Tag Archives: Jesus

The Queenship of Mary

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“Christians live from feast to feast,” St. Athanasius said. The church’s feasts are linked to each other through the year, and every feast is linked to the great feast of the Resurrection of Jesus.

The feasts of Mary follow the pattern of the feasts of her Son, for she shares in his saving work. Following the feasts year by year, we learn the mysteries of God, little by little. Mary was blessed from her conception. ( Immaculate Conception, Dec. 8). We celebrate her birth 9 month later. (The Nativity of Mary, September 7). Her death and assumption into heaven are celebrated Augustus 15th.

The Feast of the Queenship of Mary, August 22, is part of the mystery of her assumption into heaven. Introduced into the liturgy of the Roman Catholic church in 1955, the feast celebrates the privileged place of Mary in heaven. She “was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory when her earthly life was over, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things.” (Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium 59)

Royal titles were commonly given to God and those anointed by God in the Old Testament; Christianity continued the pratice, giving royal titles to Jesus and Mary. She is called queen in traditional Christian prayers like the Hail Holy Queen (Salve regina) and Queen of Heaven (Regina Coeli):

“Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope. To you do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To you do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in the valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, your eyes of mercy towards us, and after this our exile, show to us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.

Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Mary is a queen, but also a mother. She is the Mother of God, Mother of Jesus Christ, Mother of us all, the New Eve, given to us by her Son from the Cross through his disciple John.

Mary knows her greatness is from her Lord, as she acknowledges in her Magnificat:

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior. He who is mighty has done great things to me; holy is his name.” ( Luke 1:46-55)

In the portrayal above, Fra Angelico captures Mary’s humility; she bows before her Son, her hands closed in prayer. The saints below her know that honors given to her are a reflection of the graces promised to humanity.

“Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.”

St. Alphonsus Liguori: August 1

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Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787) was born near Naples, Italy, into a noble family. He began life as a lawyer but gave up law to become a priest and devote himself to bringing the gospel to the poor. His sermons and instructions were simple. “I never preached a sermon that the poorest old woman in the congregation didn’t understand,” he claimed. In 1732 he founded the Redemptorists, the Congregation of the Holy Redeemer. 

A prolific writer, poet and musician, Alphonsus authored a series of devotional books on Mary and important works on moral theology.  He advocated leniency and mercy towards people, steering a course between severity and laxity.  In hearing confessions, he said he never denied anyone absolution. We can see why he’s an example for pastoral workers today.

 In 1762, he became bishop of Sant Agata dei Goti, a small diocese near Naples, where he worked to reform the clergy and renew its people in their faith. In 1775 he resigned his bishopric because of his health, but continued writing religious and devotional tracts till his death in 1787. In 1816 he was canonized by Pope Gregory XVI. Pope Pius IX declared him a doctor of the church in 1871.

“Hasn’t God a claim on our love? From all eternity God has loved us. ‘ I first loved you. You had not yet appeared in the light of day, nor did the world yet exist, but already I loved you. From all eternity I have loved you.’

God gave us a soul endowed with memory, intellect and will; he gave us a body equipped with the senses; it was for us that he created heaven and earth and all things. The truth is the eternal Father went so far as to give us his only Son. 

  By giving us his Son, whom he did not spare precisely so that he might spare us, he bestowed on us at once every good: grace, love and heaven; for all these goods are certainly inferior to the Son. He who did not spare his own Son, but handed him over for all of us: how could he fail to give us along with his Son all good things?”

The prayer for his feast day points out it’s our turn to do what Alphonse’s did:

O God who constantly raise up in your church new examples of virtue, grant that we may follow so closely in the footsteps of the Bishop Saint Alphonsus in his zeal for souls as to attain the same rewards that are his in heaven.

Martha, Mary and Lazarus: July 29

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The feast of Martha, Mary and Lazarus, the family at Bethany, (once feast of St. Martha alone) is celebrated on July 29th. The family were all friends of Jesus, who blessed them with one of his most important miracles– raising Lazarus from the dead. The church wants us to see them all together, for Jesus affected them all by his presence.

