Vol 13 Issue 34 ~ Editor: Rev. Fr. Courtney Edward Krier
August 22, 2020 ~ Immaculate Heart of Mary, opn!

1.      What is the Holy Eucharist
2.      Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost
3.      Saint Phillip Benizi
4.      Family and Marriage
5.      Articles and notices
Dear Reader:

In 1917, on August 13, the Administrator of Vila Nova de Ourem kidnapped the three seers of Fatima. They had already been requested to appear before the Administrator on August 11, which the two fathers of the children and Lucia obediently submitted and were present for questioning. The regime was socialist and the government was to decide what was right and wrong, true and not true, and here were three children apparently telling the people that the Virgin Mary was appearing to them without permission from the government—especially because miracles were not supposed to happen—they are contrary to all scientific expertise and socialist governments are based upon scientific expertise (of course assuming humans are evolutionary products and the socialist oligarchy are higher in the evolutionary production stage to know where to lead the masses). These children had not been to state schools to be indoctrinated that immorality was normal and that lying was fine if it was better to do so. The arrival of Lucia, an 11-year-old, simply answering the local government authority’s questions with complete truth was unacceptable. Even more intolerable was that she told them they couldn’t have the answer to every question because the Virgin Mary told her not to tell them. They knew well—apparently having some common sense—that they couldn’t arrest the Virgin Mary for insubordination to their atheistic and socialistic ideas. So they sent Lucia, her father and her uncle home with a warning to stop the unstoppable: Mary coming to Fatima again. Therefore, when it was certain the three seers were going to see the Virgin Mary again, the wise to the world but foolish to God local officials kidnapped the children and whisked them off to Ourem to the safety of jail for their own benefit (that is, the benefit of the officials not the children). Threats of death, of never seeing their parents, of being condemned as enemies of the state did not move the faith of these children, nor did promises of money (they were very poor). They had been taught truth is truth and anything else is a lie. Lucia and Jacinta had seen the Virgin Mary while Francisco could not see at first, only moments later could he see but still not hear the Virgin because of past transgressions, therefore they knew the apparition was only to them and no one else and that adults, officials and sceptics who denied it could not prove it was only imagined. When the parents and faithful appeared demanding the release of the children it was the end of the Socialist regime—the common man recognized that socialism did not have the answers, God did. Christ sent Mary to convey that if man would humbly accept His Mother’s role of intervening on behalf of mankind as the New Eve, peace would once more be established—but without this recognition Christ as the New Adam would be denied, that is as God and man. Why? Because it means God can and does intervene and therefore God is the one who directs the lives of man and not man of himself—or in an unguided evolutionary omega point.

This justifies the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the prayer they prayed: O my Jesus, it is for love of Thee, for the conversion of sinners and in reparation for sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary I offer this sacrifice to Thee. Reparation for sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary? Yes, as the New Eve who, with Christ, loves mankind and offered Her Son for their salvation and is wounded in the heart (in time: transpierced, sword shall pierce) by those who reject her Son and sin. May our first Saturday devotions be an act of reparation.

O Most Holy Virgin, and Our Mother, we listen with grief to the complaints of thine Immaculate Heart surrounded with the thorns placed therein at every moment by the blasphemies and ingratitude of ungrateful humanity. We are moved by the ardent desire of loving thee as Our Mother and of promising a true devotion to thine Immaculate Heart.

We therefore kneel before thee to manifest the sorrow we feel for the grievances that people cause thee, and to atone by our prayers and sacrifices for the offences with which they return thy love. Obtain for them and for us the pardon of so many sins. Hasten the conversion of sinners that they may love Jesus Christ and cease to offend the Lord, already so much offended. Turn thine eyes of mercy toward us, that we may love God with all our heart on earth and enjoy Him forever in Heaven. Amen.

As always, enjoy the readings provided for your benefit.—The Editor

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WHAT IS THE HOLY EUCHARIST

By Rev. Courtney Edward Krier

Part III

The Real Presence

1.      Christ is Present in the Holy Eucharist with His Body, Blood Soul and Divinity

When, at the Last Supper, Christ said: This is my Body, the bread, by virtue of His words, became His Body. When Christ said: This is my Blood . . . , the wine, by virtue of His words, became His Blood. Each of the Apostles received the whole of His Body and each received the whole of His Blood. When the Apostles afterwards fulfilled the words of Christ to do this in commemoration of Him (cfr. Luke 22:19), and offered the gratiarum actio (or Eucharistia), with the words, This is My Body, by virtue of the words the complete substance of bread changed into the complete substance of the glorified Christ; and, with the words, This is my blood . . . , by virtue of the words the complete substance of wine changed into the complete substance of the glorified Christ.

