For this reason a woman ought to have authority over her head, because of the angels 1 Corinthians 11:10
I came across this video from our Orthodox brother Priest. I found it to be beautiful and profound and it reminded me of what the Venerable Fulton Sheen once said;
“To a great extent the level of any civilization is the level of its womanhood. When a man loves a woman, he has to become worthy of her. The higher her virtue, the more noble her character, the more devoted she is to truth, justice, goodness, the more a man has to aspire to be worthy of her. The history of civilization could actually be written in terms of the level of its women.”
What I didn’t understand is that the level of woman stretches far beyond the earthly realm and into heaven, for the sake of the angels, let woman be glorified;
Mary has the authority over the angels and the blessed in Heaven. As a reward for her great humility, God gave her the power and mission of assigning the thrones made vacant by the apostate angels who fell away through pride. Such is the will of the almighty God who exalts the humble, that the powers of Heaven, earth, and hell, willingly or unwillingly, must obey the commands of the humble Virgin Mary. For God has made her Queen of Heaven and earth, leader of his armies, keeper of his treasure, dispenser of his graces, mediatrix on behalf of men, destroyer of his enemies, and faithful associate in his great works and triumphs. – Saint Louis Marie de Monfort
Regina Angelorum – William-Adolphe Bouguereau
If you would like to purchase the Family Healing prayer book, The Queen’s Triumph, I co-authored with Ashley Blackburn, please click this link.
My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowly state of his servant. Surely from now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name; Luke 1:46-49
Recently I heard a homily about how God loves us all equally. While the sentiment of that sounds nice, I wondered if it were true.
I know that God is love;
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:7-8
I also know that all goodness comes from God, and by extension, anything that is good is loving.
Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. Mark 10:18
So, I had to ask myself this question. If God is all love, and everything he does is loving, then does that mean the existence of hell is because of love?
The answer, of course, is yes. If God stopped loving us, we wouldn’t end up in heaven or in hell. We would simply cease to be. His love is what brought us into creation. His love sustains us, no matter what we choose to do with the love and where our choices lead us in the end.
This brings me back to the original question. Are we all loved equally? Well, we can say with certainty that we are all loved, created by love, for love. But one would think, just by observation that Saints are more loved by God than others are. What differentiates the Saint from others is the amount of God’s love they were willing to receive and be filled with, so that, in turn, they could love like Christ did. To the extent that we are filled with God’s love, is the measure of how much we are loved. And some are more filled than others.
God the Father made an assemblage of all the waters and He named it the sea (mare). He made an assemblage of all His graces and he called it Mary – Saint Louis de Montfort
In other words, the Blessed Virgin Mary is the most loved by God. This made Satan angry. We can all agree that God does not love Mary and Satan equally. This is because Mary is filled with all of God’s grace, which makes her the most loving, while Satan is filled with none of it, which makes him an enemy of God, and thereby an enemy of love.
What does this mean for us? It means we merit God’s love. To the extent that we are willing to submit to the Will of God and let His grace fill us, is the measure to which we become worthy and will be glorified. Some actually do have more Glory than others. And this Glory, it isn’t an achievement to be earned. It is a conforming of our will to the Will of God, so His Will can be done on earth as it is in heaven. And it means things could look different for each of us. It means, I will never surpass the Glory of Mary. The church teaches us that she is singular, and it is seen in her bodily Assumption. This does not make me upset, it makes me grateful for her willingness to bear the Son of God. There is a place for me and for all of us in Glory if we let God do what God does.
In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. John 14:2
I just want a room in the house. For some reason many of us are wounded by the fact that someone else may have a better room than we do. This woundedness is really a type of unforgiveness. It blocks us from being invited into the King or Queen’s quarters; a place where they would give us great honor because we magnified God. Isn’t it enough to be invited?
One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” Luke 23:39-43
As one commentor, Finnian-John, pointed out, the most remorseful sinner receives the greatest amount of love. If Saint Dismas teaches us anything, it is that we should never despair of our place in heaven. In one instant he went from thief to his full glory. This is something Jesus corrects James and John about;
James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” And he said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Appoint us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They replied, “We are able.” Then Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized you will be baptized, but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to appoint, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” Mark 10:35-40
Here, even Jesus is deferring to the Will of the Father. He further corrects the other disciples who have become angry at the request of James and John;
When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; instead, whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. Mark 10:41-44
Why do we insist on being equal, or first? Isn’t that just Lording ourselves over another? Isn’t that making it about us and our ego? Isn’t paradise enough? This kind of mentality is why in Matthew’s Gospel we also hear;
… the last will be first, and the first will be last. Matthew 20:16
Ego is what we need to be stripped of. Envy has no place in the Kingdom. Equitable distribution is not the measure of what we should be looking for. We should be looking for and praising God’s Glory, the Glory God wants to share with us that makes us shine like a city on a hill.