But Martha still stands out in today’s feast. The  gospel readings from St. John and St. Luke feature her. Martha met Jesus when her brother Lazarus died and spoke those beautiful words of faith when Jesus asked if she believed he could bring life to the dead. “Yes, Lord, I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.” ( John 11:  )

Her faith was also the faith of Mary and Lazarus too. Jesus was at home with them.

Yet, there’s another side of Martha I can’t resist. The Martha who does everything and sometimes runs out of steam doing it. No matter how strong our faith, we’re still human. Isn’t Bethany Martha’s house? That’s what the gospels seem to indicate.That’s why this favorite picture of Martha introduces this blog. 

The 13th century Tuscan artist, Giovanni di Milano, brings us to Bethany where Jesus is visiting Martha and Mary. The table’s set for four people. That would be Jesus, Lazarus, Mary and Martha.

All of a sudden a knock on the door, and standing there are some of Jesus’ disciples, led by Peter. One  of them gestures towards Peter, as if saying “he told us to come.”

Poor Martha in her apron holds up her hands, “What am I supposed to do?”

There will be no miracle, except the miracle of Martha’s hospitality. More than four will be fed.

That story’s in the gospel if we let our imagination roam a little bit, like the artist does. And here’s a look at Bethany today.

Almighty ever-living God, your Son was welcomed to Bethany, Martha’s house, as a guest. Grant, we pray, that through her intercession and that of her brother and sister we may serve Christ faithfully in our brothers and sisters and finally be received by you into your heavenly home. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

He Loved Us: Dilexit Nos

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When I typed in “Sacred Heart” with “Pope Francis” on the Vatican website yesterday, I got 1826 results. In his 13 years as pope, Francis referenced the Sacred Heart of Jesus that many times in his public statements. . He did it in talks to religious communities dedicated to the Sacred Heart who came to Rome for a general chapter, to representatives of hospitals, universities and places associated with this devotion. There is even a reference to the Sacred Heart in a talk the pope gave on artificial intelligence.

His Encyclical Dilexit Nos, written last October,  is a long work that surely reflects years of thought on this mystery.  Francis believed a  world increasingly heartless needed to be reminded of God’s love.

It’s a work well worth reading. I took away a number of things from Dilexit Nos on the symbolism of the heart. For one thing, Pope Francis cautions  against being fixed on one artistic representation of this mystery. The meaning of the Sacred Heart can be expressed in many ways, not just the symbolic heart or the image of Christ showing us his heart that usually recalls this mystery.

The gospel at Mass today of the Shepherd searching for the lost sheep is an image of the love of God for us. The sign my community the Passionists wears is a symbol of God’s infinite love. The pope is his letter sees a sign of that love in a mother who takes her little child into her arms after the child has done wrong as an example. No matter what her child has done, the mother still loves.  The love of God takes many forms; the heart symbolizes them all.

I also like the pope’s observation that devotions change over time. The devotion of First Friday Mass and Communion originally was a response to Jansenism that saw humanity unworthy to approach Jesus present in the Eucharist. 

Today, as so many ignore the Eucharist, the pope sees the devotion calling us to remember this Sacrament of God’’s Love.

5th Week of Easter: Readings and Feasts

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The Acts of the Apostles, read this week, describes  the church’s growth after the Resurrection of Jesus as Paul and Barnabas bring the gospel tos the gentiles in the Asia Minor cities of Lystra, Derbe, and Pisidia. Yet, the mission raised questions in the Jewish Christian community at Jerusalem. Are the gentiles taking over?

To meet what some considered a threat,  a council was called in Jerusalem, which had enormous consequences . Councils are usually important events in the life of the church. The Second Vatican Council that took place in the 1960s was an important event for the church in our time.

The Council of Jerusalem is described on Wednesday to Saturday of this week.

The gospel readings for the remainder of the Easter season are from the Farewell Discourse from John’s gospel. They help us understand the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and the other sacraments.

“I will not leave you orphans,” Jesus says, yet he will not be with them as he was before. The Paraclete, the Spirit of truth, will teach them all things; Jesus will be present to them –and to us– in signs.

The Easter Tree

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The Cross  flowers at Easter time. There’s a flowering cross brimming with life  in the great apse of the church of San Clemente in Rome. Its branches swirl with the gifts God gives. It brings life, not death. Humanity is there, signified in Mary and the disciple John. We are there in the doves resting on it. Creation itself is there, drawing new life from it. The hand of God makes it so.

