Category: Forgiveness

The Seraphic Virgin and the Message of Fatima

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The Dialogue of the Seraphic Virgin, St. Catherine of Siena has much to avail us in this current conflict: By reading it prayerfully, we come to understand the overwhelming need for charity to motivate our penances and prayers for sinners, especially our priests and bishops who have fallen into error, and many have lost the faith. Yet we are called to pray for them without ceasing.

How finite works are not sufficient for punishment or recompense without the perpetual affection of love.

Leave all to Him, let go of yourself.
Lose yourself on the cross, and you will find yourself entirely.

Then, the Eternal Truth seized and drew more strongly to Himself her desire, doing as He did in the Old Testament, for when the sacrifice was offered to God, a fire descended and drew to Him the sacrifice that was acceptable to Him; so did the sweet Truth to that soul, in sending down the fire of the clemency of the Holy Spirit, seizing the sacrifice of desire that she made of herself, saying:

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Father forgive them for they know not what they do

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A brief essay based on a clipping I have from Archbishop Fulton Sheen.

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!

It seems to be a fact of human psychology that when death approaches, the human heart speaks its words of love to those whom it holds closest and dearest. There is no reason to suspect that it is otherwise in the case of the Heart of hearts. If He spoke in a graduated order to those whom He loved most, then we may expect to find in His first three words the order of His love and affection. His first words went out to enemies: “Father, forgive them”,  His second to sinners: “This day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise”, and His third to saints, “Woman, behold thy son”,  Enemies, sinners, and saints—such is the order of Divine Love and Thoughtfulness.

The congregation anxiously awaited His first word. The executioners expected Him to cry, for every one pinned on the gibbet of the Cross had done it before Him. Seneca tells us that those who were crucified cursed the day of their birth, the executioners, their mothers, and even spat on those who looked upon them. Cicero tells us that at times it was necessary to cut out the tongues of those who were crucified, to stop their terrible blasphemies. Hence the executioners expected a cry but not the kind of cry that they heard.

Enemies

The Scribes and Pharisees expected a cry, too, and they were quite sure that He who had preached “Love your enemies”, and “Do good to them that hate you”, would now forget that Gospel with the piercing of feet and hands. They felt that the excruciating and agonizing pains would scatter to the winds any resolution He might have taken to keep up appearances. Every one expected a cry, but no one with the exception of the three at the foot of the Cross, expected the cry they did hear. Like some fragrant trees which bathe in perfume the very axe which gnashes them, the great Heart on the Tree of Love poured out from its depths something less a cry than a prayer, the soft, sweet, low prayer of pardon and forgiveness: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
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Father forgive them for they know not what they do

~ evensong ~ Leave a comment

A brief essay based on a clipping I have from Archbishop Fulton Sheen.

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!

It seems to be a fact of human psychology that when death approaches, the human heart speaks its words of love to those whom it holds closest and dearest. There is no reason to suspect that it is otherwise in the case of the Heart of hearts. If He spoke in a graduated order to those whom He loved most, then we may expect to find in His first three words the order of His love and affection. His first words went out to enemies: “Father, forgive them”,  His second to sinners: “This day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise”, and His third to saints, “Woman, behold thy son”,  Enemies, sinners, and saints—such is the order of Divine Love and Thoughtfulness.

The congregation anxiously awaited His first word. The executioners expected Him to cry, for every one pinned on the gibbet of the Cross had done it before Him. Seneca tells us that those who were crucified cursed the day of their birth, the executioners, their mothers, and even spat on those who looked upon them. Cicero tells us that at times it was necessary to cut out the tongues of those who were crucified, to stop their terrible blasphemies. Hence the executioners expected a cry but not the kind of cry that they heard.

Enemies

The Scribes and Pharisees expected a cry, too, and they were quite sure that He who had preached “Love your enemies”, and “Do good to them that hate you”, would now forget that Gospel with the piercing of feet and hands. They felt that the excruciating and agonizing pains would scatter to the winds any resolution He might have taken to keep up appearances. Every one expected a cry, but no one with the exception of the three at the foot of the Cross, expected the cry they did hear. Like some fragrant trees which bathe in perfume the very axe which gnashes them, the great Heart on the Tree of Love poured out from its depths something less a cry than a prayer, the soft, sweet, low prayer of pardon and forgiveness: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Forgive whom? Forgive enemies? The soldier in the courtroom of Caiphas who struck Him with a mailed fist; Pilate, the politician, who condemned a God to retain the friendship of Caesar; Herod, who robed Wisdom in the garment of a fool; the soldiers who swung the King of Kings on a tree between heaven and earth – forgive them? Forgive them, why? Because they know what they do? No, because they know not what they do.

If they knew . . .

If they knew what they were doing and still went on doing it; if they knew what a terrible crime they were committing by sentencing Life to death; if they knew what a perversion of justice it was to choose Barabbas to Christ; if they knew what cruelty it was to take the feet that trod everlasting hills and pinion them to the limb of a tree; if they knew what they were doing and still went on doing it, unmindful of the fact that the very blood which they shed was capable of redeeming them, they would never be saved! Why, they would be damned if it were not for the fact that they were ignorant of the terrible thing they did when they crucified Christ! It was only the ignorance of their great sin that brought them within the pale of the hearing of that cry from the Cross. It is not wisdom that saves: it is ignorance!

There is no redemption for the fallen angels. Those great spirits headed by the Bearer of Light, Lucifer, endowed with an intelligence compared with which ours is but that of a child, saw the consequences of each of their decisions just as clearly as we see that two and two make four. Having made a decision, they made it irrevocably; there was no taking it back, and hence there was no future redemption. It is because they knew what they were doing that they were excluded from the hearing of that cry that went forth from the Cross. It is not wisdom that saves: it is ignorance!

