Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
1
September 2013
“But
fear seized upon all, and they began to glorify God, saying, ‘A great prophet
has arisen among us,’ and ‘God has visited his people.’”
Lk. 7:16
Today’s
liturgy is dominated by the Gospel in which Jesus Christ, who is “the
resurrection and the life” Jn. 11:25 raises the widow’s son from the
dead. This is the same Jesus who appears
on our altars, gives us life and raises us from the dead. “It is important to stress this connection between the Gospel and the
altar, because it is all very well to think of the Gospel as history in which
we are taught divine truths which unite us to God. But there is more to it than
that; we must love the Gospel by means of its mystical significance. When the
Church chooses a passage of the Gospel to include in the Mass, she does so with
the idea that, not only will it reveal
certain facts to us about our
religion, but also so that, through the whole sacrifice, sacraments, and
prayers of the liturgy, we shall draw abundant fruit for our souls. We shall
begin to live what we have heard.” The
Preacher’s Encyclopedia, Twelfth to Last Sundays after Pentecost, p.
152 In today’s Epistle (Gal. 5:25-26;
6: 1-10) St. Paul again emphasizes, as we saw in the Fourteenth Sunday after
Pentecost, the conflict between the flesh and the spirit: “For what a man sows, he will reap. For he
who sows in the flesh also will reap corruption. But he who sows in the spirit
will reap life everlasting.” Gal. 5: 8
The one hope that we all have is seen in today’s Gospel (Lk. 7:11-16)
where Jesus raises “the only son of his mother” Lk. 7:12 in the town of Naim
(means beautiful, delightful, pleasing).
Here we see the theme that runs through today’s liturgy:
“Whatever good there is in us is the fruit of His grace...Without Jesus
we would abide in death; without Him we could never live the glorious life of
the Spirit described by St. Paul in today’s Epistle.” Fr. Gabriel of St.
Magdalen, OCD, Divine Intimacy, p. 880
“...he who sows in the spirit will reap life
everlasting.” Ga. 5: 8
Dom Prosper Gueranger in his The Liturgical Life, Vol. 13
comments on the spiritual life produced in our souls by the Holy Spirit: “When
the flesh has been subdued, we must beware of supposing that the structure of
our perfection is completed. Not only must the combat be kept up after the
victory, under penalty of losing all we have won, but we must also be on the
watch, lest one or other of the heads of the triple concupiscence (the world,
the flesh and the devil) take advantage of the soul’s efforts being elsewhere
directed to raise itself against us, and sting us all the more terribly,
because it is left to do just as it pleases.
The apostle warns us here of vain-glory, and well he may; for vain-glory
is, more than other enemies always in a menacing attitude ready to in infuse
its subtle poison even into acts of humility and penance...Would to God we
could ever have ringing in our ears the saying of the apostle: “Whilst we have time, let us work good to all
men” Gal. 6:10 ...Then will man reap with joy what he shall have sown in
tears (cf Ps. 125:5); he failed not, he
grew not weary of doing good while in
the dreary land of his exile; still less will he ever tire of the everlasting
harvest which is to be in the living light of the eternal day.” Gueranger,
p. 346, 348 & 349) “... he who sows in the spirit will reap life
everlasting.” Ga. 5: 8
Jesus
is our only Life
“The
thought that Jesus is our Life shines forth even more in the Gospel. The Master meets the sad funeral procession
of a young man. His mother is walking
beside the bier, weeping. ‘And the
Lord, seeing her, had compassion on her, and said to her: ‘Weep not.’ And he
came near and touched the bier... And He said: ‘Young man, I say to thee,
arise...’ And He gave him to his mother.” (Lk. 7:13-4) Fr. Gabriel, p.
881 Jesus not only restores the son to
life, but, in The Commentary on the Gospel of
Luke According to Cornelius a Lapide, He also restores the souls of
all sinners to the life of grace:
“Allegorically, the widow is the Church, who mourns her dead
sons—that is Christians who through mortal sin have been deprived of God’s
grace, which is life, as it were, the soul of the soul—and by her tears begs
forgiveness for them and the life of grace. Therefore, Christ 1. Halts the
funeral procession, i.e., checks and restrains those passions which gain
mastery over the young, so that the sinner may no longer follow them. 2. Touches the bier, i.e., the wood of the cross,
sinners are moved by God to repentance
and filled with grace. Hence, 3. The
dead man sits up and begins to speak, i.e., begins to do good and to praise
God, so that astonishment seizes all
those who witness such a great and godly chance and they glorify God with one
voice. So St. Ambrose, Euthymius, Theophylact, and Bede (in loco), as St. Augustine (serm.
44 de Verbis Domini). We have a
living example of this in St. Monica, who as a widow mourned unceasingly for
her son, Augustine, who was dead in heresy and wantonness, and she recalled him
by her prayers and tears to such holiness of life that he became an eminent
doctor of the Church, as he himself relates in his Confessions. Again, more particularly, the widow is the Church, the
son—the people of the gentiles barred by the plank of concupiscence—and as the wood which brought
death and to which it has grown accustomed—and as it were enclosed in bier,
i.e., by the wood of the cross, Christ restored to life.” a Lapide, p. 377.
