Sunday, May 29, 2011

Sixth Sunday of Easter


When Jesus was preaching and healing many people wanted to touch Him and I am sure that many couldn't do it. There were limits in the flesh of Jesus. His flesh couldn't reach many that wanted to. Our Lord is coming with a solution. He asked to the Apostles: pray for another Paracletos in Greek, Advocatos in Latin, Paráclito in Spanish, lawyer in English. Someone strong, wise and someone that is friend, one that never abandons and has Power to Save, Jesus meant to say: I am the first one, but the second, The Holy Spirit will be able to touch you in ways that you can’t imagine, He will remind you of all that I have taught you. Right after His resurrection this was a reality "Receive The Holy Spirit and then… make disciples…" (Mt 28:19). We have the great Mission to be messengers… In our case The Messengers are the Message. If He was strong enough to Forgive and Save the ones crucified Him and the Disciples that deny Him, Today we need to trust that He Is Strong Enough to Save!

In every process with the law, we always want and need a good lawyer, someone who knows the laws and someone that is strong enough to defend us. With Jesus on our side, there is no adversary or enemy that can defeat us.
Lord, as I begin this prayer I offer you my whole self: my thoughts, desires, decisions, actions, hopes, fears, weaknesses, failures and petty successes. I open my entire being to you, aware that you know everything already. I’m certain of your mercy and of the purifying power of your penetrating, loving gaze. Lord, I want to believe in your personal and passionate love for me.

Jesus, help me to believe in you and your love. Imprint your love very deeply onto my heart. I want to remain in your love always. I want to remain in the love of the Father and the Holy Spirit, but I need your strength and grace. Help me to set aside anything that displeases you, Amen.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Fift Sunday of Easter: Importance of Paryer and preaching of the Gospel


The early Church was not an ideal situation. They had conflicts and difficulties from the inside. Today this fits, as we say in Peru, like the ring to the finger. Today we experience, also, that where we have human beings we have also as part of the same combo. Even though they had miracles, they also had preferences, clicks, etc. The intervention of the Apostles is beautiful. They are led by the Holy Spirit, our Pope, bishops and priests, in a wise way.
The problems of today cannot occupy all our attention. Above everything; administration, problems of any kind, envy, gossip… The shepherds need to always see the whole picture. That is why the Apostles knew that the great mission of prayer and preaching was reserved for them; the closeness to Our Lord and the proclamation of His word. I have seen parishes and prayer groups that; out of the busyness of problems, various discussions and the lack of prayer and preaching ended badly.
We need to give time to talk about problems and find solutions together, but we need to be careful of talking too much and not letting Him talk. I know brave parents and college students that have had the courage to turn off the TV, computer and cellphones to be able to find a time of sharing with their family members and friends. In this month of May, let us take our time to meditate with the rosary, the mysteries of the life of Christ. My brothers and sisters, we have talked too much in our lives, what if we really let God, the Holy Spirit, and the Son speak today, and after that we let our lives speak of what was heard. Meanwhile repeat this prayer with me: Lord, I am here, right here, and I have work to do. Some of today’s tasks don’t excite me; however, I will do them for you. In those moments of my day when I don’t feel you, I wait. I know you are coming.




Monday, May 16, 2011

Why May is the month of our Blessed Virgin Mary?



The month of May is the "month which the piety of the faithful has especially dedicated to Our Blessed Lady," and it is the occasion for a "moving tribute of faith and love which Catholics in every part of the world [pay] to the Queen of Heaven. During this month Christians, both in church and in the privacy of the home, offer up to Mary from their hearts an especially fervent and loving homage of prayer and veneration. In this month, too, the benefits of God's mercy come down to us from her throne in greater abundance" (Paul VI: Encyclical on the Month of May, no. 1). This Christian custom of dedicating the month of May to the Blessed Virgin arose at the end of the 13th century. In this way, the Church was able to Christianize the secular feasts which were wont to take place at that time. In the 16th century, books appeared and fostered this devotion. 

The practice became especially popular among the members of the Jesuit Order — by 1700 it took hold among their students at the Roman College and a bit later it was publicly practiced in the Gesu Church in Rome. From there it spread to the whole Church. The practice was granted a partial indulgence by Pius VII in 1815 and a plenary indulgence by Pius IX in 1859. With the complete revision of indulgences in 1966 and the decreased emphasis on specific indulgences, it no longer carries an indulgence; however it certainly falls within the category of the First General Grant of Indulgences. (A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful who, in the performance of their duties and in bearing the trials of life, raise their mind with humble confidence to God, adding — even if only mentally — some pious invocation. 

Time of graces...

The world is resplendent with Spring's increased light and new growth. It is Mary’s month in the Easter season and all of nature rejoices with the Queen of heaven at the Resurrection of the Son she was worthy to bear. During the remainder of Easter time, let us endeavor through the prayers of the Holy Liturgy and the Holy Rosary to deepen our gratitude for the mystery of our Baptismal rebirth in Christ. "The month of May, with its profusion of blooms was adopted by the Church in the eighteenth century as a celebration of the flowering of Mary's maidenly spirituality…With its origins in Isaiah's prophecy of the Virgin birth of the Messiah under the figure of the Blossoming Rod or Root of Jesse, the flower symbolism of Mary was extended by the Church Fathers, and in the liturgy, by applying to her the flower figures of the Sapiential Books-Canticles, Wisdom, Proverbs and Sirach. 

