Bl. Pope John Paul II - Apostle of Divine Mercy

Benedict XVI's choice of May 1 for the beatification of his predecessor is itself one of the richest symbols in today's celebrations.

This year's feast of Divine Mercy -- coinciding with the end of the Easter Octave -- lands today, since Easter was so late this year. And thus the feast falls on the first day of Mary's month.

On various occasions, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger proposed that the fundamental element of Pope John Paul II's legacy in the Church is his understanding of Divine Mercy as the factor limiting human evil.
Celebrating the Polish Pope's funeral, Cardinal Ratzinger reflected that the Holy Father "interpreted for us the paschal mystery as a mystery of divine mercy. In his last book, he wrote: The limit imposed upon evil 'is ultimately Divine Mercy' (Memory and Identity, pp. 60-61). And reflecting on the assassination attempt, he said: 'In sacrificing himself for us all, Christ gave a new meaning to suffering, opening up a new dimension, a new order: the order of love ... It is this suffering which burns and consumes evil with the flame of love and draws forth even from sin a great flowering of good' (pp. 189-190)."

The cardinal added: "Divine Mercy: the Holy Father found the purest reflection of God’s mercy in the Mother of God. He, who at an early age had lost his own mother, loved his divine mother all the more. He heard the words of the crucified Lord as addressed personally to him: 'Behold your Mother.' And so he did as the beloved disciple did: 'he took her into his own home' (eis ta idia: Jn 19:27) – Totus tuus. And from the mother he learned to conform himself to Christ."

The mystery of evil

Karol Wojtyła suffered the two totalitarian regimes of the 20th century, Communism and Nazism, and asked how God could permit such terrible atrocities.
But while many would point to these evils to deny God's existence or negate his goodness, John Paul II used them to reflect on what God teaches by permitting man's free will to bring about tragedy. And he found an answer in Divine Mercy, as presented in the writings of the Polish mystic, St. Faustina Kowalska (1905-1938).

St. Augustine explains that God never causes evil, but permits it. In creating man with liberty, God accepted the existence of evil. Would it have been better for God not to create man? Or to create him without liberty? No. But then, the Polish youth who would one day take St. Peter's throne asked himself: What can limit evil so that it doesn't have the last word?

John Paul II understood that Divine Mercy is this limit to evil. His mercy does not imply that everyone is saved automatically, thereby negating sin, but rather that God pardons every sinner who allows himself to be pardoned.

And if pardon is the limit to evil (how many lessons could be taken from this truth to overcome war!), then liberty in a sense conditions Divine Mercy. God in some way took a great risk in creating man with freedom. He risked that his love would be rejected and that man would be able to negate the truth of his liberty and kill and abuse his brother. But in answer, God paid the most terrible price: the sacrifice of his only Son. We are the risk of God. But a risk that is overcome with the infinite power of Divine Mercy.

A posthumous message

John Paul II prepared a message for Divine Mercy Sunday of 2005, which he never delivered, since on the eve of the feast he was called to the Father's House.

The text was read at the end of the Mass celebrated that day for the repose of his soul.
"As a gift to humanity, which sometimes seems bewildered and overwhelmed by the power of evil, selfishness and fear, the Risen Lord offers his love that pardons, reconciles and reopens hearts to love. It is a love that converts hearts and gives peace. How much the world needs to understand and accept Divine Mercy," John Paul II had written.

Today's beatification ceremony began with a remembrance of the Polish Pontiff's devotion to God's Mercy. Thousands of pilgrims packed into St. Peter's Square and overflowing through the streets of Rome prayed the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, the devotion promoted by St. Faustina.
The image of Divine Mercy was displayed in front of the Basilica until the beatification Mass began.

Gaudette Sunday 13th December 2009

John is the voice, and Christ is the Word - A sermon by St. Augustine

John is the voice, but the Lord is the Word who was in the beginning. John is the voice that lasts for a time; from the beginning Christ is the Word who lives for ever.

Take away the word, the meaning, and what is the voice? Where there is no understanding, there is only a meaningless sound. The voice without the word strikes the ear but does not build up the heart.

However, let us observe what happens when we first seek to build up our hearts. When I think about what I am going to say, the word or message is already in my heart. When I want to speak to you, I look for a way to share with your heart what is already in mine.

