Monday, December 01, 2008

Refections for Advent

This time of Advent is a time for hope
What a marvellous time in which to renew your desire, your nostalgia,
your real longing for Christ to come.
by Saint Jose Mary Escrivá
Founder of Opus Dei
"Advent is here. What a marvellous time in which to renew your desire, your nostalgia, your real longing for Christ to come — for him to come every day to your soul in the Eucharist. The Church encourages us: Ecce veniet! — He is about to arrive!The Forge, 548 Seek union with God and buoy yourself up with hope — that sure virtue! — because Jesus will illuminate the way for you with the light of his mercy, even in the darkest night.The Forge, 293Today marks the beginning of Advent. And it is good for us to consider the wiles of these enemies of the soul: the disorder of sensuality and easy-going superficiality, the folly of reason that rejects God, the cavalier presumption that snuffs out love for both God and creatures. All these obstacles are real enough, and they can indeed cause us a great deal of trouble.
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For these very reasons the liturgy invites us to implore divine mercy: "To you, o Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust, let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me," as we prayed in the introit. And in the offertory we shall go back to the same idea: "Let none that wait for you be put to shame."Christ is passing by, 7"Look up, and lift up your heads, because your redemption is at hand," we have just read in the Gospel. This time of Advent is a time for hope. These great horizons of our christian vocation, this unity of life built on the presence of God our Father, can and ought to be a daily reality.
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I don't wish to go on any longer on this first Sunday of Advent, when we begin to count the days separating us from the birth of the Saviour. We have considered the reality of our christian vocation: how our Lord has entrusted us with the mission of attracting other souls to sanctity, encouraging them to get close to him, to feel united to the Church, to extend the kingdom of God to all hearts. Jesus wants to see us dedicated, faithful, responsive. He wants us to love him. It is his desire that we be holy, very much his own.Christ is passing by, 11Iesus Christus, Deus homo: Jesus Christ, God-man. This is one of "the mighty works of God," which we should reflect upon and thank him for. He has come to bring "peace on earth to men of good Will," to all men who want to unite their wills to the holy will of God — not just the rich, not just the poor, but everyone: all the brethren. We are all brothers in Jesus, children of God, brothers of Christ.
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His Mother is our mother.You must look at the Child in the manger. He is our Love. Look at him, realizing that the whole thing is a mystery. We need to accept this mystery on faith and use our faith to explore it very deeply. To do this, we must have the humble attitude of a christian soul. Let us not try to reduce the greatness of God to our own poor ideas and human explanations. Let us try to understand that this mystery, for all its darkness, is a light to guide men's lives.
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Christ is passing by, 13
St. Jose Mary Escrivá
"I am the Immaculate Conception"
In the name of the Father...

My dear friends, my dear brethren,

As the whole liturgy of today shows us, God, in His wisdom, had long ago prepared for us the most Blessed Virgin Mary. It was not just at the moment of her birth on earth that God decreed to exempt her from all sin, and to make her the Immaculate Conception but already in eternity, which preceded the creation of the world.

The epistle today recalls this fact, applying to the Most Holy Virgin the words of the eternal Wisdom; already the Holy Virgin was in the mind of God – "iam concepta eram - I was already conceived" - yes, conceived in the mind of God, and thus already in the divine plan God was thinking of the Virgin Mary. Already He wished to fill her with all His graces, and to give her this extraordinary privilege of the Immaculate Conception, exempting her from all sin: "Tota pulchra es, Maria, et macula originalis non est in te - Thou art all fair, O Mary, and there is no stain of original sin in thee."

So already in eternity, before the creation of the world, God was thinking of this admirable creature, the first of His creatures after our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. All during the course of history which preceded the birth of the Blessed Virgin, during the whole history of humanity, God was thinking of the Blessed Virgin. We see it during the entire history of the Old Testament - already, immediately after the sin of Adam and Eve, God said to Adam and Eve, "I will place an enmity between thee and the woman…..She shall crush thy head." So already the Virgin Mary had been foreseen by the Spirit of God and her preparation, the preparation for her Immaculate Conception, was becoming more and more precise the whole time.

