Prayer to Saint Andrew

O Christ, our Lord, 
Who didst beautify the most blessed Andrew 
with the grace of apostleship, 
and the crown of martyrdom, 
by granting to him this special gift, 
that by preaching the mystery of the cross, 
he should merit death on the cross; 
grant us to become most true lovers of Thy holy cross, 
and denying ourselves, 
to take up our cross 
and follow Thee; 
that by sharing Thy sufferings in this life, 
we may deserve the happiness 
of obtaining life everlasting.

Amen.

Feast of Saint Andrew, the first called

From: www.saintvincentarchabbey.org

Rm 10:9-18; Ps 19:8-11; Mt 4:18-22

"Giving wisdom to the simple."

The laws, the decree, the precepts, the command, the fear, the ordinances of the LORD are all together the Word of the Lord, and that Word became flesh and dwells among us. It is that Incarnate Word, who encountered Saint Andrew and his brother Saint Peter, and Saint John and his brother Saint James, on the shore working at their fishing jobs. It is the Lord Jesus who summoned them to come after him so that he could make them fishers of men. Such a word refreshed their souls, rejoiced their hearts, and enlightened their eyes. The Eternal Word become flesh spoke to Saint Andrew and he could not resist the summons. The Word of the Lord, speaking the words of the Lord, was more precious than gold, than a heap of purest gold. This Word was like a sweet song in the hearts of those who heard and responded; it was sweeter than syrup or honey from the comb. Indeed the word of summons came through the breath of the Spirit and gave new life to Saint Andrew. New life deep within that could not stay put; Saint Andrew could not contain the new life. He had to spread the good news of the new life available from the One Who Calls. In the words of the letter to the Romans, Saint Paul would have called Saint Andrew and all the Apostles men with beautiful feet because they brought good news from Christ's own lips to the ends of the earth. It continues to happen in our day as it did on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Men and women, young and old, rich and poor, intelligent and simple, all people are summoned to hear with the ear of the heart and to respond with life-long faithfulness. Indeed, the Incarnate Word still speaks to the human heart and he still gives wisdom to the simple.

Such is the faith that comes through hearing, hearing the word that is Christ. This Christ speaks personally and intensely to the heart of everyone he encounters. He seeks to bring all the children of God back to their home with the Father and in the Holy Spirit. It is the beautiful faith of Saint Andrew and his fellow Apostles that still shines bright with the Light of Christ into the world of darkness and pain. These first called followers of Christ were sent as preachers like the great preacher, Isaiah. Not measuring or monitoring the success of the mission by the size of the crowds who came to hear or the number of people baptized. Indeed like Isaiah the Apostles proclaimed a message that was not easy to hear or easy to respond to. Few among Jews or Gentiles wanted to hear that the Father loves us all, and He wants us all to share in his life, eternal life. Such a radical call to holiness can only be delivered by someone who has himself heard it, believed it, and lives it. Perhaps that's why some two thousand years later there are still so many who have not heard the good news, because they have not heard it preached in deed as well as word. The apostolic zeal has yet to permeate the entire church. Everyone baptized in Christ and confirmed by the Holy Spirit is consumed by the Father’s desire to have all his children come home. That's why Saint Andrew is so appropriately celebrated at the end of a liturgical year or in the beginning of a liturgical year. If this Advent Season is to give birth to Christ in our world, it must first give birth to Christ in our hearts. For those who believe in the heart and profess with their lips that Jesus is Lord come to life in the New Born Savior. Filled with the zeal of the first called, Advent 09 will make us fishers of men.

Saint Peter and Saint John are the only two Apostles who are well-developed personalities in the Gospels. Saint Andrew and the others are seldom mentioned. In the synoptic tradition, the brothers four were called on the same day. The most specific aspect of their lives mentioned in the text is that all shared a common profession. The fact that they were fishermen was used by the Lord Jesus to entice them to follow him so that he could make them fishers of men. If they followed the Lord Jesus they would be catching the attention, hearts, lives of all who by the Holy Spirit came to believe in Christ and in those whom he sent forth with his power and his teaching. The Gospel of Saint John presents Saint Andrew as a disciple of The Baptist. It was Saint John the Baptist who pointed to the Lord Jesus and proclaimed, "Behold the Lamb of God." It was Saint Andrew and Saint John who then came up to the Lord to ask, "Rabbi, where do you live?" The Lord Jesus then gave his invitation, "Come and see!" Both gospel accounts emphasize the power of the call and the immediacy of the response. The Lord Jesus may say, "Follow me!" or he may say "Come and see!" or he may use other words, or no words at all. Whatever the summons in our lives, it still has the power of Christ himself, and we have great delight in responding whole-heartedly and immediately. Indeed, the First Called, Saint Andrew is patron of all who hear and respond.

