“More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of” (Alfred Lord Tennyson)
It is truly an amazing thing that God grants us the power to change the course of other people’s lives through intercessory prayer. We take this form of prayer for granted, but when you think about it intercessory prayer is one of the greatest powers God has granted to a creature. Literally, within seconds, we can petition God for the good of other human beings. Now that’s power, and God allows us to do it all life-long. The very justification (or at least one of them) for cloistered religious communities must be the incredible value of intercessory prayer.
Given the foregoing considerations, the question then arises: – Do we value intercessory prayer? Do we use it for our neighbor’s good? Have we taken the time to consider just how important intercessory prayer is? We are commanded to be charitable to our neighbors. Intercessory prayer can help us to fulfill this duty in a wonderful and mysterious way. Saint Paul is adamant that Christians should pray for each other (1 Timothy 2:1). Since God has given us this great gift of intercessory prayer, it follows that He expects us to use it. Sometimes we feel there is very little we can do in the service of Jesus, but all of us can become more devoted to intercessory prayer. To pray for others is an important responsibility. Our prayers have the power to change lives and save souls who are precious to Jesus and Mary.
Devotion to intercessory prayer will, no doubt, increase our good-will towards others, especially those whom we don’t care for. It is also an exercise of the theological virtues of faith, hope and love which are of the essence of being Christian. And finally, per Father Faber, joy is a wonderful effect of this devotion seeing that it involves an unselfish act of seeking the good of others.
Why not make a list of the people you are going to pray for this week? Pray for those who need a job, pray for those who have left the church, pray for those who have hurt you, pray for those undergoing trials, pray for someone who is in mortal sin, pray for someone to grow in holiness and draw closer to the Lord. There are so many good things we can pray for. When you pass a hospital, pray for the person in the hospital who is closest to death. One thing is for sure: people need your prayers. I need your prayers. We should all be, in the power of the Holy Spirit, mighty apostolates of intercessory prayer, for the good of our neighbor and the glory of God.
Now if we who are on the road to salvation have been granted such an immense power to pray for others, imagine then how much more the saints in Heaven (fully and forever united to God) are qualified to pray for us! “We are one body.”
Tom Mulcahy, M.A.
Reference: I am relying entirely on Chapter Four of All for Jesus by the great F.W. Faber,and this note is merely a paraphrase or a summary or a condensing of parts of that chapter.
All rights reserved.
To SHARE on SOCIAL MEDIA: click on “Leave a comment” or “Comments” below (and this will bring up social media icons if they are not already present).
To LEAVE A COMMENT: click on “Leave a comment” or “Comments” below, and then scroll down to the box which says, “Leave Your Own Comment Here,” which is at the end of any comments already made. If the comment section is already present, merely scroll to the end of any comments already made.
Any ads in this note are by WordPress and not CatholicStrength.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10)
“We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5)
Father Grou, a great spiritual writer, tells us that one of the means by which we attain to “true and solid virtue” is through the “mortification of the heart.” He states: “We cannot watch too much over our own heart, and all that passes there.” Grou says that to “watch carefully over the heart, to restrain its first motions,” is a “great means” to overcome our fallen human nature and its attendant evil – or at least misguided – inclinations, and thus to keep ourselves in “peace and self-possession.” Grou advises that this “constant attention” to what is passing in our hearts “is not so difficult as we might think,” and clearly he is suggesting that there are great spiritual dividends to be obtained through this practice of purity of heart.
The Catholic spiritual practice of Purity of Heart is one of the most important spiritual disciplines we can and should make use of. The Catholic cognitive discipline of purity of heart monitors and detects disordered and evil thoughts, capturing them and deleting them as hostile to growth in holiness. Saint Paul says: “We take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ” -that is, obedient to the Christian law of charity (see 2 Cor. 10:5). Our goal, then, is to detect and weed out thoughts (movements of our heart) that are opposed to growth in holiness.
By the practice of purity of heart we keep a very careful watch over all the thoughts being presented to our mind and over all the affections and passions being presented to our heart. By this careful watch, we almost immediately intercept and delete the thoughts and affections which violate purity of heart. Thus, as a very simple example, should I suddenly feel the desire to gossip about someone, I check out this movement of my heart, examine it, and ultimately suppress or delete it since it violates purity of heart. Or, as another example, should I suddenly feel swelling up in my heart ill-will towards a certain person, the practice of purity of heart obligates me to take a close look at this movement of my heart, and to mortify it, and to replace it with Christian charity and forgiveness. Gradually, by steadfastly and diligently practicing purity of heart, our heart becomes cleaner and cleaner. What do we want more in our lives than purity of heart?
Purity of heart is a mechanism of introspection whereby we carefully look at our thoughts and affections, even moment by moment, to place them under Christ’s law of charity. As soon as we observe that our mind or affections are tending in a sinful direction, we immediately mortify such thoughts or affections, giving them no chance of growth within our souls. Its sort of like we’ve installed security software in our brain that immediately detects and deletes bad stuff (God’s given us the software and all we have to do is learn how to use it!!).
Father Jacques Philippe, the well known spiritual writer, recommends the practice of purity of heart in his very worthwhile book, In the School of the Holy Spirit (see Appendix II beginning on page 70, and pages 40-42 ). But the two giants of our Catholic spiritual heritage who speak so highly of practicing purity of heart are Father Lallemant (in his classic TheSpiritual Doctrine), and Father Grou (in Manual for Interior Souls). Both Fathers Lallemant and Grou were French and Jesuit.
