Wisdom from the Saints: The Sermons of the Curé of Ars (14th Sunday after Pentecost)

If people would do for God what they do for the world, my dear people, what a great number of Christians would go to Heaven! But if you, dear children, had to pass three or four hours praying in a church, as you pass them at a dance or in a cabaret, how heavily the time would press upon you! If you had to go to a great many different places in order to hear a sermon, as you go for your pastimes or to satisfy your avarice and greed, what pretexts there would be, and how many detours would be taken to avoid going at all. But nothing is too much trouble when done for the world. What is more, people are not afraid of losing either God or their souls or Heaven. With what good reason did Jesus Christ, my dear people, say that the children of this world are more zealous in serving their master, the world , than the children of light are in serving theirs, who is God. To our shame, we must admit that people fear neither expense, nor even going into debt, when it is a matter of satisfying their pleasures, but if some poor person asks them for help, they have nothing at all. This is true of so many: they have everything for the world and nothing at all for God because to them, the world is everything and God is nothing.

Excerpt from this sermon was taken from Una Morrissy, trans. The Sermons of the Curé of Ars (Rockford, IL: Tan Books and Publishers, 1995), 16.

Amidst the undercover videos, NOW defends Planned Parenthood, accusing CMP of the "Big Lie" technique - but who's really using the "Big Lie" technique?

I recently came across the official statement of Terry O'Neill, who is president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), that defends Planned Parenthood in light of the undercover videos revealing Planned Parenthood's illegal work of harvesting and selling of body parts of aborted babies. The full statement, entitled "Video Attacks on Planned Parenthood Don’t Fool Us And They Shouldn’t Fool Congress," can be found here.

I was shocked by the accusation by O'Neill laid against the group that created and publicized the videos. She said,

We can’t—and we won’t—respond to every “attack of the day” video that spreads the lie that Planned Parenthood sells parts from aborted fetuses for profit.  This is the classic “Big Lie” technique of repeating a salacious, made-up allegation enough times until people start to believe it.

 O'Neill later concludes,

No one should be fooled by this campaign of lies, distortion and hate-fueled rhetoric.  The videos are phony and the accusations they contain will wither under scrutiny.  We’ve got enough phony news coming from the likes of Donald Trump.  Instead of giving oxygen to this video attack on Planned Parenthood, we should change the channel.

First of all, watch the videos. They speak for themselves. What lie are the investigators (The Center for Medical Progress, or CMP) speaking when it is Planned Parenthood's senior staff and executives themselves who, plainly and simply, speak of collecting and selling body parts of aborted babies? Again, the videos speak for themselves. No wonder O'Neill says, "We can’t—and we won’t—respond to every 'attack of the day' video," for the only next logical step would be admit the veracity of what's said, not by CMP but by the confessions made by Planned Parenthood's own executives.

As for the "Big Lie" technique, look who's talking. I only gave a sample of O'Neill calling CMP liars, but it's all over her statement. It is O'Neill, not CMP, who uses, in her words, "the classic 'Big Lie' technique of repeating a salacious, made-up allegation enough times until people start to believe it." Here's O'Neill in her short statement "repeating a salacious, made-up allegation enough times until people start to believe it" (the following emphases were added):

...an anti-abortion group purporting [emphasis added] to reveal unethical practices at Planned Parenthood...

...abortion opponents probably have gathered thousands of hours of deceptively gathered video... 

Their ultimate goal is not simply to embarrass Planned Parenthood, but to concoct a tissue of lies that Congress can use to further roll back reproductive rights...

...“attack of the day” video that spreads the lie that Planned Parenthood sells parts from aborted fetuses for profit.

No one should be fooled by this campaign of lies, distortion and hate-fueled rhetoric.

The videos are phony...

To O'Neill's audience, I say, watch the videos and decide for yourself. But wait, O'Neill doesn't want you to watch the videos: "Instead of giving oxygen to this video attack on Planned Parenthood, we should change the channel." Instead of watching the videos, O'Neill only wants you to hear her "repeating a salacious, made-up allegation enough times until people start to believe it."

So who really is using the "Big Lie" technique: CMP or O'Neill?

