New Year's Resolutions for Catholics

It is just about time for New Year's Resolutions! Here are some suggestions from the America Needs Fatima site (via Catholic Fire).

1. Be honest. Know yourself. What is your strongest virtue? What is your worst vice? Therefore, tailor your resolution so it strengthens your good side and fights your bad one. A one-size fits all resolution is useless.

2. Be specific. Don’t use generalities. They don’t work. For example, if you need to be more humble, just saying “I am going to be more humble,” is useless. You need to zero in on one situation where you need to practice humility and resolve to improve in that one situation.

3. Be simple. Don’t make it complicated. Focus on something you can see and measure easily and that does not overwhelm you each time you try to obtain it. Otherwise, you will become distracted and your energy will be dispersed and misdirected.

4. Be reasonable. Don’t try to do too much at once. You won’t become a saint in one day. Remember: every soul has one MAJOR point upon which is hinged his or her entire fidelity to God and His Holy Laws. Find out and work on improving that key point. You’ll see how everything else will improve if you improve on that one major point.

5. Be consistent. It’s far better to do something small everyday to improve on that one key point in your soul than to make a big resolution that you cannot keep for more than a week or two. Slow and steady wins the race!

6. Be humble. Recognize that you cannot do any good action which has value in the supernatural order without God’s grace and the intercessory help of the Blessed Mother. Beg God’s grace through Our Lady’s intercession constantly in all your thoughts, desires and actions

7. Be disinterested. Remember that God wants us to defend His rights and interests, and to share His thoughts and ways. And therefore, to focus on things, happening and events that are very close to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary that are not necessarily linked to our own personal interests.

8. Write it down. It’s important to write down your resolution so you can refer back to it often during the year. Also, by writing it down, you will be able to review it when the year is over, and to evaluate your progress since the time the resolution was made.

9. Public expressions of faith. Don’t hide your faith. That’s just what the devil wants. He knows when you express your faith publicly, others see you and are encouraged to follow your good example. Say grace openly and proudly before meals in a restaurant so people can see. You’ll be surprised with the good reactions you will get.

10. Devotion to Our Lady. Have more devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Devotion to the Mother of God is a panacea. Saint Louis de Montfort said that devotion to Holy Mary is the easiest, safest, fastest, most secure, and surest path to Jesus and to our own salvation. If you can nothing else, resolve to say the Rosary everyday. Saint Louis de Montfort wrote:

“If you say the Rosary faithfully until death, I do assure you that, in spite of the gravity of your sins 'you shall receive a never-fading crown of glory.' Even if you are on the brink of damnation, even if you have one foot in hell, even if you have sold your soul to the devil as sorcerers do who practice black magic, and even if you are a heretic as obstinate as a devil, sooner or later you will be converted and will amend your life and will save your soul, if-- and mark well what I say-- if you say the Holy Rosary devoutly every day until death for the purpose of knowing the truth and obtaining contrition and pardon for your sins."

Fr. Longenecker: Angels, Shepherds and Sheer Joy

The following comes from Fr. Longenecker:

Angels crowd the Advent story, and their presence culminates in the throng of angels who appear to the shepherds on the hill outside Bethlehem. The angelic presences pushing in on the ordinary world come first to the priest Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, and then to the Virgin Mary and Joseph. Finally, they appear with the message that God’s son has been born to the humble shepherds.

The story is told in the classic words of the King James Version:

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.”

The presence of the angels in Advent is the presence of the supernatural pressing in on the natural. At the coming of Christ the veil between the seen and the unseen worlds is tissue thin. That which is invisible presses in upon those who can only see the visible. As God takes human flesh it is as if the whole divine realm becomes more present in this physical dimension.

