SPIRITUALITY 101

SPIRITUAL REFLECTION- 71

Deacon Jim Breazile o.c.d.s.

Father Peter Faver, a renowned priest of the Society of Jesus was a truly great spiritual director.  One day a gentleman asked him for some points on which to meditate.  Th priest replied. "My son, all I have to do is this: several times a day I think: Christ so poor on the Cross and me so rich! Christ suffering hunger and thirst and me eating at such lavish banquets! Christ naked, and me expensively dressed! Christ suffering terrible pain, and me enjoying so many pleasures!"

"Is that all?" "That's all."

The man left somewhat disillusioned, and later on he was invited out to dinner, and in the midst of succulent dishes, sparkling wines, music and amusement, he started to think. "With Christ so hungry and thirsty her I am stuffing myself and drinking like an idiot."  He began to weep, got up and left without saying a word and entered a monastery.

This is a demonstration of the great power of meditation.  If, however, the gentleman in question had not acted on what he gained from meditation, it would have had no value to him.  It is the same with us.  Meditation is a necessary step in our love for God, but if we remain in meditation all our life, and do not act upon what we learn from it, our love for the Lord does not grow.

DEVOTION - Growth in love- 3^rd  stage

      DEVOTIONALS- Meditation

The third stage of love is the engagement of the imagination in meditation. As a persons love grows for other person it is common to accept a token of remembrance such as a friendship rings, pictures, fraternity pins that stimulate meditation on the relationship with the one loved.  These symbols recall the loved one and extend the love in the absence of the object of love. For many, even years after a loved one has died, pictures and other articles serve as useful reminders of the love to rekindle and extend the love. They stimulate the imagination and in this way make the loved one present in a form of meditation.

Meditation is often confused with prayer. Although meditation is a common passage leading to prayer, it is not in itself prayer. Prayer is often considered to be a conversation with God. By any definition, prayer involves a personal relationship with the person of God. Meditation is focused on  objects, words, a thought or an image, which may relate to God, but are not God Himself. Although, as symbols that remind us of our loved ones, they do make the God present in the imagination, they are related to the imagination and not to the real person of God. Often meditation is no more than a conversation with oneself. Meditation, however is important in establishing our relationship with God, and is a normal stage in our growth in our love for Him.

Devotionals such as the crucifix, stained glass windows, blessed medals, scapulars, stations of the cross, the rosary and reading and reflecting on the Scriptures (as lexio divina)  are used for a similar purpose in our growth in love for God. These expressions of devotion are useful extensions of the grace of the sacraments, and although they do not carry this grace with them they renew and extend that grace.  They are useful to stimulate the intellect to make the events they signify present in the imagination. With these images present in the imagination, through meditation we grow in our understanding of the importance to our faith and salvation.

In the 3^rd stage of love, a great deal of emphasis is placed on the words of standard prayers that are appropriate to accompany meditation on the devotional. This is particularly important in the use of the stations of the cross and the rosary, but particular prayers may be useful in meditation on the crucifix, blessed medals and Scripture passages.  These oral prayers are important in revealing the heritage of Christianity and contain to some degree a conversation with the divine. In addition to their use in devotionals these prayers are usually committed to memory as a part of preparation for first confession and first communion. 

The third head of the beast of the apocalypse wars against meditation. Satan is not happy when we reflect on our love for the Lord, and he attempts to convince us that these meditations are not important.  This becomes evident in our spirituality when the instrument of devotion becomes the focus rather than the prayer to which it leads us and the events it symbolizes. It often happens that the wearing of a scapular is not accompanied with regular reflection on its meaning and offering prayers of thanksgiving to the Lord and to the Blessed Virgin, who inspire us to wear this holy garment. The rosary is often carried as a blessed object, but the prayers for which the rosary is to be a guide are not recited on a regular schedule. It is as though just the carrying of the rosary is all that we need to grow in love. On the other hand, when praying the prayers associated with the Rosary without meditation or often without thinking is not meditation. One may regularly walk through the 14 stations of the cross with only the visual images impacting on the intellect and no prayer in our mind or heart.  All of these, or similar usage of devotionals are not acts of love for the Lord. Through careless use of sacramentals to allow our devotion to grow, they may become empty pious practices that exemplify and stimulate little growth in love.

Devotionals are extremely important as constant links of love for the Lord.  We should learn the prayers that accompany them and often meditation on the words of the prayers, as well as on the meaning of the devotional. Although they represent an early stage of love for the Lord, they are indispensable for our continued growth in that love. 

