20th Tuesday English: the feast of St. Pius X

This homily was given at St. Francis de Sales.  The Gospel was from Mt 19:23-30.  It is difficult for the Rich to enter Heaven because we think ourselves to be God.  With humility as St. Pius had, however, we will overcome and enter Heaven through the narrow gate. 

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St. Pius X and the Rosary

St. Pius X had an incredible love for the Blessed Mother.  He saw that it was by going to her that we would come more closely to Our Lord Jesus.  He says:

"The Rosary...is the prayer that touches most the heart of the Mother of God...and if you wish peace to reign in your homes, recite the family rosary."  

Imagine how busy a priest would be...then a bishop...and not just that but the Bishop of Rome, the Pope himself, and yet to make time to pray the Rosary in such a way as to understand that it is the prayer that leads us most closely to the heart of Mary.  He understood what many of us have experienced for ourselves and wish for others to experience, that the Rosary is a powerful weapon but also a chain of love that binds our hearts to Hers.

His love for her was in prayer but it was also on the intellectual level.  He published an encyclical honoring Our Lady's Immaculate Conception and stating clearly that:

"...there is no surer or more direct road than by Mary for uniting all mankind in Christ and obtaining through Him the perfect adoption of sons.." You can read more of the Encyclical here: On the 50th Anniversary of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception There is nothing more beautiful than to have a man who is placed in such a position of influence and power and yet to completely submit himself not only to Jesus but also to His Mother and so give us an incredible example of the tender love that we should for so tender a Mother.

St. Ignatius of Loyola & Our Lady

Many recognize St. Ignatius for his incredible contribution to discernment of God's will and spiritual retreats, however, many do not know that he had a quite spectacular encounter with Our Lady that allowed him to become the saint that we know him to be.  

Read and meditate on what is written in his Autobiography:

"The vain thoughts were gradually lessened by means of these desires—desires that were not a little

strengthened by the following vision. While watching one night he plainly saw the image of the Blessed

Mother of God with the Infant Jesus, at the sight of which, for a considerable time, he received abundant

consolation, and felt such contrition for his past life that he thought of nothing else. From that time until

August, 1555, when this was written, he never felt the least motion of concupiscence. This privilege we may suppose from this fact to have been a divine gift, although we dare not state it, nor say anything except

confirm what has been already said. His brother and all in the house recognized from what appeared

externally how great a change had taken place in his soul."

We must understand that he had already had his initial conversion after his injury from battle and he had already begun to experience and formulate what would later become the Spiritual Exercises.  Prior to this apparition, he had entered a period of reparation for his past sins, which included fasting and scourging himself.  These would have been considered quite normal for any ascetic at the time.  What we can understand from this experience of St. Ignatius is the importance of Chastity and Our Lady's role in bringing us to that point.  The Scriptures are quite clear when the Psalms say "Who can climb the mountain of the Lord? The man with clean hands and a pure heart..." (Psalm 24)

Notice that this was not given to him simply as the result of his effort; his effort merely laid the groundwork for this incredible and free gift that was given to him by God through Our Lady.  Just as Our Lady's Immaculate Conception was the foundation for her mission in her life, so too was this gift of chastity essential for St. Ignatius establishing the Jesuits as well as giving us the Spiritual Exercises.  Is this any surprise, since our God is a God of Love and love is above all things pure and chaste.

In every major religion of the world, we see a great desire to commune with the Divine and to climb that difficult mountain.  The gift of Chastity is the most difficult obstacle for every human to overcome since it is ultimately the work of God to overcome our lusts and sinful desires.  The only thing that we can do is prepare the groundwork to receive this gift from the hands of Our Lady.

Let us imitate the example of St. Ignatius, atone for our sins and lay the groundwork for God to give us this magnificent gift of chastity through the most pure and holy hands of Our Blessed Mother.

Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel

The Scapular and the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel give us something very important to think about.  First of all, we begin with Mt. Carmel, a mountain in Jerusalem near Mt. Tabor or the place where Jesus was transfigured.  Ever since the prophet Elijah, this has been a place of prayer for hermits and other ascetics.  Somewhere in the 1200s, St. Simon Stock received an apparition of our Lady where she promised to release from Purgatory on the Saturday after their death, those that were part of his religious community and were faithful to chastity. 

