"I desire mercy and not sacrifice". Pope Francis.



It would have been fascinating to be a fly on the wall on Sunday in any number of Rome's restaurants or private dining rooms where clerics gathered for their midday pranzo.

Without a doubt, first course for most of them was the extraordinary homily Pope Francis gave just a couple of hours earlier at Mass in St. Peter's Basilica with his newly fortified College of Cardinals.

Depending on the wall, the conversion would have been either stomach-churning or quite inviting.

Those clerics who are troubled by or pretend not to understand what Francis is "up to" -- no matter what color their dress or which rung of the ecclesiastical ladder they stand on -- were certainly not raising their glasses to toast what he had to say.

But those priests, bishops and cardinals who have been inspired by this pope from "the end of the earth" or who are at least willing to be challenged by him -- no matter how small or great their numbers -- were no doubt feasting on his words.

Global Sisters Report just launched a new blog by Jo Piazza, When Nuns Rule. Read it here.

The Jesuit pope on Sunday showed once again that elevation to the episcopacy, even to the venerable See of Peter, has not emasculated the prophetic nature so constitutive of his priestly ministry and identity as a professed religious.

He reminded the men that some Catholics still and unashamedly call "princes of the church" that Jesus was more interested in embracing lepers and every kind of outcast than observing the ritual purity and prudent deliberations of the doctors of the law.

"I desire mercy and not sacrifice," he said in one of the numerous lines in which he evoked the Lord of the Scriptures. "What matters for Jesus is, above all, reaching out to save those far off, healing the wounds of the sick and restoring everyone to God's family!" the pope said. "And this is scandalous to some people!"

Francis knows firsthand that a number of men who wear miters on their heads are among those most scandalized by the way "Jesus revolutionizes and upsets that fearful, narrow and prejudiced mentality" characteristic of certain religious leaders. He has seen it by the near fanatical and hostile way some of them and their theological experts have tried to annihilate proposals -- which the pope has encouraged -- that seek to reconcile all variety of Catholic "outcasts" with their church, most especially those currently excluded from its sacramental life.

"I urge you to serve the church in such a way that Christians -- edified by our witness -- will not be tempted to turn to Jesus without turning to the outcast, to become a closed caste with nothing authentically ecclesial about," he said.

Francis was explicitly addressing the 20 new cardinals (15 of them electors) that he created over the weekend. He told them to serve and see Jesus in all those on the margins, "even in those who have lost their faith, or have turned away from the faith, or say they are atheists."

He urged them to imitate his namesake, St, Francis of Assisi, by embracing the leper and accepting all the different types of outcasts. "Truly, dear brothers, the gospel of the marginalized is where our credibility is at stake, is discovered and is revealed!" he said.

Sunday's homily was arguably one of the most important messages Pope Francis has issued during his nearly two years in the Petrine office. And it must be seen an essential addition to a small collection of interviews, documents and speeches during this period in which he has clearly placed the program of his pontificate before the People of God and, indeed, all people of good will.

He began with the surprising and blockbuster interview in August 2013 with La Civiltà Cattolica, which was translated and published shortly thereafter by numerous other Jesuit publications. Then the following November, he issued his apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium ("Joy of the Gospel"), an astonishingly fresh blueprint for church reform and renewal inspired by the far-sighted, yet unrealized, vision of the Second Vatican Council.

In this select compendium, one must also include Francis' opening address at October's extraordinary session of the Synod of Bishops for the way it liberated church leaders from a decadeslong moratorium on debating or questioning topics that had long been labeled "streng verboten" by authorities in Rome.

And finally, one cannot forget the 78-year-old pope's message to the top officials of the Roman Curia just before Christmas, when he warned the cardinals and bishops of 15 spiritual ailments to which they were especially susceptible. In every one of these talks and texts, Francis provoked -- and continues to provoke -- clear and diverse reactions.

But those who say they disagree with the prophetic words of the first religious order pope in nearly 170 years (the last was the Benedictine monk Gregory XVI) are more honest than those who say they do not understand him. By now, Francis has made it clear what he believes -- that the Holy Spirit is pushing the church to be more inclusive, compassionate and outward-looking; that the Lord Jesus is calling it to be less inward-focused, legalistic and obsessed with the nonessential externals; and that "finding the right words" for our beliefs, our teachings, our disciplines -- is one of the great tasks the church's pastors and its people must discover in order to bring this into being.

The next gathering of the synod in October will offer a glimpse of how many of the bishops are ready to ratify the pope's vision. But in the meantime, expect him to offer at least a few more talks and papers like his homily on Sunday to spell out that vision even more clearly.

[Robert Mickens is editor-in-chief of Global Pulse. Since 1986, he has lived in Rome, where he studied theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University before working 11 years at Vatican Radio and then another decade as correspondent for The Tablet of London.]

Editor's note: We can send you an email alert every time Robert Mickens' column, A Roman Observer, is posted. Go to this page and follow directions: Email alert sign-up.

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Taken from: http://ncronline.org/blogs/roman-observer/could-pope-be-any-clearer-about-his-vision-church

St. Ambrose: "Drink, then, from Christ ...".

Taken from: http://communio.stblogs.org/index.php/2010/12/saint-ambrose-2/






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Drink, then, from Christ, so that your voice may also be heard. Store up in your mind the water that is Christ, the water that praises the Lord. Store up water from many sources, the water that rains down from the clouds of prophecy.

Whoever gathers water from the mountains and leads it to himself or draws it from springs, is himself a source of dew like the clouds. Fill your soul, then, with this water, so that your land may not be dry, but watered by your own springs.

He who reads much and understands much, receives his fill. He who is full, refreshes others. So Scripture says: If the clouds are full, they will pour rain upon the earth.