Have you ever wondered why messengers from heaven so often appear to shepherds? Not only did the Christmas angels come to shepherds, but the Hebrew people were a nomadic herding tribe. Moses was a shepherd when God appeared at the burning bush. The great king David was a shepherd boy, and at Laus, La Salette, Lourdes and Fatima Mary appeared to shepherd children. The supernatural appearances come to humble peasants for a good reason. Humble workers are, on the one hand, likely to accept a supernatural appearance, and on the other hand, they are unlikely to fabricate a wild story. They’re down to earth, simple, honest and straightforward people — likely to believe in the supernatural but also unlikely to deceive.

The combination of angels and shepherds brings alive the wonder of Christ’s birth, and the symbolism of the shepherds and the wise men add to the levels of meaning and mystery. As his ancestor David was the shepherd king, the child in the stable will prove to be both the Good Shepherd and the King in God’s kingdom. So the angels herald his birth to the shepherds, and through the guiding star the kings make their way to pay him homage. As princes and peasants come together, they prove that the child is the Lord of both the highest and the lowest of humanity.

The angels of Christmas night also remind us of the role of the angels. They are God’s messengers and bring the message of Christ’s birth to the shepherds, and through them to the whole human race, but they are also agents of praise. The angelic role is to give everlasting praise, honor and glory to God. When the shepherds see the angels, they hear a hint of heaven and get a glimpse of glory. Their hearts lift in praise and wonder as they experience the stupendous sight of heaven being opened for a moment as God comes down to dwell among mankind.

As the shepherds take action and hurry to worship the newborn king, they remind us of an important takeaway from the story. Every glimpse of glory and spiritual uplift brings with it the call to action. The angels praise God, but they also serve God. They worship him, but they also render him service. They glorify him and they bear his message to the world. Likewise, following their example, at this Christmas season we turn out hearts in worship and praise, but we rise from Christmas Mass with an even greater determination to bring the angelic message of peace and goodwill to the world through both our lips and our lives.

EX ORE INFANTIUM by Francis Thompson

LITTLE Jesus, wast Thou shy
Once, and just so small as I?
And what did it feel like to be
Out of Heaven, and just like me?
Didst Thou sometimes think of there.
And ask where all the angels were?
I should think that I would cry
For my house all made of sky;
I would look about the air,
And wonder where my angels were;
And at waking 'twould distress me--
Not an angel there to dress me!

Hadst Thou ever any toys,
Like us little girls and boys?
And didst Thou play in Heaven with all
The angels, that were not too tall,
With stars for marbles? Did the things
Play Can you see me? through their wings?
And did Thy Mother let Thee spoil
Thy robes, with playing on our soil?
How nice to have them always new
In Heaven, because 'twas quite clean blue.

Didst Thou kneel at night to pray,
And didst Thou join Thy hands, this way?
And did they tire sometimes, being young,
And make the prayer seem very long?
And dost Thou like it best, that we
Should join our hands to pray to Thee?
I used to think, before I knew,
The prayer not said unless we do.
And did Thy Mother at the night
Kiss Thee, and fold the clothes in right?
And didst Thou feel quite good in bed,
Kiss'd, and sweet, and Thy prayers said?

Thou canst not have forgotten all
That it feels like to be small:
And Thou know'st I cannot pray
To Thee in my father's way--
When Thou wast so little, say,
Couldst Thou talk Thy Father's way?
So, a little Child, come down
And hear a child's tongue like Thy own;
Take me by the hand and walk,
And listen to my baby-talk.
To Thy Father show my prayer
(He will look, Thou art so fair),
And say: "O Father, I, thy Son,
Bring the prayer of a little one."

And He will smile, that children's tongue
Has not changed since Thou wast young!

--FRANCIS THOMPSON

Once in Royal David's City

Once in royal Davids city,
Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a mother laid her Baby,
In a manger for His bed:
Mary was that mother mild,
Jesus Christ, her little Child.

He came down to earth from heaven,
Who is God and Lord of all,
And His shelter was a stable,
And His cradle was a stall:
With the poor, and mean, and lowly,
Lived on earth our Saviour holy.