The Council of Trent made this a dogma in Session XIII, in the Decree On the Most Holy Eucharist, in the first canon:

If anyone denies that in the sacrament of the most holy Eucharist there are truly, really, and substantially contained the body and blood together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore the whole Christ, but shall say that He is in it as by a sign or figure, or force, let him be anathema [cf. n. 874,876 ]. (Cf. DB 883.)

The Latin uses the word, contineri: contained. Though not translated literally from the Latin to the English in the Canon, this is translated into contained in the first chapter upon which the first Canon is based:

First of all the holy Synod teaches and openly and simply professes that in the nourishing sacrament of the Holy Eucharist after the consecration of the bread and wine our Lord Jesus Christ, true God and man, is truly, really, and substantially [can. I] contained under the species of those sensible things. (Cf. DB 874.)

The Real Presence contained in the Sacred Species is further explained in chapter 3:

For the apostles had not yet received the Eucharist from the hand of the Lord [ Matt. 26:26; Mark 14:22] when He Himself truly said that what He was offering was His body; and this belief has always been in the Church of God, that immediately after the consecration the true body of our Lord and His true blood together with His soul and divinity exist under the species of bread and wine; but the body indeed under the species of bread, and the blood under the species of wine by the force of the words, but the body itself under both by force of that natural connection and concomitance by which the parts of Christ the Lord, “who hath now risen from the dead to die no more” [Rom. 6:9], are mutually united, the divinity also because of that admirable hypostatic union [can. 1 and 3] with His body and soul. Therefore, it is very true that as much is contained under either species as under both. For Christ whole and entire exists under the species of bread and under any part whatsoever of that species, likewise the whole (Christ) is present under the species of wine and under its parts [can. 3]. (Cf. DB 876.)

As Christ was united, body, blood, soul and divinity before His death, there was no separation of His Body and Blood for a separation would cause His death; so the Apostles received the whole of Christ under the Species of Bread and received the whole of Christ under the Species of Wine. But a separation did happen on Calvary when His Blood was separated from His Body and His Soul was separated from His Body and Blood. At this time, if, hypothetically, Mass was offered, by force of the words one would receive only the Body of Christ without the Blood and Soul under the appearance of bread; and one would receive only the Blood of Christ without the Body and Soul under the appearance of wine. As at the Last Supper, each receives, then, the whole of Christ under each Sacred Species, whether the Host or the Chalice. This is important because the Priest (or ordained Deacon), in giving the Communicant only the Host, does not just give the Body of Christ, but gives the whole of Christ, that is, Christ’s Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. The separate consecrations of the bread and chalice proclaim the sacrifice of Christ Who offered His Body and Blood on Calvary to the Eternal Father and continues to offer that sacrifice of Himself through the ministry of the priest in Mass. In Luke one reads:

And taking bread, he gave thanks, and brake; and gave to them, saying: This is my body, which is given for you. Do this for a commemoration of me. In like manner the chalice also, after he had supped, saying: This is the chalice, the new testament in my blood, which shall be shed for you. (Luke 22:19-20)

The following is the summary teaching of concomitance regarding the Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist: The Holy Eucharist really, truly, and substantially contains the Body and Blood, together with the Soul and the Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and consequently the whole Christ. (Pohle, Sacraments II, 88)

Jesus Christ took bread, and blessed, and broke: and gave to his disciples, and said: Take ye, and eat. This is my body. According to custom, each would break off a piece of the bread and give to the next person. In the context it would mean that each particle was the Body of Christ, or they did not receive the Body of Christ. In the same understanding Christ said: And taking the chalice, he gave thanks, and gave to them, saying: Drink ye all of this, for this is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins. This means that Christ’s Blood was in each drop they drank or they did not drink Christ’s Blood. Therefore, Christ is present, whole and entire in each particle of the species of bread and Christ is present in each drop of the species of blood.