Father Lallemant recommends the practice of purity of heart in conjunction with regular, sacramental confession. He states:
“For the oftener we confess, the more we purify ourselves, the grace proper to this sacrament being purity of conscience. Thus, every confession, besides the increase of habitual grace and of the gifts, imparts also a fresh sacramental grace, that is to say, a new title to receive from God both actual graces and the aids necessary for emancipating ourselves more and more from sin.” (Father Lallemant, The Spiritual Doctrine, II, Chapter 6, as cited in The Mystical Evolution, pages 99-100).
What an amazing purifying tool at your immediate disposal for growth in holiness: the practice of purity of heart! Its like an ongoing, perpetual examination of conscience that keeps all the junk out of our hearts and mind. And when the junk is gone, we become, as Father Lallemant insists, more docile to the whispers of the Holy Spirit, which we previously could not hear. This is why Father Lallemant says that “purity of heart accomplishes so much” in the spiritual life.
Dear friend, take captive every thought in obedience to the Gospel (see 2 Corinthians 10:5). “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8).
We should practice purity of heart calmy, peacefully, without any panic and with appropriate perspective, with the ultimate goal of keeping ourselves in the peaceful presence of God as much as possible (not being too shocked that from time to time we experience some very disconcerting thoughts).
With respect to the purification of the heart from lust and unchastity, see Catechism of the Catholic Church, nos. 2514 to 2533, which is quite good.
Tom Mulcahy, M.A.
Sources: Father Lallemant, The Spiritual Doctrine...purity of heart is one of his main doctrines for growth in holiness, and he formed saints!!! Saints Isaac Jogues and Jean de Brebeuf were his students. And also Father Grou as mentioned above. Matt Maher sings, “Hold my heart up to the light” in one of his songs. That is what the practice of purity of heart is: holding our heart up to the light!
To SHARE on SOCIAL MEDIA: click on “Leave a comment” or “Comments” below (and this will bring up social media icons if they are not already present).
To LEAVE A COMMENT: click on “Leave a comment” or “Comments” below, and then scroll down to the box which says, “Leave Your Own Comment Here,” which is at the end of any comments already made. If the comment section is already present, merely scroll to the end of any comments already made.
All rights reserved.
Any ads in this note are by WordPress and not CatholicStrength.
(Saint Thomas Aquinas as depicted by Gentile da Fabriano, circa 1400, Public Domain, U.S.A.)
“Ask and you shall receive” (Luke 11:9)
Here is the very powerful, sublime and awesome doctrine of Saint Thomas Aquinas (“the angelic doctor”) regarding the infallible efficacy of prayer. This doctrine should lead us to develop a tremendous confidence in the efficacy of prayer, especially as pertaining to our eternal salvation. In Question 83 on Prayer, Article 15, Saint Thomas lays down in his Summa Theologica four conditions for the infallible efficacy of prayer. He states:
“Hence it is that four conditions are laid down: namely, to ask
(1) for ourselves
(2) things necessary for salvation
(3) piously
(4) perseveringly
When all these four concur, we always obtain what we ask for.”
Given this truly awe-inspiring doctrine on the infallible power of prayer, the importance and necessity of humble, persevering prayer cannot be overemphasized. Every night when we go to bed, we should fall down on our knees and humbly beg God for the graces we need to be saved, adding in our prayer that we desire these graces even if it be necessary for us to suffer immensely.
Father Garrigou-Lagrange, the eminent Dominican theologian from whom I am drawing these insights regarding the “infallible efficacy of prayer,” reflects further on this lofty doctrine of prayer, stating: “Humble, trusting, persevering prayer, by which we ask for the things necessary for salvation, is infallibly efficacious by virtue of our Lord’s promise….’ask and you shall receive.’ He promises that if we ask this grace of Him, He will give it to us. What is more, He causes this prayer to spring up in our hearts, and inclines us to ask Him for what He wills from all eternity to grant us….
“Prayer is a more powerful force than all the physical energies taken together, more powerful than money, than learning. Prayer can accomplish what all material things and all created spirits cannot do by their natural powers….Prayer thus plays an infinitely greater role in the world than the most amazing discovery….Prayer assures two things to souls striving to attain to God: supernatural light which directs them; and divine energy, which urges them on” (Christian Perfection and Contemplation, pages 206-208).
This lofty doctrine of prayer should fill us with the greatest confidence in God. Our “humble, trusting, persevering prayer” will lead us to “the end ordained” by our Omnipotent and loving God: our salvation.
Tom Mulcahy, M.A.
Note: I am basing this note completely on the wonderful insights of Father Garrigou-Lagrange, one of the greatest Catholic theologians of the 20th century and a professor of Saint John Paul II. Besides the work cited above, I am also drawing from pages 428-434 of The Three Ages of the Interior Life, Volume I; see also page 377 of this work, a prayer to overcome obstacles toour salvation, which I personally think is highly valuable. The Feast Day of St. Thomas Aquinas is January 28.
To SHARE on SOCIAL MEDIA: click on “Leave a comment” or “Comments” below (and this will bring up social media icons if they are not already present).
To LEAVE A COMMENT: click on “Leave a comment” or “Comments” below, and then scroll down to the box which says, “Leave Your Own Comment Here,” which is at the end of any comments already made. If the comment section is already present, merely scroll to the end of any comments already made.
All rights reserved.
Any ads in this note are by WordPress and not CatholicStrength.