THE NEW CATHOLIC CATECHISM:

ARTICLE No. 783:

Jesus Christ is the one whom the Father anointed with the Holy Spirit and established as priest, prophet and king.  The whole People of God participates in these three offices of Christ and bears the responsibilities for mission and service that flow from them. (John Paul II in,  Redemptor hominis 18-21)

ARTICLE No. 784:

On entering the People of God through faith and Baptism, one receives a share in this people’s unique, priestly vocation: “Christ the Lord, high priest taken from among men, has made this new people ‘a kingdom of priests to God, his Father.’ The baptized by regeneration and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are consecrated to be a spiritual house and a holy priesthood.” (Vatican II, Lumen Gentium 10; Hebrews 5:1-5; Revelations 1:6)

ARTICLE No. 785:

“The holy People of God shares also in Christ’s prophetic office,” above all in the supernatural sense of faith that belongs to the whole People, lay and clergy, when it “unfailingly adheres to this faith.. once for all delivered to the saints,” (Vatican I, Lumen Gentium 12; Jude 3) and when it deepens its understanding and becomes Christ’s witness in the midst of this world.

ARTICLE No. 786:

Finally, the People  of God shares in the royal office of Christ. He exercises his kingship by drawing all men to himself through his death and Resurrection. (John 12:32) Christ, King and Lord of the universe, made himself the servant of all, for he came “not observed but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mt. 20:28) For the Christian “to reign is to serve him” particularly when serving “the poor and the suffering, in whom the Church recognizes the image of her poor and suffering founder.” The People of God fulfills its royal dignity by a life in keeping with its vocation to serve Christ.

"The sign of the cross makes kings of all those reborn in Christ and the anointing of the Holy Spirit consecrates them to priests, so that apart from the particular service of our ministry, all spiritual and rational Christians are recognized as members of this royal race and sharers in Christ's priestly office.  What, indeed, is as royal for a soul as to govern the body in obedience to God? And what is as priestly as to dedicate a pure conscience to the Lord and to offer the spotless offerings of devotion on the altar of the heart" (St. Leo the Great, Sermo 4,1:PL 54,149)

PRIESTS, PROPHETS AND KINGS

Deacon Jim Breazile o.c.d.s.

Ó2001 DR. JAMES E. BREAZILE, deacon 
JOHN PAUL EVANGELIST OCDS

SPIRITUALITY 101

SPIRITUAL REFLECTION- 72

Deacon Jim Breazile o.c.d.s.

Cardinal Vaughan's mother devoted one hour a day to a visit to the Blessed Sacrament.  She meditated there on the suffering, resurrection and ascension of our Lord Jesus and His real presence in the tabernacle.  Some days, she would kneel before the large crucifix above the tabernacle and quietly meditate on the great suffering that had been necessary to open the gates of heaven.  She always ended her meditation with one request, that people would realize the great grace of a priestly vocation.  Jesus answered her request in great abundance. Of her eight sons, six became priests and one of them became a Cardinal of London.

DEVOTION - Growth in love- 3^rd  stage

                DEVOTIONALS- Meditation

                Meditation, representing the 3^rd stage of love represents a beginning stage of prayer.  Few pass to higher levels without considerable time spent in meditation.  This stage allows one to relish in the sense pleasures of the loved one. It is a stage in which the beginner learns adore the Lord as imagined in His holiness and in His humanity.  A spiritual director generally will encourage the use of the imagination when this stage of growth dominates.  The use of statues, pictures, Scripture, tapes, music and other tools meditation brings one closer to the one loved and instills in the seeker a more firm basis from which to grow toward union of the soul with the Lord in silence. 

                Particularly effective during this stage of love is the combination of music with meditation.  The rosary may be sung, rather than recited, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy is particularly strong when chanted in community. Prayers that have been memorized become alive in a new way, and lift the heart and mind toward the Lord when sung.  These experiences arouse the emotions and love grows for our Lord as praise rises up in song like incense toward His throne.

                The practice of kneeling before the tabernacle and in the imagination, "seeing" the Lord in His majesty enthroned before you lifts the human spirit and opens the eyes of the soul to His love. Meditation can be powerfully reinforcing.  Kneeling before the crucifix and slowly reflecting on the seven last "words" of His crucifixion allows us to be there and share in His suffering.  Here we can hear Him speak in our minds, to see the nails that represent our sins piercing His holy hands and feet as they crucify His goodness.  Reflecting on the blood that oozes around the nails helps us to realize the redeeming power of His blood.  We can recall  that throughout the ages of the Old Testament people of God, a virtual river of  blood of sheep, goats and cattle had been shed in ineffective repentance. But here on the Cross, the shedding of blood made Holy by His divinity reaches back through the ages to Adam and redeems the sin of all mankind. At the same time it reaches forward to redeem our sin and the sin of all who repent until the end of time.

                Such meditations help us to grow in ardor of our love for Him. At the same time we come to know Him more fully in a constitutive way by living with Him in the Scriptures. As love grows, the Lord will gradually replace the sensual nature of meditation with the quiet of His presence and we grow into the 4^th level of love represented by contemplation. It may be that we will never stop meditation in some form, because stimulation of the senses and emotions are always reinforcing, but as the Lord starts to move us toward the level of love in which prayer occurs, meditation will become less attractive. 