In my search for a way to let this message reach you, so that the word already in my heart may find place also in yours, I use my voice to speak to you. The sound of my voice brings the meaning of the word to you and then passes away. The word which the sound has brought to you is now in your heart, and yet it is still also in mine.

When the word has been conveyed to you, does not the sound seem to say: The word ought to grow, and I should diminish? The sound of the voice has made itself heard in the service of the word, and has gone away, as though it were saying: My joy is complete. Let us hold on to the word; we must not lose the word conceived inwardly in our hearts.

Do you need proof that the voice passes away but the divine Word remains? Where is John’s baptism today? It served its purpose, and it went away. Now it is Christ’s baptism that we celebrate. It is in Christ that we all believe; we hope for salvation in him. This is the message the voice cried out.

Because it is hard to distinguish word from voice, even John himself was thought to be the Christ. The voice was thought to be the word. But the voice acknowledged what it was, anxious not to give offence to the word. I am not the Christ, he said, nor Elijah, nor the prophet. And the question came: Who are you, then? He replied: I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way for the Lord. The voice of one crying in the wilderness is the voice of one breaking the silence. Prepare the way for the Lord, he says, as though he were saying: “I speak out in order to lead him into your hearts, but he does not choose to come where I lead him unless you prepare the way for him.”

What does prepare the way mean, if not “pray well”? What does prepare the way mean, if not “be humble in your thoughts”? We should take our lesson from John the Baptist. He is thought to be the Christ; he declares he is not what they think. He does not take advantage of their mistake to further his own glory.

If he had said, “I am the Christ,” you can imagine how readily he would have been believed, since they believed he was the Christ even before he spoke. But he did not say it; he acknowledged what he was. He pointed out clearly who he was; he humbled himself.

He saw where his salvation lay. He understood that he was a lamp, and his fear was that it might be blown out by the wind of pride.

By faith she believed; by faith, conceived

(The following text is from the Office of Readings)

Stretching out his hand over his disciples, the Lord Christ declared: Here are my mother and my brothers; anyone who does the will of my Father who sent me is my brother and sister and my mother. I would urge you to ponder these words. Did the Virgin Mary, who believed by faith and conceived by faith, who was the chosen one from whom our Saviour was born among men, who was created by Christ before Christ was created in her – did she not do the will of the Father? Indeed the blessed Mary certainly did the Father’s will, and so it was for her a greater thing to have been Christ’s disciple than to have been his mother, and she was more blessed in her discipleship than in her motherhood. Hers was the happiness of first bearing in her womb him whom she would obey as her master.

Now listen and see if the words of Scripture do not agree with what I have said. The Lord was passing by and crowds were following him. His miracles gave proof of divine power. and a woman cried out: Happy is the womb that bore you, blessed is that womb! But the Lord, not wishing people to seek happiness in a purely physical relationship, replied: More blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it. Mary heard God’s word and kept it, and so she is blessed. She kept God’s truth in her mind, a nobler thing than carrying his body in her womb. The truth and the body were both Christ: he was kept in Mary’s mind insofar as he is truth, he was carried in her womb insofar as he is man; but what is kept in the mind is of a higher order than what is carried in the womb.

The Virgin Mary is both holy and blessed, and yet the Church is greater than she. Mary is a part of the Church, a member of the Church, a holy, an eminent – the most eminent – member, but still only a member of the entire body. The body undoubtedly is greater than she, one of its members. This body has the Lord for its head, and head and body together make up the whole Christ. In other words, our head is divine – our head is God.

Now, beloved, give me your whole attention, for you also are members of Christ; you also are the body of Christ. Consider how you yourselves can be among those of whom the Lord said: Here are my mother and my brothers. Do you wonder how you can be the mother of Christ? He himself said: Whoever hears and fulfils the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and my sister and my mother. As for our being the brothers and sisters of Christ, we can understand this because although there is only one inheritance and Christ is the only Son, his mercy would not allow him to remain alone. It was his wish that we too should be heirs of the Father, and co-heirs with himself.

Now having said that all of you are brothers of Christ, shall I not dare to call you his mother? Much less would I dare to deny his own words. Tell me how Mary became the mother of Christ, if it was not by giving birth to the members of Christ? You, to whom I am speaking, are the members of Christ. Of whom were you born? “Of Mother Church,” I hear the reply of your hearts. You became sons of this mother at your baptism, you came to birth then as members of Christ. Now you in your turn must draw to the font of baptism as many as you possibly can. You became sons when you were born there yourselves, and now by bringing others to birth in the same way, you have it in your power to become the mothers of Christ.