“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket; rather, they put it on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:14-16
There is only one way to the Kingdom, and it is through Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary, by being baptized as He requested (Matthew 28:19-20) and by denying self and taking up your cross and following Him (Matthew 16:24-26). This is how we transform into love. No other pathway leads there. In fact, other pathways lead you away from there;
What do I imply, then? That food sacrificed to idols is anything or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what they sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. 1 Corinthians 10:19-21
It is not proselytizing to bring the love of Christ into the world. It is imperative to say so, in love, for the sake of love.
My job is to inform, not convince. – Saint Bernadette
We leave the rest to the Holy Spirit;
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, and you will see me no longer; about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. John 16:7-11
So, the answer to the question, are we loved equally, is we don’t know the mind of God. I think it is more accurate to say that God loves each of us fully. I wrote this article to make you think. We tend to get sentimental and think what we do or what religion we practice doesn’t matter because God loves us equally. But it actually does matter and it matter’s a lot. All paths don’t lead the same way.
“Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it. Matthew 7:13-14
We do know Mary is the highest of all creatures and we should treat her as such. What we also know is He loves infinitely, which is something we can’t really quantify or express adequately and using the word “equally” seems to put God inside the measurement box that Jesus told his disciples to avoid. All religions and all paths aren’t equal. What matters is the extent that we embrace Christ, His Sacraments, and our crosses, because when we do this, we will become love and thereby be loved more. And in knowing this we serve; we do not look down on others, we instead desire this goodness and love for them and evangelize as Jesus told us to. Our desire should simply be to be everything God made us to be and let him fill us. How this all takes place is not a competition, it is up to the Will of God who can fill all different kinds of people to the most glorified they are meant to be. May God grant me all the love He desires to pour into me and may I receive it with all my heart.
That others may be loved more than I…Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. (From the Litany of Humility)
If you would like to purchase the Family Healing prayer book, The Queen’s Triumph, I co-authored with Ashley Blackburn, please click this link.
Saint Monica and Saint Augustine by Ary Scheffer – 1846
Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. John 19:27
The other night I was talking with a group of ladies in a study group about how Mary is the example of the contemplative life, and the Holy Spirit is charismatic and because they are spouses these things are meant to fit together. It was then that my friend Leah said, “yes, and if you invite the Blessed Mother into your heart, the Holy Spirit comes with her, and they will help you conceive Jesus within you.” It is the way to union with the Lord.
Leah later went further and told me, this is in essence a “Mystical Incarnation”, if you will. Spiritually we are meant to conceive Jesus within us and Mary and the Holy Spirit guide us along this path to birth Him completely within us.
Mary with the Holy Spirit literally conceived Jesus. In her perfection, she knew the Father. She trusted the Father. Her trust led to her espousal. Her espousal led to Jesus’ conception. But that is not the end of the story. The Father wants all of us to conceive Him spiritually in our hearts, through the help of Mary and the Holy Spirit. Further, we must spiritually mature to where He is fully birthed inside of us and we resemble Him becoming mini-Christs.
This is a journey we can see that the Apostles took and it is a journey for us. Jesus knows us and He knows what we need. He asks some of the Apostles, and by extension He asks us;
…What are you looking for?… John 1:38
And further he tells them and us;
…Come and See… John 1:39
We are born into a broken and suffering world. Most of us are restless and we know that how we are living is not satisfactory but many of us don’t know why or what the major issue is. We may think we want fame or money, but those things do not calm our hearts. Sometimes it is when we experience a major suffering that we respond to the call to, “come and see” because we have found ourselves in that place of longing for more and we feel powerless.
Those of us who have reached that point, the point of a suffering or a longing for more, we usually sit with Him for a while and when we do, we conclude;
We have found the Messiah….John 1:41
We know that the message He shares is different and we find our hearts burning to know Him more.
It is here Jesus invites us;
Come follow me…Matthew 4:19
This decision changes everything. This is like the conception of the pregnancy. Your whole life changes. It can be scary, but it is also exciting and miraculous.
Many of us have chosen this path. It is often sweet and healing. We feel the love of God. We see miracles. We know this is the way. We falter, though, in thinking that because we have followed, we are done and nothing more is necessary. For this is a way of perfection and for those who fail to grasp that, it is where Apostasy happens.
We want, in essence, to stay in the place of middle pregnancy, feeling the sweet closeness of the Lord, feeling the intimacy of the miracles kicking inside of our lives. But we fight the birth, knowing that the separation towards growth is painful. It is a journey that makes us have to love even moreand sacrifice even more. We think, isn’t it enough that I followed you? Can’t you just stay close? What else will I have to lose before enough is enough? We fail to see the glory that lies ahead if we let God move us towards perfection detaching us completely from earthly things.
For many moving into the place of discomfort and extreme hardship is enough to make them walk away. They say to themselves, do not ask me to do something that will change the status quo of the comfort I have.
And Jesus says;
Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink? Matthew 20:22
Can you stay on the journey? If you stay on the path the birth becomes imminent. Comfort is removed as any woman at the end of a pregnancy can attest to. Sometimes the suffering is so great it is hard to breathe. It can feel like a crumbling rather than a birth. You may writhe in pain. But His grace is sufficient for you even if you cannot feel it.