THE NEW CATHOLIC CATECHISM:

ARTICLE No. 787:

From the beginning, Jesus associated his disciples with his own life, revealed the mystery of the Kingdom to them, and gave them a share in his mission, joy, and sufferings. (Mk 1:16-20; 3:13-19; Mt. 13:10-17; Lk 10:17-20; 22:28-30) Jesus spoke of a still more intimate communion between him and those who would follow him:” Abide in me, and I in you….I am the vine, you are the branches.”(John 15:4-5) And he proclaimed a mysterious and real communion between his own body and ours:” He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him.”(John 6:56)

A HOME FOR GOD

Deacon Jim Breazile o.c.d.s.

Ó2001 DR. JAMES E. BREAZILE, deacon 
JOHN PAUL EVANGELIST OCDS

SPIRITUALITY 101

SPIRITUAL REFLECTION- 73

Deacon Jim Breazile o.c.d.s.

A farmer heard gun shots in the direction of his neighbor.  He decided to find out the source and reason for the gun shots.  When he arrived at his neighbors house, he found his neighbor shooting at some targets mounted on a fence post.  "Look," the neighbor exclaimed, "with this powerful gun, I can hit a target at a 500 feet." The farmer, satisfied that everything was okay, returned to his home.  A few weeks later, the neighbor came by for an unannounced visit. He found the farmer kneeling in his field, praying a rosary.  The neighbor asked, "What are you doing?" The farmer replied, "Look, with this powerful instrument of prayer, I can reach a missionary in a foreign country."

So it is with our prayers, songs, canticles coupled to sacramentals.  Sacramentals are not only effective means of making contact with God, they are also powerful means of acquiring His special intervention in the special occasions of our life.

DEVOTION - Growth in love- 3^rd  stage

      DEVOTIONALS- MEDITATION-SACRAMENTALS

The proper use of sacramentals, such as pictures, crosses, medals, rosaries that have been especially blessed by the Church or the use of scripture passages for prayer (lectio divina) is as ancient as the Church.  In the catacombs in Rome, where the Christians found it necessary to hide in order to celebrate and pray and give God praise, there are on the walls, figures of the life of Christ and the Blessed Mother. These were their sacramentals. Drawings of the way of the cross, and of the crucifixion were useful in guiding their meditation, and helped to recall the great heritage they had received through the life, death and resurrection of Christ our Lord.  With time, music, prayers, songs and canticles were developed to accompany the images and to lead the worshipers in their recollections of the freedom and the promise of their faith. As sacramentals became a part of the life of the Church, Christians came to realize that the prayers, songs and canticles were pleasing to God.  Petitions coupled to the sacramentals often brought God's intervention to heal physical and spiritual sickness, very much as Christ had brought healing while he was on earth.  Sacramentals therefore became a very effective means of intercessory prayer. Sacramentals have been found to be so important as a basis for a life of prayer that they have been officially "instituted by the Church, not as Sacraments, but as sacred signs bearing a resemblance to the Sacraments". (New Catholic Catechism Article No. 1667)

As instruments of devotional prayer sacramentals are indispensable aides in defining our true self. Through this definition they serve a helpful basis for our individual growth in holiness.  As was emphasized in reflection No. 55, devotion is not so much what we do as it is who we are when we do it. Devotion is being the person God meant for us to be and presenting ourselves to Him as His glory in the world. Devotion is our being prayer, being gift, being blessing in the kingdom of God. In Genesis 12:2, God said to Abram, "you will be a blessing--all communities on earth will find a blessing in you." An important means by which sacramentals aid us in this discovery of ourselves as the glory of God is through its affect on grace. Although sacramentals do not confer grace as do the sacraments, they dispose us to receive sacramental grace and to cooperate more fully with it. Using the definition of grace as sharing in the inner life of the most Holy Trinity, sacramentals help us to prepare for this great privilege.

Our Christian faith assures us that at the time of our conception in our mothers womb, God fashioned for each of us, a unique and individual and eternal soul.  This soul, the spiritual component of every human being, with the infusion of sacramental grace, has the power to conform our person into the image and likeness of God. This conformation is the excellence of grace, and a full share in divinity.  Through the use of sacramentals, to enhance our response to grace, our lives gradually become conformed in this manner to Gods will. The final result is that we individually become grace (a blessing) to others, and to all of creation. This is the ultimate goal of devotion. In the coming weeks, we will explore the means by which selected sacramentals such as the Rosary, Stations of the Cross, Scripture reading with prayer (Lectio Divina) contribute to this goal.

