Blog Flos Carmeli English Version: Richness of the Poor

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Richness of the Poor

Rev. Bishop D, Fernando Rifan*

In our last article we talked about the Church of the poor. Now a word about its richness. The richness of the poor is the Church, its rich doctrine and liturgy. The Churches and sacred temples, are the house for the poor. There they can enter without being hindered. There they can amaze the beautiful paintings and its architecture, the sacred vessels, splendid images, a point they would be not able do in any other house or palace. There they can, hence it is their home.

Poverty as a personal virtue, must be cultivated, but it does not mean that we should impoverish the liturgy. Rather, the exterior beauty of the liturgy must reflect the glory of God, as taught Pope Francisco: "The sacred vestiments of the High Priest of the Old Testament were rich with symbolism, one of them had the name of the children of Israel recorded in the onyx stones that adorned the shoulders of the ephod, which comes from our current chasuble ..."" beauty of all that is liturgical, which is not reducible to the adornment and tasteful vestments, but the presence of the glory of our God that shines in His living and comforted people. " (Hom. Chrism Mass, 03.28.2013).

The Curé of Ars, St. John Mary Vianney, example for all priests, loved the poverty and the poor. "An old cassock can looks great under a beautiful chasuble," he said. Along with his individual poverty, efforts were made in acquiring just richer and sumptuous goods to the house of God having in mind the liturgical ceremonies. He said that if the palaces of kings are embellished by the magnificence, the more so the churches.

When Cardinal, Pope Benedict XVI, lamented the current liturgical crisis, and claimed that : "After the Council, many priests deliberately erected the desecration as a program of action, arguing that the New Testament abolished the cult of the temple, the temple veil, which was torn from top to bottom at the moment of Christ's death on the cross would be, for some, the sign of the end of the holy ... Encouraged by such ideas, they rejected the holy garments; as much as they could, while stripped the churches of their flushes that resemble the sacred, and they reduced the liturgy to the language and gestures of everyday life through greetings from signs of friendship and other elements "(Chilean Bishops Conference, London, 7/13/1988).

Talking about beauty of the liturgy and responding to "accusations of 'triumphalism', in the name of which is played out too easily, much of the old liturgical solemnity," Cardinal Ratzinger response was that: "In the solemnity of worship, the Church expressed the glory of God, the joy of faith, the victory of truth and light over error and darkness" . "The richness of Liturgy is not the richness of some priestly caste: it it the wealth of all, including the poor, who in fact long for it and do not at all find it a stumbling block. The history of popular piety shows that poorest have always been instinctively and spontaneously ready even to do without necessities in order to show honor through beauty to their Lord and God wwithout giving any thought to themselves "(Rapporto sulla Fede , 1985).

* Personal Apostolic Administration Saint Jonh Mary Vianney - Pastor

www.adapostolica.org

www.catolicosempre.org.br

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http://domfernandorifan.blogspot.com.br/

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Prayer to Our Lady of Mount Carmel

“Blessed Virgin of Mount Carmel – Be our constant hope. Mary, perfect disciple of the Lord – Make us also faithful to him. Mary, Flower of Carmel – Fill us with your joy. Virgin Mary, Beauty of Carmel – Smile upon your family Sweet Mother of Carmel – Accept me as your child. Holy, Mother beyond compare – Remember your children forever. Holy Virgin, Star of the Sea – Be our beacon of Light. Protecting Veil – Shelter us in the mantle of your love. Mary, conceived without sin – pray for us who have recourse to you.”

Prayer to Saint John Mary Vianney for the Religious Vocations

Almighty and merciful God, who didst make Saint John Marie Vianney admirable in his pastoral zeal and in his constant love of penance, grant us the grace, we implore Thee, to win for Christ, by his example and intercession, the souls of our brethren, and to attain with them everlasting glory—O, Saint John Marie Vianney, incomparable laborer in the field confided to thee, obtain for the Church the realization of Jesus’ desire. The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few. Pray to the Master of the harvest to send faithful laborers into His vineyard. O, Saint John Marie Vianney ! Intercede for the clergy. May thy patronage, and thy prayer multiply the real vocations to the priesthood. May the Holy Ghost grant thee emulators; may He give us Saints! Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

SEVERAL TIMES we have suggested that the reader might be surprised at the great emphasis given to a devotion as apparently simple as the Brown Scapular. But one of the most interesting testimonies to the importance of the Scapular devotion today has so far been scarcely mentioned. In the pages of an ancient history of the Carmelite Order (written in mediaeval Latin by a forgotten writer named Ventimiglia) the author of this book found the following account: Three famous men of God met on a street corner in Rome. They were Friar Dominic, busy gathering recruits to a new Religious Order of Preachers; Brother Francis, the friend of birds and beasts and especially dear to the poor; and Angelus, who had been invited to Rome from Mount Carmel, in Palestine, because of his fame as a preacher. At their chance meeting, by the light of the Holy Spirit each of the three men recognized each other and, in the course of their conversation (as recorded by various followers who were present), they made prophecies to each other. Saint Angelus foretold the stigmata of Saint Francis, and Saint Dominic said: "One day, Brother Angelus, to your Order of Carmel the Most Blessed Virgin Mary will give a devotion to be known as the Brown Scapular, and to my Order of Preachers she will give a devotion to be known as the Rosary. AND ONE DAY, THROUGH THE ROSARY AND THE SCAPULAR, SHE WILL SAVE THE WORLD." Since he was gathering material for a book on the Scapular Devotion, the present writer was deeply impressed on finding this story in Ventimiglia's History . . . and he was especially impressed by the prophecy of St. Dominic. Yet that prophecy appears nowhere in the past sixteen chapters which (with the exception of Chapter Fifteen and a few paragraphs referring to Fatima) were for thirteen years the total of this book . . . unchanged through several printings totaling more than 70,000 copies. St. Dominic's "prophecy" was omitted repeatedly, through all those printings and years, despite the fact that the author came later to know that today a Chapel, on that very street comer in Rome, commemorates the meeting of St. Dominic, St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Angelus as described by Ventimiglia. Therefore, why the omission? Why were not the words "Through the Rosary and the Scapular She will save the world" (Taken from the Book The Sign of Her Heart by John M. Haffert)