Wisdom from St. Ambrose

Woe to the rebellious children, says the Lord,  

Who carry out plans that are not mine, 

who weave webs that are not inspired by me, 

adding sin upon sin. ~ Isaiah 30:1ff

Yeah, Isaiah, that pretty much sums it up.  Let the Lord drive! 

I was born on the Feast of St. Ambrose and am, like Monica, a widow praying for her children. So, I am always especially attentive when he speaks in our daily reading. Today, he discusses Psalm 49:7 and addresses our need for redemption.

We rarely hear the word "redeem" in every day discourse, unless redeeming a coupon for some good. I guess that analogy fits:  we ourselves are just a promise of something more, and we are set free by the Christ to fulfill God's purpose in us:

...He alone will redeem man, showing love greater even than that of brothers. He poured out his blood for strangers, as no one is able to do for a brother. He did not spare his own body in redeeming us from sin, but gave himself as the redemption of all...

 O Lord, grant that I may always give thanks for our redemption and be obedient - not rebellious - to Your plans for me through Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen.

Hail Holy Queen

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

ANNUNCIATION ~ Ave Maria Oratorio

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy,
our life, our sweetness and our hope.
To thee do we cry, 
poor banished children of Eve.
To thee do we send up our sighs,
mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.
Turn then, most gracious advocate,
thine eyes of mercy toward us,
and after this our exile
show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving,
O sweet Virgin Mary.

OUR LADY OF MERCY
St John the Evangelist Church, Naples, FL

Communion of Saints

" Dear brothers and sisters, so it is that day after day the Church offers us the possibility of walking in the company of Saints. Hans Urs von Balthasar wrote that the Saints constitute the most important message of the Gospel, its actualization in daily life, and therefore represent for us a real means of access to Jesus. The French writer Jean Guitton described them "as the colours of the spectrum in relation to light", because with their own tones and accentuations each one of them reflects the light of God's holiness. How important and useful, therefore, is the commitment to cultivate knowledge of and devotion to the Saints, alongside daily meditation on the Word of God and filial love for Our Lady! " ~ Pope Benedict, Audience, 20 Aug 2008 https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2008/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20080820.html

O how I loved our "Papa Benny"!!!  He was a scholar of exceedingly great gifts, yet his demeanor was an icon of gentleness.

As Cardinal Ratzinger, this kindly, gentle scholar was under the authority of his Pope and so cannot be held responsible for forbearance against the pedophiliacs as often charged. On becoming our leader, we all sighed with relief as he finally began to address the issue. Most of the worst offenders were silenced and moved to positions where they could no longer prey on the innocent.  The financial antics of those running the Vatican Bank also ceased.

As a teacher, few have attained his heights.  His writings inspire me very much. Of his encyclicals, my favorite is that on Christian hope, Spe Salvi.

While I grieved upon his resignation, I applaud his humility in recognizing that the problems before Mother Church were best fought by another.  In his retirement, this Papa was ever prudent, supportive, and helpful ... 

...At the end of his Pastoral Rule, Saint Gregory the Great urged a friend to offer him this spiritual accompaniment: “Amid the shipwreck of the present life, sustain me, I beseech you, by the plank of your prayer, that, since my own weight sinks me down, the hand of your merit will raise me up”. Here we see the awareness of a pastor who cannot carry alone what in truth he could never carry alone, and can thus commend himself to the prayers and the care of the people entrusted to him...           ~ words of Pope Francis' Funeral Homily.

May he rest in peace. Funeral mass of Pope Benedict

+++++++++

My Sicilian grandmother, mother of my mother, was named "Santina" i.e. the little saint. By this name, she had as patrons the full Communion of Saints from Mother Mary our Queen to the lowliest whose names are known only to Almighy God.  As I am named for my grandmother, I claim them, too.

 

Spiritual Warfare & My Sins in Waging Same

 From today's 2nd reading, by Pope Gregory the Great:

...for with wisdom they teach the wayward while showing a courageous contempt for outward hostility; the straying sheep they set on the right path by their teaching; the attacker they suffer and overcome. For they have nothing but patient scorn for the enemy who moves against them, but they sympathize with their weaker fellows and bring them back to the safe way, opposing the former lest they lead others astray and fearing for the latter lest they completely lose sight of the truly upright life...

For many years now, I have been preoccupied by sins of the tongue, especially my own. But I now find them most painful when I witness them in otherwise good people.  Each election year, such reach a fever pitch as my brethren divide themselves as if an election were a football game rather than a deadly serious choice of matching a job to who best can perform it.

My greatest sin was once scandal, a common one among the intellectually gifted.  The Lord has gifted me with a high IQ, excellent teachers, and a very broad knowledge base. Often instead of properly using His gifts, shocked those to whom I spoke. This is tied to another, that of sharing truth with a weaker person who is not prepared to receive it.  As we read in the Catechism

2488 The right to the communication of the truth is not unconditional. Everyone must conform his life to the Gospel precept of fraternal love. This requires us in concrete situations to judge whether or not it is appropriate to reveal the truth to someone who asks for it.

