SAINTS WHO SUFFERED FROM CHRONIC ILLNESSES SAINT ALPHONSUS MARY LIGUORI FOUNDER AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH (1696 - 1787) orn near Naples, Italy, Alphonsus was a prodigy in the law. After he lost a case due to a simple error, Alphonsus received a call to the priesthood. In 1732 he founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (the Redemptorists). Alphonsus preached with directness and offered wise counsel in the confessional. He was elected bishop of Sant Agata de Goti. Alphonsus struggled with illness throughout his life, receiving the sacrament of the dying eight times. In 1769, he contracted severe rheumatic fever, leaving him paralysed. His head was bent so low that his chin made a wound in his chest. Doctors were able to relieve his suffering only a bit through surgery. Alphonsus learned to say Mass supported on a chair with an altar server holding the chalice for him. Despite his severe physical impairment, two pops refused his resignation. After Alphonsus was permitted to retire by Pope Pius VI, he lived another ten years, weathering storms within his own congregation and an interior trial of darkness. Through his copious writings he advanced moral theology and promoted devotion to Mary and the life of prayer. “Acquire the habit of speaking to God as if you were alone with him, familiarly and with confidence and love, as to the dearest and most loving of friends,” he wrote. Saint Alphonsus is invoked by sufferers of arthritis. Eternal Father, through the intercession of Saint Alphonsus Mary Liguori, teach me to open my soul to you in prayer. AESOP ’ S FABLES The Cock and the Jewel cock was scratching the ground in a farmyard in search of food for himself and his hens, when he happened to turn up a jewel. Feeling quite sure that it was something precious, but not knowing exactly what to do with it, he remarked, “You’re undoubtedly a very fine thing for those who appreciate your worth. But I’d rather have one grain of delicious barley than all the jewels in the world.” The value of an object is in the eyes of the beholder. 11 MARCH 2018 FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT God So Loved the World The anguish of the Passion of the Lord Jesus cannot fail to move to pity even the most hardened hearts, as it constitutes the climax of the revelation of God’s love for each of us. Saint John observes: God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life (Jn 3: 16). It is for love of us that Christ dies on the cross! Throughout the course of the millennia, a great multitude of men and women have been drawn deeply into this mystery and they have followed him, making in their turn, like him and with his help, a gift to others of their own lives. They are saints and the martyrs, many of whom remain unknown to us. Even in our own time, how many people, in the silence of their daily lives, unite their sufferings with those of the Crucified One and become apostles of a true spiritual and social renewal! What would man be without Christ? Saint Augustine observes: “You would still be in a state of wretchedness, had he not shown you mercy. You would not have returned to life, had he not shared your death. You would have passed away had he not come to your aid. You would be lost, had he not come.” So why not welcome him into our lives? Let us pause…to contemplate his disfigured face: it is the face of the Man of Sorrows, who took upon himself the burden of all our mortal anguish. His face is reflected in that of every person who is humiliated and offended sick and suffering, alone, abandoned, and despised. Pouring out his blood, he has rescued us from the slavery of death, he had broken the solitude of our tears, he has entered into our every grief and our every anxiety. Brothers and Sisters! As the cross rises up on Golgotha, the eyes of our faith are already turned towards the dawning of the new Day, and we begin to taste the joy and splendour of Easter. POPE BENEDICT XVI His Holiness Benedict XVI was Pope from 2005 to 2013. 