Paul of Samosata denied the divinity of Christ because, according to him, Christ was subject to change, to corruptibility, to death. The Word, God, only dwelt in the human Jesus Christ. As such, he tried to prove the corruptibility, and consequently the non-divinity, of the Eucharistic Blood from the fact that it is divided into parts when received in Holy Communion. (Ibid. 69.) Dionysius of Alexandria (+ 264) objected to his claim, answering: As little as the Holy Ghost is perishable because He is poured forth into our hearts, just so little is the Blood of Christ corruptible, which is not the blood of a mortal man, but of the true God, who is a well-spring of joy for all who partake there from.” (Opera Dionys. Alexandr., p. 233, Rome 1796.) Paul of Samosata’s rejection of the hypostatic union of the two natures, Divine and human, in the one Person, Jesus Christ, allowed for this denial. The teaching of the Church may be summarized in these words: When the Sacred Host is broken into pieces, or the consecrated contents of the Chalice are consumed in small quantities, Christ is wholly and entirely present in each particle and in every drop. (Pohle, Sacraments II, 95)

Accepting the totality of the Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist, it would follow that the Person, Jesus Christ, is therefore, also present in both Species and in each particle of the Host or each drop of the consecrated Wine.

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The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers

M. F. Toal

THE GOSPEL OF THE SUNDAY

LUKE X. 23-37

At that time: Jesus said to his disciples: Blessed are the eyes that see the things which you see. For I say to you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see the things that you see, and have not seen them; and to hear the things that you hear, and have not heard them. And behold a certain lawyer stood up tempting him and saying; Master what must I do to possess eternal life? But he said to him: What is written in the Law? how readest thou? He answering said: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and with thy whole soul and with all thy strength and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thy self. And he said to him: Thou hast answered right. This do; and thou shalt live.

But he, willing to justify himself, said to Jesus: And who is my neighbour? And Jesus, answering said: A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among robbers, who also stripped him and having wounded him went away, leaving him half dead. And it chanced that a certain priest went down the same way; and seeing him passed by. In like manner also a Levite when he was near the place and saw him, passed by. But a certain Samaritan, being on his journey, came near him; and seeing him was moved to pity. And, going up to him, bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine; and, setting him upon his own beast, brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two pence and gave to the host and said: Take care of him; and whatsoever thou shalt spend over and above, I, at my return, will repay thee. Which of these three, in thy opinion, was neighbour to him that fell among the robbers? But he said: He that showed mercy to him. And Jesus said to him: Go, and do thou in like manner.

EXPOSITION FROM THE CATENA AUREA

V .30. And Jesus, answering, said: A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho.

GREEK (or Severus Antioch in Catena GP): Well did he use the name of our race. For He does not say: ‘A certain one went down,’ but, A certain man. For His words concerned all mankind. AUGUSTINE, Questions on the Gospels, II, 19: This man represents Adam, and stands for the human race. Jerusalem is that heavenly city of peace from whose happiness he has fallen. Jericho signifies the moon, and stands for our mortality; because it is born, increases, grows old and dies.

AUGUSTINE, Against Pelagians, III: Or we call Paradise Jerusalem; which is interpreted to mean, ‘the vision of peace’. For man, before he sinned, dwelt in a vision of peace; that is, in Paradise, where, wherever he looked, there was peace and joy. From there, as it were humiliated, he came down, made wretched through sin, to Jericho, that is, to the world, in which, like the moon, all that rises dies.

THEOPHYLACTUS. But He did not say went down (descendit), but that he was going down (descendebat). For human nature ever tends towards lower things; and during, not a part, but the whole of life seeks what is fleeting.

BASIL, Catena GP. This is also in keeping with the places, if you consider them. For Jericho lies in the deep valley of Palestine; while Jerusalem is seated on a height, occupying the summit of a mountain. Man therefore comes from the heights to the depths, so that he is caught by the robbers who are wont to dwell in the wilderness. Hence: And fell among robbers.

CHRYSOSTOM, Catena GP: First, we must feel pity for the misfortune of this man, who, alone and unarmed, fell among robbers, and who, unforeseeing and unwary, took the road on which he could not escape the hands of plunderers. For the unarmed cannot escape the armed, the unwary cannot escape the evil-disposed, the thoughtless those who plot injuries: for wickedness is ever armed with deceit, fortified with cruelty, and ready to attack with savagery.

AMBROSE: Who are these robbers but angels of the night, and of darkness, among whom he would not have fallen had he not, regardless of the divine commandment, exposed himself to them? CHRYSOSTOM, as above: The devil in the beginning of the world used treachery against man, to injure him; employing against him the poison of deceit, and devoting his malice to injuring him.  AUGUSTINE. Against Pelagians, as above: He fell among robbers therefore, that is, among the devil and his angels: who through the disobedience of the first man stripped human kind; that is, deprived them of the adornments of virtue, and wounded them, that is, injuring in them the power of free will. Hence there follows: Who also stripped him and having wounded him went away.

