Author: tomlirish

IT’S WORTH CLIMBING A TREE TO SEE JESUS!

1024px-Niels_Larsen_Stevns-_Zakæus

        “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).

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JESUS ALWAYS LIVES TO MAKE INTERCESSION FOR US!

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 “Consequently, [Jesus our High Priest in Heaven] is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25)

The upcoming Feast of the Ascension lifts our eyes towards Heaven where we see through verses like Hebrews 7:25 that Jesus’ ongoing ministry in Heaven is truly a most extraordinary enterprise for the well-being of souls on earth.

In addition to John 3:16, Hebrews 7:25 is one of the most powerful and encouraging verses in the Bible. If John 3:16 pertains, in particular, to Jesus’ Incarnation and Passion, Hebrews 7:25 pertains to Jesus’ ongoing priestly ministry in Heaven. Hebrews 7:25 shows that Jesus “exercises an ongoing priestly ministry in Heaven, where he intercedes for the saints at the Father’s right hand” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible). And 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).

Hebrews 7:25 tells us very clearly that Jesus, in Heaven, is mightily at work for our good – that, in fact, he always lives to make intercession for us.” Now if the realization that Jesus always lives to make intercession for you doesn’t fill your heart with great encouragement, I’m not sure what will! Moreover, the verse also states that Jesus is “able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him.” Not only does Jesus have the power to save you, but he has the power to save you to the uttermost if you draw near to him. Dearest God, these are powerful words from your Holy Spirit!

In fact, we might say with Saint Paul, that these “light afflictions” here on planet earth are preparing for us “an eternal weight of glory”(see 2 Cor. 4:17). Jesus Christ saves us to the uttermost because he saves us unto eternity, forever, unto infinity, an amazing salvation far greater than we can imagine!! Therefore, let us set aside those “petty, peripheral things” that keep us from this INFINITE love (as the great Father Jean Grou describes it).

Now when you visualize Jesus in your heart during prayer, you can see him there in Heaven living his priestly life to constantly intercede for you. This realization will fill your heart with strength, gratitude and fortitude, increasing your confidence in the prayers you make, and increasing also your love for Jesus. And nothing is more important than drawing close to Jesus in love so that he may save you to the uttermost.

I encourage you to meditate on Hebrews 7:25. Dear friend, Jesus always lives to make intercession for you!

Jesus, I trust in you!

Tom Mulcahy, M.A.

Note: For a discussion on how Hebrews 7:25 pertains to Mass, see my previous post, The Mass is the Ever-Living Prayer of Jesus Ascended into Heaven, via this link:

The Mass and the Order of Melchizedek | Catholic Strength

Reference: See Catechism of An Interior Life by the great Father Olier, pertaining to the application of Hebrews 7:25 to interior prayer (Part II), a very valuable reflection.

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HERE’S WHAT HAPPENED TO SAINT THERESE AFTER SHE MADE HER OBLATION TO DIVINE MERCY!

“I’m going to be doing only one thing: I shall begin to sing what I must sing eternally: ‘The Mercies of the Lord’ ” (St. Therese of Lisieux)

What I specifically intend to focus in on in this note is what happened to St. Therese AFTER she made her Act of Oblation to Merciful Love, the facts of which are less known and which highlight important aspects or elements of Therese’s mystical life and spiritual progress towards union with God.

Saint Therese wrote her famous Act of Oblation to Merciful Love on June 9, 1895 (link to the full text at the end of this note) in which she offered herself as a “Victim of Holocaust to God’s Merciful Love.” As she explains in her autobiography she received a special grace that day to make her offering to God’s Divine Mercy:

“This year June 9, [1895] the feast of the Most Holy Trinity, I received the grace to understand more than ever before how much Jesus desires to be loved.

I was thinking about the souls who offer themselves as victims of God’s Justice in order to turn away the punishments reserved to sinners, drawing them upon themselves. This offering seemed great and very generous to me, but I was far from feeling attracted to making it. From the depths of my heart, I cried out:

‘O my God! Will Your Justice alone find souls willing to immolate themselves as victims? Does not Your Merciful Love need them too? On every side this love is unknown, rejected; those hearts upon whom You would lavish it turn to creatures, seeking happiness from them with their miserable affection; they do this instead of throwing themselves into Your arms and of accepting Your infinite Love. O my God! Is Your disdained Love going to remain closed up within Your Heart? It seems to me that if You were to find souls offering themselves as victims of holocaust to Your Love, You would consume them rapidly; it seems to me, too, that You would be happy not to hold back the waves of infinite tenderness within You. If Your Justice loves to release itself, this Justice which extends only over the earth, how much more does Your Merciful Love desire to set souls on fire, since Your Mercy reaches to the heavens. O my Jesus, let me be this happy victim; consume Your holocaust with the fire of Your Divine Love.’”

You permitted me, dear Mother, to offer myself in this way to God, and you know the rivers or rather the oceans of graces that flooded my soul. Ah! since the happy day, it seems to me that Love penetrates and surrounds me, that at each moment this Merciful Love renews me, purifying my soul and leaving no trace of sin within it….” ((Story of a Soul, ICS Publications, 3rd Ed., pp. 181).

So we come now to the profound mystical experience Therese subsequently underwent, which might be called in mystical terminology “the spiritual wounding of the heart,” or transverberation. In the quote below Therese explains how her heart was mystically wounded by a dart of love a few days after she finished her Act of Oblation to Merciful Love:

“I had commenced the Stations of the Cross in Choir, then all at once I felt myself wounded by a dart of fire so ardent that I thought I must die. I do not know how to explain it; it was as if an invisible hand had plunged me wholly into fire. Oh, what fire, and what sweetness at the same time! I was burning with love, and I thought one minute, nay, one second more, and I shall not be able to support such ardour without dying. I understood then what the Saints have said of those states which  they had experienced so often. For me I have but experienced it that once, only for an instant, and afterwards I fell back again into my habitual dryness. From the age of fourteen I have also experienced the assaults of love. Ah! how much I love God! But it was not at all to be compared to what I experienced after my offering to Love….” (Cruz, p.68; see References below).

Therese tells us elsewhere that:

“I have had several transports of love, and one in particular during my Novitiate when I remained for a whole week far removed from this world. It seemes as though a veil were thrown over all earthly things. But, I was not then consumed by a real fire. I was able to bear those transports of love without expecting to see the ties that bound me to earth give way; whilst, on the day of which I mentioned (the dart of fire), one minute, one second more and my soul must have been set free…. True, the Divine Hand had withdrawn the fiery dart – but the wound was unto death!” (Cruz, pp. 68-69; see References below).