THE NEW CATHOLIC CATECHISM:

ARTICLE NO. 788 

When his visible presence was taken from them, Jesus did not leave his disciples orphans. He promised to remain with them until the end of time; he sent them his Spirit. (Jn 14:18; 20:22; Mt. 28:20; Acts 2:33) As a result communion with Jesus became, in a way, more intense. “By communicating his Spirit, Christ mystically constitutes as his body those brothers of his who are called together from every nation.” (Vatican II, Lumen Gentium No. 7)

ARTICLE NO. 789

The comparison of the Church with the body casts light on the intimate bond between Christ and His Church. Not only is she gathered around him; she is united in him, in his body. Three aspects of the Church as the Body of Christ are to be more specifically noted: the unity of all her members with each other as a result of their union with Christ; Christ as head of the Body; and the Church as bride of Christ.

BODY AND BRIDE 

Deacon Jim Breazile o.c.d.s.

*The word uxorius (pronounced ukorius) means “like a wife”

Ó2001 DR. JAMES E. BREAZILE, deacon 
JOHN PAUL EVANGELIST OCDS

SPIRITUALITY 101

SPIRITUAL REFLECTION- 74

Deacon Jim Breazile o.c.d.s.

In the Fall of 1571, the Turkish Moslem armada attacked the fleet of Pope Pius Vth, commanded by Don Juan of Austria.  The fierce sea battle was engaged off the shores of Lepanto, Italy.  The battle, if lost would spell the end to Christianity.  The message reached Pope Pius that the aggressive Turks were obviously going to defeat the Christian armada, and that the Christian people of the land should prepare for a tragic loss of their lives.  The Pope, who was meeting with a conclave of Bishops and other dignitaries of the church, stopped the meeting and asked all present to kneel and pray the Rosary.  They prayed the rosary with great devotion, invoking the Blessed Mother to present them to the Lord as His faithful servants, and to seek for them a victory at Lepanto. As they prayed, the guards informed the people of the city of what was happening, and they knelt where they were and shared in the rosary.  Soon adjoining towns and the countryside heard of the prayer and joined in the rosary. On October 7, The battle was won and the Turks retired from the site.  Pope Pius the Vth credited the intercession of the Blessed Mother to the victory, and established that day of the year (October 7^th) as a special memorial, today called the "Our Lady of the Rosary,"  for the significance of the rosary as a part of our life of prayer. 

The rosary today still stands as a major means of invoking the intercession of the saints, particularly of Mary, the mother of Jesus.  She stands ready, as do all the saints to intercede for us in our need.  She, however, being more closely related to Jesus than any other saint, has a great deal of influence in heaven as well as on earth.  The prayers and meditations of the rosary continually reminds us of our relationship to Jesus, Who's intercession for us is continuous. We can always be assured that He will always give us what is good for us.

DEVOTION - Growth in love- 3^rd  stage

      DEVOTIONALS- MEDITATION-SACRAMENTALS-THE ROSARY-1

There are many legends concerning the beginning of the Rosary.  One of the most commonly held is that it began by attempts to develop methods of prayer for laity who wished to imitate the prayers of the vowed religious.  The laity in those times had limited access to the Psalms that the monks and sisters prayed from their daily breviary. With the assistance of the monks, they devised means of emulating the 150 Psalms, by praying 150 prayers that they could easily memorize.  Since they knew the Our Father, and the monks often prayed 150 Our Fathers in memorial to the death of one of their brothers, this prayer was taken up by the laity. They prayed 150 Our Fathers; keeping count with stones moved from one bag to another or by counting beads that were linked together on strings. These prayers guided the laity as verbal prayer, and also served meditative prayer as they reflected on the meaning of the prayer as a whole and on its individual words.  These early prayer beads were called Pater Nosters, after the name of the prayer.  In regions in which devotion to the Blessed Mother was highly developed, a similar prayer chain was formed in which 150 Hail Mary's (or Ave's) were prayed, again using beads or stones to count the Aves.  The Hail Mary initially began with a recitation of the greeting of the Angel Gabriel to Mary in Nazareth on the day of the Incarnation of Jesus and by her cousin Elizabeth at the visitation. In many regions it was customary to recite or meditate on a portion of  one of the Psalms with each Pater Noster or Ave.   This practice was  known as the poor mans breviary.

By the end of the 13^th century,  Pater Nosters and Aves were merged and meditation on specific aspects of the life of Christ were added in place of meditation or recitation of a Psalm.  Legend has it that sometime between 1410 and 1439 Dominic of Prussia, a Carthusian monk, in an apparition received from Our Blessed Virgin Mother the full Rose Garden (rosarium). It consisted of  15 Pater Nosters, separating 150 Ave's and 150 meditations about the life of Jesus, of the Holy Family or of Mary into units of 10 each.   By 1483, a book entitled "Our Dear Lady's Psalter," written by a Dominican, referred to 15 mysteries or events in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, His mother and life in His family that could be the basis for meditation during each decade. Often a meditation was still applied to each Ave. The typical Rosary of the time contained 5 decades, so that the full Rosary of 150 was prayed by meditating on 3 Rosaries.   In the 16^th century, the Glory be and the second half of the Hail Mary, as we know it today was added. The Crucifix with the Apostles Creed, and additional Pater Noster and three Ave's for reflection on the three theological virtues were later additions. 