“Therefore God exalted [Jesus] to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth” (Phil. 2: 9-10)
“Jesus” literally means “he saves.” It is thus a saving name, or rather a name full of saving power.
Why is Jesus’ name more powerful than all other names (indeed, more powerful than all other names combined)? – because Jesus has been resurrected, because Jesus has ascended into Heaven, because Jesus has been crowned Lord of all creation, and because, enthroned in Heaven, Jesus always lives to make intercession for you (Hebrews 7:25). This is power. This is the power of invoking Jesus’ name!
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states (at 519):
All Christ’s riches “are for every individual and are everybody’s property.” Christ did not live his life for himself but for us, from his Incarnation “for us men and for our salvation” to his death “for our sins” and Resurrection “for our justification”. He is still “our advocate with the Father”, who “always lives to make intercession” for us (Hebrews 7:25). He remains ever “in the presence of God on our behalf, bringing before him all that he lived and suffered for us” (Hebrews 9:25).
Therefore, an easy yet powerful way to grow closer to Jesus is to simply hold His name in great reverence. The basic assumption for this devotion is that Jesus’ name is full of power and grace. The Church apparently agrees with this assessment because it sets aside January 3 as the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus. It is a reminder to us to greatly reverence Jesus’ name the rest of the year. What an awesome New Year’s resolution that would be! Imagine the growth in holiness you would experience if you kept that resolution.
Father Paul O’Sullivan writes that the “Holy Name of Jesus fills our souls with a peace and a joy we never had before.” He adds that the “Name of Jesus is the shortest, the easiest and the most powerful of prayers. Everyone can say it, even in the midst of his daily work. God cannot refuse to hear it.”
“The frequent repetition of this Divine name [Jesus],” says Father O’Sullivan, will save you from much suffering and great dangers.” It seems to me the key to this devotion is to say Jesus’ name with great reverence and love, calling to mind – without even having to think about it – all that Jesus is and means to us. This is a formula which will clearly increase our love for Jesus and will maintain us in a spirit of faith. We should never forget that faith is one of the most important virtues in the spiritual life (it is a theological virtue, literally meaning “God-directed”).
Father O’Sullivan encourages us to “understand clearly the meaning and value of the Name of Jesus.” He adds that the “Holy Name of Jesus saves us from innumerable evils and delivers us especially from the power of the devil, who is constantly seeking to do us harm.” He says that “every time we say ‘Jesus,’ we are saying a fervent prayer for…all that we need.”
If you are looking for a simple devotion, filled with power, this is it! Father O’Sullivan assures us that the simple devotion of reverently saying Jesus’ name throughout the day has amazing power. And, as Father Faber states, what do we need more in the spiritual life than “power” to overcome our tepidity and weakness.
“[Mary] will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). May the most holy name of Jesus be on your lips and in your heart throughout the upcoming year. And remember Jesus himself said: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you” (John 16:23).
Thomas L. Mulcahy, M.A.
References:The Wonders of the Holy Name by Father Paul O’Sullivan (TAN). “With the release of the revised Roman Missal in March 2002, the feast [of the Most Holy Name of Jesus] was restored as an optional memorial in the Ordinary Form on January 3” (from catholicculture.org).
To SHARE on SOCIAL MEDIA: click on “Leave a comment” or “Comments” below (and this will bring up social media icons if they are not already present).
To LEAVE A COMMENT: click on “Leave a comment” or “Comments” below, and then scroll down to the box which says, “Leave Your Own Comment Here,” which is at the end of any comments already made. If the comment section is already present, merely scroll to the end of any comments already made.
All rights reserved.
Any ads in this note are by WordPress and not CatholicStrength.
“And the angel … said… : ‘Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women’.” (Luke 1:28)
1. Mary’s Immaculate Conception is an infallible doctrine of the Catholic Church promulgated by Pope Pius IX , ex cathedra (from the chair of St. Peter) on December 8, 1854. The Papal Bull reads:
“We declare, pronounce and define that the doctrine which asserts that the Blessed Virgin Mary, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God, and in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, was preserved free from every stain of original sin is a doctrine revealed by God and, for this reason, must be firmly and constantly believed by all the faithful.”
“With these words in 1854, Pope Pius IX in the Papal Bull Ineffabilis Deus, declared Mary’s Immaculate Conception to be dogma. Pius was simply affirming a long-held belief of many Christians East and West before him, that Mary was conceived free of the stain of original sin, on account of Christ’s work, in order to bear God-made-flesh.” (From Saint John Cantius Parish web-site)
2. The dogma is confirmed four years later (in 1858) by the Blessed Virgin Mary herself in the most famous of her apparitions at Lourdes. At Lourdes, when asked her name by St. Bernadette, Mary responded in an extraordinary fashion, saying, “I am the ImmaculateConception.” Since then, Lourdes has been the situs of countless miracles.
3. Some of the early Reformers, such as Martin Luther, at least initially stood firmly behind this doctrine in that they saw that Mary would have to be a pure and sinless vessel in order to communicate to Jesus his sacred and holy body. The following quote from Martin Luther is illustrative:
“It is a sweet and pious belief that the infusion of Mary’s soul was effected without original sin; so that in the very infusion of her soul she was also purified from original sin and adorned with God’s gifts, receiving a pure soul infused by God; thus from the first moment she began to live she was free from all sin.” Martin Luther, (Sermon: “On the Day of the Conception of the Mother of God,” 1527).