"In the medieval period, the rose was adopted as the flower symbol of the Virgin Birth, as expressed in Dante's phrase, 'The Rose wherein the Divine Word was made flesh,' and depicted in the central rose windows of the great gothic cathedrals-from which came the Christmas carol, 'Lo, How a Rose 'ere Blooming.' Also, in the medieval period, when monasteries were the centers of horticultural and agricultural knowledge, and with the spread of the Fransiscan love of nature, the actual flowers themselves, of the fields, waysides and gardens, came to be seen as symbols of Mary…" 

Virgin Mary and the Popes
  
The pious practice of honoring Mary during the month of May has been especially recommended by the Popes. Pius XII made frequent reference to it and in his great Encyclical on the Sacred Liturgy "Mediator Dei" characterized it as one of "other exercises of piety which although not strictly belonging to the Sacred Liturgy, are nevertheless of special import and dignity, and may be considered in a certain way to be an addition to the liturgical cult: they have been approved and praised over and over again by the Apostolic See and by the Bishops" (no. 182).
Paul VI wrote a short encyclical in 1965 using the Month of Mary devotion as a means of obtaining prayers for peace. He urged the faithful to make use of this practice which is "gladdening and consoling" and by which the Blessed Virgin Mary is honored and the Christian people are enriched with spiritual gifts" (no. 2). 

In May of 2002 Pope John Paul II said, "Today we begin the month dedicated to Our Lady a favorite of popular devotion. In accord with a long-standing tradition of devotion, parishes and families continue to make the month of May a 'Marian' month, celebrating it with many devout liturgical, catechetical and pastoral initiatives!" 

The Blessed Virgin Mary is the Mother of the Church and therefore the example, as well as the guide and inspiration, of everyone who, in and through the Church, seeks to be the servant of God and man and the obedient agent of the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit, as Pope Leo XIII reminded us, is the soul of the Church: All the activity and service of the members of the Church, beginning with the supreme participation of the Blessed Mother in the work of the Church, is vivified by the Holy Spirit as the body, in all its activities, is vivified by its soul. The Holy Spirit is the Paraclete, Advocate, and Comforter which Christ Himself sent to be our consolation in the sorrowful mysteries of life, our source of moderation in the joyful mysteries of life, our added principle of exaltation in the glorious mysteries of life. 

So He was for the Blessed Mother; so also He is for the least of us; so also He is for the rest of the Church, even for those who are its unconscious but conscientious members. Wherever there is faith there is the example of Mary, because she lived by faith as the Scriptures remind us.... If, then, piety is the virtue which binds us to the sources of all life, to God, to our parents, to the Church, to Christ, certainly Christian piety binds us, in grateful love, to Mary — or our acceptance of Christ and of the mystery of our kinship with Him is imperfect, partial, and unfulfilled.  (Cardinal John Wright)

 
Mary and Our Spiritual Life

In our observance of the Marian month we should take into account the season of the Liturgical Year which largely corresponds with the fifty days of Easter. Our pious exercises could emphasize Our Lady's participation in the Paschal mystery and in Pentecost with which the Church begins. The pious exercises connected with the month of May can easily highlight the earthly role played by the glorified Queen of Heaven, here and now, in the celebration of the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Eucharist. 

The following practices which are recommended by the Magisterium are offered as suggestions for honoring Our Lady during Her month.



The Regina Coeli: The ecclesial community addresses this antiphon to Mary for the Resurrection of her Son. It adverts to, and depends on, the invitation to joy addressed by Gabriel to the Lord's humble servant who was called to become the Mother of the saving Messiah. This praiseworthy practice to recite these prayers in the early morning, at noon, and in the evening.

V. Queen of Heaven, rejoice, alleluia: R. For he whom thou hast deserved to bear, alleluia,

V. Hath risen, as he said, alleluia. R. Pray for us to God, alleluia.

V. Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia. R. Because the Lord is truly risen, alleluia.

Let us pray.
O God, who by the Resurrection of thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, has vouchsafed to make glad the whole world, grant, we beseech thee, that through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, his Mother, we may atain the joys of eternal life. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.


The Rosary: Also called the Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Rosary is one of the most excellent prayers to the Mother of God. Thus, "the Roman Pontiffs have repeatedly exhorted the faithful to the frequent recitation of this biblically inspired prayer which is centered on contemplation of the salvific events of Christ's life, and their close association with the Virgin Mother."

Litanies of the Blessed Virgin Mary: These consist of a long series of invocations to Our Lady, which follow in a uniform rhythm, thereby creating a stream of prayer characterized by insistent praise and supplication. 

The May Crowning.

Perhaps the most well-known of the May Marian devotions is the crowning of a statue of Mary with flowers. This became particularly popular in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with a procession of school-age boys and girls dressed in their finery, following the statue in a procession.

In this ceremony, the statue is decorated at its base with flowers and one of the girls would be chosen to crown Mary with flowers. The nineteenth century hymn ‘Bring Flowers of the Rarest’ is a traditional accompaniment to this ceremony.

Consecration and Entrustment to Mary: The Roman Pontiffs have frequently expressed appreciation for the pious practice of "consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary" and the formulas publicly used by them are well known. Louis Grignon de Montfort is one of the great masters of the spirituality underlying the act of "consecration to Mary". He "proposed to the faithful consecration to Jesus through Mary, as an effective way of living out their baptismal commitment." 

The Brown Scapular and other Scapulars:  The scapular is an external sign of the filial relationship established between the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother and Queen of Mount Carmel, and the faithful who entrust themselves totally to her protection, who have recourse to her maternal intercession, who are mindful of the primacy of the spiritual life and the need for prayer. 


Miraculous Medals: These are witnesses of faith and a sign of veneration of the Holy Mother of God, as well as of trust in her maternal protection.The Church blesses such objects of Marian devotion in the belief that "they help to remind the faithful of the love of God, and to increase trust in the Blessed Virgin Mary."