Advent 2009

From the Vatican's youtube channel: Click here

Prayer at Thanksgiving

Father, all of Creation rightly owes you thanks and praise. Your justice, love and mercy abound. We thank you this day for all that you have given us:
For the Passion and Death of your Divine Son..... we thank you Father....through the Cross, He redeemed the world.
 

For the Church......... we thank you Father.... it is our beacon for salvation.
 

For the martyrs and saints who give testimony to your Son......... we thank you Father.....their witness to your Son is our inheritance.
 

For our loved ones and friends who have died and gone before us..... we thank you Father...their love abides with us forever.
 

For loving spouses ......we thank you Father......together we seek you.
 

For the gift of children.....we thank you Father....they are your precious gifts to us and to the world.
 

For the gift of our families, loved ones and good friends.......we thank you Father....Through them we see the reflection of your Son.
 

For jobs, our homes and all that we have.....we thank you Father....give us only that which we need, as we seek Your Kingdom.
 

For the bounty we are about to eat...we thank you through Christ Our Lord. Amen

Great Video on Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR

From: franciscanfriars.com

In this year of the priest, here is an inspirational story of a priest (and a friend of our Abbey) dedicated to serving the poor.  Congratulations Father Benedict on 50 years of Priesthood!!!

Prayer of St. Gertrude, OSB

"Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen."

St. Gertrude, OSB

From: EWTN.com

Benedictine and mystic writer; born in Germany, 6 Jan., 1256; died at Helfta, near Eisleben, Saxony, 17 November, 1301 or 1302. Nothing is known of her family, not even the name of her parents. It is clear from her life (Legatus, lib. I, xvi) that she was not born in the neighbourhood of Eisleben. When she was but five years of age she entered the alumnate of Helfta. The monastery was at that time governed by the saintly and enlightened Abbess Gertrude of Hackerborn, under whose rule it prospered exceedingly, both in monastic observance and in that intellectual activity which St. Lioba and her Anglo-Saxon nuns had transmitted to their foundations in Germany. All that could aid to sanctity, or favour contemplation and learning, was to be found in this hallowed spot. Here, too, as to the centre of all activity and impetus of its life, the work of works—the Opus Dei, as St. Benedict terms the Divine Office—was solemnly carried out. Such was Helfta when its portals opened to receive the child destined to be its brightest glory. Gertrude was confided to the care of St. Mechtilde, mistress of the alumnate and sister of the Abbess Gertrude. From the first she had the gift of winning the hearts, and her biographer gives many details of her exceptional charms, which matured with advancing years. Thus early had been formed between Gertrude and Mechtilde the bond of an intimacy which deepened and strengthened with time, and gave the latter saint a prepondering influence over the former.

Partly in the alumnate, partly in the community, Gertrude had devoted herself to study with the greatest ardour. In her twenty-sixth year there was granted her the first of that series of visions of which the wonderful sequence ended only with life. She now gauged in its fullest extent the void of which she had been keenly sensible for some time past, and with this awakening came the realization of the utter emptiness of all transitory things. With characteristic ardour she cultivated the highest spirituality, and, to quote her biographer, "from being a grammarian became a theologian", abandoning profane studies for the Scriptures, patristic writings, and treatises on theology. To these she brought the same earnestness which had characterized her former studies, and with indefatigable zeal copied, translated, and wrote for the spiritual benefit of others. Although Gertrude vehemently condemns herself for past negligence ( Legatus, II, ii), still to understand her words correctly we must remember that they express the indignant self-condemnation of a soul called to the highest sanctity. Doubtless her inordinate love of study had proved a hindrance alike to contemplation and interior recollection, yet it had none the less surely safeguarded her from more serious and grievous failings. Her struggle lay in the conquest of a sensitive and impetuous nature. In St. Gertrude's life there are no abrupt phases, no sudden conversion from sin to holiness. She passed from alumnate to the community. Outwardly her life was that of the simple Benedictine nun, of which she stands forth preeminently as the type. Her boundless charity embraced rich and poor, learned and simple, the monarch on his throne and the peasant in the field; it was manifested in tender sympathy towards the souls in purgatory, in a great yearning for the perfection of souls consecrated to God. Her humility was so profound that she wondered how the earth could support so sinful a creature as herself. Her raptures were frequent and so absorbed her faculties as to render her insensible to what passed around her. She therefore begged, for the sake of others, that there might be no outward manifestations of the spiritual wonders with which her life was filled. She had the gift of miracles as well as that of prophecy.