For the Apostles this would look like their time of healing and performing miracles was coming to an end. The leaders of their religion wanted Jesus dead. The government was closing in. All the beauty and miracles and closeness couldn’t stop the trajectory of pain they would go through. All that was not of God was being removed. It is hard to go through this, no matter the time period you live in.
Most of the Apostles ran away. But John came back. The women stayed. And Mary was there.
She was there at the Nativity, and she was there at the Cross.
Jesus left John to Mary. But he didn’t just become her son. He became a true Father. A Priestly Father who could feed His flock because he made it through the Cross. His worldview became heavenly.
The birth of the Church came at what seems for some, too painful price. But it is in that pain that the new beginning happens.
Pentecost came to them all with Mary in the room as the Holy Spirit reigned down, fully birthing Christ inside of them.
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Acts 2:1-4
And suddenly, all that they had lost was nothing compared to all that they gained. The Holy Face of God was reflected in their own faces and greater miracles came about, but only after they were stripped of all their attachments that were not of God.
Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Acts 2:38-42
Mary is there for us at the beginning, and she is there for us as we mature. Rapt in the Holy Spirit, ready to bring forth new life in us. It is essential that we invite her in our hearts for a new Pentecost to pour out upon us like it did for the Apostles.
Today is the feast of Saint Monica. She birthed Augustine into the world. And through prayer, heavy crosses and perseverance, her intercession birthed him into the Kingdom of God. She did not walk away when it got difficult and when it took a long time by our standards. In his Confessions, Augustine says his mom was ready to die after He converted fully. That is when her work was done. When we think more of the Salvation of others than of our own comfort or power we are well on our way to heaven.
We too need to stay on the path of perfection – even if all of our comforts are removed. We must trust God that He loves us more than we know, and He wants more than anything for us to be a part of the Mystical Body of Christ forever.
If you would like to purchase the Family Healing prayer book, The Queen’s Triumph, I co-authored with Ashley Blackburn, please click this link.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. John 10:10
I find it entirely puzzling that a Cardinal of the Church would perform the opening invocation at the Democratic National Convention while just outside Planned Parenthood was giving away free abortions and vasectomies as part of their support for the DNC. The DNC platform itself wants to enshrine abortion up to the point of birth in our nation again and restore Roe V. Wade. It is here that when I look at a Cardinal giving his blessing while this surrounds him, the words of Paul to Timothy come to mind;
You must understand this, that in the last days distressing times will come. For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, brutes, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,holding to the outward form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid them! For among them are those who make their way into households and captivate silly women, overwhelmed by their sins and swayed by all kinds of desires, who are always being instructed and can never arrive at a knowledge of the truth. 2 Timothy 3:1-7
I see not only all that is mentioned in the passage, I see what looks like a form of godliness but denies the power of God because it abandons the truth.
Now lest people get upset about my commentary on the DNC, please understand, I do not believe that any politician or party is our Savior. I just simply know that one party openly embraces the politics of Lucifer – non serviam! This article is not a commentary on the other party’s problems.
Everywhere you looked you saw signs or people speak of reproductive freedom, reproductive justice, reproductive health. These are all code words for reproductive destruction. Abortion and mutilation of gender confused children is not healthcare, nor is it just, nor is it free. It actually ensalves. And the end goal of all of this double speak is suppression of how a woman’s body naturally works, the killing of unwanted children, and the mutilation of children with confused identity. All of this policy echos into future generations. What we decide as a society matters. How many of us would not be here today if abortion had been legal prior to 1973? The irony is that while the DNC party platform began by thanking indigenous peoples, it then went on to call for the open destruction of their lineage in the guise of reproductive healthcare by making sure they have access to all these soul and body killing machinations.
You see the enemy isn’t satisfied with simply lying, or even killing. The end goal is always destruction. How many family lines have been wiped out by fertility stealing and child killing policies? Without children, whose fertility isn’t mutilated, there is no future generation. Humanity collapses under the weight evil dressed up as good.
If you want to know what happened to our society that sent us hurtling towards war with one another, look no further than the stealing of fertility, which killed not just the children, but destroyed the family and the lineage of families all over the world. It is no wonder we have no peace.
The greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? – Mother Teresa, February 5, 1994 at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC.
This post is not meant as judgment on people who have struggled with these issues, it is meant to point out the evil of a larger agenda which is crushing and dismantling our society. We can argue all day long about other issues but if we don’t stop murdering and suppressing future generations there will be nothing left.
Thankfully the church has provided the answer and it is why she is so counter-cultural. Yes, there are prelates who don’t adhere to truth, but the truth is still there.
Did you know that during pregnancy women breathe in more oxygen? It makes me in awe of how good God is. Throughout scripture we hear about the breath of God.
“The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” – Job 33:4
See how God invites us into His creative life-giving process? His breath sustains the woman, and her breath (which comes from Him), increases, not for her own sake, but for the sake of her baby who receives it through the cord connecting them.