Although the mysteries have been varied through the years, the 5 decade Rosary of today provides reflective prayer on particular days of the week focusing on 3 types of mysteries; the Joyful mysteries for Monday and Thursday; the Sorrowful mysteries for Tuesday and Friday and the Glorious mysteries for Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. In some areas of the world there are variations such that during the liturgical season of Advent, the Joyful mysteries are meditated on Sundays, as well as Monday and Thursday and during the season of Lent, the Sorrowful mysteries are meditated on Sundays as well as Tuesday and Friday.

It is clear that the Rosary is a rich resource for preparing disciples of Christ to follow Him in prayer to full union in prayer to the Father.  At the same time the Rosary provides each person with a means of reflection on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, the life of His Mother and life in the Holy Family. Through the inclusion of the Apostles Creed, reflections on the theological virtues, the Rosary also serves as a rich catechism of the faith.  In February 1858 the Blessed Mother appeared to Bernadette Soubiru of Lourdes, bearing a rosary in her hand.  Her message to Bernadette was to pray the Rosary for the salvation of souls.  In 1974, Pope Paul VI in his document Marialis Cultis called the Rosary the "soul of the devotion" and proposed that there is a profound harmony between the Rosary and the community celebration of the liturgy in the Eucharist.

In the following reflections we will consider the use the Rosary as Catechism, as Sacramental, and as avenue to contemplative prayer.

THE NEW CATHOLIC CATECHISM:

ARTICLE No. 797

“What the soul is to the human body, the Holy spirit is to the Body of Christ, which is the Church.” (St. Augustine, En. In Ps. 74:4: PL 36,948-949) “To this Spirit of Christ, as an invisible principle is to be ascribed the fact that all the parts of the body are joined one with the other and with their exalted head; for the whole Spirit of Christ is in the head, the whole Spirit is in the body, and the whole Spirit is in each of the members.” (Pius XII, encyclical, Mystici Corporis: DS 3808) The Holy Spirit makes the Church “the temple of the living God. (Cor 6:16; 1 Cor 3:16-17; Eph 2:21)

Indeed, it is to the Church herself that the “Gift of God” has been entrusted….It is in her that communion with Christ has been deposited, that is to say: the Holy spirit, the pledge of incorruptibility, the strengthening of our faith and the ladder of our ascent to God….For where the Church is, there also is God’s Spirit; where God’s Spirit is, there is the Church and every grace. (St. Irenaeus, Adv. Haeres. 3,24,1:PG7/1,966).

SPIRIT AND BODY

Deacon Jim Breazile o.c.d.s.

Ó2001 DR. JAMES E. BREAZILE, deacon 
JOHN PAUL EVANGELIST OCDS

SPIRITUALITY 101

SPIRITUAL REFLECTION- 75

Deacon Jim Breazile o.c.d.s.

As a tourist was searching through a flea market in Mexico, he came across a small stall that sold religious articles.  There were statues of saints, holy medals, holy cards, crosses and crucifixes.  The tourist decided that he would like to purchase a cross.  He indicated his wishes to the lady who owned the stall. She said, "Which kind do you want, a plain one or one with the little man on it?"

"The one with the little man on it."  Indicates the lack of concern that the world has for the "little Man on it."  He who made the universe, became a little man, emptying Himself to live among us in order that through His death, He might give us heaven.  He not only gives us heaven when we die a mortal death, but He gives us heaven on earth when we die a spiritual death.  We gain much by reflecting on that Crucifixion through which His mission was made complete

.

DEVOTION - Growth in love- 3^rd  stage

      DEVOTIONALS- MEDITATION-SACRAMENTALS-THE ROSARY-2

THE CRUCIFIX

The Rosary prayer begins with a meditation on the Apostles Creed.  Holding the crucifix in ones hand there is a mental recollection of this ancient prayer that has serve to summarize the faith of all Christians through the ages.  The crucifix with its body of Christ, is a reminder of the salvation won.  A cross without the body of Christ may remind one of the punishment, but the body reminds us of the great love that brought our Lord Jesus to that death.  It was this death that brought salvation, and the blood of that brutal death is the power through which sins are forgiven in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  In the Book of Hebrews 9:22, it is clear that "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin."  This shedding of blood, which occurred in time, remains with us in the Sacraments of the Church until Christ comes again.