4 th Week of Lent 12 Mar – Monday The Faith of the Official We have been given new eyes to discover the divine reality, namely, our faith. Faith sees through the outer shell and penetrates to the substance of things…Faith reveals new areas of reality (the Trinity, angels, and so on), but faith also enables us to see everything we encounter in a completely new way. It sees the deep dimension of daily events. That is why there is no longer anything ordinary for the believer; nothing is interesting or boring. Everything becomes exciting and fascinating. Beautiful thoughts and theories often remain in our heads and do not change our lives. They are not our most important teachers. We are influenced by events. In Hebrew, the term for “word” and “event” (dabar) is the same. God speaks through event…..Every event is a Word of God to us. He is un everything that happens. I live in God’s presence when I accept what happens as a message from him without rebelling against it. I am aware that he is continually working to form and sculpt me. This does not require many thoughts or words. Even work that demands all of my attention does not prevent me from living in God’s presence in this way. The only thing necessary is a “yes” attitude; letting God create me. We seek him in the great things, but he communicates and reveals himself in the small. FATHER WILFRID STINISSEN, OCD Father Wilfrid Stinissen ( 2013 ) was a Carmelite priest from Belgium. He founded a small contemplative community in Sweden. 13 Mar – Tuesday Casting Out Devils Take me under your protection, defence, and care, to preserve and protect me from devils and all their promptings, against all the elements of the world, against lusts, against transgressions, against sins, against worldly crimes, against the dangers of this life and the torments of the next, from the hands of enemies and every terror, against the fire of hell and judgement, against shame before the face of God, against the attacks of devils, that they may have B A
Transcript
SAINTS WHO SUFFERED
FROM
CHRONIC ILLNESSES
SAINT ALPHONSUS
MARY LIGUORI
FOUNDER AND DOCTOR
OF THE CHURCH
(1696 - 1787)
orn near Naples, Italy,
Alphonsus was a prodigy
in the law. After he lost a case
due to a simple error,
Alphonsus received a call to
the priesthood. In 1732 he
founded the Congregation of
the Most Holy Redeemer (the
Redemptorists). Alphonsus
preached with directness and
offered wise counsel in the
confessional. He was elected
bishop of Sant Agata de Goti.
Alphonsus struggled with
illness throughout his life,
receiving the sacrament of the
dying eight times. In 1769, he
contracted severe rheumatic
fever, leaving him paralysed.
His head was bent so low that
his chin made a wound in his
chest. Doctors were able to
relieve his suffering only a bit
through surgery. Alphonsus
learned to say Mass
supported on a chair with an
altar server holding the
chalice for him.
Despite his severe physical
impairment, two pops refused
his resignation. After
Alphonsus was permitted to
retire by Pope Pius VI, he
lived another ten years,
weathering storms within his
own congregation and an
interior trial of darkness.
Through his copious writings
he advanced moral theology
and promoted devotion to
Mary and the life of prayer.
“Acquire the habit of
speaking to God as if you
were alone with him,
familiarly and with
confidence and love, as to the
dearest and most loving of
friends,” he wrote. Saint
Alphonsus is invoked by
sufferers of arthritis.
Eternal Father, through the
intercession of Saint Alphonsus
Mary Liguori, teach me to open my
soul to you in prayer.
AESOP’S
FABLES
The Cock and the Jewel
cock was scratching the
ground in a farmyard in
search of food for himself and his
hens, when he happened to turn
up a jewel. Feeling quite sure that
it was something precious, but not
knowing exactly what to do with
it, he remarked, “You’re
undoubtedly a very fine thing for
those who appreciate your worth.
But I’d rather have one grain of
delicious barley than all the jewels
in the world.”
The value of an object is in the
eyes of the beholder.
11 MARCH 2018
FOURTH SUNDAY
OF LENT
God So Loved the World
The anguish of the Passion of the
Lord Jesus cannot fail to move to
pity even the most hardened hearts,
as it constitutes the climax of the
revelation of God’s love for each of
us. Saint John observes: God so
loved the world that he gave his
only Son, that whoever believes in
him should not perish, but have
eternal life (Jn 3: 16). It is for love
of us that Christ dies on the cross!
Throughout the course of the
millennia, a great multitude of men
and women have been drawn deeply
into this mystery and they have
followed him, making in their turn,
like him and with his help, a gift to
others of their own lives. They are
saints and the martyrs, many of
whom remain unknown to us. Even
in our own time, how many people,
in the silence of their daily lives,
unite their sufferings with those of
the Crucified One and become
apostles of a true spiritual and social
renewal! What would man be
without Christ? Saint Augustine
observes: “You would still be in a
state of wretchedness, had he not
shown you mercy. You would not
have returned to life, had he not
shared your death. You would have
passed away had he not come to
your aid. You would be lost, had he
not come.” So why not welcome
him into our lives?
