St. Nicholas-NOT SANTA

This week is filled with those great saints who preached the True Faith, and kept it going in the early years. Divine wisdom has willed that on the way which leads to the Messias, our great High Priest, there should be many pontiffs to pay Him the honour due to Him alone. Two Popes, St. Melchiades and St. Damasus; two holy doctors, St. Peter Chrysologus and St. Ambrose; two holy bishops, St. Nicholas and St. Eusebius; these are the glorious pontiffs who have been entrusted with the charge of preparing, by their prayers, the way of the Christian people towards Him, who is the sovereign Priest according to the order of Melchisedech. As each of their feasts comes we will show their right to have been thus admitted into the court of Jesus. Today the Church celebrates with joy the feast of the great thaumaturgus(miracle worker), Nicholas. Notice that this is NOT Santa Clause!

SAINT NICHOLAS
Archbishop of Myra in Lycia
(†342)

Saint Nicholas, the patron Saint of Russia, has won the warmest of praises from other Saints such as Saint John Chrysostom and Saint Peter Damian, who called him the glory of young men, the honor of the elderly, the splendor of priests and the light of Pontiffs. All the world was filled with his praises, Saint Peter added. The universal Church, in the Collect of his office, claims that God made known his nobility by an infinite number of miracles.





He was born during the third century, nephew of the Archbishop of Myra. He had lost his parents while still very young, and he desired not to conserve his rich heritage. Gradually he gave away everything of which he could dispose, establishing dowries for poor maidens and seeking out the needy wherever they could be found. The Archbishop, his uncle, already aware of his vocation to sanctity, ordained Saint Nicholas priest and appointed him Abbot of the monastery of Holy Sion near Myra. He undertook a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, resurrecting a sailor who fell from a mast during the voyage; he prayed for the frightened passengers in a near-fatal tempest and calmed it. He visited Saint Anthony of the Desert and healed many sick persons in Alexandria during a stopover in Egypt.

On the death of the Archbishop of Myra, he was elected to the vacant see. Immediately after the pontifical Mass, he resurrected an infant who had fallen into a fire. During his episcopate, he never got tired retaining the virtues looked for a in a bishop; chastity, which indeed he had always preserved, gravity, assiduity in prayer, watchings, abstinence, generosity, and hospitality, meekness in exhortations, severity in reproving those who needed it. He befriended widows and orphans by money, by advice, and by every service in his power. He was a zealous defender of all who suffered oppression.

Throughout his life he retained the bright and simple manners of his early years; no one could converse with him without finding himself spiritually renewed. Saint Nicholas was the special protector of the innocent and the wronged. He is usually represented at the side of a container in which a cruel butcher had concealed the bodies of three young persons, whom he had killed and was intending to use in his commerce, but who were restored to life by the Saint. This miracle was reported by St. Bonaventure in a sermon.


The many and great miracles that he performed and the fame of his holiness gave him great consideration. Eustathius, an avaricious officer, had condemned to death three innocent citizens, living not far from Myra, in order that he might take possession of their property. No sooner had St. Nicholas been informed of this than he hastened to the place, where he found the three men already in the hands of the executioner. The Saint ran towards him and took the sword from him; he then reproved the wicked judge with severe words, and thus freed the innocent persons, amid the great rejoicings of the people.

Still more remarkable is the following: Constantine, the emperor, had condemned three of his most renowned generals to death, on false accusations. These, having heard much of the holiness of the Bishop of Myra, called on God to come to their aid for the sake of His servant. In the night before the day on which the sentence on the three prisoners was to be executed, Constantine saw St. Nicholas standing before him, threatening him with divine vengeance if he did not immediately recall the sentence against the innocent men. In the same manner the Saint appeared to the unjust accuser. Both, greatly frightened, set the prisoners free, and sent them with many rich gifts to St. Nicholas, to thank him for having thus protected them.

Almost at the same time the Saint appeared to some sailors who were in great danger of being wrecked, and had invoked him. They saw him at the helm, guiding the ship safely to land. When they expressed their gratitude to him, he said: "My children, give honor to God; I am but a poor sinner." Taking them aside, he said that their sins, which he named to them, had been the cause of the danger they experienced, admonished them to repent, and then dismissed them. On account of this and numberless other miracles, the holy bishop was called the Thaumaturgus, or Wonder-worker of his age. All his biographers unite in saying that he raised many dead to life. Among these were three children who had been-cruelly murdered and cast into a tub; and this miracle is frequently represented by artists in their pictures of the Saint.

Although St. Nicholas was gifted with such high graces, and administered his episcopal functions so well, he yet feared that he did not do enough, and frequently prayed to God to release him from this burden. A voice from heaven, however, encouraged him, saying: "Fear not, Nicholas, I will recompense thy faithful services." God also revealed to him the day and hour of his death, and the Saint, rejoicing soon to see the Lord, received with great devotion, the holy Sacraments, and after a short sickness ended his holy life.


Saint Nicholas rejoiced when God made known to him that the end of his pilgrimage was near. He retired to his Monastery of Holy Sion, and after a short but intense episode of fever. When he knew his time was at an end, he looked up to heaven, and seeing angels coming to meet him, he began the psalm: 'In Thee. O Lord, have I hoped'; and having come to those words, 'Into thy hands I commend my spirit', and his soul took its flight to the heavenly country. He died in the year 342. He is the patron of schoolchildren, sailors, travelers and pilgrims, prisoners and many others. His relics were translated in 1087 to Bari, Italy, where a church was built in their honor. And there, after fifteen centuries, the manna of Saint Nicholas still flows from his bones and heals all kinds of illnesses.

Reflection: Those who would enter heaven must become like little children, whose greatest glory is their innocence. Two duties impose themselves on Christians: first, either to preserve our innocence by sage precautions or regain it by penance; secondly, to love and shield it in others.


