My favorite quotes from St. Therese: “Time is nothing in Your eyes, and a single day is like a thousand years. You can, then, in one instant, prepare me to appear before You." “Oh! How sweet is the way of Love! How I want to apply myself to doing the will of God always with the greatest self-surrender!” “Jesus does not demand great actions from us but simply surrender and gratitude…See, then, all that Jesus lays claim to from us; He has no need of our works but only of our love.” “I thank You, O my God for all the graces You have granted me, especially the grace of making me pass through the crucible of suffering. It is with joy I shall contemplate You on my the Last Day, carrying the scepter of Your cross.” “For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and love, embracing both trial and joy.” “Our Lord needs from us neither great deeds nor profound thoughts. Neither intelligence nor talents. He cherishes simplicity.” “How happy I am to see myself imperfect and be in need of God’s mercy.” “We can never have too much confidence in the good God who is so powerful and so merciful. We obtain from Him as much as we hope for.” “Prayer is a cry of gratitude and love in the midst of trial as well as joy.” “Oh my God, You have surpassed all my expectations.” Oh! no, you will see...it will be like a shower of roses. After my death, you will go to the mail box, and you will find many consolations. ~ Saint Therese on June 9, 1897 after Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart told her we would be very sorry after she died. For more information on St. Therese, go here and here.
05 Oct 2010Mantilla the Hon: “Why I Wear a Mantilla”By Colleen Hammond, in Uncategorized Leave a response XHello there Facebook friend! If you like this article, please help spread the word by sharing this post with your friends. Share Fr. Longedecker has a great sense of humor!
Famous ecclesiastical fashionista, Mantilla Amontillado comments on her particular headgear
OK, hon. You asked me why I wear the mantilla. It’s easy. This mantilla is to look good. So what’s wrong with looking good? Also, it is for something else. The Bible says women should cover their heads in church. When I wear the mantilla I’m saying, “Look here. I believe the Bible.” In this day and age, that’s ridiculous too. Third reason I wear the mantilla is because it is Catholic. Fourth reason: I met this Amish girl once. She was wearing one of those little bonnets that look like the thing you collect strawberries in, but it was white and upside down on her head. I say, “Why are you wearing that crazy thing on your head?” She looks me in the eye and says “It is the sign that I am submissive to God and to men.” I nearly punched her in the eye. “Are you crazy? You want to be submissive to God and men? What’s wrong with you? I think I’m going to slap you girl!” She says, “Well, you got to be submissive to something. Everybody’s got to take orders from someone. Who you going to take orders from? Yourself? Who do you think you are? God? Get over it.” Whew! talk about radical statements? That one knocked me for a loop. Then I start to think about it, and I think maybe she’s right. So I got my own version of the Amish bonnet which is my mantilla, and I’m happy about the submissive to God thing, but I want to argue with her about the submission to man thing because so many of the boys are beasts. But never mind that. Another reason: I wear it because it annoys liberal Catholics, and that is always fun, you know? Finally there is this: I wear it to remind the men in my life that I am submissive to God, and I’ll tell you a secret, I’d like to find one of them I could be submissive to as well, but they better watch out because if they take advantage of that they’re going to be sorry, because if they think ‘submissive’ means I’m going to be some kind of Minnie Mouse doormat they’d better think again. My comment:
In addition to St. Paul (1 Cor 11:15), it was pointed out to me that everything that is holy, mysterious (in the divine sense), and sacred in our Catholic Faith is veiled. A baldacchino ‘veils’ the altar. The Tabernacle is veiled. The humeral veil a priest uses during Benediction. And Chalice veils laid over the holy vessels.
Women are, by their nature, the very vessels of life. And what better way to honor a woman’s cooperation with God in creating new souls for heaven than for her to be veiled as well?
I am humbled before God for being able to carry another soul within my body…and I am not ashamed to veil my head in His presence.
As G.K. Chesteron wrote, “No one staring at that frightful female privilege can quite believe in the equality of the sexes…” (What’s Wrong with the World).
What a distinct honor to wear a mantilla!!!
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- Catholic Exchange - Forty years ago today (October 4, 1970), Saint Catherine of Siena was proclaimed “Doctor of the Church”. Many are unaware of the tremendous miracles Christ worked through her: instant cures of the sick and lame, deliverance of the possessed, raising the dead, bearing the stigmata invisibly during her life and visibly at her death. Volumes could be written of the great power that went-out from her. Blessed Raymond of Capua, her confessor and later the head of the Dominican Order, records some of them in the official biography of her life. Even less known is what she said about biblical exegesis and Christ’s reasons for choosing her to save souls and heal his Church so publicly. Healing of the Church, the salvation of souls, and biblical exegesis are inseparable.