Over time, this developed in the Scapular for Lay People since they wanted to have the same benefits that was given to the Carmelites.  This devotion, therefore, is very old and gives us a very important grace from God.  What does it involve?  Simply wear a blessed scapular, live chastity according to your state in life whether married or not, and offer Our Lady some prayer (Hail Marys or the Salve Regina). 

For those that are more aware of the demand of holiness from our God, they realized quickly that this is a very easy way for us to avoid the necessary purifying of Purgatory once we die.  You see, nothing imperfect can enter Heaven, and so if we die in a state of grace (no mortal sin) and yet still have some venial sins or impoerfections on our soul, then God will purify through the fires of Purgatory.  Let me put it this way, the last time you tried to remove an imperfection or flaw from your behavior, did if feel good?  NO WAY.  Imagine how it will feel in Purgatory!!!! So this is a very generous mercy that God gives us to through our Lady. 

Some people might respond that this sounds a bit too mechanical, superstitious, or presuming an overly severe God.  I would respond quite the opposite!  God is merciful, but his mercy takes on concrete forms: such as the brown scapular that we are here mentioning.  His mercy becomes tangible through these sacramentals and prayers that we can offer up on a daily basis.  And mechanical? No WAY! You try living a chaste life and tell ME if it is mechanical!! It is a life that is filled with God's love and driven by the Holy Spirit.  Let us take up with renewed faith this beautiful and ancient devotion to Our Lady! 

The Virgin Mary: Perfect Instrument of Jesus

The saints were ones who were given a special privilege to God but also chose in a high degree to give themselves and love God. Each 'yes' of the saint is 'yes' to different aspects of God since God is infinite and not simply binary. He is, so to speak, of an infinite amount of colors and different saints focused on different aspects or colors of God. The way this translates is that there are saints that are patrons of different countries, different careers, or different situations in life. Since everything that is created is a reflection of the infinity of God, those that had a particular love for some aspect of creation consequently had a particular love for that 'reflection' of God. So if you really love the people of China over and above other people, you will also love that particular aspect of God in a way that is more than others who loved other aspects of God. That's why some saints have more influence with certain situations than others because in their life they had a special dedication to that specific situation. So if you choose, for instance, to love animals with a particular love on Earth, this will affect the love that you have access to in Heaven, since you chose to love the aspect of God that is reflected in animals. There are saints that loved with such an intense love that they have more universal love that is able to cover more people. Examples would be the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph. They had a love for God that encompassed a wider variety of aspects of the creation than most other saints, therefore they have more influence in Heaven since they loved more universally on Earth. So if we think of God's infinity in terms of the spectrum of light...those that opened their hearts more widely on Earth will be able to allow more of God's light (in terms of spectrum) shine from Heaven. What is the role then of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She is able to allow a greater outpouring of God's light for several reasons. Due to the special gift of her Immaculate Conception, she has a superabundant freedom and ability to say yes to God and so to love His creation in a way far above that of other humans. So in this way, Mary had a head start, in that she required no healing of her ability to say yes to God. She had no interior stumbling blocks in embracing all that is a part of the mystery of God. Let's come up with a simple analogy to help explain the difference between Mary and the other saints. If Jesus is a race car driver and we are cars, then it seems that he wants to drive us past the finish line. We will finish the race depending on how fast we can go but also how little time we need to re-fill on gas and fix the car. If we require constant fill-ups and constant engine check-ups, then we will finish the race but while taking a very long time. If we have nothing to fix and are fuel-efficient, then we will finish the race at the time that is appropriate for us. So while the other cars are not as fuel efficient and are missing certain parts or have defective parts, Mary is both fuel-efficient and in perfect working condition. Therefore she can finish the race before many of us can even get ourselves started. She finishes the race so fast, that she can drive Jesus back and forth to help those that have blown out tires, have run out of gas, or haven't even started the race. In this way, we can say that Mary is the Co-Redemptrix, in that she was so effectively healed by Christ at her conception that she was a true vehicle for bringing forth God's grace into the world. Now while Jesus could have finished the race without use of a car, out of love for Mary he allowed her to be a instrument of his power.