If we knew . . .

if we knew what a terrible thing sin was
and went on sinning;

if we knew how much love there was in the Incarnation
and still refused to nourish ourselves with the Bread of Life;

if we knew how much sacrificial love there was in the Sacrifice of the Cross
and still refused to fill the chalice of our heart with that love;

if we knew how much mercy there was in the Sacrament of Penance,
and still refused to bend a humble knee to a hand that had the power
to loose both in heaven and on earth;

if we knew how much life there was in the Eucharist
and still refused to take of the Bread which makes life everlasting

if we knew of all the truth there is
in the Church as the mystical body of Christ
and still turned our backs to it like other Pilates;

if we knew all these things
and still stayed away from Christ and His Church

we should be . . .

lost!

Indeed. As is the world today.

Without Christ.

Lost. . .

Something to think on;  many are lost, for there are so few to make reparation for them.

Remember – Our Lady needs us to obey:  First Saturdays of Reparation, daily rosary, at least 5 mysteries, wear her brown scapular and live your Total Consecration to her Immaculate Heart, offering daily duties in reparation and for the conversion of poor sinners.

†  Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of our hearts, Mother of the Church, do thou offer to the Eternal Father the Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, for the conversion of poor sinners, especially our Pontiff.
†  Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Thy kingdom come! Viva Cristo Rey!
†  St. Joseph, protect us, protect our families, protect our priests.
†  St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle.

~ by evensong for love of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, King.
Vouchsafe that I may praise thee, O Sacred Virgin! Give me strength against thine enemies!

St. Mary Magdalen in the Passion of the Church

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posted on July 22, 2020 by evensong

Today is the Feast Day of Saint Mary Magdalen, model for penitents.

Of Mary Magdalen, Lacordaire said,

“Mary Magdalene touches both sides of our life: the Sinner anoints us with her tears, the Saint with her tenderness, the one soothes our wounds at the feet of Christ, the other tries to exalt us to the ravishment of her ascension.”

We often see Magdalen at the feet of Christ. Luke tells us that Mary sat at the feet of Christ, listening to Him, while Martha complained. When Jesus returned to Bethany to raise Mary’s brother, Lazarus, she ran to Him and cast herself at His feet. Before His Passion, she knelt at His feet and anointed them. At the Crucifixion, she stood at His feet, beside Our Lord’s most Blessed Mother, comforting Mary and adoring her Master. Each time, Our Lord defended her. “Mary has chosen the better part.” After the anointing, “Let her alone. That which she has done will be told in memory of her.” But note this change: on that glorious Easter Sunday, when she discovered her Risen Lord, she threw herself at His feet once again, but this time Our Lord pointed her to their heavenly Father, “I ascend to my Father and to your Father, to my God and your God.” Thus, we see Our Lord urging Mary to aspire to a higher union, dying with Christ in contemplation to rise with Him in eternal glory.

Penitent to Contemplative

Father Alban Butler’s Life of Mary Magdalen tells us that the Magdalen is the first in a “new order of souls”, which he describes as a school of love by the martyrdom of the heart which by learning to die to the world and to inordinate self-love, lives to God and His pure love. This happiness we attain to, by being united in spirit to Jesus crucified, as Magdalen was at the foot of His cross. She suffered by love what He suffered in His body by the hands of the Jews. The same cross crucified Jesus and Magdalen in Him and with Him. … so that she could say in a twofold sense; “My love is crucified.”

Mary Magdalen Patron of Penitents

“My Love is Crucified.”

She spent the last thirty years of her life in contemplation of her Beloved, in the wilderness of Provence, where legend has it that she was elevated from her grotto to the peak of the mountain seven times each day until she died. What saw she from her celestial heights?

In Sacred Scripture, of all the figures which surrounded Our Lord Jesus Christ, it appears as though Mary Magdalen has chosen the surest path to His heart. Why did Our Lord choose such a notorious sinner as Mary Magdalen? Was it not to show us His unfailing mercy towards repentant sinners? Some may read this and think that they at least have never been such a reprobate as Mary Magdalen. Well, perhaps we each of us should rather say,

“My Jesus, mercy, for I have never repented of my sins so completely, so fervently as Magdalen. My faith has been lukewarm at best!”

Many great spiritual writers assure us that no sinner goes to hell without damning himself by refusing to repent and refusing to beseech God’s mercy. But see the Magdalen! She, like St. Peter, never ceased to offer reparation; most of all, never ceased to offer herself as an oblation of love to Him whi is Love eternal. For it is all about love. Mary Magdalen great love for Jesus Christ, became an abyss of love in imitation of Him.  It is a fruitful practice to consider both the Blessed Virgin Mary, most pure and perfect Virgin Mother of God and Mary Magdalen, wretched repentant sinner, so different these two and yet united in their tremendous love for Our Lord Jesus Christ.

And perhaps now is a good time to ask Mary Magdalen, patroness of penitents, to intercede for us that God grant us a generous and sacrificial heart like hers. May her generous heart embrace our small and cautious hearts and free us of that most pernicious disorder of these times, indifference to the sufferings of Christ in the Passion of His Church.

Saint Mary Magdalen, teach us the martyrdom of love, that we may die daily to the world and to our own self-love in order to be consumed in the fire His love.

O my Jesus, forgive us our sins and save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of Thy mercy.

Remember – Our Lady needs us to obey: First Saturdays of Reparation, daily rosary, at least 5 mysteries, wear her brown scapular and live your Total Consecration to her Immaculate Heart, offering daily duties in reparation and for the conversion of poor sinners.