Unraveling the Mysteries: The Fifth Luminous Mystery, the Institution of the Eucharist
Emily | A Year of Living Adventurously
‘Tis the season for graduations, confirmations and first communions, because it’s spring here in the U.S. (and the northern hemisphere). Do you remember your first communion? I’m pretty sure the Apostles never forgot theirs.
The importance of the Eucharist, and the Mass, in Catholic life cannot be understated. You can’t have one without the other. Mass isn’t Mass without Eucharist; it’s just the “liturgy of the word”, and, while that’s lovely, it’s not the source and summit of our lives, as my pastor is fond of saying. The Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Christ, and our belief that it is just that, is one of the hallmarks of Catholicism.
Maybe the apostles had no idea what Jesus was doing. I mean, sure, he’d said “eat my flesh and drink my blood” (John 6) and they hadn’t fled, like so many had. They’d stayed with Jesus, even though this teaching was hard to so many of their countrymen. But did they truly understand what Jesus was doing in that Upper Room? Do we, 2,000 years later, understand it at all?
Probably not. As my sacraments class professor said, “sometimes when studying, we must fold back the wings of our intellect, and bow before the mystery.” My fellow Dominican St. Thomas Aquinas says the same thing in his great Eucharistic hymns “Tantum Ergo Sacramentum” and “Salutaris Hostia”.
We will never truly understand the power, the beauty, of the Eucharist. I don’t think we can, with our finite human minds. But we do need to believe what it is–it is Jesus, come down to us, to be consumed, here in bread and wine. (Or just bread. You don’t need both to get the complete sacrament.) There’s a reason the hosts are handled so carefully, the reason the Precious Blood isn’t poured down a regular drain, but a sacrarium (Catholic trivia of the day: this is a special type of sink that empties into the ground, not the regular water system, so the remains of the sacrament go back to the Earth.). Since we believe it is truly Christ’s blood that is in that chalice, and so we must treat it with respect.
The enormity of the Eucharist, I think, can be lost when we receive it so often without pondering what it truly is. Until the beginning of the 20th century, children couldn’t receive communion. This was changed by St. Pius X, who promoted the early reception of communion once children reached “the age of reason” (about seven or eight), and were able to determine right from wrong. We can receive Christ every day! What an immense gift.
An immense gift, of course, must be treated as such. Our souls should be in a state of grace, meaning we are not conscious of mortal sin. We should have fasted for one hour before receiving communion, and should adopt an attitude of reverence when we go receive. (Like, this is not drive-through communion–no “receiving and leaving”!)
Before Christ began His passion, He gave His Church this sign of his tremendous, self-giving and redeeming love. We may not completely understand the theology surrounding it (although I would definitely recommend reading a bit about it, and the Mass: Scott Hahn’s The Lamb’s Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth
The Mass, above all things, is what keeps my faith alive. We cannot think to live as Catholics, and grow in faith, without the Mass and the Eucharist. Just as the physical body needs food, so do our souls! In June we will celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi, which celebrates the Eucharist in all its glory. Perhaps this would be a good time to make a holy hour at a nearby parish, or try to attend a weekday Mass (or two, or three), or perhaps read more about the sacrament? We can never be too informed or too in love with our faith!
Catherine of Siena and the Next Pope
Emily | A Year of Living Adventurously
In iconography, St. Catherine of Siena, a lay Dominican, can often be found with a ship on her shoulder, the saint holding it steady as she looks ahead. The ship is the Barque of St. Peter–the Catholic Church–and the papal insignia is often found on the ship’s flag. Why the boat? St. Catherine is intimately connected with the papacy. During her lifetime, she worked to achieve peace among the warring Italian states, implored Pope Gregory XI to leave Avignon and return the papacy to Rome, and encouraged clerical reform. In 1378, she was summoned to Rome by Pope Urban VI, where she worked for the reformation of the Church, served the destitute, and wrote eloquent letters on the pope’s behalf. Because of all the work she did to support the papacy, she had a vision that the Barque of Peter had been placed upon her shoulders, and it was crushing her to death. She was also a recipient of the stigmata and is one of the four female Church Doctors.
In this time of papal interregnum, St. Catherine is a perfect patron saint. Her novena would be a great practice to adopt as we await the beginning of the conclave, and the election of our next Holy Father. No matter how much her work on behalf of Christ and His church drained her physical energies, she never stopped proclaiming the Truth and showing Christ’s abundant love to all she met.