God’s own Son, the second person of the Blessed Trinity, put Himself in this position, receiving breath from the Blessed Virgin Mary in her womb. Almost every woman can partake in this cooperative gift. But instead, we urge them to work against their own bodies and worse still, against God.
The church is also given her breath by God and can breathe life into her flock sustaining them rather than scattering them. To the prelates out there, stop scattering your flock with messages that promote evil agendas hidden in lying language.
Life is a gift and is precious. Don’t take the road to destruction.
If you would like to purchase the Family Healing prayer book, The Queen’s Triumph, I co-authored with Ashley Blackburn, please click this link.
“Today too, the dragon exists in new and different ways. It exists in the form of materialistic ideologies that tell us it is absurd to think of God; it is absurd to observe God’s commandments: they are a leftover from a time past… Even now, this dragon appears invincible, but it is still true today that God is stronger than the dragon, that it is love which conquers rather than selfishness…The message of my life was: I am the handmaid of God, my life has been a gift of myself to God and my neighbour. And this life of service now arrives in real life. May you too have trust and have the courage to live like this, countering all the threats of the dragon.” Pope Benedict XVI on Mary
I was going to write today about all the things happening in the world, from the Olympic diabolic opening to the election, to the future of our world, but instead I felt compelled to look up towards heaven.
Grace Filled Milk
At her Immaculate conception, she became daughter of the Father
At the Annunciation, she became spouse of the Spirit and Mother of the Son
Before He was Incarnate for the world to see, He was incarnate in her womb
Before He fed us with His body, she fed Him with hers
A grace filled soul
A grace filled womb
Grace filled milk
Feeding the Savior
She gave Him a place to lay His head
A bosom to rest upon
An Immaculate Heart filled like land with milk and honey
God’s greatest triumph
God’s refuge
A temple with flowing water
A living creature bearing fruit
At the foot of the Cross she stood
She is clothed in the sun
The goodness of God written in her
The Glory of heaven
Do not be afraid
Is she not your Mother?
Let nothing frighten and afflict your heart
Wrap yourself in her mantle and persevere
If you would like to purchase the Family Healing prayer book, The Queen’s Triumph, I co-authored with Ashley Blackburn, please click this link.
The Birth of St. John the Baptist, (Nascita di San Giovanni Battista), ca. 1635; Oil on canvas, 112 1/4 × 77 1/2 in.; Parrocchia Sant’Antonio di Padova, Moncalvo, Asti – John the Baptist gazes upon the Virgin Mary
For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. Luke 1:44
I was struck the other day by how much in Scripture names have deep meaning. What does God speak behind the name? I thought of John the Baptist, the one to whom his neighbors and relatives were amazed that his name was to be John instead of Zechariah like his father.
–On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. But his mother said, “No; he is to be called John.” They said to her, “None of your relatives has this name.” Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him. He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And all of them were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God. Luke 1:59-64
The name John means, “graced by God”. Tradition teaches us that John the Baptist was cleansed from original sin when Our Lady with Our Lord in her womb entered the room and John leapt.
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Luke 1:41
For as we know, one cannot be in sin and filled with the Holy Spirit, so John was cleansed from original sin in his mother’s womb by Christ through Mary who brought Christ there. Her role as mediatrix because her Son wills it, solidified before Christ even makes it to the cross. For Mary’s presence at John’s delivery, prior to Christ even being born, allowed that perhaps the first face John see’s is Mary’s, who, no doubt, helped deliver him. A gaze of sinless face to sinless face. Mary’s face reflects the magnanimity of God. John beholds the face of God in the mirror image of God’s Mother. John sees divine humility in her whose womb held the incarnation. His unusual way of living and ability to point to the Messiah and decrease as Christ increased, a result of this contact with Christ and His Mother. One a divine person, one a human person in whom the divine dwells. Christ made His home in Mary. Christ wants to make His dwelling in all of us and She is the instrument to draw us ever closer to Him.
Mary is the fruitful Virgin, and in all the souls in which she comes to dwell she causes to flourish purity of heart and body, rightness of intention and abundance of good works. Do not imagine that Mary, the most fruitful of creatures who gave birth to a God, remains barren in a faithful soul. It will be she who makes the soul live incessantly for Jesus Christ, and will make Jesus live in the soul.Saint Louis De Montfort
So too, again we see another John at the Cross. This time, prior to his death, rather than prior to his birth, we see Mary with John the Evangelist, and we all know the words Jesus spoke.
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home. John 19:25-29
No question, Christ is leaving His Mother for John. He is graced by God. You can imagine that as Christ spoke these words, John and Mary perhaps looked at one another, their eyes locking, and John would know the true meaning of his name and see the face of God reflected in her. What a gift to receive. He is graced by God through Mary who he took into his home. It is significant that Christ did this before His death and resurrection. Leaving her sinless face to be the one to radiate total trust in God, even before the resurrection. She is perhaps why John was strong enough to be standing there when all the rest had fled. John knew Christ more intimately by knowing His Mother.