Therefore, let your words be rivers, clean and limpid, so that in your exhortations you may charm the ears of your people. And by the grace of your words win them over to follow your leadership. Let your sermons be full of understanding. Solomon says: The weapons of the understanding are the lips of the wise; and in another place he says: Let your lips be bound with wisdom. That is, let the meaning of your words shine forth, let understanding blaze out.

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Doubts, Divine Mercy, and St. John Paul II

Fr Joseph Pellegrino

on April 28, 2014 at 4:30 am

The Sunday after Easter always presents the event that took place in the Upper Room one week after Jesus rose from the dead. Pope John Paul II also designated this Sunday as Divine Mercy Sunday. And today the world celebrated the Canonization of this pope whom so many refer to as John Paul the Great. I believe I can tie all three of these themes together.

There are times that we have doubts in our faith. The Gospel tells the story of someone who doubted Jesus, the story of doubting Thomas. To me it is understandable that Thomas had doubts. I am sure that he doubted Peter and the others who had said that they had seen the Lord. These are the same guys who only a few months earlier were squabbling with each other over who would be the most powerful in the Kingdom of God. Jesus had told them that they would be tested, but with the exception of John, they had all deserted the Lord, including Thomas, who in his own bravado had said earlier, “Let’s go with him to Jerusalem and die with him.” The fact that Thomas was nowhere to be found at the crucifixion must have left him with some pretty negative feelings about himself. And what was probably most devastating to Thomas is that for the first time, he questioned his belief in Jesus. So Thomas was vocal in his doubts. He doubted the other disciples. He doubted himself. And he doubted the Lord. This obviously changed when he saw the Lord. Pictures will often show Thomas putting his hands in the marks of the nails on Jesus’ hands and touching the Lord’s side, but actually Jesus only invites Thomas to do this. Thomas’ response to Jesus was, “My Lord and My God.” Jesus’ next comment was meant for us, “You believe because you have seen. Blessed are those who have not seen yet believe.”

 

We have doubts in our faith. That is part of being a human being. Faith asks us to take a step, a leap actually, away from all that we can see, hear and sense, a step away from the limits of our rational capabilities and a step into mystery. This is a difficult step for all of us, but particularly difficult for us as our minds develops their intellectual prowess. When we become teens, if not a bit before, we can do things with our mind that we could not do as children. We can think in abstractions. We can conceive concepts that do not exist in the real world but do exist in the world of mathematics, in the world of literature, psychology, and so forth. When we were eight, we could not fathom something that could not exist in the real world. We can now. When was the last time you came across the square root of two? It exists only in our minds. We have studied how a poet or author can create a totally imaginative world and apply human emotions to this world to such an extent that the reader can easily confuse the world with reality. And we have studied how certain psychological realities determine people’s actions, even though those realities are not physical but are purely mental.

But, now faith asks us to take a step into a deeper reality, into that which is beyond our intellectual capabilities, a step into a knowledge our minds can never come to on their own. So, it is normal for humans to doubt, particularly as Teens, but actually throughout our lives. Add to that the fact that many in our society transfer their own questions and doubts onto others, attacking the faith of those who believe, particularly the faith of Catholics. We take courses in high school, college and grad school with other students who question our faith. We even have to put up with some teachers and professors who treat us like naive children because we say that we believe in the Bible and the teaching of the Church. On top of all this, we have crises in our lives where our prayers appear to go unanswered. We pray for our parents to stop fighting, but they don’t. We pray that our grandmother might get over her sickness, but she doesn’t. We hear about the people who died in natural disasters like earthquakes and tornadoes, we are aware of the children who are starving to death in Africa, the suffering taking place in Haiti, etc, and we begin to question if anyone is hearing our prayers. Doubts in faith are normal. It takes courage and determination to say, “In spite of what others say, and in spite of my own questions, I still believe, Lord. I believe in your Word in the Bible. I believe that your Son became one of us as the Bible said He would. I believe that His sacrificial love on the cross earned for us the very life of God. I believe that no matter what my eyes see or don’t see, my ears hear or don’t hear, no matter what my mind can determine or what its limits are, you are still there for me, loving me, filling me with a joy that doesn’t go away.”

And God, in His Mercy, sees us for whom we are, human beings with doubts, but also people who have experienced His Love and want more of it. We might feel bad about ourselves for having doubts, but His Mercy, His Divine Mercy, is so great that He sees us not as people with doubts, but as people who are searching for Him. That’s why Divine Mercy Sunday fits so perfectly with the gospel of doubting Thomas, ordinary people like you and I called to have extraordinary faith.

St. Pope John Paul II was, really, an ordinary man called to have extraordinary faith. He had an extremely difficult life as a child and Teen. His mother died when he was nine. His older brother, a young doctor whom little Karol Wojtyla looked up to, died while still in his 20’s. Karol’s best friends, many of whom were Jewish, were hunted and killed by the Nazis. He was forced by the Nazis to work in the mines and given very little food to sustain his large body. He was even hit by a German truck and left to die on the side of the road. He survived and continued working to keep the faith alive in Poland. Karol was part of two secret religious groups, the Living Rosary and the Rhapsodic Theater, where Karol not only acted but wrote plays. When he decided to become a priest, he had to study secretly. Every day he and another clandestine seminarian, Jerzy Zachuta, would jeopardize their lives to assist a priest at Mass. One day, his friend did not show up for Mass. The Nazis learned that Jerzy was studying to be a priest and executed him. Still, Karol continued growing in his faith. He knew that the people needed priests more than ever. And he knew that somehow God would work His wonders through him. Karol was extremely intelligent, so intelligent that he understood there were limits to what his mind can come to but no limits to the knowledge that faith could provide. The war ended, but the Nazis were replaced by the Russians and their Polish communist puppets. The new priest, Fr. Wojtyla still continued in faith, fighting to proclaim the Truth of Jesus Christ. He continued this fight through the priesthood, episcopacy and the papacy. In everything all that mattered for St. John Paul was Jesus Christ and His Kingdom.