When the call came for her spirit to leave the worn and pain-stricken body, Gertrude was in her forty-fifth or forty-sixth year, and in turn assisted at the death-bed and mourned for the loss of the holy Sister Mechtilde (1281), her illustrious Abbess Gertrude of Hackeborn (1291), and her chosen guide and confidante, St. Mechtilde (1298). When the community was transferred in 1346 to the monastery of New Helfta, the present Trud-Kloster, within the walls of Eisleben, they still retained possession of their old home, where doubtless the bodies of St. Gertrude and St. Mechtilde still buried, though their place of sepulture remains unknown. There is, at least, no record of their translation. Old Helfta is now crown-property, while New Helfta has lately passed into the hands of the local municipality. It was not till 1677 that the name of Gertrude was inscribed in the Roman Martyrology and her feast was extended to the universal church, which now keeps it on 15 November, although it was at first fixed on 17 November, the day of her death, on which it is still celebrated by her own order. In compliance with a petition from the King of Spain she was declared Patroness of the West Indies; in Peru her feast is celebrated with great pomp, and in New Mexico a town was built in her honour and bears her name. Some writers of recent times have considered that St. Gertrude was a Cistercian, but a careful and impartial examination of the evidence at present available does not justify this conclusion. It is well known that the Cistercian Reform left its mark on many houses not affiliated to the order, and the fact that Helfta was founded during the "golden age" of Citeaux (1134-1342) is sufficient to account for this impression.

Many of the writings of St. Gertrude have unfortunately perished. Those now extant are:

—The "Legatus Divinae Pietatis",—The "Exercises of St. Gertrude";—The "Liber Specialis Gratiae" of St. Mechtilde.

The works of St. Gertrude were all written in Latin, which she used with facility and grace. The "Legatus Divinae Pietatis" (Herald of Divine Love) comprises five books containing the life of St. Gertrude, and recording many of the favours granted her by God. Book II alone is the work of the saint, the rest being compiled by members of the Helfta community. They were written for her Sisters in religion, and we feel she has here a free hand unhampered by the deep humility which made it so repugnant for her to disclose favours personal to herself. The "Exercises", which are seven in number, embrace the work of the reception of baptismal grace to the preparation for death. Her glowing language deeply impregnated with the liturgy and scriptures exalts the soul imperceptibly to the heights of contemplation. When the "Legatus Divinae Pietatis" is compared with the "Liber Specialis Gratiae" of St. Mechtilde, it is evident that Gertrude is the chief, if not the only, author of the latter book. Her writings are also coloured by the glowing richness of that Teutonic genius which found its most congenial expression in symbolism and allegory. The spirit of St. Gertrude, which is marked by freedom, breadth, and vigour, is based on the Rule of St. Benedict. Her mysticism is that of all the great contemplative workers of the Benedictine Order from St. Gregory to Blosius. Hers, in a word, is that ancient Benedictine spirituality which Father Faber has so well depicted (All for Jesus, viii).

The characteristic of St. Gertrude's piety is her devotion to the Sacred Heart, the symbol of that immense charity which urged the Word to take flesh, to institute the Holy Eucharist, to take on Himself our sins, and, dying on the Cross, to offer Himself as a victim and a sacrifice to the Eternal Father (Congregation of Rites, 3 April, 1825). Faithful to the mission entrusted to them, the superiors of Helfta appointed renowned theologians, chosen from the Dominican and Franciscan friars, to examine the works of the saint. These approved and commented them throughout. In the sixteenth century Lanspergius and Blosius propagated her writings. The former, who with his confrere Loher spared no pains in editing her works, also wrote a preface to them. The writings were warmly received especially in Spain, and among the long list of holy and learned authorities who used and recommended her works may be mentioned :

—St. Teresa, who chose her as her model and guide,—Yepez,—the illustrious Suarez,—the Discalced Carmelite Friars of France,—St. Francis de Sales,—M. Oliver,—Fr. Faber,—Dom Gueranger.

