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St. Joseph and Eucharistic Adoration

I think I like this St. Peter Julian Eymard [pronounced A-mard] fellow:

“At Nazareth Joseph’s days were filled with work which necessarily took him away at times from his Infant God. During these hours Mary replaced him, but when evening brought him home again, he would pass the entire night in adoration, never tiring, only too happy for the chance to contemplate the hidden riches of Jesus’ divinity. For he pierced the rough garments the Child wore, until his faith touched the Sacred Heart. In profound adoration he united himself to the special grace of each one of the events in the life of Jesus. He adored our Lord in His hidden life and in His Passion and Death; he adored in advance the Eucharistic Christ in His tabernacles: there was nothing that our Lord could hide from Saint Joseph. Among the graces which Jesus gave to His foster-father — and He flooded him with the graces attached to every one of His mysteries — is that special to an adorer of the Blessed Sacrament. That is the one we must ask of St. Joseph. Have confidence, strong confidence in him. Take him as the patron and the model of your life of adoration.”

“THOUGHT FROM FATHER FABER – St. Joseph worshiped Jesus as no saint before had done. From his deep, calm soul he poured out a very ocean of love – tenderest love, humblest love, love shrinking from being like the Father’s love, yet also daring to be like it as Mary’s had been like the conjoined loves of Father and of Spirit, as she was Mother and Spouse conjoined. No angel might love Jesus as Joseph loved Him, as Joseph was bound to love Him. No temporal love but Mary’s could be more like an eternal love than the love of Joseph for the Child, because of its likeness to the love of the everlasting Father. Aside from the Blessed Virgin, Saint Joseph was the first and most perfect adorer of Our Lord.”

“We have close to us as much as Joseph had at Nazareth; we have our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, but our poor eyes fail to see Him. Let us once become interior souls and we shall immediately see. In no better way can we enter into the Heart of our Lord than through Saint Joseph. Jesus and Mary are eager to pay the debts which they owe him for his devoted care of them, and their greatest pleasure is to fulfill his least desire. Let him, then, lead you by hand into the interior sanctuary of Jesus Eucharistic.”

“We cannot help but marvel at the faith of Saint Joseph. Tormenting doubts harass his soul and he is on the point of leaving Mary. But an angel appears to him and all his doubts and fears vanish. On the angel’s word He accepts the mystery of the Incarnation. In the ensuing years his faith was to be frequently put to the test. At Bethlehem he had to content himself with a stable for a home where the Incarnate Word might be born. Soon after, he was forced to flee in order to save the Infant God, and when later he returned to the tiny village of Nazareth it was to live there unknown and in dire poverty. All these trials only tempered his faith. Although he sees only the Child’s wretchedness and poverty, his faith pierces the shroud and uncovers the hidden God within this weak baby frame. Because his faith was so strong, Joseph’s mind and heart bowed in perfect adoration. Imitate his faith as you kneel before the humble Christ annihilated in the Eucharist. Pierce the veil which covers this furnace of love and adore the hidden God. At the same time respect the veil of love and make the immolation of your mind and heart your most beautiful homage of faith.”

- St. Peter Julian Eymard

A Saint’s Complement

“When I saw how my father prayed, I was very much ashamed that, after so many years in the convent, I was not able to pray with such sincerity and fervor. And so I never cease thanking God for such parents.”
–Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, from Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul [398]

Could a father possibly receive a better complement from his child? Stanislaus Kowalski, teach me how to pray!

Light and Darkness

So I have been reading a bit on St. Thomas Aquinas. A simple but fascinating truth he wrote upon struck me earlier.

Good is an entity. It is a Being. Evil is not of equal strength to Good as the world would have you believe. It is in fact an imperfection of a preexisting Good. By itself it is nothing. It has no being. It is not an entity.

But of course this all makes sense I came to realize when you think about light and darkness in our natural world. Light is an entity. Science proves this by measuring its rays. Darkness on the otherhand is never spoken of as an entity on it’s own, but rather how much light is absent. Isn’t it wonderful that in creation you can always learn something about the creator!

But it doesn’t have to end there. Another characteristic of light is that it always has a source. This evening as I picked up my other reading for the morning’s prayer meeting, lo and behold I find:

You are light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father” (Matthew 5:14-16).

Heavenly Father, may the light of your Son shine forth from our hearts so that others may praise and glorify your name. Amen!

Holy and Fruitful Lent

A holy and fruitful Lent to you!

Lent is a good time to remind ourselves of how efficacious our sufferrings and offerings can be for the redemption of souls. Fulton J. Sheen writes in his book Victory Over Vice that one difference between secularists and Christians is that secularist diet and Christians fast. How true it is! And how sad that many Christians use Lent only to diet. There are so many souls, including our own, that need conversion and purification. Offering our incoveniences, our hunger, our sufferring for the soul will bring such joy to Jesus!

Adam went to Ash Wednesday Mass at St. Louis on his own but told me of something Fr. Larry said. “Giving up Dr. Pepper isn’t going to impact the world.” (Who knows, it might depending on how addicted someone is to it!) Father goes on to say that we should fast from our vices and our habitual sin–like gossip and criticism.

To this end, I would like to encourage you to plant your own Lenten garden. (I heard this on Relevant Radio last week.)

Lenten Garden

Plant 3 Rows of Squash
Squash Criticism
Squash Indifference
Squash Gossip

Plant 7 Rows of Peas
Prayer
Patience
Promptness
Persrverence
Politeness
Purity
Preparedness

Plant 7 Rows of Lettuce
Let us be faithful
Let us be loyal
Let us be unselfish
Let us be truthful
Let us be grateful
Let us respond to everything with love and kindness
Let us be understanding of human weakness and failings

And Finally 3 Rows of Turnips
Turn up to Daily Mass
Turn up to Confession
Turn up to Adroation

We pray you grow a wonderful garden, replendent with Easter glory!

Contraceptives: Not the Answer for Africa

This article from Catholic Exchange doesn’t bode well for U2 fans (sorry Devman), but the part that captured my attention was the following:

The notion that condoms stop the spread of AIDS is a blatant lie. A clear example of this is Uganda. Since 1991, it has experienced a plummeting HIV infection rate, whereas other countries, such as Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Botswana have skyrocketing rates (Source: Studies in Family Planning, March 2004). With the AIDS virus comes a drastic increase in poverty, hunger, and homeless children.

I always knew in my heart of hearts this was true, but now here is evidence to back it up. I’ll have to hit the library to find the source from Studies in Family Planning, alas it’s not free online.