The term “Eucharist” originates from the Greek word eucharistia, meaning thanksgiving.
Author: Essy Dias
Christotokos
Christokos the Greek title of Mary, the mother of Jesus, literally translated as “Christ Bearer”.
In today’s Gospel we read of Mary bringing Jesus to her cousin Elizabeth’s home, and as Mary greeted her, the Holy Spirit came upon her and her child and she was able to see her for who she was… Mother of her Lord and worthy to be blessed for all generations. S
She wasn’t taking anything away from Jesus by declaring this, only noting her unique status. Well, unique in the sense that she’s the only one that gave birth to Him physically. But carrying Him forth is an honor that she shares with each of us. We too are invited to be Christokos…to bring Christ to this dark world that so needs Him.
Jesus was with her, when Elizabeth declared her blessedness, and He is in our midst every single time we invoke her name to this day.
“The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing” – Zephaniah 3:17
Let me say that again “He will renew you in His love”!
“Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation;* the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.” – 2 Corinthians 5:17
Imago Christi and Purity
The following is from ‘Praying the Eucharistic Stations of the Cross” : “Joseph and Mary gazed with wonder upon his face in Bethlehem. The woman at the well discovered the truth when she looked into his eyes. Zaccheus climbed a tree to glimpse him. His closest disciples marveled when they beheld the glory of his face on Mount Tabor.
And now? His face, bruised and raw, is a pitiful sight. Veronica runs to wipe his blood-stained brow. And his face leaves an image on her holy veil.
The Eucharist builds up that image of Christ in us. People should look upon us and see him. We are called to be other Christs, and by the grace given in the holy sacrament, it is made so. The veil is a true image, a true icon. But a greater icon still is the heart conformed in love to him.”
In todays readings we hear “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. – 1 Peter 2:9
We were created in His image, and are living here and now for a purpose… all of us are… whether we choose to accept it or not, or whether we even realize it. Oh what a powerful inborn dignity and responsibility that carries with it. God loves us so incredibly much.
“Eternal Trinity, you are my Creator. I am the work of your hands and I know how deeply enamored you are with the beauty of your workmanship.” -Catherine of Siena ( Set Aside Every Fear).
That may seem a bit egotistical at first glance, but His true workmanship is not only our physicality although that’s certainly part of it… but our very soul. “We carry this treasure in jars of clay”.
COMMUNION AND STEWARDSHIP: Human Persons Created in the Image of God “For its part, Catholic tradition has always insisted that, while the imago Dei is impaired or disfigured, it cannot be destroyed by sin. The dialogical or relational structure of the image of God cannot be lost but, under the reign of sin, it is disrupted in its orientation towards its christological realization.”
In the Blue Book #21 c-f Our Blessed Mother tells Fr. Gobbi.
“All men redeemed by my Son are also my children; they are my children in the fullest sense of the word. Even those who are far away, even the sinners, even the atheists, even those who reject God, those who fight against Him and hate Him: they are all my children. And I am Mother to them. For many of them, I am the only Mother they have, the only person who is taking care of them, who truly loves them. And so my heart is continually consumed with sorrow and with a greater love for these children of mine.”
Then in section J: “And so there is then the Movement of my priests. It is desired by me to make reparation for the immense harm caused in souls by atheism, to restore in so many desecrated hearts the image of God, the merciful countenance of my Son Jesus”.
Then she goes on to tell us how the image of God is so frequently desecrated, through the demon of corruption, the spirit of lust which is defiling souls from an early age. (q-u)
“The priests of my Movement must restore purity in souls and fight firmly against the Demon of Lust in all its manifestations.
They must combat styles that are more and more indecent and provocative; they must combat the press that publicizes evil and entertainment which ruins morals. They must struggle against the prevalent mentality that legitimizes and justifies everything, and against current morality that permits everything.
Above all, my priests will have to be pure, very pure! I myself will cover them with my immaculate mantle, and I will make them new men, priests who are upright and spotless.
To those who have fallen I will give a new purity; I will call them to a second and more beautiful innocence of repentance and love.
I want it to be the Movement of my priests which will bring back the fragrance of purity to the world: for it is only on the billow of this perfume that my Son Jesus will once again become the King of hearts and of souls.
These messages are for all of us. Lack of modesty and impurity has greater impact than the fashion world would have us believe. It is not inconsequential as so many of us learn so late. Once we know who we truly are in Christ then we are more apt to dress the part. We want people to see Christ when they look at us, and not merely our separate body parts. So we don’t cover our bodies because we are hideous, we dress appropriately because of our great dignity. Think Queen Elizabeth in her day or some other dignitary … perhaps Kate…would it be ok for them to be photographed in scanty clothing or in any type of provocative fashion … regardless of age?
