Photo Slideshow

Okay, so I’m not much of an artist, still, some of these aren’t that bad. Three of the photos are not mine but were acquired from the public domain: the black and white drawing of the prophet Amos, the altar with the ornate spires, and St Paul with the sword

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Nov 30: Advent Meditation by St Alphonsus~Motives of Confidence that are given to us by the Incarnation of the Word

Motives of Confidence that are given to us by the Incarnation
of the Word.
Quomodo non etiam cum illo omnia nobis donavit?
How hath he not also, with him, given us all things?
Rom 8:32.

I.

Consider, my soul, that the eternal Father, in giving us his beloved Son for our Redeemer, could have given us no stronger motives for confiding in his mercy and loving his infinite bounty; for he could have given us no more certain token of the desire he has for our good, and of the immense love which he bears us, inasmuch as in giving us his Son, he has nothing left to give us. Let all men, therefore, O eternal God, praise Thy infinite charity.

II.

How hath He not also, with Him, given us all things? Since God has given us his Son, whom he loved as himself, how can we fear that he will deny us any other good that we ask of him? If, therefore, he has given us his Son, he will not refuse us pardon for the offences which we have committed against him, provided we detest them; he will not refuse us the grace to resist temptations, if we implore it of him; he will not refuse us his holy love, if we desire it; he will not, finally, refuse us Paradise, if we do not render ourselves unworthy of it by falling into sin. Behold how Jesus himself assures us of this: If you ask the Father anythitig in My name, He will give it you (Jn 16:23)

Encouraged, therefore, O my God, by this promise, I beg of Thee, for the love of Jesus Thy Son, to pardon me all the injuries that I have done Thee; give me holy perseverance in Thy grace until death; give me Thy holy love; may I detach myself from everything to love Thee alone, O infinite Goodness; give me Paradise in order that I may come and love Thee there with all my strength, and forever, without fear of ever ceasing to love Thee.

III.

In a word, the Apostle says that, having obtained Jesus Christ, we have been enriched with every good, so that there is no grace wanting to us: In all things you are made rich in Him . . ., so that nothing is wanting toyou in any grace (1 Cor 1:5).

Yes, my Jesus, Thou art every good; Thou alone sufficest me; for Thee alone do I sigh; if once I drove Thee away from me by my sins, I repent of it now with my whole heart. Forgive me, and return to me, O Lord; and if Thou art already with me, as I hope, leave me not again, or, rather, suffer me not to drive Thee away from my soul again. My Jesus, my Jesus, my treasure,
my love, my All, I love Thee, I love Thee, I love Thee, and will love Thee forever. O Mary, my hope, make me always to love Jesus.

Nov 30: Christians Ought to Desire Christ’s Last Advent

Tuesday after the First Sunday of Advent.
Christians ought to desire Christ s last Advent.

I. POINT.

“When these things begin to come to pass, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is at hand” (Luke 21:25).

What joy, what consolation for the just to see, in the glory of His majesty, Jesus Christ, whom they have followed and loved in the humility of His flesh; to see Him as the Supreme Judge of those who had unjustly condemned Him; to contemplate with their eyes His sacred humanity, the precious ark of our salvation (Ps 131:8), His adorable body, His life-giving wounds, whence will flow unceasingly, as from an inexhaustible source of love, the balm of heavenly sweetness. What a happiness, above all, to know with certainty that theywill be forever inseparably united to their Beloved! O ye heavens, we shall see in our flesh (Job 19:27), and with our own eyes Jesus, our God and our Saviour! That sweet and delicious hope which consoled the patience of Job, and which he preserved in his heart, can sustain us also in the trials of this life.

II. POINT.

Jesus, called “the desire of the everlasting hills” (Gen 49:26), should be the constant object of our desires; we ought to love His last coming (2 Tim 4:8); we should ask for it often with the saints, because on that day He will place all things directly under His power; He will overcome all His enemies and will ruleover them. On that day also the glory and the beatitude of the saints will be perfect, because their bodies will rise again, and “death will be swallowed up in victory” (1 Cor 15:54). The soul and body, which had been separated for a time, will be re-united to enjoy together the possession of God, and to bless and praise Him eternally. Lift up your hearts and rejoice on this day (Matt 5:12). Lord, may this blessed day not tarry, may Thy kingdom come! Come, Lord Jesus (Apoc 22:20), live and reign in us forever.

