Category Archives: Catholic Action

Christmas Conquest

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In last nights post about tonight’s discussion group topic, I asked the question:

How can men surrender to the mystery of Christ’s condescension without surrendering their dignity, responsibility and strength as men, husbands and fathers?

This morning Pope St. Gregory the Great indirectly answered my question in the second reading from the Office of Readings:

For unless the new man, by being made in the likeness of sinful flesh, had taken on himself the nature of our first parents, unless he had stooped to be one in substance with his mother while sharing the Father’s substance and, being alone free from sin, united our nature to his, the whole human race would still be held captive under the dominion of Satan. The Conqueror’s victory would have profited us nothing if the battle had been fought outside our human condition. But through this wonderful blending the mystery of new birth shone upon us, so that through the same Spirit by whom Christ was conceived and brought forth we too might be born again in a spiritual birth; and in consequence the evangelist declares the faithful to have been born not of blood, nor of the desire of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

St. Gregory speaks about the Redeeming power of Christ, his victory of Satan, sin and death in terms of His having shared “our human condition.”  As the battle takes place in the valley of human misery, so victory begins in a stable where His own received Him not (Jn 1:11).

A true leader, a father, for example, shares the condition of those whom he leads. We exhort our superiors to “lead by example.”  Our Lord criticizes the pharisees because they bind heavy and insupportable burdens, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but with a finger of their own they will not move them (Mt 23:4), and so He tells his apostles: All things therefore whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do: but according to their works do ye not; for they say, and do not (3).

I am reminded of the story of how St. Louis, King of France, landed in Damietta with his men, refusing a safer passage away from the fighting:

When the King heard say that the Banner of Saint Denis was ashore he came hurrying across his vessel at a great pace, and despite the Legate who was with him, he would not be stayed, but sprang into the sea, up to his armpits in water, and waded, with his shield round his neck, and his helmet on his head, and his spear in his hand, to join his followers on the beach. When he got to land and discerned the Saracens, he asked: What people those were? and they told him:  They were Saracens; and he tucked his spear under his arm, put his shield In front of him, and would have rushed upon them, if his paladins who were about him would have allowed it.

Prior to the landing the King had exhorted them all:

Friends and followers, we are unconquerable if we are undivided. The divine will has brought us hither; let us land, be the enemy’s forces what it may. It is not I that am King of France, not I that am Holy Church: it is you yourselves, united, that are Church and King…. In us Christ shall triumph, giving glory, honour, and blessing not to us, but to His own Holy Name.’

In the condensation of Christmas the King rallies with the men on the ground and gives them His Name and His power to conquer.

See also the story of Lt. Michael P. Murphy, USN, Medal of Honor Recipient.

A Christmas Meditation

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Updated below.

A Taunton man says his 8-year-old son was sent home from school and ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation after drawing a stick figure Jesus on a cross.

The man told the Taunton Daily Gazette his second-grader made the drawing after his teacher asked children to sketch something that reminded them of Christmas. He said the teacher at Maxham Elementary School thought the drawing was too violent.

Jingle bells or nothing in the Massachusetts school system.  Figures.  No room at the inn.

Update: Superintendent of schools denies report.

Second Update: Father of boy stands by story.

Immaculate Warrior Queen

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She shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for Her heel (Gen 3:15b).

This primordial prophecy of sacred scripture is a word picture that has served over the ages to instill in the hearts of the faithful confidence in the power of the Immaculate Conception.  The image of the Woman of Genesis 3:15 with Her foot on the head of the serpent is a source of confidence of countless souls who wear the Miraculous Medal (the Medal of the Immaculate Conception).  St. Maximilian called the Medal his Silver Bullet.  Indeed it is a visual exorcism over the enemies of faith and charity, because of its reference to Genesis 3:15.

Blessed Pope Pius IX utilized this verse, evincing such a militant and confident spirit, as the principle scriptural text in the bull of definition for the Immaculate Conception, Ineffabilis Deus.