When one begins the prayers of the Rosary, the holding of the crucifix brings us back to that crucifixion. It allows us to enter into the crucifixion, so that we can begin to appreciate its significance not only as an act that occurred in the past, but as an event that impacts our lives as though it occurred here today in our midst.  It is fitting that the first words of the Creed are "I believe."  I believe that the Christ who was crucified is the source of all freedom in life.  I believe that here He set us free from the network of evil spun by Satan to bring fear, suffering, and sin into our lives.  Because Satan knew that the acceptance of death in the manner that Jesus was going to accept it would destroy his power over man. Death would no longer be something feared so that Paul could say in 1st Cor. 15:54-55"Death where is your victory, Death, where is your sting."

We must remember that Satan is the personage of evil. His sole purpose is the destruction of goodness. The only real tool that he has against us is fear of death.  When Jesus was crucified, He accepted death, took it into himself and open heaven for each of us and converted death from a destruction to a passing over to eternal happiness.  Death is no longer a threat from Satan. The remedy was given on the Crucifix, where the acceptance of a mortal death by divinity, brought to all mortals, the possibility of a life of perfect freedom and fulfillment with Him for all eternity.

We often depict Satan as an antiChrist, but Scripture makes it clear that this is not true. Satan is the anticross.  He succeeds in his desire to take us away from Christ each time he can sell us the cross without Christ.  He knows that the cross without Christ has no redemptive power.  Far from being an antiChrist,  Satan wanted Jesus to serve him instead of His most Holy Father. In the desert, following the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan river, an interesting conversation occurred between Satan and Jesus. Satan knew Who Jesus really was.  He knew that His willingness to accept death would destroy any power that Satan had over man.  His temptations are attempts to turn Him from that death, to an alternative.  First Satan offers the idea that Jesus feed the people (as he later did with the multiplication of the loaves and fishes),  Jesus refuses to turn away from His way to the cross by such a diversion.  Next Satan offers the idea that Jesus might perform some miracles (which he later did in changing water into wine, raising of the dead, healing the sick), but reminded Satan that to test the Father would not accomplish His mission to save souls. In the third temptation Satan wanted Jesus to accept political power, and join the politicians in worshiping his power.  Of course Jesus refused, but since Satan knew that Jesus was the Son of the Father, Second person of the Holy Trinity, why would he be so concerned.  Jesus continues His mission toward Jerusalem to a certain death.

Satan returns again in one of the favored Apostles, chosen, taught and prepared by Christ for His death. That person was Peter, (Matt 16^th chapter), when Peter attempted to divert him from the Crucifixion.  Jesus turned on Peter, as in a threat and saw Satan in him.  He actually called Peter Satan, and commanded that Satan get behind him, and no longer attempt to deter Him from the death on the cross.  Satan is heard from one last time, when Jesus was hanging on the cross in the throws of Crucifixion.  He can be heard in the voice that said, "Come down, come down from that cross and we will believe."  Satan also spoke in the voice that said, "He saved others, why can He not save Himself and come down from that cross."  But Jesus did not come down.  He bowed His head to the Fathers will, cried out in a loud voice and gave up His Spirit to the service of the Father. 

It is important that we keep the image of the Crucifixion in our memory. In the prayers of the Rosary, it is fitting that we begin with a reflection on the power of that death in overcoming the power Satan has over the world.  It is also fitting that we end the reflections of the Rosary with a prayer to St. Michael the Archangel, who overcame Satan and with his followers cast Satan out of heaven. 

THE NEW CATHOLIC CATECHISM:

ARTICLE NO. 811

“This is the sole Church of Christ, which in the Creed we profess to be one, holy, catholic and apostolic.” (Vatican II, Lumen gentium article 8) These four characteristics, inseparably linked with each other, indicate essential features of the Church and her mission. The Church does not posses them for herself; it is Christ who, through the Holy Spirit, makes his Church one, holy, catholic and apostolic, and it is he who calls her to realize each of these qualities.

ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC

Deacon Jim Breazile o.c.d.s.

Ó2001 DR. JAMES E. BREAZILE, deacon 
JOHN PAUL EVANGELIST OCDS

SPIRITUALITY 101

SPIRITUAL REFLECTION- 76

Deacon Jim Breazile o.c.d.s.

Pope Pius X, while walking one day in the Vatican gardens asked the cardinals who formed his entourage what it was that the Church lacked.

                "Most Holy Father," said one of them, "Catholic Schools." "No" replied the Pope, "We have many good schools where young people can learn sciences, art and even dogmas of faith."

                "What is lacking is churches," said another cardinal. "No," replied the Pontiff, "we have magnificent temples that invite people to prayer."

                " What we need," said another cardinal, "is learned priests"; and the Pope replied, "No, no, the apostles were ignorant. What we need mostly in the church are truly Catholic laymen."

The School of Holiness and Love is prayer.  Learning how to pray properly will teach us how to love properly.  When we love properly, we will be transformed into true Christians.  Until then, we will simply be persons who are interested in Christ, but not interested enough to allow ourselves to be transformed into the persons God wishes us to be.

