PASTOR’S MEANDERINGS 14 – 15 OCTOBER 2017 TWENTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY ORDINARY TIME (A)

REFLECTION on TODAY’S READINGS Lord, grant your blessing to the hands we have held out to receive your holy gifts. Grant that our ears which have heard your word may be closed to the voice of division or dispute. Grant that our eyes which have seen here your great love may one day behold your face in glory. Grant that our tongues which have proclaimed your praises may always speak with kindness and gentleness. Grant that our feet which have walked here in your holy sanctuary may one day walk in the light of your heavenly kingdom. (Ancient liturgical prayer)

STEWARDSHIP: In today’s Gospel, Jesus asks the rich young man to give away all that he has in order to have treasure in heaven. But he is unable to free himself from his possessions, and so he goes sadly away. Does what I own keep me from following Jesus?

Joseph Addison “Heaven is not to be looked upon only as the reward, but as the natural effect, of a religious life.”

REASINGS TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY 22 OCT. ‘17 Is. 45:1, 4-6: God uses the pagan king, Cyrus, to teach the people of Israel that He is Lord. Even though Cyrus does not acknowledge God, he performs God’s will. 1 Thes. 1:1-5: The Christians at Thessalonica were chosen to receive the Good News, a privilege which brings with it a responsibility to live in faith, hope, and love. Mt. 22:15-21: The Pharisees try unsuccessfully to trick Jesus into slighting either God or Caesar. Putting God first, says Jesus, does not mean that we should despise the secular.

Fulton J. Sheen “Civilization is always in danger when those who have never learned to obey are given the right to command.”

OCTOBER - MONTH OF THE ROSARY Continued No form of extra-liturgical devotion to Mary is more widely practiced among the faithful or found by them to be more satisfyingly complete than the Rosary, which has come to be regarded as the very badge of Catholic piety. No form of extra-liturgical devotion to Mary has been recommended more warmly or frequently by the Popes. With perhaps two exceptions, all the Sovereign Pontiffs from Sixtus IV in 1478 down to John XXIII, especially Leo XIII (in 23 documents, ten of them encyclicals entirely on the Rosary) and his successors, have extolled this form of prayer, which has been the favorite, moreover, of such as Teresa of Avila, Francis de Sales, Louis de Montfort, Alphonsus Liguori, Don Bosco, Bernadette of Lourdes, and many more. The authentic Rosary is a happy combination of vocal and mental prayer, each of which is essential to the devotion. It is incorrect to say that meditation is “the very essence of the Rosary devotion,” for vocal recitation of the prayers is also of the essence. Meditation is, of course, the nobler element, the “soul,” while vocal prayer is the “body” of the devotion. The Rosary, Pope Leo XIII declared, “is composed of two parts, distinct but inseparable – the meditation on the mysteries and the recitation of the prayers. It is thus a kind of prayer that requires not only some raising of the soul to God, but also a particular and explicit attention” (Incunda semper). Therefore, as Pope Pius XI stated, they are mistaken “who consider this devotion merely a boresome formula repeated with monotonous and singsong intonation” (Ingravescentibus malis). Moreover, as Pius XI put it, “both piety and love, although always breathing forth the same words, do not, however, repeat the same thing, but they fervently express something ever new which the loving heart always sends forth.” And finally, in the words of Pius XII, “the recitation of identical formulas, repeated so many times, rather than rendering the prayer sterile and boring, has on the contrary the admirable quality of infusing confidence in him who prays, and brings to bear a gentle compulsion on the motherly heart of Mary (Ingravescentibus malis). Pope Benedict XVI in an address at the Basilica of St. Mary Major where he prayed the rosary with the faithful said: Today, together we confirm that the Holy Rosary is not a pious practice banished to the past, like prayers of other times thought of with nostalgia. Instead, the Rosary is experiencing a new Springtime. Without a doubt, this is one of the most eloquent signs of love that the young generation nourish for Jesus and His Mother, Mary. In the current world, so dispersive, this prayer helps to put Christ at the center, as the Virgin did, who meditated within all that was said about her Son, and also what He did and said. When reciting the Rosary, the important and meaningful moments of salvation history are relived. The various steps of Christ’s mission are traced. With Mary the heart is oriented toward the mystery of Jesus. Christ is put at the center of our life, of our time, of our city, through the contemplation and meditation of His holy mysteries of joy, light, sorrow and glory. May Mary help us to welcome within ourselves the grace emanating from these mysteries, so that through us we can “water” society, beginning with our daily relationships, and purifying them from so many negative forces, thus opening them to the newness of God. The Rosary, when it is prayed in an authentic way, not mechanical and superficial but profoundly, it brings, in fact, peace and reconciliation. It contains within itself the healing power of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, invoked with faith and love at the center of each “Hail Mary”. To be continued …