The sacraments offered in this sacred place bring life-giving graces to us.

An early preacher Theodore the Studite  praises the mystery of the cross:.

“How precious the gift of the cross, how splendid to contemplate! In the cross there is no mingling of good and evil, as in the tree of paradise: it is wholly beautiful to behold and good to taste. The fruit of this tree is not death but life, not darkness but light. This tree does not cast us out of paradise, but opens the way for our return.

“This was the tree on which Christ, like a king on a chariot, destroyed the devil, the Lord of death, and freed the human race from his tyranny. This was the tree upon which the Lord, like a brave warrior wounded in his hands, feet and side, healed the wounds of sin that the evil serpent had inflicted on our nature. A tree once caused our death, but now a tree brings life. Once deceived by a tree, we have now repelled the cunning serpent by a tree.

“What an astonishing transformation! That death should become life, that decay should become immortality, that shame should become glory! Well might the holy Apostle exclaim: Far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world!”

San Clemente, Rome

See Children’s Prayers here for a children’s version of the Easter Tree.

Her Station Keeping

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The candles at Tenebrae lead to another reflection. The 15 candles stand for Jesus, his twelve apostles and the two disciples from Emmaus. As 14 candles are extinquished, we remember those who left him on Good Friday and fled. 

Mary, the mother of Jesus, is not represented in the Tenebrae candles. She stood by his cross on Good Friday, but she is not among those our candles represent. Where did she go after his death and burial on Good Friday?  Where was she on Holy Saturday?

She was among the women of Galilee who came up to the feast with Jesus. It’s likely they stayed in Bethany, the traditional place pilgrims from Galilee stayed. She must have been welcomed by the friends of Jesus, Mary, Martha and Lazarus. Did Lazarus, raised from the dead, offer her hope? Still, his death was so unlike that of her Son. He died of some sickness; Jesus was brutally put to death.  

Would Mary have the same questions of God as Martha had of Jesus? Why? This was a day the piercing sword foretold by Simeon the temple struck most deeply into her heart. This was a day her faith was so fiercely tried.

In our calendars, Saturday is a day we remember Mary. We remember her today and ask her to pray that we may believe in the promises of Christ.

At the cross her station keeping,                                            stood the mournful mother weeping,                                             close to Jesus till the last. 

Saturday, 4th Week of Lent

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Lent 1


Readings
The lenten readings from John’s gospel for today and the next week of lent (chapters 7-10) describe Jesus‘ activity in Jerusalem during the eight- day Feast of Tabernacles, the popular autumn feast that brought many visitors to Jerusalem to celebrate the grape harvest and pray for rain. Water was brought into the temple courtyard from the Pool of Siloam and lighted torches were ablaze during the celebration.

Arriving late for the feast, Jesus taught in the temple area and revealed who he was, using the images of water and light. His cure of the blind man, in the 9th chapter of the gospel, is a sign of the light he bestows on a blind world.

Yet, some don’t see. Those hearing him are divided; some want him arrested, some believe, some question his Galilean origins and his upbringing as a carpenter’s son. How can he be the Messiah, a teacher in Israel?

From Nazareth to Jerusalem Jesus met unbelief. Why didn’t all see and believe? People doubted him then; they  doubt him now. Even his disciples are slow to believe. “How slow you are to believe…”Jesus says to the two on the way to Emmaus.

But the Word continues to teach in our world and instruct disciples weak in faith. His mission is not ended. That’s why it’s important to stress the great miracles that dominate John’s narrative: the meeting with the Samaritan woman that brings her to faith, the cure of the paralyzed man at Bethseda, the cure of the man born blind, the raising of Lazarus. They tell us of God’s pursuit of humanity, despite its blindness and deafness.

Saints like Paul of the Cross knew that. However fierce the opposition, the Word of God, Jesus Christ, brings light and life.

“All the works of God are now attacked by the devil, now by human beings. I now have both at once. Don’t be dismayed when contrary factions and rejections arise, no matter how great they are. Be encouraged by the example of St. Teresa who said that the more she was involved in enterprises for the glory of God, the more difficulties she experienced.” (Letter 1180)

The Lord is my light and my salvation,
Whom should I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life,
Of whom should I be afraid?