The verse in its entirety reads: (a) I will put enmities between thee and the Woman, and thy seed and Her seed; (b) She shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for Her heel. Pius IX, in accord with the received tradition, teaches that enmity exists between the Woman and the serpent only because She is never under His power through sin.  The enmity indicates, not only the fact that there is this unbridgeable gulf between the Woman and the serpent, but also that the two are engaged in an unending conflict.  In this She is associated with Her Seed, namely, Christ.  In fact this association is emphasized in the verse in the way that parts (a) and (b) complete each other.  The first part sets up a parallel that is recapitulated in the second.

In part (a) The Woman and the serpent are set in opposition and then likewise Her Seed and the serpent’s seed.  In part (b) the Woman completes the relation of opposition by destroying the serpent.

Much has been written concerning the second part of the verse, as to whether it should read He (Christ) shall crush thy head heel or She (Mary) shall crush thy head.  (Here is a good argument in favor of the Marian interpretation of 3:15b).  Regardless of what conclusions one might come to with respect to the most accurate translation, several things should be noted: first of all, the woman is definitely associated with the Seed in a mutual hatred for the serpent, so much so that promised Redeemer is identified as none other than the Seed of the Woman; secondly, that the logic of part (a) calls for the completion of part (b), so that whether the Woman is mentioned explicitly or not Her collaboration in the crushing of the serpent’s head is at least implied.

For this reason, and because of the Church’s use of the Marian translation of part (b) within the liturgy, we need to be convinced that the image of the Immaculate Conception standing on the serpent’s head tells us something profoundly important.  Whether it is the bas-relief of Our Lady on the Medal of the Immaculate Conception (Miraculous Medal) or one of the many painted versions of the Immaculate Conception, like the one of Rubens at the head of this post, one of the identifying features of Our Lady portrayed under this particular title is the representation of Her immaculate foot over the proud and defeated head of Satan.

What this tells us is that Our Lady’s immaculate purity of heart is powerful and victorious.  Not only is it beautiful and all-holy, it a sword in the hand of God.

This interpretation of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception is confirmed and strengthened with the support of the Church’s understanding of Apocalypse 12, another militant passage in which the Woman is pitted against the serpent (this time in the form of a red dragon).  In this passage Our Lady is clothed with sun, stands on the moon and is crowned with twelve stars.  In some images of the Immaculate Conception of the Imagery of Genesis 3 and Apocalypse 12 are combined, both strengthening the symbolism and using the one passage to interpret the other (as Ruben’s renders it above).  This imagery of Apocalypse 12 indicates both a state of militancy and triumph.  Our Lady is both suffering here on earth and glorified in heaven.  This is because She is the personification of the Church, which is both militant and triumphant.  Those of us who still suffer already share in the victory of those who have passed through the veil.  This is particularly true in the way in which we participate in the victory of the Woman.

Jesus Christ, our victorious King, has chosen to associate His Mother in His Redeeming work in an absolutely unique way.  He created Her immaculate so that She might be the worthy Tabernacle of His presence, and also so that She by worthy to stand by Him at the foot of the Cross and suffer with Him in a way that was meritorious for salvation of all.  Our Lord made Her so perfect that Our Lady She possesses a holiness greater than which cannot be conceived.  He is so perfect a Redeemer that the most perfect fruit of His perfect redemption is associated with Him in His redeeming action.

For this reason, Satan fears Our Lady.  His hatred for Her is bitter but futile, for, as Apocalypse 12 shows us, he is unable to touch either Her or Her child.  Our Lady is His humiliation.  The Fathers of the Church, interpreting Apocalypse 12 teach that fall of Satan and the bad angels was due to a rejection of the mystery of the Incarnation, especially insofar as it pertains to Our Lady’s Queenship over all the angels.  (For a great explanation of this as it relates to the Immaculate Conception, see The Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God:  An Exposition, by Bishop Ullathorne, c. viii, pp.  65-76.)