4. Contrary to popular belief, the doctrine has strong scriptural support in that:
A. Gabriel announces that Mary is “full of grace” (Luke 1:28). If Mary is full of grace it follows that she is without sin (note how the angel does not call Mary by her name, but rather by a title, saying:“Hail, full of grace” – and the angel is God’s messenger). TheIgnatius Catholic Study Bible defends the traditional translation, “Hail, full of grace,” as against some modern translations, stating: “[The Greek word used by Luke], kecharitomene, indicates that God has already graced Mary previous to this point, making her a vessel who ‘has been’ and ‘is now’ filled with divine life. Alternative translations like ‘favored one’… are possible but inadequate.”
B. Saint Luke (in his Gospel) and Saint John (in the Book of Revelation) identify Mary as the Ark of the New Covenant, thus comparing her to the all-holy Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament. See “Topical Essay: Mary Ark of the Covenant” in TheIgnatius Catholic Bible Study or click the following on-line article from This Rock: Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant | Catholic Answers
C. Mary’s Immaculate Conception is internally consistent with the doctrine of Original Sin (which flows from a number of Old and New Testament passages, especially at Romans 5:12-21). Since original sin is transmitted by physical generation, it follows logically that Jesus, who was born without sin, would have to be born from a spotless womb. Mary is that pure and spotless vessel: the woman who overflows with God’s grace; and
D. John the Baptist was sanctified in his mother’s womb. At Luke 1:15 it states that John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. The passage, in context, reads as follows:
Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”(Luke 1:11-17)
The angel then identifies himself as Gabriel, the same angel of Mary’s annunciation a few lines later at Luke 1:26, who addresses Mary, not by a name, but by a title, “Hail, Full of grace.” The point is obvious (I think its obvious): if John was filled with the Holy Spirit from birth, what was done in God’s providence to prepare Mary to be the mother of God? Luke then, as you know, makes a direct comparison between Mary and the Ark of the Covenant, implying the incredible magnitude of her sanctity and holiness. All of this fits in very nicely with the Church’s proclamation of her Immaculate Conception.
Tom Mulcahy, M.A.
References: Those cited within this note. See also: The Gospel of Luke by Dr. Scott Hahn (St. Joseph Communications).
Image:Madonna on a Crescent Moon in Hortus Conclusus by unknown author, 1450s, Germany. Public Domain, U.S.A.
To SHARE on SOCIAL MEDIA: click on “Leave a comment” or “Comments” below (and this will bring up social media icons if they are not already present).
To LEAVE A COMMENT: click on “Leave a comment” or “Comments” below, and then scroll down to the box which says, “Leave Your Own Comment Here,” which is at the end of any comments already made. If the comment section is already present, merely scroll to the end of any comments already made.
All rights reserved.
Any ads in this note are by WordPress and not CatholicStrength.
“I need not sell my soul to buy bliss. I have an inward treasure born with me, which can keep me alive if all extraneous delights should be withheld, or offered only at a price I cannot afford to give” (Chapter 19)
“There is no happiness like that of being loved by your fellow-creatures, and feeling that your presence is an addition to their comfort” (Chapter 22)
Before taking a look at Jane Eyre’s strong temptation to remain with Mr. Rochester after learning he was already married, let us first take a look at one of the most poignant and touching scenes in the novel, the moment when our plain Jane suddenly realizes that she’s beautiful! We might say, with Andrew Lloyd Weber, that love changes everything, and when Jane looks in the mirror the day after her dramatic engagement to Mr. Rochester she sees a new person. She says:
“While arranging my hair, I looked at my face in the glass, and felt it was no longer plain; there was hope in its aspect and life in its color; and my eyes seemed as if they had beheld the fount of fruition, and borrowed beams from the lustrous ripple. I had often been unwilling to look at my master, because I feared he could not be pleased at my look, but I was sure I might lift my face to his now and not cool his affection by its expression. I took a plain but clean and light summer dress from my drawer and put it on; it seemed no attire had ever so well become me, because none had I ever worn in so blissful a mood” (Chapter 24).
But Jane Eyre’s joy and happiness are to be short-lived, and even by the end of Chapter 24 she alludes to a tension that exits between her faith in God and her love for Mr. Rochester (a tension that will not be overcome until Mr. Rochester’s religious conversion much later in the novel). Jane says:
“My future husband was becoming to me my whole world; and more than the world: almost my hope of heaven. He stood between me and every thought of religion, as an eclipse intervenes between man and the broad sun. I could not, in those days, see God for His creature: of whom I had made an idol” (Chapter 24).
And as to confirm that Jane’s upcoming marriage to Mr. Rochester was not made in Heaven three things occur:
The Chestnut tree is split in two by lightning shortly after the engagement;
Jane dreams two dreams that essentially forecast doom and gloom for her at Thornfield; and
In the middle of the night Bertha enters Jane’s bedroom and tears Jane’s wedding veil in two.
And then, on the very day of her wedding, deus ex machina, a lawyer named Briggs appears out of nowhere to inform the Vicar that Mr. Rochester is already married to Bertha. And with this revelation we are told that Jane, “almost a bride,” became “a cold solitary girl again….” Back in her room Jane tells us she had no will to flee the torrent of troubles cast upon her: “I lay faint; longing to be dead.” Only a “remembrance of God…begot a muttered prayer” but she was nevertheless plunged into bitterness, “my love lost, my hope quenched.”
