Saint Cecilia

Today is the Memorial for St. Cecilia, the Patroness of Musicians. 

The name Cecilia comes from the Latin word that means "blind." She was a virgin and martyr. It is said that she was forced to marry in spite of her vow to remain a virgin.  The wedding feast was held and when the time came for the marriage to be consummated she told her new husband that she was under the protection of an angel and he should not attempt to interfere with her state in life.  For his part, he asked to see the angel.  Cecilia told him that if he went to see Pope Urban and was baptized, he would then be able to see the angel.  Valerian, who was a pagan at this moment, did what she suggested and he saw the angel that was protecting Cecilia.  He now believed and embraced Christianity. 

It was not long after this that Cecilia and her husband refused to sacrifice to the Roman gods.  In Rome, the gods were respected as a tradition.  Most Romans knew that the gods that they worshipped had no real power, but it was part of being a Roman to pay these statues lip service along with a pinch of incense.  Of course, if you were a Christian you would refuse to do this.  They did their best to try to convince you to sacrifice.  After all, they were not barbarians looking to kill innocent people.  Besides, what's a little pinch of incense mean?  Everyone does it.  Well, everyone did not include Cecilia and her husband Valerian.  They were denounced and the husband was the first to be martyred followed by Cecilia.  Legend says that they attempted to smother her but could not so she was turned over to the swordsman who hacked at her head three times and could not cut it off properly.  Legend also says that she lived for several days in this condition but eventually dying a martyrs death.  But why is she the patroness of musicians?  Legend states that at the wedding feast she stayed off by herself and sang hymns of joy in her heart to God.  

So, I can see where the reading about the mother losing her sons is very appropriate to this memorial for Cecilla for like the mother and her sons, she held out and remained loyal to God.  Today I live in the United States, a country that provides by law the freedom to worship as you please.  In the time let to me on this earth I do not think I will be called to be a blood martyr.  But I wonder, don't you, that if presented with the choice of burning a pinch of incense or choosing to die for my faith, which I would choose. As for Cecilia and her husband, perhaps they remembered the old saying, "Be thou faithful unto death and I shall give thee the crown of life."  

PLEASE REMEMBER TO PRAY FOR THE POOR SOULS IN PURGATORY TODAY.  I PRAY FOR MY RELATIVES, FRIENDS WHO HAVE PASSED AWAY, AND ESPECIALLY FOR THE SOUL THAT HAS BEEN THERE THE LONGEST AND WHO HAS NO ONE TO PRAY FOR HIM OR HER.  REMEMBER, AS THEY ARE, SOMEDAY YOU MIGHT BE! 

If You Can't See, Well then Climb a Tree!

At that time Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town.

Now a man there named Zacchaeus,

who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, 

was seeking to see who Jesus was;

but he could not see him because of the crowd,

for he was short in stature. 

So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus,

who was about to pass that way.c

When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said, 

"Zacchaeus, come down quickly,

for today I must stay at your house." 

And he came down quickly and received him with joy. 

When they saw this, they began to grumble, saying, 

"He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner." 

But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord,

"Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor,

and if I have extorted anything from anyone

I shall repay it four times over."

And Jesus said to him,

"Today salvation has come to this house

because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. 

For the Son of Man has come to seek

and to save what was lost."

Today we read the story of Zacchaeus a man of some importance in the town of Jerricho.  The town of Jerricho was an important place because it was from this area that balsam was exported.  Balsam was used to make a rare perfume known as the Balm of Gilead. It was used by young women to attract eligible young men but it also was used to anoint the heads of some of the kings of Israel when the oil that was normally used was not available.  It was said that Jerricho was the only place one could get the genuine balsam.  The product was, therefore, considered very valuable and the Romans stationed a trusted tax-gatherer in this town so not one denarius of tax would escape the emperor's treasury.  The man that they put in place was Zacchaeus who is called a man of small stature.  To be blunt, he was short.  His name in Hebrew means "innocent" or "pure" which is kind of ironic since his chosen occupation was most certainly looked down upon by the people.  Israel could never get used to being subjects of another country.  The Romans were seen as invaders. The Romans for their part did their best to keep the situation calm in this small backwater of the empire, going even so far as to circulate coins that did not depict Caesar on them for the Jews would not even touch those coins as they believed that they were against the commandment of God.  The Romans even put local people in charge of collecting the taxes due to the empire.  They felt that payment would be made with less fuss if a local citizen was in charge of collecting the payment.  They told their collectors how was was due and it was the job of the collector to provide that amount of money to the treasury of Rome.  The people saw it just a bit differently.  They saw the tax collector as a collaborator of Rome, as a sinful man and he enjoyed only the company of other sinners.  Since they were not considered worthy of being friends and neighbors to their friends and neighbors, the tax collectors typically extracted more from the people then was actually due.  These extra funds, to which the Romans turned a blind eye, went to line the pockets of the tax-collectors and many of them were made very wealthy indeed. 