Biblical Interpretation in Crisis
Biblical interpretation (technically called “exegesis”) is in crisis, and before becoming Pope, Cardinal Ratzinger testified to this repeatedly; even giving talks entitled as such. With biblical interpretation in crisis, it is no wonder that the Church is in crisis and the salvation of souls is not taken as seriously as it should. For Church leaders to be blind to the true light of Scripture and its unity would be the very definition of the blind leading the blind…and everyone getting lost. The Church proclaims Doctors for the special light they give to the Church through their holy lives and eminent doctrine. The Doctors lead us into a deeper penetration of the mystery of Christ; leading us to see and giving us all a greater desire to seek and experience the saving love of Jesus Christ.
At her canonization in 1461, the Pope declared, “No one came close to Saint Catherine without becoming more learned and holy.” This is because through the Holy Spirit, Jesus was fully alive in her, working his miracles and giving her light to explain the Scriptures. Not just the physically blind, but the spiritually dead regained their sight. From heaven, Jesus permitted Catherine, his mystical bride, to share his light with the rest of us. The light that Christ gave to the world through her in the 14th Century (1346-1380) shows us what it takes if we want real healing in the Church today. For this reason the Church in 1970 presented to us her doctrine as having an eminent character for the good of the Church today.
In view of the great mystics who have lived in our own times, like Padre Pio, who showed in themselves and in our times that miracles are real and not myths; in view of the many universally and locally approved Marian apparitions of our times and their accompanying miracles, should not Saint Catherine, a worker of miracles, be heard when she speaks about the right way to read the Scriptures? When she performed great miracles in Christ? Is not also being a “Doctor of the Church” enough for her to be heard by those who today claim themselves to be learned, experts? While many ‘experts’ searched only books and followed the methods of the day, she did the most important part; she sought the source of the Scriptures with all her heart and He chose to dwell in her in great power and wisdom. He initiated her more fully than the others into the true depths and unity of the Scriptures because she possessed the Author.
What Christ told Saint Catherine about “The Learned”
When in a vision Christ spoke to Saint Catherine of his desire to send her into the world for its re-evangelization, in humility she asked how and why she, a woman, would be sent when “it is not highly considered by men, and also because it is not good, for decency’s sake, for a woman to mix with men”.[1] [1] Christ’s reply is very telling. In part, Christ replied:
You must know that in these latter days there has been such an upsurge of pride, especially in the case of men who imagine themselves to be learned or wise, that my justice cannot endure them any longer, without delivering a just chastisement upon them that will bring them to confusion…To confound their arrogance, I will raise up women ignorant and frail by nature but endowed with strength and divine wisdom. Then, if they will come to their senses and humble themselves, I will behave with the utmost mercy towards them, that is to say, towards those who, according to the grace given them, receive my doctrine, offered them in fragile but specially chosen vessels, and follow it reverently…For indeed it is only just that those who try to exalt themselves should be humbled.[2] [2]
In Saint Catherine’s book, The Dialogue, which God the Father revealed to her during several mystical unions (ecstasies), God speaks to her about interpreting the Scriptures and about “the learned” who lead people astray because they will not interpret Holy Scripture with the light the Holy Spirit gives those who love God more than themselves:
Every light that comes from Holy Scripture has come and still comes from that light. This is why the foolish, proud, and learned people go blind even though it is light, because their pride and the cloud of selfish love have covered and blotted out this light. So they read Scripture literally rather than with understanding. They taste only its letter in their chasing after a multiplicity of books, never tasting the marrow of Scripture because they have let go of the light by which Scripture was formed and proclaimed.
…For one cannot share what one does not have in oneself, and because these persons’ life is darksome, they often share the light of Holy Scripture in darkness. You will find the opposite in my servants, for they share the light within them in hunger and longing for others’ salvation.[3] [3]
According to Saint Catherine, Doctor of the Church, the mark then of the true exegete is zeal for the salvation of souls and so a spirit of sacrifice for others (“hunger and longing”) that they not suffer eternal loss. The exegete should understand Saint Catherine’s doctrine of “The Bridge” as being a doctrine the Church reaffirms with her; a doctrine that warns if we are not striving forward to realize the power of God to save us, if we are not loving God more than ourselves by seeking how to surrender more fully to him, then we will eventually fall back into sin. The Scriptures themselves are the testimony of God’s power to save us and the words of Scripture are life-giving. Jesus’ words are spirit and life and essential for learning to surrender to God’s love.