Mary: Virgin Mother

The Church teaches and believes that the Blessed Virgin Mary is in fact that: a virgin before, during, and after the birth of Jesus. What is the significance for us in our lives? Is this just a teaching that is important to nuns or priests? What is God doing through Mary, that will also affect us?

It will be important for us to understand that Mary's Virginity is completely the initiative of God. This is something that is given to her as a gift in order to establish a type of new creation. Mary's perpetual virginity is closely connected to the reality that she is redeemed by Christ in a completely unique and singular way. What does this mean? The Church knows that Christ became incarnate in order to restore creation to its original beauty. After all, if there was nothing wrong with the world and there was no sin, then it wouldn't have needed a savior.

Christ, through his suffering on the Cross and through a complete gift, redeemed Mary to such a degree that she became as Paul says a new creation. So in this way, Mary is like an icon of the Garden of Eden, the original creation. What God created when he made the garden of Eden, he re-created when he made the Virgin Mary. Just as the Garden of Eden, Mary was completely in harmony with God. There was nothing keeping her separate from God nor was there anything that would enter into her that would keep her from God. So in this way, her Virginity speaks loudly about her 'untouched' nature just as we speak of the "Virgin Islands". Why are they the Virgin Islands? Because of their pristine nature.

This took Mary an incredible amount of faith and shows her wonderful gift of self to God. There was no way that she could understand what God wanted to do with her, since she had never seen it or experienced it before. God wanted to make her a 'new creation', and she completely allowed and trusted in his hand. How did she have the strength to give herself completely to God? We can understand that in being redeemed even before her birth, she was given a freedom that was truly free. She was fully free to say yes to God.

The Church is called to be like a new Garden of Eve. This is first true in the Blessed Virgin Mary. She is like a spiritual "Virgin Islands" and we are called to travel there to bask in the waters, to walk on the pristine sand, to enjoy the sweet tropical fruits...in a word to allow this Virgin land to 'mother' us. And who do we find dwelling in this Garden? The same gardener that Mary Magdalene found...Jesus is the gardener who is dwelling in the midst of its beauty, waiting for us to find him. Mary is where we go for vacation, for prayer, and for rest. She is always there to be like a 'home country' where we find Jesus walking in the breezy time of the day...

The disobedience of Eve & the obedience of Mary

Why was Eve disobedient? Why did Mary disobey? God is a God of love and not an evil genius that delights in our uncertainty. He gives us many signs under the guise of our ordinary life.

The Fathers of the Church will say that the whole of the universe is waiting for the "yes" of Mary.

What preceded Eve's disobedient was disbelief because perhaps she felt that she knew better than what God had to say. Mary on the other hand felt that she didn't know better and that she had in fact every right to trust in God. What a struggle we have in choosing between Eve and Mary. The early Church fathers saw the Virgin Mary as the new Eve, the new mother of all the living.

In today's class we compared and spoke much about the difference between the two. On a very simple level, Eve was disobedient and Mary was obedient. This leads us to ask several questions but most importantly 'what was behind their decisions?' We believe that Even was created perfectly and so why did she disobey God whom she knew so well? What becomes apparent is that she disobeyed God first because she began to lose faith and trust in him. The devil in Genesis is shown to strike at her relationship with God. He wanted her to believe that God was somehow sinister and did not want the good for her. *This is so much like our hearts! We struggle to come closer to God because as we come closer, we realize how mysterious and unknown he is to us. God is a mystery and there is always more to learn and know about him.

Therefore, God causes much fear in us because he is like an abyss of light...although He is light...there is so much that we are afraid to dive in... It seems that there are two fundamental reactions to God...to be afraid or to trust...once we fear...we distrust...and then we disobey...which is the path of Eve. When we choose to release our fear...we trust..and then we obey...which is the path of Mary. Clearly, this courage that we are invited to have before God is only something that can be given to us as a Grace.