So, putting it together, Karol Wojtyla was a human being who suffered crisis after crisis, but held on to his faith. He was extremely intelligent, brilliant actually. But he knew that his mind could only go so far. Faith had infinitely more to offer than his rational skills. He was tested with a difficult life, but He knew that God was there through it all.

We need to pray to St. John Paul II today to intercede with the Lord for us. We need faith. We need forgiveness for the times that our humanity has led us to doubts. We need to trust in the Divine Mercy of the Lord. We need courage to withstand the attacks of the godless upon us. We need spiritual strength to take a leap away from those who belittle us for our beliefs, a leap away from our own doubts, a leap that refuses to let the crises of our lives destroy our faith, and a leap into the arms of our Savior.

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Taken from: http://www.catholicjournal.us/2014/04/28/doubts-divine-mercy-st-john-paul-ii/

Christmas: Jesus still getting left out in the cold

Dear Friends

 

Christmas 2014 saw the usual stark contrast between the crass commercialism that typifies the season for the majority, and the piety and awe of those who understand the true meaning of Christmas – exemplified, for instance, by those who carefully tend to the cleaning and beautifying of church altars. As is apparent from the word, ‘Christmas’, it is essentially about Jesus Christ! But you would not know that from media coverage, or in offices and businesses, which generally leave the Infant Jesus, once again, completely out in the cold.  The situation is not helped by the likes of an elderly Marist priest, who, speaking about the apparent historical inaccuracy of the census ordered by the emperor Augustus in Luke 2:1, claimed something along the lines that that the Evangelist had deliberately allowed the historical inaccuracy because ‘Jesus was more important than Augustus’???

Dr. Richard Bucher, for one, has commented on this sort of assumed pious trickery (http://www.historian.net/NTHX.html):

 

As a layman, I am forced to go back to Luke and ask why he would record an event that never took place. Luke was well educated with diversified talents. He seems careful in his historicity and, although very young at the time, may very well have met Jesus. He knew and interviewed those who were closest to Jesus. Some scholars think that the story of the first census and the birth in Bethlehem is theologoumenon. This is a term scholars use for that which expresses an event or notion in language [that] may not be factual but supports, enhances, or is related to a matter of faith. In other words, a "white lie." I don't buy it in this case. There is no advantage to matters of faith in the invention of a census of 6 BCE.

 

[End of quote]

 

For the real story of the biblical census, actually occurring in 8 BC (conventional dating), we refer the reader to the ground-breaking article by Daryn Graham, “Ancient History, Archaeology and the Birth of Jesus Christ”, (http://thebirthofjesuschrist.blogspot.com.au/). So, why are Jesus, his Mother Mary, and Saint Joseph, so vehemently rejected - totally ignored by the majority - every Christmas?  Baptist pastor, David Brown, has asked, and answered, this question (http://www.firstbaptistchurchoc.org/Sermons_05/christmas3.htm):

 

• Why Is Christ Being Left Out of Christmas?
   
  Things are going back to like they were in Bible times. Isaiah the prophet saw how the lost would respond to Christ. Turn in you Bibles to Isaiah 53:3 "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not."
  The Hebrew word translated despised means to hold in contempt. Noah Webster defines contempt this way – "The act of viewing or considering and treating as mean, vile and worthless. This word is one of the strongest expressions of a mean opinion which the language affords." Our Savior was the object of contempt and scorn alike by the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Romans. In his life on earth it was so; in his death it was still so; and since then, His name and person have been extensively the object of contempt. Since our nation is losing its Biblical moorings, God and His Christ are increasingly being held in contempt! That’s why Christ is being left out of Christmas.
  There is another reason that Christ is being left out of Christmas. Turn in your Bibles to 1 Peter 2:7-8 "Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, 8 And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed."
  To believers, Jesus Christ is precious. We esteem Him above all others. But, to [those] … who are disobedient to His Word, Jesus is "a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence". Remember, Jesus is the light of the world and sinners love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. Sinners don’t want to be reminded of their sins. That’s why they would rather focus on ANYTHING but Christ…Santa, the Grinch, the reindeer, pagan customs, anything but Christ. Using the name of Christ makes them feel guilty. Christ explains this quite clearly in John 15:18-25 "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. …. 25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause." (Psalm 35:19). That’s why they want Christ out of Christmas. They hate Christ and they hate God for exposing their sins, yet Christ has paid for their sins and wants them to be saved. The most important thing about Christmas are the first six letters – Christ. I will close by reading you The Incomparable Christ written by an unknown author.
   
  More than nineteen hundred years ago, there was a man who lived in poverty and was reared in obscurity. He possessed neither wealth nor influence. In infancy He startled a king; in childhood He puzzled doctors; in manhood He ruled the course of nature, walked upon the waves as if they were pavements, and hushed the sea to sleep. He used no medicines and yet he healed multitudes. He never wrote a book, and yet all the libraries of the country could not hold the books that have been written about Him. He never wrote a song, and yet He has furnished the theme for more songs than all the songwriters combined. He never marshaled an army, or drafted a soldier, nor fired a gun; yet no leader ever had more volunteers who have, under his orders, persuaded more rebels to stack arms and surrender without a shot fired. Every Sunday the wheels of commerce cease their turning, and multitudes wind their way to worshipping assemblies to pay homage and respect to Him. The names of the past scientists, philosophers, and theologians have come and gone; but the Name of this Man abounds more and more. Though time has spread more than nineteen hundred years between the people of this generation and the scene of His Crucifixion, He still lives. Herod could not destroy Him, and the grave could not hold Him. He stands forth upon the highest pinnacle of glory, proclaimed of God, acknowledged by the angels, adored by saints, and feared by devils, as the living Personal Christ, our Lord and Savior.
  [End of quote]

"Jesus, who is truly man, and truly God, belongs to both the created and uncreated orders simultaneously".