Prayer to St. Nicholas by Dom Gueranger (our Beloved Abbot)

Holy pontiff Nicholas, how great is thy glory in God's Church! Thou didst confess the name of Jesus before the proconsuls of the world's empire and suffer persecution for His name's sake; afterwards thou wast witness to the wonderful workings of God, when He restored peace to His Church; and a short time after this again, thou didst open thy lips, in the assembly of the three hundred and eighteen fathers, to confess with supreme authority the Divinity of our Saviour Jesus Christ, for whose sake so many millions of martyrs had already shed their blood. Receive the devout felicitations of the Christian people throughout the universe, who thrill with joy when they think of thy glorious merits. Help us by thy prayers during these days when we are preparing for the coming of Him, whom thou didst proclaim to be consubstantial with the Father. Vouchsafe to assist our faith and to obtain fresh fervour to our love. Thou now beholdest face to face that Word by whom all things were made and redeemed; beseech Him to permit our unworthiness to approach Him. Be thou our intercessor with Him. Thou hast taught us to know Him as the sovereign and eternal God; teach us also to love Him as the supreme benefactor of the children of Adam. It was from Him, O charitable pontiff, that thou didst learn that tender compassion for the sufferings of thy fellow-men, which made all thy miracles to be so many acts of kindness: cease not, now that thou art in the company of the angels, to have pity on us and to succour our miseries.

Stir up and increase the faith of mankind in the Saviour whom the Lord hath sent them. May this be one of the fruits of thy prayer, that the divine Word may be no longer unknown and forgotten in this world, which He has redeemed with His Blood. Ask for the pastors of the Church that spirit of charity, which shone so brilliantly in thee; that spirit which makes them like their divine Master, and wins them the hearts of their people.


Let us end with the Sequence for today:

The sick are restored to health by the miraculous oil.
They who are in danger of shipwreck are delivered by Nicholas' prayers.
He raised from amongst the dead a corpse which lay on the road.
A Jew asks for Baptism, on witnessing the miraculous recovery of his money.
A vase that had sunk in the deep sea, and a child that was lost to his father, are both recovered.
Oh how great a saint did he appear by multiplying corn in a famine!
Let, then, this congregation sing the hymns of Nicholas' praise;
For all who pray to him with earnest hearts, will go back cured of their spiritual ailments.
Amen.

In Defense of the Truth

“We cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth” (2 Cor. 13: 8)




A Prophetic Voice of Four Cardinals of the Holy Roman Catholic Church




Out of “deep pastoral concern,” four Cardinals of the Holy Roman Catholic Church, His Eminence Joachim Meisner, Archbishop emeritus of Cologne (Germany), His Eminence Carlo Caffarra, Archbishop emeritus of Bologna (Italy), His Eminence Raymond Leo Burke, Patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, and His Eminence Walter Brandmüller, President emeritus of the Pontifical Commission of Historical Sciences, have published on November 14, 2016, the text of five questions, called dubia (Latin for “doubts”), which previously on September 19, 2016, they sent to the Holy Father and to Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, along with an accompanying letter. The Cardinals ask Pope Francis to clear up “grave disorientation and great confusion” concerning the interpretation and practical application, particularly of chapter VIII, of the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia and its passages relating to admission of remarried divorcees to the sacraments and the Church’s moral teaching.


In their statement entitled “Seeking Clarity: A Plea to Untie the Knots in Amoris Laetitia,” the Cardinals say that to “many — bishops, priests, faithful — these paragraphs allude to or even explicitly teach a change in the discipline of the Church with respect to the divorced who are living in a new union.” Speaking so, the Cardinals have merely stated real facts in the life of the Church. These facts are demonstrated by pastoral orientations on behalf of several dioceses and by public statements of some bishops and cardinals, who affirm that in some cases divorced and remarried Catholics can be admitted to Holy Communion even though they continue to use the rights reserved by Divine law to validly married spouses.


In publishing a plea for clarity in a matter that touches the truth and the sanctity simultaneously of the three sacraments of Marriage, Penance, and the Eucharist, the Four Cardinals only did their basic duty as bishops and cardinals, which consists in actively contributing so that the revelation transmitted through the Apostles might be guarded sacredly and might be faithfully interpreted. It was especially the Second Vatican Council that reminded all the members of the college of bishops as legitimate successors of the Apostles of their obligation, according to which “by Christ's institution and command they have to be solicitous for the whole Church, and that this solicitude, though it is not exercised by an act of jurisdiction, contributes greatly to the advantage of the universal Church. For it is the duty of all bishops to promote and to safeguard the unity of faith and the discipline common to the whole Church” (Lumen gentium, 23; cf. also Christus Dominus, 5-6).


In making a public appeal to the Pope, bishops and cardinals should be moved by genuine collegial affection for the Successor of Peter and the Vicar of Christ on earth, following the teaching of Vatican Council II (cf. Lumen gentium, 22); in so doing they render "service to the primatial ministry" of the Pope (cf. Directory for the Pastoral Ministry of Bishops, 13).


The entire Church in our days has to reflect upon the fact that the Holy Spirit has not in vain inspired Saint Paul to write in the Letter to the Galatians about the incident of his public correction of Peter. One has to trust that Pope Francis will accept this public appeal of the Four Cardinals in the spirit of the Apostle Peter, when St Paul offered him a fraternal correction for the good of the whole Church. May the words of that great Doctor of the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas, illuminate and comfort us all: "When there is a danger for the faith, subjects are required to reprove their prelates, even publicly. Since Paul, who was subject to Peter, out of the danger of scandal, publicly reproved him. And St. Augustine comments: "Peter himself gave an example to superiors by not disdaining to be corrected by his subjects when it occurred to them that he had departed from the right path" (Summa theol., II-II, 33, 4c).


Pope Francis often calls for an outspoken and fearless dialogue between all members of the Church in matters concerning the spiritual good of souls. In the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris laetitia, the Pope speaks of a need for “open discussion of a number of doctrinal, moral, spiritual, and pastoral questions. The thinking of pastors and theologians, if faithful to the Church, honest, realistic and creative, will help us to achieve greater clarity” (n. 2). Furthermore, relationships at all levels within the Church must be free from a climate of fear and intimidation, as Pope Francis has requested in his various pronouncements.