At Vatican II, Mother Church reconfirmed for us Saint Catherine’s admonitions. It reaffirmed that “Sacred Scripture is to be read and interpreted in the same Spirit by whom it was written” (Dei Verbum, 12.3); “Spirit” being a clear reference for the need to be guided by the Holy Spirit (as the official Latin text makes more clear than some English texts). Following this lead, John Paul the Great also makes the same points that Saint Catherine made concerning how to read the Scriptures. In his “Theology of the Body” (TOB), he references “the Saducees” to make a subtle reminder that the Church continues to ask “Saducees” within and without the Church to learn and know the power of God. In TOB 65:3 he writes about the Saducees who will not believe in the resurrection of the body and states: “Here Christ meets men who consider themselves experts and competent interpreters of the Scriptures. Jesus responds to these men — the Saducees — that mere literal knowledge of Scripture is not enough. Scripture is above all a means for knowing the power of the living God, who reveals himself in it, just as he revealed himself to Moses in the bush.” [4] [4]
The explosion of Marian apparitions (“the Woman”) these past 150 years, and a predominance of women seers — even young girls! — is easily written-off by “the learned”, just as the learned tried to write-off Saint Catherine in her time. Saint Catherine had daily visions and visitations from God her entire life which the learned theologians mocked as impossible. Still the fruit of many of the modern Marian apparitions, and women mystics, those approved and some still under investigation, is that the faithful are amending their lives en masse despite the “darksome” interpretations of Scripture from many pulpits which deny or mitigate God’s power in the Scriptures. Through these apparitions and mystics, respecting the pastoral admonitions of the bishops and the Vatican, the faithful are rediscovering the authenticity of the New Testament accounts of Jesus’ miracles and those of the Old Testament. They are growing in faith and love of Jesus Christ who has become more real to them because of women who point to Jesus instead of to themselves.
Saints and especially the Doctors are themselves living reflections of Christ’s life. Through their lives Christ makes himself more present and understandable to us. Why not study them if you wish to understand the Scriptures? They are the ones the Church recommends for you to understand things properly. On this 40th anniversary of Saint Catherine being made Doctor, it is worth finding her Dialogue and allowing her to make Scripture come alive for you; “that you may know God, and Jesus Christ, whom he has sent” (John 17:3).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] [5] Blessed Raymond of Capua, Life of Saint Catherine, TAN Publishers, 108.
[2] [6] Ibid., 109.
[3] [7]] Saint Catherine, The Dialogue, trans. by Suzanne Noffke, OP, Paulist Press, chap. 85, p. 157.
[4] [8] John Paul II, Man and Woman He Created Them, trans. Waldstein, Pauline Books.
Matthew Tsakanikas is the Director for Program Initiation and Visiting Assistant Professor at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. He can be reached by email at: mtsakanikas
At Vatican II, Mother Church reconfirmed for us Saint Catherine’s admonitions. It reaffirmed that “Sacred Scripture is to be read and interpreted in the same Spirit by whom it was written” (Dei Verbum, 12.3); “Spirit” being a clear reference for the need to be guided by the Holy Spirit (as the official Latin text makes more clear than some English texts). Following this lead, John Paul the Great also makes the same points that Saint Catherine made concerning how to read the Scriptures. In his “Theology of the Body” (TOB), he references “the Saducees” to make a subtle reminder that the Church continues to ask “Saducees” within and without the Church to learn and know the power of God. In TOB 65:3 he writes about the Saducees who will not believe in the resurrection of the body and states: “Here Christ meets men who consider themselves experts and competent interpreters of the Scriptures. Jesus responds to these men — the Saducees — that mere literal knowledge of Scripture is not enough. Scripture is above all a means for knowing the power of the living God, who reveals himself in it, just as he revealed himself to Moses in the bush.” [4] [4]
The explosion of Marian apparitions (“the Woman”) these past 150 years, and a predominance of women seers — even young girls! — is easily written-off by “the learned”, just as the learned tried to write-off Saint Catherine in her time. Saint Catherine had daily visions and visitations from God her entire life which the learned theologians mocked as impossible. Still the fruit of many of the modern Marian apparitions, and women mystics, those approved and some still under investigation, is that the faithful are amending their lives en masse despite the “darksome” interpretations of Scripture from many pulpits which deny or mitigate God’s power in the Scriptures. Through these apparitions and mystics, respecting the pastoral admonitions of the bishops and the Vatican, the faithful are rediscovering the authenticity of the New Testament accounts of Jesus’ miracles and those of the Old Testament. They are growing in faith and love of Jesus Christ who has become more real to them because of women who point to Jesus instead of to themselves.