The Vertex of Love

October 8, 2012  By Jonathan Fleischmann


When Mary was predestined in one and the same decree with Jesus Christ by the design of God—before the creation of angels or the universe, and before the existence of sin or evil—she was predestined to be the Spouse of the Holy Spirit … to hold within herself all the love of creation. 
 

Love’s Mechanics

In the return of all created things to God the Father (cf. Jn 1, 1; 16, 28), “the equal and contrary reaction,” says St. Maximilian Kolbe, “proceeds inversely from that of creation.”  In creation, the saint goes on to say, the action of God “proceeds from the Father through the Son and the Spirit, while in the return, by means of the Spirit, the Son becomes incarnate in (the Virgin Mary’s) womb and through Him, love returns to the Father.” ¹ The Saint of Auschwitz goes on:

In the union of the Holy Spirit with her, not only does love bind these two beings, but the first of them (the Holy Spirit) is all the love of the Most Holy Trinity, while the second (the Blessed Virgin Mary) is all the love of creation, and thus in that union heaven is joined to earth, the whole heaven with the whole earth, the whole of Uncreated Love with the whole of created love: this is the vertex of love. ²

Love’s Equilibrium

The form of the diagram shown in Figure 1 is not found in the work of St. Maximilian.  However, it accurately represents the state of equal and opposite action and reaction, that occurs when two bodies make contact.  In this case, the “bodies” represent heaven and earth:  the uncreated and created orders, God and his creation.  The first point I would like to make is that the state of equal and opposite contact forces in Newtonian mechanics requires “force equilibrium.”  It may then seem very wrong to use an image like this one, because how can the state shown between God and his creation be in equilibrium?  Isn’t God’s act of love so much greater than the return of his creation that no “equilibrium” would be possible?  This would certainly be the case if it were not for Emmanuel, that is, God with us.  Jesus, who is truly man, and truly God, belongs to both the created and uncreated orders simultaneously.  In his person, Jesus is both the son of Mary, fully human and like us in all ways except sin, and the Eternal Son of God the Father, infinite and equal in all ways to the Triune God.
 

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Thus, the love of Jesus, the Word Made Flesh who is God, is by itself enough to “balance” the love of God.  However, there is even more in the equation of love’s equilibrium than the love of the Son, infinite and sufficient in itself, though it is.  According to St. Maximilian, the perfect love of the Trinity meets an adequate response in the perfect love of the Immaculate, which is the name St. Maximilian gives to the Blessed Virgin Mary.  How is it possible that Divine Love can find an adequate response in the love of a creature?  It is possible precisely because of the name that the Virgin Mary can claim for herself.  In 1854, the Blessed Virgin Mary proclaimed to St. Bernadette Soubirous: “I am the Immaculate Conception.”  In the words of St. Maximilian, the Blessed Virgin is the created Immaculate Conception, as in the words of St. Bonaventure, the Holy Spirit is the uncreated Immaculate Conception. ³  The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, and the Son ,as the perfect and infinite love between the Father and the Son in the eternal interior life of the Blessed Trinity.  Thus, the Holy Spirit is truly all the love of the Most Holy Trinity.  The Holy Spirit is also called the “Complement” of the Blessed Trinity, because he is the completion of the Trinity, not in “number” (quantitatively), but in essence (qualitatively).

When Mary was predestined in one and the same decree with Jesus Christ, ⁴ by the design of God—before the creation of angels or the universe, and before the existence of sin or evil—she was predestined to be the Spouse of the Holy Spirit. So she was predestined to hold within herself all the love of creation.  Thus, St. Maximilian says that the Blessed Virgin Mary “inserted into the love of the Most Holy Trinity becomes, from the very first moment of her existence, always, forever, the Complement of the Most Holy Trinity.”  We may paraphrase the thoughts of St. Maximilian Kolbe on the spousal relationship between the Holy Spirit, and the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the words of Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner:

In virtue of this spousal union formally denoted by the title, Complement, Mary is able to enter, as no other, into the order of the hypostatic union, her soul being wholly divinized, because by the grace of the Immaculate Conception, it has been ‘transubstantiated’ into the Holy Spirit. ⁵

It is for this reason that Mary—though she is a creature in both her person and her nature—is herself the created Immaculate Conception, and, therefore, all the love of creation. She can actually provide an adequate response to the love of the Holy Spirit, who is the uncreated Immaculate Conception, and, therefore, all the Love of God.  Thus, the equation of love’s equilibrium is balanced again.

Now that we have balanced the equation of love’s equilibrium twice over, we could certainly stop.  However, there is reason to continue.  St. Maximilian does not expressly mention St. Joseph in the context of these reflections.  However, the diagram in Figure 1, based entirely on the saint’s own reflections, certainly suggests the presence of St. Joseph in the order of the response of creation to God the Father.  The order of Father, Son, and, Holy Spirit, shown in the diagram, reflects the order of God’s loving act of creation. This was initiated by the zeal of the Father, designed by the wisdom of the Son, and effected by the action of the Holy Spirit.  This is the order referred to by St. Maximilian when he says that: “the equal and contrary reaction (i.e., the return of all creation to God) proceeds inversely from that of creation.”  We see this reflection in the diagram, where the reaction “force” of love is inverted, and the order of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as the “action force,” is reversed to give the order of Holy Spirit, Son, and Father.