Later that day Jane realizes that she must leave Thornfield “at once,” but states “that I must leave him decidedly, instantly, entirely, is intolerable. I cannot do it.” Still Jane realizes again that she must leave Mr. Rochester, but adds: “I do not want to leave him – I cannot leave him.” She later tells Mr. Rochester: “Sir, your wife is living…If I lived with you as you desire, I should the be your mistress: to say otherwise is sophistical; – is false.”
Thus Jane tells Mr. Rochester “I will not be yours.” But Mr. Rochester essentially pleads for Jane to stay, tenderly kissing her head and cheek, and telling Jane that all his happiness “will be torn away” if she leaves. But Jane responds by saying, “Do as I do: trust in God and yourself. Believe in Heaven….We were born to strive and endure.” But Mr. Rochester tells Jane that it is better to transgress a mere human law than to drive him into “despair.” And at hearing this argument Jane tells us that her conscience and reason “turned traitors against me, and charged me with crime in resisting him…and clamored wildly…’Oh, comply!…soothe him; save him; love him…who will be injured by what you do?’ ”
This, then, is the moment of supreme temptation for Jane. A seemingly powerfully persuasive argument has been made for her to stay with Mr. Rochester. But Jane Eyre’s response to Mr. Rochester and to her cunning conscience is simply a theological masterpiece. She says,
“I will respect myself. I will keep the law given by God; sanctioned by man. I will hold to the principles received by me when I was sane, and not mad—as I am now. Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigor; stringent are they; inviolate they shall be. If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth? They have a worth—so I have always believed; and if I cannot believe it now, it is because I am insane—quite insane: with my veins running fire, and my heart beating faster than I can count its throbs.Preconceived opinions, forgotten determinations, are all I have this hour to stand by: there I plant my foot.”
Wow! What an amazing argument, and one for all of us to fall back on when we are beset with powerful temptations to break the moral law. Certainly the most powerful weapon against temptation is continual prayer (and Jane Eyre is a prayerful person), but to dialogue with a temptation, to listen to its cunning deceptions, especially when we are already under duress, or pressured by passions, or suffering distress, is a major mistake! These are the exact moments to be even more fastidious in following the moral law and Christ’s commandments. As Jane says so eloquently, “Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigor.“
Late that night Jane experienced an apparition in which her mother said, “flee temptation.” Thus, shortly after midnight Jane gathered a few items and twenty shillings, passed by Mr. Rochester’s room still tempted to open the door to his room, and made her way downstairs, where she got some water and bread, and then opened the door to depart Thornfield on foot until she reached the road, still longing to be Mr. Rochester’s. She relates: “God must have led me on…I was weeping wildly as I walked along my solitary way…a weakness seized me and I fell: I lay on the ground some minutes, pressing my face to the wet turf. I had some fear – or hope – that here I should die: but I was soon up: crawling forward on my hands and knees, and then again raised to my feet – as eager and as determined as ever to reach the road” (Chapter 27). Jane did in fact finally reach the road (“after sunrise”), where she flagged down a coach, thus continuing her amazing journey probably not totally aware of the immense suffering and destitution she was about to undergo.
Thomas L. Mulcahy, M.A.
Image: Portrait of Charlotte Bronte, the author of Jane Eyre, by George Richmond, as it appears at Wikipedia. The date is 1850. According to Wikipedia this work is in the Public Domain for the U.S.A., but may not be for other countries. See the Wikipedia article on Charlotte Bronte incorporated herein by reference.
References: See my previous blog post, A Short Note on the Ultimate Meaning of Jane Eyre
To SHARE on SOCIAL MEDIA: click on “Leave a comment” or “Comments” below (and this will bring up social media icons if they are not already present).To LEAVE A COMMENT: click on “Leave a comment” or “Comments” below, and then scroll down to the box which says, “Leave Your Own Comment Here,” which is at the end of any comments already made. If the comment section is already present, merely scroll to the end of any comments already made.
To LEAVE A COMMENT: click on “Leave a comment” or “Comments” below, and then scroll down to the box which says, “Leave Your Own Comment Here,” which is at the end of any comments already made. If the comment section is already present, merely scroll to the end of any comments already made.
All rights reserved.
Any ads in this post are from WordPress and not this blog.
(THE ANNUNCIATION BY EL GRECO, C. 1590-1603, PUBLIC DOMAIN, U.S.A.)
“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” (Luke 1:42)
INTRODUCTION: The value of good advice is, in some instances, simply priceless. When God in his Eternal Wisdom sent an angel to greet Mary, the angel addressed Mary not by a name, but by a title, saying: “Hail, full of grace” (Luke 1:28). Nothing could be more assured, therefore, than the fact that Mary is a vessel of tremendous grace. The advice given by Saint Louis De Montfort (set forth below) is that devotion to the Hail Mary prayer is of incalculable value. In other words, to love to say the Hail Mary prayer with devotion and love for Mary is a Heavenly dew certain to bring you many blessings and draw you closer to Mary’s son, Jesus Christ. Here, then, is the wonderful advice given by Father De Montfort about the immense value of the Hail Mary prayer:
“[You] ought also to have a great devotion to saying the Hail Mary (the Angelical Salutation). Few Christians, however enlightened, know the real price, merit, excellence, and necessity of the Hail Mary. It was necessary for the Blessed Virgin to appear several times to great and enlightened Saints, to show them the merit of it. She did so to St. Dominic, St. John Capistran, and the Blessed Alan de la Roche. They have composed entire works on the wonders and efficacy of that prayer for converting souls. They have loudly published and openly preached that, salvation having begun with the Hail Mary, the salvation of each one of us in particular is attached to that prayer. They tell us that it is that prayer which made the dry and barren earth bring forth the fruit of life; and that it is that prayer well said which makes the Word of God germinate in our souls, and bring forth Jesus Christ, the Fruit of life. They tell us that the Hail Mary is a heavenly dew for watering the earth, which is the soul, to make it bring forth its fruit in season; and that a soul which is not watered by that prayer bears no fruit, and brings forth only thorns and brambles, and is ready to be cursed. (Hebrews 6:8).
