General view of the open-air mass conducted by Pope Benedict XVI in the vast explanade of the National Sanctuary of Aparecida, in Aparecida do Norte, Brazil.
Popes have been using the Apostleship of Prayer as a dedicated prayer group for about 120 years. . Each month this group encourages us to pray for the monthly intentions of the Holy Father
Pope Benedict’s intention for November, 2007 is Respect for Life. That medical researchers and legislators may have a deep respect for human life from its beginning to its natural conclusion.
Each month the Apostleship of Prayer offers a monthly reflection on the the Holy Fathers intentions:
Something that many parents will appreciate is that they offer a reflection for children each month too.
The Apostleship of Prayer also encourages the morning offering. Their motto is a simple profound way of life. Father Raoul Plus, S. J. in his book Christ in Our Time explains:
“As all activity is offered to God in the morning, with occasional renewals during the day, all work is undertaken solely for the Glory of the Master, and rises to Heaven like a prayer…To pray always-that is what it means. That is not to say that the soul should always be in the act of prayer, but rather that it should live in a state of elevation. It is to live always with the implicit desire strongly formed in the soul to render to God, in every passing moment the glory which is His due.”
Our Lady of Perpetual Help *
Caryll Houselander was born on October 29, 1901. Caryll was one of the most popular spiritual writers of her day. She is certainly still one of my favorites. Many of her books are still in print. Maisie Ward (Frank Sheed’s wife) wrote a wonderful biography about her “Caryll Houselander – The Divine Eccentric” which was published in 1962.
While in college (many eons ago) a friend of mine and I were reading this biography at the same time – I still remember a funny comment that she made to me at the time – ‘Hey, this is actually, the first person I’ve read about who might be a saint who drank a Martini.’ I think Maisie Ward had a story in the book about inviting Caryll over for dinner and giving her a before dinner drink. I don’t have the book so I can’t check on why my friend made this comment but it made me laugh at the time and has always stuck with me.
On the occasion of her death, Ronald Knox said of Caryll Houselander that she could have established a school of spirituality. In a letter to The Tablet on 23 October 1954, he wrote:
“…she seemed to see everybody for the first time, and the driest of doctrinal considerations shone out like a restored picture when she had finished with it. And her writing was always natural; she seemed to find no difficulty in getting the right word; no, not merely the right word, the telling word, that left you gasping.”
Of course I’m going to end this with a quote from Caryll Houselander about the Unborn Christ Child from her book, The Passion of the Infant Christ.
“There is in fact, a huge force, a tremendous power for love being neglected, not being used, at the time when it is needed as never before and when every sign seems to be pointing to it and challenging it as the only answer-the power of the Infancy of Christ.
The Infant Christ is the whole Christ. Christ was not more God, more Christ, more man, on the Cross than He was in His Mother’s womb. His first tear, His first smile, His first pulsation in the womb of His Mother, could have redeemed the world.”
*An icon venerated by Christians of the East and West for centuries. The Archangels Gabriel and Michael hold the instruments of the Lord’s Passion, while the Divine Child looks on and clings to His Mother’s hand. Also known as “Our Mother of Sorrows.”
As God, He knew that the angelic apparition was prophetic of His future passion. Yet in His human nature as a small child, He is frightened and runs to His Mother for protection. Our Lady hastily picks Him up and clasps Him to her bosom. This action is indicated by the fact that the Lord’s right foot is nervously curled about the left ankle and in such haste that His right sandal has become loosened and hangs by a single strap. Further action is indicated by the way the Child Jesus clasps His Mother’s right hand with both of His, holding tightly to Our Lady’s thumb.
Caryll Houselander’s (1901-1954) birthday is October 29. Here is a beautiful quote from her book The Passion of the Infant Christ.
“Rest is not idleness; indeed, restlessness is the torment of idle people….
Rest, far from being relaxation, is a culmination, a fullness of gathered peace, like the fullness and stillness of waters gathered to a flood tide.
Think of a child asleep in his mother’s arms; the abandon with which he gives himself to sleep can only be because he has complete trust in the arms that hold him. He is not lying asleep on that heart because he is worn out with anxiety. He is asleep there because it is a delight to him to be asleep there. The mother rests too. She rests in his rest. Her mind and her body rest in him. … Rest is a communion of love between them. It is a culmination of content.
…Not content to be a human being, Christ wishes to be each human being, and in fact is born in the soul of everyone who will receive Him; and in each one in whom He lives, whose life He lives, He is loved infinitely by the Father, loved for what He is, the only Son.