Novena Prayer to St. Catherine of Siena
O marvelous wonder of the Church, seraphic virgin, St. Catherine, because of your extraordinary virtue and immense good which you accomplished for the Church and society, you are acclaimed and blessed by all people. Turn your benign countenance to the Church who, confident of your powerful patronage, calls upon you with all the ardor of affection and begs you to obtain, by your prayer, the favors of peace in the Church, blessings upon our past Pope, and the grace of a saintly Supreme Pontiff.
You, who were a victim of Charity, who in order to benefit your neighbor obtained from God the most stupendous miracles and became the joy and hope of all, you cannot help but hear the prayers of those who fly unto your heart–that heart which you received from the Divine Redeemer in a celestial ecstasy.
Yes, O seraphic virgin, demonstrate once again proof of your power and your flaming charity, so that your name will be ever more blessed and exalted: grant that we, having experiences your most effacious intercession here on Earth, may come one day to thank you in heaven and enjoy eternal happiness with you.
O God, Eternal Shepherd, who govern Your flock with unfailing care, grant in Your boundless fatherly Love a pastor for Your Church who will please You by his holiness and to us show watchful care. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever.
Amen
Feast of St Valentine and a Give Away
Good Morning Sisters! Happy Saint Valentine’s Day to you and yours. Just a short and simple post today. I had one terrific headache yesterday so the house was very well managed by my older girls, but today, it needs me. So do our 10 new laying chickens…busy, busy, busy.
I am always dumbfounded by the declarations of love proclaimed and demonstrated on this day. Don’t get me wrong, I am in no way a scrooge or unromantic, but if you are putting all your romantic dreams in the heart shaped tin of chocolate candy or the small jewelry box, you are going to lead a very unhappy life constantly looking for more love than can fit into a box. Those boxes can only hold so much. And you were made for so much more love.
And speaking of looking for love, remember the song “Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places,” well, I’m pretty sure it should be the anthem of aisle 2 in the grocery store. No one–and in this case I mean…no one–is going to “find love” on this day. It was there yesterday, February 13th, or it wasn’t. And if it did just magically appear today…be afraid, be very afraid.
Yesterday, Chris rushed around trying to load up his trailer and tools so we could go look at a dinning room table we found on Craigslist. That’s love. Of course seconds before we walked out the door, trailer loaded with blankets and van loaded with kids, we got the message the table was gone…Hmh! You know what love did? Backed the van into the barn and unloaded the trailer and his tools.
The day before, love spent the evening working on the van in the cold barn while it rained. I appreciate that much more than a box of chocolates. Which he did buy (we exchanged chocolate on February 13th), but if I based my opinion of his love for me on a box of chocolates, what happens February 15th…when the chocolate is gone? (What, chocolate lasts longer than a day in your house?)
If love were based on the events that happen, or don’t happen on February 14th, it will be a fleeting and most likely disappointing love.
What about love that gets up at night and runs to the pharmacy to get a prescription? How about love that thanks us for making dinner…even though it was a new recipe that was as flop. Or love that picks up his socks…maybe not everyday, but at least every once in while. Love that let’s us pick out the movie or the flavor ice cream at the store. Love that builds garden beds and fixes cars and plunges the toilet. How about love that spends holidays with in-laws or birthday parties with the joyful screechings of two-year-olds.
Just like looking for God’s gifts in the ordinary, look for love in the common. You will find so much more love in the day to day sacrifices you make for each other, than any box of chocolate can hold. Guaranteed. But sometimes you have to look.
Today, in honor of St Valentine, I am going to giveaway two books. The first is For Women Only: What You Need to Know about the Inner Lives of Men
Just leave a comment telling us a really ordinary way someone showed you love. I mean it, we want to hear the unsung declarations of love! Whether it’s your mom, husband, brother, co-worker, anyone…Make this comment box the Olympic stand for common, ordinary love.
Winner drawn randomly and announced Monday in the Catholic Woman’s Almanac post.
Moments of Grace
St Therese said it best
“Everything is Grace”
Everything is grace…there is not one thing in this life that is not His grace.
Everything is grace…you are because He loves you.