A core feature of Carmelite spirituality is contemplation or contemplative prayer (Saint John of the Cross and Saint Teresa of Avila, both Carmelites, were great mystics and contemplatives). It is sometimes thought that Saint Therese was less graced with the gift of mystical contemplation but certainly the examples just given help to shed light on Therese’s mystical journey, and as Father Garrigou-LaGrange points out:

“Truly St. Teresa of Lisieux traced for us the simple road which leads to great heights. In her teaching, as it pleased Pope Pius XI to point out, the gift of wisdom appears in a lofty degree for the direction of souls thirsting for the truth and wishing, above all human conceptions, to live by the word of God….The way of childhood thus understood, especially as we see it toward the end of the life of St. Teresa of the Child Jesus, is very elevated in its simplicity. Its lofty simplicity comes home to us because the saint certainly passed through the night of the spirit (which corresponds to the sixth mansion of St. Teresa of Avila), as may be seen on reading chapter nine of the Histoire d’une ame. It was the reading of this chapter, some thirty years ago, that gave us the idea of explaining the night of the spirit by a profound and intense influence of the gift of understanding, which brings out in powerful relief the formal motive of humility and of each of the three theological virtues. Thereby these infused virtues are purified of all alloy or attachment to secondary and accessory motives on which until then the soul had dwelt excessively” (The Three Ages of the Interior Life, Chapter 41, regarding the way of spiritual childhood, emphasis added).

I do not have time in this short note to trace out St. Therese’s dark night of the soul and trial of faith that began around ten months after she composed her Act of Oblation to Merciful Love, but as Father Frederick L. Miller points out: “In her harrowing trial of faith that lasted with hardly any relief for a year and a halfTherese experienced an inexplicable grace, a mystical, infused sharing in Christ’s passion. She felt as her own the thirst of the Crucified for all those people who reject his love. The words of St. Paul offered her light in her darkness: ‘For our sake, God made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God ‘(2 Cor 5:22).

The core of Saint Therese’s message, says Saint John Paul II, is the merciful love of God.  In his Apostolic Letter Proclaiming Saint Therese of Lisieux a Doctor of the Church, Pope John Paul II made the following observation regarding the core of Saint Therese’s message:

“The core of her message is actually the mystery itself of God-Love, of the triune God infinitely perfect in himself. If genuine Christian spiritual experience should conform to the revealed truths in which God communicates himself and the mystery of his will (cf. Dei Verbum, 2), it must be said that Therese experienced divine revelation, going so far as to contemplate the fundamental truths of our faith united in the mystery of Trinitarian life. At the summit, as the source and goal, is the merciful love of the three divine Persons, as she expresses it, especially in her “Act of Oblation to Merciful Love.”  At the root, on the subject’s part, is the experience of being the Father’s adoptive children in Jesus; this is the most authentic meaning of spiritual childhood, that is, the experience of divine filiation, under the movement of the Holy Spirit. At the root again, and standing  before us, is our neighbor, others for whose salvation we must collaborate with and in Jesus, with the same merciful love as his.” (no. 8)

Therese’s last words moments before she died in Carmel were: “Oh! I love Him…My God…I love You.” She died on September 30, 1897. 

Thomas L. Mulcahy, M.A.

References: For this note I am relying primarily on Joan Carroll Cruz’ book, Mysteries, Marvels, Miracles (TAN books), pp. 68-69. She references the quote about the dart of fire as follows: Sister Agnes of Jesus, Novissima Verba: The Last Conversations of St. Therese of the Child Jesus : May-September 1897 (London: Burns, Oates & Washbourne, Ltd., 1929), pp. 43-44. The subsequent quote about transports of love is referenced by Cruz as follows: Soeur Therese of Lisieux, The Little Flower of Jesus (Story of a Soul), T.N. Taylor, editor. (New York: P.J. Kennedy and Sons, 1912), p.195. The quote from Father Frederick L. Miller is from his article, “Saint Therese of Lisieux: Doctor of Divine Love” (September 22, 2020), available online.

Link: https://stpaulcenter.com/the-act-of-oblation-to-merciful-love/#:~:text=I%20offer%20myself%20as%20a,your%20Love%2C%20O%20my%20God!

Image: St. Therese of the Child Jesus in the photograph taken in the courtyard of the monastery of Lisieux Easter Monday, April 15, 1894.

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RESURRECTION POWER! : TEN SHORT REFLECTIONS REGARDING THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST

“I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection” (Philippians 3:10)

INTRODUCTION:

Reflecting on our Lord’s resurrection is always a profitable exercise. Indeed, if someone were to ask you why you  are a Christian, would not the best response be that you believe in the risen Christ? Yes! We are Christians because we believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead! We read in Acts that “with great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great favor was accorded them all” (4:33). We meditate on the Lord’s resurrection because it is the source of great power and favor, a power so great that it will one day raise up the bodies of all believers to Eternal Life! Here, then, are ten short reflections regarding the resurrection of Jesus.

1. Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life

Jesus tells Martha, “I am the Resurrection and the Life” (John 11:25). Frankly, the verse is quite stunning and seems to me to be one of those special verses that’s geared up to have a high-level impact on our lives. Ask Martha, for she saw Jesus raise her brother back to life after Lazarus had been dead in the tomb four days. Certainly this is a verse we should meditate on! Deep reflection on this verse will no doubt “increase the temperature of our love for Jesus” as we see, more and more, that the resurrected Jesus is the source of blessings so transformative in scope that it would probably blow our minds if we could presently experience the unspeakable joys of Heaven that await us. But right here on planet earth it is a great comfort to know that the power of Jesus’ resurrection is flowing forth to us through so many channels of grace, thus giving us strength and hope to persevere through so many of life’s trials and difficulties. In short, we need POWER to persevere, and Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life, which means he is the source of amazing power (sufficient even to overcome death)! In any event, I expect this verse to “do a good work in your soul” if you make it the subject matter of a short meditation, or even if you just repeat it continuously throughout the day with joy in your heart.

2. The Resurrection of Jesus is a Saving Event

Besides being an historical event, the resurrection of Jesus is primarily a saving event. In this light Saint Paul teaches that Jesus was “delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification” (Romans 4:25). The Resurrection of Jesus “is more than a miracle and motive for faith. It is a saving event in its own right, since the dying and rising of Jesus together constitute the victory over sin and death. Baptism gives us a share in this double victory, for through it we die to sin and rise to new life with Christ” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, p. 263).

