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WORLD
DAY FOR CONSECRATED LIFE (FEBRUARY 7)
There
is no other explanation of the wonderful spectacle of
the thousands of women all over the world, wherever the
Catholic Church is, living their life in community, in
the service and worship of God, in their convents, hospitals
and schools, and all kinds of charities, enduring all
kinds of hardships and suffering and even death, and persevering
in this state of life. And there is no explanation of
the secret of it, except this wonderful love which burns
in their hearts for the heavenly bridegroom.
Now that which fosters this love and causes it to burn
up and kindle within us, is the gift of our Lord himself
to us in the Blessed Sacrament. That is the very heart
and center of the religious life. It is our exceedingly
great privilege to have come out of the world and assemble
ourselves in the religious houses, where we practically
live under the same roof with our heavenly bridegroom.
In a most intimate manner we receive Him every morning
in Holy Communion. When we receive our Lord in Holy Communion,
we receive God’s body, blood, soul and divinity,
the whole Christ, entering our lips and penetrating the
inmost recesses of our heart even as he said, "He
that eats my flesh and drinks my blood, abides in me and
I in him." [Jn. 6:56] Consequently our life is a
life of most intimate union. Our divine Saviour would
not only have us live under the same roof with him and
dwell in our chapels, which are for the time being a part
of the court of Heaven, but he enters into our interior
and penetrates our whole being and lives in us in this
wonderful union. And all this is the fruit and the result
of the Blessed Sacrament. Therefore, we should have a
most wonderful devotion to the Holy Eucharist. (Fr. Paul
Retreat Conference Aug. 19, 1926)
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OUR
LADY OF LOURDES FEAST (FEBRUARY 11)
The
Blessed Virgin appeared in the Pyrenees Mountains in a
place called Lourdes, to the daughter of poor parents,
and when the child, beholding the beautiful Lady, asked
her who she was, she answered, “ I am the Immaculate
Conception.” And she not only so declared herself,
but told the child that she would confirm and prove it
by performing miracles of healing in that place, and suddenly
there gushed forth from the rock, a new fountain of waters.
During the past seventy-five years thousands of miracles
have taken place at Lourdes and their authenticity cannot
be denied.
Mary, whom our Lord gave to us to be our mother, after
he died for us on the cross, is the Queen of Angels and
Saints, crowned by Almighty God with unlimited power.
Knowing her motherly heart and her ability to save and
help us, through Our Lord, Jesus Christ, we should, with
confidence, have recourse to her.(Fr. Paul Radio Talk
of Ave Maria Hour, Aug. 11, 1935)
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VALENTINE'S
DAY: LOVE (FEBRUARY 14)
To
pray and work for Church Unity is a very special part
of the vocation of the Society of the Atonement. There
are two Commandments common to the religion of the Jew,
the Protestant and the Catholic, and if all Jews, all
Protestants, all Catholics obeyed these two Commandments
fully and perfectly, neither Paganism or Communism would
long continue to threaten the destruction of Christian
civilization, and the war clouds which hang heavily with
mumbling thunder of destruction over Europe and America
would disappear very quickly and the sun of justice, with
its warm beams of love, prosperity and peace, would flood
the earth.
Those two Commandments are: You shall love the Lord your
God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. And
the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as
yourself. [Mk.12:30]
The division of Christendom into East and West a thousand
years ago was not produced by doctrinal differences, for
the Orthodox East was in Creedal agreement with the West,
save in some minor details. The cleavage came about through
the failure of both the Latins and the Greeks to fulfill
the new Commandment, which Christ gave to his disciples
“that you love one another as I have loved you.”
[Jn.13:34] It sprang out of the racial hatred of the Greek
and the Roman.
The religious wars of Germany, France, Spain and England
with their terrible toll of life were the first fruits
of that spirit of hatred toward their Christian brethren.
It was the preaching of the love of God and of our neighbor
by St. Francis of Assisi, which healed the divisions of
Christendom in his day.
The prayer, which Jesus Christ addressed to His Father
in Heaven in the upper room of Jerusalem on the night
of his betrayal to be crucified because of the hatred
of the high priests against him was “That they all
may be one, as you, Father, in me, and I in you, that
they also may be one in us.” [Jn. 17:21]
The Friars of the Atonement call upon their listeners,
whether they be Catholics, Protestants or Jews, to fulfill
the great Commandment of the Law: You shall love the Lord
your God with all your soul, mind and strength. And the
second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
In the fulfillment of those two Commandments you will
answer the prayer of Christ to his Father: “That
they all may be one as you, Father, in me and I in you,
that they also may be one in us.” (Fr. Paul Radio
Talk of St. Anthony House, Mar. 6, 1938)
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WORLD
MARRIAGE DAY (FEBRUARY 14)
The
principal agency by which the laity do their part in the
propagation of the Faith and the increase and multiplication
of the regenerate children of God is through marriage,
and when a Catholic man and woman unite and join themselves
together and become one flesh at the altar rail, they
ought to understand that the chief purpose of their coming
together is that they might jointly fulfill the divine
command to increase and multiply the seed of the Atonement,
the children of God, the heirs of the kingdom of Heaven.