AUGUSTINE, Questions on the Gospels, II, 19: Or, they stripped man of immortality and, having wounded him, by persuading him to sin, left him half dead: for in the part of him which can know and understand God, man is alive; in the part however in which he has been weakened by sin, and overcome, he is dead. And this is the meaning of what follows: Leaving him half dead.

AUGUSTINE, Against Pelagians, as above: For one who is half dead is wounded in his vital activity, that is, in his free will; so that he is not able to return to the eternal life he has lost. And so he lay there; unable of his own powers to rise and seek a physician, God, to heal him.

THEOPHYLACTUS: Or, a man is said to be half dead after sin; for his soul is immortal, his body mortal; so that the half of man has succumbed to death. Or, because human nature hoped to obtain salvation in Christ; that it might not wholly succumb to death. In the measure that Adam sinned, death entered the world (Rom. v. 12). But in Christ’s justice, death was to be destroyed.

AMBROSE: Or, they strip us of the garments of spiritual grace we received; and it is so they wound us. For if we preserve unspotted the garment of grace we put on, we cannot feel the blows of the robbers. BASIL: Or it may be understood that they first wounded him, and then stripped him. For the wounds precede the nakedness; that you may understand that sin precedes the loss of grace.

BEDE: Sins are called wounds, because by them the integrity of our nature is wounded. They went away; not ceasing however from their assaults, but concealing their snares by craft. CHRYSOSTOM, as above: This man therefore, that is, Adam, lay there destitute of the means of salvation, pierced by the wounds of his sins; whom neither Aaron the Priest, passing by, could help by his sacrifice; for we read:

V. 31. And it chanced that a certain priest . . . seeing him, passed by.

Nor even his brother Moses, the Levite, could help by the law. So there follows:

V.32. In like manner also a levite . . . saw him, and passed by.

AUGUSTINE, Against Pelagians: Or, in the Priest and the Levite two different times are meant; namely, of the Law, and the Prophets. In the Priest, the Law is signified; for which sacrifices and the priesthood were instituted. In the Levite, the voice of the Prophets; in whose times mankind could not be healed, because through the Law came the knowledge of sin, not its abolition (Rom. iii. 20).

THEOPHYLACTUS: But He says: passed by; for the Law came, and stood for its predestined time; then, unable to heal, went away. See also how by design the Law was not given to this end: to heal man. For man could not from the beginning receive the mystery of Christ; and so He says, it chanced, that a certain priest; a way we speak of things which happen without premeditation. AUGUSTINE, Sermon 37: Or, because the man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho is understood to have been an Israelite; it can be understood that the Priest passing by was his neighbour by race, yet passed by, leaving him lying there. And a Levite also passed by, likewise his neighbour by race to the man lying there, and he also ignored him.

THEOPHYLACTUS: They felt pity for him, I would say, when they became aware of him. But then, gripped by meanness, they went on their way. For this is indicated by the phrase, passed by.

AUGUSTINE, as above: A Samaritan passed by; remote from him by race, his neighbour by compassion. And he does what follows:

V.33. But a certain Samaritan, being on his journey, came near him.

Our Lord Jesus Christ willed that He Himself should be understood in this Samaritan. For Samaritan is interpreted to mean guardian; and is used of Himself: Behold he shall neither slumber nor sleep that keepeth Israel; for, rising again from the dead, he dieth now no more (Ps. cxx. 4; Rom. vi. 9). And to confirm this, when they said to Him: Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil (Jn. viii. 48), while denying He had a devil, for He knew Himself to be the banisher of devils, He did not deny He was the Guardian of the weak.

GREEK INTERPRETER (or Severus of Antioch) in Catena GP: Here Christ rightly speaks of Himself as a Samaritan. For when speaking to the lawyer who had prided himself in the Law, He willed to make clear that neither the Priest nor the Levite, in both of whom was presupposed a knowledge of the Law, had fulfilled the intention of the Law; whereas it was for this He had come: to fulfil the purpose of the Law.

AMBROSE: This Samaritan was also going down. For Who descends from heaven save only He Who ascends into heaven: The Son of man who is in heaven (Jn. iii. 13)? THEOPHYLACTUS: He says, being on his journey; as though inferring that he was making this journey on purpose: to cure us. AUGUSTINE, Against Pelagians, as above: He came in the likeness of sinful flesh, and so came as it were near him in appearance. GREEK, as above: Or, he was coming this road anyway; since he was a genuine traveller, not a wanderer, coming down to earth for our sake.