“The Paschal mystery has two aspects: by his death, Christ liberates us from sin; by his Resurrection, he opens for us the way to a new life. This new life is above all justification that reinstates us in God’s grace, ‘so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life’ Justification consists in both victory over the death caused by sin and a new participation in grace. It brings about filial adoption so that men become Christ’s brethren, as Jesus himself called his disciples after his Resurrection: “Go and tell my brethren.” We are brethren not by nature, but by the gift of grace, because that adoptive filiation gains us a real share in the life of the only Son, which was fully revealed in his Resurrection” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 654).

We cannot discount the resurrection of Jesus as a saving event because it is only through His risen life that we are brought into that “newness of life” which constitutes the fullness of our salvation. “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:4). Therefore, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

3. The women as the first witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection powerfully affirm its authenticity

One scholar of the Lord’s resurrection, Professor William Lane Craig, offers the following insights regarding the very first witnesses to the resurrection – who were all women with respect to encountering the empty tomb and the risen Lord himself (see John 20: 10-18; Matthew 28: 1-10). “Certainly these women were friends of Jesus. But when you understand the role of women in first-century Jewish society, what’s really extraordinary is that this empty tomb story should feature women as the discovers of the empty tomb in the first place. Women were on a very low rung of the social ladder in first-century Palestine….Women’s testimony was regarded as so worthless that they weren’t even allowed to serve as legal witnesses in a Jewish court of law. In light of this, it’s absolutely remarkable that the chief witnesses to the empty tomb are these women who were friends of Jesus. Any later legendary account would have certainly portrayed male disciples as discovering the tomb – Peter or John, for example. The fact that women are the first witnesses to the empty tomb is most plausibly explained by the reality that- like it or not – they were the discovers of the empty tomb. This shows that the Gospel writers faithfully recorded what happened, even if it was embarrassing (The Case For Easter, pp. 49-50).”

4. There were multiple resurrection appearances by Jesus which left the apostles fully convinced that Jesus had risen from the dead

For quick reference here is a summary of the ten resurrection appearances of Jesus (eleven if you include the appearance to St. Paul on the road to Damascus). Here’s the link:

The Ten Resurrection Appearances of Jesus Christ | Believersweb.org

It is a point not to be underestimated that Jesus made multiple resurrection appearances over the course of forty days. Thus, the apostles were not left wondering whether they had seen Jesus in the flesh following his death and burial – Jesus went out of his way on multiple occasions to make sure that they had! Consequently, you have complete unanimity among the remaining eleven apostles that they had seen the risen Christ. By way of contrast, we don’t have a case here where six of the apostles claimed to have seen the resurrected Christ, whereas three denied it, and two were not sure. And these were men that went on to live heroic lives, to suffer and die for what they had witnessed, spawning the amazing rise of the Christian faith despite insurmountable obstacles, and without any resort to violence.

As the great Biblical scholar C.H. Dodd states:   “The main weight [regarding the truth of Jesus’ Resurrection] … is placed on the testimony that Jesus was ‘seen’ alive after death, by a number of his followers….” (The Founder of Christianity, page 167).  “Something had happened to these men, which they could describe only by saying they had ‘seen the Lord’. This is not an appeal to any generalized ‘Christian experience’. It refers to a particular series of occurrences, unique in character, unrepeatable, and confined to a limited period” (p.168). Dodd therefore concludes:

“[For] the original witnesses [the resurrection of Jesus was] an immediate, intuitive certainty. They were dead sure they had met with Jesus, and there was no more to be said about it….Now they were new men in a new world, confident, courageous, enterprising, the leaders of a movement which made an immediate impact and went forward with an astonishing impetus.” (p. 170)

5. Through the Risen Christ comes the full outpouring of the Holy Spirit 

“The Resurrection of Jesus is the total outpouring of the Spirit in the world, the flowing into creation of the immense flood which pours out from the Father in the Son” (F.X. Durwell, Holy Spirit of God, page 10). The Catechism of the Catholic Church amplifies Father Durrwell’s insight:

“This fullness of the Spirit was not to remain uniquely the Messiah’s, but was to be communicated to the whole messianic people. On several occasions Christ promised this outpouring of the Spirit, a promise which he fulfilled first on Easter Sunday and then more strikingly at Pentecost. Filled with the Holy Spirit the apostles began to proclaim “the mighty works of God,” and Peter declared this outpouring of the Spirit to be the sign of the messianic age. Those who believed in the apostolic preaching and were baptized received the gift of the Holy Spirit in their turn” ( CCC #1287).

In the theology of Saint Paul it is the saving power of the Gospel that empowers us to lead holy lives. The guiding theme of Paul’s Letter to the Romans, according to a former professor of mine from years ago, is power leading to life. We are in a state of moral helplessness without the saving power of the Gospel. But where does this power leading to life come from? It comes from the resurrection of Jesus Christ! As Paul states at the very beginning of Romans:

“This letter is from Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, chosen by God to be an apostle and sent out to preach his Good News. God promised this Good News long ago through his prophets in the holy Scriptures. The Good News is about his Son. In his earthly life he was born into King David’s family line, and he was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 1: 1-4).

The full power of the Holy Spirit is unleashed by Jesus’ resurrection. Christ’s resurrection has ushered in the messianic age where the people of God will be led by the Holy Spirit! As Paul states in Romans 8:

“You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.  And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.  But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.  And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you” (8:9-11).

In short, through the eschatological power of Christ’s resurrection we who have faith in Christ live in the realm of the Spirit, which is the POWER which enables us to be truly holy.

6. The Eucharist is intrinsically linked to the Resurrection of the body of Jesus

There is no Holy Eucharist without the body and blood of Jesus Christ. And what is this body and blood of Jesus Christ but the resurrected Jesus! Jesus had certainly lost a tremendous amount of blood during his passion, and his body was badly mangled, but his physical life was restored to him – and gloriously so – by his resurrection. When we go to Mass, therefore, we go to the resurrection, and we receive the resurrected Christ – body, blood, soul and divinity.

The “Catholic Church professes that, in the celebration of the Eucharist, bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit and the instrumentality of the priest. Jesus said: ‘I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world. . . . For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink (Jn 6:51-55). The whole Christ is truly present, body, blood, soul, and divinity, under the appearances of bread and wine—the glorified Christ who rose from the dead after dying for our sins. This is what the Church means when she speaks of the ‘Real Presence’ of Christ in the Eucharist. This presence of Christ in the Eucharist is called ‘real’ not to exclude other types of his presence as if they could not be understood as real (cf. Catechism, no. 1374). The risen Christ is present to his Church in many ways, but most especially through the sacrament of his Body and Blood” (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops).