The Church has inserted the name of Gertrude in the Roman Martyrology with this eulogy: "On the 17th of November, in Germany (the Feast) of St. Gertrude Virgin, of the Order of St. Benedict, who was illustrious for the gift of revelations."

Gertrude Casanova
Transcribed by Joseph P. Thomas
In memory of Sabina Jablonski

---

From the Catholic Encyclopedia, copyright (c) 1913 by the Encyclopedia Press, Inc. Electronic version copyright (c) 1996 by New Advent, Inc. Taken from the New Advent Web Page (www.knight.org/advent).

St. Martin of Tours

From:  http://www.stmartin.edu

November 11th is "Martinmas Day" – the feast of St. Martin of Tours.

It's a day full of old traditions, fun, and superstition. One belief was that if one stood in the back of the parish church on this day, one could see an aura around the heads of those who would be gone before the next Martinmas.

Another story had it that once when St. Martin was on his way to Rome, he met up with Satan. He promptly changed the devil into a donkey, and rode him into the City. The donkey spoke to him, and in palindromes, no less: "Signa te signa. Temere me tangis et agnis," he said; and "Roma tibi subito motibus ibit amor." ["Cross thyself, you plague and vex me without need; for by my efforts you are about to reach Rome, the object of your travel."]

So who was this Martin?

He was a real paragon; and he could be called a "conscientious objector for the centuries."

He prayed, "O Lord, if I am still necessary to my people, I do not refuse the labor: Thy will be done." But what he did refuse to do, finally, was to fight.

This seemed out of character, given his family situation. Martin was born in a Roman province (Pannonia, now part of Hungary) in or about the year 315. His father was a military man, an officer in the Roman army who had risen from the ranks; and, with his wife, a worshiper of the old Roman gods. Many were at this time, although the persecutions of Christians had finally come to an end.

But young Martin yearned to learn the lessons of Christianity, and to be baptized. So, when he was barely ten years old, he secretly went to the house of a priest and begged for instruction.

Within a few years, while still a catechumen, Martin was "drafted." All he wanted was to be a soldier for Christ, but the Romans apparently had a law that any son of a soldier would become a soldier himself. This soldier-to-be was so reluctant that he had to be held in chains until the induction; after that, he believed it his duty to serve. At the same time, he lived insofar as possible the life of a monk–even after he, too, was raised to officer's rank; and even though he was made part of an elite ceremonial unit, whose members wore gorgeous uniforms and had light duty.

It was his warm uniform–and what he did with it–that first got him noticed. When he was about twenty, he was riding home one bitterly cold night (and the stories say he had already given away most of what he was wearing to people who, he thought, needed it more than he did), when he saw an exceedingly old and poor man, who was almost without any clothes at all, and about to freeze to death. Martin immediately jumped from his horse, took off his luxurious cloak, and cut it in two with his sword. Wrapping one half around the starving beggar, he returned the other half to his own shoulders, and rode off.

Years later, a friend, admirer, and disciple named Sulpicius Severus told this story, and many others no less wonderful, in what he called "a little treatise" on Martin's life.

The climax to the story of the beggar and the cloak doesn't come where people laugh at the young man on the horse and he isn't fazed by it (although some realize they're in the presence of Christian goodness). It ends later that night, when Martin has a dream. In his dream, he sees Jesus, dressed in the half-of-a-cloak he had given the beggar, and hears Him saying, "Martin, who is still but a catechumen, clothed me with this robe" and reiterating, as in the Scripture, "Inasmuch as ye have done these things to one of the least of these, ye have done them unto me."

At that point, he did become a baptized Communicant. But he had to continue serving in the army.

Before a battle, when the troops were being handed money as an incentive, he protested that now he was "a soldier of Christ," so could not fight. "Put me in the forefront, though," he offered. The commander was so livid that he promised he would do exactly that, and had Martin thrown in jail until time to take the field.