The image of the Blessed Virgin Mary can also be found in the holy women of the Old Testament. Think of the account of Sarah, the wife of Tobias, on whose behalf an angel bound up the demon and cast him far into the desert. She is an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, "before whom the devil must flee, and whom the devil fears." The Virgin Mary was not under the empire of Satan for an instant, a single instant.

The story of Judith also illustrates the role of the most Holy Virgin Mary. She delivered the people of Israel from the hands of Holofernes. In cutting off the head of Holofernes Judith saved Israel, and in like manner the Blessed Virgin, by cutting off the head of the devil in a certain sense, saved the people of God.

Thus during the whole course of history God wished that we be reminded of the most Holy Virgin; the Blessed Virgin Mary was always present to God and in the plan of God and thus from her birth the Blessed Virgin Mary was exempt from all sin. At the moment of her birth she was filled with the Holy Ghost, and yet again even more so - if such be possible - at the moment when the Angel Gabriel came to announce that she would be the Mother of the Savior. Behold what the Angel said to the Blessed Virgin: "Thou art full of grace, overflowing with grace, and the Holy Ghost shall descend upon thee and overshadow thee."

How could the Holy Ghost be present with the devil in the soul of the most Holy Virgin? There could be no stain in the soul of the Blessed Virgin Mary; already God had decided that. And from the beginning of the Blessed Virgin's existence, we see that, in fact, the Blessed Virgin is wholly filled with the Holy Ghost. She is shown to us as a contemplative, and living in the presence of God, speaking little, reflecting on all the words which Our Lord said. At times she deemed it right to discreetly intervene, as at the marriage feast of Cana, and this was to teach us her whole gospel: "Do whatever He shall tell you." This is the gospel of our Holy Virgin Mary.

Again, she was present at Calvary as the Mother of the Eternal Priest, at the offering of Our Lord Jesus Christ, for she also was crucified with Our Lord. If St. Paul could say, "Confixus sure cruci - I am nailed to the Cross with Christ," how much more could the Blessed Virgin Mary say it!
Again, she was also present at the moment of Pentecost, when the Apostles received the Holy Ghost - she who was already filled with the Holy Ghost, she did not need to receive Him again but through her mediation, the Apostles received Him.

Finally the Blessed Virgin Mary went up to heaven, not only in her soul but also in her body, and thus was this extraordinary life of hers completed; a life unique in the history of humanity, but foreseen by God from all eternity.

The influence of the Blessed Virgin Mary has not ceased. Even now in heaven, the Blessed Virgin Mary continues to be the Mother of the Mystical Body of Our Lord, the Mother of the Church, the Mother of our souls. She shows it, she proves it, she proves it in every one of us, but she also proves it in her apparitions. Is it not admirable to think that after the Sovereign Pontiff Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception as a revealed truth, that the Blessed Virgin Mary was Immaculate from her Conception - already four years later on March 21, 1858, the Blessed Virgin herself said to little Bernadette, the little shepherdess, "I am the Immaculate Conception."
Remember that Bernadette was incapable of understanding, she could not understand what these words meant, and she left the grotto on her way to her pastor’s house repeating these words which she did not understand, to make sure she would not forget them. The history of the life of Bernadette tells us that it was at that moment that the parish priest of Lourdes, Pere Pomian, was truly convinced by the apparitions at Lourdes. He realized that the poor little shepherdess was incapable of inventing this herself, and that the dogma had been proclaimed four years before by the Sovereign Pontiff. Thus it was confirmed by the Blessed Virgin herself that she was the Immaculate Conception.