Like todays reading tells us : Beloved, I beg you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh that wage war against your soul. – 1 Peter 2:11
As to this prevalent demon indiscriminately attacking the Body of Christ… in the book ‘The Secret of the Holy Face*’ Fr. Carney reiterates what our blessed Mother has told us about the need for reparation. “the Church must defend herself by means of reparation, reverence, and reversion. I believe God has preordained a certain number of people who need to be in the state of grace and do battle with the demons and their agents.”
Blessed Sacrament
And again…“The Eucharist builds up that image of Christ in us. People should look upon us and see him. We are called to be other Christs, and by the grace given in the holy sacrament, it is made so. The veil is a true image, a true icon. But a greater icon still is the heart conformed in love to him.”
“You are the clear waters of a sea filled with sweet secrets, a magic mirror that you invite me to look into to see myself as your creature, to see you united with my humanity.
Beauty above all beauty!
Wisdom above all wisdom!
Wisdom itself!
Food of angels!
A fire of love to humanity!
A garment to cover our nakedness!
Sweet food for the hungry!”
*(Set Aside Every Fear) Catherine of Siena
*Amazon affiliate link in which a tiny commission will be earned.
Charity Aflame!
“I await you who come to me with the light of faith burning in your soul, with charity aflame…” (Set Aside Every Fear)~ Catherine of Siena
There are some words in the English language that are changing so rapidly that their original intent is quickly becoming unrecognizable. I believe ‘charity’ is such a case, perhaps even the word love itself will soon follow it.
Below is what the Catechism of the Catholic Church has to say about charity aka love!
Charity
1822 Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God.
1825 Christ died out of love for us, while we were still “enemies.”100 The Lord asks us to love as he does, even our enemies, to make ourselves the neighbor of those farthest away, and to love children and the poor as Christ himself.101The Apostle Paul has given an incomparable depiction of charity: “charity is patient and kind, charity is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Charity does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Charity bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”102
Umm…so no where on here do we read of love being a feel good emotion for us to bestow on those who are like minded and can love us back.
I’ve written about my recent attraction to the Holy Face. It started with a novena to St. Veronica for photographers that I did a while back. I was captivated by how the Lord allowed her to capture His likeness in her veil. As a portrait photographer, this is something that has always intrigued me… how to capture someone’s true essence through my lens.
I believe that via this particular pedagogy, He is teaching me to grow in love for each person that He brings to me and to recognize Him, in them… even those that are ‘the farthest away’ and are still yet to discover their own worthiness as having been created in His image.
“Through him you have confidence in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”- 1 Peter 1:21
He’s also teaching me that as much as I’m being called and instructed on how to love and see Him in others, my faith and hope need to be on Him alone and He’s the one that makes true love possible.
Seeing His Face Here and Now
When uniformity with God’s will and seeing Him face to face, living in His presence, becomes our greatest desire, then God honors it.
God told St. Catherine of Siena “This life, this desire, this possession, this love, this seeing, this having, this joy, begins here and now for those who desire me.”
But to even get to the point of this great desire, this hunger for Him, we must stop the ‘self fulfillment’ that we talked about yesterday, that the devil tempts us with. When we keep feeding our flesh with the measly scraps that the world has to offer, it ruins our appetite for God.
In Galatians 5:17 it says “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.”
This is a very common tactic of the Enemy, to distract us and keep us from our inheritance, which is living life to the fullest (full union with Him). He even lies to us about what that is.
But He told St Catherine “They (His followers) will transcend the body and its laws which oppose the Spirit and all that comes between them and the truth, all that prevents them from seeing me face-to-face.”
So how do we do that? How do we ‘transcend the body’? It starts with knowing ourselves. See where our natural inclinations lie, learning about the Four Temperaments is great for this. You can go HERE to take an online test. I think the more we grow in spirit the more balanced we’ll be… but there may still be one area that surpasses the others. Once we know that one… we must check out what its negative tendencies are and work on those.
And also be aware of where the Devil is working his hardest to get us. Chances are that’s where our greatest attribute for the Body of Christ is to be found and he’s trying to block our way. We must not let him. Here’s where ‘reparation’ comes in. If he’s leading us in one direction, we must run fast to the opposite no matter the cost.
The following are the seven deadly sins which are at the root of all other sins and their opposite virtue that we are to practice instead.