Imagine his surprise when the enemy surrendered before the battle began. Well, Martin's life continued like that. Finally demobilized, he sought out St. Hilary, and begged to serve and learn from him. Set upon by robbers, he quietly and lovingly told them about God, so that at least one of them converted on the spot–and years later, told his story to Sulpicius Severus, who wrote it down. Saintly act followed on saintly act. It's no wonder God had called Martin out of paganism at such an early age: This was a man who was truly, unselfishly, loving.

Of course his fame spread. The people of Tours decided as one that he must be their next bishop. At the same time, they knew very well that he was so humble, he would never accept the offer unless he was tricked into it.

And so they tricked him. Someone begged him to come minister to "his sick wife"; and when Martin–who came immediately, of course– got to Tours, people came out of every hiding place, just as though at a surprise party, and welcomed him as their new spiritual leader.

It was really impossible for him to refuse (even though the church officials who had come to induct him thought he was a terrible choice, given his monkish ways and terrible haircut, etc.)

So Martin did serve as bishop, but again, in his own inimitable way. He took up residence in a cell; and, although dozens of disciples clustered around him, his ministry was mainly one-on-one evangelism: He would go into his people's homes as a real pastor.

There are lovely stories of how he thwarted paganism with that same quiet love. Once, when he asked that a tree be cut down because the people were worshiping it, he was told that he would have to sit under where it would fall. He agreed; and just as it was felled, he made the sign of the Cross, and it fell the other way! (But slowly, so everybody else had plenty of time to get out from under it!)

He became widely known for begging the lives of those who would otherwise be tortured and killed. It got to the place where those in authority, seeing him coming, just gave up and pardoned their prisoners.

He had some trouble with heretics, but mainly managed to live a godly, spiritual life, at peace with just about everybody.

And so he died, at or about the age of 80, on November 8 in or about the year 397, and was buried November 11. He begged to be buried in the Cemetery of the Poor, and so he was; but later, a chapel was built over his grave; and still later, it was replaced by a beautiful basilica.

From Saints and Sinners

©1998 by The Big Network. All rights reserved.

Lord, if Your people still have need of my services I will not avoid the toil.  Your will be done.  I have fought the good fight long enough.  Yet if You bid me continue to hold the battle line in defense of Your camp, I will never beg to be excused from failing strength.  I will do the work You entrust to me.  While You command, I will fight beneath Your banner. (Traditional prayer attributed to St. Martin of Tours)

Memorial of Saint Leo the Great, pope and doctor of the Church

From: www.saintvincentarchabbey.org

Wis 2:23-3:9; Ps 34:2,3,16-19; Lk 17:7-10

"The LORD is close to the brokenhearted."

Saint Leo the Great Pope was deeply concerned for the well-being and for the faith of the whole Church of Christ. This great servant-leader in the Church in the world revealed the compassion and closeness of the LORD for the brokenhearted, for those who were crushed in spirit. These courageous believers in time of great confusion and danger were taught to bless the LORD at all times, in times of success and of failure. For the LORD hears the just when they cry out, and from all their distress he rescues them. As the author of Wisdom teaches us, so Pope Saint Leo, the Great, taught his sisters and brothers, "Those who trust in him shall understand truth, and the faithful shall abide with him in love." This great pope and his fellow servant bishops were faith filled leaders who sought only to praise the Lord and serve his crushed and brokenhearted children, who were afraid and confused throughout the land. They sought no glory for themselves or rewards in this life; their hands and hearts were filled with the glory of God and the lowly heard their praise-filled voices, and they were glad.