What lesson, then, must we draw from this history of the Blessed Virgin Mary and her Immaculate Conception? For all of us who have been baptized, we who in a certain sense have received more than others because of the offices we may occupy in Holy Church - all of us: If the Blessed Virgin Mary was Immaculate in her Conception it is because she was to be the Mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ, because she had to carry within herself Our Lord, the Son of God, because she was charged with giving Him to the world, because she was to live in proximity with Him, to be His Mother.

We Christians, who receive Holy Communion, do we not receive the same Jesus Christ, the same Body, which was conceived by the Blessed Virgin Mary? We receive Him in us, in our bodies….in our souls. If it was decreed that the Blessed Virgin Mary was to be immaculate in her conception, so that she might receive the Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ, His soul, His divinity, must we not also be pure? Not that we can be immaculate in our conception, but may our souls be immaculate, by our prayers, by our dispositions, by our efforts, by the grace of God . . . to win this privilege that the Blessed Virgin had by the gift of Our Lord Jesus Christ, may we by our prayers and by the grace of God obtain the grace of having immaculate souls to receive Our Lord Jesus Christ.

We must! We must live without sin, we must struggle against anything that might tarnish our souls, so that it can be said of our souls: "Tota pub chra est, et macula non est in te -Thou art all fair, and there is no stain in thee." Let there be no stain in our souls so that we may worthily receive Our Lord Jesus Christ.

And if that is true for Christians, true for the faithful, true for every person, every soul receiving Our Lord Jesus Christ, how much more, dear brethren, is it true of you - you who are destined in a singular way to consecrate yourselves to God, to offer yourselves to God, and particularly those who offer themselves to God in the priesthood, who, in this world, call down Our Lord Jesus Christ upon the altar and, like the Blessed Virgin, touch Him with their hands, and give Him to others; how much more must your souls be immaculate!

With what joy, therefore, do we receive today the oblations of those who desire to offer their lives, offer their souls, for the service of God, the service of the altar. Let us ask in a special way of the Blessed Virgin to transmit, in a certain degree, this privilege she had, the graces which are necessary to keep our souls immaculate.

She is the creature that was created, designed by God to destroy sin. Thus there is no creature more free of sin than the Blessed Virgin Mary. She has crushed the head of the serpent. Therefore with the Blessed Virgin there is no compromise, no compromise with sin, no compromise with error; she is completely true, completely holy. She cannot bear error, or sin, or vice. Let us then ask the Blessed Virgin that we ourselves have this horror of sin, this horror of vice - but love for sinners, because it was for sinners that she was created, to save sinners. May we have this immense desire, this flame which must consume us, the desire to save souls from sin, to snatch them from the clutches of the devil, the clutches of the world, and the scandals of it.
Therefore let us all ask today that our Society be a sign, a sign of truth, a sign of holiness, a sign of flight from sin, and all the scandals of the world, and a sign of the presence of the Virgin Mary. We will truly be children of the Church, children of Mary, on this condition. But if, unhappily, we also become like the people who are drawn by the world and who want compromises with things of the world, with error - then we will no longer be worthy children of Mary, worthy children of Our Lord.

That is what we ask, for all those who are present at this Holy Mass, for all those who are present here, and particularly for those who, in a moment, will pronounce their oblation and their engagements in the Society.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Homily of + Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre ( in memorian)

8 December 1 972

Advent


We start our preparation for this great season of Advent not with Jesus’ birth but by looking forward, to our Lord’s Second Coming. In the preceding verses of Mark 13, Jesus teaches important truths about what will happen before He returns to earth at the end of history. While we are given some clues about what will unfold, it is clear that Jesus wants to divert our attention from fruitless and divisive speculation about dates, towards faithful service. So Jesus concludes this teaching on His Second Coming with these few verses focusing on the need to stay alert and remain faithful to the task He has given us to do. Jesus uses the parable of a master leaving his servants to do their duties while he goes on a journey to help us understand this point. No one knows exactly when the master will return.