… it is an equally universal experience, that those who have… great marks of predestination about them love and relish the Hail Mary, and delight in saying it. We always see the more a man is for God, the more he likes that prayer. This is what our Lady said also to the Blessed Alan, after the words which I have recently quoted.
I do not know how it is, nor why, but nevertheless I well know that it is true; nor have I any better secret of knowing whether a person is for God than to examine if he likes to say the Hail Mary and the Rosary. I say, if he likes; for it may happen that a person may be under some natural inability to say it, or even a supernatural one; yet nevertheless he likes it always, and always inspires the same liking into others.
O predestinate souls! slaves of Jesus in Mary! learn that the Hail Mary is the most beautiful of all prayers after the Our Father. It is the most perfect compliment which you can make to Mary, because it is the compliment which the Most High sent her by an archangel, in order to gain her heart; and it was so powerful over her heart by the secret charms of which it is so full, that in spite of her profound humility, she gave her consent to the Incarnation of the Word. It is by this compliment also that you will infallibly gain her heart, if you say it as you ought.
The Hail Mary well said, that is, with attention, devotion, and modesty, is, according to the Saints, the enemy of the devil, which puts him to flight, and the hammer which crushes him. It is the sanctification of the soul, the joy of Angels, the melody of the predestinate, the canticle of the New Testament, the pleasure of Mary, and the glory of the Most Holy Trinity. The Hail Mary is a heavenly dew which fertilizes the soul. It is the chaste and loving kiss which we give to Mary. It is a vermilion rose which we present to her; a precious pearl we offer her; a chalice of divine ambrosial nectar which we hold to her. All these are comparisons of the saints.
I pray you urgently, by the love I bear you in Jesus and Mary, not to content yourselves with saying the Little Crown of the Blessed Virgin, but a whole Chaplet; or even, if you have time, the whole Rosary every day. At the moment of your death, you will bless the day and hour in which you have followed my advice. Having thus sown in the benedictions of Jesus and Mary, you will reap eternal benedictions in heaven. ‘He who soweth in blessings, shall also reap blessings’ (2 Corinthinas 9:6).” (From: True Devotion to Mary, translation by Father Faber, as edited)
CONCLUSION: What a simple but powerful devotion! – to love saying the Hail Mary prayer. There is nothing hard about saying this prayer (so deeply rooted in Luke’s Gospel) – and yet Saint Louis De Montfort assures us that so much good will come from it! Dear friend, fall in love with the Hail Mary prayer. Oh holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death! Amen.
Tom Mulcahy, M.A.
P.S. TheIgnatius Catholic Study Bible rightly defends the traditional translation, “Hail, full of grace,” as against some modern translations, stating: “[The Greek word used by Luke], kecharitomene, indicates that God has already graced Mary previous to this point, making her a vessel who ‘has been’ and ‘is now’ filled with divine life. Alternative translations like ‘favored one’… are possible but inadequate.” Frankly, we need to be devoted to the Hail Mary prayer during these perilous times. September 12 is the Feast of the Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
To SHARE on SOCIAL MEDIA: click on “Leave a comment” or “Comments” below (and this will bring up social media icons if they are not already present).
To LEAVE A COMMENT: click on “Leave a comment” or “Comments” below, and then scroll down to the box which says, “Leave Your Own Comment Here,” which is at the end of any comments already made. If the comment section is already present, merely scroll to the end of any comments already made.
All rights reserved.
Any ads in this note are by WordPress and not CatholicStrength.
“I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true” (Luke 1:38)
If God’s own messenger, the Archangel Gabriel, hadn’t called Mary by the descriptive title, “Hail, full of grace” (Luke 1: 28).
And if Mary had not been covered by the Holy Spirit’s “unspeakable shadow” (see Luke 1:35).
And if St. Luke, in describing Mary’s visitation to Elizabeth, hadn’t drawn a stunning comparison between the Virgin Mary and the all-holy Ark of the Covenant (see link below); and if Mary’s visit (with Jesus in utero) to Elizabeth hadn’t unleashed a veritable explosion of grace; and if, at the sound of Mary’s voice, Elizabeth had not been filled with the Holy Spirit and boldly proclaimed Mary to be “the mother of my Lord” (Luke 1:41-45); and if Mary, so uniquely full of grace, did not proclaim that “my soul does magnify the Lord” (Luke 1:46).
And if Simeon the prophet had not peered down through the decades to see that Mary, who had brought the baby Jesus to the Temple, was predestined to share closely in Jesus’ passion, saying to Mary, “And a sword will pierce your own soul too” (Luke 2: 35).
And if Mary’s role as a powerful intercessor hadn’t been so clearly manifested at the wedding at Cana when she moved her Son to work His first public miracle against His own will since His “hour had not yet come” (John 2:1-12).
And if the Lord Jesus Himself hadn’t bequeathed Mary to us (from the cross) as our spiritual Mother as He was meriting our very salvation, saying, “Behold, your mother” (John 19: 25-27) as she stood faithfully at the foot of the cross in fulfillment of Simeon’s prophecy.