The last verse of Apocalypse 12 is a synopsis of the whole of sacred history as the ongoing hatred of Satan for the Woman:

And the dragon was angry against the Woman: and went to make war with the rest of Her seed, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ (17).

Satan is always standing on the frontier of each human life, seething with hatred for Jesus and Mary and perceiving their image and likeness in us and projecting his hatred for them onto us.  He longs to destroy us, but his designs will be frustrated if we are truly the rest of Her seed.

St. Maximilian always counseled his friars and the members of the Militia Immaculatae to make the novena leading up to the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception a time to examine one’s conscience in respect to the degree of surrender they had made to the Immaculate.  The day of the solemnity was to be the most precious time of grace in which one was to renew their consecration and resolve to live it more faithfully.  War is never easy.  We should not expect the spiritual life to be anything but constant struggle.  Our blessings and consolations will come not in spite of struggle but as a fruit of it.

The spiritual life is a battle.  Our Lady is the Immaculate Warrior Queen is the Victrix of Lepanto and of every conflict that threatens the salvation of souls.   May we always have confidence in the She who is tota pulchra, all beautiful.  Let our confidence be our consolation.

The Armor of God and Guarding the Heart

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I have been reflecting lately on the notion of Dom Chautard concerning that aspect of the interior life that is Englished in his book “custody of the heart.”  Perhaps a more militant way of translating this notion in modern English would be “guarding the heart.”

It is the duty of a knight to guard and protect, and we often associate this role with his perennial preoccupation with the Damsel in Distress.  Elsewhere I have noted that the Blessed Virgin is the personification of the Damsel in Distress–not so much because She is helpless, which She is not, nor is that an essential quality of any such damsel, but because She personifies everything true, good and beautiful.  She does this precisely at the foot of the cross as the personification of the Bride of Christ and as Mother and exemplar of the Church.  Ultimately the Christian Knight must be at Her service.

But the curious fact is that the knight, while an image of Christ, the Bridegroom and Savior, is first of all a sinner and one who must identify with the needy Bride as much as any woman should.  This is not to say that the knight must become a woman spiritually, but that his masculinity need not be threatened by whole-hearted honesty about his dependence on God.

In fact, nothing could be more important.  In order to stand fast in the breach that has been blasted in the wall of the City of God, Our Lady’s knight must first repair the breach in his own heart.  How can a knight defend the City of God, how can he fight for the honor of the Immaculate Heart and guard it from the dishonor of the heathens, if he has not first mastered the art of guarding his own heart?  In fact, there is nothing more urgent than the attention we pay to our own vulnerabilities.

To this end, I would like to associate the notion of Dom Chautard with that of St. Paul concerning the Armor of God.

IMG_3026

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Happy Feast of Mary Victrix

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Lepanto New

The Feast of the Holy Rosary is a feast of prayer and recourse to the Blessed Mother. It is also a feast of the action of brave men who were men of prayer. That is why it is also the Feast of Our Lady of Victory.  On this day we pray for the Spirit of Lepanto.

In the current postcommunion oration for the Mass we find the closest thing in the current formulary to reference to Our Lady of Victory:

May we be helped we beseech Thee, O Lord, by the prayers of Thy most holy Mother, whose Rosary we celebrate; that we may draw strength from the Mysteries which we commemorate, and likewise obtain the fruit of the Sacraments which we have received: Who livest and reignest with the God Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever.  Amen.

We are to draw strength from the paschal mystery, the mystery of the sacrificial love of Christ for all men.  The mysteries of which the oration speaks are the death and resurrection of the Lord.  But the feast integrates into these mysteries the mystery of Our Lady’s victorious mediation, and the “strength” which we draw from our participation in the Mysteries of Christ through Her mediation.

On this occasion I have returned to vlogging my series Standing Fast which you will be able find each week in the side bar on the right.  (It should be up momentarily.) Well I guess the widget won’t fly yet, so here is the video:

Here is the link to The Soul of the Apostolate that I mention in the video. And a Google Books version here.