2. MEDITATIO

- What is the main message of today’s parable? Is it that Jesus expects to find us doing the work he asked us to do when he returns?- In the parable each of the servants had been given “his own work to do” (verse 34). What “work” has Jesus given to all Christians to do? What things has he given you to do personally?- Consider what can happen when debating with other Christians about when Jesus will return. Compare this to our responsibility towards our fellow servants in Jesus’ parable. Which is more constructive?- Mark 13 reminds us this world will one day come to an end. Are we spending too much time investing in temporal things?

3. ORATIO

Praise God – one day Jesus will return again in great power and glory and the end of history lies under His direct control. Pray for those who haven’t accepted God’s forgiveness yet. Pray that the Holy Spirit will reveal Jesus to them and that they will respond to His grace and mercy. Ask God to give you the grace and strength you need to serve Him and do his will. Pray that God will keep you from becoming weary or discouraged.
new update very soon.
Pax
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Monday, October 13, 2008

October 12th 2008 - Feast of Our Lady of Aparecida

The History of the Image of The Appeared Immaculate Conception "Aparecida"


In October of 1717, three Brazilian fishermen were out fishing, in order to supply a banquet the townspeople of Guaratinguetá were giving in honor of a visiting nobleman. Since it was outside the season for finding fish, they prayed to the Immaculate Conception for help. After many hours of coming up empty, the fishermen were about to give up. They cast in their net one last time and brought up the body of a terra cotta statue. Casting their net again, they brought up the head. They cleaned the statue, which turned out to be an image of the Immaculate Conception. Naming the statue "Our Lady Aparecida" (Our Lady who appeared), the fisherman wrapped it in cloth and cast their nets again. This time, they caught so many fish their boat was in danger of sinking. The statue came to be associated with many miracles brought about by the intercession of the Blessed Mother, and was an object of veneration. A prayer chapel was built; when that became too small, a church was built on the hill of the Coqueiros, around which a village sprang up. When the crowds outgrew that church, a new and bigger one was built; it was given the title of minor basilica in 1908. An even bigger basilica was begun in the 1950s; today, it is the second largest place of Catholic worship in the world, after St. Peter's, and the largest Marian shrine. Our Lady of Aparecida is the patroness of Brazil.

Pope John Paul II's Prayer to Our Lady of Aparecida

Lady Aparecida, a son of yours who belongs to you unreservedly "totus tuus" called by the mysterious plan of Providence to be the Vicar of your Son on earth, wishes to address you at this moment. He recalls with emotion, because of the brown color of this image of yours, another image of yours, the Black Virgin of Jasna Gora. Mother of God and our Mother, protect the Church, the Pope, the bishops, the priests and all the faithful people; welcome under your protecting mantle men and women religious, families, children, young people, and their educations. Health of the sick and Consoler of the afflicted, comfort those who are suffering in body and soul; be the light of those who are seeking Christ, the Redeemer of all; show all people that you are the Mother of our confidence. Queen of Peace and Mirror of Justice, obtain peace for the world, ensure that Brazil and all countries may have lasting peace, that we will always live together as brothers and sisters and as children of God. Our Lady Aparecida, bless all your sons and daughters who pray and sing to you here and elsewhere. Amen.


The town of Aparecida, Brazil, houses two Basilicas dedicated to the National Patron Saint, the "Appeared Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary", better known as Our Lady of Aparecida: the "Old Basilica", built between 1760 and 1770 and restored from 1824 to 1834, which was established as a Minor Basilica by Pope Saint Pius X in 1908, and the "New Basilica".

This much larger building became necessary due to the popularity of Our Lady of Aparecida, and in 1955 construction on this new Basilica started. Architect Benedito Calixto designed a building in the form of a Greek cross, 173 m (567 ft) long and 168 m (551 ft) wide; the dome reaches 70 m (229 ft) and the steeple rises to 105 m (334 ft), placing it also among the largest and biggest churches in the world, holding up to 45,000 people. The 272,000 square meters of parking hold 4,000 buses and 6,000 cars.

The building was consecrated by Pope John Paul II while still under construction, on July 4, 1980.[1] The Pope created the church as a Minor Basilica and named it the National Shrine of Brazil.