This grace is meant for all of us, and it takes nothing away from God that she is His instrument. God is the one who gave her the honor because God is a giver.
For the Lord God is a sun and shield; he bestows favor and honor. No good thing does the Lord withhold from those who walk uprightly. Psalm 84:11
She is the mediatrix of Grace. Those who don’t believe this are subject to being deceived for they miss an integral part of God’s plan, the purity with which God loves, the total goodness of God, and the grace He wants restored to mankind, brought through a woman who said, Fiat!
Rosa Mystica
If you would like to purchase the Family Healing prayer book, The Queen’s Triumph, I co-authored with Ashley Blackburn, please click this link.
He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity, and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account. Isaiah 53:3
Please pray for America. Pray for President Trump and for the innocent man who was killed yesterday as well as for those injured and traumatized by what is happening in our nation.
I wanted to leave you with two prayers that have been near and dear to my heart in the last little while.
Consecration to the Holy Face by Saint Therese of Lisieux.
O, Jesus, who, in Thy cruel Passion didst become the “reproach of men and the Man of Sorrows,” I worship Thy divine Face. Once it shone with beauty and sweetness of the Divinity; but now, for my sake, it is become as “the face of a leper.” Yet, in that disfigured Countenance, I recognize Thy infinite love, and I am consumed with the desire of making Thee loved by all mankind. The tears that flowed so abundantly from Thy eyes are to me as precious pearls that I delight to gather, that with their worth I may ransom the souls of poor sinners. O Jesus, whose Face is the sole beauty that ravishes my heart, I may not see here below the sweetness of Thy glance, nor feel the ineffable tenderness of Thy kiss, I bow to Thy Will – but I pray Thee to imprint in me Thy divine likeness, and I implore Thee so to inflame me with Thy love, that it may quickly consume me, and that I may soon reach Thy glorious Face in heaven. Amen.
In a letter to her Sister Celine Therese said, “Let us not believe that we can love without suffering, without suffering much.”
What we do to one another is what we do to the Face of God.
The Act of Amendment to the Holy Name of God – by Sister Marie de Saint-Pierre
Adorable Trinity, one God in Three Persons, whom the angels worship with a holy trembling, prostrate before Thy infinite Majesty, we unite ourselves to those sublime spirits to repair the Blasphemy and horrible swearing which the impious daily pour forth against Thy holy name.
We make amends for those numberless oaths, those frightful curses, those multiplied profanations of Thy sacred name committed in our unhappy country. May our eyes, Lord, become a fountain of tears to weep day and night for such great offenses which have drawn down, and still draw down on us Thy chastisements.
Pardon guilty France (America) O Father of mercies, we beseech Thee, by the merit of the humiliation of Thy divine Son Jesus Christ, in whose name every knee should bend, in heaven, on earth, and in the hells (purgatory); a Name blessed above every other name, whence flows a celestial sweetness, and which has nevertheless become the object of sacrilegious derision, and the inveterate hatred of an incredulous and perverse generation.
Strengthen us, Lord, in the respect due to Thy august mysteries, in the faith of the true Church, and lastly, in the determination of serving and loving Thee to the last breath of our life. We beseech Thee to grant this our request by the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who, one God, lives and reigns with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.
I am actually astonished that this prayer was written over 175 years ago and the world has just delved deeper into offending His Holy Name and wounding His Holy Face. Keep your eyes on Christ, we are in for a wild ride the next few months. God Bless you all and God Bless America, let us turn back to Him with all of our hearts.
If you would like to purchase the Family Healing prayer book, The Queen’s Triumph, I co-authored with Ashley Blackburn, please click this link.
Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. John 21:3
Years ago, I had a scene play out in my mind while in prayer. I was in the old chapel at my parish and I was battling it out with a demon. It was an epic battle and I was being tossed and flung about. Finally, the demon lifted me in the air and slammed me on the ground. I lay as if dead on the ground exhausted and beaten. The demon reached into my chest and ripped out my heart. As he held it in the air in victory, my heart began to beat. I was not dead. The demon disintegrated into ash as I breathed life again.
It left an impression on me, though I didn’t know at the time why I had this vision. But these past few years have been a battle. There were times I didn’t think I would survive. Through stress, injury, sickness, church confusion, and grief, I battled and I battled. The demon relentlessly attacked my thoughts.
After mom died, I felt as if I was that person lying dead on the ground in the chapel. Empty and spent.
The demon pounced with temptation to go back to my old life. The life that I knew before I knew the goodness of God. He flung fiery darts of suggestion, “what does it all really matter, God doesn’t really want life to be this hard does He?” Suddenly temptations that had been easy to say no to became hard. “Things didn’t turn out the way you expected, woman,you should go fill yourself with comfort and ease.” In other words, the devil, in an effort to get me out of the battle essentially tempted me with goin’ fishing.