You will also be able to find it on AirMaria as a regular post in a larger format.  I have delayed my post today due to the learning curve with some new video software.  My apologies for not posting sooner on Our Lady’s feast day.

The above painting was created by Tony Stafki and is available in various kinds of prints.  Tony sent my some information about the painting:

  • The battle formation of the ships just before the main clash.
  • The Catholic ships form a cross and the Muslim ships form a cresent.
  • The standard of the Holy Cross which was blessed by Pope Pius V can be seen on Don Juan of Austria’s ship which is leading the charge
  • Papal ships (St. Peter’s keys)
  • The miracle of the wind: just before the armies met the wind completely switched in favor of the Catholic ships.
  • Devils can be seen amongst the Muslim ships (they were summoned from hell by the Muslim leader).  The devils have peacock feathers as swords, a manifestation of their pride.
  • Our Lady of Victory with a sword in one hand ready to crush the devils and the other hand outstretched to the Muslim souls.
  • St. Michael leading the Angels
  • There are small white lights by the oars on the Muslim ships representing the souls of the Catholic prisoners.

The image of Our Lady with the sword reminds me of this:

The King looked up, and what he saw
Was a great light like death,
For Our Lady stood on the standards rent,
As lonely and as innocent
As when between white walls she went
And the lilies of Nazareth.

One instant in a still light
He saw Our Lady then,
Her dress was soft as western sky,
And she was a queen most womanly—
But she was a queen of men.

Over the iron forest
He saw Our Lady stand,
Her eyes were sad withouten art,
And seven swords were in her heart—
But one was in her hand.

I have always been a little put off that the image of Our Lady of Victory does not have a sword:

OLVictoryPrint

Nor images of our Lady at Lepanto, such as this:

Maria-Rosa-Lepanto

Hats off to Tony.

St Patrick and the Chieftains

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Hill of Shane

On the great vigil of Easter in 433, which was also March 25th, Feast of the Annunciation, St. Patrick determined to meet the Celtic chieftains and High King Leoghaire  on their own ground at Tara by and challenge their superstitious and idolatrous druidism.  The pagans were prepared for the messenger of Christ, as their demoniac prophets had divined his presence.au

St. Patrick made his presence known opposite Tara on the summit of the hill of Slane where he kindled the Easter fire.  The druid priests responded by appealing to Leoghaire:  “O King, live for ever. This fire, which has been lighted in defiance of the royal edict, will blaze for ever in this land unless it be this very night extinguished.”  By order of the king the druids were sent to the hill of Slane to put out Patrick’s fire and slay him, but by miraculous intervention, both the fire and the saint were protected from all harm, much to the consternation of the pagans.

In the morning the saint accompanied by his Christian band formed the Easter procession and proceeded from the fire on the hill of Slane to the Tara.  St. Patrick was arrayed in full episcopal attire.  As he approached the stronghold of Satan, the druid priests made use of their black incantations to cover all the land in darkness, but at his prayers this wile was undone and the sun shown gloriously in the Easter Day.  In the light the druid high priest was then raised off the ground into the heights only to be brought down again by divine power and dashed on the rocks below.

In this way St. Patrick defeated paganism in Ireland and proved to all the cheiftans the truth of the Catholic religion.  Through his great faith and his willingness to risk his life before the minions of Satan, the Saint one the admiration of the King and obtained from him permission to spread the true faith throughout the realm.

Life is always a struggle between light and darkness. It is the story of mankind.  It is the story of Ireland and it is the news of the week:

Vodpod videos no longer available.

God bless Dana Rosemary Scallon, a modern day Joan of Arc, who in the past was not afraid of being attacked by the Irish bishops in defense of the right to life.  Read her largely unheeded exhortation to the Irish people:

This is no longer about the politics of right and left, it is about right and wrong. I can no longer stay silent about the wilful betrayal of Ireland’s Constitution.