For He is our childhood's pattern;
Day by day, like us, He grew;
He was little, weak, and helpless,
Tears and smiles, like us He knew;
And He cares when we are sad,
And he shares when we are glad.

And our eyes at last shall see Him,
Through His own redeeming love;
For that Child so dear and gentle,
Is our Lord in heaven above:
And He leads His children on,
To the place where He is gone.

Bishop Robert Barron on Christmas

Isaiah: The Prophet of Christmas

The following comes from Catholic Exchange:

More than any other, Isaiah is the prophet of Christmas.

Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel.

For a child is born to us, and a son is given to us, and the government is upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counselor, God the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace.

Those are Isaiah’s words and they have become as much a part and parcel of the Christmas story as the three kings of Orient, the inn with no room, and the herald angels singing. Isaiah’s prominence is reflected in the liturgies for Christmas. There are four liturgies for Christmas: the vigil, the night, the dawn, and the day Masses, and Isaiah is the Old Testament reading for all of them. (The Mass readings are listed here.)

Readings from Isaiah will continue to dominate this Christmas season. Isaiah is also very much a prophet of Advent. The voice of one crying out in the wilderness—the memorable epithet of John the Baptist—is taken from Isaiah.

Writing hundreds of years beforehand, just what was it that Isaiah saw? A fleeting glimpse of the truth? A few details from an otherwise impenetrable story?

To the contrary, Isaiah seems to have grasped not only the whole story of Christ—remember that he is also very much the prophet of the Passion—but also its theological and spiritual depths. Among the many texts of Isaiah read during the Advent and Christmas seasons, a number of particular themes about the truth of the Incarnation stand out.

Something wholly new. See, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? So Isaiah 43:19 declares. Isaiah trembles with excitement at this sense of something wholly new and unexpected. The end of Isaiah 52, which is read for the Christmas day Mass, speaks of nations startled and kings standing speechless. They shall see what has not been told them, shall behold what they never have heard(Jewish Study Bible translation). A whole new world will come into being—one far removed from the trials, strife, and suffering of ours. It will be a world where swords will be beaten into plows and the lion will lay down with the lamb.

Longing of the world. While Isaiah foresaw the coming salvation as something wholly new, it was also something for which the world had been longing. This is especially suggested by recurring images of fresh water being poured out upon or bubbling up from dry desert lands. For example, Isaiah 44:3 prophesies that I will pour out water upon the thirsty ground, streams upon the dry land. Likewise, Isaiah 35:1declares that the desert and the parched land will be glad. And then there’s this inIsaiah 25:9: And it will be said in that day, “Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited.

Abundant life. Along with images of flooding deserts there are also those that indicate a newness and abundance of life. The virgin will conceive and the barren woman with no children will rejoice at suddenly finding herself to have many. God will make thewilderness rejoice and blossom such that it will become even like a second Eden. Do not these motifs of abundant life call to mind the words of Jesus Himself in John 10:10? I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

The light of the world. Isaiah is filled with images of light breaking in on the darkness. At the midnight Mass we read the beginning of Isaiah 9, The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who lived in a land of gloom a light has shone. In Isaiah 42:9, this image is combined with the motif of prisoners who are being freed to suggest light that liberates. In order to convey the completely unexpected and miraculous newness of such light, Isaiah 42:16 then discusses this motif in terms of the healing of the blind: I will lead the blind on a way they do not know; by paths they do not know I will guide them. I will turn darkness into light before them.

From the gospels we know that the light that dispels the darkness of evil and leads us to God is Jesus. He is the light that frees us from our sins and heals our spiritual blindness. Indeed, even Christ describes Himself in John 8:12 as ‘the light of the world.’

