Pastor's Meanderings 21 – 22 October 2017 Twenty-Ninth
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PASTOR’S MEANDERINGS 21 – 22 OCTOBER 2017 TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY ORDINARY TIME (A) REFLECTION ‘When the moral fiber of a nation is weakened, when the sense of personal responsibility is diminished, then the door is open for the justification of injustices, for violence in all its forms, and for the manipulation of the many by the few, the challenge that is already with us is the temptation to accept as true freedom what in reality is only a new form of slavery.” (Pope John Paul II in Phoenix Park, Dublin) STEWARDSHIP for the 29th SUN.: Each year at tax time, we conscientiously give “to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.” Does my stewardship indicate that I am as faithful about giving “to God what belongs to God”? Webster “Whatever makes people good Christians makes them good citizens.” READINGS FOR THE THIRTIETH SUNDAY 29 OCT ‘17 Ex. 22:20-26: Without love, law is cold and minimalist; without law, love is mere emotion and often ineffective. Genuine care for the weakest in our midst is the test of both. 1 Thes. 1:5-10: Today we begin reading from the earliest surviving Christian document, Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians. Although this is so early, behind it stand some 15 years of experience in proclaiming the Good News. Imitating and following in the footsteps of those who have handed on the faith to us, is the basis of all our missionary work as the Church. Mt. 22:34-40: To perfectly live out the commandment of love for God and love for neighbor is all-consuming and ever challenging. William Penn “Believe nothing against another but on good authority; nor report what may hurt another, unless it be a greater hurt to conceal it.” FRIST FRIDAY / FIRST SATURDAY DEVOTIONS Continued It must be noted that while St. Margaret Mary Alacoque is the saint most often associated with this devotion to the Sacred Heart; after she received the Vision of the Sacred Hear, which popularized the devotion, she was scorned by her mother superior who thought her to be delusional. The Saint took ill. The mother superior told St. Margaret Mary that she would believe the miracle of the vision if she were cured. She was and St. Margaret was able to promote the devotion under the guidance of her spiritual director, St. Claude Colombiere. St. Margaret Mary communicated her visions and experiences, under obedience, to Colombiere who ordered her to record each of them in detail. St. Claude recognized in them the authentic voice of God. Then, strengthened by his own personal experiences of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, he willingly dedicated himself to the cause of spreading the Devotions. On the 21st of June, 1675, kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament, St. Claude and St. Margaret Mary, consecrated themselves to the service of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It was through this dedication by themselves and others, that the Devotions spread, slowly but surely, to the Church Universal and have become what we know of them today: the weekly practice of the Holy Hour of Reparation, the Monthly First Friday Devotions and the Annual Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. These three practices form the foundation of the Devotions, being the original requests made by the Sacred Heart of Jesus Himself, to St. Margaret Mary. The apparitions of Margaret Mary came during a period of confusion in the Church, most notably caused by a Catholic movement known as the Jansenists and were in direct contrast to its’ teachings. Following the teachings of Bishop Cornelius Jansen of Ypes (1585-1638), this primarily French group decried what they saw as a general decline in the morals of the time, and they laid the blame on Church leadership. The Jansenists claimed that the Church had grown lenient in its definition of sin, lax on the call to confession and soft in the assignment of penance. They wanted a return to the strict rules and disciplines of the early Church, seeking to emphasize God’s justice and de-emphasize His eternal forgiveness and mercy. This heresy instilled fear into the hearts of the faithful, turning the religion of faith and love into one of pessimism and scrupulosity, teaching that man is completely incapable of disposing himself to the grace offered us by God. While their accusations against the Church and society were not without merit, few Catholics could, or would, adhere to the severe religious standards the Jansenists advocated. Jansenist teaching, which included other beliefs counter to the Church, was eventually condemned by Rome in the 17th and 18th centuries. Devotion to the Sacred Heart helped to refocus Catholics’ attention on God’s mercy. It should also be noted that the Jansenist movement surfaced in an era when Catholics received sacramental Communion much less frequently than we do today. In response, the first Friday devotion promoted more regular reception of Holy Communion and more