BTW, the preamble of that constitution reads thus:

In the Name of the Most Holy Trinity, from Whom is all authority and to Whom, as our final end, all actions both of men and States must be referred,

We, the people of Éire,

Humbly acknowledging all our obligations to our Divine Lord, Jesus Christ, Who sustained our fathers through centuries of trial,

Gratefully remembering their heroic and unremitting struggle to regain the rightful independence of our Nation,

And seeking to promote the common good, with due observance of Prudence, Justice and Charity, so that the dignity and freedom of the individual may be assured, true social order attained, the unity of our country restored, and concord established with other nations,

Do hereby adopt, enact, and give to ourselves this Constitution.

In effect, the Lisbon Treaty offers no protection to the unborn and largely eliminates Ireland’s judicial sovereignty.

What about “acknowledging all our obligations to our Divine Lord, Jesus Christ”?

Pray for Ireland.  Ask St. Patrick to bring light into the darkness and exorcise the Great Snake from the Emerald Isle.

Maria!

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Name of MaryToday is the feast of the Holy Name of Mary and commemorates the victory of the Christian forces over the Ottoman Empire at Vienna on September 12, 1683.  Many believe that the 9/11 hijackers chose that date because of this historical event.  The Battle of Vienna began on September 11 and ended on September 12.

The following is a reflection on the Name of Mary that I wrote some years ago:

The Holy Name of Mary is invoked for the same reason as that of Jesus.  In a unique way Mary shares in the royal dignity and power of Jesus Christ.  The Name of Mary like the Name of Jesus is a proclamation of the presence of God and His kingdom.  Other reasons for the power and sweetness of the Name of Mary flow from this one.

St. Paul says:  That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth: and that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:10-11).  These words are written in the context of St. Paul’s exhortation that we should have that mind be in us, which was also in Christ Jesus (v.5).  He goes onto talk about the humility and obedience of Christ, His self-emptying in the form a slave, His death upon the cross by which He merits a name which is above all names (v. 9).

Jesus humbles Himself and becomes obedient, in the first place, by emptying Himself into the womb of Mary (cf., v. 7).  If He is exalted through humility, it is first of all because he becomes the child of Mary.  Likewise His obedience unto death is accomplished in the company of Mary, the Sorrowful Mother who stands with Him co-crucified through the sword of sorrow that opens Her Immaculate Heart (v. 8).

Mary is therefore exalted with Christ in humility and sacrificial obedience.  Every knee must bend, and all hell trembles at the sound of Her Name.  Through Her Name, we invoke the power of God.

St. Maximilian says:

Try to take refuge with Mary as a little child with its best-beloved Mother.  ‘Invoke’ her Holy Name with the heart in the difficulties of life, in darkness and weakness of spirit and you will soon be convinced what Mary can do – and Who her Son Jesus Christ is.

Here the Saint shows how the name of Mary reveals Her union with Her Son, and how by invoking Her presence with Her Name we force the darkness to flee, how Her power is invincible.

So then we greet each other with “Ave Maria” in order to invoke the presence of the Immaculate in the midst of those who gather in Her Name.  We also recognize Her presence in those who in Her name greet us.  We bless each other in Her Name, beseeching Her to bestow peace upon all who hear the sweet sound of “Mary.”  St. Maximilian says:  “O what peace the holy name of Mary gives.”

At the Annunciation the angel Gabriel greeted Mary with the words Ave, gratia plena, Hail, full of grace, as though Full of Grace were Her name.  And indeed it is.  It is the name God gave to Mary.  She is the one who is already filled with God’s grace, even before the presence of Jesus in Her womb.  In a real sense Mary becomes the Mother of Jesus, precisely because She is full of grace.  In the Angelic Salutation we shorten, and you might say, sweeten the greeting to Ave Maria, Hail Mary.  Thereby, like St. Gabriel, we acknowledge Her holiness and invoke it and Her motherly presence upon all we meet.