In light of these pronouncements of Pope Francis and the principle of dialogue and acceptance of legitimate plurality of opinions, which was fostered by the documents of the Second Vatican Council, the unusually violent and intolerant reactions on behalf of some bishops and cardinals against the calm and circumspect plea of the Four Cardinals cause great astonishment. Among such intolerant reactions one could read affirmations such as, for instance: the four Cardinals are witless, naive, schismatic, heretical, and even comparable to the Arian heretics.


Such apodictic merciless judgments reveal not only intolerance, refusal of dialogue, and irrational rage, but demonstrate also a surrender to the impossibility of speaking the truth, a surrender to relativism in doctrine and practice, in faith and life. The above-mentioned clerical reaction against the prophetic voice of the Four Cardinals parades ultimately powerlessness before the eyes of the truth. Such a violent reaction has only one aim: to silence the voice of the truth, which is disturbing and annoying the apparently peaceful nebulous ambiguity of these clerical critics.


The negative reactions to the public statement of the Four Cardinals resemble the general doctrinal confusion of the Arian crisis in the fourth century. It is helpful to all to quote in the situation of the doctrinal confusion in our days some affirmations of Saint Hilary of Poitiers, the “Athanasius of the West”.


“You [the bishops of Gaul] who still remain with me faithful in Christ did not give way when threatened with the onset of heresy, and now by meeting that onset you have broken all its violence. Yes, brethren, you have conquered, to the abundant joy of those who share your faith: and your unimpaired constancy gained the double glory of keeping a pure conscience and giving an authoritative example” (Hil. De Syn., 3).


“Your [the bishops of Gaul] invincible faith keeps the honourable distinction of conscious worth and, content with repudiating crafty, vague, or hesitating action, safely abides in Christ, preserving the profession of its liberty. For since we all suffered deep and grievous pain at the actions of the wicked against God, within our boundaries alone is communion in Christ to be found from the time that the Church began to be harried by disturbances such as the expatriation of bishops, the deposition of priests, the intimidation of the people, the threatening of the faith, and the determination of the meaning of Christ’s doctrine by human will and power. Your resolute faith does not pretend to be ignorant of these facts or profess that it can tolerate them, perceiving that by the act of hypocritical assent it would bring itself before the bar of conscience” (Hil. De Syn., 4).


“I have spoken what I myself believed, conscious that I owed it as my soldier’s service to the Church to send to you in accordance with the teaching of the Gospel by these letters the voice of the office which I hold in Christ. It is yours to discuss, to provide and to act, that the inviolable fidelity in which you stand you may still keep with conscientious hearts, and that you may continue to hold what you hold now” (Hil. De Syn., 92).


The following words of Saint Basil the Great, addressed to the Latin Bishops, can be in some aspects applied to the situation of those who in our days ask for doctrinal clarity, including our Four Cardinals: “The one charge which is now sure to secure severe punishment is the careful keeping of the traditions of the Fathers. We are not being attacked for the sake of riches, or glory, or any temporal advantages. We stand in the arena to fight for our common heritage, for the treasure of the sound faith, derived from our Fathers. Grieve with us, all you who love the brethren, at the shutting of the mouths of our men of true religion, and at the opening of the bold and blasphemous lips of all that utter unrighteousness against God. The pillars and foundation of the truth are scattered abroad. We, whose insignificance has allowed of our being overlooked, are deprived of our right of free speech” (Ep. 243, 2.4).



Today those bishops and cardinals, who ask for clarity and who try to fulfill their duty in guarding sacredly and faithfully interpreting the transmitted Divine Revelation concerning the Sacraments of Marriage and the Eucharist, are no longer exiled as it was with the Nicene bishops during the Arian crisis. Contrary to the time of the Arian crisis, today, as wrote Rudolf Graber, the bishop of Ratisbone, in 1973, exile of the bishops is replaced by hush-up strategies and by slander campaigns (cf. Athanasius und die Kirche unserer Zeit, Abensberg 1973, p. 23).


Another champion of the Catholic faith during the Arian crisis was Saint Gregory Nazianzen. He wrote the following striking characterization of the behavior of the majority of the shepherds of the Church in those times. This voice of the great Doctor of the Church should be a salutary warning for the bishops of all times: "Surely the pastors have done foolishly; for, excepting a very few, who either on account of their insignificance were passed over, or who by reason of their virtue resisted, and who were to be left as a seed and root for the springing up again and revival of Israel by the influences of the Spirit, all temporized, only differing from each other in this, that some succumbed earlier, and others later; some were foremost champions and leaders in the impiety, and others joined the second rank of the battle, being overcome by fear, or by interest, or by flattery, or, what was the most excusable, by their own ignorance" (Orat. 21, 24).


When Pope Liberius in 357 signed one of the so called formulas of Sirmium, in which he deliberately discarded the dogmatically defined expression “homo-ousios” and excommunicated Saint Athanasius in order to have peace and harmony with the Arian and Semi-Arian bishops of the East, faithful Catholics and some few bishops, especially Saint Hilary of Poitiers, were deeply shocked. Saint Hilary transmitted the letter that Pope Liberius wrote to the Oriental bishops, announcing the acceptance of the formula of Sirmium and the excommunication of Saint Athanasius. In his deep pain and dismay, Saint Hilary added to the letter in a kind of desperation the phrase: “Anathema tibi a me dictum, praevaricator Liberi” (I say to you anathema, prevaricator Liberius), cf. Denzinger-Schönmetzer, n. 141. Pope Liberius wanted to have peace and harmony at any price, even at the expense of the Divine truth. In his letter to the heterodox Latin bishops Ursace, Valence, and Germinius announcing to them the above-mentioned decisions, he wrote that he preferred peace and harmony to martyrdom (cf. cf. Denzinger-Schönmetzer, n. 142).