Overwhelming joy. In Isaiah 52:8, Your sentinels raise a cry, together they shout for joy. For they see directly, before their eyes, the Lord’s return to Zion. According toIsaiah 25:9, We shall rejoice and be joyful in his salvation. This sense of overwhelming joy pervades Isaiah. The very heavens and earth will break out in joyful song. Even the wilderness, the barren woman, and the ruins of Jerusalem will rejoice.

Emmanuel: by Loreena McKennitt

Preparing for Christmas

The following comes from the Catholic Exchange:

Have We Made Room for Christ in the Inn of Our Hearts?

The time leading up to, and the birth of Christ, is a time full of expectancy, hope, joy, and sorrow. Everything that occurred from the Fall to His birth in a dingy stable was in preparation of our Redemption. The Annunciation turned Eve into Ave and her “no” into a hope and trust filled “let it be done to me according to thy word”. Saint Joseph, a humble carpenter from Nazareth, became the adoptive father of the Son of God and walked the rest of his days in the company of the Immaculata as his wife. It is an awe-inspiring journey that Catholics walk each year in faith, hope, and charity, but it begins in darkness. A darkness that we contemplate throughout the hope filled season of Advent. It is an arduous path that these players, as well as we, are asked to walk. The beginning of the joyous end began when a census was called:

Caesar Augustus, the master bookkeeper of the world, sat in his palace by the Tiber. Before him stretched a map labeled Orbis Terrarum, Imperium Romanum. He was about to issue an order for a census of the world; for all the nations of the civilized world were subject to Rome. There was only one capital in this world: Rome; only one official language: Latin; only one ruler: Caesar. To every outpost, to every satrap and governor, the order went out: every Roman subject must be enrolled in his own city. On the fringe of the Empire, in the little village of Nazareth, soldiers tacked up on walls the order for all citizens to register in towns of their family origin.

Venerable Fulton Sheen, Life of Christ, page 26

It was this order that sent Mary and St. Joseph to Bethlehem for the birth of the Savior of the World. The most powerful man in the world had his part to play, even though he would never consciously know it. He ordered the journey so that Jesus Christ would be born in the city of David. Caesar had no idea that he was fulfilling the will of the Triune God by his decree.

Bethlehem in the land of Judah, you are far from least in the eyes of the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a leader to be the shepherd of my people Israel.

Matthew 2:6

Mary and Joseph began the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem while she was nearly full term. It would have taken days to arrive. It never occurred to them that there would be no room for them, especially in her condition.

Joseph was full of expectancy as he entered the city of his family, and was quite convinced that he would have no difficulty finding lodgings for Mary, particularly on account of her condition. Joseph went from house to house only to find each one crowded. He searched in vain for a place where He, to Whom heaven and earth belonged, might be born. Could it be that the Creator would not find a home in creation? Up a steep hill Joseph climbed to a faint light which swung on a rope across a doorway. This would be the village inn. There above all other places, he would surely find shelter. There was room in the inn for the soldiers of Rome who had brutally subjugated the Jewish people; there was room for the daughters of the rich merchants of the East: there was room for those clothed in soft garments, who lived in the houses of the king; in fact, there was room for anyone who had a coin to give the innkeeper; but there was no room for Him Who came to be the Inn of every homeless heart in the world. When finally, the scrolls of history are completed down to the last words in time, the saddest line of all will be: “There was no room in the inn.”

Sheen, page 27

Have we taken time to consider these words in our own hearts? Do we have room at the inn of our hearts for the infant Jesus who is to be born? Do our lives reflect the dwelling place of God within us? This sad reminder of the denial of Christ by the powers of the world serves as a reminder to each one of us that the world has always denied Christ. It may shock us and break our hearts to look at the barbarism, suffering, and brutality of the world. It cuts us deeply when we are denied because of our love of Christ, but what else can we expect? Our Lord and Savior was denied from the very moment He was to come into the world. “There was no room in the inn” are words that continue down the ages and words we must hold close in the midst our own persecutions.