7. Jesus instituted the Sacrament of Confession during one of his resurrection appearances

Jesus wished to continue his ministry of the forgiveness of sins through the Apostles and their successors. Thus, following his glorious resurrection, Jesus conferred on the apostles the power to forgive sins, a power Jesus himself had exercised during his earthly ministry. It is recounted in John’s Gospel that, during a resurrection appearance, Jesus met with the apostles and said to them, in particular: “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you. And when he said this, he breathed on them , and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven: if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20: 21-23)

Confession, thus, is a Resurrection gift from Jesus who has passed on his ministry of forgiving sins (what we call the Sacrament of Confession) to the apostles and their successors.  From our Lord’s Resurrection blossomed this great gift for the
church! Paragraph 1461 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church thus states:

“Since Christ entrusted to his apostles the ministry of reconciliation, bishops who are their successors, and priests, the bishops’ collaborators, continue to exercise this ministry. Indeed, bishops and priests, by virtue of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, have the power to forgive all sins “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

I don’t know how to say this: forgiveness of sins is the greatest need every person has. Jesus, in His Infinite Wisdom, and in His genius as the leader of souls, has willed that forgiveness of sins be readily available from his priests, where the concrete actions of forgiveness, absolution, and spiritual guidance can take place in a powerful and effective manner appropriately tailored to our human situation, and leading thus to an authentic spiritual resurrection of our souls!

8. The Resurrection appearances of Jesus point to the sacramental life of the Church

At no. 1116 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church it states that “Sacraments are ‘powers that comes forth’ from the Body of Christ, which is ever-living and life-giving. They are actions of the Holy Spirit at work in his Body, the Church. They are ‘the masterworks of God’ in the new and everlasting covenant.” In the following resurrection appearances Jesus alludes to, or makes reference to, the sacramental life of the Church.

Baptism:  “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit….” (Matthew 28:19; see also Mark 16:16).

Eucharist:  “Then the two told what had happened on the road [to Emmaus], and how they had recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread” (Luke 24:35). See CCC 1329, which states, in part: “The Breaking of Bread…. It is by this action that his disciples will recognize him after his Resurrection, and it is this expression that the first Christians will use to designate their Eucharistic assemblies; by doing so they signified that all who eat the one broken bread, Christ, enter into communion with him and form but one body in him.“

Confession:  “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven: if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20: 22-23). See number 7 above.

Confirmation:  “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you. And when he said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20: 21-22). The Catechism of the Catholic Church cites this verse at no. 1287 in its section on the Sacrament of Confirmation. “Here we see that the risen humanity of Jesus has become a sacrament of the divine Spirit” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, p. 199). See also CCC 1116.

Priesthood.  Jesus, by empowering the apostles with the priestly function of forgiving sins in John 20: 21-23, confirms the existence of the ministerial priesthood. Moreover, when Jesus reconfirmed Peter as the head of the Church during his resurrection appearance to the apostles by the Sea of Tiberias (see John 21: 1-19), he simultaneously reaffirms the duty of the ministerial priesthood to care for his sheep (“Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs” (John 21: 15 ). See also CCC 1551 (in the section on the Sacrament of Holy Orders) which references John 21: 15.

Anointing of the Sick:  “[T]hey will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well” (Mark 16:18). The Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1507, references this verse in its section on the Anointing of the Sick, saying, “The risen Lord renews this mission [of healing the sick] – “In my name . . . they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover” –  and confirms it through the signs that the Church performs by invoking his name. These signs demonstrate in a special way that Jesus is truly ‘God who saves.’ ”

Marriage:  I do not believe there are any direct references to marriage in the resurrection appearances of Jesus. However, St. Paul speaks to the sacramental nature of marriage in Ephesians 5 by stating that husbands should love their wives as Christ loved the Church (“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church. . . . This is a great mystery, and I mean in reference to Christ and the Church” – Eph 5:25, 32); and during his earthly ministry no one spoke more strongly about the divine origin of marriage, as well as its indissolubility, than Jesus (see Matt. 19: 3-10). The power flowing from Jesus’ resurrection is therefore the catalyst for life-long sacramental marriage between a man and a woman (“By coming to restore the original order of creation disturbed by sin, [Jesus] himself gives the strength and grace to live marriage in the new dimension of the Reign of God” – CCC 1615).

9. Jesus’ wounds are a special manifestation of his resurrection

One of the most fascinating aspects of Jesus’ resurrection is the existence of wounds of crucifixion on his resurrected body (see John 20: 20). We are all familiar with the apostle Thomas being invited by the resurrected Jesus to touch his wounds (John 20:27). And at Luke 24: 36-41 Jesus appeared to his disciples saying “Peace to you.” But Luke recounts that the apostles “were startled and frightened, and supposed they that they saw a spirit.” Jesus then said: “Why are you troubled, and why do questionings arise in your hearts? See my hands and feet , that it is I myself; handle me; and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have.” The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible relates that Jesus’ reference to his hands and feet in this passage pertains to “the nail marks” which “demonstrate that Jesus’ risen body is the same body that was crucified only days earlier. He carries these marks of his earthly sacrifice with him when he ascends into heaven (Rev. 5:5).”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

“By means of touch and the sharing of a meal, the risen Jesus establishes direct contact with his disciples. He invites them in this way to recognize that he is not a ghost and above all to verify that the risen body in which he appears to them is the same body that had been tortured and crucified, for it still bears the traces of his Passion. Yet at the same time this authentic, real body possesses the new properties of a glorious body: not limited by space and time but able to be present how and when he wills; for Christ’s humanity can no longer be confined to earth, and belongs henceforth only to the Father’s divine realm” (no. 645).

The spiritual lesson here is that Jesus, even in his resurrected body, never wants us to forget how much he suffered in order to prove his love for us and secure our salvation. As a gifted spiritual writer once said, let us never forget the sufferings of the Lord. Father Faber adds: “O for some corner, the least, the lowest, and the last in the world to come [Heaven], where we may spend an untired eternity in giving silent thanks to Jesus Crucified!”