- Pride-humility
- Envy-kindness
- Wrath-patience or
forgiveness - Sloth-diligence
- Greed- charity
- Gluttony-temperance
- Lust- chastity
Ephesians 6:12 says, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places“
Todays Gospel we hear Peter began to say to him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed you.” – Mark 10:28
As His children, we too are to ‘leave everything’ according to our own state in life and particular calling. That is, everything that is getting in the way of us hearing Him and being able to obey Him completely; our sins, our negative tendencies, our addictions…our own will…all must go.
But we don’t empty ourselves of these inordinate attachments with God’s grace in order to remain empty… but so the Lord can fill us Himself … and reward us according to what is best for us NOW… including allowing ‘persecutions’ so that we can be strengthened for the job He has in mind for us here on this side of heaven.
Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. – Mark 10:29-30
Be a River
We’ve been discussing God’s love and mercy and how He makes us part of Himself and fills us with His grace and abundance of gifts.
One thing that is crucial to remember though is that we are only the container … we can not be possessive of what He pours freely into us. The riches that we’ve been entrusted with are to be used for the good of all His children, we are merely stewards. We are to be rivers and not reservoirs, where the water of the Spirit flows to its final destination and doesn’t just sit there.
The story of the long handled spoons comes to mind.
“ One day a man said to God, “God, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.
God showed the man two doors. Inside the first one, in the middle of the room, was a large round table with a large pot of stew. It smelled delicious and made the man’s mouth water, but the people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful, but because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths.
The man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering. God said, “You have seen Hell.”
Behind the second door, the room appeared exactly the same. There was the large round table with the large pot of wonderful stew that made the man’s mouth water. The people had the same long-handled spoons, but they were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking.
The man said, “I don’t understand.”
God smiled. “It is simple,” He said, “Love only requires one skill. These people learned early to feed one another. Those who are hungry are greedy people, and they think only of themselves.”
The Devil’s great temptation is always one of self fulfillment. Do this thing, and you’ll finally get all you’ve ever wanted.
“The Devil will take advantage of your blindness and put before you a banquet of his delights, colored to look like something that is good for you. For each person he chooses what is most appealing to their principal weakness, and to each according to their station in life. The Devil will issue you an invitation to death disguised as life.”
-Set Aside Every Fear (Catherine of Siena)
Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who have pleasure in them. He provides food for those who fear him; he is ever mindful of his covenant. – Psalms 111:2, 5
As we step out in obedience and give as He commands us without thought to self, He Himself comes and feeds us… via His direct grace and via His other children and angels.
In today’s Gospel we hear … “You lack one thing; go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” – Mark 10:21
So the following thoughts are me rambling, trying to digest what the Lord is saying.
‘Sell what you have”… that’s a monetary exchange, so the Lord isn’t asking us to commit the sin of simony… taking money for spiritual favors… but those other things that we ‘possess’ and are preventing us from being free to follow the Lord. Or in a practical way He could even be telling him/ us to get to work… to put his talents to use to make money to reach ‘the poor’… and who are the poor you ask? It’s tempting to see it as very black and white… the homeless of course…they abound all around us, especially in big cities. But is that all?
Be One
“I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you.” (John 17:21-24)
We’ve established in previous posts that the only thing that can rupture this ‘oneness’ is sin, by our willingly choosing to go against Divine Will.
Dom Prosper Guéranger writes… “But is this rupture beyond the hope of reconciliation? Yes, as far as sinful man’s power is concerned; for he can never, of himself, recover his position with the Blessed Trinity, which God’s gratuitous bounty had prepared, and His incomprehensible goodness achieved. But, as the Church teaches us in her liturgy, God never shows His power more than when He has pity on a sinner and pardons him; it is this powerful mercy of God which can work the prodigy of a reconciliation; and He really does work it, as often as a sinner is converted.”
Our part in the body of Christ then becomes one of helping to bring those on the outside into full reconciliation. How do we do this?
In ‘Set Aside Every Fear (Catherine of Siena) we read.
“You seek to suffer for your own sins and the sins of the world. But know this: no suffering, no pain by itself, can atone for even the smallest fault”… at first glance this isn’t too encouraging… but there’s more.
Inasmuch as your life is filled with desire and you accept your suffering with desire and contrition, your pain is worthwhile.
This is what Paul was talking of when he said:
If I had the tongues of an angel, and if I knew the things of the future and gave my body to be burned, and had not love, it would be worth nothing to me.
When, and only when, our finite works are offered up and seasoned with love, do they become infinitely worthy.”
These “finite works” of ours, seasoned with love then become reparation worthy.
“The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.”
In ‘The Secret of the Holy Face’, Fr. Lawrence Carney states “God has told us how to defeat any enemy who wants to enslave us; follow His commandments, and He will deliver the enemy into our hands. When we make reparation, it is like sweet smelling incense rising up to heaven.