The New Basilica is now the second-largest Catholic place of worship in the world, after St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, and in 1984 was officially declared as "the largest Marian Temple in the world." According to the official site of the basilica, in 1999 the number of pilgrims was 6,565,849.

Pope Benedict XVI visited the Basilica of the Shrine ofAparecida on May 12, 2007, during his Apostolic Journey to Brazil on the occasion of the 5th General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean.[2]


Thursday, July 10, 2008

Novena of Our Lady of Mount Carmel


First Day

The prayer Flos Carmeli (Flower of Carmel) was composed by St. Simon Stock and in answer he received the Scapular from Our Blessed Mother. 0 BEAUTIFUL FLOWER OF CARMEL, most fruitful vine, splendor of heaven, holy and singular, who brought forth the son of God, still ever remaining a pure virgin, assist us in our necessity! 0 Star of the Sea, help and protect us! Show us that you are our Mother! (pause and mention petitions) Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory, etc. Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.

up Second Day

Most Holy Mary, Our Mother, in your great love for us you gave us the holy Scapular of Mount Carmel, having heard the prayers of your chosen son St. Simon Stock. Help us now to wear it faithfully and with devotion. May it be a sign to us of our desire to grow in holiness. (pause and mention petitions) Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory, etc. Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.

up Third Day

0 Queen of Heaven, you gave us the Scapular as an outward sign by which we might be known as your special children. May we always wear it with honor by avoiding sin and imitating your virtues. Help us to be faithful to this desire of ours. (pause and mention petitions) Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory, etc. Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.

up Fourth Day

When you gave us, Gracious Lady, the Scapular as our Habit, you called us to be not only servants, but also your own dear children. We ask you to gain for us from your Son the grace to live as your children in joy, peace and love. (pause and mention petitions) Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory, etc. Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.

up Fifth Day

0 Mother of Fair Love, through your goodness we are not only your children but persons called to live in the spirit of Carmel. Help us to live in charity with one another, prayerful as Elijah of old, and mindful of our call to minister to God's people. (pause and mention petitions) Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory, etc. Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.

up Sixth Day

With loving provident care, 0 Mother Most Admirable, you covered us with your Scapular as a shield of defense against the Evil One. Through your assistance, may we bravely struggle against the powers of evil, always open to your Son Jesus Christ. (pause and mention petitions) Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory, etc. Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.

up Seventh Day

0 Mary, Help of Christians, you assured us that wearing your Scapular worthily would keep us safe from harm. Protect us both in body and soul with your continual aid. May all that we do be pleasing to your Son and to you. (pause and mention petitions) Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory, etc. Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.

up Eighth Day

You give us hope, 0 Mother of Mercy, that through your Scapular promise we might quickly pass through the fires of purgatory to the Kingdom of your Son. Be our comfort and our hope, grant that our hope may not be in vain but that, ever faithful to your Son and to you, we may speedily enjoy after death the blessed company of Jesus and the saints. (pause and mention petitions) Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory, etc. Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.'

up Ninth Day

0 Most Holy Mother of Mount Carmel, when asked by a saint to grant privileges to the family of Carmel, you rather granted an assurance of salvation to the whole world. Behold us your children, kneeling at your feet. We glory, dearest Mother, in wearing your holy habit, that habit which makes us members of your family of Carmel, that habit through which we shall have your powerful protection in life, at death and even after death. Look down with love, 0 Gate of Heaven, on all those now in their last agony! Look down graciously, 0 Virgin, Flower of Carmel, on all those in need of help! Look down mercifully, 0 Mother of our Savior, on all those who do not know that they are numbered among your children. Look down tenderly, 0 Queen of All Saints, on the poor souls! (pause and mention petitions) Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory, etc. Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.

Monday, February 25, 2008



What are the origins of Lent?


History of Lent FR. WILLIAM SAUNDERS



Did the Church always have this time before Easter?



