ST JOSEPH'S ABBEY, SPENCER MA

Virgin and Child Workshop of   Gerard David   Netherlandish 1490–1523   On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in   Gallery 953 Public domain The Roman Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary, on September 12th   in honor to the name of Mary, the mother of Jesus.  This feast day has been celebrated since 1684 when Pope Innocent XI officially included it in General Roman calendar, but actually dates back to 1513 as local celebrations were held in Spain.    The entry in the Roman Martyrology about the feast speaks of it in the following terms, “The Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a day on which the inexpressible love of the Mother of God for her Holy Child is recalled, and the eyes of the faithful are directed to the figure of the Mother of the Redeemer, for them to invoke with devotion”.  Before the Battle of Vienna in 1683, John III Sobieski placed his troops under the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  In the f...

On a certain sabbath Jesus went into the synagogue and taught, and there was a man there whose right hand was withered. The scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely to see if he would cure on the sabbath so that they might discover a reason to accuse him. But he realized their intentions…   Luke 6:6–8 In the Gospels, many pages tell of Jesus’ encounters with the sick and of his commitment to healing them. He presents himself publicly as one who fights against illness and who has come to heal mankind of every evil: evils of the spirit and evils of the body. (…) Jesus never held back from their care. He never passed by, never turned his face away. When a father or mother, or even just friends brought a sick person for him to touch and heal, he never let time be an issue; healing came before the law, even one as sacred as resting on the Sabbath. The doctors of the law reproached Jesus because he healed on the Sabbath, he did good on the Sabbath. But the love of Jesus was in givin...

Jesus said to his disciples: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.”   Matthew 18:15 Today’s passage speaks about  fraternal correction , and invites us to reflect on the twofold dimension of Christian existence: community, which demands  safeguarding communion  — that is, the unity of the Church — and personal, which obliges attention and  respect for every individual conscience . To correct a brother who has made a mistake, Jesus suggests a pedagogy of rehabilitation. And Jesus’ pedagogy is always a pedagogy of rehabilitation. He always tries to rehabilitate, to save. And this pedagogy of rehabilitation is articulated in three passages. In the first place he says: “tell him his fault, between you and him alone”, that is, do not air his sin in public. It is about going to your brother with discretion, not to judge him but to help him realize what he has done. ...

In all probability, this unusual sculpture depicting Saint Anne lying on the birthing  bed  with the swaddled Virgin Mary came from the lower section of the late  Gothic  altarpiece dedicated to Saint Anne in the parish church at Ebern. German ca.1480:  On view at The Met Cloisters in   Gallery 20; Public Domain This is one of the most ancient Marian feasts. It is thought that this feast originated in connection with the Feast of the dedication of a church dedicated to Mary, now the Church of St Ann, in Jerusalem in the 6th century. Tradition holds that this is where the house of Mary’s parents, Joachim and Ann, stood and where she would have been born. The Feast began to be celebrated in Rome in the 8th century with Pope Sergius I ( + 8 September 701). It is the third such feast of a “nativity” on the Roman Calendar: the Nativity of Jesus, the Son of God (Christmas); the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist (24 June); and the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin M...

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”   Luke 5:8 Consider carefully this very moving action of Simon Peter. Jesus had just begun His public ministry, healing Simon’s mother-in-law as one of His first miracles. After that, Simon witnessed Jesus heal many other sick people and cast out many demons. And then, shortly after these initial miracles, Jesus got into the boat of Simon, directed him to “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” As soon as Simon obeyed, he caught so many fish that they needed a second boat to come and help them. The response of Simon to this additional miracle is recorded above. Three things take place in this passage. First, “Simon Peter saw this…” And though he saw this, literally with his eyes, we should see his “seeing” as something even deeper. Simon Peter saw not just the best day of fishing he had ever had. He saw God’s grace at work through Jesus and was deeply...

"When the Lord calls his body bread, made from the collection of a large number of grains, he is pointing to the unity of our people. And when he calls his blood wine, which is pressed from a large number of clusters of grapes to form a single liquid, he signifies that our flock is made up of a multitude gathered into unity." Cyprian of Carthage, Letter 69 V,2 "Just as the head and the body constitute a single human being, so Christ and the Church constitute a single whole. This union is effected through the food that he has given us in his desire to show the love he has for us. For this reason he united himself intimately with us. He blended his body with ours like leaven, so that we should become one single entity, as the body is joined to the head." John Chrysostom, Homily on I Corinthians

Abba Nilus: D o not be always wanting everything to turn out as you think it should, but rather as God pleases, then you will be undisturbed and thankful in your prayer. Abba Poemen: D o not give your heart to that which does not satisfy your heart. Abba Anthony The Great: Someone asked Abba Anthony, "What must one do in order to please God?" The old man replied, "… whoever you may be, always have God before your eyes…"