So, here we have Zacchaeus, a despised man who is very short.  He wanted to see Jesus but he could not because he was too short and I would imagine that the people lining the streets did their best to keep the hated puppet of Rome in the back of the line and for once not getting his way.  It must have been a bit of sport for the crowd to irritate the tax man in this manner.  Now, Zacchaeus could have handled this in two ways.  First, he could have just given up, cursing the day he was born a short man.  Second, which is the way he took, he could take his lemons and make lemonade with them!  He rushed ahead and climbed a tree, so great was his desire to see Jesus.  Jesus noticed him and told him that he meant to have dinner with him that day.  Can you imagine how Zacchaeus felt?  He must have been almost giddy with joy.  The people in the town hated him for what he did for a living but the Jesus would come and dine with him.  He made the arrangements and a lavish feast was prepared. In a moment of inspiration, he repented of his sin and told the Lord that he would give half of his possessions to the poor and repay those he had defrauded four-fold.  Jesus saw the goodness in this mans heart and told him that as of this day, salvation had entered the house of Zacchaeus.

What can we learn from this story?  I think that we should always be ready to do whatever is necessary to get closer to Jesus.  If we do this and if we repent of our sins He will come into our homes and stay with us.  No one is so evil that they cannot repent.  While life flows through our veins we are given the opportunity to do what is needed to be a friend of Jesus.  Climb the tree today, the view from the top is magnificent! 

To Defeat Darkness, Bring in the Light.

"Concerning times and seasons, brothers and sisters, you have no need for anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief at night. When people are saying, "Peace and security, " then sudden disaster comes upon them, like labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.  But you,  brothers and sisters are not in darkness, for that day to overtake you  ]like a thief. For all of you are children of the light and children of the day.We are not of the night or of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us stay alert and sober."    ( 1 Thes 5 1-6)

Did you ever notice that the places where sin more easily is accomplished tend to be dark places, places out of the way, or places not in public view?  For example, if a person decides that they want to get drunk the often will go to a bar. Most bars, not all, maintain their lighting at the level of dusk.  When we decide to sin we do not need to have what we are doing to be brought out into the light for public examination. So, as we drink, the low level of light relaxes us and as the liquor relieves our inhibitions the darkness opens up a whole new range of possible things that we would never think of doing if we were sober.  I am not saying that everyone who goes into a bar is a sinner, I am saying that a dark bar does make it easier to cast away your good intentions and the morals you were brought up with.  The point is darkness is the most likely place where sin will be committed by us.  If not the darkness in a bar, then perhaps it will occur in the darkness of a soul that has turned away from God.  For the devil to work, darkness must be present for God is Light and where God is, the devil is not. 

We do not know the moment when we will be called home to God.  If all of our deeds were performed in darkness then that day will come upon us like a thief in the night.  We will not be ready for it and when standing before the Great Judge we will not be able to offer an explanation why we loved the darkness more than the light.  In our reading today, we are being challenged to always live in the light. But we must do more.  Our light found in our souls, the light that is Jesus, has to be shared with those that dwell in darkness.  Those in the dark cannot see past the end of their nose unless we come by and show them the light of Christ.

Imagine this.  You are in a place of complete darkness, a cave that is hundreds of feet underground.  Sunlight has never penetrated this gloom.  You have a bright torch and as you walk you can see that the walls of this cave are riddled with gold, there is a fortune there for the taking.  Then you come upon a man who is sitting on a rock wearing a blindfold.  You approach him and ask him what he is doing there. He responds that he is just living his life.  You reach up and remove his blindfold and he is amazed that for all these long years in darkness, he was sitting right next to a treasure.  He thanks us for this revelation and as we walk away we can see the man's inner light start to grow as he sees Jesus in us and his heart reaches out and embraces the Son of God. 