One of the most difficult human situations that everyone must face is death. We are often crushed and brokenhearted by the death of a loved one. The saints of every age have given spoken and written testimony about death. Many of the saints have taken comfort in the book of Wisdom. This holy book teaches us that we were formed by the LORD to be imperishable, in the image of our Creator. This original intention of the LORD was challenged by the envy of the Devil. Death entered the world through the original sin of our first parents who submitted to the temptation of the evil one. This original disobedience of the human race brought death into life. Because of the limitations of death, we are punished but not utterly destroyed. Even during this time in the history of God's people, there was a fledging belief in the survival of the soul after the death of the body. This faith became the backdrop for the proclamation of the resurrection of Jesus the Christ. Even before the Paschal Mystery, some of the faithful in Israel believed that death was merely a sacrificial fire that purified the soul and proved its true worth. Indeed, the souls of the just would shine brightly when the Lord became the King of all peoples. This relatively late teaching of Judaism is amazing from our perspective after the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. It is this truth, anticipated in the Book of Wisdom, that is fulfilled in the Gospel. When confronted with the anguish of death, we can trust in the LORD and abide with him in love, "because grace and mercy are with his holy ones, and his care is with his elect."

It is a sign of living in the transforming union, of truly becoming one with Christ, that a person seeks only the Master’s will and not his own will. The true servant of the LORD does not seek affirmation, praise, or honors for doing what the LORD wants. Saint Leo, the Great and all the saints in glory delight in one thing only, to do the will of the LORD! This detachment from our own needs and wants enables us to be attached to God alone. Once we have such an enlightened interior, we are delightful and surprised by whatever the LORD has in store for us. It is not the LORD’s gratitude or his whispering; "thank you!" that motivates our service and our adoration. Rather, it is our love, our desire to do what he wants us to do, the way he wants is to do it, for as long as he wants us to do it, because he wants us to do it. This is our prayer and the deepest desire of our hearts. Until it is, we carry around some resentment and some degree of entitlement. Pope Saint Leo the Great, elected in 440, guided his fellow bishops as equals in service and in weakness. He took responsibility for the total flock by combating Pelagianism and other heresies and powers of the world. God's own self-gift is what this and every true servant longs for; everything else is worth no more than rubbish.

Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome

From:  www.americancatholic.org

Most Catholics think of St. Peter’s as the pope’s main church, but they are wrong. St. John Lateran is the pope’s church, the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome where the Bishop of Rome presides.

The first basilica on the site was built in the fourth century when Constantine donated land he had received from the wealthy Lateran family. That structure and its successors suffered fire, earthquake and the ravages of war, but the Lateran remained the church where popes were consecrated until the popes returned from Avignon in the 14th century to find the church and the adjoining palace in ruins.

Pope Innocent X commissioned the present structure in 1646. One of Rome’s most imposing churches, the Lateran’s towering facade is crowned with 15 colossal statues of Christ, John the Baptist, John the Evangelist and 12 doctors of the Church. Beneath its high altar rest the remains of the small wooden table on which tradition holds St. Peter himself celebrated Mass.

Comment: Unlike the commemorations of other Roman churches (St. Mary Major, August 5; Sts. Peter and Paul, November 18), this anniversary is a feast. The dedication of a church is a feast for all its parishioners. In a sense, St. John Lateran is the parish church of all Catholics, because it is the pope's cathedral. This church is the spiritual home of the people who are the Church.

Quote: "What was done here, as these walls were rising, is reproduced when we bring together those who believe in Christ. For, by believing they are hewn out, as it were, from mountains and forests, like stones and timber; but by catechizing, baptism and instruction they are, as it were, shaped, squared and planed by the hands of the workers and artisans. Nevertheless, they do not make a house for the Lord until they are fitted together through love" (St. Augustine, Sermon 36>).

As the Wimmer year comes to a close

Holy Rule Lecture

Br. Gabriel Myriam Kurzawski, OSB (Assistant Vocation Director at St. Vincent Archabbey) will be giving a lecture on Monday, November 16, 2009 at 9 PM at the St. Vincent Gristmill on the Holy Rule of St. Benedict and how it relates to today's college student. The title of the lecture is "Old School Knowledge for a New... School World - St. Benedict speaks to today's college student." The event is free and open to the entire St. Vincent community. Please get the word out about this event and feel free to invite friends to attend.

Saint Charles Borromeo (Patron of Seminarians)

 

"I admit that we are all weak, but if we want help, the Lord God has given us the means to find it easily. Would you like me to teach you how to grow from virtue to virtue and how, if you are already recollected at prayer, you can be even more attentive next time, and so give God more pleasing worship? Listen, and I will tell you. If a tiny spark of God's love already burns within you, do not expose it to the wind, for it may get blown out. Keep the stove tightly shut so that it will not lose its heat and grow cold. In other words, avoid distractions as well as you can. Stay quiet with God. Do not spend your time in useless chatter." -  Saint Charles Borromeo

---------------------

Please remember all our seminarians here at St. Vincent Seminary and all seminarians throughout the world on this day in which we remember the Great St. Charles Borromeo, patron of seminarians.