Lent is a special time of prayer, penance, sacrifice and good works in preparation of the celebration of Easter. In the desire to renew the liturgical practices of the Church, The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy of Vatican Council II stated, "The two elements which are especially characteristic of Lent — the recalling of baptism or the preparation for it, and penance — should be given greater emphasis in the liturgy and in liturgical catechesis. It is by means of them that the Church prepares the faithful for the celebration of Easter, while they hear God's word more frequently and devote more time to prayer" (no. 109).



The word Lent itself is derived from the Anglo-Saxon words lencten, meaning "Spring," and lenctentid, which literally means not only "Springtide" but also was the word for "March," the month in which the majority of Lent falls.




Since the earliest times of the Church, there is evidence of some kind of Lenten preparation for Easter. For instance, St. Irenaeus (d. 203) wrote to Pope St. Victor I, commenting on the celebration of Easter and the differences between practices in the East and the West: "The dispute is not only about the day, but also about the actual character of the fast. Some think that they ought to fast for one day, some for two, others for still more; some make their ‘day’ last 40 hours on end. Such variation in the observance did not originate in our own day, but very much earlier, in the time of our forefathers" (Eusebius, History of the Church, V, 24). When Rufinus translated this passage from Greek into Latin, the punctuation made between "40" and "hours" made the meaning to appear to be "40 days, twenty-four hours a day." The importance of the passage, nevertheless, remains that since the time of "our forefathers" — always an expression for the apostles — a 40-day period of Lenten preparation existed. However, the actual practices and duration of Lent were still not homogenous throughout the Church.




Lent becomes more regularized after the legalization of Christianity in A.D. 313. The Council of Nicea (325), in its disciplinary canons, noted that two provincial synods should be held each year, "one before the 40 days of Lent." St. Athanasius (d. 373) in this "Festal Letters" implored his congregation to make a 40-day fast prior to the more intense fasting of Holy Week. St. Cyril of Jerusalem (d. 386) in his Catechectical Lectures, which are the paradigm for our current RCIA programs, had 18 pre-baptismal instructions given to the catechumens during Lent. St. Cyril of Alexandria (d. 444) in his series of "Festal Letters" also noted the practices and duration of Lent, emphasizing the 40-day period of fasting. Finally, Pope St. Leo (d. 461) preached that the faithful must "fulfill with their fasts the Apostolic institution of the 40 days," again noting the apostolic origins of Lent. One can safely conclude that by the end of the fourth century, the 40-day period of Easter preparation known as Lent existed, and that prayer and fasting constituted its primary spiritual exercises.




Of course, the number "40" has always had special spiritual significance regarding preparation. On Mount Sinai, preparing to receive the Ten Commandments, "Moses stayed there with the Lord for 40 days and 40 nights, without eating any food or drinking any water" (Ex 34:28). Elijah walked "40 days and 40 nights" to the mountain of the Lord, Mount Horeb (another name for Sinai) (I Kgs 19:8). Most importantly, Jesus fasted and prayed for "40 days and 40 nights" in the desert before He began His public ministry (Mt 4:2).




Once the 40 days of Lent were established, the next development concerned how much fasting was to be done. In Jerusalem, for instance, people fasted for 40 days, Monday through Friday, but not on Saturday or Sunday, thereby making Lent last for eight weeks. In Rome and in the West, people fasted for six weeks, Monday through Saturday, thereby making Lent last for six weeks. Eventually, the practice prevailed of fasting for six days a week over the course of six weeks, and Ash Wednesday was instituted to bring the number of fast days before Easter to 40. The rules of fasting varied. First, some areas of the Church abstained from all forms of meat and animal products, while others made exceptions for food like fish. For example, Pope St. Gregory (d. 604), writing to St. Augustine of Canterbury, issued the following rule: "We abstain from flesh, meat, and from all things that come from flesh, as milk, cheese and eggs."