Saints and especially the Doctors are themselves living reflections of Christ’s life. Through their lives Christ makes himself more present and understandable to us. Why not study them if you wish to understand the Scriptures? They are the ones the Church recommends for you to understand things properly. On this 40th anniversary of Saint Catherine being made Doctor, it is worth finding her Dialogue and allowing her to make Scripture come alive for you; “that you may know God, and Jesus Christ, whom he has sent” (John 17:3).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] [5] Blessed Raymond of Capua, Life of Saint Catherine, TAN Publishers, 108.
[2] [6] Ibid., 109.
[3] [7]] Saint Catherine, The Dialogue, trans. by Suzanne Noffke, OP, Paulist Press, chap. 85, p. 157.
[4] [8] John Paul II, Man and Woman He Created Them, trans. Waldstein, Pauline Books.
Matthew Tsakanikas is the Director for Program Initiation and Visiting Assistant Professor at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. He can be reached by email at: mtsakanikas
October 13th, 1917 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The 6th and last of the Fatima apparitions.
As on the other occasions, the seers first saw a bright light, and then they saw Our Lady over the holm oak.
'Miracle of the Sun' Video
Lucia: What does Your Grace wish of me?
Our Lady: I wish to tell you that I want a chapel built here in my honor. I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue to pray the Rosary everyday. The war is going to end, and the soldiers will soon return to their homes.
Lucia: I have many things to ask you: if you would cure some sick persons, and if you would convert some sinners...
Our Lady: Some yes, others no. They must amend their lives and ask forgiveness for their sins.
"Becoming sadder, she added, 'Let them offend Our Lord no more, for He is already much offended.'
Then, opening her hands, Our Lady shone the light issuing from them onto the sun, and as she rose, her own radiance continued to be cast onto the sun."
At that moment, Lucia cried, "Look at the sun!"
Once Our Lady had disappeared in the expanse of the firmament, three scenes followed in succession, symbolizing first the joyful mysteries of the Rosary, then the sorrowful mysteries, and, finally, the glorious mysteries. Lucia alone saw the three scenes; Francisco and Jacinta saw only the first.
The first scene: Saint Joseph appeared beside the sun with the Child Jesus and Our Lady of the Rosary. It was the Holy Family. The Virgin was dressed in white with a blue mantle. Saint Joseph was also dressed in white, and the Child Jesus in light red. Saint Joseph blessed the crowd, making the Sign of the Cross three times. The Child Jesus did the same.
The second scene: This was followed by the vision of Our Lady of Sorrows, without the sword in her breast, and of Our Lord overwhelmed with sorrow on the way to Calvary.
Our Lord made the Sign of the Cross to bless the people.
Lucia could only see the upper part of Our Lord's body.
The third scene: Finally, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, crowned queen of heaven and earth, appeared in a glorious vision with the Child Jesus in her bosom.
While these scenes took place, the great throng of about seventy thousand spectators witnessed the miracle of the sun.
It had rained all during the apparition. At the end of the conversation between Our Lady and Lucia – when the Blessed Virgin rose and Lucia shouted, "Look at the sun!" – the clouds opened up, revealing the sun as an immense silver disk. It shone with an intensity never before seen, but was not blinding. This lasted only an instant. Then the immense ball began to "dance". The sun began to spin rapidly like a gigantic circle of fire. Then it stopped momentarily, only to begin spinning vertiginously again. Its rim became scarlet; whirling, it scattered red flames across the sky. Their light was reflected on the ground, on the trees, on the bushes, and on the very faces and clothing of the people, which took on brilliant hues and changing colors.
After performing this bizarre pattern three times, the globe of fire seemed to tremble, shake, and then plunge in a zigzag toward the terrified crowd.
All this lasted about ten minutes. Finally, the sun zigzagged back to its original place and once again became still and brilliant, shining with its everyday brightness. The cycle of the apparitions had ended.
Many people noticed that their clothes, soaking wet from the rain, had suddenly dried.
The miracle of the sun was also seen by numerous witnesses up to twenty-five miles away from the place of the apparition.
My favorite quotes from St. Therese:
ReplyDelete“Time is nothing in Your eyes, and a single day is like a thousand years. You can, then, in one instant, prepare me to appear before You."