A wonderful reflection on our Lord’s glorious wounds, building on the thoughts of Saint Thomas Aquinas, can be accessed via the following link:

Glorious Wounds—Christ’s and Ours – Homiletic & Pastoral Review

10. Jesus reestablished Peter as head of the Church during one of his resurrection appearances

In one of the most beautiful of his resurrection appearances, Jesus appeared to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias (John 21: 1-25), “and none of the disciples dared ask him, ‘Who are you?’ They knew it was the lord’” (John 21: 12-13). And they ate breakfast together, utilizing a charcoal fire (John 21: 9). Here, again, we see Jesus hard at work building up his apostles to ready them for the demanding work of evangelization. In this instance, Jesus directed his comments to Peter, stating:

“Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!” (John 21: 15-19)

Peter had previously stood by a charcoal fire in John 18 when he denied Jesus three times. Now, in the presence of another charcoal fire, and in order to restore and reaffirm Peter as head of his Church, Jesus leads Peter to express love for Jesus three times. Each of these three times Jesus implores Peter to take care of his sheep, and on the third time Jesus alludes to Peter’s manner of death, where Peter will “stretch out [his] hands” on a cross in imitation of Jesus.

.CONCLUSION:

Jesus is the resurrection and the life. All power in heaven and earth has been given to him (Matthew 28:18). “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which [God] has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way” (Ephesians 1: 18-23).

The historical authenticity of the resurrection of Jesus’ body from the dead is well proven by the Gospel writers, especially by the numerous accounts they provide of Jesus’ resurrection appearances, and the subsequent witness of the apostles shows they were fully convinced that Jesus had risen from the dead. Indeed, almost all of these apostles went on to convincingly confirm that they witnessed the resurrected Jesus with the witness – the Greek word “martyr” literally means witness – of their own lives, which is a most powerful testimony. Moreover, Jesus demonstrates by his resurrection his great concern for the Church – this by establishing the Sacrament of Confession during one appearance, and by reaffirming Peter as head of the Church on another, and by the retention of his sacred and glorious wounds on his resurrected body in order to remind us that by “his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24). Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, is the source of all good things for us! Gather in for your eternal welfare the incredible “POWER flowing from his resurrection” (Phil 3:10).

Thomas L. Mulcahy, M.A.

References: I see the use of Father Faber phraseology in the first reflection, such as will “increase the temperature of your love,” and will do a “good work in your soul,” and make it the “special object” of your prayer or meditation, and we are “in need of power.” The tone and content of the first reflection is certainly under the influence of Faber who often states that in our earthly condition we could not tolerate the torrents of Heavenly joy. The second reflection originates from Dr. Scott Hahn’s tape series on the resurrection, where he places a special emphasis on the resurrection as a saving event, with special reliance on F.X. Durwell’s works on the resurrection.

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A DEEPER CONVERSION THROUGH DEVOTION TO OUR LORD’S PASSION

“But we preach Christ crucified” (1 Cor. 1:23)

A great spiritual writer (Father Lallemant) tells us that “the spirit of devotion is the mainspring of the spiritual life, and consists in keeping the heart always united to God or to our Lord Jesus Christ.” One proven way to increase our devotion to Jesus is through devotion to his Passion. As Saint Francis de Sales says in Introduction to the Devout Life : “I commend earnest mental prayer, especially on the Life and Passion of the Lord. If  you contemplate Him frequently in meditation, your whole soul will be filled with him, and you will grow in His likeness and your actions will be molded by Him.”

In this short note our guide will be Saint Paul of the Cross, founder of the Passionists, a priest who spent his entire life preaching about the tremendous fruits associated with devotion to the Passion of Jesus Christ! Given the topic at hand, he is one of the best guides one could possibly pick. As one biography of this saint states, “it became his lifelong conviction that God is most easily found in the Passion of Christ.”

The following quotes, which form the substance of this note, are from the excellent book, Hunter of Souls: A Study of the Life and Spirit of St. Paul of the Cross by Father Edmund (the quotes in bold being the actual words of St. Paul of the Cross):

“It was only to be expected that Paul should strongly urge meditation upon the Sacred Passion…he insisted that the remembrance of the sufferings of Jesus Christ must always be kept in mind….”(p.200).

You must never give up the remembrance of the most holy Passion of Jesus Christ and the imitation of His virtues. Rather, there is the gate that leads the soul to intimate union with God, to interior recollection, and to the most sublime contemplation” (p.200).

“To Paul, the Cross was not an emblem of suffering, but a sign of salvation, not a thing to be dreaded but something to be loved, for It was the symbol of an everlasting love….The Cross was the very breath of his soul” and “No man has so lively a feeling of the Passion of Christ as he who has happened to suffer such like things” (p. 204).

“When I still had my health, and was able to work for my neighbor’s salvation, my chief care was to make people meditate upon the sufferings of Jesus. I was struck by the fact that those who faithfully practiced this meditation changed their lives, even if they had been bandits or people of loose lives. After an interval I sometimes again encountered people whom I had advised to practice this devotion. When I then heard them in the tribunal of penance, in some cases at least, I could not find matter for absolution, so great was the change in their lives. When we think of a God who suffered for us, a God crowned with thorns, a God besmirched with spittle, and crucified for us – when we are penetrated day after day with these truths of faith, now is it possible for us still to offend God” (p. 213).

“Experience had proved to Paul that only daily meditation on the Passion could effect such permanent conversion. If a soul frequently recalled the sufferings of Our Lord, that soul would be faithful in keeping God’s law. Paul exerted every effort to promote the regular practice of this devotion” (p.213)

During his last illness, Paul roused himself to say a few words to his visitors, recommending meditation on the Passion. To each one he gave a parting gift, a little crucifix to be a reminder of his last advice. Once he pointed to the figure of the cross, pleading in his eyes the words he could not speak: we must always keep in mind the sufferings of Our Lord” (p. 221, as edited).

CONCLUSION:

Saint Paul of the Cross died at age 80 in 1775 and was canonized in 1867. In her book, Miraculous Images of Our Lord, Joann Carroll Cruz discusses a number of miraculous events associated with the cross used by Paul of the Cross when preaching (pp. 154-159), and Father Edmund relates other miraculous occurrences in the life of Paul including levitation and the signs of Christ’s passion being mystically imprinted on Paul’s heart “one Good Friday,” with resulting “rib displacement” confirmed by physical examination. Therefore, let us be confident that developing a spirit of devotion to our Lord’s Passion will deepen our love for Jesus Christ and our neighbor. Let us never forget the sufferings of Our Lord.

Tom Mulcahy, M.A.

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A SHORT OUTLINE FOR A JOHN 3:16 MEDITATION

(JESUS TALKING TO NICODEMUS IN JOHN, CHAPTER 3)

“For God so loved the world that he gave his his only-begotten Son,  that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

“Here is gospel, good news indeed. Here is God’s love in giving his Son for the world. God so loved the world; so really, so richly. Behold and wonder, that the great God should love [us so much].” (Matthew Henry Bible Commentary on John 3:16)

Since John 3:16 is often considered the most powerful verse in the Bible it only makes sense – at least once in our lives – to make it the subject of a profound and personal meditation. The purpose of this note, in fact, is to urge you to do so – to make time in your life for a John 3:16 meditation. Let the Holy Spirit convince you to make this meditation, and to enrich you by it (perhaps in a most incredible way).