Even as God sent the children of Israel into the promised
land that they might increase and multiply to fill it
with the seed of Abraham, so will he fulfill the covenant
he made with the faithful that he would multiply their
seed until they would become in numbers as the stars in
Heaven or the sands of the seashore. And the spiritual
“Israel,” the redeemed and elect of Christ,
should recognize it as their duty to contribute their
share towards hastening the day when the proclamation
of the Angel will be fulfilled and declared before the
throne of God, “The Kingdoms of this world have become
the kingdoms of Christ, the Lord’s anointed.”
(Apoc.11:15]
One of the arguments for small, restricted families, which
prevails even among Catholics in our day, is that the
cost of feeding, clothing and educating children is so
great, that they are justified in restricting the number
to two or three at the most. But Catholic parents, if
they have the spirit of Christ and his desire to lay down
his life that the redeemed may live, will willingly make
the sacrifice which the production of a large family must
impose upon them.
But, whereas marriage is the principal agency through
which the layfolk fulfill the divine command to increase
and multiply the seed of the Atonement until the regenerate
fill the land, they have not discharged their full duty
by begetting sons and daughters unto God and having large
families. They still must have some share in the evangelization
of the world in carrying out Christ’s command: “Go
into all the world, preach the Gospel to every creature,
and make disciples of all nations.” [Mk.16:15]
It is the special office of the priests and the religious
men and women to become missionaries in all lands, but,
when some of our American young men enroll themselves
in a missionary society like that of Maryknoll, and the
young women enroll in the Maryknoll Sisterhood, there
is still the problem how they are going to be supported.
When they go to China, Japan or Korea they will need money
to build houses, churches, and hospitals, and they look
back to the faithful at home and the faithful have their
opportunity to share in the work of propagating the Faith
by making a sacrifice of the money which they have earned.
That is the divinely ordained economic way by which those
that stay at home can still do their part in obedience
to the divine command, “Go into all the world, preach
the Gospel to every creature.” (Fr. Paul Sermon in
Our Lady of the Angels Chapel, Graymoor, Oct. 24, 1937)
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ASH
WEDNESDAY (FEBRUARY 17)
Brothers
and sisters, we are once more in the midst of the holy
season of Lent, which begins on Ash Wednesday. Our Holy
Mother, the Church, sets before her children as an example,
all things of our Savior. And inasmuch as he, led by the
Holy Spirit, went into the wilderness and fasted forty
days and forty nights, so the Church has instituted for
us this holy season of Lent in order that in some degree
at least, we may imitate our Savior in this regard. It
is a time when we ought to seek our greater sanctification
and enter into the spirit of these forty days, in order
that, as spiritual athletes, we may run more diligently
and more effectively in the race that is set before us,
which has as its final goal the attainment of the Beatific
Vision.
The principle of self-denial is fundamental to our holy
religion. Jesus said, “Except a man take up his cross
and deny himself daily, he cannot be my disciple.”
[Lk.9:23] There are multitudes of people who have rejected
Christ just on account of this self-denial and this taking
up of the cross. They do not want to deny themselves in
anything. They want to walk after the sight of their eyes
and after the desires of the carnal man to the limit,
but any religion that invites them to a crucifixion of
self or carrying of a cross, they reject.
Dives feasted sumptuously every day. He did not restrain
himself in the least, but the time came, when there was
a funeral and Mr. Dives’ fine body, that was clothed
in linen and gorgeous purple every day, was put under
the ground and a whole army of worms came and made a feast
on him. And Mr. Dives found himself in a place of torment
where he could not even have a drop of water to satisfy
the thirst which he had indulged so freely during his
life. “He that sows to the field of self-indulgence
will get a harvest of corruption out of it.”[Gal.6:8]
That is the divine law and there is no escape from it.
Now, we are to understand the wisdom and the purpose of
God behind the life of imitating Christ. Our Lord was
led by the Holy Spirit that “does all things well.”
[See Acts. 10:38] When he went into the wilderness to
fast and to pray for forty days, he had a purpose in it.
He was preparing for a spiritual combat with the devil.
He went through the combat and came out triumphant, and
then, when the devil left him, the angels came and ministered
to him.