In what a dramatic contrast stood the behavior of Pope Liberius to the following conviction of Saint Hilary of Poitiers: “We don’t make peace at the expense of the truth by making concessions in order to acquire the reputation of tolerance. We make peace by fighting legitimately according to the rules of the Holy Spirit. There is a danger to ally surreptitiously with unbelief under the beautiful name of peace.” (Hil. Ad Const., 2, 6, 2).


Blessed John Henry Newman commented on these unusual sad facts with the following wise and equilibrated affirmation: “While it is historically true, it is in no sense doctrinally false, that a Pope, as a private doctor, and much more Bishops, when not teaching formally, may err, as we find they did err in the fourth century. Pope Liberius might sign a Eusebian formula at Sirmium, and the mass of Bishops at Ariminum or elsewhere, and yet they might, in spite of this error, be infallible in their ex cathedra decisions” (The Arians of the Fourth Century, London, 1876, p. 465).


The Four Cardinals with their prophetic voice demanding doctrinal and pastoral clarity have a great merit before their own conscience, before history, and before the innumerable simple faithful Catholics of our days, who are driven to the ecclesiastical periphery, because of their fidelity to Christ’s teaching about the indissolubility of marriage. But above all, the Four Cardinals have a great merit in the eyes of Christ. Because of their courageous voice, their names will shine brightly at the Last Judgment. For they obeyed the voice of their conscience remembering the words of Saint Paul: “We cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth” (2 Cor 13: 8). Surely, at the Last Judgment the above-mentioned mostly clerical critics of the Four Cardinals will not have an easy answer for their violent attack on such a just, worthy, and meritorious act of these Four Members of the Sacred College of Cardinals.


The following words inspired by the Holy Spirit retain their prophetic value especially in view of the spreading doctrinal and practical confusion regarding the Sacrament of Marriage in our days: “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry” (2 Tim. 4: 3-5).


May all, who in our days still take seriously their baptismal vows and their priestly and episcopal promises, receive the strength and the grace of God so that they may reiterate together with Saint Hilary the words: “May I always be in exile, if only the truth begins to be preached again!” (De Syn., 78). This strength and grace we wish wholeheartedly to our Four Cardinals and as well as to those who criticize them.




+ Athanasius Schneider, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Mary in Astana


May God bless these brave cardinals in their endeavor to right the ship of TRUTH!


*Remember, the First See is judged by NO one. However, the occupant of it, when deviating from the Truth, is susceptible to a judgment. And, since this has to be done by the leaders of the Church, probably nothing will be done, since most of them are not good in relation to the Truth. We need to study the teachings of the Church to understand what is happening today within the walls. Be productive!

2nd Sunday of Advent

The Second Warning of Advent:
Christ is nigh! Let us rise from the Sleep of Sin, and do Penance.


Rom. xiii. 11: "Know that it is now the hour to rise from sleep." Luke iii 4: "A voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight His paths."

Today is the 2nd Sunday of Advent. In Isaias we hear "And there shall come forth a branch out of the rod of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of fortitude, the Spirit of knowledge and of godliness: and he shall be filled with the Spirit of the fear of the Lord..."

EPISTLE (Rom. 15:4‑13). Brethren, what things soever were written, were written for our learning, that through patience and the comfort of the scriptures, we might have hope. Now the God of patience and of comfort grant you to be of one mind one towards another, according to Jesus Christ: that with one mind, and with one mouth, you may glorify God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore receive one another, as Christ also hath received you unto the honor of God. For I say that Christ Jesus was minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers. But that the Gentiles are to glorify God for his mercy, as it is written: Therefore will I confess to thee, O Lord, among the Gentiles, and will sing to thy name. And again he saith: Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. And again: Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles, and magnify him, all ye people. And again, Isaias saith: There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise up to rule the Gentiles, in him the Gentiles shall hope. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, and in the power of the Holy Ghost.

Our beloved Abbot Gueranger says:

'How much is contained in these magnificent words of the prophet (Isaias)! The branch; the flower that is to come from it; the Spirit which rests on this flower; the seven gifts of this Spirit; peace and confidence established on the earth; and, throughout the world, one brotherhood in the kingdom of the Messias! St. Jerome, whose words are read by the Church in the lessons...says that the branch which cometh forth from the root of Jesse, is the blessed Virgin Mary, who had contact with no shrub or plant; and that the flower is the Lord Jesus, who says in the Canticle of canticles: 'I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valley.'

St. Bernard, commenting upon this responsory in his second Advent homily, says: "The Virgin's Son is the flower, a flower white and ruddy, chosen out of thousands; a flower on whom the angels love to look; a flower whose fragrance restores the dead; a flower, as himself assures us, of the field, not of a garden: for the flowers of the field bloom without man's care, no man has sown their seed, no man has cultivated them. Just so the Virgin's womb, a meadow verdant in an endless spring, has brought forth a flower, whose beauty will never droop, whose freshness will never fade. O Virgin, branch sublime, to what a height art thou grown! the Lord of majesty. It was sure to be so, for thou castest deep down the roots of humility. O plant of heaven indeed! alone worthy to bear the fruit of salvation."


GOSPEL (Mt. 11:2‑10). At that time, when John had heard in prison the works of Christ, sending two of his disciples to say to him: "Art thou he that art to come, or do we look for another?" And Jesus making answer, said to them: "Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen. The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have the gospel preached to them: and blessed is he that shall not be scandalized in me." And when they went their way, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John, "What went you out into the desert to see? a reed shaken with the wind? But what went you out to see? a man clothed in soft garments? Behold, they that are clothed in soft garments are in the houses of kings. But what went you out to see? a prophet? yea I tell you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my Angel before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee."