Synonyms of “is”–exist, abide, act, be alive, breathe, continue, do, endure, go on, have being, have place, hold, inhabit, last, live, move, obtain, persist, prevail, remain, rest, stand, stay, subsist, survive…Because of God the Father’s love for you.
You exist…because of His grace.
You abide…because of His grace.
You act…because of His grace.
You breathe…because of His grace.
You continue…because of His grace. (Oh come on now!)
You do…because of His grace.
You endure…because of His grace. (MmmHmm)
You go on…because of His grace.
You last…because of His grace.
You live…because of His grace.
You move…because of His grace.
You obtain…because of His grace. (Yes!)
You persist…because of His grace. (Keep on girl!)
You prevail…because of His grace. (Who needed to hear that with me?)
You remain…because of His grace.
You rest…because of His grace. (I know I needed to hear that one too.)
You stand…because of His grace.
You stay…because of His grace.
You survive…because of His grace.
Go back through those, slowly, maybe more than once. Let the reality of God’s grace sink deep into you my dear sisters.
Everything is grace…
In its widest meaning, the term signifies any gratuitous gift of God to a rational creature, the bestowal of which is motivated by divine benevolence, whether the gift be natural or supernatural, internal or external to the recipient. In its strict and ordinary sense, however, grace is a supernatural gift of God’s beneficence, gratuitously bestowed upon a rational creature (angel or man), for the ultimate purpose of fitting the recipient for life eternal.
All grace comes indeed from God, but since the fall every grace bestowed upon human beings is based on the merits of Christ. Before the fall Adam received grace directly from God, without reference to the Saviour of mankind; and so did the angels whilst they were oh probation. But now we, the children of the fallen Adam, receive grace only through Christ Our Lord. Grace is so necessary that without it we cannot do anything for life eternal. Hence the words of Christ: “Without me you can do nothing” (John 15).
–New Catholic Dictionary
So what were you’re moments of grace this week?
At first glance were you handed, what you thought might be a bunch of weeds, but in reality…was God’s grace?
Share in the comments or link up my friends.
Let’s celebrate the here and now life He gives to prepare for the eternal life He gives.
Another Look at St Therese
Good Morning Lovely Ladies. Miss Emily is sick today, so it’s me again.
I’m not quite ready to end our month of being little.
I’ve been reading some of St Paul’s letters in the New Testament and wondering
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How can one be little for Christ and yet preach Christ boldly?
Are they contradictory?
I came across this sweet little quote of St Therese and thought I’d share it with you.
Isn’t that a lovely mental image she paints with her humble little words?
Book Club::Story of a Soul
Happy Wednesday ladies! I always heard time flies when you’re having fun, but this is ridiculous…it’s already the end of January…2013! Remember when we were all realizing the world was still here and operating the end of January 2000? Anyway; it is the end of January, we are wrapping up any thoughts and reflections we have on St Therese’s autobiography, The Story of a Soul
We’re also checking in on our memorization verses, Ephesians 4:25-32. Do you remember being back in high school, writing page after page of verb conjugations so you could memorize the endings for the regular verbs or the conjugations themselves for the irregular verbs? Or maybe all the way back to elementary when we wrote our spelling words three, four, five or more times so we would have them memorized for the test? Well I do and I am going to have to resort back that practice.
I regret to inform you, I do not have my verses memorized. I could blame it on all sorts of things: nursing momma brain, sleep deprivation, lack of motivation, lack of time, or my new favorite–”Work related_____” memory loss, hearing loss, you name it. And maybe that’s some of it, but some of it has to do with priority and my Scripture memorization just did not make it to the top of that list this month.
Ouch, that looks pretty bad and felt even worse typing it out.
But I am not going to beat myself silly or let the devil do the same. I’m going to make it a priority, move it to the top of my list and catch up with you all in February.
I’m pretty sure after confessing I did not get my scripture verses memorized, you won’t be surprised to know I also did not finish the book. I know…really?! But that’s not keeping me from discussing it and it shouldn’t you either. Don’t sit there with something to share and not share it. I am positive we would benefit from your perspective. As a matter of fact, a couple of years ago my small parish had a women’s book club and I rarely read the book, but that did not stop me from attending the discussions, enjoying the company of other women and their thoughts on a book I had not read, but could still contribute to the conversation and enjoy the snacks. So please jump in and let’s learn from each other.