…If this were realized there could be no one who could not fulfill the first condition of rest, which is trust.”
There is a wonderful tradition in Christendom of beginning each day by offering oneself and one’s day to God. It has been called by some ‘morning devotions’ or more frequently in Catholicism a ‘morning offering’. One of the traditional morning offering prayers is that promoted by the Apostleship of Prayer.
The morning offering is a great way to start each day. I know when I make this offering as I begin my day I am often mindful of the offering Christ made to His Father, from Mary’s womb, as He entered the world:
“Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said:
“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired;
but a body have you prepared for me;
in burnt offerings and sin offerings
you have taken no pleasure.
Then I said, Lo, I have come to do your will, O God.”
(Hebrews 10:5-7)
Pope Paul VI called this “…the fundamental offering that the Incarnate Word made to the Father when He entered the world (cf. Heb. 10:5-7).” Marialis Cultus, #20
St. Alphonsus De Ligouri, a Doctor of the Church, made the following comment about this quote from Heb. 10:5-7:
“The divine Word, from the first instant that he was made man and an infant in Mary’s womb, offered himself of his own accord…” (The Incarnation, Birth and Infancy of Jesus Christ)
John Paul II, reflecting on these words in Hebrews states: “He places himself as a gift within the womb of Mary.” (The Word Made Flesh). Later, in the same book he says: “All Christians are in fact called to share in Christ’s priesthood and mirror his total gift of self to the Father and be a spiritual sacrifice…”
One way we can mirror this total gift of self that Christ made as He first came into the world is to offer ourselves to the Lord as we start each day.
October is Respect Life Month in the U.S. Catholic Church. Each year the bishops choose a different theme for this special month. Cardinal Justin Rigali – Chairman, USCCB Committee for Pro-Life – explains this year’s theme in his Statement for Respect Life Sunday, 2007.
“The theme of the 2007 Respect Life Program – The Infant in My Womb Leaped for Joy – calls to mind an extraordinary scene in Luke’s Gospel (1:39-56). Mary, newly pregnant with the Lord Jesus, is visiting her elderly cousin Elizabeth whose son, John, will soon be born. The moment Mary’s greeting reaches Elizabeth’s ears and John’s, the tiny prophet announces to his mother the Messiah’s arrival, as if his entire being were exclaiming: Behold! The Lamb of God! There was no confusion as to what and who were nestled under their mothers’ hearts. Yet 2,000 years later, many well-educated people do not know – or claim they do not know – the truth about human life before birth.”
In their 2007-2008 Respect Life Program Flyer they explain further:
“Elizabeth, too, is filled with the Holy Spirit, and recognizes Mary as the blessed tabernacle of our Lord and Savior. Through the evangelical witness and sacrificial love of Mary, Jesus and John, the work of our salvation has begun.”
For more information about this program:
2007-2008 Respect Life Program
The Virgin Adoring the Sleeping Christ Child by Sandro Botticelli
The unique St. John Eudes wrote many diverse prayers during his lifetime demonstrating his desire to offer every action of each day to God in a special and meaningful way. This is reflected in prayers such as this:
“O Jesus, I offer Thee the rest I am about to take, in honor of the eternal rest Thou dost enjoy in the bosom of Thy Father, and in honor of the sleep and temporal rest Thou didst take in the bosom of Thy Mother, as well as during Thy whole life on earth.”
His reference to the “bosom of Thy Mother”, is an endearing term for the womb of Mary as we see in the following instruction he gave elsewhere to retreatants:
“Your retreat ought to be made with these chief ends in view: 1. To continue and honor the various retreats of Jesus, for example, His retreat from all eternity in the bosom of His Father; His retreat for nine months in the bosom of His Mother…”
During his times of rest, sleep and even retreat John Eudes was reminded of Unborn Jesus within Mary’s womb. As he instructs us above, we can honor these acts of Jesus to the extent that we join ourselves to Him with these mysteries of His Presence in mind.
Quotes taken from: St. John Eudes, C.J.M., The Life and the Kingdom of Jesus in Christian Souls
Filed under: Quotes from Great Christians
Here are two quotes about the life of God within:
“When a woman is carrying a child she develops a certain instinct of self defense. It is not selfishness; it is not egoism. It is an absorption into the life within, a folding of self like a little tent around the child’s frailty, a God like instinct to cherish, and some day to bring forth, the life. A closing upon it like the petals of a flower closing upon the dew that shines in its heart. This is precisely the attitude we must have to Christ, the Life within us, in the Advent of our contemplation.”