Out to the hillside to a stable cave, where shepherds sometimes drove their flocks in time of storm, Joseph and Mary went at last for shelter. There, in a place of peace in the lonely abandonment of a cold windswept cave; there, under the floor of the world, He Who is born without a mother in heaven, is born without a father on earth.

Sheen, Ibid

So it was that the Savior of all would be born in the darkness of a cave in the depths of the earth He created.

Read the rest here.

Angels by Archbishop Fulton Sheen

Saint of the day: Lucy the Martyr

Today we remember St. Lucy the Martyr or Santa Lucia! Little is known about this 3rd century saint. She died a martyr on this day in 305 AD. She is the patroness of those with eye difficulties. The following comes from catholic.org site.

Lucy's name means "light", with the same root as "lucid" which means "clear, radiant, understandable." Unfortunately for us, Lucy's history does not match her name. Shrouded in the darkness of time, all we really know for certain is that this brave woman who lived in Syracuse lost her life in the persecution of Christians in the early fourth century. Her veneration spread to Rome so that by the sixth century the whole Church recognized her courage in defense of the faith.

Because people wanted to shed light on Lucy's bravery, legends grew up. The one that is passed down to us tells the story of a young Christian woman who had vowed her life to the service of Christ. Her mother tried to arrange a marriage for her with a pagan. Lucy apparently knew that her mother would not be convinced by a young girl's vow so she devised a plan to convince her mother that Christ was a much more powerful partner for life. Through prayers at the tomb of Saint Agatha, her mother's long illness was cured miraculously. The grateful mother was now ready to listen to Lucy's desire to give her money to the poor and commit her life to God.

Unfortunately, legend has it, the rejected bridegroom did not see the same light and he betrayed Lucy to the governor as a Christian. This governor tried to send her into prostitution but the guards who came to take her way found her stiff and heavy as a mountain. Finally she was killed. As much as the facts of Lucy's specific case are unknown, we know that many Christians suffered incredible torture and a painful death for their faith during Diocletian's reign. Lucy may not have been burned or had a sword thrust through her throat but many Christians did and we can be sure her faith withstood tests we can barely imagine.

Lucy's name is probably also connected to statues of Lucy holding a dish with two eyes on it. This refers to another legend in which Lucy's eyes were put out by Diocletian as part of his torture. The legend concludes with God restoring Lucy's eyes.
Lucy's name also played a large part in naming Lucy as a patron saint of the blind and those with eye-trouble.

Whatever the fact to the legends surrounding Lucy, the truth is that her courage to stand up and be counted a Christian in spite of torture and death is the light that should lead us on our own journeys through life.

St. Juan Diego and the Miraculous Proof

The following comes from Word on Fire:

One of the ways to prove the Catholic claim is through miracles.  Catholicism, unique amongst all the faiths on Earth, has colorable claims of miraculous events with evidence.  One of these miraculous events is Our Lady's appearance to St. Juan Diego from December 9th to the 12th of 1531. You can find the full story here. And here's Her image on the tilma of St. Juan Diego.

 Now, there have been serious questions about whether this apparition is real.  I firmly believe it is, and the Church canonized St. Juan Diego, suggesting She does as well.  The arguments against the apparition become less compelling when you try and piece them together.  For example, it's claimed that since the Spanish didn't write about this event for over a decade (which is apparently true: the first existent writing we have from the Spanish is from 1548), then it didn't exist.  But given that the Spanish were often clueless about Aztec life, and didn't speak the Nahuatl language, this isn't a particularly troubling occurrence. There's little question that this was a devotion popular amongst Aztec converts, rather than Spanish cradle Catholics.  And while the Spanish don't write about the apparition (at first), there is plenty of historical evidence that after 1531, the number of Aztecs seeking Baptism jumps through the roof: As Called to Communion explains:

"This miracle precipitated the greatest flood of conversions in the whole history of Christianity. In the seven years following this miracle, approximately eight million Aztecs converted to Christianity [...]