But the thing is, I was taught to know better. The devil is a liar. When he does speak truth, it is twisted and perverted. I actually do believe that God doesn’t want things to be hard. But God doesn’t settle, he wants perfection in charity. It seems so hard because we are so far away from perfect charity. I have realized in myself; I still have a desire to be seen. That desire is an open door for temptation to speak into my life and tempt me with days of old when all seemed easier. But it wasn’t easier, it was hard in a different way and it without the knowledge of the boundless love of God. So, it was fitting that today was the Nativity of John the Baptist. The one to whom, all those years ago, I turned to for intercession. What does John say?
He must increase, but I must decrease. John 3:30
There are only two Saints whose birthdays we celebrate as their feast, rather than the feast being at their death; they are the Blessed Virgin Mary and John the Baptist. The two who tradition tells us were born without sin. Mary, who was Immaculately conceived, and John who was washed from original sin when he leapt in the womb of his mother at the visitation of Mary with Jesus in her womb.
John didn’t desire to be seen himself. It’s why he could point the way to Christ and not worry if his followers left him or even if they thanked him.
A few years ago, I went on a retreat at Bethany house. The retreat was run by Sister Mary Rachel, OP. She spoke of an image she had in prayer. In the image there was a fountain of living water. She had a bucket, and she would fill it from the fountain and then go and serve others and the bucket would empty. Exhausted and tired she would have to fill the bucket up again. The Lord made her to understand that his desire was not for his people to fill and empty buckets, but instead that they should be standing in the fountain and never run dry. John the Baptist was in the fountain. His life of ascesis had kept him in the Divine Will. Like a well that would never run dry, John didn’t worry about the things most of us worry about. Jesus was walking his Apostles and disciples to that place too. It is the place of total detachment, where there’s no desire to be seen by people, no fear of anything but God, and where there’s never a good reason to not be at peace. And Pentecost poured out.
In the days of old we called this conforming to God’s will. Now we call it surrender. Perhaps Saints of old understood better the work that it would take to conform their will to the will of God and they didn’t fight the work. We, on the other hand, have been so trained in feelings rather than facts, individualism, comfort and wealth, that the battle seems to be one of surrender after having tried everything else we know of in our power and finally surrendering to God. We are a hardheaded and hard-hearted type.
It is hard for us to imagine this because our technological age has us used to comfort and quick results. We are impulsive and want what we want now. God does not operate at warp speed. This is good news for us as long as we stay in the battle, he will do the work of perfection. For me, remembering how Ignatius says in times of desolation to do more, and knowing that “doing more” is not a checklist of achievement. I can, as an act of my will, reject temptation and choose to love God more even in the smallest of ways. I expounded in my last post as to how that led me to more Rosary devotion.
I can, with God’s grace, choose Him in the exhaustion and struggle. That is what keeps my heart beating in unison with His. And I have the utmost hope that the church will experience a new Pentecost. But there will be struggle and hard times before we get there.
I do believe that the church will experience another shut down, as it did during COVID. Rome may try to shut down Latin Mass, but I think heaven will allow all Mass to be shut down again, and we will be left to see how many of us will look like we’re laying dead on a chapel floor defeated, only to see our hearts beat again and the fountain of living water pour out. We must desire that this be so, and we must not let fear overwhelm us into paralysis.
Which brings me to the next thing I wanted to tell you about, which I have written about before. I have felt the Lord tell me that our worship when churches shut down should consist of praying the Rosary and the adoration of the Holy Face. I do NOT believe we should be watching TV’s for worship. I have been reading a book called, Unveiling the 6th Station of the Cross, by Mary Jane Zuzolo. I have been blown away by this book. It is the essence of what this blog for all these years has been about. I will leave you with just a segment of the opening of the book and I hope that you will take to heart that God does not leave us orphaned and he has a plan. There is no reason to not be at peace.
If you would like to purchase the Family Healing prayer book, The Queen’s Triumph, I co-authored with Ashley Blackburn, please click this link.
When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” Luke 2:48
These past few months have been difficult. I am not sure how to even explain it. Now that mom has passed, of course there’s grief, and also relief, but this has been more than that. I felt paralyzed and unmotivated to do anything, even church. It’s as if all the years on DEFCON 1 caring for mom and dad along with a pandemic and the other things of life, all while the enemy relentlessly attacked, had taken a massive toll. I was empty and spent. The stress that had been stored in my body was now trying to exit in ways I did not foresee. Tears came when least expected. Though I didn’t feel like doing church, or even praying, I still did, but it was a massive effort. I questioned everything but resolved to know God is good. I felt like I had been through a passion and I was struggling not to fall backwards into my old life, the one I knew before I knew Him. And it finally hit me, this is the desolation Saint Ignatius speaks of. All I have to do is to not give up. The Ignatian method tells me to do more to battle the powers and principalities. But it isn’t the doing more God seeks from me, for He knows that I am tired. What He seeks is me loving more. I have a choice to make. Loving more can actually happen under the covers in your bed. It is not to be mistaken for devotion out of duty. It is a choice to have a disposition to love even while just sitting and being because you know in your soul that God is profoundly good and you are not experiencing anything that Christ Himself did not take on. I must love God. I must love myself. I must love others. I need rest. It is okay to rest. In my effort to choose love, I am led to more devotion, but the devotion itself comes from the act of the will to choose to love, not a duty or obligation. The devotion came out of me in the form of praying multiple Rosaries a day because it was the best way I knew to love God in these desolate moments.