Notice, however, that in the return to God, it is creation that is reacting.  Thus, the individuals reacting—while reflecting the Holy Spirit, Son, and Father to greater or lesser degrees—are all creatures.  We have Mary, who is the perfect similitude (St. Bonaventure), transparent icon (St. Maximilian), or even quasi-incarnation (St. Maximilian) of the Holy Spirit, but who is still a created person, with a created human nature.  We have Jesus, who is the Word Incarnate, the same Person as the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, but who is still in possession of a created human nature.  St. Maximilian stops here, but must we stop here?  I would dare to say that the analogy we have carried out so far on the inspiration of St. Maximilian suggests an obvious completion.  We have St. Joseph, who has been called the “perfect icon of God the Father” by more than one saint. ⁶  In the words of Fr. Joachin Ferrer Arellano:

In the light of the Scotistic thesis on the Primacy of Christ, to take one example, one discovers (…) how the virginal marriage of Mary and Joseph was predestined “ante mundi constitutionem” (before the constitution of the world), as an essential part of the one decree of the Incarnation of the Word in the womb of the Immaculate “ante praevisa merita” (before any consideration of antecedent merit).  Such is the saving plan, “the mystery hidden before the ages in God,” (cf. Eph 3:9) to be accomplished at the high point in the history of salvation.  That high point is the fullness of time (cf. Gal 4:4) when God sent his Son into the most pure bosom of Holy Mary Ever Virgin, espoused to a man of the house of David (cf. Lk 1:26) in fulfillment of the prophecy of Nathan.  God acted thus, that through the obedience of the Spouses of Nazareth the Son might be freely welcomed into history on behalf of all mankind in order to save it.  This welcome took place in the virginal womb of Mary, the Daughter of Zion, and in the house of Joseph, in the family home established by the marriage of the two Spouses (Mary and Joseph), “sanctuary of love and cradle of life.”  This is the theological foundation of the holy Patriarch’s greatness as virginal, messianic father of the Only-begotten of the Father: shadow and transparent icon of Him who wished to make Joseph unique partaker of his fatherhood in order to prepare the human nature of Christ for the holocaust of Calvary.  In this way, He made Joseph Father and Lord of the Church gushing forth from Christ’s opened side and born of the sword of sorrow of the Woman. ⁷

In addition to being the transparent icon of God the Father, St. Joseph was the true, virginal husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary. ⁸  In fact, it can even be said that St. Joseph is the virginal father of Jesus Christ.  For, again in the words of Fr. Joachin Ferrer Arellano:

Although singular, unique, and not univocal with fatherhood as this is ordinarily understood and commonly found among men, the position more common and traditional among theologians upholds the truly real fatherhood of Joseph in relation to Jesus, based 1) on his marriage to Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and 2) on the right of the husband over his wife.  He, therefore, who is born virginally of Mary, by reason of his birth, intimately pertains in some manner to Joseph as father. … In view of the dignity of Joseph as husband of Mary, to whom belongs the fruit of his wife’s womb, one is not permitted to overlook … how the indivisible virginity of both spouses—not simply that of Mary, but also that of her husband, the son of David—is ordered to the virginal fatherhood of Joseph according to the Spirit, in virtue of the obedience of faith to the saving plan of God.  This plan includes the messianic fatherhood of Joseph as son of David in relation to his virginal Son, constituted Son of David, the messianic King, because He was Son of Joseph. ⁹

In the return of all created things to God the Father, it is under the leadership, and in imitation of, St. Joseph, our patriarch, that the individual members of the Church must, by the merits gained for us through the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word of God, be transubstantiated into Mary, who is the Virgo Ecclesia Facta (Virgin-Made-Church). ¹⁰ It is only by being transubstantiated into Mary, the created Immaculate Conception, that we can be united to God as she is uniquely united to God, being transubstantiated with her into the uncreated Immaculate Conception, who is the Holy Spirit.  In virtue of this transubstantiation, we are possessed by the Immaculate, and we are thereby formed into a single community, or Church, sharing her personality.  To St. Maximilian, this is the only way that we can be members of Christ’s Church, and thereby united to God.  In the words of Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner:

To this dynamic union of love in which not only the being of the Holy Spirit and that of Mary are united, but the entire love of heaven and that of earth touch, merge and become one so as to culminate in the Incarnation, in the birth of the Son of God, the Man-God, and then in the incorporation of the members of the Church into that Body conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Saint of Niepokalanow and Auschwitz (St. Maximilian Kolbe) ascribes the fecundity of the Holy Spirit, precisely because Complement of Father and Son. … Whence the importance of Mary’s possession of those who wish to be incorporated into Christ, conformed to him in life and in death: except through her it cannot be achieved (emphasis added).  This mysterious mutual possession, then, is the basis of all other cooperation in the work of salvation, the reason for rejecting the Protestant solus, and “passive” ecclesio-typology, and affirming the universal Marian mediation of grace or active ecclesio-typology. ¹¹

Thus, in accordance with St. Maximilian’s principle of action and reaction, what was first reversed in the order of God’s creative act, in the fullness of time, in the objective order of salvation, is reversed again in the subjective order of salvation. What was first reversed in the objective order of salvation means that, through the action of the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ was incarnate of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and became man, and through him, love returned to the Father.  What was reversed again in the subjective order of salvation means that, in imitation of our patriarch and leader, St. Joseph, through the merits gained for us by the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary, we can be transubstantiated into the Immaculate, and thereby form one Church, sharing her personality. Consequently, we share in her unique union with God in eternity, which is the Beatific Vision.  This can be illustrated in the diagram shown in Figure 1, if one imagines traveling from the top of the diagram to the bottom, and then returning from the bottom of the diagram to the top again.