“Oh! How sweet is the way of Love! How I want to apply myself to doing the will of God always with the greatest self-surrender!”
“Jesus does not demand great actions from us but simply surrender and gratitude…See, then, all that Jesus lays claim to from us; He has no need of our works but only of our love.”
“I thank You, O my God for all the graces You have granted me, especially the grace of making me pass through the crucible of suffering. It is with joy I shall contemplate You on my the Last Day, carrying the scepter of Your cross.”
“For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and love, embracing both trial and joy.”
“Our Lord needs from us neither great deeds nor profound thoughts. Neither intelligence nor talents. He cherishes simplicity.”
“How happy I am to see myself imperfect and be in need of God’s mercy.”
“We can never have too much confidence in the good God who is so powerful and so merciful. We obtain from Him as much as we hope for.”
“Prayer is a cry of gratitude and love in the midst of trial as well as joy.”
“Oh my God, You have surpassed all my expectations.”
Oh! no, you will see...it will be like a shower of roses. After my death, you will go to the mail box, and you will find many consolations.
~ Saint Therese on June 9, 1897 after Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart told her we would be very sorry after she died.
For more information on St. Therese, go here and here.
http://screen-shots.blogspot.com
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ReplyDeleteOct
2010Mantilla the Hon: “Why I Wear a Mantilla”By Colleen Hammond, in Uncategorized Leave a response
XHello there Facebook friend! If you like this article, please help spread the word by sharing this post with your friends.
Share Fr. Longedecker has a great sense of humor!
Famous ecclesiastical fashionista, Mantilla Amontillado comments on her particular headgear
OK, hon. You asked me why I wear the mantilla. It’s easy.
This mantilla is to look good. So what’s wrong with looking good? Also, it is for something else.
The Bible says women should cover their heads in church. When I wear the mantilla I’m saying, “Look here. I believe the Bible.” In this day and age, that’s ridiculous too.
Third reason I wear the mantilla is because it is Catholic.
Fourth reason: I met this Amish girl once. She was wearing one of those little bonnets that look like the thing you collect strawberries in, but it was white and upside down on her head.
I say, “Why are you wearing that crazy thing on your head?”
She looks me in the eye and says “It is the sign that I am submissive to God and to men.”
I nearly punched her in the eye. “Are you crazy? You want to be submissive to God and men? What’s wrong with you? I think I’m going to slap you girl!”
She says, “Well, you got to be submissive to something. Everybody’s got to take orders from someone. Who you going to take orders from? Yourself? Who do you think you are? God? Get over it.”
Whew! talk about radical statements? That one knocked me for a loop. Then I start to think about it, and I think maybe she’s right. So I got my own version of the Amish bonnet which is my mantilla, and I’m happy about the submissive to God thing, but I want to argue with her about the submission to man thing because so many of the boys are beasts.
But never mind that. Another reason: I wear it because it annoys liberal Catholics, and that is always fun, you know?
Finally there is this: I wear it to remind the men in my life that I am submissive to God, and I’ll tell you a secret, I’d like to find one of them I could be submissive to as well, but they better watch out because if they take advantage of that they’re going to be sorry, because if they think ‘submissive’ means I’m going to be some kind of Minnie Mouse doormat they’d better think again.
My comment:
In addition to St. Paul (1 Cor 11:15), it was pointed out to me that everything that is holy, mysterious (in the divine sense), and sacred in our Catholic Faith is veiled. A baldacchino ‘veils’ the altar. The Tabernacle is veiled. The humeral veil a priest uses during Benediction. And Chalice veils laid over the holy vessels.
Women are, by their nature, the very vessels of life. And what better way to honor a woman’s cooperation with God in creating new souls for heaven than for her to be veiled as well?
I am humbled before God for being able to carry another soul within my body…and I am not ashamed to veil my head in His presence.
As G.K. Chesteron wrote, “No one staring at that frightful female privilege can quite believe in the equality of the sexes…” (What’s Wrong with the World).
What a distinct honor to wear a mantilla!!!
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- Catholic Exchange -
ReplyDeleteForty years ago today (October 4, 1970), Saint Catherine of Siena was proclaimed “Doctor of the Church”. Many are unaware of the tremendous miracles Christ worked through her: instant cures of the sick and lame, deliverance of the possessed, raising the dead, bearing the stigmata invisibly during her life and visibly at her death. Volumes could be written of the great power that went-out from her. Blessed Raymond of Capua, her confessor and later the head of the Dominican Order, records some of them in the official biography of her life. Even less known is what she said about biblical exegesis and Christ’s reasons for choosing her to save souls and heal his Church so publicly. Healing of the Church, the salvation of souls, and biblical exegesis are inseparable.