… Leviticus 26 provides a battle plan to defeat evil in our day.
First, God warns us not to make idols to worship. Second, He commands us to reverence His sanctuary. Then, He says,”Keep my commandments.” This means do not blaspheme. So, in summary, we have the first three commandments: do not commit idolatry, irreverence, and blasphemy. God promises blessings to those who follow His commandments:”
In todays readings we also hear “Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you this day, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which the Lord your God gives you for ever.” – Deuteronomy 4:40
In these days of darkness when so many are being deceived into living outside of the church which is the Body of Christ, then it becomes dependent on the others to be even more fully committed even to the point of suffering. That is reparation.
We don’t have to overly complicate things though…
Our Blessed Mother, as one who is already fully united to the Trinity tells us in the Blue Book #17 O “ For the present, my beloved sons, pray, love one another, be as little children: let yourselves be formed and guided by me alone.”
“Adoration, then, and love, be to Thee, O Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, O perfect Trinity, that hast vouchsafed to reveal Thyself to mankind; O eternal and infinite Unity, that hast delivered our forefathers from the yoke of their false gods! Glory be to Thee, as it was in the beginning, before any creature existed; as it is now, at this very time, whilst we are living in the hope of that true life, which consists in seeing Thee face-to-face; and as it shall forever be, in those everlasting ages, when a blissful eternity shall have united us in the bosom of Thine infinite Majesty. Amen.”
Fr. Dom Prosper Gueranger
MARY, Mediatrix of all graces!
In order to come to the Light and abide in it, we can not be fully dependent on our own ‘resources’, our own mind and will.
Fr. Jacques Nouet writes, “Saul had received the Spirit of the Lord, but he sought to rule Him according to his own pleasure, and to subject Him to his will, instead of obeying Him. Therefore, “He departed from him,” and “from that day forward He came upon David” (1 Kg 16:13, 14), whom He found more submissive, more obedient, and more “after His own heart” (1 Kg 13:14). Wilt thou have the Spirit of Jesus abide ever with thee? Obey Him ever; let Him reign in thine heart, and let the spirit of the world and of the flesh find no place there.”
An interesting ‘side thought’ … ‘profane’ means ‘not sacred’ … the secular. and ‘to profane’ means to treat with irreverence or disrespect. It’s essentially ‘the spirit of the world’ which as Christians we are called to abandon, and instead cling to the sacred, see God in all things…at all times.
To lack the vision to see the sacred is the ultimate form of blindness. We have been entrusted as members of the Body of Christ to constantly intercede for each other.
“Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects.
My brethren, if any one among you wanders from the truth and some one brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” – James 5:16, 19-20
I’ve recently been feeling a call toward the ‘Holy Face’ devotion, as well as doing the First Five Saturdays. Things that have certainly been within my grasp for quite some time and yet the fervor and grace to fully commit and persevere have been lacking. Since I’m only just now uniting myself to those on this journey of reparation, there’s still so much to learn so I’m a bit reticent of putting my feeble and rambling thoughts into words just yet. But suffice it to say that it seems to me that this is the ultimate intercessory path of healing for the world at large.
“Remember that I alone can provide everything you need for soul and body.
Indeed I lavish my gifts on you in direct proportion to the hope that you place in me.” -Set Aside Every Fear (Catherine of Siena)
It’s all Him… but as Christians that are part of His Body, we become vehicles and conduits of this Amazing Grace… we get to Cooperate with Him and be used by Him, in a way more powerful and beautiful than we can imagine. Just as electricity is everywhere, but through the right wiring it can light up a room when properly connected. We too, when united to the font of grace Himself, can bring His Light to dark places.
The most perfect example of this being Our Blessed Mother. She gave us Jesus… and as one who was already perfectly united to the Holy Trinity, is now where we aspire to be some day. However her role of distributing graces is not finished, and as we consecrate ourselves to her, we become part of her cohort … and her mission is now ours.
Remain Ever in My Heart
In yesterday’s post Let there be Light I wrote what the Lord was showing me about the Light that the Holy Spirit brings into our lives. Today the Lord is taking me deeper into what it actually is.
Another name for this ‘Light’ is ‘Sanctifying grace’. The Catechism of the Catholic Church has the following to say about it.
1999 The grace of Christ is the gratuitous gift that God makes to us of his own life, infused by the Holy Spirit into our soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it. It is the sanctifying or deifying grace received in Baptism. It is in us the source of the work of sanctification:48Therefore if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself.49
2000 Sanctifying grace is an habitual gift, a stable and supernatural disposition that perfects the soul itself to enable it to live with God, to act by his love. Habitual grace, the permanent disposition to live and act in keeping with God’s call, is distinguished from actual graces which refer to God’s interventions, whether at the beginning of conversion or in the course of the work of sanctification.”