Love’s VertexOur final meditation on the diagram shown in Figure 1 is the point of contact between heaven and earth, the vertex of love, where all the love of God, and all the love of creation, meet and are joined: “in that union heaven is joined to earth, the whole heaven with the whole earth, the whole of Uncreated Love with the whole of created love.” ¹²  This point of contact, between the whole heaven and the whole earth, is, according to St. Maximilian, the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Why is this?  Why is the vertex of love not the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is love?  Indeed, the Saint of Auschwitz has been sharply criticized, and even ridiculed by some theologians, for what they have called “a heresy” along the lines of that of Joachim of Fiore. ¹³  It is claimed that, by making the vertex of love the Immaculate Conception, the centrality of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is denied.  However, precisely the opposite is true.  For, in the words of Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner:

Today, this joachimite tendency generally reveals itself in constant anxiety about Catholic proneness to “exaggerate” Mary, and a downplaying (emphasis added) of the active role of Mary in the work of salvation as Mother of God, and co-redemptress so as to exalt the “mediation” of the Holy Spirit as principal “co-redemptor” (and for some “mother”) of whom Mary is but the instrument (as are we), or so as to speak of the suffering of the Father. … But such historical trends have always been the prelude of Unitarianism: not an affirmation of the Trinity, but its denial, a denial which must ultimately lead to some form of pantheism. … The significance of St. Maximilian’s reflections on the Holy Spirit, and Mary, and of his preferred terminology cannot be underestimated. ¹⁴

It is the relationship of Mary to her Divine Son, which is the relationship of Mother of God, or Theotokos, which is the source of all her dignity, unparalleled among creatures.   This dignity so far transcends the dignity of every other created being as to make her a “quasi-part” of the Blessed Trinity.  It is in this very dignity, however, that the Incarnation of Jesus Christ is central, which is why St. Maximilian Kolbe’s reflections on the Blessed Virgin Mary are directly opposed to the joachimite heresy.  Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner paraphrases St. Maximilian Kolbe on this subject as follows:

Thus, Mary’s self-definition is: “I am the Immaculate Conception.”  Only Mary can say this, because only of Mary Immaculate, jointly predestined with Christ for an absolute primacy in creation, can it be said that the whole world and each of us was made “for her”. ¹⁵ Therefore, of no other just person can it be said as it was said to Mary “The Lord is with thee.” ¹⁶  For no other than the Immaculate can be Mother of God (emphasis added).  Indeed, she remains only a creature; nonetheless in virtue of the Immaculate Conception she far transcends the supernatural perfection of even the greatest saints and of all the saints together, for as “quasi-part” of the Trinity, she not only participates in the divine perfections, she is “inserted into the very bosom of the Trinity and into the order of the Incarnation.” ¹⁷ … ¹⁸  To be part of the Trinity, then, in so singular a way revolves about the divine Maternity, and by extension the spiritual maternity as well.  For in loving the Immaculate the divine Persons love us. ¹⁹

In the famous Roman conference of 1937, St. Maximilian defined sanctity with an equation: “S: v = V”.  The letter “S” stands for sanctity, the lowercase letter “v” stands for the will of a creature, and the uppercase letter “V” stands for the will of God.  It is Mary Immaculate who is the perfect image, or icon, of sanctity, because it is only she who satisfies Kolbe’s equation.  “We may add with the Saint: perfect sanctity is perfect charity or Immaculate Conception.” ²⁰  This is the meaning of the vertex of love, and why that vertex is the Immaculate Conception, rather than the Incarnation.  Mary is a created person, and yet her will is perfectly united to the will of God: “v = V.”  In the words of St. Maximilian:

The Immaculate, the full of grace, was always united to the will of God.  From all eternity, she was in the thought of God who had willed her so holy and perfect, to correspond with his will in a manner so complete.  Hence, we can say that to do the will of God, means to do the will of the Immaculate, and to do the will of the Immaculate means to do the will of God, because she is always united to God: the Lord is with thee; because she is always docile to the call of God: be it done to me; because she is always solicitous for the glory of God, always adoring, praising and thanking: my soul magnifies the Lord. ²¹

We know well from St. Thomas Aquinas that love is in the will. ²²  Thus, in the equation, “v = V,” we see that all the love of creation (in the will of the Immaculate Virgin Mary) is united to all the love of the Most Holy Trinity (in the will of the Holy Spirit), and, in the words of St. Maximilian, “in that union heaven is joined to earth, the whole heaven with the whole earth, the whole of Uncreated Love with the whole of created love: this is the vertex of love.” ²³

Oh sweet heart of Mary, be our salvation.
Ave Maria!