III. POINT.

Since Jesus is our sovereign Good, our only happiness consists in being united to Him; and since it is our greatest and an inconceivable misfortune to be separated from Him, we ought, then, to desire the former as much as we should fear the latter. We ought, above all things, to avoid offending so good a God, and constantly endeavor to please Him; we ought to tremble at the
very approach or shadow of sin, which alone can cause
us to lose Him. This fear is not only for sinners, but for the just also, as long as they are upon earth. “Fear the Lord, all ye that are His saints” said David (Ps 33:10); for, adds Job, even the pillars of heaven tremble and shudder before Him (Job 26:11 ). We should also attach ourselves to Him in this life with a
faithful and constant love, if we wish to possess Him forever in eternity; since, according to the saying of the apostle, “There is now, therefore, no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not accord ing to the flesh” (Rom8:1).~By a Monk of Sept-Fonts.

Juan de Maldonado on Matt 11:2-10 for the 2nd Sunday of Advent (Extraordinary Form)

This post contains commentary on the Gospel Reading used for the Second Sunday of Advent in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. This reading differs from that used in the Ordinary Form of the Rite. The Epistle Reading is the same, and commentary on it can be found here and here.

Mat 11:2  Now when John had heard in prison the works of Christ: sending two of his disciples he said to him:

Maldonado offers no comment on this verse, he does however treat of the verse in relation to the following verse.

Mat 11:3  Art thou he that art to come, or look we for another?

Art thou He that art to come? The passage is difficult, because a doubt is apt to arise as to how John, who had confessed Christ to be the Lamb of God before He had done any miracles, could appear really to doubt after so many. S. Justin Martyr, indeed (or whoever is the author), in the 38th question to the Orthodox, and Tertullian (iv., Against Marcion), do not hesitate to say that John did really doubt. Tertullian adds what is worse, that he doubted because the spirit of prophecy had passed from him to Christ. Some, as this was most senseless, have sought another explanation: that John did not doubt whether Christ were the Lamb of God and the true Messiah, such as he had before testified him to be, but whether He would die and descend into hell. To this opinion, for want of a better, the greatest number of the Ancients incline (S. Ambrose, vii.. On S. Luke; Eusebius, Einissa Hom.; Jul. Pomerius, book iii., Cont. Jnd.; Venantius, On the Apostles’ Creed; S. Gregory, Horn. 1. on  Ezekiel). S. Chrysostom (Hom. xxxvii.), also, and Theophylact (Comment., in loc) speak of it, but they both rightly refute it. For how could John be ignorant of the death of Christ, and His descent into hell, of which no
prophet, and no man of learning who had studied the works of the prophets, was ignorant?

The opinion therefore of S. Hilary, S. Chrysostom, The Author, S. Cyril of Alexandria (2 Thesauri., iv.), Euthymius, Theophylact, Rupertus, that John himself had no doubts, but that his disciples had some, is true. For they so loved their own master, that though he preferred Christ far before himself, and declared that he was not worthy to loose His shoestrings, they would not believe him. They thought, perhaps, that John spoke from modesty, not
truth, and, as much less as he made himself than Christ, so much the greater they believed him to be. Hence came their jealousy of Christ (S. John 3:26). When, then, John saw his death to be at hand, and he heard of these miracles
which must have caused even the hardest to believe, he sent his disciples to Him, that, as they had not believed himself, they might believe Christ’s miracles. He sent them, therefore, as if he himself doubted, because they would never have ventured to ask Christ in their own names. So the most skilful physician feigns himself sick to cure those that are sick (2 Cor 11:29). “Who is weak, and I am not weak?” It is clear that this is the true meaning
from the reason given in verse 2. “When John had heard in the prison the works of Christ.” What works? His miracles. Did the miracles of Christ cause doubt in him who not only believed in Him, but also proclaimed Him before any of them were done? He sent his disciples, therefore, that they might see them and cease to doubt.

S. Jerome and Bede add something further: that the disciples of John did not doubt whether Christ was the true Redeemer, but whether He would undergo death and descend into hell; and they were sent to Him to learn this. But the idea does not agree with the context. For how would they learn from the miracles whether Christ would die and go down into hell?

Mat 11:4  And Jesus making answer said to them: Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen.

Relate to John. Christ knew that they came to ask for themselves, not for
John; but He would not show this, lest He should seem to accuse them of unbelief and simulation. He said, therefore, “Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen”. Or perhaps they thought that John doubted truly, and not merely in pretence. For it is not to be believed that he said this to the disciples that they might question Christ the more freely, and that, the master believing afterwards the more easily, and, as it were, changing his
opinion, they also must change theirs. When we descend to vice we are willing to be leaders. We are ashamed to turn to virtue without a leader.

Christ knew that they came to ask for themselves, not for John; but He would not show this, lest He should seem to accuse them of unbelief and simulation. He said, therefore, “Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen”. Or perhaps they thought that John doubted truly, and not merely in pretence. For it is not to be believed that he said this to the disciples that they might question Christ the more freely, and that, the master believing afterwards the more easily, and, as it were, changing his opinion, they also must change theirs. When we descend to vice we are willing to be leaders. We are ashamed to turn to virtue without a leader.