From The Reed of God by Caryll Houselander
“Man will not consent to drive away the money changers from the temple of his soul, until he realizes that it is the Holy of Holies – not a house of traffic, but in very truth the house of God.”
From How to Pray Always by Raoul Plus, S. J.
Filed under: Biblical Reflections, Quotes from Great Christians, Religion
Today September 17 is the feastday of St. Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621). He was a Jesuit and a Doctor of the Church. Here is a beautiful quote from him about the obedience of the infant Christ.
“In the first place, the obedience of Christ to His Father began with His Conception and continued uninterruptedly to His Death. The life of our Lord Jesus Christ was one perpetual act of obedience. The Soul of Christ from the moment of its creation enjoyed the exercise of its free will, was full of grace and wisdom, and consequently, even when enclosed in His Mother’s womb, was capable of practicing the virtue of obedience.
The Psalmist speaking in the Person of Christ says: “In the head of the book it is written of Me that I should do Thy will. O My God, I have desired it, and Thy law in the midst of My Heart.” (Psalm 40: 8, 9). These words may be thus simplified: ” In the head of the book”–that is from the beginning to the end of the inspired writings of Scripture–it is shown that I was chosen and sent into the world “to do Thy will. O My God, I have desired it,” and freely accepted it. I have placed “Thy law,” Thy commandment, Thy desire, “in the midst of My Heart,” to ponder upon it constantly, to obey it accurately and promptly.
The very words of Christ Himself mean the same. “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, that I may perfect His work.” (John 4:34). For as a man does not take food now and again and at distant intervals during life, but daily eats and takes a pleasure in it, so Christ our Lord was intent upon being obedient to His Father every day of His life. It was His joy and His pleasure.
“I came down from Heaven not to do My own will, but the will of Him that sent Me.” (John 6:38).
And again. “He that sent Me is with Me, and He hath not left Me alone; for I do always the things that please Him.”( John 8:29)
And since obedience is the most excellent of all sacrifices, as Samuel told Saul, (1 Kings 15:22) so every action which Christ performed during His life was a sacrifice most pleasing to the Divine Majesty.
The first prerogative then of our Lord’s obedience is that it lasted from the moment of His Conception to His Death upon the Cross.”
From The Seven Words on the Cross by St. Robert Bellermine
The following beautiful and poetic reflection about Jesus is taken from St. Francis de Sales book On the love of God.
“He took a loving quiet in us, yea even with some suspension of his senses, in his mother’s womb and in his infancy.
And he of whom it is so frequently
written: I live, saith the Lord; could afterwards have said according to His apostle’s language:
I live, now not I, but man liveth in me.
To me to live is man, and to die for man is gain.
My life is hidden with man in God.
He who dwelt in himself dwells now in us, and
He who was living from all eternity in the bosom of his Eternal Father becomes mortal in the (womb) of his temporal Mother;
He who lived eternally by his own divine life, lived with a human life,
He who from eternity had been only God,
shall be for all eternity man too:
So has the love of man ravished God, and drawn him into an ecstasy!”
When I read this I think how much Jesus identifies with all of us and how much He loves the little unborn and newborn babies. After all: “He took a loving quiet in us, yea even…in his mother’s womb.”
Below is a quote from St. Francis de Sales. Here he takes a quote from the beautiful Song of Songs and interprets it for us – he sees the Unborn Christ Child in this verse:
The divine lover like a shepherd, and indeed he is one, prepared a sumptuous banquet according to the country fashion for his sacred spouse, which he so described that mystically it represented all the mysteries of man’s redemption.
‘I am come into my garden, said he, O my sister, my spouse, I have gathered my myrrh, with aromatical spices; I have eaten the honey-comb with my honey, I have drunk my wine with my milk; eat, O friends, and drink, and be inebriated, my dearly beloved!’ (Song of Songs 5:1)
Ah! when was it, I pray you, that our Saviour came into his garden, if not when he came into his mother’s purest, humblest and sweetest womb, replenished with all the flourishing plants of holy virtues? And what is meant by our Saviour’s gathering his myrrh with his perfumes, except that he joined suffering to suffering until death, even the death of the cross, heaping by that means merit upon merit and treasures upon treasures, to enrich his spiritual children? And how did he eat his honey-comb with his honey, but when he lived a new life, reuniting his soul, more sweet than honey, to his pierced and wounded body, with more holes than a honeycomb? And when ascending into heaven he took possession of all the surroundings and dependencies of his divine glory, what other thing did he if not mix the exhilarating wine of the essential glory of his soul, with the delightful milk of the perfect felicity of his body, in a more excellent manner than hitherto he had done?