Just because something is true does not mean that it should be publicly shared.  I thank God for schooling me and that I have learned when it may be best to be silent.

Now, I have been working on finding balance between sins of pride and acceptance of my gifts simply and without boasting.  I also seek to learn gentleness and humility as neither comes to me naturally.  Rather, others find me brash and overly aggressive.

My help has been reading the letters of "St. Jeannie" aka St. Jane Francis de Chantal, foundress with St. Francis de Sales of the Visitation Order. She has been trying to get my attention for years, but I didn't know why. As a widow, she is one of my patrons but my intuition was that there was more, and there is. The Discernment Guide from the Order was very helpful in contemplating meekness and humility in demeanor.

Closing prayer of the Jewish Amidah (the 18 blessings):

My God, keep my tongue and my lips from speaking deceit, and to them that curse me let my soul be silent, and like dust to all. Open my heart in Your Torah, and after [in] Thy commandments let me [my soul] pursue. As for those that think evil of [against] me speedily thwart their counsel and destroy their plots. Do [this] for Thy name's sake, do this for Thy right hand's sake, do this for the sake of Thy holiness, do this for the sake of Thy Torah. That Thy beloved ones may rejoice, let Thy right hand bring on help [salvation] and answer me…

Salt and Light

 

...For when he says: You are the salt of the earth, he is indicating that all mankind had lost its savor and had been corrupted by sin. Therefore, he requires of these men those virtues which are especially useful and even necessary if they are to bear the burdens of many...

...Once again, “of the world”: not of one nation or twenty cities, but of the whole world. The light he means is an intelligible light, far superior to the rays of the sun we see, just as the salt is a spiritual salt. First salt, then light, so that you may learn how profitable sharp words may be and how useful serious doctrine. ~ St. John Chrysostom

In today's Office of Readings, we are treated to a commentary on Matthew by  St. John Chrysostom.  I say "treated" because he truly has the "golden tongue" for which he is named.  The Divine Liturgy that he authored, as well as the propers composef by his contemporary, St. Basil the Great, are used to this day in our sister Orthodox Churches as they celebrate Eucharist.  I took him as patron as we share a nickname.

Salt has many uses:

• Salting the land of a foe will destroy fertility of soil, making it impossible for any living plant to grow. (When Rome finally defeated Carthage after 3 wars, they salted their fields so that they would never challenge them again.)
• Next, salt is an essential mineral for our physical bodies. Too little salt in the bloodstream can have dire consequences that include coma and even death.
• Especially before refrigeration, dredging food like fishes in salt preserved them.
• Finally, salt can give flavor or heighten the taste of our foods. 

It is the last of these meanings, restoring what "savor...had been corrupted by sin" that Our Lord means when He calls the Church salt.  Once we awaken the senses of our neighbors, it is then that we can light their path to return to true worship.

...If others lose their savor, then your ministry will help them regain it. But if you yourselves suffer that loss, you will drag others down with you...

MOSES - AARON - MIRIAM

 In today's Office of Readings, we hear the voice of the prophet Micah (Chaptrt 6 )

...For I brought you up from the land of Egypt,

from the place of slavery I released you;

And I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam...

Think back and remember: according to Numbers 26: 57–59, Miriam and Aaron are true siblings of Moses, i.e. he shares their blood. By tradition, Miriam was much older than Moses (in fact, some traditions identify her with the midwife who delivered him); Aaron was perhaps 3 years his senior.

MOSES was called by the Burning Bush in the desert, in a land far from his peple where he had fled after murdering an Egyptian.   He had been raised as an Egyptian:  he was not even circumcized into God's Covenant when he met God face to face.  Yet he was chosen. In another way, we would think him unfit:  while God gave him the authority to speak "In His Name*", poor Moses had a speech impediment!  (According to a traditional Jewish midrash, Moses' impeded speech dated from infancy when the angel Gabriel had guided him to place a hot coal in his mouth.)

This is yet another example of the maxim, "God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called".  So, the LORD gave him both his brother Aaron and his sister Miriam to serve as Moses' prophets.

* see my post earlier this week In His Name

Dormition of the Theotokos

Our sister churches also celebrate today, August 15th, the death and resurrection of the body of the Holy Mother of God under the name The Dormition (falling asleep).

Above is their icon - a window into heavenly truth - for today's Feast, for your meditations today; below is their traditional story.    

downloaded from https://www.goarch.org/dormition 

They traditionally use the Divine Liturgy composed by St. John Chrysostom today, as it is a Great Feast in their tradition as well as our own.  The following two prayers from today's liturgy were downloaded from the oca.org website:

In giving birth, you preserved your virginity. In falling asleep you did not forsake the world, O Theotokos. You were translated to life, O Mother of Life, and by your prayers, you deliver our souls from death (Troparion).

Neither the tomb, nor death, could hold the Theotokos, who is constant in prayer and our firm hope in her intercessions. For being the Mother of Life, she was translated to life, by the One who dwelt in her virginal womb (Kontakion).