Friday, March 29, 2013

Counter-Revolutionary Monarchism & the Sacred Heart of Jesus

The Beloved Disciple rested his head on the Heart of Christ during the Last Supper.

With a liberal capitalist representative democracy mutating into a Culture of Death and Dictatorship of Relativism in the 21st Century, there are days when I want to be a counter-revolutionary monarchist (through legal and peaceful means of course).


This picture says it all.

The Smell of the Sheep & Sound Doctrine

Today is Good Friday.

Yesterday, there was something in the Holy Father's homily during the Chrism Mass that struck me when he referred to the "smell of the sheep".  Click HERE to watch a clip.

That's right!  Sheep smell.  In addition to being not so bright and susceptible to attack by wolves, sheep just down right smell.

It appealed to me because Peter's task is to feed the sheep.  I never really thought much about the dynamics of feeding sheep.  But the Pope's point is to know the sheep and be with the sheep in the outskirts.


Here's a cute picture of a lamb that made me chuckle.  For credit, it's called "Irish Lamb" by moonjazz, and I found it from this link HERE.



There's something attractive about the task of the shepherd feeding the sheep...spiritually speaking.

So how does one learn the smell of the sheep?  Simple.  By being with them.  We smell the sheep so that we know them and can feed them.

Spiritually speaking, those of us charged with the task of handing on the Deposit of Faith as it has been handed on from the time of the Apostles feed the sheep with the food of the Good Shepherd.

Yes, we need to "be" with the sheep, especially in the "outskirts", and we need to know what the sheep smell like, and it's with the end goal of feeding them with sound doctrine.  This means that teaching sound doctrine is what smelly sheep need.

The Pope spoke of  "shepherds living with 'the smell of the sheep', shepherds in the midst of their flock, fishers of men."

The postmodern age in which the Church finds herself, the sheep in the outskirts are right in our own backyard.  In the West, the outskirts are just about everywhere.  A postmodern sheep in a culture of death needs healthy doctrine, a teaching that is heavenly and nourishes the soul.

If we have the teachings of the Church to feed smelly sheep, then it is our task to faithfully hand those teachings on to them.  We go to the outskirts, to places untouched by the Gospel, to places where even priests are not welcomed let alone any Catholic.

Feed my sheep, Jesus commands Peter.  Tend my sheep.  Three times He commands Peter for this task.  Three times shows its importance.

We must feed the sheep with sound doctrine.

AMDG


 


Thursday, March 28, 2013

Holy Thursday 2013: Jesus Washes Peter's Feet & Pope Francis in a Deacon Stole



Jesus Washing Peter's Feet 1852-6 Ford Madox Brown 1821-1893 (http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/N0139)

The servant Pope Francis, Successor of St. Peter, washes the feet of 12 jailed minors.

Pope Francis wore a deacon stole.

Friday, March 22, 2013

Child Jesus Teaching in the Temple & Prayer to Engage Postmodernism

I picked up some non-Catholic intellectual books today and eventually later made a remark to my wife that I constantly needed to find refuge in the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas to address pressing modern day issues, particularly postmodernism.

I plan to read Foucault on power/knowledge in the next few months.  A prayer surged from my lips to Our Lord, "Lord, this is hard."  I turned to Him for help.

During my drive home later, I prayed joyful mysteries of the rosary (in addition to the family rosary).  When I got to the Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple, I experienced peace as I turned my meditation to the Child Jesus teaching the doctors of the Temple.

I thought of how the Incarnate Wisdom of God was present in the Temple among the doctors of the law and how He taught them and amazed them.

I thought of how all wisdom and learning was in this Little Child.  It gave me much peace.



HERE, btw, is a good article on post-modernity with pastoral consideration.



Child Jesus, have mercy on us!