1. SK 1318.  All citations from the writings of St. Maximilian Kolbe in this paper, with the exception of the Roman Conferences, are abbreviated SK and taken from Scritti di Massimiliano Kolbe (Roma 1997). ↩
2. Ibid. ↩
3. Regarding the Mysteries of the interior life of the Blessed Trinity, St. Bonaventure said that the Son can be properly said to be “a conceived”, but only the Holy Spirit can be properly said to be “conception” (in I Sent.).  St. Maximilian added the word “Immaculate” (perfect, holy) to the name given the Holy Spirit by St. Bonaventure, an addition St. Bonaventure would surely have approved. ↩
4. The following is an excerpt taken from the Apostolic Constitution of Pope Pius IX Ineffabilis Deus, issued on December 8, 1854, in which the Holy Father solemnly declared the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception:  “From the very beginning, and before time began, the eternal Father chose and prepared for his only-begotten Son a Mother in whom the Son of God would become incarnate and from whom, in the blessed fullness of time, he would be born into this world.  Above all creatures did God so love her that truly in her was the Father well pleased with singular delight.  Therefore, far above all the angels and all the saints so wondrously did God endow her with the abundance of all heavenly gifts poured from the treasury of his divinity that this mother, ever absolutely free of all stain of sin, all fair and perfect, would possess that fullness of holy innocence and sanctity than which, under God, one cannot even imagine anything greater, and which, outside of God, no mind can succeed in comprehending fully. …  And hence the very words with which the Sacred Scriptures speak of Uncreated Wisdom and set forth his eternal origin, the Church, both in its ecclesiastical offices and in its liturgy, has been wont to apply likewise to the origin of the Blessed Virgin, inasmuch as God, by one and the same decree, had established the origin of Mary and the Incarnation of Divine Wisdom.”  Here Blessed Pope Pius IX makes use both of the Scotistic thesis on the Absolute Joint Primacy of Jesus and Mary, both of whose existence were ordained before God’s act of creation and before any consideration of original sin (cf. R. Rosini, O.F.M., Mariology of Blessed John Duns Scotus, translated by P. Fehlner, F.I., New Bedford 2008), and the formulation of St. Anselm, who said that Mary “shines with a purity greater than which none can be imagined” (De Conceptione Virginis). ↩
5. P. Fehlner, F.I., St. Maximilian Ma. Kolbe, Martyr of Charity – Pneumatologist (New Bedford, 2004). ↩
6. St. Theresa of Avila and St. Bernadette Soubirous are among these (cf. A. Dozè, “Le mystère de Saint Joseph révéle a deux femmes: Therèse (d’Avila) et Bernadette”, in Actas simposio de Kevelaer 2005), as well as St. Peter Julian Eymard (Month of St. Joseph). ↩
7. J. Ferrer Arellano, “The Virginal Marriage of Mary and Joseph according to Bl. John Duns Scotus”, in Bl. John Duns Scotus and His Mariology, Commemoration of the Seventh Centenary of His Death, Acts of the Symposium on Scotus’ Mariology, Grey College, Durham – England (New Bedford, 2009). ↩
8. Blessed John Duns Scotus and St. Maximilian Kolbe are both clear on this point, as are many other saints, including Blessed Pope John Paul II (cf. Redemptoris Custos).  The fact that Mary is the Spouse of the Holy Spirit, and the fact that their perfect spousal love results in Mary’s transubstantiation into the Holy Spirit, does not imply that the Holy Spirit is the “husband” of Mary, or that the Holy Spirit is the “father” of Jesus.  To approach an understanding of the perfect spousal union of love between the Holy Spirit and Mary, it must be understood that highest experience of spousal love, which is between husband and wife within the holy sacrament of marriage, is but an imperfect reflection of the source of spousal love, which is the Love between the Father and the Son in the Blessed Trinity, both of Whom in the inner life of the Trinity are, of course, without “gender” in the human sense of the term.  This Perfect Spousal Love is the Holy Spirit, and it is as a fruit of this Spousal Love that the Blessed Virgin Mary is one with the Holy Spirit; transubstantiated into the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit quasi-incarnate.  (P. Fehlner, St. Maximilian Ma. Kolbe, Martyr of Charity…) ↩
9. J. Ferrer Arellano, “The Virginal Marriage of Mary and Joseph…” ↩
10. The title “Virgo Ecclesia Facta,” or Virgin-Made-Church” is applied to the Blessed Virgin by St. Francis of Assisi in his Antiphon for the Office of the Passion (cf. J. Schneider, O.F.M., Virgo Ecclesia Facta: The Presence of Mary in the Crucifix of San Damiano and in the Office of the Passion of St. Francis of Assisi, New Bedford 2004).  The phrase “transubstantiation into the Immaculate,” though surprising, is used twice by St. Maximilian Kolbe to describe the total consecration to the Immaculate he demanded of his priests (cf. A. Geiger, F.I., “Marian Mediation as Presence and Transubstantiation into the Immaculate”, in Mary at the Foot of the Cross – III:  Mater Unitatis, Acts of the Third International Symposium on Marian Coredemption, New Bedford 2003). ↩
11. P. Fehlner, St. Maximilian Ma. Kolbe, Martyr of Charity… ↩
12. SK 1318 ↩
13. Joachim of Fiore was a theologian (c. 1135 – 1202) who de-emphasized the central role of the Incarnation in the Salvific Order.  His theories were declared heretical at the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) and at the Synod of Arles (1263). ↩
14. P. Fehlner, St. Maximilian Ma. Kolbe, Martyr of Charity… ↩
15. SK 1305. ↩
16. SK 1295 ↩
17. SK 1320; 1305; 1295; 1288. ↩
18.  Father Fehlner continues:  “While this personal communion or inexistence of the Holy Spirit and Mary Immaculate is absolutely unique in its perfection (a hierarchy or sacred order of its own kind), it is nonetheless the ontological basis making possible the sanctification of the Church as Bride of Christ, as sharing in the redemptive sacramentality of the Incarnation.  This mediation of Mary qua created Immaculate Conception is the source of that mystical personality of the Church qua Bride, a personality of virgin and mother underlying and permeating every other dimension of the Church, including the petrine, hierarchical, sacramental-liturgical.”  (P. Fehlner, St. Maximilian Ma. Kolbe, Martyr of Charity…)  See also J. Ferrer Arellano, “The Triple and Inseparable Mediation of the Immaculate, the Eucharist and the Petrine Ministry in the Building Up of the Church Until the Parousia (The Three Whites)”, in Mary at the Foot of the Cross VI: Marian Coredemption in the Eucharistic Mystery, Acts of the Sixth International Symposium on Marian Coredemption (New Bedford, 2007). ↩
19. P. Fehlner, St. Maximilian Ma. Kolbe, Martyr of Charity… ↩
20. Ibid. ↩
21. St. Maximilian Kolbe, in Roman Conferences of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, translated with introduction and notes byFr. Peter Damian Ma. Fehlner, F.I. (New Bedford, 2004).↩
22. Despite the objections of Dietrich von Hildebrand (cf. Dietrich von Hildebrand, The Nature of Love). ↩
23. SK 1318. ↩

….

