July 21 2021 - St. Lawrence of Brindisi - Producing fruit a hundredfold

Augusto_Mussini_-_S._Lorenzo_da_Brindisi

St. Lawrence of Brindisi devoted himself to many different forms of service in his 60 years: Franciscan priest, Army chaplain, diplomat & peacemaker, miracle-worker, exorcist, theologian, biblical scholar, linguist, confessor, mystic, and leader of the Counter-Reformation, doctor of the Church.  Certainly a man of many talents. 

A 17th Century  contemporary of his, the Cardinal theologian Cajetan, said that St. Lawrence of Brindisi was “an incarnation of the old apostles, who, speaking to all nations, were understood by all.  He is a living Pentecost.” St. Lawrence was certainly enlivened by the Holy Spirit, he was able to preach effectively in at least 6 languages. 

As vicar general for the Capuchins he combined his brilliance, his great administrative skill, and his great sensitivity and human compassion.  He founded many friaries, in Prague, Vienna, Bohemia, Madrid, and Austria.

What was the source of his greatness, of his devotion, of his fortitude, and immense energy?  No doubt he allowed the seed of the Word of God to be planted deeply in his heart, to borrow the image from the Gospel today. And that seed did not remain dormant and unnourished. Lawrence had a vibrant interior life—particularly a great love for the Mass and a profound devotion to the Blessed Virgin to whom he attributed his vocation. He would sometimes be so caught up in ecstasy during the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice that he would be weeping with love and adoration.

He cleared his soul of the thorns of earthly attachment by a life of poverty and simplicity. He cleared out the rocks in his soul of hard-heartedness, stubbornness, resentment. 

If we wish to become the person God made us to become, we too must nurture the seed of the Word of God and till the soil of our souls. To develop a burning love of Christ, we must seek purification from all of our sins, habituating ourselves in the ways of Christ through a fervent practice of the virtue, enlightenment of mind through meditation of His Holy Word, and seek as our true nourishment prayer and the Sacraments. 

In the words of St. Lawrence: “My dear souls, let us recognize, I pray you, Christ’s infinite charity towards us in the institution of this Sacrament of the Eucharist. In order that our love be a spiritual love, He wills a new heart, a new love, a new spirit for us.”

May we seek that new heart, new love, new spirit, and new energy for the work of the Gospel in the Eucharist we celebrate and receive this day, that our lives may bear fruit a hundredfold, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 

That the Holy Spirit may animate the lives of all Christians, deepening in them conviction for the Gospel. 

That our young people on summer vacation may be kept safe from the poisonous errors of our culture, and that their families may be places where the faith is practiced and cherished.

That the love of Christ, the divine physician, may bring healing to the sick and comfort to all the suffering. We pray.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, and all the poor souls in purgatory, for deceased priests and religious, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom. We pray.

O God, who know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.

 

34th Week in OT 2019 - Friday - Daniel's Apocalyptic Vision and the Spiritual Summer

One of the last readings of the liturgical year is today’s apocalyptic vision of Daniel. Daniel’s apocalyptic vision of beasts rising from the sea strongly resembles the vision of John in the Book of Revelation, and like most apocalyptic passages in scripture is highly symbolic. The four vicious beasts rising out of the sea represent the kingdoms of the earth rising out the chaotic sea of history. For Daniel, the lion with eagle’s wings was Nebuchadnezzar, the bear with three tusks ready to attack was the kingdom of the Medes, the leopard with four heads was the Persians, and the terrifying beast with iron teeth and ten horns was the technologically advanced Greek Empire, the blasphemous little horn, Antiochus Epiphanes.

Church fathers have interpreted this vision, along with the vision of Revelation, to be symbolic of the different kingdoms which stood in opposition to God throughout history, and the little horn to be symbolic of the Anti-Christ.

Whoever these strange symbols stand for, it is clear that they will be judged by the one who sits on the throne of heaven. And this one, is not like those beasts who rise up from the sea, he is not terrifying and vicious, but glorious and just. And, he resembles not the beasts, but shares the human condition. He is God and man, whose coming we prepare for during the upcoming season of Advent.