Wisdom from the Saints: The Sermons of the Curé of Ars (13th Sunday after Pentecost)

When will it be time to come for Holy Communion? Listen to St. John Chrysostom. He himself is going to tell us when it will be time for Holy Communion. Is it Easter, at Pentecost, at Christmas? No, he tells us. Is it at the point of death? No, he tells us again. When is it then? It is, he says to us, when we have renounced sin for good and al, and are fully resolved, with the help of God's grace, not to fall into it again.

Excerpt from this sermon was taken from Una Morrissy, trans. The Sermons of the Curé of Ars (Rockford, IL: Tan Books and Publishers, 1995), 124.

Wisdom from the Saints: The Sermons from the Curé of Ars (12th Sunday after Pentecost)

All of our religion is but a false religion and all our virtues are mere illusions and we ourselves are only hypocrites in the sight of God if we have not that universal charity for everyone, for the good and for the bad, for the poor people as well as for the rich, for all those who do us harm as much as for those who do us good.

No, my dear brethren, there is no virtue which will let us know better whether we are the children [of] God than charity. The obligation we have to love our neighbor is so important that Jesus Christ put it into a Commandment which He placed immediately after that by which He commands us to love Him with all our hearts. He tells us that all the law and the prophets are included in this commandment to love our neighbor. Yes, my dear brethren, we must regard this obligation as the most universal, the most necessary and the most essential to religion and to our salvation.

Excerpts from this sermon was taken from Una Morrissy, trans. The Sermons of the Curé of Ars (Rockford, IL: Tan Books and Publishers, 1995), 166.

Mary: Model of Perfect Discipleship

We fly to thy patronage, O holy Mother of God;

despise not our petitions in our necessities,

but deliver us always from all dangers,

O glorious and blessed Virgin. Amen.

What I appreciate about traditional church architecture is its ability to communicate the faith to its visitors. You see, for much of history, the vast majority of people were illiterate. The Church, then, in designing worship spaces, constructed churches in such a way as to catechize the faithful. Hence, the floorplan, the dimensions, the building material, the statues, the art, and so forth, were not empty in meaning. They were the “books,” so to speak, that the faithful read in order to learn their faith.

Several years ago, I visited a church in San Diego, CA called St. Mary Magdalene’s. Walking into the church, I had to tilt my head back – in a way that high ceilings command its occupants to do – and I couldn’t help but notice that it was designed as an upside-down ship hull. This design taught what the early Church knew so well: the Church is like a ship.[1] Apparently, the design of the upside-down ship hull has made an impression on the lexicon of church architecture, as the middle of church buildings – no matter how it is designed – is still called the nave, from the Latin navis, which means “ship.”

Like a ship at sea, we, the Church, are on a journey, in particular, we are on a journey toward heaven. However, this is not an easy journey. Like a ship at sea, the Church also experiences storms and is at risk of being capsized. The tempestuous storms of temptation and worldliness and the ship-turning threats of sin and vice try to steer us away from our heavenly destination.

In the midst of these dark storms, we have a guiding light: Mary, the Star of the Sea (Stella Maris). Given the date of the Sub Tuum Praesidium (3^rd century), as well as the original Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore (5^th century),[2] Mary, the Mother of God, has been for centuries a bright star guiding the Pilgrim Church at sea toward her Son, Jesus, our Lord and Savior.

At the wedding at Cana, when there was no more wine, Mary told the servants, “Do whatever he [Jesus] tells you” (Jn 2:5). Mary’s words reveal a fundamental orientation that characterizes the whole of Mary’s life, both in the Gospels and in the Church from its beginnings to the present-day: she always leads us to hear and do whatever Jesus tells us. Therefore, in this talk, I will briefly examine three events of Mary’s life in light of the Gospels and Church tradition: the Annunciation of the Angel Gabriel to Mary, Mary at the Foot of the Cross, and Mary’s first encounter with her resurrected Son. In these three events, I will focus on three characteristics of Christian discipleship that Mary perfectly modeled: embracing the will of God, perseverance, and contemplation. By examining these three events, I hope that we can once again be guided by this “Star of the Sea” and better orient our lives toward Jesus, without whom there is no salvation.

At the conclusion of the Angel Gabriel’s visit to Mary, announcing the vocation of Mary’s motherhood to the Savior, Mary said, “I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). This phrase is oftentimes summarized in the Latin word fiat, literally, “let it be done.” Mary’s fiat was a complete embrace of God’s will. In our culture, where abortion is commonplace (an average of nearly 4,000 abortions occur every day in the United States alone), our minds have been formed into separating conception from motherhood. A baby in the womb does not mean you have to be a mother, says our culture. Mary’s vocation to conceive Jesus, however, was not merely a nine-month contract. It was a vocation to motherhood. What Mary embraced in following God’s will was not temporary. In fact, it is eternal. My mother will always be my mother. Your mother will always be your mother. Jesus’s mother will always be His mother.