Second Sunday of Advent: The Three-Fold Faith
by Bishop Ehrler, 1891


"When John had heard in prison the works of Christ, sending two of his disciples, he said: Art thou he that art to come, or look we for another?" (Matthew 11:2)


My dearly beloved, why does John send two of his disciples to Christ to ask him: "Art thou he that art to come, or look we for another?" Is his question prompted by a want of knowledge, or does he, perhaps, doubt that Christ is "He that is to be sent, and who is the expectation of nations (Gen. 49 : 10.)?" No, the Baptist did not instruct his disciples to ask this question because he did not know the Messias; for he himself, in the presence of many people, had already pointed him out, saying: "Behold the Lamb of God," "Behold him who taketh away the sins of the world." He, also, had heard with his own ears the testimony of the Eternal Father, when the divine Dove of the Spirit descended on Christ after His Baptism in the Jordan, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." But, as our Saviour once asked where Lazarus was buried, not because he did not know, but in order that those who pointed out the grave, seeing its dead occupant raised to life, might be converted to the true faith--so, St. John sent his followers to Christ that, beholding his wonderful signs and miracles, they might be brought to believe in him. The holy Precursor knew that there is a three-fold faith which, as it were, by steps, leads up the faithful soul to God.



I. The faith inspired by heavenly signs and miracles;
II. The faith begotten of the divine Commandments; and
III. The faith grounded upon the divine promises.


I. Through the faith of miracles, my beloved brethren, we believe in, a God whose almighty power can effect these, and still greater, wonders.

1. "Without faith, it is impossible to please God" (Hebr. 11:6), says the Apostle. He then, who aspires to the divine love and favor, must believe that there is a God, a supreme and all-wise Deity, who will reward the good and punish the wicked. How can we know and believe all this? Through the signs and miracles of the God-Man. "The works themselves which I do, give testimony of Me, that the Father hath sent Me."(John 5:36) These divine works are the ground of our faith, for without them, the Christian's belief would be nothing but credulity. Hence, our Saviour himself says: "If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though you will not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father." (John 10:37-38) As though He would declare in other words: In performing all these works and miracles, my dear children, my only motive is to furnish you with a secure foundation for your faith.

2. The marvels which a man beholds with his own eyes, are a guarantee for other and greater wonders which he does not see. Reason thus convinces him: If God can effect this one great miracle, he can most assuredly do all things. It is not by words that our Saviour, in the Gospel of today, answers the disciples of John, but by pointing to the works he wrought. To the question: "Art thou he that art to come?" He did not answer "I am He,"but, "Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen. The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, and the poor have the gospel preached to them." If he had merely answered: "I am He", the followers of John might have echoed in thought, at least, if not in word, the frequent reproach of the Scribes and Pharisees: "Thou givest testimony of thyself."(John 8:13) A man's works not only assert what he is, but also prove that their testimony is true. The testimony of Christ's wonderful works, my brethren, is as convincing a proof of His divinity to us now, as it was to the disciples of John. It was on this account, I imagine, that our Saviour commanded those messengers of the Baptist to relate to him what they had heard, as well as what they had seen: "Go, and relate to John what you have heard and seen." Yes! my Lord and my God!--"Faith cometh by hearing," "Thy testimonies are become to me exceedingly credible (Ps. 92 : 5)"; and I believe in Thee just as firmly now, when I only hear and read these things, as I would have believed if present with the Jews of old at the actual working of thy miracles!

II. Faith is begotten of the divine Commandments. To believe in God means:


1. To hope in Him; and
2. To love Him.


1. Faith can as little exist without hope, as a building can stand without a foundation. For why, my brethren, do we believe in God, if not because "we look for that life which God will give to those that never change their faith from Him?" (Tob. 2:18) The Psalmist was inspired from heaven, when he declared: "It is good for me to adhere to my God, to put my hope in the Lord God." (Ps. 72:27) If we adhere to God, we believe in God. And this faith is justly called the faith of the commandments, since we can neither depend upon Him nor fix our hopes upon Him unless we keep His commandments. Divine faith and hope are thus so closely united together, that they are often expressed by the one simple word--faith--as in that text of the Wise Man, which so beautifully and truthfully exhorts the Christian to "believe God, and He will recover thee," immediately adding: " And direct thy way and trust in Him." (Eccles. 2:6)--that is: Keep all His. commandments, and then thou shalt have an assured right to hope.

2. Divine love, my dear brethren, is as inseparable as hope from true Christian faith. This, our Saviour shows clearly enough, when He rebukes the Jews, saying: "Why call you me Lord, Lord; and do not the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46); implying by these words: "You have, it is true, the faith founded upon miracles, but you have not yet the faith founded upon the observance of the commandments. My works testify to you that I am the Son of God, and that I am invested with divine power; but you do not yet appear to believe that I have the power to command your obedience. You believe in me, but you do not, as yet, love me; otherwise you would do what I command you; "If any one love Me, he will keep My word" (John 14 : 23).


III. Our faith, in order to be efficacious, must be grounded upon the divine promises. We believe in God: 1. Because He has promised us eternal life, and 2. Because He always performs what He promises.

1. God commands us nothing without attaching a great reward to our obedience. Now, what greater reward could He promise than the assurance of eternal life to those that believe in Him? How often, my brethren, has He not repeated to us this promise? "For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him may not perish, but may have life everlasting.(John 3:16) And further: "Amen, amen, I say unto you, he that heareth My word, and believeth Him that sent me, hath everlasting life; and cometh not into judgment, but is passed from death to life" (John 5:24) Again: "He that believeth in Me, although he be dead, shall live; and every one that liveth, and believeth in Me shall not die forever." (John 11:25-26) Yes, He even goes so far as to say: "This is life everlasting; that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent."(John 17:3) If we seriously consider these blessed, life-giving promises, my dearly beloved, shall we not dismiss all our invisible, idle, useless cares, and earnestly and zealously establish all our hopes upon these sure and gracious foundations? That in which we are chiefly lacking is a faith grounded upon hope, to which the Wise Man exhorts us when he says: "Believe God, and He will recover thee"(Eccles. 2:6)