Our task, again, as we said the other day, is to be on the right side of history, not in league with the vicious kingdoms the earth, but in union with the Ancient One who sits on the throne of heaven.
In the Gospel, the Ancient-One-made-flesh speaks of a spiritual summer in which the fig trees bloom, their buds burst over. He speaks of the spiritual summer of the age of the Church, in which the seeds of the Gospel bloom into the fruits of the Spirit.

To be on the right side of history is to be cultivating those fruits, allowing the Gospel to bloom into the fruits of charity and joy and peace and justice and patience and long-suffering.
Though Advent takes place mostly in winter, it is meant to be a spiritual summer in which we prepare assiduously for the Lord through repentance, penance, prayer, and charity.

In the hours we have before Advent, prepare to prepare, come up with a spiritual plan for your Advent: your spiritual reading, spiritual penance, a list of the good works you hope to engage in, to allow the Gospel to bear fruit in your lives, fruit that will last for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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Lord, sanctify your bishops and priests, and grant them courage to preach the Gospel in its fullness.
Make the lives of parents examples of faith to inspire their children to seek first your heavenly kingdom.

Bring all those who have fallen away back to the sacraments, help them to repent of their sins and desire the life that can only come from you.

That the upcoming season of Advent may be a season of spiritual renewal for the Church.
Bring comfort to the sick and suffering, charity and care to the destitute and down-trodden, be present through your church to the miserable.

Welcome into your kingdom all the faithful departed, those whose names are written in our parish necrology, all clergy and religious, and X for whom this mass is offered.

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.

Homily: Thursday - 3rd Week of Advent 2016 - The barren shall be fruitful

Throughout the Old Testament, Israel is compared to an unfaithful bride who has broken her marriage covenant with God her husband. Israel had committed spiritual adultery over and over, turning to false Gods and to the immoral practices of the pagan nations. Because of her spiritual unfaithfulness, the prophets say that she will be spiritually barren. She will not bear the life within her that God wants for his bride.

This spiritual barrenness occurs when any of us turn away from God in sin. Selfishness, pride, lust, greed, gossip, hate…these things do not give us life, in fact, they take it from us. When selfishness rules our life, we fail to spread the peace of God’s kingdom as we should—we become barren.

The reading from Isaiah today comes from the last section of his book, called the book of consolation, in which Isaiah speaks of the restoration of Israel—the new life Israel will experience when the Messiah ushers in the eternal kingdom. Isaiah compares the joy of the new kingdom to a once barren wife who will beget numerous children. The family will need to expand their tents, there will be so many children.

Isaiah foretells both the eschatological, the coming of the kingdom at the end of time. When the Messiah comes and the end of time, the eternal kingdom will be a place of unspeakable joy—joy which comes from a union with God we have never experienced.

But, we Christians know, that the kingdom has already begun. Isaiah also foretold the time of the Church. The ecclesiological sense of this reading, foretells of the numerous children of Christ’s Church, the spiritual fruit and life born by Christians who believe in Christ, who receive his Sacraments, who practice his teachings, and perform the acts of mercy.

How would you rate your own spiritual life right now? Barren or fruitful? If it is fruitful, thanks be to God; perhaps there are new spiritual fruits he wishes to bring forth through you this Advent and this Christmas. If you are barren: if you are not bearing the fruits of gentleness, joy, self-control, peace, and kindness…if you are barren of these things, what needs to change? Likely, what is needed is repentance, deeper prayer, and more frequent charity.

New life is possible because in our barrenness we were not abandoned by God; God speaks the words from Isaiah today, “My love shall never leave you” even to the most hardened sinner. New life is possible through repentance, through faith, turning away from loving the things of the world, in order to love the things of God.

May the Lord bring about inner transformation in each of us, that we may bear new life, new fruit for the building up of the kingdom, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.