Wouldn’t it be such an honor, a blessing, to be the mother of Jesus? Of course. However, her motherhood alone is not what makes Mary blessed. Luke 11:27-28 reads, “A woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to [Jesus], ‘Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked!’ But he said, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!’” Mary’s hearing of the word of God, through the Angel Gabriel, and keeping it is what makes her blessed.[3]

Mary’s fiat teaches us that our discipleship to Jesus is not temporary. It is a complete embrace of God’s will, an embrace that lasts for eternity. Like Mary’s fiat, our own fiat to God should not be dictated by any voice other than God’s and His messengers. In the words of St. Peter, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).

At the foot of the cross, Mary fully experienced what the Prophet Simeon prophesied nearly 33 years earlier: “a sword will pierce through your own soul” (Lk 2:35). The Church’s public worship, that is, the liturgy, has directed the faithful to reflect on Mary at the foot of the cross. The liturgical calendar dedicates a feast day to Our Lady of Sorrows on September 15. In the old liturgical calendar, still in effect wherever the traditional Latin Mass is offered, Our Lady of Sorrows, specifically, the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady, has two feast days a year: the Friday before Palm Sunday and the 3^rd Sunday of September. That has been the practice, beginning with local Missals, since the 15^th century. [4] The Stabat Mater, a hymn about the Sorrowful Mother, has been given beautiful musical scores from many classical composers. The hymn is also traditionally sung during the Stations of the Cross. The famous Pieta of Michelangelo, residing in none other than St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, attempts to depict this overwhelming emotional event in the Gospel.

Why this interest in Mary at the foot of the cross? It shows us what perseverance in Christian discipleship looks like. Mary’s fiat is constant, even at the foot of the cross. A mother never dreams of witnessing her son’s brutal murder. Yet, Mary shows us that even in this unbearable moment, she must remain with her Son. So in our own unbearable moments in being a Christian disciple amidst the storms of this life, we must remain with Mary’s Son. Meanwhile, in the midst of these unbearable moments, we must have hope in the resurrection.

While the Gospel of John records Mary Magdalene as the first witness of Jesus’s resurrection, tradition holds that Mary, as the mother of Jesus, was the first to see the resurrected Christ. First or not, it is reasonable that Jesus, at some point, visited the one who had remained with Him throughout His earthly life. What did that first meeting of Jesus with His mother look like?

The last memory Mary had of Jesus was His cruel crucifixion: she saw her innocent Son undergo an execution reserved for criminals. Before being laid in the tomb, we can imagine Mary asking to hold her Son, like the pieta. His moist blood clinged onto her own garments. She could feel her Son’s cold, lifeless body, as she caressed the man she bore in her womb for nine months. Other cherished memories came to mind, for Scripture records – twice – that “Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Lk 2:19).[5]

Then came the first Easter. When pondering in her heart the last 33 years with her Son – including His “hidden years” and even His promises of resurrection – there He was. No longer drench in His own blood, Jesus’s clothing was radiant with light. Obliged as a son, Jesus wiped Mary’s tears, and she could feel His hands not cold as when she last felt Him but warm again. The sound of Jesus’s voice: no longer the cry of agony but an invitation to hope and peace.

As vivid as these images are, Mary, here, gives us an example of contemplative prayer. Again, “Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.” The content of our prayer, like the content of Mary’s prayer, ought to be the life of her Son, Jesus. And that is the secret of the rosary, a treasured form of prayer recommended by the Church and her saints for centuries. The rosary is not the vain repetition of “Hail Marys.” It is essentially the pondering of Christ’s life – called “mysteries” – in our hearts with the one who has best pondered the mysteries of Christ’s life, Mary.

In this talk, we reflected on three events of Mary’s life that show her a “Star of the Sea” as we journey on our pilgrimage in the ship of the Church. I now want to conclude with three questions in light of our reflection: (1) What does it mean to give my life completely to the Blessed Trinity? (2) What does it mean to persevere and trust? (3) What does it mean to pray?