DEVOTION - Growth in love- 3^rd  stage

      DEVOTIONALS- MEDITATION-SACRAMENTALS-THE ROSARY-3

THE CREED-1

                It is a universal truth of Christianity that God loves us with an infinite, unfailing love. He created man out of His love, so that we could be His glory in the world. His purpose in creating us was that we would have a share in His inner life. The inner life or essence of God is love. Human nature is such  that love transforms our human personality.  When we love another person, the power of the reciprocal love transforms each lover toward a union of the two. When we love God, because of His perfection He is not transformed, but joining into His perfect love we are transformed toward a union with Him. He created us in a fashion so that in returning His love we become transformed into the image of that He holds for us. 

God loves us with an infinite, unfailing love. Prayer is a school of love in which we learn to love as He loves us. When we share in this love, our human nature gradually becomes perfected so that we can present ourselves to Him as the person He meant for us to be.  You may recall that this is our definition of devotion; to present to God as the person He created us to be.

Reflective prayer of the Apostles Creed, while holding the Crucifix in our hand is nourishment to our faith.  The Creed is much more than just a vocalizing of the elements of our faith. It is an intimate reflection on these truths while lifting our hearts, minds, spirits, souls and bodies up to the Lord in the union of an intimate loving conversation. The prayer of the Creed also serves as an important catechism of the articles of the Catholic faith so that by vocalizing the truths of our faith, they become more a part of our habitual thinking. When the Creed is prayed with careful reflection, it offers a nourishment and renewal not only of a firm basis of faith but also the content of that basis.

The first words of the Creed, "I believe in God..." serves as the basis of the purpose of prayer, of the teachings of the Church and of our faith.  The phrase "I believe in God" contains within it the roots of our perfection.  The idea of believing in God, however is only the beginning.  We know that there is no salvation or assured union with God by simply believing that God exists.  Satan is certain that God exists, and yet because of a lack of humility, rejected what he knew to be true and chose condemnation, damnation and hell over heaven.  It is obvious that we must extend our relationship with God beyond the "I believe..." stage, because more must be required. 

Scripture reveals that from the stage of faith of "I believe...," we can advance to "I know God..." (Hebrews 11: "Faith is the realization of things hoped for and evidence of things not seen.")  The realization spoken to here is knowledge.  Our knowledge or surety of faith may come from natural revelation (Romans 1:19-20), or from revelation of Scripture and the Magisterium of the Church, sure knowledge that God exists is not sufficient to satisfy the ultimate goal of Gods love for us.  It is clear that Satan has clear knowledge that the God we hope for and the remains unseen to us is real.  Satan knew God intimately, as he lived in heaven with God, before rebellion caused him to be cast out.

The final stage of faith is the transformation from "I know God..." to "I am the person whom He meant for me to be."  This transformation in the union of love through prayer is the ultimate purpose of prayer. Through the fulfillment of this purpose our prayer becomes a devotion.  For this reason, sacramentals are often called devotionals.  The symbols of sacramentals, and the prayers associated with them provide us with the insight into ourselves that is necessary to remove barriers to the transforming power of Gods love.  When these barriers are recognized in our reflections, we can begin to remove them.  Some such obstacles are removed simply by recognizing their presence. There may be other obstacles that require much effort of the mind through attention to them and of the spirit through prayer to allow the grace of God to remove them. In any case the purpose and end of all prayer is to allow ourselves to become transformed in His love into the person in the world who reflects His glory in the particularly unique manner for which He created us.

Each day, when we begin our Rosary prayers, pause for a moment in the recitation of the Apostles Creed and ask yourself the question; "Am I the person God wishes me to be? What obstacles have I developed to allowing His eternal love to transform me into that person? What do I have to do to allow His love to achieve this transformation."  These questions will give you food for thought throughout the day.

THE NEW CATHOLIC CATECHISM: ARTICLE No. 871

“The Christian faithful are those who, inasmuch as they have been incorporated in Christ through Baptism, have been constituted as the people of God; for this reason, since they have become sharers in Christ’s priestly, prophetic and royal office in their own manner, they are called to exercise the mission which God has entrusted to the Church to fulfill in the world, in accord with the condition proper to each one.” (Vatican II, Lumen Gentium Article 31)

COMMON PRIESTHOOD

Deacon Jim Breazile o.c.d.s.

Ó2001 DR. JAMES E. BREAZILE, deacon 
JOHN PAUL EVANGELIST OCDS

SPIRITUALITY 101

SPIRITUAL REFLECTION- 77

Deacon Jim Breazile o.c.d.s.