Let us pause…to contemplate his
disfigured face: it is the face of the
Man of Sorrows, who took upon
himself the burden of all our mortal
anguish. His face is reflected in that
of every person who is humiliated
and offended sick and suffering,
alone, abandoned, and despised.
Pouring out his blood, he has
rescued us from the slavery of death,
he had broken the solitude of our
tears, he has entered into our every
grief and our every anxiety.
Brothers and Sisters! As the cross
rises up on Golgotha, the eyes of our
faith are already turned towards the
dawning of the new Day, and we
begin to taste the joy and splendour
of Easter. POPE BENEDICT XVI
His Holiness Benedict XVI was Pope from 2005
to 2013.
4th Week of Lent
12 Mar – Monday
The Faith of the Official
We have been given new eyes to
discover the divine reality, namely,
our faith. Faith sees through the
outer shell and penetrates to the
substance of things…Faith reveals
new areas of reality (the Trinity,
angels, and so on), but faith also
enables us to see everything we
encounter in a completely new way.
It sees the deep dimension of daily
events. That is why there is no
longer anything ordinary for the
believer; nothing is interesting or
boring. Everything becomes
exciting and fascinating.
Beautiful thoughts and theories
often remain in our heads and do not
change our lives. They are not our
most important teachers. We are
influenced by events. In Hebrew,
the term for “word” and “event”
(dabar) is the same. God speaks
through event…..Every event is a
Word of God to us. He is un
everything that happens. I live in
God’s presence when I accept what
happens as a message from him
without rebelling against it. I am
aware that he is continually working
to form and sculpt me. This does
not require many thoughts or words.
Even work that demands all of my
attention does not prevent me from
living in God’s presence in this way.
The only thing necessary is a “yes”
attitude; letting God create me.
We seek him in the great things,
but he communicates and reveals
himself in the small. FATHER WILFRID STINISSEN, OCD
Father Wilfrid Stinissen ( 2013) was a
Carmelite priest from Belgium. He founded a
small contemplative community in Sweden.
13 Mar – Tuesday
Casting Out Devils
Take me under your protection,
defence, and care, to preserve and
protect me from devils and all their
promptings, against all the elements
of the world, against lusts, against
transgressions, against sins, against
worldly crimes, against the dangers
of this life and the torments of the
next, from the hands of enemies and
every terror, against the fire of hell
and judgement, against shame
before the face of God, against the
attacks of devils, that they may have
B
A
no power over us at our entry into
the next world; against the dangers
of this world, against everyone
whom God knows to bear us malice
under the ten stars of the world.
May God keep far from us their
rage, their violence, their anger,
their cruelty, their enmity.
May God kindle kindness and love,
affection, mercy, and tolerance in
their hearts and in their thoughts, in
their souls and in their minds and in
their bowels.
O holy Jesus,
Gentle friend, Morning star,
Midday sun adorned
Brilliant flame of righteousness,
life everlasting and eternity
Fountain ever-new, ever-living,
ever-lasting,
Heart’s desire of Patriarchs,
Longing of prophets,
Master of Apostles and disciples,
Giver of the Law,
Prince of the New Testament,
Judge of doom,
Son of the merciful Father,
Without Mother in heaven,
Son of the true Virgin Mary,
Without father on earth,
True and loving brother.
From the Breastplate of Laidcenn (5th or 7th
century, Ireland)
14 Mar - Wednesday
The Father at Work in Us
Now turn from the ancient to the
recent, from the figure to the reality.
There, we have Moses sent from
God to Egypt; here, Christ sent by
his Father into the world. There,
that Moses might lead forth an
oppressed people out of Egypt; here,
that Christ might rescue human kind
who are overwhelmed with sins.