The
miracle of the soul’s conversion
In another spiritual interpretation
of this miracle (tropologically), from a moral point of view, Cornelius a
Lapide sees how pastors of the Church should act towards sinners: “Tropologically,
in the example of this widow we see how a pastor or a rector or a confessor
should act when any of his weak spiritual children should happen to fall into
mortal sin and are being borne to the grave of everlasting despair. He should
follow the funeral procession with his fellow citizens, i.e., with weeping,
wailing, and much lamentation, for thus his soul will receive comfort from the
Lord who: 1. Touching the bier will cause the pallbearers to stand still, i.e.,
will put an end to lusts; 2. Will recall
the dead to life; and 3. Will raise him up to the practice of the virtues, so that
he may speak and confess his sins and proclaim the loving kindness of God. Thus at last he is restored to the Church,
his mother, whose past sorrow will be eclipsed by her present joy, and thus
also many will marvel and be led to extol the goodness of God.” A Lapide,
p. 337-8.
Spiritual
Meaning of Jesus’ Miracles of raising the dead to life
Cornelius a Lapide sees in the three
people whom Jesus raised from the dead a spiritual (moral or tropological) significance. “We
read that Christ raised three people to life. 1. The daughter of the ruler of
the synagogue in the house, i.e. one who sins in the thoughts and intention. 2.
The son of the widow at the gate, i.e. one who manifests his sinful intention
in words, and misleads others. 3. Lazarus in the tomb, i.e. the consummate
sinner who by repeating an action has contracted the habit of sin, so that he
lies as it were buried in sin without hope of salvation or resurrection. The
first, Christ raised to life by secret prayer
apart from others; the second by a command;
the third by crying with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come forth.’ Jn. 11:43
This is because a sin in thought only is easily cured; more difficult is
a sin in speech; and the most difficult is the sin that is actually and
repeatedly committed, in which a person lies as though asleep, indeed as though
dead and buried. Hence it is necessary for Christ to cry aloud in a mighty
voice to the sinner’s heart, so that he may come to his senses.” a Lapide,
p. 378 In Jesus’ three miracles of
raising the dead, there is also a spiritual meaning of the increased
seriousness of sins of the thought, word and deed.
“If anyone eat of this bread, he will live forever;...”
Jn. 6:51
How blessed we are when we come to Holy Mass and receive the Body and Blood
of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.
Jesus comes to give us life everlasting.
He promised us this when He said: “I am the living bread that has come down
heaven. If anyone eat of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I
will give is my flesh for the life of world.” Jn. 6: 51-2
This is one of Jesus’ most important promises; He promises us life
everlasting when we come to receive His Body and Blood in the Holy Eucharist at
Mass. Even if we are spiritually dead
through mortal sin, He will raise us up,
like He did with the only son of widow of Naim,
by forgiving our sins in the sacrament of Penance through the priests of
His Church. How blessed are those who
live in the Spirit of Jesus Christ for they will have life everlasting.
Mass
in the Extraordinary Form
This Sunday at 10:00 AM and during
the week at 7:30 AM Holy Mass will be in the Extraordinary Form (Latin Mass).
The First Friday, 6 September 2013
Now is a good time to continue (or begin) the devotion to the “Nine First Fridays” of the
Month. The Sacred Heart of Jesus
promised to St. Margaret Mary: "I promise thee in the excessive mercy
of My Heart that My all-powerful love will grant to
all those who communicate on the First Friday in nine consecutive months,
the grace of final penitence; they shall not die in My disgrace nor without
receiving the Sacraments; My Divine heart shall be their safe refuge in this
last moment." There is no
better way of honouring the Most Sacred
Heart of Jesus than in receiving Holy Communion on the “Nine
First Fridays.”.
The First Saturday,
7 August 2013
Our Lady told
Sr. Lucia in 1925 “…I promise to
assist at the hour of death, with all the graces necessary for salvation,
all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months go to confession
and receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary and keep me
company for a quarter of an hour while meditating on the mysteries of the
Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me." If only we would do what Our Lady asks,
we would be assured of eternal salvation.
Our Lady promises us all the graces necessary for our salvation if we
keep The
Five
First Saturdays! Just think that
when you are about to die the Blessed Virgin Mary will be there with
you to help you get to heaven! “Holy
Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.
Amen” How many times have you said
these words in your lifetime?
Mission of the Immaculate Mediatrix Seventh of September 2013
On the First Saturday of
every month, we will have our monthly formation program for those who are interested
in affiliating themselves with the Marian Spirituality of the Franciscan Friars
of the Immaculate. The day begins at 9:30 AM and goes until 4 PM and includes
two conferences, Holy Mass, adoration and the rosary. (see flyer on door)
This spirituality is Marian and Franciscan
and includes the teachings of St. Francis of Assisi, St. Maximilian Kolbe and other Franciscan
saints. “The fundamental aim of the MIM
is the fulfilment of God’s plan for the salvation and sanctification of all
souls through the maternal mediation of the Immaculate to the supreme glory of
the Most Holy Trinity.” (Article 2:
Statute)
We hope that all of you will consider joining the MIM
and work for your own sanctification and the sanctification of so many souls. Our Lady said at Fatima in 1917: “Many souls will go to hell because no one
will pray and sacrifice for them.”