Then came the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. I was often puzzled by Mary’s anxiety only from the perspective that anxiety can sometimes fall into sinfulness because it shows a lack of trust in God. But knowing that Mary is sinless, I knew this wasn’t the case. I listened carefully to the reading that day.
When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents were unaware of this. Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously looking for you.” He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them, and his mother treasured all these things in her heart. Luke 2:43-51
Then it struck me. Obviously, Mary’s anxiety isn’t the sinful kind. It is the kind that comes from not having complete wisdom and understanding yet. To not understand completely is a human condition. As we age, we grow in wisdom and understanding. Mary treasures, or ponders, in her heart that Jesus is found in the Father’s house. Her journey of growing in wisdom and understanding from the age of 14 when Jesus was conceived in her womb (according to mystics) to the age of 47 when he dies on the cross, would have been a journey to restoration. She was already redeemed by the merits of the cross applied outside of time, and always pure. But in time, at the cross and resurrection, she is a fully restored daughter, the completion of the plan of God. She is a house of prayer, a temple complete. Having endured the passion and offering of her Son, her heart has only grown in purity and the mysteries of God. In the resurrection and ascension Jesus can leave and send the Advocate because there’s a temple complete – her. He will be in his Father’s house, and she is the Fathers house with Christ as the foundation. Through her grace flows to the rest of us. There needed to be at least one Apostle at the Cross for the complete restoration. So it is that through Mary and the Priesthood that Christ gives us a pathway to our restoration. The Priests have such an intercessor in Mary. I get so sad when she isn’t embraced by them.
It does make her mediatrix of grace and coredemptrix because God willed it for mankind. I totally believe one day that will be proclaimed. She holds the key to the Divine Will and it was given to her by the Trinity, it was also handed to Peter.
In the Pieta above we see what looks like God dead, but the reality is He is very much alive in her. In His resurrection we see love has won the victory. She was a part of this victory.
I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” John 14:18-21
So bound to the Spirit is she, so in her is Christ, that the Fathers Blessings pour out through her.
It’s her humility, she wants none of the glory for herself, that allowed God to glorify her the most and allowed his glory to pour through her to us.
Which brings me back to the Rosary. If ever there comes a time again, like COVID (which I believe will come), when we don’t have access to the Mass, the worship we do should be the Rosary. The Rosary is an entrance into the Temple of Mary, a walk through the life of Christ with his Mother, the completed temple built on the foundation of Him. When the Virgin Mary gave this Psalter to Saint Dominic, she said that it was a battering ram. A battering ram tears down walls. It tears down sin which is a wall between us and God. Dominic was fighting the Albigensian heresy. This was a heresy that believed the material world and the body was bad. The ideology of transgenderism is Albigensian, an ideology that mutilates the body. Dominic was having trouble converting people, until she showed up with her Psalter. It is why Dominic’s preaching was finally heard. There’s grace in a Rosary prayed from the heart that comes from Mary as mediatrix of grace. When man destroys literal temples there’s nothing that can destroy the temple of Mary which was built by God Himself.
With each Our Father we invoke the will of God. With each Hail Mary she intercedes for us.
I do believe we are on the verge of a new Pentecost, hold Mary’s hand and keep your eyes on Jesus, just like she did.
The Vision of Saint Dominic by Bernardo Cavallino, 1640
If you would like to purchase the Family Healing prayer book, The Queen’s Triumph, I co-authored with Ashley Blackburn, please click this link.
Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Matthew 5:17
There is an obvious tension in the air these days between left and right, liberal and conservative. And it isn’t enough for the Catholic to view these things through a purely political lens.
Jesus doesn’t fit into our boxes, no matter how we may try to make Him. Traditionally speaking, to conserve, meaning “with service”, actually protects, it is a good thing. A liberal usually is one who has been open and who respects the other, at least in the past that’s the way it was, and it is also a good thing. For those who encountered Jesus, he was both conservative and liberal. He can’t be labeled because He is God. It is the paradox of God because His ways are way bigger than our own. He did not embrace evil or lawlessness, he compelled people in sin to change. The sin He was harshest on were to those who judged and condemned and used the law to do so. This was not the fault of the law, but of those who lacked love.
You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” Matthew 12:34-37
In the passage above, he was chiding the Pharisees, who were upset that he healed a man’s hand on the Sabbath. Their idol was the law. There pulpit was their power. The did not love the man enough to help him and they used the law to justify it.
Here’s the thing though, you can lack both love and law. That’s what I see more of today. Jesus didn’t say the law should go, in fact he said to follow it.