Here is a format I propose for such a meditation.

1. Materials.  All you need to have with you is the verse itself (John 3:16) on a sheet of paper – nothing more. You are focusing only on this verse.

2. Location.  It is absolutely crucial you go somewhere special and quiet – ideally some place out in nature that places you in the majestic presence of God. Keep in mind that silence is a critical part of this meditation (interruptions need to be avoided). Even being alone in your parked car or room, especially when no one else is around, will work.

3. Body of Meditation (after having placed yourself in the presence of God, and having asked the Holy Spirit to make the meditation profitable to you).   A. Read John 3:16 slowly and silently as many times as you may want, letting the message and meaning of the verse enter into your heart. Go as slowly as you want.  B. Acknowledge in the depths of your heart God’s amazing love for you by sending his Son to save you.  C. Silently in your heart make any other considerations about this powerful verse that come to mind.  D. Wait silently upon the Holy Spirit to give you additional supernatural insight – grace filled insight – about this all-important verse in God’s word, and then spend time in silent, personal conversation with Jesus, sharing your heart with him and letting Him share his heart with you (receptive listening flows from being silently recollected in God’s presence).

4. Praise.  Acknowledge and adore Jesus as your Lord and Redeemer. It is permissible in meditation to use your imagination to visualize Jesus on the cross dying for the sins of the world, and to give him praise for loving you that much.

5. Thanksgiving.  Profoundly thank the Eternal Father for having sent his Son to save you.

6. Conclusion.  Resolve to make Jesus (even more) the center of your life in all that you do.

Scripture has an immense power, as the great spiritual writer F.W. Faber relates, to sanctify our souls and draw us closer to God.  John 3:16 is destined to do “a good work in your soul.”

Praise God!

Thomas L. Mulcahy

Image: Jesus and Nicodemus by William Brassey Hole (1846-1917). Public Domain, U.S.A. (at Wikipedia).

Reference: 3B above is verbatim from the commentary of The Ignatius Catholic Bible. Father Faber uses the expression, will “do a good work in your soul.” See also the following post which emphasizes that meditation provides a platform, or starting point, for deep and intimate conversation with God:

HOW TO MEDITATE AND DRAW CLOSER TO GOD | Catholic Strength

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A MIRACULOUS CRUCIFIX IN LIMPIAS, SPAIN!

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

The Passion of Jesus Christ rules the history of the world says the great Father Faber, and as if to put an exclamation point on this statement Jesus allowed incredible manifestations of his salvific passion to occur in the Church of Saint Peter in Limpias, Spain from 1914 through 1921.

The six foot crucifix which hangs in the Church of Saint Peter in Limpias, Spain (see image above) is, according to Joann Carroll Cruz, “a meditation on the sufferings of Our Lord and is thought to portray [Jesus] Crucified in his final moments of his agony.” Cruz adds that the “face of Our Lord is of particular beauty, with its eyes of china looking toward Heaven….” More than 8000 people, according to Cruz, have witnessed – and testified to –  supernatural phenomena associated with the facial expressions and head movements of Jesus on this beautiful crucifix. In this note, I will highlight some of the compelling testimonies of some very prominent and reliable witnesses. Given the cumulative power of so many eye-witness testimonies concerning the miraculous nature of this crucifix it seems impossible to deny the credibility of these supernatural manifestations of Jesus’ Passion.

Here is a bird’s eye view of some of the very compelling testimonies:

August/1914: While fixing an electric light over the high altar in the church, Don Antonio Lopes, a monk of the Pauline Fathers, gazed at the crucifix and noticed “with astonishment that Our Lord’s eyes were gradually closing, and for five minutes I saw them quite closed” (this is the first of 8000 testimonies regarding witnessed movements of Jesus’ face and head on the Limpias crucifix).

April/2019: A group of nuns known as the Daughters of the Cross saw both the eyes and lips of the crucifix move.

May 5, 1919: Dr. Adolfo Arenaza publishes his testimony in the secular press stating that while looking through his field glasses he saw the movement of the eyes four times. He states: “Does Our Lord really move his eyes…I am of the opinion that he really does move them, for I have seen it myself.”

August 4, 1919: Rev. Valentin Incio of Gijon visits Limpias and and wrote the following pertaining to his observation of the miraculous crucifix:

“At first our Lord seemed to be alive; His head then preserved its customary position…but His eyes were full of life and looked about in different directions….Now came the most touching moment of all. Jesus looked at all of us, but so gently and kindly, so expressively, so lovingly and divinely, that we fell on our knees and wept and adored Christ.”

September 11, 1919: Father Antonio de Torrelavega, a Capuchin monk, “sees blood streaming from the left corner of Our Lord’s mouth.” The next day he

“observed anew, only still more frequently, the movement of the eyes and…blood flowing down from the corner of the mouth. Several times He looked at me. Many other people who were kneeling round me also observed this….Now I verify it; there is no doubt the Santo Christo [crucifix] moves his eyes.”

September 15, 1919: “The Coadjutor of St. Nicholas Church in Valencia, D. Paulino Girbes, relates in his statement…that he was in the company of two Bishops and 18 priests when they knelt before the crucifix.” He states:

“We all saw the face of the Santo Cristo become sadder, paler….The eyes gave a gentle glance now at the Bishops and then in the direction of the sacristy. The features at the same time took on the expression of a man who is in his death-struggle. This lasted a long time. I could not resrain my tears and began to weep….”

There are so many other compelling testimonies of highly credible and distinguished witnesses that I don’t have time to type them all into this note! Many more detailed accounts are in Joann Carroll Cruz’ book, Miraculous Images of Our Lord. Moreover, there is a 200 plus page book from 1923, The Wonderful Crucifix of Limpias, available online, which provides numerous accounts “of the extraordinary manifestations of the crucifix at Limpias.”

CONCLUSION: The credible evidence supporting the supernatural phenomena associated with the crucifix at Limpias is simply overwhelming. Of the 8000 signed testimonies regarding this amazing phenomenon, 2500 are accompanied with legal affidavits. But what is the message of Limpias? Is it not that God so loved us that He sent his only son to give his life for our salvation? But what if we fail to honor our Lord’s Passion, or even worse if we lack gratitude for His saving death? Limpias is a powerful reminder that the Lord’s Passion is real, tremendously real, and made present in every Mass said throughout the world each day! The miraculous manifestations at Limpias are pretty amazing, but the Mass of Calvary is simply of infinite value.