Second, the general rule was for a person to have one meal a day, in the evening or at 3 p.m.
These Lenten fasting rules also evolved. Eventually, a smaller repast was allowed during the day to keep up one’s strength from manual labor. Eating fish was allowed, and later eating meat was also allowed through the week except on Ash Wednesday and Friday. Dispensations were given for eating dairy products if a pious work was performed, and eventually this rule was relaxed totally. (However, the abstinence from even dairy products led to the practice of blessing Easter eggs and eating pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday.)




Over the years, modifications have been made to the Lenten observances, making our practices not only simple but also easy. Ash Wednesday still marks the beginning of Lent, which lasts for 40 days, not including Sundays. The present fasting and abstinence laws are very simple: On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, the faithful fast (having only one full meal a day and smaller snacks to keep up one’s strength) and abstain from meat; on the other Fridays of Lent, the faithful abstain from meat. People are still encouraged "to give up something" for Lent as a sacrifice. (An interesting note is that technically on Sundays and solemnities like St. Joseph's Day (March 19) and the Annunciation (March 25), one is exempt and can partake of whatever has been offered up for Lent.




Nevertheless, I was always taught, "If you gave something up for the Lord, tough it out. Don’t act like a Pharisee looking for a loophole." Moreover, an emphasis must be placed on performing spiritual works, like attending the Stations of the Cross, attending Mass, making a weekly holy hour before the Blessed Sacrament, taking time for personal prayer and spiritual reading and most especially making a good confession and receiving sacramental absolution. Although the practices may have evolved over the centuries, the focus remains the same: to repent of sin, to renew our faith and to prepare to celebrate joyfully the mysteries of our salvation.



source :

Saunders, Rev. William. "History of Lent." Arlington Catholic Herald.



Prayer


O Lord, who hast mercy upon all,take away from me my sins,and mercifully kindle in methe fire of thy Holy Spirit.Take away from me the heart of stone,and give me a heart of flesh,a heart to love and adore Thee,a heart to delight in Thee,to follow and enjoy Thee, for Christ's sake, Amen



St. Ambrose of Milan (AD 339-397)

Lourdes - Celebrating the 150th Anniversary of Our Lady's Aparitions

150 Years of Miracles
Basilica of Lourdes - France

One hundred and fifty years ago, a young peasant girl named Bernadette Soubirius wandered into an undiscovered grotto in the dense forest on the edge of her village.

The vision she saw there changed her life and elevated Lourdes from a small insignificant place beneath the Pyrenees to a global phenomenon that attracts five million people annually.

On February 11th 1858, Bernadette went with her sister and a friend to look for firewood.. As she was frail and sickly, they left her on one bank of the river, where she had found a cave, hidden in a copse, with a spring of clear water. According to Bernadette, a young woman appeared to her, "surrounded by light, and looked at me and smiled".

This was the first of seventeen or possible eighteen visions Bernadette claims to have had, although it was not until the sixteenth that the lady identified herself as 'the Immaculate Conception', in other words, the Virgin Mary.

Few believed Bernadette at first. She was subjected to rigorous questioning by religious and secular authorities, even briefly being taken into a sanatorium for the mentally ill, but she stuck to her story.

Hundreds and later thousands of people accompanied her to the grotto during some of these visions, but none of them ever experienced what Bernadette saw and heard.

Within months of the apparitions, rumours of miraculous cures brought about by drinking water from the spring in the grotto began to spread, encouraging visits by the seriously ill in greater and greater numbers.

Bernadette herself, questioned by an English tourist in April 1859, flatly denied such miracles, responding, "There's no truth in that at all." Nonetheless the Catholic Church has recognised 67 cures at Lourdes as miraculous, the last in 2005 of Anna Santaniello who suffered sever rheumatism.

Sceptics looking for an alternative explanation point to Bernadette's personal circumstances. Her family were bankrupt millers, forced to leave their mill two years previously and live in a single damp and dingy, cellar-like room. The visions of what may have been a very impressionable young girl undoubtedly changed their fortunes.