Biblical Interpretation in Crisis
Biblical interpretation (technically called “exegesis”) is in crisis, and before becoming Pope, Cardinal Ratzinger testified to this repeatedly; even giving talks entitled as such. With biblical interpretation in crisis, it is no wonder that the Church is in crisis and the salvation of souls is not taken as seriously as it should. For Church leaders to be blind to the true light of Scripture and its unity would be the very definition of the blind leading the blind…and everyone getting lost. The Church proclaims Doctors for the special light they give to the Church through their holy lives and eminent doctrine. The Doctors lead us into a deeper penetration of the mystery of Christ; leading us to see and giving us all a greater desire to seek and experience the saving love of Jesus Christ.
At her canonization in 1461, the Pope declared, “No one came close to Saint Catherine without becoming more learned and holy.” This is because through the Holy Spirit, Jesus was fully alive in her, working his miracles and giving her light to explain the Scriptures. Not just the physically blind, but the spiritually dead regained their sight. From heaven, Jesus permitted Catherine, his mystical bride, to share his light with the rest of us. The light that Christ gave to the world through her in the 14th Century (1346-1380) shows us what it takes if we want real healing in the Church today. For this reason the Church in 1970 presented to us her doctrine as having an eminent character for the good of the Church today.
In view of the great mystics who have lived in our own times, like Padre Pio, who showed in themselves and in our times that miracles are real and not myths; in view of the many universally and locally approved Marian apparitions of our times and their accompanying miracles, should not Saint Catherine, a worker of miracles, be heard when she speaks about the right way to read the Scriptures? When she performed great miracles in Christ? Is not also being a “Doctor of the Church” enough for her to be heard by those who today claim themselves to be learned, experts? While many ‘experts’ searched only books and followed the methods of the day, she did the most important part; she sought the source of the Scriptures with all her heart and He chose to dwell in her in great power and wisdom. He initiated her more fully than the others into the true depths and unity of the Scriptures because she possessed the Author.
because she possessed the Author.
ReplyDeleteWhat Christ told Saint Catherine about “The Learned”
When in a vision Christ spoke to Saint Catherine of his desire to send her into the world for its re-evangelization, in humility she asked how and why she, a woman, would be sent when “it is not highly considered by men, and also because it is not good, for decency’s sake, for a woman to mix with men”.[1] [1] Christ’s reply is very telling. In part, Christ replied:
You must know that in these latter days there has been such an upsurge of pride, especially in the case of men who imagine themselves to be learned or wise, that my justice cannot endure them any longer, without delivering a just chastisement upon them that will bring them to confusion…To confound their arrogance, I will raise up women ignorant and frail by nature but endowed with strength and divine wisdom. Then, if they will come to their senses and humble themselves, I will behave with the utmost mercy towards them, that is to say, towards those who, according to the grace given them, receive my doctrine, offered them in fragile but specially chosen vessels, and follow it reverently…For indeed it is only just that those who try to exalt themselves should be humbled.[2] [2]
In Saint Catherine’s book, The Dialogue, which God the Father revealed to her during several mystical unions (ecstasies), God speaks to her about interpreting the Scriptures and about “the learned” who lead people astray because they will not interpret Holy Scripture with the light the Holy Spirit gives those who love God more than themselves:
Every light that comes from Holy Scripture has come and still comes from that light. This is why the foolish, proud, and learned people go blind even though it is light, because their pride and the cloud of selfish love have covered and blotted out this light. So they read Scripture literally rather than with understanding. They taste only its letter in their chasing after a multiplicity of books, never tasting the marrow of Scripture because they have let go of the light by which Scripture was formed and proclaimed.
…For one cannot share what one does not have in oneself, and because these persons’ life is darksome, they often share the light of Holy Scripture in darkness. You will find the opposite in my servants, for they share the light within them in hunger and longing for others’ salvation.[3] [3]
According to Saint Catherine, Doctor of the Church, the mark then of the true exegete is zeal for the salvation of souls and so a spirit of sacrifice for others (“hunger and longing”) that they not suffer eternal loss. The exegete should understand Saint Catherine’s doctrine of “The Bridge” as being a doctrine the Church reaffirms with her; a doctrine that warns if we are not striving forward to realize the power of God to save us, if we are not loving God more than ourselves by seeking how to surrender more fully to him, then we will eventually fall back into sin. The Scriptures themselves are the testimony of God’s power to save us and the words of Scripture are life-giving. Jesus’ words are spirit and life and essential for learning to surrender to God’s love.