2. If we examine more closely these sacred promises which are the foundations of our faith, we shall not find the least cause to doubt their happy fulfillment. "If he had promised to us that which was difficult or impossible of execution," says St. Bernard, "it would be allowable for us to choose another basis for our hopes; but to Him, all things are possible by the power of His word only, and what can be easier than this? "Who shall dare cite a single instance wherein God has been unfaithful to His promise? The Wise Man challenges the whole world to deny the fact, when he cries out to the doubting multitude: "Know ye that no one hath hoped in the Lord, and hath been confounded." (Eccles. 2:11) "Who is it," says St. Augustine, "of whom one is accustomed to say, that he has been 'confounded'? He who can truly say: 'That which I have hoped for, I have not received.'" But when has this happened? When you have founded your hopes upon yourself, or upon some other creature. Then, you will be confounded; then, your hopes will be disappointed; then, you will incur that terrible malediction of divine wrath: "Cursed be the man who puts his trust in creatures." But, because the groundwork of divine hope is so certain, and the tie so close that unites it to faith, the Apostle says of faith itself: "And whosoever believeth in Him, shall not be confounded." (Rom. 9:33) This, again, my brethren, is no other than that faith of which we have already spoken, and which St. Bernard denominates the faith founded upon the promises of God.

Peroration (a restating):

Dearest Saviour! we no longer ask thee, in union with the disciples of John, "Art Thou he that art to come, or look we for another?" We say rather with Nicodemus: "Rabbi, we know that Thou art come a teacher from God; for no man can do these miracles which thou doest, unless God was with him." (John 3:2) We are not only convinced in our hearts of these incontestable truths of faith which thou hast revealed to us, but we will profess them with our mouths and works all the days of our lives. We do not wish to be ranked among those who "confess that they know God, but in their deeds, they deny him." (Titus 1:16) Ah! no, my brethren, our works shall, with the help of divine grace, accord with the belief of our hearts; and then our faith will prove no more an empty, unprofitable profession of the lips, but, "supported by hope," will be the true faith "which worketh by charity." (Gal. 5:6) Amen.



All that I can add to that is: "Come, Lord Jesus!"

St. Francis Xavier

St. Francis Xavier, Confessor of the Society of Jesus

St. Francis Xavier,--the great Apostle of the Indies, as he is called in the Bull of his canonization--the celebrated Thaumaturgus (wonder worker)of the 16th century, the irreproachable witness of the truth of our holy religion, the ornament of the Society of Jesus, and of the entire Catholic Church,--was of royal lineage, and was born of illustrious parents, at the Castle of Xavier, in the kingdom of Navarre. Having passed his childhood, he was sent to the University of Paris, to study the liberal arts, for which he evinced an especial inclination. He applied himself so diligently and made so much progress, that he was not only created Doctor of Philosophy, but also appointed to instruct others in that science. All his aim was to gain honors and to become great in the eyes of the world. His father intended to recall him home after some years, but his sister, who was Prioress in the Convent of the Poor Clares at Gandia, and had the reputation of being a Saint, knew by divine inspiration the great work for which her brother was destined by the Almighty, and persuaded her father not to insist on his return, saying, in a prophetic manner, that Francis was chosen to become the apostle of many nations.

A young Spanish gentleman, in the dangerous days of the Reformation, was making a name for himself as a professor of philosophy at the University of Paris. He was aspiring, apparently, to a high dignity, until St. Ignatius of Loyola decided to undertake the spiritual conquest of this ardent soul. "What will it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" These words of our Saviour, coming from the lips of a St. Ignatius, so deeply pierced the heart of Xavier, and made so indelible an impression, that he became entirely converted. Taking St. Ignatius as his guide, he followed his precepts, and after having most fervently gone through the "Spiritual Exercises," he resolved to devote himself, with Ignatius, to the greater glory of God.

He was among the first five members of the Society of Jesus, those who with Ignatius made their religious vows in the church of Montmartre in Paris, on the feast of the Assumption in 1534.

On his way to Rome with the others, handicapped by severe penances he had imposed on himself, he remained in Venice and exercised a brief apostolate by caring for the sick in the city hospital. The others waited for him to regain his ability to walk. These first fervent Jesuits were intending to embark for the Holy Land, but were prevented by a war. In Rome, Francis again went to a hospital to serve the sick; he also visited the prisons to encourage and console the poor inmates, while preparing for ordination with the others, according to the desire of the Pope.

St. Ignatius having remained in Venice, the other five returned there afterwards. Francis was sent by Saint Ignatius to the Orient in 1534, where for twelve years he labored unceasingly to win souls, sleeping only three hours a night, eating very little, and bearing the Gospel to Hindustan, to Malacca, and as far as Japan. At all times thwarted by jealousy, covetousness, and the carelessness of those who should have helped and encouraged him, he did not slacken in his apostolic endeavors despite opposition and the difficulties of every sort which he encountered. The gift of tongues and miracles accompanied him everywhere; he resurrected several dead persons. And his inexhaustible kindness was not the least of his assets in winning thousands of pagans to the Faith. He baptized so many that his arm became virtually disabled, ten thousand in a single month in the kingdom of Trevancor, where in the same space of time he saw to the building of forty-five churches. At Meliapour, site of the martyrdom of Saint Thomas, he found the marble on which the Apostle was sacrificed, and which exuded blood the first time Mass was said upon it. Passing through various islands, cities and provinces of India, he strengthened his first conquests by additional preaching. He planted crosses in the public squares and overcame all obstacles.

From India he went to Japan; St. Francis is called Apostle of Japan as well as of India. There the pagan priests opposed and calumniated him, and tried without success to outwit him in debates. Humiliated, they used subtle means to instill dislike for him in the minds of the court authorities. But he won the love as well as the respect of those he evangelized, blessing them with such miracles as filling the hitherto sterile sea of Cangoxima with inexhaustible reserves of fish. The vast kingdom of China appealed to his charity, and he was resolved to risk his life to force an entry, when God took him to Himself. It was on December 2, 1552, that the Apostle of the Indies died on Sancian, an island facing the city of Canton in China, like Moses, in sight of the land of promise.