“The Passion rules the history of the world. Thus it is also the secret of all biographies of individual souls. All their ruin comes from their disloyalty to the Passion. All their holiness in time, and their glory in eternity, are the consequences of their loyalty to the Passion. Jesus Christ and Him Crucified – this is the object of our present contemplation. As we grow older we set a greater price on fidelity; and where is there such faithfulness [and such indisputable proof of God’s love for you] as in the Cross? Devotion to the Passion is at once the surest sign of Predestination, and the shortest road to heaven. Happy are they whom the cruelty and treachery of life have driven to the Cross” (F.W. Faber)

Thomas L. Mulcahy, J.D.

References: My information for this note comes from Joann Carroll Cruz’ book, Miraculous Images of Our Lord (TAN).

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SAINT JOSEPH: PATRON SAINT OF A HAPPY DEATH!

“This is precisely the mystery [of the Incarnation] in which Joseph of Nazareth ‘shared’ like no other human being except Mary, the Mother of the Incarnate Word. He shared in it with her; he was involved in the same salvific event; he was the guardian of the same love, through the power of which the eternal Father ‘destined us to be his sons through Jesus Christ’ (Eph 1:5)” (Saint Pope John Paul II).

Consider for a moment, as Father Faber suggests, the infinite blessedness of the child Jesus. Consider, as well, the “colossal sanctity” of the Virgin Mary. Now, contemplate in amazement that Joseph was entrusted by the Eternal Father with the care and custody of Mary and Jesus. How precious Joseph must be to Jesus and Mary! Who can fathom the depth of their love for Joseph? How pleasing it must be to Jesus and Mary when we honor Saint Joseph.

The note in my St. Joseph prayer book, referenced below, says the following: “It is undeniable that St. Joseph is a special protector of his dying clients and all those in their last agony. This has been experienced by numberless persons who practiced special devotion to St. Joseph during life…. What Saint could defend us better [at the hour of death] than St. Joseph whom the whole Christian world acknowledges as the protector and patron of the dying” (as edited).

Devotion to Saint Joseph is prudent not only in light of the fact that he is the Patron Saint of a happy death (the moment of death is the moment that determines everything – all that we will be for all eternity), but also because Joseph is an image of the tender and loving Eternal Father, and thus devotion to Saint Joseph – as Father Faber points out –  smooths out a harsh or even melancholy view of God the Father. What is more crucial in our spiritual lives than to view God as our tender, loving Father? Only then can we truly trust in God and have that confidence in the Father that made the saints saints.

We know that Saint Teresa of Avila was a great mystic, so much so that even in this life she journeyed to that unspeakable seventh mansion where a soul is united in mystical marriage to the Blessed Trinity (she actually experienced an intellectual vision of the Blessed Trinity when she reached that depth of union with God), and yet this dear saint was always practical and she exercised an immense devotion to Saint Joseph. Here is something she wrote about her relationship to Saint Joseph:

“I took for my patron and Lord the glorious St. Joseph …. I cannot call to mind that I have ever asked him at any time for anything he has not granted. I am filled with amazement when I consider the great favors God has given me through this blessed saint.”

Oh how Jesus is praised through his Saints! Next to Mary, Joseph must be the greatest of all the saints. To think that in his earthly life he received the love of Jesus and Mary, day by day, moment by moment, is to realize that he received love beyond anything we can imagine! It is the type of love we will receive in Heaven, when our hearts will be big enough to receive such love. Yet, as it appears, when Mary took Jesus in her womb to see Elizabeth, and John the Baptist leaped in his mother’s womb as if sanctified by the presence of Jesus (Jesus subsequently calling him the greatest of all the prophets!), how much more was Joseph sanctified by Jesus from the moment of the Incarnation and Mary’s “Yes” until the day he died in the arms of Jesus and Mary.

One of the great advocates of devotion to Saint Joseph was the gifted spiritual writer, Father Louis Lallemant, whose students included Issac Jogues and Jean de Brebeuf, who both became canonized saints! Father Faber relates that Father Lallemant “was gifted with an extraordinary grace for inspiring every body with a devotion to St. Joseph ; and his advice to persons who desired to enter on the ways  of spiritual perfection was to take as their model of humility Jesus Christ, as their model of purity the Blessed Virgin, and as their model of the interior life St. Joseph. It was after these divine patterns that he labored at his own perfection ; and it was easy to perceive how happily he had wrought them out in his own person. Every day, in honor of St. Joseph, he observed four short exercises, from which he drew wonderful profit.

The two first were for the morning, and the two others for after dinner. The first was to raise himself in spirit to the heart of St. Joseph, and consider how faithful he was to the inspirations of grace, then turning his eyes inward on his own heart, to discover his own want of fidelity, he made an act of humiliation, and excited himself to perseverance. The second was to reflect how perfectly St. Joseph reconciled the interior life with his external occupations. Then, turning to observe himself and his own occupations, he perceived wherein they fell short of the perfection of his model. By means of this exercise he made such progress, that towards the close of his life he remained in an uninterrupted state of interior recollection and the attention which he paid to external things, instead of weakening his union with God, served rather to strengthen it.

The third was to accompany in spirit St. Joseph, as the spouse of the Blessed Virgin, and to meditate on the wonderful knowledge which he had enjoyed of her virginity and maternity, in consequence of the humble submission with which he received the announcement of the Angel respecting the mystery of the Incarnation. By this exercise he excited himself to love St. Joseph for his love of his most holy spouse. The fourth was, to figure to himself the adoration and homage of love and grati tude which St. Joseph paid to the Holy Child Jesus, and to beg to participate therein, that he might adore and love this Divine Infant with all the sentiments of the deepest reverence and the tenderest love of which he was capable.

He wished to carry with him to the grave some tokens of his devotion to this great Saint, and requested that an image of his beloved patron might be put with him in his coffin. It was observed on many occasions that St. Joseph never refused him any thing he asked ; and whenever he wished to induce persons to honor him, he used to assure them that he did not possess a single grace which he had not obtained through his intercession” (from Father Faber’s Introduction to Father Lallemant’s great treatise on the spiritual life, The Spiritual Doctrine).