St. Augustine's Prayer to the Holy Spirit

Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy. Act in me, O Holy Spirit, that my work, too, may be holy. Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit, that I love but what is holy. Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, to defend all that is holy. Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit, that I always may be holy. Amen.

For a biography of St. Augustine click here.

The twin commandments of love

The Lord himself came, the Teacher of love, full of love, shortening the word upon the earth, as it was foretold that he would do. He showed that from the two precepts of love depend the whole of the Law and the prophets.

What are these two commandments? Join me, my brethren, in recollecting them. They ought to be thoroughly familiar to you and not just come into your mind when we recite them: they ought never to be blotted out from your hearts. Always and everywhere, bear in mind that you must love God and your neighbour, love God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind; and love your neighbour as you would love yourself.
We must always ponder these words, meditate them, hold them in our minds, practise them and bring them to fruition. As far as teaching is concerned, the love of God comes first; but as far as doing is concerned, the love of our neighbour comes first. Whoever sets out to teach you these two commandments of love must not commend your neighbour to you first, and then God, but God first and then your neighbour. You, on the other hand, do not yet see God, but loving your neighbour will bring you that sight. By loving your neighbour you purify your eyes so that they are ready to see God, as John clearly says: If you do not love your brother, whom you see, how can you love God, whom you do not see?

You are told “Love God”. If you say to me “Show me whom I should love”, what can I say except what John says? No man has ever seen God. But you must not think yourself wholly unsuited to seeing God: God is love, says John, and whoever dwells in love dwells in God. So love whoever is nearest to you and look inside you to see where that love is coming from: thus, as far as you are capable, you will see God.

So start to love your neighbout. Share your bread with the hungry, bring the homeless pauper into your house. Clothe the naked, and do not despise the servants of your kin.
What will you get from doing all this? Your light will break forth like the dawn. Your light is your God, your dawn, because he will come to you to end the night of this world — he who, himself, neither rises nor sets but is eternal.

By loving your neighbour, by having care for your neighbour, you are travelling on a journey. Where are you journeying, except to the Lord God, whom we must love with all our heart and all our soul and all our mind? We have not yet reached the Lord, but our neighbour is with us already. So support your neighbour, who is travelling with you, so that you may reach him with whom you long to dwell.

St. Jerome - 30th September 2008

It is the end of the month and today we celebrate the feast of St. Jerome. Let us read the commentary about this saint from Dr. Plinio Correa

(Under the Altar of St. Jerome is the resting site for the body of Bl. John XXIII.)


St. Jerome, Confessor and Doctor of the Church (c. 341-420) is considered the Church’s greatest Doctor of Scriptures.

He conferred this praise upon St. Augustine: “As I have done, you applied all your energy to make the enemies of the Church your personal enemies.” This eulogy is consistent with the counsel of St. Augustine: “You must hate the evil, but love the one who errs.”

Regarding St. Jerome the Roman Breviary says: “He pummeled the heretics with his most harsh writings.”

Comments of Prof. Plinio:

In the Catholic Church, St. Jerome is the representative par excellence of the polemical spirit, and in this sense he is a symbol against progressivist ecumenical dialogue. His writings are so straightforward, energetic, and intransigent that some people imagine that a saint could not write as he did. Almost everyone of his time trembled before him.

Once St. Augustine, with whom he had an ongoing correspondence, amiably told him that with half the energy St. Jerome used in one of his letters, he would already be convinced of his argument. I also remember that once I read that a pious lady sent St. Jerome a gift: some young doves and a basket of cherries. He wrote back asking her what she was thinking when she sent those delicate things to him. He was suspicious that she might want to corrupt the austerity of his penitent life. He immediately gave the presents to the poor.

One of my first encounters with Progressivism was with the reformist liturgical mentality that was being accepted by many monks in the Benedictine Monastery in Sao Paulo. I was talking with the Abbot and he told me that some works of St. Jerome were being read in the refectory of the monastery during the midday meal. He commented that the monks had become furious over the readings. In my naiveté, I thought that their hatred was directed toward the heretics St. Jerome combated, but I soon realized that I was wrong. Their hatred was against St. Jerome himself, because they had sympathy for the heretics.