Taken from: http://www.hprweb.com/2012/10/the-vertex-of-love/

Jesus Christ gave right co-ordinates for Queen of Sheba

The Queen of (Beer) Sheba

by

 Damien F. Mackey

 

  

 
Following on from my recent:

How the Queen of Sheba may parallel Abimelech (Genesis)

https://www.academia.edu/9477716/How_the_Queen_of_Sheba_may

according to which the biblical “Queen” referred to in both the Old Testament (I Kings 10:1) and the New Testament (Matthew 12:42; Luke 11:31) was Tamar, sister of Absalom, whose grandfather was Talmai king of southern Geshur (Shur), I now want to show how Jesus gave most helpful co-ordinates enabling for one to establish the Queen’s geographical location.

It turns out to be really quite simple.

“End of the land”

As determined previously, the Greek tes ges (της γης) as given in both Matthew and Luke means “the land”, the land of Israel.

Israel’s “end”, or border, was Dan in the north and Beersheba in the south (hence, we often read: “from Dan to Beersheba”).

Obviously only the southern border is relevant here in the case of the:

“[Queen] of the South”

“The south” is a common biblical term for the Negev.

So, we are directed to the chief town, Beersheba, that stands at the southern border of the kingdom of Israel, in the (northern) Negev – and known as “the Capital of the Negev”.

The Old Testament fully supports this, giving the name of the Queen’s realm as “Sheba”, which is just another name for Beersheba (Joshua 19:2): “… Beersheba (or Sheba) …”.

And, given the ancient city’s strategic location of intersecting trade routes, we ought not be surprised to read that the Queen of (Beer)sheba travelled to Jerusalem with so richly-laden a camel train as she did (I Kings 10:2, 10), and that: “Never again were so many spices brought in as those the Queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon”.

Christ the King



Jesus' Three Offices: Prophet, Priest, and King

by Matt Slick

Jesus is both divine and human at the same time. Therefore, in the one person of Jesus are two distinct natures. This is called the hypostatic union, but, this isn't all we know about the person and work of Christ. Jesus also occupies three main offices: Prophet, Priest, and King. In other words, Jesus functions and/or has functioned in these offices. Let's take a look.

Christ as Prophet

A prophet of God is someone who reveals God, speaks for God, and communicates to people the truths that God wants them to know. Undoubtedly, Jesus did this when he came to do the will of the Father (Luke 22:42), to reveal the Father (Matt. 11:27), and to speak the things of the Father (John 8:28; 12:49).

In the Old Testament Moses said in Deut. 18:15, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him." This prophecy is quoted by Peter in Acts 3:22-23 in reference to Jesus, “Moses said, ‘The Lord God shall raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren; to Him you shall give heed in everything He says to you. 23 ‘And it shall be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’" The context of Acts 3:22 is clear that it is speaking of Jesus. In Acts 3:15 it speaks of Jesus being raised from the dead. In v. 16 Jesus is the one who strengthened a certain man. Christ is mentioned in v. 18 as needing to suffer. In v. 20 Jesus is called the Christ.  Verse 21 mentions how God spoke "by the mouth of his holy prophets from ancient time." Then we have v. 22 which quotes Deut. 18:15. The context is clearly about Christ.

Furthermore, Jesus refers to himself as a prophet.

• Luke 13:33, "Just at that time some Pharisees came up, saying to Him, "Go away and depart from here, for Herod wants to kill You." 32 And He said to them, "Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I reach My goal.' 33 "Nevertheless I must journey on today and tomorrow and the next day; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem."
• Matt. 13:57, "And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his home town, and in his own household.” 58 And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.."

In Luke 13:33 Jesus refers to himself as a prophet because he knows he is about to die, but he cannot do it outside of Jerusalem. Also, in Matt. 13:57 Jesus speaks about a prophet having no honor in his home town, and that is why he did not do many miracles there. Clearly, Jesus is referring to himself as a prophet.

Christ as Priest

The priests were the ones in the Old Testament who offered sacrifices to God in order to cleanse of sin. Ultimately, all such priests were representations of Jesus who is the True Priest who offered himself as a sacrifice (Eph. 5:2; Heb. 9:26-27; 10:12) by which he cleanses us of our sin (1 John 1:7). But, Jesus is called a priest after the order of Melchizedek. “Where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” (Heb. 6:20).   Heb. 9:11 says, “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation." As a priest, Jesus is our mediator between God and ourselves (1 Tim. 2:5).

It could be said that both the Prophet and the priest stand between God and man. In the case of the prophet, he delivers the word of God from the top down. In the case of the priest, he delivers the sacrifices of people to God from bottom to top. So, Jesus is a prophet who delivers the word of God to us, and he is also the priest who delivers his sacrifice, on our behalf, to God the father.

Christ as King

A king is someone who has authority to rule and reign over a group of people. Jesus is just such a king. He is called the King of the Jews by the Magi (Matt. 2:2), and Jesus accepts that title in Matt. 27:11, "Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor questioned Him, saying, 'Are You the King of the Jews?' And Jesus said to him, 'It is as you say.'” Matt. 21:5 speaks of Jesus and says, "Behold your King is coming to you, gentle, and mounted on a donkey." Remember, Jesus is King in that he rules and judges. "And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war." (Rev. 19:11). The armies follow him (Rev. 19:14).

The phrase, "Kingdom of God," occurs 66 times in the NASB--most of them in the synoptic gospels. “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:14). Jesus taught us to pray, "Thy Kingdom come." (Matt. 6:10). Is there a kingdom of God without a King? No. Jesus is that king: "'Are You the King of the Jews?' And Jesus said to him, 'It is as you say.'" (Matt. 27:11).

Does his three offices diminish Christ's deity?

No, they do not. Jesus is still fully divine and human even now (Col. 2:9) and presently holds the three offices mentioned above. It is simply a manifestation of the work of the person of Christ who is Prophet, Priest, and King. By the way, God is called the King in Psalm 95:3, "For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods." So, if it does not diminish God's deity to be called a king, then it does not diminish or deny Christ's deity by calling him a King--or, for that matter, a Prophet and a Priest.

....

Taken from: http://carm.org/prophet-priest-king