O God,

who chose the Mother of your Son to be our Mother also,

grant us that, persevering in penance and prayer for the salvation of the world,

we may further more effectively each day the reign of Christ.

Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever. Amen.[6]

(Originally given as a talk to a Catholic singles group on May 13, 2015.)

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[1] Cf. Apostolic Constitutions (c. 367).

[2] The Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major was commission by Pope Sixtus III after the Council of Ephesus (431).

[3] See also Lk 1:45.

[4] Phyllis D. Carpenter, “A History of the Stabat Mater and an Analysis of the Stabat Mater by Giovanni B. Pergolesi” (master’s thesis, University of Rochester, 1948), 4, accessed May 12, 2015, http://hdl.handle.net/1802/4558.

[5] Lk 2:51.

[6] Collect of the Optional Memorial of Our Lady of Fatima (May 13), Roman Missal, Third Edition.

Wisdom from the Saints: The Sermons of the Curé of Ars (11th Sunday after Pentecost)

There are some who, through envy [...] belittle and slander others, especially those in the same business or profession as their own, in order to draw business to themselves. [...]

A great many people slander others because of pride. They think that by depreciating others they will increase their own worth. They want to make the most of their own alleged good qualities. Everything they say and do will be good, and everything that others say and do will be wrong.

But the bulk of malicious talk is done by people who are simply irresponsible, who have an itch to chatter about others without feeling any need to discover whether what they are saying is true or false. They just have to talk. [...]

Yes, my dear brethren, one scandelmonger poisons all the virtues and engenders all the vices. It is from that malicious tongue that a stain is spread so many times through a whole family, a stain which passes from fathers to children, from one generation to the next, and which perhaps is never effaced. The malicious tongue will follow the dead into the grave. [...]

[W]here is your charity?

Excerpts from this sermon was taken from Una Morrissy, trans. The Sermons of the Curé of Ars (Rockford, IL: Tan Books and Publishers, 1995), 29-31.

The Fate of Planned Parenthood: What Did You Expect?

Two headlines:

(1) "De-funded: Federal money will no longer aid Planned Parenthood"

(2) "Vetoed: Efforts to de-fund Planned Parenthood fail"

Which is more likely? For an organization that (literally) gets away with murder, was the revelation that it sells body parts of aborted babies going to push lawmakers to de-fund Planned Parenthood? No.

In a sane world, not only federal de-funding but also arrests and fines should be made against Planned Parenthood for selling body parts. However, in our world, Planned Parenthood is free to go on with business as usual.

Wisdom from the Saints: The Sermons of the Curé of Ars (10th Sunday after Pentecost)

Among the many great saints we find in the Catholic liturgical calendar this month is St. John Marie Vianney, the Curé of Ars.[1] To honor this great saint and preacher, we will begin posting short excerpts from his sermons according to the Sunday or liturgical feast we are celebrating. Since the "lectionary" used by the Curé of Ars follows that of what we now call the "extraordinary form" (i.e., the traditional Roman liturgy), the sermons posted will correspond to the traditional liturgical calendar.

Tomorrow (August 2nd) is the 10th Sunday after Pentecost. Therefore, below is an excerpt from one of St. John Vianney's sermons given on the 10th Sunday after Pentecost, referencing that day's gospel reading (Lk 18:9-14).

"I am not like the others!" [Lk 18:11] That, my dear brethren, is the usual tone of false virtue and the attitude of those proud people who, always quite satisfied with themselves, are at all times ready to censure and to criticize the conduct of others. [...] From this I conclude that pride is the source of all the vices and the cause of all the evils which have occurred, and which are still to come, in the course of the centuries. [...]

People take pride in their animals and in their households. They take pride in knowing how to go to Confession properly, in saying their prayers, in behaving modestly and decorously in the church. [...]

And I will add this to what I have just said. This sin is even more to be feared in people who put on a good show of piety and religion.

Excerpts from this sermon was taken from Una Morrissy, trans. The Sermons of the Curé of Ars (Rockford, IL: Tan Books and Publishers, 1995), 25-29.

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[1] St. John Vianney's feast day is August 4th, which is also the day of his death (or, as a saint, his passing to eternal life). It was previously August 8th, as the 4th was occupied by St. Dominic's feast day. However, with the reform of the liturgical calendar, the two feast days were switched (see http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2014/08/liturgical-notes-on-feast-of-saint.html#.VbWAX_lViko).