You can petition the Holy Spirit for the four great graces mentioned above in Father Faber’s summary through Father Lallemant’s famous Novena to Saint Joseph at the link below:

http://www.catholictradition.org/Joseph/joseph12.htm

I believe it was in the final apparition of Fatima that Joseph was seen by Sister Lucia, holding the child Jesus, and blessing the world. Dear Jesus, thank you for sharing your virginal Father with us. Is there anything that you will not share with us? For you told us that it is the Father’s good pleasure to give us the Kingdom ( Luke 12:32) and the Kingdom of the Incarnation begins with the Holy Family, and its head, Good Saint Joseph.

Saint Teresa of Avila once again impresses on us the power of devotion to Saint Joseph, saying:

“To other Saints Our Lord seems to have given power to succor us in some special necessity – but to this glorious Saint, I know by experience, He has given the power to help us in all. Our Lord would have us understand that as He was subject to St. Joseph on earth – for St. Joseph, bearing the title of father and being His guardian, could command Him – so now in Heaven Our Lord grants all his petitions. I have asked others to recommend themselves to St. Joseph, and they, too, know the same thing by experience . . .” (Autobiography).

Nothing less than an immense devotion to Saint Joseph is justified. He is the Patron of the Universal Church. He is the Patron of a Happy Death. Don’t you dare lie down to die – when the time comes –  without having Saint Joseph close to your heart!

Dear friend, your love for Jesus and Mary will most certainly increase the more you draw nearer to Saint Joseph.

Saint Joseph, pray for us!

Tom Mulcahy, M.A.

Image: Saint Joseph with the Infant Jesus by Guido Reni, around 1620(Public Domain, U.S.A.)

References: I am relying heavily on Father Faber’s wonderful insights for the content of this note. If you read his book Bethlehem, I believe you will find most of the points made in this note contained therein, or in another one of his books. Father Faber recommends an immense devotion to Saint Joseph, and in particular he recommends Father Lallemant’s famous Novena to Saint Joseph explained in detail by Father Faber in this note. Favorite Prayers to Saint Joseph (TAN), a highly recommended devotional to Saint Joseph which includes Father Lallemant’s famous novena mentioned above. I am certainly indebted to Father Faber for the tone and content of this entire note, but especially the first two paragraphs and the last two paragraphs, which contain not only his insights but his manner of speaking too. For example, he talks about “nothing short of an immense devotion” in one of his books, and “not lying down to die” in another.

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AN AMAZING SAINT PATRICK’S DAY MIRACLE THAT OCCURRED IN HUNGARY!

The beautiful picture you are looking at is known as “The Irish Madonna of Hungary.” The portrait itself is from Ireland, but it was brought to Hungary by an Irish priest, Bishop Lynch, who was fleeing English persecution in Ireland around the year 1652. Bishop Lynch worked for ten years among the faithful in Hungary, and just before he was about to return to Ireland he fell ill and died, bequeathing on his deathbed the portrait in question to the Bishop of Gyor in Hungary who hung the painting in the Cathedral of Gyor. The awesome miracle I am about to discuss involves this picture.

The miracle in question did in fact occur on March 17, 1697 (St. Patrick’s Day) while “thousands were attending Holy Mass in the Cathedral of Gyor” (the year 1697 is highly relevant because in 1697 all priests were expelled from Ireland).

Suddenly “the eyes of the Madonna [in the picture above] began to shed tears and blood which ran down the canvas to the image of the sleeping Jesus. The Irish Madonna was weeping for her suffering children [in Ireland]. The people who had been attending [Mass], as well as those summoned to witness the miracle, took turns in gathering around the portrait while the priests repeatedly wiped the face of the Madonna with a linen cloth that is still preserved in the Cathedral. The miracle continued for more than three hours.”

Every lawyer knows the value of credible witnesses! Here then we see that this miracle was witnessed by a whole contingent of extremely credible witnesses. Joann Carroll Cruz relates the following: “Before long not only Catholics, but also Protestants and Jews flocked to see the miracle. Thousands witnessed the event, and many of these gave testimony of what they saw. A document signed by a hundred people bears the signatures of the governor of the city, its mayor, all its councilmen, the bishop, priests, Calvinist and Lutheran ministers as well as a Jewish rabbi. All volunteered their signatures to the document stating they had witnessed an undeniable miracle.”

Our Lady of the Irish Madonna of Hungary, pray for us!

Saint Patrick, Patron of Ireland, pray for us!

Thomas L. Mulcahy

Reference: For this note I am relying on pages 130-132 of Joan Carroll Cruz’s book, Miraculous Images of Our Lady (TAN), as edited.

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FIVE AWESOME THINGS TO CONSIDER ABOUT THE POWER OF PRAYER!

In this very short note I will set forth (in a condensed and edited form) five important thoughts or considerations about the power of prayer as discussed by Father Paul O’Sullivan in his excellent book on prayer, How to be Happy – How to be Holy. Here, then, are the five considerations:

#1. Father O’Sullivan says that “the first clear idea we must have when praying” is “that we are talking to God in the most real and true sense of that word…nothing is more certain.” In short, don’t forget you are talking to God!!

#2. “The second great thought” in prayer “is that God has bound himself most solemnly to hear our prayers. It is quite certain that we never send up a prayer to God lovingly and confidently that He does not hear, and that does not bring us a great grace in return.”

#3. “A third truth which we must bear in mind is that every prayer we say with reverence and trust gives God immense glory and pleasure. What a joy it should be to feel that we are giving real joy to God. God does not only love us, but He most earnestly desires our love and affection in return.” In short, when you pray you honor God!

#4. “Fourthly, our prayers obtain for us many important graces and blessings which we shall never get and never enjoy if we do not ask for them. Is a Christian not a madman if he omits his prayers?”

#5. “Happiness is God’s greatest gift, for it embraces what is best for us. Why do men not ask God for happiness? There is no better, no surer way of attaining happiness, than by praying for it.” True, “no one can avoid suffering,” but “when God permits suffering He always helps us to bear it. He always gives us a grace, a strength, a consolation which enables us to bear the cross He sends us.” Therefore, “real peace and happiness God and God alone can give and gives to all who ask Him for it in prayer.”

CONCLUSION: What a powerful gift prayer is! “More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. Wherefore, let thy voice rise like a fountain for me night and day” (Alfred Lord Tennyson). As Saint Vincent Pallotti once wrote: “Prayer is the infallible means to obtain from God everything we need or desire” (Yearnings of a Soul, p.109).

Tom Mulcahy

References: Pages 2-7 of How to be Happy – How to be Holy (TAN BOOKS). If you fall into mortal sin, Saint Vincent Pallotti urges us to pray with the eagerness to regain sanctifying grace (normally through sacramental confession), and with deep sorrow for our sins, or for the grace to obtain this sorrow” (p.112). Humility is always a fundamental component of a well-made prayer.

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