All Souls Day

From: www.saintvincentarchabbey.org

Wis 3:1-9; Ps 23:1-6; Rom 6:3-9; Jn 6:37-40

"You spread the table before me in the sight of my foes."

In the sight of our foes the LORD himself sets up a banquet table. Who are these foes, mocked by our feasting? Who are these foes, seeing only our death, affliction, and destruction? Our true foes, life-long foes, are sin and death. These are the foes of the just. The poetry of the psalms personifies our enemies, naming them sin and death. The prose of our reading from the Book of Wisdom reveals that these foes are the foolish. The foolish can see death only as punishment. The LORD says that even if the passing of the just were viewed as a punishment; they are still filled with the hope of immortal life. Though they be chastised a little they are greatly blessed, "because God tried them and found them worthy of Himself." Like raw gold the just are purified in the furnace of God's love. Like incense and the smoke of a burnt offering, the just arise before the throne of the Almighty. This is the confidence that rules the lives of the truly wise. They have no fear of darkness because in love they shine. They have no fear of the oppressors because in justice they rule. Indeed, the LORD is their eternal King. The just trust in the LORD; it is He who scatters sin and death and welcomes grace and mercy to care for his elect. Indeed, the eternal King sets a table in the sight of our foes.

Not only does the LORD set a table before the just, He anoints their heads with oil and fills their cup to overflowing. In order to present ourselves before the LORD at the eternal banquet table, we must walk through the dark valley. Saint Paul reminds us that this faith walk through the dark valley of death starts with baptism. We are baptized in water and the Holy Spirit. In this baptism we are plunged into the mystery of the death of Christ, the precious Son of the Father. Indeed, this is the only way that we can share in his being raised to glory by the Father. We grow in union with Christ though a death like his so that we can be united with him in the resurrection. As a wise person once said, "Those born once, die twice. Those born twice, die but once." We are born and reborn so that we do not die twice. We die to the old self, to the self-centered self, to the rebellious self, and to the sinful self. We die with Christ so that we might also live with him. The life Christ lives is life eternal; death no longer has power over us because it has no power over Christ. From the earliest days of our new life in the Body of Christ, we deal with the mystery of death and life. We are not strangers to these mysteries. We are not afraid of death because we have already died and risen with Christ.

In the responsorial psalm we have sung already five times, "I fear no evil". We are professing in song the truth, the precious truth, of our faith. Death is not the end. Life through him with him and in him is eternal. Death may be a physical evil but it is not an eternal evil. Death may snatch us away from those who love us, but love is "stronger than death, more relentless than the nether world." Indeed, death is not the worst thing that can happen to a human being. Indeed, unrepentant sin is the worst thing that can happen to a human being. We need his love that snatches us from the jaws of death and rescues us from the mud of fear. This is the love that Christ reveals today in the Gospel of Saint John. Out of obedient love he came down from heaven. He came down to seek the beloved bride prepared for him from the people of the covenant, prepared from the very beginning. Just in case there is an residue of fear or temptation to despair, the Lord Jesus makes clear that, "this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day." We, who catch a glimpse of his face in this Eucharist, grow each time more confident that we will see him "whom our hearts seek." We will see him face to face with all the souls who share our longing and are now being purified. We celebrate our union with all who are moving into the heavenly glory, the beatific vision. This teaching of our Church is the fullest expression of the Lord's boundless mercy. Even though at death we may not be completely pure and ready to see the LORD face to face. He does not abandon us to our failure and sin, rather, he offers us continued purification beyond this life. His mercy is not limited to our time and space experience. Indeed, the LORD can arrest time and disregard any distance we may have created by our sin. We share, even now, in this boundless mercy with all who have gone on before us; with them we share the assurance that no one can snatch us out of his hand and that we will one day rise with Christ in the fullness of glory. This glory Christ shares from all eternity with the Father and the Holy Spirit; indeed, this same glory is ours by grace and mercy from our Shepherd.