frequent use of the Sacrament of Penance. It gave the faithful a special way to express their love of Christ and rallied against the harsh changes being proposed. For years, the Church did not approve the Sacred Heart as a public devotion, though a few religious orders in France were allowed to practice it. In 1765, however Pope Clement XIII gave permission for Catholic churches in France to celebrate the feast of the Sacred Heart, complete with its own Mass and Office. The quick spread of the devotion that followed was unprecedented in Church history, as Catholics on nearly every continent sought to demonstrate their love of Jesus through His Divine Heart. In 1856, Pope Pius IX extended the feast to the worldwide Church. Pope Leo XIII, in his encyclical Annum Sacrum (25 May 1899), consecrated every human person to the Sacred Heart. Pope Leo also ordered that on June 9, 10, and 11, 1899, certain prayers and a special Litany to the Sacred Heart should be said in churches throughout the world. For three days the faithful publicly proclaimed the eternal love that radiates from the heart of Jesus and offered reparations for their past contemptuous behavior toward Him. The Pope insisted that this event was the single “great act” of his pontificate. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church notes: “The prayer of the Church venerates and honors the Heart of Jesus just as it invokes His most holy name. It adores the incarnate Word and His Heart, which, out of love for men, He allowed to be pierced by our sins” (No. 2669). Thus the Church does not promote devotion to the Sacred Heart based solely on the testimony of Margaret Mary. In keeping with the Church’s witness to Jesus Christ throughout the ages, such devotion is a fitting act of adoration of Our Lord. To be continued… OCTOBER - MONTH OF THE ROSARY Continued The Mysteries of the Rosary Originally, over the centuries of its development, there were literally hundreds of mysteries that were associated with the practice of praying the Rosary devotion. Around the 15th century these were definitively fixed at fifteen mysteries which we knew as “the Mysteries of the Rosary” up until 2002. In that year Pope St. John Paul II, in his encyclical, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, added the five Luminous Mysteries. As is evident there was a development of the mysteries which is perceived as having taken places in stages, which roughly correspond to the development of the Rosary itself. The first stage occurred in the twelfth century when it became customary to cite a phrase referring to an important incident in the life of Jesus or Mary before the recitation of a psalm. Although originally intended to supplement the praying of the psalms, the psalms were eventually discontinued, and the phrases that once introduced the psalms developed into brief reflections on the Annunciation, Jesus’ life, death, Resurrection, and the glorification of Jesus and Mary in heaven. Retaining the original structure given by the psalms, the reflections were organized in groups of 5 0 and usually consisted of 150 meditations. The second stage occurred in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. While initially limited to the joy of the Annunciation, it soon became customary to focus on other Marian joys. Often, the recitation of each joy was accompanied by a “Hail Mary.” For example, one would recite 50 joyful meditations accompanied by 50 “Hail Marys.” During the fourteenth century, parallel developments took place concerning Mary’s sorrows and her heavenly joys. Once again, the number of sorrows and heavenly joys multiplied, and were accompanied with “Hail Marys.” Eventually, it became common to recite 50 earthly joys, 50 earthly sorrows, and 50 heavenly joys in conjunction with 150 “Hail Marys.” The third stage occurred during the fifteenth century. As long as the meditations were sets of 50, those who used them had to be literate and possess a text, since it was impossible to recall 150 separate meditations. In order to make the meditations universally accessible, their number was reduced to 15; 5 for each set, combined with 150 “Hail Marys.” Now the meditations functioned as focal point s for the recitation of the “Hail Marys,” which had now evolved into the Rosary by being combined with the “Our Father” and the “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit ….” The final stage took place in 2002 at the initiation of Pope St. John Paul II who added the fourth set of Mysteries. These are meant to fill in the blanks between the childhood of Jesus and His suffering and death on the cross. The Pope wrote in 2002 in his encyclical Rosarium Virginis Mariae, “I believe, however, that to bring out fully the Christological depth of the Rosary it would be suitable to make an addition to the traditional pattern which, while left to the freedom of individuals and communities, could broaden it to include the mysteries of Christ’s public ministry between His Baptism and His Passion.” Therefore they beautifully compliment the traditional Catholic Rosary prayers of St.