What you have heard and seen.  “You have heard of some of my miracles from those who saw them, and some you have seen yourself’ For S. Luke (7:21) writes that Christ healed many blind before them, and cured many that were afflicted with various diseases, and cast out many devils. But why did not Christ answer plainly that He was the Christ, when He said so to the woman of Samaria though she did not ask Him? (S.John 4:26). S. Chrysostom and Rupertus reply that He would convince unbelievers by deeds, not words
(as S. John 5:33-36, and 10:37, 38, and 15:24). Why, then, did He say that He was Christ to the Samarian woman? Because He knew, as the result proved, that she would easily believe His words?

Mat 11:5  The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have the gospel preached to them.

The poor have the Gospel preached to them. Theophylact and Euthymius take the verb actively, as if they said: The poor preach the Gospel; for they say that the Apostles are called the poor, because they were in a
humble and poor condition; and the verb ευαγγελιζονται  is not always used in a passive sense, as has been said in the Preface. But sometimes it is so (as Heb 4:2; 1 Pet 1:25; 4:6); and this is the only meaning to be given to it here. For while the Gospel should be preached to all alike, Christ mentions only the poor: firstly, because this was to be numbered among the miracles; for what is more wonderful than that a poor man should be made a King? and secondly, that He might make allusion to the Prophet Isa 61:1), and show that He was the Christ of whom the Prophet spoke.

Mat 11:6  And blessed is he that shall not be scandalized in me.

That shall not be scandalized in me. Whoever did not derive death from the source whence he ought to have gained life, and whoever was moved to
belief by the miracles, would not have been moved to accuse Him, like the Scribes and Pharisees, who said that He cast out devils by the prince of the devils. For He was a rock of offence and a stone of stumbling (Isa 8:14; Rom 9:33), and placed for the ruin of many (S. Luke 2:34), but not for those who believe. To these He was the chief corner-stone elect—as 1 Pet 2:6, 7. S. Jerome and Bede think that by these words Christ meant to mark the disciples of John who did not believe.

Mat 11:7  And when they went their way, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: What went you out into the desert to see? a reed shaken with the wind?

And when they went their way. Why not before? S, Chrysostom and Euthymius answer that Christ would not appear to praise and flatter John before His disciples.

Jesus began to say. Why? Lest they who were present and had heard of
the message of John should think that he had changed his former opinion of Christ from which he had borne such exalted testimony to Him, or had really begun to doubt, and they also should waver in faith—as S. Jerome, S. Chrysostom, Cyril (lib. ii., cap. 4), Bede, The Author, Theophylact, and Euthymius have observed, and which the following comparison of the “reed” confirms. As if He had said: “John was not a man of light mind, and apt to
change his opinion like a reed “.

Mat 11:8  But what went you out to see? a man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are clothed in soft garments, are in the houses of kings.

What went ye out to see? Why did not Christ say rather: “What manner of man do you think John?” in allusion to what had been said (3:5, and S. Luke 3:7?; as if He should say: “There is no reason why you should regret having gone out to see a man of singular character, as if he had changed for the worse; for he is greater than you thought him when you went out to see him”.

Mat 11:9  But what went you out to see? A prophet? Yea I tell you, and more than a prophet.

Maldonado offers no specific, separate comment on this verse, but see the next comment.

Mat 11:10  For this is he of whom it is written: Behold I send my angel before my face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.

For this is he. He proves what He had said before, that John was greater than a prophet; for He was in a manner an angel, and not an ordinary angel, but that most noble one of which God had said through Malachi: “Behold, I send My angel, and he shall prepare the way before My face” (3:1). Other prophets and priests are called angels and prophets by the same Prophet (2:7, and Acts 7″53), but in another sense than John. They because they were sent to men; John because He was sent to Christ, that is, to God Himself. And even before His face; that is, to go most immediately before Him, which is the privilege of the most honoured friend; other servants following and not going before the Master, as has been observed by S. Chrysostom and The Author.

In this sense is to be understood John’s denial that he was a prophet (S. John 1:21); for he was not one like the rest, who foretold the coming long after of Christ. He was not a prophet, because he did not foretell Christ as about to come, but he pointed Him out with his finger as present. He was a prophet, as having recognised Christ by the Holy Spirit, when no one had pointed Him out; although Christ denied him to be a prophet in one sense, and he denied himself to be one in another,—Christ to show that he was greater, he himself to show that he was less, but each with the same end; because he was not a prophet like the rest.

Why he should be more than a prophet is not difficult to be understood. For his life was most notable; and though he did no miracle, he was himself a perpetual miracle. Conceived by miracle, recognising his coming Lord while yet in the womb, and pointing Him to his mother; by miracle loosing his father’s tongue when circumcised; living by miracle among the wild beasts; and, as The Author writes, not only equalling angels, but even surpassing them; who when he was a man and not an angel led an angelic and not a human life, so that even Jews, and not wholly without reason, thought that he was a true angel, as Eusebius (De Demons, ix. 8) says.