So this Sanctifying or “deifying” grace, makes us part of Christ and prepares us for a life lived in Union with His Will… we are saved and get to experience a little bit of heaven here and now, we are in a state of grace …but it’s not a ‘once saved, always saved’ as many other Christians like to believe. We need to choose Him and keep choosing Him… not just in our words but in our actions. So the only thing that removes God from us is sin… mortal sin to be exact. For it to be a mortal sin it requires it to be serious matter, we must know that it is a serious sin and choose to commit it anyway. So in other words we tell God that we don’t want to obey Him and we turn our back and walk away from Him, choosing our own path of self gratification instead.
The effect of mortal sin is it “deprives us of sanctifying grace and consequently of all virtues and supernatural gifts” ~ Fr. Jacques Nouet
What a devastating loss and the majority of humanity so easily throw it away without a second thought. This grace is the pearl of great price.
Fr. Jacques goes on to tell us some of the ways this may happen “Men cast out God from their hearts by blasphemy, lascivious discourse, a desire of revenge, some gross evil-speaking; and you may see them enjoying themselves as if they had lost nothing.”
Blasphemy being; disrespecting, insulting and rejecting the Lord, taking His name in vain. Lascivious discourse is impure or indecent talk, sexual bantering and so forth.
Then in James 5:9 we hear “Do not grumble, brethren, against one another, behold, the judge is standing at the doors.”
The Lord gives it all to us with great love, it is up to us what we will do with it. Do we accept His great gift and reciprocate His love or do we carelessly throw it all away?
I confess to almighty God,
and to you, my brothers and sisters,
that I have greatly sinned
through my thoughts and in my words,
in what I have done, and in what I have
failed to do;
through my fault, through my fault,
through my most grievous fault;
therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin,
all the Angels and Saints,
and you, my brothers and sister,
to pray for me to the Lord our God
Let there be Light
“The fourth sign of the presence of the Holy Ghost is an abundance of light, which He pours into our understanding, to make it capable Of everlasting Truth.” Fr. Jacques Nouet
This light lives in us but it needs to be stirred and fed often… ha… it just brought to mind my sour dough starter… sorry… anyway… God is a polite God and doesn’t just barge in uninvited. We must do our part.
Christianity is a beautiful marriage of the Divine with humanity… giving birth to Christ, the Third person of the Trinity. This is why in Catholicism and in my own life, Marian devotion is so important. She’s not the Savior… but her yes, brought the Savior and all the graces that He came to bring down to us. She’s the Mother of Christ and as such, is the Mother of all who are united to Him… the Church.
So what does this mean for us… well… we are to not only be other Christs on earth… the hands and feet of Jesus… but another Mary. She is the perfect prototype of what each of us are called to be, abiding in total uniformity with the will of God as obedient daughter of the Father, docile spouse of the Holy Spirit, and loving mother of the Son. Although Jesus only became incarnate the once… as we unite ourselves to God and welcome the Light of the Holy Spirit into our lives, then, not only are we ourselves brought to life but we also get the opportunity to bring Christ into this darkened world, that is in such dire need of Him. This is our one, true vocation.
“Recognize, therefore, how essential my light is within you.Without my light you are walking blindly, ignorant of vice and the evil that follows it, ignorant of me and the life-giving virtues that I bring to you. You walk ignorant of your own dignity.” (Set Aside Every Fear ~ Catherine of Siena)
St. Irenaeus tells us that “the glory of God is man fully alive.”
This Light is what gives life to our soul… the more ‘light’ the more alive we are… filled with God’s grace, well prepared to hear His call and strengthened to obey it.
“O how useful, how necessary is this light! so useful, that all our happiness depends upon it; so necessary, that its loss or diminution is the principle of our reprobation.” ~Fr. Jacques Nouet
“Living with this ignorance, living without My light, is the cause of all evil.” ~Set Aside Every Fear (Catherine of Siena)
MMP Blue book #14a “Night has now fallen upon the world, my son. This is the time of darkness, Satan’s hour; this is the time of his greatest triumph.”
The darkness is real, wishing it were otherwise won’t change things. We’re reminded of this every time we turn on the television, scroll through social media or otherwise interact with those who have been wounded by Satan’s daggers… the casualties of sin are immense.
But it’s not the end of the story…
#14b (Blue Book) “How I have accepted with great appreciation your prayer and your suffering offered in reparation for the great outrage, the most horrible blasphemy that has been directed against my Son…”