 Kingdom of “The Least”

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     Lent is a time for us to face up to how very much our God loves us. This is who our God is. Because of this, Lent is also our time to face up to to the hurt that we give to Our Beloved One whenever we behave in unloving ways. We can begin by looking at the commandments that our Church teaches us and examining our conscience.  In the Gospel for Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent our Lord warns us: “Whoever breaks the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven.” Ouch! I look at the Ten and see how I fall short in fulfilling them, and at times provide a bad example for those around me. I am certainly one of “the least”. Sadly I am not alone. So many of us are in the same boat. And yet Our Lord still includes us in His Kingdom. The least, but still there. Like Fr Victor says, Our Lord has not given up on us!

     How can we help God get us out of that hole? Perhaps we can begin by approaching our Creator with humility and trust. In the powerful Gospel for Saturday of this same week, we hear Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. The attitude of the Pharisee immediately places him next to me as one “of the least!” He has been trying to be “good”, and he feels joy and comfort in the presence of God, especially in his House. This is good. So many of us Christians walk into Mass full of hope and gratitude. But oh! That cardinal sin of pride, the failure to love our neighbor as ourselves!

     The tax collector seems to have the better attitude, full of shame, contrite, totally surrendering to the judgement of God. He knows that he certainly is one of the “least”. I’ve always said, “I want to be like him,” in all prayer, specially during the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Today, though, Fr Victor pointed out that this tax collector so far has failed to know how incredibly great is the Love God has for him. This is what our Lord Jesus came to teach. At least the tax collector has a glimmer of belief in the mercy of God. It’s a good beginning, and God exalts him for that. 

     Sometimes at Mass I feel like the Pharisee, satisfied with my efforts and full of gratitude for God’s Love and presence in my life. The Celebration of the Mass seems like such a joyful time and I wonder why so many fellow worshippers have such long faces! I should know better, because there are times when I walk into Church with that same unhappy mood! All I know is that I am still one of “the least” and I’m not proud of it. I wonder how far down the list I am? Does God keep lists? Who is the least of the least?

     I was sitting at the Monastery Chapel thinking about these things and my eyes suddenly looked up to the crucifix up front, and I began to cry. My beloved God chose to become the Least of the least upon that Cross, taking on the pride of the Pharisee, the corruption of the tax collector, my unworthiness, the misery of of those with long faces at Church, and the viciousness and brutality of His time and mine.

     Why would God do this? The answer to his mystery is beyond all comprehension. But I do know that the main reason is the incredible love that God has for me and every person on Earth, no matter how far down the list we are.

     May the Passion of Jesus Christ be always in our hearts.

Orlando Hernandez

Hold Unwaveringly to our Confession

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Commentators find it hard to establish the time and place the Epistle to the Hebrews was written. Most say it was written for early Jewish Christians trying to figure out their relationship to the religion of their ancestors.

I wonder if Jewish Christians in Rome would be especially among those for whom the letter was written. Rome is one of the places commentators say it might have originated..

The Jewish Christian community of Rome was a large community attached to Jerusalem and the temple, even Jews who had embraced a new faith. They would have been onlookers as Titus marched triumphantly into the Rome carting the spoils and slaves in chains from the Jewish wars and the destruction of the temple in 70. Afterwards, they would have watched the Colosseum bring built with the gold from the temple. Less than 5 years before some were singled out as renegade Jews and blamed by Nero for the great fired that had destroyed the city.

As we read the words from the Epistle to the Hebrews today I wonder if we hear words written especially for them. 

“Let us hold unwaveringly to our confession that gives us hope, for he who made the promise is trustworthy.We must consider how to rouse one another to love and good works. We should not stay away from our assembly, as is the custom of some, but encourage one another, and this all the more as you see the day drawing near.”  Hebrews  10:19-25   

It would be a hard time then for Jewish Christians in Rome “to put your light on a lamp stand,” as we read in today’s gospel . It was a time for laying low, “staying away from our assembly.”

Faith has to be professed in season and out of season. It’s never to be hid under a bushel.