Prior to this event, the Aztecs were offering thousands of human sacrifices per year in central Mexico, including child sacrifice. The conversion of the Aztecs to Christianity ended the brutal practice of human sacrifice, and helped bring Central and South America to Christianity."

Then there's also the fact that Santa Maria de Guadalupe is a religious devotion amongst the Spanish, leading other critics to claim that the Spanish made this myth up to convert the Aztecs.  This theory makes the most sense of the critical ones, but it doesn't hold water.  As we just established, the Spanish seemed unaware of the devotion in its early days.  Surely, if they were the ones spreading it, we'd see some documentation that they were - something in a diary about how they were explaining the Virgin of Guadalupe to the Aztecs.  There's nothing of the sort.  Instead, many of the earliest Spanish writings are skeptical, while it's the Aztecs themselves who are the believers. Besides this, fiber testing shows that this tilma isn't Spanish in origin, but is made from Mexican hemp.

 The picture that emerges is a fascinating one.  It seems too Mexican to be Spanish, and too Spanish to be Mexican.  And it's far too Christian to be a warmed-over Aztec goddess cult, one of the other theories.  Called to Communion notes:

"The image shows Mary as a humble but royal maiden. Under her feet is the Moon, which for the Aztecs represented the devil. In this way the image depicts Mary as crushing the head of the serpent, and corresponds to the description of the woman described in Revelation 12."

Consider this for a moment: Mary and Her Seed, Christ, are depicted stepping on the head of Satan in Genesis 3:15.  Later, She's depicted as pregnant with Jesus stepping on the moon in Revelation 12:1. Neither the Spanish nor the Aztecs made these accounts up.  They're from separate Books of Scripture, and each predate the apparitions by well over a millenia.  Yet given the Aztec symbology, with its curious identification of the moon with the devil, this image served as beautiful exegesis explaining Mary's Biblical role in salvation.  As an added twist, the Nahuatl word Coatlaxopeuh, which is pronounced like Guadalupe, means something like "One who crushes serpents" [Coa(serpent), tla (the), xopeuh (crush, stamp out)], again supporting that the one who appeared to St. Juan Diego was truly Mary, and not something sinister.

Read the rest here.

Archbishop Sheen on the Holy Spirit

“The Descent of the Holy Ghost Upon the Apostles. Many have wished that Our Blessed Lord had remained on earth, that we might have heard His voice, seen His compassionate eyes, and brought our children to be blessed by His hands. But He said ‘I can say truly that it is better for you I should go away; He who is to befriend you will not come to you unless I do go, but if only I make my way there, I will send Him to you.’ If our Lord remained on earth, He would have been only a symbol to be copied – not a life to be lived. By returning to his heavenly Father, He could then send both from the Father and Himself the Holy Spirit that would make Him live on earth in His new Body, which is the Church. The human body is made up of millions of cells, and yet is one because vivified by one soul, presided over by a visible head, and governed by an invisible mind. So on Pentecost, the Apostles, who were like the cells of a body, became Christ’s Mystical Body, because vivified by His Holy Spirit, governed by one visible head, Peter, and presided over by one invisible head, Christ in heaven. Our glorious Church is not an organization, but an organism. As our Lord once thought, governed, and sanctified through a human body, which He took from the womb of His blessed Mother, so now he teaches, governs, and sanctifies through his Mystical Body, the Church, which He took from the womb of humanity overshadowed by His Holy Spirit. Christ was infallible when He talked through a human body; He is still infallible when he teaches through a mystical Body. Christ sanctified when he forgave sins with human lips; He sanctifies still when he forgives sins through the power of His priests. Christ governed through His human Body, and he governs still. ‘He that heareth you, heareth Me.’ As a drop of blood can live in the body, but the drop of blood cannot live apart from the body, so neither can any of us live the fullness of the Christ Life except in His Mystical Body, the Church.” 