Those of us who believe, trust, and live in Jesus can work wonders in this world of ours.  It is such a sad world.  People are putting their trust in things that will rust.  They need for us to show them the light of Jesus.  We must attract them by showing them how wonderful life can be because we know the Son of God and more than that, He knows us and considers us a friend. 

One place where we can share the light of Christ where it will always be appreciated is to share it with the Poor Souls in Purgatory.  True, they are assured heaven.  True, they have proven themselves worthy of heaven by the lives that they have lived on earth.  But they need our prayers and they will not forget those that help them attain heaven sooner.  There is a lot you can do for them.  Click on the link below and find 20 things you can do to help the Poor Souls in Purgatory.   The link will open in a new tab. 

20 Ways To Pray for the Poor Souls In Purgatory

Keep On Keeping On

Jesus told his disciples a parable
about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary. 
He said, "There was a judge in a certain town
who neither feared God nor respected any human being. 
And a widow in that town used to come to him and say,
'Render a just decision for me against my adversary.'
For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought,
'While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being
because this widow keeps bothering me
I shall deliver a just decision for her
lest she finally come and strike me.'" 
The Lord said, "Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says. 
Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones
who call out to him day and night? 
Will he be slow to answer them? 
I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily. 
But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

We have to keep praying for what we need.  Asking once may not be enough.  In the parable, the judge keeps putting the woman off and she for her part does not give up.  I can imagine that every day the judge would be on his way to court, clutching his hot cup of Starbucks and his papers anxious to get on with another day of taking advantage of the law to line his pockets.  Then he passes this lady's house and out she comes, her mouth going at a hundred miles an hour and the breeze caused by her voice is cooling the hot caramel latte the judge is clutching in his hand. He swiftly walks by her and gets on with his day. The next day, he is confronted again by the lady, and on Wednesday yet again.  He rightly surmises that this issue is not going to go away and he knows that the case is really one that is open and shut, black letter law in her favor.  She is starting to be an annoyance and he is afraid that she will do him or his family harm.  So, he issues a ruling in favor of the woman just to shut her up.
Jesus is telling us that if an unjust judge can be badgered into doing his job and he has no fear of God or man, then your Father in heaven will rush to help you if you ask.  But we must be very persistent and faithful in our asking.  God loves us so very much that He will do everything He can to assure us a place in heaven.  Every grace and favor will be ours if we but ask.  We cannot do it alone and we were never meant to do it alone.  Even before the fall, God visited Adam and Eve in the garden in the cool of the evening.  He wants to help us so all we have to do is ask.

Please remember the Poor Souls in Purgatory in your prayers today.  They need our help and will remember those that help them.  Besides, as they are perhaps one day we shall be! 

Just Look Around You !

All men were by nature foolish who were in ignorance of God,

and who from the good things seen did not succeed in knowing him who is,

and from studying the works did not discern the artisan;

 

 

 

Do you want to know God?  Start by becoming familiar with the beauty of His works, nature but by all means, do not stop there, look at those whom he has put into your life - your family, your friends, strangers, men, and women from distant lands, all of these too are wrought by his mighty hand and all these people there to teach you his ways and to fill you with wonder at the glory he shares with His children. 

JUST LOOK AROUND YOU AND PRAISE GOD FOR HIS INFINITE WISDOM AND GOODNESS! 

Wake Up Rulers of the World! WISDOM

Hear, O kings, and understand;
learn, you magistrates of the earth's expanse!
Hearken, you who are in power over the multitude
and lord it over throngs of peoples!
Because authority was given you by the Lord
and sovereignty by the Most High,
who shall probe your works and scrutinize your counsels.
Because, though you were ministers of his kingdom, you judged not rightly,
and did not keep the law,
nor walk according to the will of God,
Terribly and swiftly shall he come against you,
because judgment is stern for the exalted–
For the lowly may be pardoned out of mercy
but the mighty shall be mightily put to the test.
For the Lord of all shows no partiality,
nor does he fear greatness,
Because he himself made the great as well as the small,
and he provides for all alike;
but for those in power a rigorous scrutiny impends.
To you, therefore, O princes, are my words addressed
that you may learn wisdom and that you may not sin.
For those who keep the holy precepts hallowed shall be found holy,
and those learned in them will have ready a response.
Desire therefore my words;
long for them and you shall be instructed.

If you want to keep your friends, do not discuss religion or politics.  Well, this blog is about religion, in general Christianity and specifically Roman Catholicism but in general, I do not attack political issues in this blog except in the most general terms.  Today, because the Church has given us the eleven verses from Wisdom that I quote above, I just have to make what will sound like political pronouncements but I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat in this blog and it is a fact that I do not trust most politicians as far as I could throw them against a force five hurricane.  