However, Bernadette herself never profited from her fame. She became a novice and later a nun at Nevers, leaving Lourdes for good in 1866. Bernadette suffered from several debilitating illnesses, including asthma and tuberculosis, and had treatment at a thermal spa, but she never returned to the grotto she had made famous. She died in 1879 at the young age of just 35.

Lourdes though never looked back. The town has more than 200 hotels and its post office handles about 6.5 million postcards each year. Its ciergerie produces a tonne of candles a day. A vast industry has been created to make religious souvenirs, including images of Christ backed by velvet in fake silver frames, and shocking pink rosaries. It seems safe to conclude, based of Jesus's visit to the Temple in Jerusalem, that he would have been no happier with the commercialism of Lourdes.

Undeniably magnificent, however, is the Basilica of the Rosary, built above Bernadette's grotto to celebrate her discovery. Although its dominant lines are Romanesque, it has all the grandeur of the heyday of Byzantine architecture with ornamental mosaics, arcades, ramps, domes and fifteen chapels radiating from the centre. In the upper basilica, the chapels mark the boundaries of a vast square capable of holding 80,000 worshippers.
The Venetian mosaics are superb, created by the master craftsman Giandomenico Facchina, whose other accomplishments include the frescoes of the Opera Garnier in Paris and of the Kyoto Imperial Palace in Japan.

High above the steep alleyways of the old town, and its covered market with charming craft shops and gastronomic food stalls, Lourdes castle possess a considerable pedigree that in other circumstances would make it the centre of attraction. The Romans were the first to have built here and legend - but little historical fact - would have it that Charlemagne himself took the fortress by stealth in 778.

The castle had three formidable lines of defence; a lower wall with ramparts and towers, and a donjon, added in the middle of the Gothic period, during the 14th century. The donjon became a prison for state prisoners of importance and the residence of the local counts of Bigorre in the 16th and 17th centuries. After their removal, the famous engineer Vauban strengthened its defences and in 1685 added Lourdes to the ring of fortresses surrounding the France of Louis XIV. The castle caters successfully for handicapped visitors, reflecting on the circumstances of the many who still come to Lourdes in the hope of a cure.

A chair lift, itself celebrating 100 years and known as Le Pic du Jer, marks the start of the Pyrenees. It takes visitors to the town up to a height of more than one thousand metres in less than six minutes. Lourdes glacier lake, bordered by coniferous trees, is just a flash of blue below. The ride through the pine trees is a magical experience and the view from the top is superb. The viewing table on the summit picks out the nearby towns of Pau and Tarbes and the great mountains beyond.
PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF LOURDES
This prayer was said during the Holy Father's August 15, 2004 visit to Lourdes, France. The Pope asked her among other things to "be our guide along the paths of the world."
Hail Mary, poor and humble Woman, Blessed by the Most High! Virgin of hope, dawn of a new era, We join in your song of praise, to celebrate the Lord’s mercy, to proclaim the coming of the Kingdom and the full liberation of humanity.Hail Mary, lowly handmaid of the Lord, Glorious Mother of Christ! Faithful Virgin, holy dwelling-place of the Word, Teach us to persevere in listening to the Word, and to be docile to the voice of the Spirit, attentive to his promptings in the depths of our conscience and to his manifestations in the events of history.Hail Mary, Woman of sorrows, Mother of the living! Virgin spouse beneath the Cross, the new Eve, Be our guide along the paths of the world. Teach us to experience and to spread the love of Christ, to stand with you before the innumerable crosses on which your Son is still crucified.Hail Mary, woman of faith, First of the disciples! Virgin Mother of the Church, help us always to account for the hope that is in us, with trust in human goodness and the Father’s love. Teach us to build up the world beginning from within: in the depths of silence and prayer, in the joy of fraternal love, in the unique fruitfulness of the Cross.Holy Mary, Mother of believers, Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us.Amen.

sources : http://www.pyreneanvillas.com/

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