Nov 30: Juan de Maldonado on Today’s Gospel (Matt 4:18-22)

Mat 4:18  And Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea (for they were fishers).

By the sea of Galilee. This was not a sea, but a lake formed by the influx of
the Jordan into a lower basin. It was called a sea from the Hebrew custom, as we learn from S. Jerome, of terming every collection of water such. It bears the title of Galilee, because it is situated on the confines of the two Galilees;
formerly, according to Pliny, it was called Tarichea. It had the name of Tiberias from a city which Herod had built on its coast not long before, and called Tiberias, from his desire to secure the favour of the Emperor Tiberius, as we learn from Josephus (Antiq., xviii. 3). It was called the Lake of Gennesareth, because, according to Hcgesippus, the whole region was termed Gennesareth. Strabo, Pliny, and Hegesippus have given descriptions of it.

Peter and Andrew. The different Evangelists relate the calling of SS. Peter
and Andrew in different ways. S. Mark (3:13) and S. Luke (6:13) seem to speak as if all the Apostles had been called at once; S. John (1:40, 41) signifies that S. Andrew was called first, and then S. Peter; S. Luke (5:10) says that S. Peter was called in another manner; for Christ when not passing by, but preaching from the ship of Peter, and astonishing him by the miraculous draught of fishes, called Peter: no mention being made of S. Andrew.

The first question is easily answered. SS. Mark (3:13) and Luke (6:13) do not speak of the call of the Apostles as to follow Christ, but that they might be made Apostles: for they were first disciples, and then apostles, from the
number of the disciples—that is, they were chosen to be masters to teach others; for they were chosen as bishops are now from the body of presbyters.

The second question is more difficult. It is difficult to see how they who say that SS. Peter and Andrew were called only once can prove their point. It is easily explained if we say that there were two callings of SS. Peter and Andrew—one in which they were admitted, not as disciples and companions, but as simple hearers, of which S. John speaks (1:41); the other when they were so called that they left all things and followed Christ for good, as S. Augustin (Tract, on S. John vii.), S. Chrysostom (Hom.XIV. on S. Matt) Euthymius, and Theophylact explain it. Still more easy is it if we hold three callings—the first that of S. John, the second of S. Luke, the third of S. Matthew. The first two were not to the office of Apostles, but of friendship; the third was of Discipleship and Apostleship. N. de Lyra was of this opinion, of which I most thoroughly approve. Nor does it appear probable that any was called by Christ for any other purpose than that he might be made an
Apostle, and leave all and follow Christ. If so, the two first should rather be termed admonitions than calls, and, as it were, preparations for the future call, lest the two greatest of the Apostles should appear to have been too
little obedient to the call of Christ, when we read that the other Apostles at the first invitation left all and followed. In fact, none of the other Evangelists style the two first “calls”. In S. John (1:42) Christ only foretold to Peter what he should be, and S. Luke (5:11) does not say that they were called by Christ, but that when they saw the miracle of the fishes, they brought their ships to land and left all and followed Christ. We may explain this, not as if these things were wholly left and abandoned then—as when finally called they gave up and forsook everything, as S. Peter afterwards said (S. Matt 19:27)—but that they left their ships and nets, as the Samaritan woman left her waterpot, and came to the city, and said to the people, “Come, see a man who has told me all things whatsoever I have done” (S. Jolin 4:28, 29). S. Matthew says here that they were called, because he relates the actual calling in which they left all things and followed Christ.

Mat 4:19  And he saith to them: Come ye after me, and I will make you to be fishers of men.

Come ye after Me. A Hebraism, that is, “follow Me”.

Fishers of men. The allusion is to their former employment (Ps 7:70,
71). At the same time the work of the Apostles is described to be to fish for men and bring them to Christ, the chief Fisherman. For it is He who casts the nets into the sea, and gathers fish of every kind (13:47); for by His word and power the fish are taken, and without Him they labour in vain throughout the whole night (S. Luke 5:5). Christians are the fish, for they arc born in the waters of baptism. Christ was therefore called by the Ancients ἰχθύς, a fish: whose anagram is “Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, Θεοῦ Υἱός, Σωτήρ,” Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour, on which we have a poem of the Erythraean Sibyl (Tertullian, De Baptismo; S. Augustin, xviii. 23; Prosper, De Promiss. ct Prced. ii. 39). For a good explanation of the fish as the a symbol of the fish see here.

Mat 4:20  And they immediately leaving their nets, followed him. Mat 4:21  And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets: and he called them.
Mat 4:22  And they forthwith left their nets and father, and followed him.