Archbishop Fulton Sheen (The Fifteen Mysteries)

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception

The following is a meditation of Pope Benedict on the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception from Zenit:

O Mary, Immaculate Virgin,

Again this year, with filial love, we meet at the foot of your image to renew to you the homage of the Christian community and of the city of Rome. Let us pause in prayer here, following the tradition inaugurated by previous Popes, on the solemn day in which the liturgy celebrates your Immaculate Conception, a mystery that is a source of joy and hope for all the redeemed.

We greet you and call upon you with the Angel's words: "full of grace" (Lk 1:28), the most beautiful name that God himself has called you from eternity.

"Full of grace" are you, Mary, full of divine love from the very first moment of your existence, providentially predestined to be Mother of the Redeemer and intimately connected to him in the mystery of salvation.

In your Immaculate Conception shines forth the vocation of Christ's disciples, called to become, with his grace, saints and immaculate through love (cf. Eph 1:4). In you shines the dignity of every human being who is always precious in the Creator's eyes.

Those who look to you, All Holy Mother, never lose their serenity, no matter what the hardships of life.

Although the experience of sin is a sad one since it disfigures the dignity of God's children, anyone who turns to you discovers the beauty of truth and love and finds the path that leads to the Father's house.

"Full of grace", are you, Mary, which, welcoming with your "yes" to the Creator's plan, opened to us the path of salvation. Teach us also at your school to say our "yes" to the Lord's will. Let it be a "yes" that joins with your own "yes", without reservations or shadows, a "yes" that the Heavenly Father willed to have need of in order to beget the new Man, Christ, the one Saviour of the world and of history.

Give us the courage to say "no" to the deceptions of power, money, pleasure; to dishonest earnings, corruption and hypocrisy, to selfishness and violence; "no" to the Evil One, the deceitful prince of this world; to say "yes" to Christ, who destroys the power of evil with the omnipotence of love. We know that only hearts converted to Love, which is God, can build a better future for all.

"Full of grace", are you, Mary! For all generations your name is a pledge of sure hope. Yes! Because as the great poet, Dante, wrote, for us mortals you are "a source of living hope" (Paradise, XXXIII, 12). Let us come once again as trusting pilgrims to draw faith and comfort, joy and love, safety and peace from this source, the wellspring of your Immaculate Heart.

Virgin "full of grace", show yourself to be a tender and caring Mother to those who live in this city of yours, so that the true Gospel spirit may enliven and guide their conduct; show yourself as Mother and watchful keeper of Italy and Europe, so that people may draw from their ancient Christian roots fresh vigour to build their present and their future; show yourself as a provident and merciful Mother to the whole world so that, by respecting human dignity and rejecting every form of violence and exploitation, sound foundations may be laid for the civilization of love.

Show yourself as Mother, especially to those most in need: the defenceless, the marginalized and outcasts, to the victims of a society that all too often sacrifices the human person for other ends and interests.

Show yourself, O Mary, as Mother of all, and give us Christ, the Hope of the world! "Monstra Te esse Matrem", O Virgin Immaculate, full of grace! Amen!

Archbishop Fulton Sheen: The Woman I Love

Archbishop Fulton Sheen: Christ, Priesthood and Victimhood

“If in Christ, Priesthood and victimhood are inseparable, should this not be so in ‘other-Christ’s’? Why have we considered ourselves only as offerers and not as offered, as preachers and not as sin-bearers, as social workers and not as redeemers? The priest is called to be a sin-bearer, as Christ was. This does not mean that he must wear hair shirts. Penance does not require hair shirts today; our neighbors are hair shirts. Victimhood means that we feel the guilt and sin of the world as if it were our own, and by constant union with Christ, seek to reconcile all mankind to Him. Love means identification with others – not only with the sheepfold, but also those who are not in it. If sin were finished, the Priest need only be a Priest; but if Calvary is continuing then the glorified Christ can still ask: why do you persecute me?” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Those Mysterious Priests)