The combativity of St. Jerome was an expression of his consuming zeal for the House of God. This kind of militancy is one of the most legitimate and saintly expressions of that zeal. Since his energy was inspired by love for God and not by personal resentments, it was a very holy thing. If force is exerted because of personal resentments, it is a completely different thing.

That saintly militancy made him a living sword of God. I know of no higher praise than to say that a man is the living sword of God, cutting, piercing, wounding, and destroying His enemies. St. Jerome represents the pinnacle of the polemic spirit, and as such he is the Patron Saint of the counter-revolutionary fight

His eulogy of St. Augustine about how he made the Church’s enemies his personal enemies is remarkable. It is one saint praising another one, and for this reason it can be said that the eulogy reflects the sanctity of the Church. The selection points out well that this aspect harmonizes perfectly with another apparently contrary one that can be seen in other words of St. Augustine: “We must hate evil, but love those who err.”

Today it is important that we have a clear understanding of what it means to love those who err. It is a liberal and ecumenical simplification to say that if one vigorously attacks those who err, he is harming these persons or showing a lack of charity. There are three reasons why this is not the case:

First, when a person is in grave danger of falling into an abyss, the right thing to do is to shout at him and say, “Be careful, you are at the edge of the cliff and if you fall, you will crack your head and die.” It would not be sensible to speak mildly, saying: “Hello there, I am standing in a much better place than you. Why don’t you come join me?”

This would be a foolish way to keep the man from falling into the abyss. The right way to rescue a man from danger is not to show the positive side of your position, but to expose the danger of his position and the imprudence of remaining in it.

Which one of you, seeing a man imprudently playing with a loaded gun and having his finger on the trigger, would gently suggest he play chess with you instead? It is a foolish attitude. The right thing is to address him sternly: “Look, stop playing with that gun or you might hurt yourself or me.” A man who is tempted to do something wrong needs to be addressed with words that inspire fear.

This is true above all when we deal with Catholic doctrine. Men are more easily moved by fear of bad consequences they can experience than a possible good they may enjoy. They are more easily moved by fear of Hell than by love of Heaven. Therefore, in order to convert a man, it is more charitable and expedient for us to first point out his error and its bad consequences, and then speak about the beauty and goodness of the truth. St. Jerome was a model of this way of acting.

I know that some rare souls may be touched by sweetness rather than combativity, but this is not the rule. It is the exception to the rule. God gives His Church saints who have special charismas to attract with amiability, such as St. Francis of Sales, who drew souls by his sweetness. However, the rule is to attack the evil to convert the person, as St. Jerome did.

Second, another simplification that the liberal and ecumenical spirit does not consider is that when we debate a heretic, a Protestant pastor for example, our primary goal is not to convert him, but to confirm in their Faith the Catholics who are following the debate and help them to not be contaminated by the Protestant errors. To this end, it is extremely advantageous to defeat the heretic.

The secondary goal of the debate is to convert the Protestants who are also following the debate and are not as obstinate in error as the pastor. The third and last aim is the conversion of the Protestant pastor, which should also be seriously considered. This is the correct hierarchy of aims in a debate of a Catholic with a Protestant. The progressivists simplify the topic enormously by saying that it is just a debate between A and B, and that the most efficient way to convert B is to smile and make concessions. It is not like that. By ignoring the two most important goals of the debate, a trap is set to lead people into a more progressivist and ecumenical mentality

Third, Our Lord, the divine model of sanctity, did not act with conciliation when he debated with the Pharisees. Instead, he called them as a generation of vipers, sons of Satan, whited sepulchers, etc. Also, when He came upon the money-changers in the Temple, He became indignant and used a whip to physically drive them out. That is, He used not only energy in the polemic against evil people, but He also used physical violence to punish the profaners.

The militant and polemic spirit of the great St. Jerome gives us the opportunity to see how Progressivism and the ecumenical spirit are sabotaging Catholic militancy everywhere. Today almost no one hears this Catholic doctrine taught in its entirety.

The progressivist Church avoids this teaching because it wants to push its agenda of ecumenism tending toward a spurious Pan-Religion.

We should certainly ask St. Jerome to help us in our counter-revolutionary polemics, but we should also and primarily ask him to help us destroy this liberal mentality that opens the door for the evil that is assaulting and taking over the entire Church.