AMBROSE: And coming He became our closest neighbour, through compassion for us. And He came near us by the gift of His mercy. So we have: And seeing him was moved with compassion. AUGUSTINE, as above: Seeing him lying there powerless, without movement, He was moved by compassion; for He found no merit in him which gave him the right to be healed. For the Lord himself, from (the likeness of) sin had condemned sin in the flesh (Rom. viii. 3); and accordingly we have:

V.34. And, going up to him, bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine.

AUGUSTINE, Sermon 37: What is there so distant, so remote, as God from man, the Immortal from mortals, the Just from sinners? Not remote in place, but remote in unlikeness. Since therefore He possessed in Himself two good things; namely, justice and immortality, and we two evil things: namely, iniquity and mortality, had He taken upon Him both our evils He would be as we are, and with us would have needed a redeemer. Therefore that He might not be what we were, but almost as we were, He was not a sinner like you, but became mortal like you; and taking upon Himself your punishment, but not assuming your guilt, He wiped out both guilt and punishment.

AUGUSTINE, Questions on the Gospel, II, 19: The binding up of the wounds is the correction of sin. Oil stands for the comfort of good hope, through the pardon given to restore us to peace. Wine stands for encouragement to work most fervently in the spirit.

AMBROSE: Or He binds up our wounds with His more austere commandments, and as He soothes us with the oil of forgiveness of sin, He rouses us as with wine by the threat of judgement.

GREGORY, Morals 20, 8 in Job. xxix. 25: Or, in the wine He suggests the sharpness of punishment; in the oil the mildness of love. With this wine let our corrupt parts be dressed; with the oil let the parts that are healing be soothed. Therefore let mildness be mingled with severity, and let there be a just measure of both the one and the other, so that those subject to us may neither be provoked by too great severity, nor weakened by too much mildness.

THEOPHYLACTUS: Or again: To speak with men is oil; with God, is wine, which signifies the Divinity: which no man can endure unless it is blended with oil, that is, with human association. So He has done some things as man, others as God. He therefore poured in oil and wine Who saved us both by His Humanity and His Divinity.

CHRYSOSTOM: Or, He poured in wine, that is, the Blood of His Passion, and the oil of His Anointing: that He might give us pardon through His Blood, and sanctify us through anointing with chrism. Our wounded parts are bound up by the heavenly Physician and, retaining His medicine within them, they are restored by its action to their former state of health. Then, having poured in both oil and wine, He sets him upon His own beast. So there follows: And, setting him upon his own beast, brought him to an inn and took care of him. AUGUSTINE, as above: His own beast is the Body in which He deigned to come to us. To be placed upon His beast is to believe in the Incarnation of Christ.

AMBROSE: Or, He places us on His own beast when He bears our sins and suffers for us (Is. liii. 4). For man is become like to a beast (Ps. xlviii. 13). So He places us on His own beast, lest we become like the horse and the mule (Ps. xxxi. 9); so that by His assumption of our body He might take away the weakness of our flesh.

THEOPHYLACTus: Or He placed him on His own beast, that is, upon His own Body: for He made us His own members, and the partakers of His Body. And the Law did not receive all: The Ammonite and the Moabite shall not enter into the church of the Lord (Deut. xxiii. 3). Now however he who in every nation fears the Lord is received by Him, if willing to believe, and to become a part of the Church. Because of this He says, that he brought him to an inn.

CHRYSOSTOM: The Church is the inn which in the journey of this world receives the weary and those that are overcome by the weight of their sins; where, casting aside the burthen of sin, the wearied traveller may rest, and rested is restored with healthful food. And this is what is meant by, and took care of him. Outside this inn is all that is evil and destructive; within is contained all peace and healthfulness.

BEDE: And well does He bring him to an inn whom He placed on His own beast: for no one shall enter the Church unless through baptism he is united to the Body of Christ. AMBROSE: And because it served no purpose for this Samaritan to remain long on earth, He had to return whence He had descended. Hence there follows:

V.35. And the next day He took out two pence and gave to the host and said: Take care of him.