The devil playing upon the great exhaustion and hunger
which Christ had after fasting so long, invited him to
exercise his power independent of the will of the Father,
by converting stones into bread. The answer was, “Man
shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that
proceeds out of the mouth of God,” [Lk.4:4; Dt. 8:3]and
when the devil was finished and our Lord won the victory
over him, then was the time to take nourishment. He did
not have to turn the stones into bread, but these angels
brought him food, delicious food, and he was refreshed
after his long fast.
He wishes us for a little while through this desert of
sin, to exercise discipline and a certain degree of fasting,
nothing extraordinary, just enough to make things wholesome
for us, and then he invites us to the banquet of the saints
through eternity. But in the midst of this pilgrimage
of the world, he is not unmindful of our needs, and so
he gives to us a wonderful refreshment.
If we are faithful and practice our religion, he gives
us a bread that “comes down from Heaven.” [Jn.6:50]
And as he himself said, “The bread that I will give
is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world,”
[Jn.6:52] and he gives us that in the Holy Eucharist.
The banquet is spread every day. Every day this new manna
comes down from Heaven at the words of the priest in the
consecration of the host. Under the hands and at the words
of the priest, though the outer appearance remains the
same, the substance of the host is changed into the body
and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ, and this
is offered by the loving Savior for the nourishment of
his people. And that bread ought to be our delight, our
viaticum, our nourishment as we travel along the journey
of life, sustained and refreshed by it. And if we use
it rightly and with the proper dispositions and follow
the directions of the divine physician about conducting
our life according to his holy Commandments, we shall
be immensely refreshed and immensely consoled by that
heavenly banquet, the sweetness of which does not pall
upon the taste as we receive it more frequently, but rather
increases by the frequentation with which it is received.
(Fr. Paul Sermon First Sunday of Lent , Feb. 21, 1926)
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CHAIR
OF ST. PETER FEAST (FEBRUARY 22)
I
told you how The Lamp was lighted yesterday morning. The
next development in the Church unity vocation of the Society
of the Atonement was the origin of the Octave itself.
It came about in this wise: Just about the time we were
preparing copy for the first issue of The Lamp, there
appeared a notable book in England entitled England and
the Holy See, the author of which was the Rev. Spencer
Jones, M.A., the rector of an Anglican parish, and the
preface was written by a no less distinguished layman
than Lord Halifax, president of the English Church Union.
In this book was set forth very lucidly the position of
the Holy See as the center of Catholic unity, and it was
an essay to inquire whether some of the obstacles which
stood in the way of the return of the Anglican body to
its pre-Reformation relationship to the same Apostolic
See, could be overcome.
Reading the book we put ourselves into communication with
Rev. Spencer Jones and he responded with alacrity and
became one of the regular contributors towards the pages
of The Lamp. In the course of time, or about four years
after The Lamp was lighted, Mr. Jones, who had formed
the Society of St. Thomas in England, suggested in a letter
that it would be an excellent thing to arrange to have
each year on S t. Peter’s feast sermons preached
in the various churches bearing upon the Papal claims.
This was the seed thought which suggested to the mind
of the editor of The Lamp the Church Unity Octave, because
it occurred to me that there were two feasts very happily
in juxtaposition in the mind of our Lord in his prayer,
“That the world may believe that you, Father, have
me.” {Jn. 17:21]
These two feasts come in the month of January, the feast
of the Chair of St. Peter at Rome and the feast of the
Conversion of St. Paul. The witness of The Lamp was to
the Chair of Peter as the center of a reunited Christendom
and, therefore, it desired to exalt that particular feast
and call the attention of the world to it and to make
it the beginning of a time of prayer when the faithful
everywhere might unite at that time in echoing the prayer
of our great high priest that we might all be one. It
seemed the best of all times for such united prayer because
it culminated with the feast of the conversion of the
great Apostle to the Gentiles. First of all we must have
unity, and as a result of unity then the world will be
conquered, the cross will everywhere triumph and Christ
will be recognized universally as the Savior of all people.
(Fr. Paul Sermon Jan. 21, 1929)
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ONE
& TWO LINERS OF FR. PAUL
Don’t
be fooled!
Where we expect the least, we sometimes find the most.
(Fr. Paul to to Bro. Anthony Wallerstein, s.a., July 22,1907)
Happy in old age:
I note that you have been through some pretty severe operations;
but it is quite wonderful to live to be 84 years of age
and at the same time to be cheerful and happy, owing to
the never-failing presence of God the Holy Sprit, exercising
you in the Christian virtues of faith, hope and charity.
(Fr. Paul to M. McG. of New York City, May 24, 1935)
Humor in working for Christian unity:
I note that you belong to the High Church of England.
In other words, you are one of our neighbors. I hope,
however, you will cross the street some day and enter
the Fold of Peter. ( Fr. Paul to McC. of Beacon, N.Y.,
Jan. 9, 1933)
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