FIRST FRIDAY / FIRST SATURDAY DEVOTIONS: Continued Is this devotion to the a recent, relatively recent in the history of the Church, one that originated with St. Margaret Mary Alacoque? No. What was the development of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus over the centuries prior to its becoming a public practice? From the viewpoint of the Church devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, began at the Last Supper, at the institution of the Eucharist itself, the great gift of Christ to humanity. As Our Lord sat at the Paschal table, before pronouncing those sacred words that would become a core element of our Faith, in reality the very heart of the life of the Church, the Beloved Disciple, St. John, lay his head upon the breast of Christ, upon the Heart of Jesus and remained there in repose. It is in imitation of this repose that Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus began. It then continued to develop, with an emphasis from the early Church Fathers, on the entering into the sacred wound in Christ’s side – the wound created by the soldier’s lance, while He hung on the cross. And as Sacred Scripture relates it was from this Sacred Wound that Blood and Water flowed. This was seen by the early Fathers as the birth of the Church Herself. As stated by the early theologian Tertullian: “By the wound in the side of Christ was formed the Church, the true Mother of all the living.” This devotion to the Sacred Heart can also be seen in the second century with St. Justin Martyr and in the seventh century with Pope Gregory the Great. Writers throughout these centuries emphasized the pierced side of Christ as the inexhaustible source from which all graces flow upon humanity and the blood and water serve as symbols of the sacraments of the Church. The revival of religious life and the zealous activity of St. Bernard of Clairvaux and St. Francis of Assisi and St. Anselm in the 12th and 13th centuries, together with the enthusiasm of the Crusaders returning from the Holy Land, encouraged an increase in devotion to the Passion of Jesus Christ and particularly to reverence of the Sacred Wounds particularly to the Sacred Wound in the side of Christ with an accompanying increase in direct reference to the love of the Sacred Heart for every person redeemed by His Passion and Death. Gradually there was seen a shift in the focus on the Sacred Heart from being a symbol of the sacraments, to a symbol of Divine Love. The first indications of devotion to the Sacred Heart are found in the 11th and 12th centuries in the fervent atmosphere of the Benedictine or Cistercian , in the world of Bernardine thought. In the Middle Ages Saints Gertrude and Mechtild were proponents of the Sacred Heart. The editor of St. Gertrude’s writings, Revelations, (Dom Boutrais of Soesmes) stated: “Never before…has anything been written on the effect of the divine Heart and its relation to men, to saints, to the souls in Purgatory, such as we find in the writings of St. Gertrude and St. Mechtild. St. Bernard (d. 1153) said that the piercing of Christ’s side revealed His goodness and the charity of His heart for us. The earliest known hymn to the Sacred Heart, “Summi Regis Cor Aveto”, is believed to have been written by the Norbertine Blessed Herman Joseph (d. 1241) of Cologne, Germany. They hymn begins: “I hail Thee kingly Heart most high.” From the 13th to the 16th centuries, the devotion was propagated but it did not seem to have been embellished. It was everywhere practiced by individuals and by different religious congregations, such as the , Dominicans, and . Among the Franciscans the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus has its champions in St. Bonaventure (d. 1274) in his Vitis Mystica (“Mystic Vine”). He wrote: “Who is there who would not love this wounded heart? Who would not love in return Him, who loves so much?” It was, nevertheless, a private, individual devotion of the mystical order. Nothing of a general movement had been inaugurated, except for the similarities found in the devotion to the Five Wounds by the Franciscans, in which the wound in Jesus’s heart figured most prominently. To be continued …

SAINT OF THE WEEK: 1694 – 1775 19 OCT The founder of the Passionists (the Congregation of the Clerks of the Most Holy Cross and Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ). Born at Ovada, in the Piedmont, Italy. Paolo Francesco Danei was the eldest son of a poor noble family. He led a prayerful life of austerities until 1714, when he joined the Venetian Army to fight the Turks. Returning to his former life, he had a vision in 1720 that inspired him to establish a dedicated to the Passion of Christ. During a forty-day retreat, he drew up the rule for the order, which is still followed. From the bishop of Alessandria, he received for himself and his fellow members the habit of Discalced Clerks; in 1725, permission came from Pope Benedict XIII to receive novices; in 1727, he was ordained with his fellow Passionists by the pope. With his fellow religious, he retired to Mt. Argentaro, near Orbitello, and there faced severe hardships owing to the chronic threat of war and the desertion of novices. Nevertheless, Paul labored ceaselessly, and in 1737 the first Retreat of the Passionists was opened. Paul moved to a second house, at Vetrella, in 1744, and received election in 1747 as superior general. He lived in Rome until his death on October 18, still overseeing the continuing expansion of the order. One of the greatest preachers of his age, Paul was also a noted miracle worker and spiritual director. He was canonized in 1867.

UP-COMING SCHEDULE Weekday Mass 8:30 a.m. Monday through Saturday Monday 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. Brig Tuesday 10:30 a.m. Georgian Manor 6:00 p.m. Council Wednesday an additional Mass at 6:30 a.m. Portsmouth Catholic Regional School 10 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Indian Creek Prison 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. Thursday Evening 5:00 p.m. Confession 6:30 p.m. Mass 7:00 p.m. Class on Prayer Friday Wedding Rehearsal 5:00 p.m. Saturday Baptism 10:00 a.m. Wedding 2:00 p.m. 29 October Sunday 5:00 p.m. Call/Welcome of Confirmation Candidates 1 November Wednesday All Saints Day (Holy Day of Obligation) 2 November Thursday All Souls Day 23 November Thanksgiving 26 November Sunday Feast of Christ the King 3 December First Sunday of Advent