Holy Women to Humble the Arrogant Today
ReplyDeleteAt Vatican II, Mother Church reconfirmed for us Saint Catherine’s admonitions. It reaffirmed that “Sacred Scripture is to be read and interpreted in the same Spirit by whom it was written” (Dei Verbum, 12.3); “Spirit” being a clear reference for the need to be guided by the Holy Spirit (as the official Latin text makes more clear than some English texts). Following this lead, John Paul the Great also makes the same points that Saint Catherine made concerning how to read the Scriptures. In his “Theology of the Body” (TOB), he references “the Saducees” to make a subtle reminder that the Church continues to ask “Saducees” within and without the Church to learn and know the power of God. In TOB 65:3 he writes about the Saducees who will not believe in the resurrection of the body and states: “Here Christ meets men who consider themselves experts and competent interpreters of the Scriptures. Jesus responds to these men — the Saducees — that mere literal knowledge of Scripture is not enough. Scripture is above all a means for knowing the power of the living God, who reveals himself in it, just as he revealed himself to Moses in the bush.” [4] [4]
The explosion of Marian apparitions (“the Woman”) these past 150 years, and a predominance of women seers — even young girls! — is easily written-off by “the learned”, just as the learned tried to write-off Saint Catherine in her time. Saint Catherine had daily visions and visitations from God her entire life which the learned theologians mocked as impossible. Still the fruit of many of the modern Marian apparitions, and women mystics, those approved and some still under investigation, is that the faithful are amending their lives en masse despite the “darksome” interpretations of Scripture from many pulpits which deny or mitigate God’s power in the Scriptures. Through these apparitions and mystics, respecting the pastoral admonitions of the bishops and the Vatican, the faithful are rediscovering the authenticity of the New Testament accounts of Jesus’ miracles and those of the Old Testament. They are growing in faith and love of Jesus Christ who has become more real to them because of women who point to Jesus instead of to themselves.
Saints and especially the Doctors are themselves living reflections of Christ’s life. Through their lives Christ makes himself more present and understandable to us. Why not study them if you wish to understand the Scriptures? They are the ones the Church recommends for you to understand things properly. On this 40th anniversary of Saint Catherine being made Doctor, it is worth finding her Dialogue and allowing her to make Scripture come alive for you; “that you may know God, and Jesus Christ, whom he has sent” (John 17:3).
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[1] [5] Blessed Raymond of Capua, Life of Saint Catherine, TAN Publishers, 108.
[2] [6] Ibid., 109.
[3] [7]] Saint Catherine, The Dialogue, trans. by Suzanne Noffke, OP, Paulist Press, chap. 85, p. 157.
[4] [8] John Paul II, Man and Woman He Created Them, trans. Waldstein, Pauline Books.
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Matthew Tsakanikas is the Director for Program Initiation and Visiting Assistant Professor at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. He can be reached by email at: mtsakanikas
Holy Women to Humble the Arrogant Today
ReplyDeleteAt Vatican II, Mother Church reconfirmed for us Saint Catherine’s admonitions. It reaffirmed that “Sacred Scripture is to be read and interpreted in the same Spirit by whom it was written” (Dei Verbum, 12.3); “Spirit” being a clear reference for the need to be guided by the Holy Spirit (as the official Latin text makes more clear than some English texts). Following this lead, John Paul the Great also makes the same points that Saint Catherine made concerning how to read the Scriptures. In his “Theology of the Body” (TOB), he references “the Saducees” to make a subtle reminder that the Church continues to ask “Saducees” within and without the Church to learn and know the power of God. In TOB 65:3 he writes about the Saducees who will not believe in the resurrection of the body and states: “Here Christ meets men who consider themselves experts and competent interpreters of the Scriptures. Jesus responds to these men — the Saducees — that mere literal knowledge of Scripture is not enough. Scripture is above all a means for knowing the power of the living God, who reveals himself in it, just as he revealed himself to Moses in the bush.” [4] [4]
The explosion of Marian apparitions (“the Woman”) these past 150 years, and a predominance of women seers — even young girls! — is easily written-off by “the learned”, just as the learned tried to write-off Saint Catherine in her time. Saint Catherine had daily visions and visitations from God her entire life which the learned theologians mocked as impossible. Still the fruit of many of the modern Marian apparitions, and women mystics, those approved and some still under investigation, is that the faithful are amending their lives en masse despite the “darksome” interpretations of Scripture from many pulpits which deny or mitigate God’s power in the Scriptures. Through these apparitions and mystics, respecting the pastoral admonitions of the bishops and the Vatican, the faithful are rediscovering the authenticity of the New Testament accounts of Jesus’ miracles and those of the Old Testament. They are growing in faith and love of Jesus Christ who has become more real to them because of women who point to Jesus instead of to themselves.