Even at that age I loved far-stretching views, sunlit
spaces and stately trees; in a word, all nature charmed me and
lifted up my soul to Heaven.
–St Therese the Little Flower
A few years ago I was really struggling, I mean really struggling. I called a friend, a kind soul I refer to as my soul sister. She told me to make myself a scrambled egg sandwich, go sit outside and get some sun on my legs, arms, and face. Being the piglet (and Rabbit) temperament that make me, me…I worried about skin cancer but worried more about me if I did not heed her advice. The above passage reminds me of that day. “…all nature charmed me and lifted my soul to Heaven.” I’m also reminded of a recent post by Ginny at Small Things.
There is something very beatific about placing oneself in nature.
Another brief passage, this taken from St Therese’s recollection of her mother’s death and her sister Genevieve. St Therese is speaking of herself in the third person, “…for trials had matured and strengthened her soul, so that nothing on earth could make her grieve.” Pray for me sisters; I am not there. I still cry frequently over a rough 2012 having to leave our family parish home of almost 17 years. I grieve not sitting in the pews I sat in before the baptism of each of my children. I pray this trial is maturing me and strengthening my soul for Heaven, but most days it just leaves me in a sloppy puddle of tears for being misunderstood and maligned.
And that’s why Holy Mother Church has given us these holy examples found in the saints. They were so human that we can relate and yet so pious that we strive to imitate them.
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Which saint do you strive to imitate and why?
The next passage I wish to discuss is her description of her first confession.
Shortly after this I made my first confession. It is a very sweet memory. Pauline had warned me: “Thérèse, darling, it is not to a man but to God Himself that you are going to tell your sins.” I was so persuaded of this that I asked her quite seriously if I should not tell Father Ducellier that I loved him “with my whole heart,” as it was really God I was going to speak to in his person. Well instructed as to what I was to do, I entered the confessional, and turning round to the priest, so as to see him better, I made my confession and received absolution in a spirit of lively faith–my sister having assured me that at this solemn moment the tears of the Holy Child Jesus would purify my soul. I remember well that he exhorted me above all to a tender devotion towards Our Lady, and I promised to redouble my love for her who already filled so large a place in my heart. Then I passed him my Rosary to be blessed, and came out of the Confessional more joyful and lighthearted than I had ever felt before. It was evening, and as soon as I got to a street lamp I stopped and took the newly blessed Rosary out of my pocket, turning it over and over. “What are you looking at, Thérèse, dear?” asked Pauline. “I am seeing what a blessed Rosary looks like.” This childish answer amused my sisters very much. I was deeply impressed by the graces I had received, and wished to go to confession again for all the big feasts, for these confessions filled me with joy.
St Therese the Little Flower
The Story of a Soul
As you’ve been reading through or just picking out snippets here and there, what words of this holy and little saint have made you stop and ponder?
Let’s discuss our little saint in the comments. Share the saints you strive to imitate and why. How did you do on our scripture memory?
Our theme for February is “Home” and we will be reading Splendor in the Ordinary: Your Home as a Holy Place
(Thanks to Angela in the comments for letting us know that Hallowed Be This House: Finding Signs of Heaven in Your Home
is the reprint.) We will be memorizing 1 Corinthians 13:1-13.
Book Club::Story of a Soul
Good Morning Ladies! God has granted me the wonderful privilege of re-reading The Story of a Soul, the Autobiography of St Therese of Lisieux. I thought I would just skim through it, picking out passages I had highlighted years ago when I first read the book; only to find out years ago when I first read the book I did not highlight or take any notes. Blessed be God because now instead of skimming through, I am re-reading along with you all!
Sixteen years ago I went to our parish priest for spiritual direction, my very first. He inquired about my patron saint. Now, being a convert, as a child, in the 80′s…yeah, no patron saint for me. As a matter of fact, when we were confirmed, we didn’t even choose a saints name! But that is all beside the point…
Father recommended I read Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux 
I understood that if all the
lowly flowers wished to be roses, nature would lose its springtide
beauty, and the fields would no longer be enamelled with lovely
hues. And so it is in the world of souls, Our Lord’s living
garden. He has been pleased to create great Saints who may be
compared to the lily and the rose, but He has also created lesser
ones, who must be content to be daisies or simple violets
flowering at His Feet, and whose mission it is to gladden His
Divine Eyes when He deigns to look down on them. And the more
gladly they do His Will the greater is their perfection.