There, the blood of a lamb was the
spell against the destroyer; here, the
blood of the unblemished Lamb
Jesus Christ is made the charm to
scare evil spirits. There, the tyrant
pursued even to the sea that ancient
people; and in like manner this
daring and shameless spirit, the
author of evil, followed you, even to
the very streams of salvation. The
tyrant of old was drowned in the sea;
and this present one disappears in
the saving water.
What then did each of you
standing up say? “I renounce Satan,”
meaning “I fear your power no
longer, for Christ has overthrown it,
having partaken with me of flesh
and blood, that through these he
might by death destroy death that I
might not for ever be subject to
bondage. I renounce you, you
crafty and most subtle serpent. I
renounce you, plotter as you are
who under the guise of friendship
brought about disobedience and the
apostasy of our first parents. I
renounce you, Satan, the source of
all wickedness.”
When you renounced Satan,
utterly breaking all covenants with
him, that ancient connection with
hell, there is opened to you the
paradise of God, which he planted
toward the east, where for his
transgression our first father was
exiled. Symbolic of this was your
turning from the west to the east, the
place of light. Then you were told
to say: I believe in the Father, and in
the Son, and in the Holy Spirit, and
in one baptism of repentance. SAINT CYRIL OF JERUSALEM
Saint Cyril of Jerusalem ( 386), bishop of
Jerusalem, was expelled three times from his
see by heretics who opposed his unfailing
orthodoxy.
15 Mar – Thursday
Go to Joseph
Ite ad Joseph, et quidquid dixerit
vobis facite – Go to Joseph and do
all that he shall say to you, said
Pharaoh to those of his subjects who
were beginning to feel the effects of
famine and poverty.
Ite ad Joseph. Go to Joseph, you
whom the want of spiritual goods
has reduced to the most wretched
poverty; before long you will meet
with abundance.
Ite ad Joseph, et quidquid dixerit
vobis facite. Go to Joseph, you who
in prayer feel only dryness and
distaste. Let anyone who does not
know how to pray go that great
master and he will be well taught.
Ite ad Joseph. Go to Joseph, you
who, intending to follow in the
footsteps of the God of virgins, feel
in this body of death the rebellion of
the flesh and the shameful outbursts
of concupiscence.
Ite ad Joseph. Go to Joseph, you
who are still unsure that you belong
to God, you who because of some
slight trouble are ready to leave his
service and return to the world, and
you will learn from his
steadfastness how to stand firm
amid the storms that would drive
you from the path of virtue.
Ite. Go to him, you who are his
Son’s ministers. You owe him part
of the substance of Christ himself
who nourishes you with his Body;
and his adorable Blood was formed
with Saint Joseph’s toil and sweat.
Go to him, finally, all of you who
want to be Christians, not in name
only but in deed. Not only will you
find in him a powerful protector, but
you will discover, too, a model of
that strong, tender, and grateful love
which is the whole of the law and
the essence of Christianity. FATHER PIERRE COLLET, C.M.
Father Pierre Collet ( 1770), a native of
France, was a theologian and a member of
Congregation of Priests of the Mission (the
Lazarists).
16 Mar – Friday
Jesus Went Up to Jerusalem
Consider how prone we are to self-
deception, how we play deaf when
we are told something that would
injure our passions or sensibilities,
and how, no matter how plainly we
are spoken to, we stop our ears,
pretending not to hear and fearing to
understand what is said. “Leave
this thing behind”, “deny yourself
this pleasure”, “renounce your will”:
these things we do not hear. We do
not want to hear them or know
about them or ask for clarification
about them…
But to encourage us, Jesus walks
ahead. Saint Luke remarks that he
resolutely took the road for
Jerusalem (Lk 9:51). His human
nature felt fear, as he showed us by
his agony in the garden. For he
willed to carry out weaknesses in
order to teach us to overcome them.
Let us follow him, and according to
his example, let us steadfastly set
our faces when we must go toward
penance, mortification, and the
cross...
Such is man: the one who speaks
the boldest is, often as not, shown to
be the weakest when God abandons
him to his own powers. Understand,
Christian, how hard it is to go up to
the cross with Jesus and how great
is our need for his grace. BISHOP JACQUES-BENIGNE BOSSUET