                Someone asked St. Vincent De Paul how he could stand to touch the homeless, the hungry, the sick and dying who lay in the streets.  They said, "I would be afraid of them.  They could be dangerous people, after all, they are not able to care for themselves.  And, they are filled with diseases of, who knows what kind that you might contract. They smell bad, and are repulsive to look at, let alone touch. " The little servant of the Lord simply continued her work, and after a pause said, "Oh, I never considered those things. I just see them as children of the Lord, who are given to me as little gifts lying in the street.  I see the glory of God shine forth from them, just as though they were valuable gems.  The only difference is that I see in each one of them more value than all the gems in the world.  I see Christ Himself in them. "

                St. Vincent had become the person God meant for him to be.  When he allowed God to transform him into the saint he became, he was able to see with the eyes of God.  How do we do with visions? Are the ugly beautiful, simply because God created them to be His image in the world, or are they just part of the ugliness of the world.  If the latter is the case, then we know we must let the Lord's grace transform us, so that we can "see" more clearly.

DEVOTION - Growth in love- 3^rd  stage

      DEVOTIONALS- MEDITATION-SACRAMENTALS-THE ROSARY-3

THE CREED-2

                In our last reflection, we considered the significance of the phrase "I believe in God" and its transformation through I know God, to I am the person God created me to be.  This transformation of faith, to the "I am," stage is the result of sacramental grace.  The Sacraments, the only source of grace, empower us to utilize the virtues, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit to an extent that I truly become myself.  Through Sacramentals (such as the Rosary) this grace can be directed toward this goal. This aspect of the phrase, "I believe in God," however, is only half of the picture.  The other half of the expression involves God.  When we express this belief in God, and our experience of knowing Him, we ultimately find it necessary to define what God we are talking about.  Do we believe in "a God," possibly among many others, or do we believe in "God, " who is One, entirely Simple in His essence, and Who is absolute reality in life truth and love. Is He All in All as uncreated Being?

                Is the God I believe in, know, and Who transforms me in grace, a God of science that I can come to know simply through my observations and rational thought? This God simply sets creation into motion with a set of natural laws (naturalism) , and no longer is involved in the minute-to-minute, second-to-second operation of its action.  He is not directly involved, and provides no more evidence of His existence than the fact that things make sense in nature, and require an Intellect to have created them, and set them into motion.  We would imagine that this God is divine, but not a God that "Is all that Is."  If this is my God, then I am a Deist, and God is not present to me as the center of my faith, He is not the center of my life and He is not the Way of my love. The God of the Deist lives far away and doesn't involve Himself with me.

                Is the God I believe in a God that is a Force present in the universe and gives it a driving energy? Is our God a God of force of life that unites man and animals with all other living things, and makes them one?  Is my God a God who is the Force that makes volcanoes erupt, and floods, tornadoes, hail and other forces that disrupt nature? These latter forces are often defined as "acts of God," by insurance companies. In many pagan religions this God requires continual human and animal sacrifice in order to give them appeasement of a sometimes seemingly insatiable appetite.  If this is my God, He is not the God of revelation, but is the God of the pantheist, who sees God as the things He created, and not the Person of Creation. Is He a God of my imagination that is an explanation of the mysteries of life, death, time and space?

                In all these instances, God is simply a God, such as an idol that I admire for His handiwork.  These concepts of a God do not relate to God that can be known, loved and served.  He is a God with intellect, but a God without a will that instills within me knowledge of His person.  He would not be God, Who through grace makes His will known in my heart, where I meet Him "face-to-face," much as Moses met Him on Mt. Sinai.  He would not be God whom one would reverence, except out of fear.  He would not be the God of love.

                The God I believe in is The God Who is in All, including me, and speaks to my mind, heart, spirit and  soul, so that I can know Him as a person, love Him as a person and serve His will.  The God I believe in and know, and Who through grace fulfills me, is the same God who is beyond description and understanding, but reveals Himself through what He created and through divine revelation. My God is an eternal, uncreated Person Who created each of us through love, to be love in His creation.  My God is He who sustains all that is in being through His eternal love. He who is eternal is my buddy in time, that I can visit with as a good Friend. He Who is beyond all and in all is approachable and interested in my every breath and heart beat.  He is so familiar to me that I trust Him and depend on Him for all my needs. He is God of revelation Whom I can love with my whole body, mind, heart, spirit and soul.   He is God, "in Whom, I live and move and have my being."  This is the God toward Whom all my life is directed.  This is the God of the Scriptures and the God of the Church.

THE NEW CATHOLIC CATECHISM:

ARTICLE NO. 874

Christ is himself the source of ministry in the Church. He instituted the Church. He gave her authority and mission, orientation and goal:

“In order to shepherd the People of God and to increase its numbers without cease, Christ the Lord set up in his Church a variety of offices which aim at the good of the whole body. The holders of office, who are invested with a sacred power, are, in fact, dedicated to promoting the interests of their brethren, so that all who belong to the People of God...may attain to salvation.” (Vatican II, Lumen Gentium article 18)

INSTITUTION

Deacon Jim Breazile o.c.d.s.