In America, we pride ourselves on the separation of Church and State. The framers of the constitution meant that to mean that the government would establish no official religion and that we would be free to worship God in any manner that we thought appropriate or we could choose to not worship at all and the state would take no position on it.  That is as far as the constitution goes as it addresses religion.  We, of course, have taken it to an extreme.  There are people out there who are against any kind of religious expression what-so-ever and will take you to court to make sure that no religious statues or displays sully any public land. But these are not the people that Wisdom is speaking about today. 

In our reading, we are told that those in power have that power only because God has given it to them and they are to use it for the good of the people that they are over.  Look how far we as a people, and I mean the world, not just the United States, leaders in many countries have led the fight to legalize things that we know offend God greatly such as abortion and so-called same-sex marriage.  These are two examples of how the leaders of many countries are leading the way to the day when lawlessness becomes the law of the land.   Wisdom says that the powerless will receive mercy but the powerful will receive a powerful judgment against them because they have used their authority for evil and not for the good of their charges. 

But what are the consequences to these great men and women, these princes, and princesses of the earth?  If they follow the principles of God in their dealings with their people God will be there to help and strengthen them but if they do not, well, they will be on their own. 

I do have to make an observation about the United States of America, the land I live in, the land that I love.  Today, our Senators and Congressmen are leeches sucking the very vitality out of the people that elected them to the office.  They have forgotten the very concept of service and hold to principles of the party first and America second.  When they have acted in recent times, their actions took no account of right or wrong based on the morals that America has always followed.  President Obama busied himself with making it impossible for people to follow their conscience when it came to things such as contraception and he spent an awful lot of time making sure that abortion was funded with public money and he spent many hours writing decrees stating which public bathroom we could use.  Today, when it comes to President Trump, I have no idea as to where he is leading the nation.  I can say that he is more protective of the unborn and has proven himself a friend of people of conscience but he willy-nilly plows through things accepting only his version of the truth no matter what the evidence proves.  His world is a looney tuney world that is going to wreak havoc on the prestige of the United States.  What he has going for him is that he is not a professional politician and perhaps this first year or so of on the job training will pay dividends later, maybe, we will see. 

The mighty of this world need to get in touch with God and govern justly and walk in right paths.  If a country ever gets a leader that can do that, they will be unstoppable.  For those of us on the bottom of the food chain, please, pray for our senators, congressmen (women), judges, mayors, councilman, and all those in authority that they might seek and find wisdom from God above and turn this world into what it was meant to be. 

Please pray for the poor souls in Purgatory.  Remember, as they are, perhaps, one day you shall be...

A Servant's Work Is Never Done

Jesus said to the Apostles:
"Who among you would say to your servant
who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field,
'Come here immediately and take your place at table'?
Would he not rather say to him,
'Prepare something for me to eat.
Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink.
You may eat and drink when I am finished'?
Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded?
So should it be with you.
When you have done all you have been commanded, say,
'We are unprofitable servants;
we have done what we were obliged to do.'"

This passage from the Gospel of Luke is not one of my favorites.  In the "make you feel good scale" where one indicates a real bummer and ten puts you on cloud nine, I would rate this as a three. Now, just because I don't like it doesn't mean I don't appreciate what it says.

It is part of human nature to place a premium value on the time we have expended and effort made to complete a task.  For example, a movie star works for six solid weeks on the next blockbuster hit that will make him or her the talk around the dinner table nationwide, at least that is what they think.  The movie comes out and it is panned by the critics and people stay away from it in droves and the movie is quickly forgotten by all but the star of the same.  He or she worked very hard and did not get the recognition that they felt that they deserved.  Oh, did I mention, they were paid six million dollars for their part?  So this person held his/her labor at one sport on the spectrum while others did not hold it in such esteem.  But they were paid the wages that they agreed to accept for their work and that should make an end of it but inside the star was looking for more. 

In our relationship with Christ, we must always be ready to do more.  Even if we follow faithfully absolutely everything He tells us to do, we are doing only the minimum.  We have to be ready to come in from the fields and serve Christ.  There was no saint that was more cognizant of this fact than St. Francis of Assisi.  Francis worked his whole life building up his order of poor men.  His time was all spoken for,  He prayed late into the night and considered his welfare secondary to the welfare of his brothers.  When his time on earth was almost over, he told his brothers, "Let us begin now, for until now we have done nothing."  