Bl. Anne Catherine's Visions of the Passion of Christ



PASSION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST (10 parts on YouTube)
 (Mel Gibson based "The Passion of the Christ" on the stigmatist Bl. Anne Catherine's visions)

I found these links on YouTube.  The texts can be found HERE

Also, Tan Books sells this for $3.  I encourage you to purchase it directly from Tan Books HERE.  It previously sold for $18.  Years ago, when I purchased this CD, it wasn't $3, but it is now.  So take advantage of this!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOSl85CXjVk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=4utpDKDNjxY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=g-pj_JdqvGo&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=VlbmPkA9VbU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=3MvA-lfYHWY&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=k1ONZyqKHQE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=Dydz4QVvMro&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvfHj2mGxKo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=HG9AdgIdGWI&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=lGXgyrW40ik&feature=endscreen

 Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824)
 

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Pope Francis on Defending the Unborn


Pope's Lung(s) & the Two Lungs of the Church

Pope Francis had most of a lung removed when he was a teenager.  It had an infection.

The Pope is not just literally breathing with one full lung, but he is spiritually breathing with one full lung, too....since 1054, that is.

The Church must breathe with two lungs again: the East and the West.

Let us ask the Holy Spirit for unity according to the mind of Christ.  Let us pray that it will be during this papacy that Christ's prayer be fulfill in the two lungs of the Church: East-West.


In John 17:20, Our Lord prayed that his followers would be one as He and the Father were one.  Ut unum sint! 

But what is really noteworthy in Jesus' prayer is that He also said at the end, "...that the world may believe that you sent me."  The evangelization of the world is connected with the mystery of the Church's unity, with the Church's communio ecclesiology.

Of course, the Church is one already, as we profess in the Nicene Creed.  There are also many Eastern Catholic Churches that are in full communion with the Bishop of Rome. 

The spiritual head of the Orthodox Churches (which is different than the Eastern Catholic Churches) attended Francis' installation on March 19, 2013.  What a gift from the Holy Spirit!  And it happened on the Solemnity of St. Joseph.

At the time of this blog in 2013, almost 959 years has past since the Great Schism of 1054.  It is reported that the Pope of Rome and the Patriarch of Constantinople, the spiritual head of the Orthodox Churches, will travel to the Holy Land together.

Come Holy Spirit!  Fill the hearts of Your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Your love!

Lord Jesus, protect the Pope you have appointed for us.  And breathe on your Church your Spirit, so that she may breath once again with two lungs. 

In your holy name, we pray.  Amen.

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Fed by the Successor of Peter's First Homily

On Thursday morning, March 14, I read a short piece of Pope Francis' first homily that he delivered in the Sistine Chapel.

In it, Francis preached, "When one does not profess Jesus Christ—I recall the phrase of Leon Bloy—'Whoever does not pray to God, prays to the devil.' When one does not profess Jesus Christ, one professes the worldliness of the devil."  See here for full text.

WOW!

The translation I read was along the lines of "When we do not preach Christ, we preach the devil.  And when we preach worldliness, we preach the devil."

This message fed my soul that morning.  With all the many tasks I had to complete in the day, the contrast between Jesus and devil fed something in my soul that needed nourishment.  Something in me was lacking that this satisfied, like water on a dried mouth.

I think it was more that the new Pope talked about the devil.  The devil is real. I needed to hear this from the pulpit.

I think I was also amazed because there was such a sharp contrast.  It made me not want to be worldly.  I wanted to only preach Jesus in my life, even if I didn't use words.

The point is: I felt nourished.  I was fed.

I don't really recall hearing many homilies on the devil. Jesus, yes, but not so much on the enemy of souls.

This nourishment inspired me to blog (after a long hiatus, I know) this profound experience where I was burning on fire for the Gospel the whole day.  The Gospel passage "Feed my sheep" has been on my heart since that morning when the Holy Father, the new Pope, spoke of the non-coexistence of preaching Jesus v. preaching the worldliness of the devil.  It is one or the other: an either-or moment.

I have to confess: I've been pretty worldly in my own teaching of the Faith.  I get too bogged down with the affairs of the world and lose sight of the simplicity of the Gospel.  The Pope's gentle words brought me back to the purity and basics of the Word of God.

AMDG

Feed My Sheep