And if Saint Luke hadn’t specifically pointed out that Mary was present with the Apostles in the Cenacle in preparation for Pentecost” and the “birth of the Church” (quotations from Pope John Paul II; see Acts 1:14).
And if Saint John hadn’t seen Mary in a vision of heaven, “clothed with the sun” and wearing her Queenly crown of twelve stars (Revelation 12:1-2); and if Old Testament typology and New Testament fulfillment didn’t point to Mary as the New Eve and Queen Mother (see especially Scott Hahn’s masterful book, Hail Holy Queen).
And if the testimony of the Catholic saints didn’t overwhelmingly verify beyond all peradventure the amazing assistance Mary provides to those who accept her spiritual motherhood (which Jesus merited for us), leading them to greater union with Jesus, perhaps then you could persuade me not to accept all of the beautiful and sublime teachings about her by the Roman Catholic Church, the only church in Christendom which can trace its origin directly back to Jesus and the apostles (and thus to Mary herself, Mother of the Savior).
“This maternity of Mary in the order of grace began with the consent which she gave in faith at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, and lasts until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this salvific duty, but by her constant intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation. By her maternal charity, she cares for the brethren of her Son, who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties, until they are led into the happiness of their true home” (Lumen Gentium, 62, Documents of Vatican II).
Tom Mulcahy, M.A.
P.S. Perhaps, grammatically, each paragraph should end with a semicolon, since I originally wrote this as one entire sentence.
Tom Mulcahy, M.A.
Sources: Various Scott Hahn tapes including “Mary: Holy Mother,” and his book, Hail Holy Queen; various Father Faber books (I believe he used the beautiful phrase, “unspeakable shadow,” quoted above); internet article Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant (This Rock: October 2005); and other Catholic apologetic materials. See also, Ignatius Catholic Study Bible;Dictionary of Mary; and by Pope John Paul II (click on link ): Mary’s Presence in the Upper Room at Jerusalem
Image: The Virgin in Prayer by Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato (1609-1685), a Public Domain work in the U.S. A. per Wikipedia.
All rights reserved.
To SHARE on SOCIAL MEDIA: click on “Leave a comment” or “Comments” below (and this will bring up social media icons if they are not already present).
To LEAVE A COMMENT: click on “Leave a comment” or “Comments” below, and then scroll down to the box which says, “Leave Your Own Comment Here,” which is at the end of any comments already made. If the comment section is already present, merely scroll to the end of any comments already made.
Any ads in this note are by WordPress and not CatholicStrength.
“And the Lamb will conquer and the woman clothed in the sun will shine her light on everyone” (from the hymn, Lady of Knock)
Here is the eyewitness testimony of Patrick Hill pertaining to the extraordinary vision (depicted above) he witnessed at the south wall of a small church in Knock, Ireland, St. John the Baptist, on the night of August 21, 1879:
“I am Patrick Hill; I live in Claremorris; my aunt lives at Knock; I remember the 21st August last; on that day I was drawing home turf, or peat, from the bog on an ass. While at my aunt’s at about eight o’clock in the evening, Dominick Byrne came into the house; he cried out: ‘Come up to the chapel and see the miraculous lights, and the beautiful visions that are to be seen there’. I followed him; another man by name Dominick Byrne, and John Durkan, and a small boy named John Curry, came with me; we were all together; we ran over towards the chapel. When we, running southwest, came so far from the village that on our turning, the gable came into view, we immediately beheld the lights; a clear white light, covering most of the gable, from the ground up to the window and higher. It was a kind of changing bright light, going sometimes up high and again not so high. We saw the figures – the Blessed Virgin, St. Joseph and St. John, and an altar with a Lamb on the altar, and a cross behind the lamb. At this time we reached as far as the wall fronting the gable: there were other people there before me; some of them were praying, some not; all were looking at the vision; they were leaning over the wall or ditch, with their arms resting on top. I saw the figures and brightness…. It was raining. I saw everything distinctly” (edited).
There is a tradition in Ireland, writes Mary Purcell in her summary of the apparition at Knock, that Saint Patrick, while on a missionary journey in the west of Ireland, blessed the remote village of Knock and predicted that one day it would become a center of devotion.
This prediction has come true, notes Purcell, as Knock has become a major Marian pilgrimage center. The Mother of God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, chose to bless Knock by appearing there in an apparition that occurred on August 21, 1879. Since this apparition was witnessed by eighteen people – including Patrick Hill, who was one of the fifteen official witnesses – its level of credibility is, on a merely human level, powerfully trustworthy.
The Mother of God appeared at Knock to remind us of the incredible importance of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The apparition took place at about 8 pm at the south gable of the Church dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. The priest there, Father Cavanagh, was deeply devoted to Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception and had no bank account because “all that he ever had went to the poor” (Purcell, p.125).
The apparition of the Blessed Mother that evening was witnessed by about eighteen people, and there were 15 official witnesses who gave testimony to two “Commissions of Enquiry,” these witnesses ranging in age from six to seventy-five. Patrick Hill was age sixteen at the time. Their testimony was found trustworthy and satisfactory in 1879 and 1936. Pope John Paul II visited Knock in 1979. Mother Teresa of Calcutta also visited the Shrine.