Please Read, Please Help the Poor Souls in Purgatory 

We have a very loving God.  He sent us His only Son who took upon Himself all of the sins of the world, past, present, and the sins yet to be committed.  All of these sins were forgiven when Jesus died on the Cross.  For this, we must be forever grateful.  But, if Jesus died and all sins were forgiven why would a place like Purgatory be needed?  Isn't this slapping the crucified Christ and telling Him that His saving death was not enough?  Actually, no.  Read further and hopefully, my poor attempt at an explanation will help you understand.

Once I was playing softball in a vacant lot across from my childhood home.  In Chicago, we play Clincher softball.  A Clincher is a large softball and it is played using underhand slow pitch. I was up at bat and the pitcher sent me a beautiful pitch, it was coming in low and slow, just where I liked them to be.  I swung the bat but was a bit too early and I tipped the ball to the first base side and it hit the fence of the house behind our field and went through a window making a crash that I swear was heard around the world.  Suddenly, I was the only person standing in the field.  There was no point in running away, the neighbor knew who played in the field.  He came out and surveyed the damage.  I looked at him and was very scared. He saw I was alone and said to not worry, that this could be fixed. and that I was forgiven because accidents happen.  He measured the window and said he would be back soon with the glass.  Shortly he came back and he removed the broken pieces, laid in a fresh bead of putty and the window was as good as new.  He then turned to me and gave me the receipt for the glass and asked if I would please ask my parents to give me the money for the glass.  I looked at the receipt, it was for five whole dollars - a fortune for a kid who was making twenty-five cents a week for an allowance.  I gulped and went to see my Dad. There was no sense in seeing Mom about this, she would just send me to Dad.  He said he saw what happened, looked at the receipt and pulled out his wallet and gave me the five dollars.  He did not holler, he said accidents happen and he would front the money and I could do extra chores to pay him back. 

So in our little story, we have an offense, a broken piece of glass.  We have repair of the issue and forgiveness, but we still had to deal with repaying my father for the money the glass cost.  I was forgiven, but the effect on the family budget had to be cured, I had to restore what I had broken. These extra chores can be likened in a very imperfect way to purgatory.  We all sin on earth and our sins are all forgiven but we have left on our soul the effects of our sins. The sin is gone, but the stain, caused by our attachment to sin, remains.  It is this stain that those of us in Purgatory are getting rid of.  Heaven is a place where no evil is allowed to exist because it is a place where we see God face to face.  

When we die in the grace of God, we will still have all of these stains that have to be bleached out. For example, when you died, you hated George because he stole your pencil (or whatever) and you left earth with this on your soul.  What would happen if you met George in heaven?  Discord at the very least would follow.  So you, yourself, will choose to go to purgatory because in your love for God you will know that this burden needs to be fully released.  

Purgatory is a painful place.  The pain comes from the fire of God's love and your longing to be with Him in heaven.  Purgatory is also a joyful place because all of the people there know that at one point in the future this suffering will end and they will be with God in heaven.  The souls in Purgatory pray unceasingly. The sad part is that they cannot pray themselves out of Purgatory.  The time for making up for temporal punishment for sins is while we are on earth through our prayers and sacrifices.  So the Poor Souls, some who have been there for centuries as we reckon time, need our help, our prayers, and our sacrifices to help them escape Purgatory and enter heaven earlier than they might if depending on themselves. Purgatory is a joyful place.  If you were to offer a poor soul the chance to come back to earth, he or she would reject that choice because of the great happiness they feel at being assured that they cannot offend God anymore and that soon they will be with Him face to face. That joy is greater than any joy we can experience on earth. 

How can we help them?  Well, we can offer our own prayers and sacrifices and we can offer them our mass attendance and the grace from every time we take the Holy Eucharist. The Mass and the Eucharist are the most efficient ways.  From the website "Our Catholic Prayers"  A link to their website is below. 

In purgatory, the souls of many of those who have died in God’s grace undergo purification so that they may enter heaven. The Prayer of St. Gertrude, below, is one of the most famous of the prayers for souls in purgatory. St. Gertrude the Great (pictured at left) was a Benedictine nun and mystic who lived in the 13th century. According to tradition, our Lord promised her that 1000 souls would be released from purgatory each time it is said devoutly.

 

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

Our Catholic Prayers WEbsite