What is this next day, if not perhaps that of our Lord’s Resurrection, of which it was said: This is the day which the Lord hath made (Ps. cvvii. 24)? The two pence are the two Testaments; upon which is impressed the Image of the Eternal King, by Whose price our wounds are healed. AUGUSTINE, as above: Or the two denarii are the two precepts of charity, which the Apostles received through the Holy Ghost to preach to others. Or the promise of life in the present and in the future.

ORIGEN: Or, the two denarii seem to me to be the knowledge of the mystery of how the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father, with which as payment the Angel endowed the Church, that she may lovingly care for the man entrusted to her, whom, as his suffering at the time demanded, He had also cared for. And he is promised that whatever of his own he shall spend on the healing of the half dead man, shall there be restored to him. So there follows: And whatsoever thou shalt spend over and above, I, at my return, will repay thee.

AUGUSTINE, as above: The innkeeper was the Apostle (Paul), who spent over and above, either the counsel that says: Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord; but I give counsel, or what he also earned with his own hands, lest he be a burden on anyone of those who were still weak in the newness of the Gospel; though it was lawful to him to live by the Gospel (I Cor. vii. 25; I Thess. ii. 9). The Apostles also spent much over and above; as did in due time the Doctors also who spent over and above in the interpretation of the Old and the New Testament; for which they shall receive their reward.

AMBROSE: Blessed therefore is that innkeeper who can take care of the wounds of another; Blessed is he to whom Jesus says: whatsoever thou shalt spend over and above, I, at my return, shall repay thee. But when, Lord, will you return, save on the day of Judgement? For though Thou art everywhere always, and standing in the midst of us, we see Thee not. Yet there shall be a time when all flesh shall behold Thee coming again. Thou wilt pay then what Thou owest to the Blessed to whom Thou art a Debtor. Would that we were rich debtors, that we might pay back in full what we have received.

V.36. Which of these three, in thy opinion, was neighbour . . .

CYRIL, Catena GP: Then, having first said these things, the Lord fitly asks the lawyer: Which of these three was neighbour to him that fell among the robbers?

V.37. But he said: He that shewed mercy to him.

For neither Priest nor Levite had acted as neighbour to the sufferer, but he who had had compassion on him. Profitless the dignity of the Priesthood and the learning of the Law unless it is confirmed by good works. Then follows: And Jesus said to him: go, and do thou in like manner.

CHRYSOSTOM: And though He says: Should you see someone afflicted, do not say: he no doubt is wicked; but rather, whether he be Jew or Gentile, but in need of help, do not hesitate to help him whatever the evils he may have yielded to.

AUGUSTINE, Christian Doctrine, I, 20: From this we are to understand that he is our neighbour to whom we should render the offices of compassion, should he be in need of them, or to whom we should have rendered them, had he needed them. From which it follows that he in turn must render the same to us, that he may be our neighbour. For the name neighbour has a relation to something; and no one can be a neighbour except to a neighbour. Who does not see that no one is excepted from the offices of our compassion? For the Lord has said: Do good to them that hate you (Mt. v. 44). From which it is plain to us, that included in this commandment, by which we are bidden to love our neighbour, are the holy angels, who have served us in such great offices of mercy, and the Lord Himself, Who for this reason, willed also to be called our neighbour; making clear to us, that it was He Who had taken care of the man lying half-dead by the wayside.

AMBROSE: It is not kinship makes a neighbour, but compassion; and compassion accords with nature: for nothing is more in accord with nature than to help another who shares it.

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23: ST PHILIP BENIZI (A.D. 1285)

THIS principal ornament and propagator of the religious order of the Servites in Italy was of the noble families of Benizi and Frescobaldi in Florence, and a native of that city. He was born on August 15, in the year 1233, which is said by some to be the very feast of the Assumption on which the seven Founders of the Servites had their first vision of our Lady. His parents had been long married but childless, and Philip was a child of prayer. At the age of thirteen he was sent to Paris to apply himself to the study of medicine, and Galen, though a heathen, was a strong spur to him in raising his heart from the contemplation of nature to the worship and praise of its Author. From Paris he removed to Padua, where he took the degree of doctor in medicine and philosophy at the age of nineteen. After his return to Florence he took some time to deliberate with himself what course to steer. For a year he practised his profession, spending his leisure time in the study of sacred Scripture and the fathers and in prayer for guidance, especially before a certain crucifix in the abbey-church at Fiesole and before a picture of the Annunciation in the Servite chapel at Carfaggio, just outside the walls of Florence.

