us consider the glorious Saint Paul, who seems as if Jesus was never absent from his lips, as if he had Him deep down in his heart. After I had heard this of some great Saints given to contemplation, I considered the matter carefully; and I see that they walked in no other way. Saint Francis with the stigmata proves it, Saint Antony of Padua with the Infant Jesus; Saint Bernard rejoiced in the Humanity of Christ; so did Saint Catherine of Siena, and many others, who knew better than I do. This withdrawing from bodily objects must no doubt be good, seeing that it is recommended by persons who are so spiritual; but, in my opinion, it ought to be done only when the soul has made very great progress; for until then it is clear that the Creator must be sought for through His creatures.

When God suspends all the powers of the soul – by some means of prayer -- it is clear that, whether we wish it or not, this presence of the most Sacred Humanity of Christ is withdrawn. Be it so, then, the loss is a blessed one, because it takes place in order that we may have a deeper fruition of what we seem to have lost; for at that moment the whole soul is occupied in loving Him Whom the understanding has toiled to know; and it loves what it has not comprehended, and rejoices in what it could not have rejoiced in so well, if it had not lost itself, in order, as I am saying, to gain itself the more. But that we should carefully and laboriously accustom ourselves not to strive with all our might to have always - and please God it be always - the most Sacred Humanity before our eyes - this, I say, is what seems to me not to be right: it is making the soul, as they say, to walk in the air; for it has nothing to rest on, however full of God it may think itself to be. It is a great matter for us to have our Lord before us as Man while we are living and in the flesh.

We are not angels, for we have a body; to seek to make ourselves angels while we are on the earth, and so much on the earth as I was, is an act of folly. In general, our thoughts must have something to rest on, though the soul may go forth out of itself now and then, or it may be very often so full of God as to be in need of no created thing by the help of which it may recollect itself. But this is not so common a case; for when we have many things to do, when we are persecuted and in trouble, when we cannot have much rest, and when we have our seasons of dryness, Christ is our best Friend; for we regard Him as Man, and behold Him faint and in trouble, and He is our Companion; and when we shall have accustomed ourselves in this way, it is very easy to find Him near us, although there will be occasions from time to time when we can do neither the one nor the other. We must not show ourselves as laboring after spiritual consolations; come what may, to embrace the Cross is the great thing.

The Lord of all consolation was Himself forsaken: they left Him alone in His sorrows. Do not let us forsake Him; for His Hand will help us to rise more than any efforts we can make; and He will withdraw Himself when He sees it to be expedient for us, and when He pleases will also draw the soul forth out of itself. God is greatly pleased when He beholds a soul in its humility making His Son a Mediator between itself and Him, and yet loving Him so much as to confess its own unworthiness, even when He would raise it up to the highest contemplation, and saying with Saint Peter: "Go away from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man" (Luke 5:8). I know this by experience: it was thus that God directed my soul. Others may walk by another and a shorter road. What I have understood of the matter is this: that the whole foundation of prayer must be laid in humility, and that the more a soul humbles itself in prayer, the more God lifts it up.

I come, then, to this conclusion: whenever we think of Christ, we should remind ourselves of the love that made Him bestow so many graces upon us, and also how great that love is which our Lord God has shown us, in giving us such a pledge of the love He bears us; for love draws forth love. And though we are only at the very beginning, and exceedingly wicked, yet let us always labor to keep this in view, and stir ourselves up to love; for if once our Lord grants us this grace, of having this love imprinted in our hearts, everything will be easy, and we shall do great things in a very short time, and with very little labor. May His Majesty give us that love - He knows the great need we have of it - for the sake of that love which He bore us, and of His glorious Son, to Whom it cost so much to make it known to us! Amen.

Beholding the Radiant Face of Christ

Today, the Carthusians honor all those of their Order who are now heavenly intercessors, residents of Paradise – the Saints and the Blessed. At Matins, the monks reflected on an excerpt from what is considered a spiritual masterpiece in Syrian spirituality titled: "Le Livre de la Perfection" by the seventh-century writer and martyr, Sahdona. Here is that excerpt.

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To all those who care about their salvation, Christ our hope and our God, has taught us in the Gospel to distance ourselves from the world, waiting for God alone, devoting ourselves to prayer and spiritual contemplation. By His words and His example He has shown that no place is more suitable for both prayer and being fixed on God than a place of solitude, away from traffic and favorable to recollection.

There, in fact, the body quiets itself, because the excitements of the external senses are extinguished while at the same time the soul is no longer agitated by internal impulses. As the worldly tumult subsides, it brightens the spirit; the mind becomes liberated from dark earthly concerns: in short, man emerges purified and freed from all physical and spiritual pollution. The discerning eye of his inner light shines and it is good to know himself, to improve and guide his behavior on the clear path of justice. Under these conditions, the man is rushed into the spiritual heights, he stands before the Lord and perceives something glorious, and feels extremely blessed by the Lord Who created him.

He dwells in God alone due to holy purity of life, and God constantly abides in him, waiting to envelop him with the great remembrance of His own manifestation, to burst from the body and impulses man’s thoughts, until the last day, entering into the clouds of heaven, where his covered face will be uncovered and radiant.

Blessed devotion! Your wonders have manifested themselves since the beginning with Adam, our ancestor, and have grown through all generations and achieved miracles for us. These marvelous effects shine in those wonderful beings who are men of truth, who have been able to contemplate its significance. They have taken flight far away from the world and its distractions in order to quiet themselves, body and soul, withdrawing to the desert; by these means they strive for total peace which is rendered to them, the incredible recollection, infused by the Lord supernaturally.

Our Lord, mighty, victorious and holy, source of all holiness, courage and victory, and Who has not disregarded the toil of fasting! Who among us carnal beings can ignore or dismiss You, weak and sinful as we are, continually stuck in the mud of passions?

No one would dare to say that the adverse passions of the flesh have ever been able to touch the Lord's Body, the Receptacle of perfection, the magnificent Temple of the Divine. Yet, although He did not have the slightest need, the Lord Jesus did not renounce the laborious practice of fasting; in order to better teach the great virtue and holiness that He confers on those who observe it.

Just as He was baptized to teach us in our turn to receive baptism and follow His example, thus He fasted to teach us to fast in His likeness. Every baptized person should feel compelled to fight against evil, as did our Lord, and so to be attached to the weapons of fasting even though we have received the fullness of the Spirit.

We fast according to the will of God, sincerely and wholeheartedly, without altering our fasting obligations to the criteria of Satan. This would occur if fasting hypocritically, being seen by others, in order to please men and receive the reward of vain praise from the people; we would thus be excluded from the divine reward, just as our Lord warned about the Pharisees, blinded, discouraging imitation: When you fast - He said - do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. Verily I say unto you, they have received their reward.

Behold, rendered wholly perfect by fasting from all evil, hungry and thirsty for the spirit of felicity that comes from God, we will be able to escape the threat of misery and famine in the last days reserved for those who shall be satisfied on earth. We will merit instead the blessing of contentment that Christ Jesus has promised to the hungry in these terms: Blessed are those who hunger, they shall be satisfied.