Treatise on the Love of God by St. Francis de Sales, (1567-1622).
Today is the 10th anniversary of Blessed Teresa’s death. (August 26, 1910 -Sept 5, 1997) Here is a Vatican website link offering a short biography on her life.
Mother Teresa was known for her great love of the poor, including unwanted unborn and newborn babies. She spoke out often against abortion. See our previous post, Peace Begins in the Womb. The following is a quote from her about the Unborn Christ Child:
As John the Baptist recognized Jesus hidden in the womb of Mary, the first tabernacle of the Lord, so now we recognize Jesus hidden in the Blessed Sacrament, the mystery of our faith. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and John leaped for joy in His Presence then, as we rejoice in His Presence now, for here Jesus pours out His Spirit upon us in this sacrament of infinite love.
From Rosary Meditations by Blessed Teresa of Calcutta
“Christ has only one mother in the flesh, but we all bring forth Christ in faith. Every soul receives the Word of God if only it keeps chaste, remaining pure and free from sin, its modesty undefiled.” St. Ambrose
“Blessed and true is that comfort which is derived inwardly from Truth.
A devout man everywhere carrieth about with him Jesus his Consoler, and saith to Him: Be with me, O Lord, in all places and at all times.” Imitation of Christ, chapter 16
“I kneel at the door of the empty stable and offer Thee my heart…but my body is not fit to be Thy temple and my heart is treacherous and faithless. I am ashamed to have so poor a shelter to offer Thee. If it were not that Thou didst ask for it, I dare not offer it. Oh! Thou Who didst not refuse the manger-bed, come to my heart, look at the contrition and…the aching longing to be what Thou dost want, and forget the faithlessness and the failures and the weakness. Come, my little King, incarnate for me, come and save me, If I were not a sinner I should not need a Saviour.” Mother St. Paul, Ortus Christi
Filed under: Quotes from Great Christians
August 19th is the Feastday of St. John Eudes.
Here is how most people celebrate their birthdays!
But the great St. John Eudes didn’t look at it quite like that and wrote an extremely lengthy prayer for Christians to recite on their birthdays. Here are a few excerpts:
Prayer to Jesus for the Anniversary of Your Birth
“O Jesus, I adore Thee in Thy eternal birth and Thy divine dwelling for all eternity in the bosom of Thy Father. I also adore Thee in Thy temporal conception, and in Thy presence in the sacred womb of Thy most pure mother, for the space of nine months, and in Thy birth into this world at the end of that time. I adore and revere the great and admirable occurrence of these mysteries…
Again I adore and glorify Thee, O Good Jesus, as performing all these things for Thyself, and for me and for everyone in the world. On this anniversary of my birth I give myself to Thee, O my Dear Jesus, that I may now repeat the acts Thou didst perfect while dwelling from all eternity in the bosom of the Father, and for nine months in the womb of Thy mother…
Such, O my Lord, is the rightful homage I ought to have rendered to Thee, had I been able, at the moment of my birth, and indeed from the first moment of my life, that I now endeavor to render to Thee, although very tardily and imperfectly…
In Thy temporal birth, Thou didst render for me to Thy Father all the rightful homage I should have rendered Him at my own birth, and Thou didst then practice all the acts and exercises of devotion that I should have practiced. Be Thou blessed for ever!”
St. John Eudes, The Life and the Kingdom of Jesus in Christian Souls
Today is the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, John of Damascus talks about the greatness of the Incarnation in the first quote and links it to the Assumption in the second quote:
“The Father predestined her, the prophets foretold her through the Holy Ghost. His sanctifying power overshadowed her, cleansed and made her holy, and, as it were, predestined her. Then Thou, Word of the Father, not dwelling in place, didst invite the lowliness of our nature to be united to the immeasurable greatness of Thy inscrutable Godhead. Thou, who didst take flesh of the Blessed Virgin, vivified by a reasoning soul, having first abided in her undefiled and immaculate womb, creating Thyself, and causing her to exist in Thee, didst become perfect man, not ceasing to be perfect God, equal to Thy Father, but taking upon Thyself our weakness through ineffable goodness. Through it Thou art one Christ, one Lord, one Son of God, and man at the same time, perfect God and perfect man, wholly God and wholly man, one Substance from two perfect natures, the Godhead and the manhood.” John of Damascus , Sermon I On The Assumption
“To-day the living ladder, through whom the Most High descended and was seen on earth, and conversed with men, was assumed into heaven… To-day the heavenly table, she, who contained the bread of life, the fire of the Godhead, without knowing man, was assumed from earth to heaven, and the gates of heaven opened wide to receive the gate of God from the East. To-day the living city of God is transferred from the earthly to the heavenly Jerusalem, and she, who, conceived her first-born and only Son, the first-born of all creation, the only begotten of the Father, rests in the Church of the first-born: the true and living Ark of the Lord is taken to the peace of her Son. The gates of heaven are opened to receive the receptacle of God, who, bringing forth the tree of life, destroyed Eve’s disobedience and Adam’s penalty of death.”