–St Therese the Little Flower
Speaking of the ‘Little Way’…I love how St Therese makes so many references to flowers. I can see flowers. I can touch flowers, smell flowers and even grow flowers. These are something I can physically know. So from the very beginning of her writing, she makes it–the spiritual life–accessible. I think most of us can easily shake our head as we read the above quote because we are visually picturing her writing. What a gift she gave to us; to be able to see her words. I can see the roses or daisies and violets and fields of flowers and know exactly what St Therese is talking about.
If a little flower could speak, it seems to me that it would tell
us quite simply all that God has done for it, without hiding any
of its gifts.
–St Therese the Little Flower
My sisters, that is our aim. That sums up our theme for this month of January…to tell all that God has done for us without hiding any of our gifts…because they all belong to Him.
?How do we proclaim the goodness of God without sounding like we are bragging?
?Does that make you uncomfortable to praise God openly for blessing you abundantly in the presence of one who appears to be still waiting for that answered prayer?
Therefore, putting away falsehood, let every one speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
†Ephesians 4:25
Pop in the comments below and let me know if you’re reading along. Also, who would like to lead the discussion next week? Email me using the icon over there to the right and let me know.
Meditations on the Mysteries: The Nativity and Faith
Emily DeArdo::Catholic Poster Girl
As the country ramps up for the Christmas (shopping) season, it’s apropos to consider the event that leads to the celebrating: The Nativity.
Just about everyone knows how this story starts: “In those days, Caesar Augustus…” We think we know the story, right? Angels, shepherds, stars, kings, gold, frankincense, myrrh.
But if I was Mary, I would’ve been scared out of my mind.
Think about it: she’s a teenager, she’s pregnant with the Son of God. It took awhile to convince her husband of this, but eventually she got some help from an angel. So she and Joseph are preparing for this very important birth in Nazareth.
Then they’re told they have to travel 80 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Now, my car can do 80 miles in an hour and change. I don’t think donkeys go quite that fast. So Mary, who is very, very pregnant, is on the back of a donkey, for a multi-day journey to a place she was probably never been. Oh, and they may or may not have a room. There was no Travelocity for them so she and Joseph are counting on there being space for them.
Except: there’s not. At the end of that probably very uncomfortable journey, there’s no room at the inn. This part always makes me a bit perturbed. There was no room for a really, really pregnant young girl? No corner of the kitchen, where at least she’d be warm and have other women around her? Nope. Nothing.
Except that stable. I’ve been in barns, and they are not places I’d want to give birth (good thing germ theory wasn’t around in 1 BC). {Tweet This} But that’s all there is, and Mary’s alone–no other women are there to help her. She probably wanted her mother. And Joseph? He was probably terrified. His wife is giving birth to the Son of God, the Messiah, and it has to be in a stable? Where is this in the plan?
Indeed. Where is this in the plan?
It’s all there. God knew it was going to happen this way. And Mary and Joseph have faith enough to know that, too. They might not know why God wants His son born in a stable, instead of a nice, warm room at an inn. But they know there is a reason for it, even if God’s not sharing it with them.
So in that stable, 80 miles from home, Mary gives birth to Jesus. Instead of the family she thought would be around her, she has shepherds, and angels singing in the sky above them. Christ’s birth is witnessed by plain, ordinary people, doing their jobs on a cold December night. They had faith, too, that if they listened in what the angel told them, they’d find this little family huddled in a stable nearby. Their faith is rewarded.
Mary’s and Joseph’s is, too. What the angel told both of them has come to pass–they have a son, who is the Son of God, the one who will save them from their sins. Here, in this dark and gloomy place, there’s a baby. There is hope and joy.
Sometimes we’re on that road, too, or in that stable. We don’t know what the heck is going on. We definitely did not picture things turning out like this. We want the warm room and clean sheets. We want our family to help. We want assurance that everything is going to happen the way it’s “supposed” to.
But who says what’s “supposed” to happen? Shouldn’t the King of Kings be born in a palace, with attendants and the best of everything? Doesn’t that sound like what’s “supposed” to happen to a child like that?
In this Advent season, let’s take our example from Mary and Joseph, who trusted, who had faith. Let’s ask Mary to give us faith like hers.
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