At this time the Servites, or Order of the Servants of Mary, had been established fourteen years, having been founded by seven gentlemen of Florence as described under their feast on February 12. At their principal house on Monte Senario, six miles from Florence, they lived in little cells, something like the hermits of Camaldoli, possessing nothing but in common, and professing obedience to St Buonfiglio Monaldi. The austerities which they practised were great, and they lived mostly on alms. On the Thursday in Easter Week 1254, Philip was in prayer at Fiesole when the figure on the crucifix seemed to say to him, “Go to the high hill where the servants of my mother are living, and you will be doing the will of my Father”. Pondering these words deeply Philip went to the chapel at Carfaggio to assist at Mass, and was strongly affected with the words of the Holy Ghost to the deacon Philip, which were read in the epistle of that day, “Go near and join thyself to this chariot”. His name being Philip he applied to himself these words as an invitation to put himself under the care of the Blessed Virgin in that order, and he seemed to himself, in a dream or vision, to be in a vast wilderness (representing the world) full of precipices, snares and serpents, so that he did not see how it was possible to escape so many dangers. Whilst he was thus in dread he thought he beheld our Lady approaching him in a chariot. Persuaded that God called him to this order as to a place of refuge, Philip went to Monte Senario and was admitted by St Buonfiglio to the habit as a lay-brother: “I wish”, he said, ” to be the servant of the Servants of Mary.” In consideration of the circumstances in which he had joined the order he retained his baptismal name in religion. He was made gardener and questor for alms, and put to work at every kind of hard country labour; the saint cheerfully applied himself to it in a spirit of penance and accompanied his work with constant recollection and prayer, living in a little cave behind the church. Philip was sent in 1258 to the Servite house at Siena and on the way there he undesignedly displayed his abilities in a discourse on certain controverted points, in the presence of two Dominicans and others, to the astonishment of those that heard him, and especially of his companion, Brother Victor. The matter was reported to the prior general, who examined St Philip closely and then had him promoted to holy orders, though nothing but an absolute command could extort his consent.

All Philip’s hopes of living out his life in quiet and obscurity, serving God and his brethren as a lay-brother, were now at an end. In 1262 he went to the Siena monastery as novice-master and to be one of the four vicars to assist the prior general; soon after he became himself colleague of the prior general. In 1267 a chapter of the whole order was held at Carfaggio; at this chapter St Manettus resigned the generalship and, in spite of his protests, St Philip Benizi was unanimously elected in his stead. During his first year of office he made a general visitation of the provinces of northern Italy, which at the time were torn and distracted by the strife of Guelf and Ghibelline. It was on this tour that his first miracle was reported of him, very similar to one attributed to St Dominic and other saints: owing to the troubles the Servites of Arezzo were unable to get food and were on the verge of starvation; when they assembled for supper there was nothing to eat until, when St Philip had exhorted them to have faith and had prayed before our Lady’s image, a knock was heard at the monastery door and two large baskets of good bread were found on the steps. He codified the rules and constitutions of the Servite order and this work was confirmed by the general chapter held at Pistoia in 1268; he would on the same occasion have asked leave to give up his office. But he was so warmly dissuaded by his colleague, Brother Lottaringo, that he resigned himself to holding it so long as his brethren should wish, which proved to be for the rest of his life.

Upon the death of Pope Clement IV it was rumoured that Cardinal Ottobuoni, protector of the Servites, had proposed St Philip to succeed him, and that the suggestion was well received. When word of this came to Philip’s ears he ran away and hid himself in a cave among the mountains near Radicofani, where he was looked after for three months by Brother Victor until he deemed the danger past. During this retreat St Philip rejoiced in an opportunity of giving himself up to contemplation; he lived on vegetables and drank at a spring, since esteemed miraculous and called St Philip’s Bath. He returned from the desert glowing with zeal to kindle in the hearts of Christians the fire of divine love, and soon set out on a visitation of his order in France and Germany. In 1274 he was summoned by Bd Gregory X to be present at the second general council of Lyons. At it he made a profound impression and the gift of tongues was attributed to him, but his reputation did not serve to obtain for the Servites that formal papal approbation for which St Philip worked continually.