Saints and especially the Doctors are themselves living reflections of Christ’s life. Through their lives Christ makes himself more present and understandable to us. Why not study them if you wish to understand the Scriptures? They are the ones the Church recommends for you to understand things properly. On this 40th anniversary of Saint Catherine being made Doctor, it is worth finding her Dialogue and allowing her to make Scripture come alive for you; “that you may know God, and Jesus Christ, whom he has sent” (John 17:3).
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[1] [5] Blessed Raymond of Capua, Life of Saint Catherine, TAN Publishers, 108.
[2] [6] Ibid., 109.
[3] [7]] Saint Catherine, The Dialogue, trans. by Suzanne Noffke, OP, Paulist Press, chap. 85, p. 157.
[4] [8] John Paul II, Man and Woman He Created Them, trans. Waldstein, Pauline Books.
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Matthew Tsakanikas is the Director for Program Initiation and Visiting Assistant Professor at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. He can be reached by email at: mtsakanikas
October 13th, 1917
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The 6th and last of the Fatima apparitions.
As on the other occasions, the seers first saw a bright light, and then they saw Our Lady over the holm oak.
'Miracle of the Sun' Video
Lucia: What does Your Grace wish of me?
Our Lady: I wish to tell you that I want a chapel built here in my honor. I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue to pray the Rosary everyday. The war is going to end, and the soldiers will soon return to their homes.
Lucia: I have many things to ask you: if you would cure some sick persons, and if you would convert some sinners...
Our Lady: Some yes, others no. They must amend their lives and ask forgiveness for their sins.
"Becoming sadder, she added, 'Let them offend Our Lord no more, for He is already much offended.'
Then, opening her hands, Our Lady shone the light issuing from them onto the sun, and as she rose, her own radiance continued to be cast onto the sun."
At that moment, Lucia cried, "Look at the sun!"
Once Our Lady had disappeared in the expanse of the firmament, three scenes followed in succession, symbolizing first the joyful mysteries of the Rosary, then the sorrowful mysteries, and, finally, the glorious mysteries. Lucia alone saw the three scenes; Francisco and Jacinta saw only the first.
The first scene: Saint Joseph appeared beside the sun with the Child Jesus and Our Lady of the Rosary. It was the Holy Family. The Virgin was dressed in white with a blue mantle. Saint Joseph was also dressed in white, and the Child Jesus in light red. Saint Joseph blessed the crowd, making the Sign of the Cross three times. The Child Jesus did the same.
The second scene: This was followed by the vision of Our Lady of Sorrows, without the sword in her breast, and of Our Lord overwhelmed with sorrow on the way to Calvary.
Our Lord made the Sign of the Cross to bless the people.
Lucia could only see the upper part of Our Lord's body.
The third scene: Finally, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, crowned queen of heaven and earth, appeared in a glorious vision with the Child Jesus in her bosom.
While these scenes took place, the great throng of about seventy thousand spectators witnessed the miracle of the sun.
It had rained all during the apparition. At the end of the conversation between Our Lady and Lucia – when the Blessed Virgin rose and Lucia shouted, "Look at the sun!" – the clouds opened up, revealing the sun as an immense silver disk. It shone with an intensity never before seen, but was not blinding. This lasted only an instant. Then the immense ball began to "dance". The sun began to spin rapidly like a gigantic circle of fire. Then it stopped momentarily, only to begin spinning vertiginously again. Its rim became scarlet; whirling, it scattered red flames across the sky. Their light was reflected on the ground, on the trees, on the bushes, and on the very faces and clothing of the people, which took on brilliant hues and changing colors.
After performing this bizarre pattern three times, the globe of fire seemed to tremble, shake, and then plunge in a zigzag toward the terrified crowd.
All this lasted about ten minutes. Finally, the sun zigzagged back to its original place and once again became still and brilliant, shining with its everyday brightness. The cycle of the apparitions had ended.
Many people noticed that their clothes, soaking wet from the rain, had suddenly dried.
The miracle of the sun was also seen by numerous witnesses up to twenty-five miles away from the place of the apparition.
'Miracle of the Sun' Video