Though he passed away at a relatively young age, Xavier had accomplished much in his life. In addition to being a founding member of the Jesuit order—the Society of Jesus was officially recognized by Pope Paul III in 1540—he baptized an estimated 30,000 people. Xavier was beatified by Pope Paul V in 1619, and canonized by Pope Gregory XV in 1622. A famed missionary himself, he is now the patron saint of missionaries.

Some are specially called to work for souls; but there is no one who cannot help greatly to win their salvation. Holy example, earnest intercession, the offerings of our sacrifices and works on their behalf, are within the reach of all. What is needed is the spirit which animated Saint Francis Xavier - the desire to make some return to God for His bounties, with much confidence in His paternal love.


Hymn of St. Francis Xavier:
(which is in the 1962 Missal in the 'after Communion' prayers)

My God, I love Thee, not because
I hope for heaven thereby;
Nor because they, who love Thee not,
Must burn eternally.

Thou, O my Jesus, Thou didst me
Upon the Cross embrace,
For me didst bear the nails and spear,
And manifold disgrace,

And griefs and torments numberless,
And sweat of agony;
Even death itself--and all for one
Who was Thine enemy!

Then why, O blessed Jesus Christ,
Should I not love Thee well;
Not for the sake of winning heaven,
Or of escaping hell:

Not with the hope of gaining aught;
Not seeking a reward;
But as Thyself has loved me,
O ever-loving Lord?

Even so I love Thee, and will love,
And in Thy praise will sing;
Solely because Thou art my God,
And my eternal King.

Thoughts for Advent

A hymn by Charles Coffin (1676-1749)


On Jordan's banks the Baptist's voice
Now loudly strikes the ear,
"Prepare His ways, make straight His paths,
The Lord Himself is near."

Rise, then, from sleep, and in your hearts
Let these his words prevail;
Behold the heavens, the earth and seas,
Their Maker's coming hail!

Oh! let us then our souls prepare,
To meet so great a guest,
For 'tis our God Himself who comes,
To make us truly blest.

Rise, then, from sleep, and in your hearts
Let these his words prevail;
Behold the heavens, the earth and seas,
Their Maker's coming hail!

Oh! may our souls again revive
By His refreshing grace;
Then may He bind our stubborn wills,
And every stain efface.

Rise, then, from sleep, and in your hearts
Let these his words prevail;
Behold the heavens, the earth and seas,
Their Maker's coming hail!

Jesus, Thou art our only hope,
Sole comfort in our grief;
like the parched clay our hearts must be,
Unless Thou bring'st relief.

Rise, then, from sleep, and in your hearts
Let these his words prevail;
Behold the heavens, the earth and seas,
Their Maker's coming hail!

To Him who came the world to save,
Eternal glory be!
The Mighty Father, equal praise,
And Holy Ghost to Thee!

Rise, then, from sleep, and in your hearts
Let these his words prevail;
Behold the heavens, the earth and seas,
Their Maker's coming hail!

St. Bibiana

St. Bibiana, Virgin and Martyr
Father Francis Xavier Weninger, 1876

In the fourth century, there lived at Rome a virgin celebrated among the Christians for her beauty and her modesty, named Bibiana (also known as St. Viviana in Rome). Flavian, her father, was, in the reign of the godless Emperor Julian, dispossessed of all his honors and banished from his country on account of his faith. He ended his life in misery, a true martyr for Christ's sake. Dafrosa, her mother, was for the same reason, after her husband's banishment, locked up in her own house, that she might starve. Bibiana and Demetria, the two daughters, shared their mother's imprisonment. But as neither the mother nor her daughters became emaciated by the hunger they, suffered, and, on the contrary, appeared more vigorous than before, and could not be frightened into denying Christ, the mother, by the order of the governor Apronianus, was banished from the country and then beheaded. Bibiana and Demetria were, at the same time, deprived of all their possessions, in the hope that poverty would cause them to abandon their faith. But the Christian heroines regarded it as little as those to whom St. Paul writes: "You have received the loss of your possessions joyfully, because you know that you have to expect greater goods in heaven." They said cheerfully: "It is better to lose the temporal goods, which we cannot possess long, than the eternal." The Governor, after a time, called both of them, and promised that all that had been taken from them would be restored, if they would only worship the gods; but if they refused, he threatened them with imprisonment, a cruel martyrdom and the most painful death.

The Christian virgins were as unmoved by the flatteries and promises of the tyrant, as by his menaces. "We worship the true God," said Bibiana, "and are ready to die rather than to stain our souls by sacrificing to the gods." Demetria spoke in the same manner, but hardly had the words left her lips, when she sank down and expired. Bibiana was given into the charge of a wicked and cunning woman, named Rufina, who was to cause her to abandon her faith; for, the heathens knew, by experience, that none more easily denied Christ than those who had lost their purity. Rufina, the wicked woman, left nothing untried. She represented the pleasures of the world to Bibiana in such a manner, that she thought the virgin would surely drink the poison thus put to her lips; but all her wiles were of no effect. Although the maiden was kept like a prisoner by Rufina and could not escape, yet she remained unharmed by the fire of temptation. Calling ceaselessly to God for aid and strength, she was so graciously sustained, that she not only manifested not the least pleasure at Rufina's wicked behavior, but was more and more strengthened in virtue. Rufina, enraged at this, maltreated the innocent virgin by beating her most violently. All that her rage suggested was employed to gain her end; but the virgin, upheld by the Almighty, remained true to her resolution, rather to lose her life by the most cruel martyrdom, than to stain her purity.

When, at length, Rufina saw to her great chagrin that her endeavors were entirely useless, she informed the tyrant Apronianus of her failure, and persuaded him immediately to sentence Bibiana to death. The tyrant, without delay, ordered her to be tied to a column, and beaten to death (with scourges tipped with leaden plummets). The order was executed, and Bibiana repeatedly declared that she regarded it as a high honor to be thought worthy to die for Christ's sake. With her eyes raised to heaven, she stood motionless during her martyrdom, until her whole body was one mass of bloody wounds, and she gave her unspotted soul to the keeping of her heavenly Bridegroom. According to the tyrant's command, her holy body was left on the public road, to serve as a prey to the dogs; but it remained untouched, until a pious priest carried it secretly away, and buried it beside the grave of her mother and sister. At present there stands a beautiful church on the spot, built in honor of the holy martyr, and in commemoration of the sufferings and death of her mother and sister (who are also buried with her).


PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS
I. The danger in which St. Bibiana found herself, was great beyond expression, and the more so, because it lasted for a long time. Yet the chaste virgin committed no sin, because she was in danger without her consent, and could not save herself by flight. She did all in her power to guard herself against sinning, and God gave her His especial aid. It must ever afford great consolation to those who against their will, are exposed to great danger, and who are unable to escape, that God will surely assist them, when, like St. Bibiana, they do all in their power to help themselves. Such help, however, cannot reasonably be expected by those who imprudently cast themselves into danger of sin, or who voluntarily remain in it. "Divine assistance will surely be given us, if we do not neglect to do all that is in our power," says St. James of Nisibis. Many persons, however, will not do this, but clearly show that it is not their earnest wish to avoid sin, since they do not employ the necessary means. And for the same reason, they are in danger of going to eternal ruin. Why? Take the following words well to heart. To gain heaven, nothing is so necessary as a truly sorrowful confession.

It is, however, necessary for such a confession, that, besides contrition, we make the earnest resolution not only to avoid sin, but also every opportunity that may lead to it. When this resolution does not exist, confession is invalid and sacrilegious. We obtain by it not only no pardon for our sins, but we commit another and a great sin. If we go to holy communion after such a confession, we become again guilty of a great sin, and by continuing thus to confess and partake of holy communion, perhaps for months or years, we desecrate the holy Sacraments, and cast ourselves still deeper into hell. Oh! that all whom it concerns may take this terrible but true article of faith to heart, especially those who do not endeavor to free their houses from all occasions to sin; who keep up a sinful friendship; who do not shun the house where they have so often offended the Lord; as also those who voluntarily remain in a place where they are almost daily in imminent danger of sin. Such people perhaps go frequently to confession and not seldom to holy communion, but unworthily; because they have not made, in their confession, the earnest resolution to shun the occasion of sin. Their repentance is not true, but useless and hypocritical. "To avoid all occasion of sin, is the sign of true repentance," writes St. Bernard. And St. Isidore says: "It belongs to true repentance, to avoid all opportunity to sin." "He that does not shun all opportunity of evil, does not entirely free himself from sin."



Let us pray for fidelity and patience like Bibiana's under all trials, that neither convenience nor any worldly advantage may ever prevail upon you to transgress the laws of God.

1st day of December

Our beloved Abbot, Gueranger, has some thoughts for us to think about during the season of Advent. It is a time for us to remember all those who came before Christ showed up, and how they had to wait for Him to die and ascend before they could receive their just awards. Here is most of his introduction into the season of Advent:


'The Church of Rome does not keep this day as a feast of any saint; she simply recites the Office of the feria. This first day of December should be a simple feria of Advent, and we shall do well to begin at once our considerations upon the preparations which were made for the merciful coming of the Saviour of the world.

Four thousand years of expectation preceded that coming, and they are expressed by the four weeks of Advent, which we must spend before we come to the glorious festivity of our Lord's Nativity. Let us reflect upon the holy impatience of the saints of the old Testament, and how they handed down, from age to age, the grand hope, which was to be but hope to them, since they were not to see it realized. Let us follow, in thought, the long succession of the witnesses of the promise: Adam, and the first patriarchs, who lived before the deluge; then, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the twelve patriarchs of the Hebrew people; then Moses, Samuel, David, and Solomon; then, the prophets and the Machabees; and, at last, John the Baptist and his disciples. These are the holy ancestors, of whom the Book of Ecclesiasticus speaks, where it says: 'Let us praise men of renown, and our fathers in their generation' (Ecclus. xliv. 1), and of whom the Apostle thus speaks to the Hebrews: 'All these being approved by the testimony of Faith, received not the promise; God providing some better thing for us, that they should not be perfected without us' (Heb. xi. 39, 40), their Faith was tried and approved, and yet they received not the object of the promises made to them. It is for us that God had reserved the stupendous gift, and therefore He did not permit them to attain the object of their desires.

Let us honor them for their Faith; let us honor them as our veritable fathers, since it is in reward of their Faith, that our Lord remembered and fulfilled His merciful promise; let us honor them, too, as the ancestors of the Messias in the Flesh. We may imagine each of them saying, as he lay on his dying bed, this solemn prayer to Him Who alone could conquer death: "I will look for Thy Salvation, O Lord!" It was the exclamation of Jacob, at his prophetic blessings on his children: 'and then he drew up his feet upon his bed, and died, and he was gathered unto his people.'

Thus did all these holy men, on quitting this life, go to await, far from the abode of eternal light, Him Who was to come in due time and reopen the gate of heaven. Let us contemplate them in this place of expectation, and give our grateful thanks to God, Who has brought us to His admirable light, without requiring us to pass through a limbo of darkness. It is our duty to pray ardently for the coming of the Deliverer, Who will break down, by His cross, the gates of the prison, and will fill it with the brightness of His glory. During this holy season, the Church is continually borrowing the fervent expressions of these fathers of the Christian people, making them her own prayer for the Messias to come. Let us turn to those great saints, and beg of them to pray, that our work of preparation for Jesus' coming to our hearts may be blessed by God.'



And, to end, we have a Responsory of Advent, which is from the Roman Breviary:

R. Looking afar off, lo! I see the power of God coming and a cloud that covereth the whole earth: Go ye out to meet him and say: Tell us, if thou be he, Who art to rule over the people of Israel.

V. All ye that are earthborn and children of men, both rich and poor together, go ye out to meet him, and say:

V. Give ear, O thou that rulest Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep, Tell us if thou be he.

V. Lift up your gates, O ye princes; and be ye lifted up, O eternal gates: and the King of glory shall enter in.

Who art to rule over the people of Israel.


And I say: "COME, LORD JESUS!"