Sunday, May 31, 2020

Solemnity of Pentecost...

 Solemnity of Pentecost
Fifty days after Easter
In honor of the Holy Spirit - wear RED to holy Mass today!

Today is Pentecost. It is not merely a reminder of a past event, but a continuation of the Spirit renewing the face of the earth (Psalm 104:30). Today's Pentecost will not be a shadow of the first Pentecost, rather the first Pentecost is a shadow of today's Pentecost. God's grace is abounding all the more (Romans 5:20). The Spirit is not diminishing His work in our world, but increasing it. It will not be only thousands who come to Jesus today (Acts 2:41), but millions. The waters of the Spirit become deeper as they flow further around the world and into history (Ezekiel 47:5). 

Come, Holy Spirit, Come!

The love of God has been poured into our hearts through
the Spirit of God dwelling within us, Alleluia. - Rom 5:5; cf 8:11
-Entrance antiphon, today's liturgy

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"The Church draws her life from the Eucharist. 
This truth does not simply express a daily experience of faith, 
but recapitulates the  heart of the mystery of the Church. In a variety of ways 
she joyfully experiences the constant fulfillment of the promise: 
“Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28:20),
 but in the Holy Eucharist, through the changing of bread and wine into the body and blood of the Lord, she rejoices in this presence with unique intensity. 
Ever since Pentecost,  when the Church, the People of the New Covenant, 
began her pilgrim journey towards her heavenly homeland, 
the Divine Sacrament has continued to mark the passing of her days,
filling them with confident hope." (Introduction, 1)


Pope St John Paul II
Encyclical Letter, Ecclesia de Eucharistia
On the Eucharist in its relationship to the Church

  Pentecost image above:  artist, Jan Joest van Kalker (c 1450-1519)


" Come, Holy Spirit, you are harmony, make us builders of unity. 
You always give yourself, grant us the courage to go out of ourselves, to love and help each other, in order to become one family. Amen. 
Pope Francis, excerpt Pentecost homily 2020 

 Click here: Pentecost In Two Minutes - Busted Halo

The Holy Spirit "leads us to perceive the Lord’s presence
and love in our lives, and moves us to respond joyfully
in prayer and adoration."- Pope Francis  

In the Pantheon in Rome, thousands of rose petals are dropped
from the oculus after the celebration of Pentecost Mass!

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The Pentecost SequenceVeni Sancte Spiritus

Come, Holy Spirit
Come, Holy Spirit, come!
And from your celestial home
Shed a ray of light divine!

Come, Father of the poor!
Come, source of all our store!
Come, within our bosoms shine.

You, of comforters the best;
You, the soul’s most welcome guest;
Sweet refreshment here below;

In our labor, rest most sweet;
Grateful coolness in the heat;
Solace in the midst of woe.

O most blessed Light divine,
Shine within these hearts of yours,
And our inmost being fill!

Where you are not, we have naught,
Nothing good in deed or thought,
Nothing free from taint of ill.

Heal our wounds, our strength renew;
On our dryness pour your dew;
Wash the stains of guilt away:

Bend the stubborn heart and will;
Melt the frozen, warm the chill;
Guide the steps that go astray.

On the faithful, who adore
And confess you, evermore
In your sevenfold gift descend:

Give them virtue’s sure reward;
Give them your salvation, Lord;
Give them joys that never end.


With the Holy Spirit within us"it is quite natural for people
who had been absorbed by the things of this world to become 
entirely otherworldly in outlook, and for cowards to become
people of great courage." - St Cyril of Alexandria

Come, Holy Spirit, Come!

Saturday, May 30, 2020

"They're just one thing"...

"If I am not in God's grace, may God put me there;
and if I am, may God so keep me there." - St Joan of Arc

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"About Jesus Christ and the Church, 
I simply know 
they're just one thing, 
and we shouldn't complicate the matter."

- St Joan of Arc, as recorded at her trial

St Joan of Arc
France ~ 1412-1431
Mystic, Patriot, Martyr 
aka - "Maid of Orleans"
Patron of France, soldiers
Feast Day - May 30

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"I am not afraid.  I was born to do this." - St Joan of Arc
_____________________

"She chose a path and went down it like a thunderbolt."
- GK Chesterton in Orthodoxy

Friday, May 29, 2020

The heart: overwhelmed...

"When I entered the chapel,
once again the majesty of God
overwhelmed me."
St. Maria Faustina of the Blessed Sacrament

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"The Heart of Jesus is always living in the Eucharist
to satisfy the hunger of all who long for Him,
to welcome and console all those who,
disillusioned by the vicissitudes of life,
take refuge in Him, 
seeking peace and refreshment."

Fr. Gabriel of Saint Mary Magdalen

Thursday, May 28, 2020

Sweet fact: Real Presence! ...

Then you will know the truth, 
and the truth will set you free. - John 8:32


"The Blessed Sacrament is God.
Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament 
is simply divine worship.

Turn it which way we will, 
throw the light of love and knowledge
now on one side of it, now on another, 
still the result is the same,
the one inexhaustible sweet fact 
of the Real Presence. 

In the hands of the priest, 
behind the crystal of the monstrance,
on the tongue of the communicant, 
now, and for a thousand times,
and almost at our will and pleasure, 
there are the Hands and Feet,
the Eyes and Mouth, 
the swift Blood and living Heart of Him
whom Thomas touched and Magdalen was fain to touch,
the Soul that ... set the prisoners free."

Fr Frederick W Faber

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TODAY: Day 7
Novena to the Holy Spirit

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful,
and enkindle in them the fire of Your love.
 Send forth Your Spirit, and they shall be created,
And You shall renew the face of the earth.
O God, Who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts
of Your faithful, grant that by that same Holy Spirit,
we may be truly wise and ever rejoice
in His consolation, through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

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