John of Damascus, Sermon III On the Assumption
Filed under: Quotes from Great Christians
Today August 14 is the feast day of St. Maximilian Kolbe, who died in Auschwitz. Here is a quote from him which pro-lifers could apply to our personal and world situation and a prayer he wrote praising God for the Incarnation:
“No one in the world can change Truth. What we can do and should do is to seek truth and to serve it when we have found it. The real conflict is the inner conflict. Beyond armies of occupation and the hecatombs of extermination camps, there are two irreconcilable enemies in the depth of every soul: good and evil, sin and love. And what use are the victories on the battlefield if we ourselves are defeated in our innermost personal selves?” Saint Maximilian Kolbe in the Knight —Final Edition
“I adore you, O our heavenly Father, because you placed in the most pure womb of Mary your only-begotten Son. I adore you, O Son of God, because you condescended to enter the womb of Mary and became truly her actual Son. I adore you, O Holy Spirit, because you deigned to form in her immaculate womb the body of the Son of God. I adore you, O most Holy Trinity, O one God in holy Trinity for having ennobled the Immaculate in such a divine way…”
St. Maximilian Kolbe, Complementum Ss. Trinitatis… pp. 196-203.
Jean Heimann has an interesting post on Catholic Fire called St Max, Mother Mary, the Pro-life Movement and Me
Filed under: Quotes from Great Christians
Each saint has his special work: one person’s work.
But Our Lady had to include in her vocation, in
her life’s work, the essential thing that was to be
hidden in every other vocation, in every life. She
is not only human; she is humanity. The one thing
that she did and does is the one thing that we all
have to do, namely, to bear Christ into the world.
Christ must be born from every soul, formed in
every life.
Caryll Houselander, The Reed of God.
Today, August 9, 2007 is the Feast day of St. Teresa Benedicta ( Edith Stein). Here are two inspiring quotes from her writings:
“The decision for the Redemption was conceived in the eternal silence of the inner divine life. The power of the Holy Spirit came over the Virgin praying alone in the hidden, silent room in Nazareth and brought about the Incarnation of the Savior. Congregated around the silently praying Virgin, the emergent church awaited the promised new outpouring of the Spirit that was to quicken it into inner clarity and fruitful outer effectiveness. In the night of blindness that God laid over his eyes, Saul awaited in solitary prayer the Lord’s answer to his question, “What do you want me to do?” In solitary prayer Peter was prepared for his mission to the Gentiles. And so it has remained all through the centuries. In the silent dialogue with their Lord of souls consecrated to God, the events of church history are prepared that, visible far and wide, renew the face of the earth.”
St. Teresa Benedicta, The Prayer of the Church
“Because hidden souls do not live in isolation, but are a part of the living nexus and have a position in a great divine order, we speak of an invisible church. Their impact and affinity can remain hidden from themselves and others for their entire earthly lives. But it is also possible for some of this to become visible in the external world. This is how it was with the persons and events intertwined in the mystery of the Incarnation. Mary and Joseph, Zechariah and Elizabeth, the shepherds and the kings, Simeon and Anna all of these had behind them a solitary life with God and were prepared for their special tasks before they found themselves together in those awesome encounters and events and, in retrospect, could understand how the paths left behind led to this climax. Their astounded adoration in the presence of these great deeds of God is expressed in the songs of praise that have come down to us.”
St. Teresa Benedicta, Three Addresses For the First Profession of Sister Miriam of Little St. Thérèse July 16, 1940
Pro-life work is always tough- going, and at times can even seem futile, but we must persevere and always continue in silent prayer before the Lord to prepare for great things.
UNBORN WORD of the day 
