THE JOURNEY

“Life is your ship, not your home,” said Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, and with this phrase she invited us to reflect on the transient nature of our earthly existence. Life, according to this metaphor, is like a ship in which we sail, a journey full of experiences, lessons, and challenges. We should not become too attached to this world, since our true home, the final destination to which we are called, is heaven. This thought encourages us to live with hope and purpose, reminding us that our ultimate goal is union with God in eternity, and that all our actions and decisions should be directed toward that transcendent end.

And there she was… the Mother of Jesus.

And where she is, there is peace, joy, and security.

And there she was, with her watchful and charitable gaze, solicitous and loving.

The newlyweds and their guests joyfully enjoyed the festivities of that wedding day.

Meanwhile, she made sure that nothing was lacking in the joy of that simple celebration.

And with what discreet solicitude, with what loving prudence, she carries out her duties!

The wine will run out; she foresees it.

But she is not content with merely foreseeing it.

Her heart is moved; how can she allow the joy of those simple newlyweds to be disturbed, and how can she let the embarrassment of their lack of foresight shame them? No! And she solicitously seeks the remedy for that need.

Her Son is there.

She knows his heart very well.

And she approaches, discreet and loving: "Vinum non habent": They have no wine.

Jesus's response seems negative at first glance. But it isn't.

Mary is so certain that she has been heard that, without waiting, she orders the servants: "Do whatever he tells you."

And the miracle happens, at Mary's request, and the water is turned into wine.

Abundant, delicious, exquisite wine, the best of the feast.

The need has been met, and with such discretion that even the master of the banquet hasn't noticed what has happened.

Oh Mary! Where you are, nothing can be lacking.

You are the all-powerful intercessor. And your word hastens the hour of Jesus's miracles.

That is why my trust in you can have no limits.

It is enough to open my heart, and let the emptiness within it appear;  I lack humility, and I lack charity toward my brothers and sisters, and I lack sincerity with myself, and I lack love for my God, and I lack…

Yet you see all these shortcomings, all these miseries. And your heart is moved. And you ask your Son for me.

Your prayer reaches all things. That is why my shortcomings do not discourage me, nor does the immense emptiness in my heart overwhelm me. You want to fill that emptiness and remedy these miseries.

But you want me to cooperate to the best of my meager strength.

And to me, as to the servants at Cana, you also say: “Do whatever He tells you.”

At Cana, the servants filled the jars with water.

I will offer the water of my tears, which is all I have.

That is enough. And let it fill my poor heart to the brim.

Those tears will be transformed.

And the wine of joy, of peace, of trust, will fill my heart.

Alberto Moreno S.I.
BETWEEN HIM AND ME

The voice of Saint Catherine of Siena, which challenged the bishops of her time, is perfectly applicable to our reality.

 "LET NOT THE SEVERE WORD OF TRUTH BE ADDRESSED TO YOU WHEN SHE SAID: 'CURSED BE YOU FOR BEING SILENT'".

From the depths of the centuries, the cry of Saint Catherine addressed to bishops and cardinals who silently witness the slaughter of souls perpetrated today with their complicit silence...

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"[…]Poor me! Poor me! My wretched soul! Open your eyes and look carefully at the perversity of death that has entered the world, and especially into the Holy Church, the mystical body of Jesus.

Poor me! May your heart and soul burst at the sight of so many offenses committed against God! See, Father, that the devil, the infernal wolf, kidnaps men, the sheep that feed in the garden of the Holy Church; and there is no one who moves to snatch them from his mouth. The shepherds sleep in their self-love, in the same greed and filth;  And they are so drunk with pride that they sleep and don't even feel themselves, even though they see that the devil, the infernal wolf, is stealing the life of grace from them and even from those entrusted to them. They don't care: and all this is due to the perversity of their self-love. How dangerous self-love is in bishops, priests, and the people entrusted to them!

You are a bishop; if you have self-love, you do not correct the defects you see in those entrusted to you: because if you love yourself for yourself, you fall into human respect, and therefore you do not intervene to correct. If you loved yourself for God's sake, however, you would not fear human respect; courageously, with a strong heart, you would correct the defects, and you would not remain silent or pretend not to see.

Dearest Father, I want you to be free from self-love.  I beg you to live so that the Truth will not address you with that stern, reproachful word, when it said: "Cursed be you, because you remained silent."

Woe to me! Be silent no longer! Cry out with a hundred thousand tongues! I see that, through silence, the world is in ruins, and the holy Church, the Bride of Jesus, has become all pale and no longer has her color, because her blood has been sucked from her: the blood of Jesus, given to us by grace and not to satisfy a debt, is stolen by evil shepherds through pride for their own gain, taking away the glory that should be God's and giving it to themselves. They steal with simony, selling the gifts and graces given to us by grace, at the price of the blood of the Son of God. […]".

Saint Catherine of Siena, Letter 16, To a Bishop

THERE CAN BE NO BETTER ADVICE

 

CLOTHING IS FOR COVERING, NOT FOR SUGGESTING OR DISPLAYING

"...The good of our soul is more important than bodily well-being; and we must prefer the spiritual welfare of our neighbor to the comforts of our body...

If a certain type of clothing constitutes a grave and imminent occasion of sin, and endangers the salvation of your soul and that of others, it is your duty to abandon it..."

Pope Pius XII

 

THE MEANING OF DOGMAS CAN NEVER CHANGE OR CONTRADICT IT

The First Vatican Council, in the Constitution Son of God, Chapter 4, proclaimed:

“The doctrine of faith which God revealed was not presented as a philosophical discovery to be perfected by human ingenuity, but handed down as a divine deposit to the Bride of Christ to be faithfully guarded and infallibly declared. Therefore, that meaning of the sacred dogmas which Holy Mother Church declared once and for all must be maintained in perpetuity, and one must never depart from that meaning.”

Then, in Canon 3 on Faith and Reason, it decrees: “If anyone asserts that, after the dogmas have been established by the Church, a meaning different from that which the Church understood and understands should ever be attributed to them according to the progress of knowledge, let him be anathema.”

FATIMA

Pope Pius XII: “I am concerned about the messages of the Blessed Virgin to Lucia of Fatima. This persistence of Mary regarding the dangers that threaten the Church is a divine warning against the suicide of altering the Faith in her Liturgy, in her Theology, in her soul… I have heard around me innovators who want to dismantle the Sacred Chapel, destroy the universal flame of the Church, reject her vestments, and make her feel remorse for her historical past.

A day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted. She will be tempted to believe that man has become God. In our churches, Christians will search in vain for the red lamp where God awaited them. Like Mary Magdalene who wept before the empty tomb, they will ask, ‘Where have they taken Him?’” (Pope Pius XII, quoted in Monsignor Roche, Pius XII Devant)  l’Histoire, pp. 52-53).