What was seen, as Purcell says in synopsis, was “an extraordinary brilliant light surrounding the gable wall of the church” with the figures of Our Lady, Saint Joseph and Saint John the Evangelist. “Besides them and a little to the right was an altar with a cross and a figure of a lamb” (see representation above). According to the Shrine website, this extraordinary apparition lasted approximately two hours in the “pouring rain,” accompanied, in part, with the “reciting [of] the rosary.” And although the witnesses to the apparition were “saturated” by the pouring rain, “not a single drop of rain fell on the gable or vision.”
What was the meaning of the apparition? Reverend Dr. M. O’Carrol explains: “The first lesson of the apparition is the Mass. Everything seems to point to that – the altar with the sacrificial Lamb, the gestures of Our Lady, the presence of Saint John in vestments, and the respectful attitude of Saint Joseph….” (Purcell at 143, citing Father M. O’Carroll). At Knock, where no words were spoken, Mary was pointing us to Jesus: to the Lamb of God who is both our sacrifice and our supernatural sustenance at Holy Mass.
“Mother, in this shrine [of our Lady of Knock] you gather the People of God of all Ireland and constantly point out to them Christ in the Eucharist and in the Church. At this solemn moment we listen with particular attention to your words : “Do whatever my Son tells you”. And we wish to respond to your words with all our heart. We wish to do what your Son tells us, what he commands us, for he has the words of eternal life” (Homily of Pope John Paul II, Shrine of Our Lady of Knock, September 30, 1979).
Tom Mulcahy, M.A.
Sources: The information for this note is gathered from A Woman Clothed With the Sun (Image Books); and official Shrine Information on the internet; see https://www.knockshrine.ie/history/. This note is simply an edited compilation of information and facts from those two sources. The Feast of Our Lady of Knock is on August 17.
Image: A sculpture of the Knock apparition. This work has been released into the public domain by its author, EamonnPKeane at English Wikipedia.
To SHARE on SOCIAL MEDIA: click on “Leave a comment” or “Comments” below (and this will bring up social media icons if they are not already present).
To LEAVE A COMMENT: click on “Leave a comment” or “Comments” below, and then scroll down to the box which says, “Leave Your Own Comment Here,” which is at the end of any comments already made. If the comment section is already present, merely scroll to the end of any comments already made.
All rights reserved.
Any ads in this post are from WordPress and not this blog.
“So [Zacchaeus] ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.” (Luke 19:4)
Perhaps Zacchaeus was feeling guilty about ripping people off. Or perhaps – just out of curiosity – he simply wanted to get a gander at a very popular rabbi who was passing through town named Jesus. In any event, the resourceful Zacchaeus – whom we are told was short – made the effort to climb up a sycamore tree to get a good look at Jesus.
Dear friend, this was to be an amazing day for Zacchaeus (and my words are an understatement); for the Lord who loves souls stopped at the spot where the tree was, looked up, and said, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today” (Luke 19:5). The Gospel story continues:
“So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, ‘He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.’ But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, ‘Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham . For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.’ “ (Luke 19:6-10)
Zacchaeus made the effort to place himself in the pathway of Jesus, and Jesus changed his life forever! This is what I call the Zacchaeus principle: – when we place ourselves in the pathway of the Lord good things are bound to happen! Think of what happened to the Samaritan woman when she went to draw water from the well, and ended up meeting Jesus there. Think also of the two men who fell into the company of Jesus on the road to Emmaus.
Now the Zacchaeus principle is a great principle to apply to your children: they need to meet Jesus in a personal encounter. There is a story out on CD about a concerned Grandma (or Aunt) who paid to send her very wayward grandson to a teen conference at Franciscan University of Steubenville – and now that young man is a priest. I know a young lady who went to a similar conference and underwent a profound experience of God’s love for her. The point is that these people placed themselves in the pathway of the Lord, and they were anointed by a special experience of His presence. While a student at Notre Dame, Ralph Martin, somewhat skeptical of religion, made the effort to go to a Cursillo, and, well, you know the rest of his story*. And Ralph’s partner, Peter Herbeck, was taken as a twenty-year old to a Charismatic conference at Notre Dame where he underwent a profound conversion to the Lord. There are many other similar stories.
Our kids are growing up in a culture that is becoming increasingly ambivalent – even hostile – to the Catholic faith. There are many paths in the culture that will lead them quite easily in the wrong direction. Let us be like Zacchaeus. Let us make the effort to see where Jesus may be passing by to meet our kids – at a conference, at a camp, at a Church event, at adoration, at Confession, at a movie advancing Christian principles, at a youth retreat, at a talk, or some other event. We can’t force an experience of Jesus on our kids. But we can put them in the path of Jesus, and pray for them, and leave the rest up to the Holy Spirit. After all, what do we want more for our kids than to get them to Heaven?
Tom Mulcahy, M.A.
* If you are unfamiliar with the “conversion” stories of Ralph Martin and Peter Herbeck, check out their website, renewalministries.net . Ralph Martin’s story can be read in a short pamphlet entitled, “My Five Most Important decisions.” Peter Herbeck recounts his story in an excellent book on the Holy Spirit, When the Spirit Comes in Power. Image at Wikipedia (Public Domain).
To SHARE on SOCIAL MEDIA: click on “Leave a comment” or “Comments” below (and this will bring up social media icons if they are not already present).
To LEAVE A COMMENT: click on “Leave a comment” or “Comments” below, and then scroll down to the box which says, “Leave Your Own Comment Here,” which is at the end of any comments already made. If the comment section is already present, merely scroll to the end of any comments already made.
Any ads in this note are by WordPress and not CatholicStrength.
Catholic Strength 