The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’s seat; therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it, but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others, but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. They do all their deeds to be seen by others, for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long.They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues Matthew 23:2-6
In other words, Jesus was telling us that it was not the law that was wrong. It was the lack of love with which it was applied that was wrong. The Pharisees wanted stature not service. They lacked goodwill towards those who the law was supposed to serve. Jesus wants us to use power to serve, not use it to lord over another.
Do not lord it over those in your charge, but be examples to the flock. 1 Peter 5:3
We have to look carefully at that. When we follow the rules, are we doing it because we love God and others? or are we doing it because we will look good and have high stature? He was so harsh on the Pharisees because they should know better! If we have followed God’s law, but we hate people and act contemptuous and spit poison out of our mouths, then we are not following God at all. There’s a lack of relationship with God and we have boiled Him down to a set of rules. We think if we follow the rules we are good and to hell with everyone else. This is not of God. The rules lead to Him, but they are not the fullness of who He is. Those who know better but do not love will receive more punishment in the hereafter than those who do not know better, that is why Jesus was so harsh on the Pharisees.
That slave who knew what his master wanted but did not prepare himself or do what was wanted, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know and did what deserved a beating will receive a light beating. From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded. Luke 12:47-48
Conversely though, if we cast aside the law, it always, leads to lack of love. For those who were never taught the law, it is not their fault, but there are many who were taught and have chosen lawlessness, rebellion and self love, which is very antichrist.
Remember what Jesus taught us;
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. John 14:15-16
Scripture says of lawlessness;
Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one destined for destruction. 2 Thessalonians 2:3
In many respects today, this is where we are. Lawlessness and rebellion. Perhaps this is the pendulum swing for those that felt they suffered from lack of love. But it is not the answer. Love is found in God alone who is good. The law points us towards the good.
Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. Mark 10:18
As I look around today, I don’t see many who keep the 10 commandments, including Christians. Adultery is rampant. Sexual immorality permeates the airwaves and commercials. We make our pharmaceuticals in order that we do not have to live temperance. Idolatry of self has overtaken worship of God. People use the Lord’s name in vain all the time. Technology has enabled us to detract and calumniate. There are many who view these commandments as to constrictive or patriarchal. This free for all, especially sexually, has led to nothing but misery and evil. It steals identity. Lawlessness does not bring happiness, no matter how much power, money, or sex lawlessness gains a person, misery is the outcome. No matter how many times we can “destroy” someone online, we will find the satisfaction fleeting.
We all fail, but that is why Christ instituted Confession.
When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” John 20:22-23
But we need a radical overhaul. We need to stop comparing how good we are to someone else and look at ourselves in God’s light. We need to think of heaven not earth, especially in the way we treat another.
The freedom of the law lived in love leads us to is far more beautiful and unimaginable than sexual licentiousness, money or power. We need only to look at the Saints. They followed the law and their love for Christ and others made them transcend it. The freedom they displayed defied physics.
….they even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on cots and mats, in order that Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he came by. A great number of people would also gather from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all cured. Acts 5:15-16
Among the most remarkable of the documented cases of bilocation was the Padre’s appearance in the air over San Giovanni Rotondo during World War II. While southern Italy remained in Nazi hands American bombers were given the job of attacking the city of San Giovanni Rotondo. However, when they appeared over the city and prepared to unload their munitions a brown-robed friar appeared before their aircraft. All attempts to release the bombs failed. In this way Padre Pio kept his promise to the citizens that their town would be spared. Later on, when an American airbase was established at Foggia a few miles away, one of the pilots of this incident visited the friary and found to his surprise the little friar he had seen in the air that day over San Giovanni. – Padre Pio’s bilocation and odor of sanctity EWTN
after Mass and the Sermon, and again after Vespers, the sick were brought to Master Vincent to be healed. Master Vincent laid his hands upon them, blessed them, and the sick were healed, and went away rejoicing. The miracles of Saint Vincent Ferrer
At another time, he made the sign of the cross over a goblet filled with poison, and drank it without being harmed. The cause of his doing this was that some heretics promised to return to the true Church, if he would drink the poison and not die. A perpetual miracle was the fact that, although he preached only in one language, yet all his hearers understood him, no matter what might be their nationality. – Saint Anthony of Padua, Confessor by Fr. Weninger
In the middle of the funeral service, she suddenly woke up. Full of energy, she stood right up like nothing had happened. When she realized she was surrounded by a large group of people, she started levitating, and flew up to the roof! This wouldn’t be the only time she levitated. She levitated often, she said, because she couldn’t bear the spiritually stinky smell of sinful people.The True Story of Saint Christina the Astonishing, the Indestructible Miracle Woman.
The world has it backwards. Be humble and serve. Hold your tongue. Love God with all your heart, mind and soul. Love your neighbor as yourself. This is what unleashes the power of God. This is when God sends the Advocate and God’s glory reigns down. All will be amazed.
If you would like to purchase the Family Healing prayer book, The Queen’s Triumph, I co-authored with Ashley Blackburn, please click this link.
Veil of Veronica 