The saint announced the word of God wherever he came and had an extraordinary talent in converting sinners and in reconciling those that were at variance. Italy was still horribly divided by discords and hereditary factions. Holy men often sought to apply remedies to these quarrels, which had a happy effect upon some; but in many these discords, like a wound ill-cured, broke out again with worse symptoms than ever. Papal Guelfs and imperial Ghibellines were the worst offenders, and in 1279 Pope Nicholas III gave special faculties to Cardinal Latino to deal with them. He invoked the help of St Philip Benizi, who wonderfully pacified the factions when they were ready to tear each other to pieces at Pistoia and other places. He succeeded at length also at Forli, where the seditious insulted and beat him; but his patience at length disarmed their fury. Peregrine Laziosi, who was their ringleader and had himself struck the saint, was so moved by his meekness that he threw himself at his feet and begged his pardon. Being become a model penitent Peregrine was received by Philip into the order of Servites at Siena in 1283, and was canonized by Benedict XIII in 1726. St Philip attracted a number of notably good men to himself. Among them were this St Peregrine and Bd John of Frankfort; Bd Joachim Piccolomini, who met Philip at Siena; Bd Andrew Dotti, a soldier, and Bd Jerome, both of Borgo San Sepolcro; Bd Bonaventure of Pistoia, converted by a sermon of the saint from a life of violence and crime; Bd Ubald, whose quarrelling had turned Florence upside down; and Bd Francis Patrizi. In 1284 St Alexis Falconieri put his niece St Juliana under the direction of St Philip, and from his advice to her sprang the third order regular of the Servants of Mary. He was also responsible for sending the first Servite missionaries to the East, where some penetrated to Tartary and there gave their blood for Christ. Throughout his eighteen years of generalship of his order Philip had as his official colleague Lottaringo Stufa, whom he had known and loved from boyhood. They remained the closest friends and the utmost confidence subsisted between them; their long association was an ideal partnership.

Judging at length by the decay of his health that the end of his life drew near, St Philip set out in 1285 to visit the newly-elected Pope Honorius IV at Perugia, and at Florence convened a general chapter at which he announced his approaching departure and handed over the government to Father Lottaringo. ” Love one another! Love one another! Love one another!” he adjured the friars, and so left them. He went to the smallest and poorest house of the order, at Todi, where he was enthusiastically received by the citizens, and when he could escape from them he went straight to the altar of our Lady, and falling prostrate on the ground prayed with great fervour, “This is the place of my rest for ever”. He made a moving sermon on the glory of the blessed on the feast of the Assumption of the Mother of God, but at three o’clock in the afternoon of that day was taken seriously ill. He sent for the community, and again spoke of brotherly love: “Love one another, reverence one another, and bear with one another.” Seven days later the end came; he called for his ” book”, by which word he meant his crucifix, and devoutly contemplating it, calmly died at the hour of the evening Angelus. St Philip Benizi was canonized in 1671, and his feast was extended to the whole Western church in 1694.

(Butler’s Lives of the Saints)

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Good Morning,

Boys and Girls!

            REV. THOMAS J. HOSTY, M.A., S.T.B.

(1952)

DON’T MISS THE “JACK POT”!

GOOD MORNING, BOYS AND GIRLS!

Every now and then we read in the newspapers of someone selling an old coin for a great deal of money. Maybe it’s an 1805 penny or an 1817 dime or something like that. I’m not familiar with the old pieces of money that are worth a great deal, but you could easily find out if you wanted to by writing to one of the big newspapers and inquiring. I know it to be a fact, though, that certain coins are valued very highly by museums and by coin collectors. If I’m not mistaken, the late President Roosevelt had a very unusual coin collection. (By the way, the official name for a special coin gatherer is a numismatist. When you go home from church this morning, try that one out on your Dad. Tell him that you’re thinking of becoming a numismatist. Would I love to see the look on his face when you spring that word on him!

Many people do not know the value of old coins, and they allow them to slip through their fingers without even giving them a second thought. Wouldn’t it be terrible if the quarter that you used to buy your ticket into the movies was actually worth a thousand dollars? Wouldn’t you be heartbroken if you discovered that you bought a dime candy bar with a coin that was worth three hundred dollars? You’d feel sorry, too, if you knew that one of your friends had a coin and passed it on, without getting the large amount that it was worth.

But suppose you knew that the quarter which you had in your pocket was worth one thousand dollars, and still you wanted to go to the show so badly that you spent the quarter anyway, rather than wait a few weeks and get all the money which it was actually worth. Do you think anyone would feel sorry for you? Would you feel sorry for one of your friends if he pulled a dumb stunt like that? You certainly wouldn’t! You’d tell everyone how foolish your friend was when he had a chance to get a fortune, and then passed it up for a candy bar or a movie. Your friends would feel the same way about you if you did the very same thing. Instead of saying, ‘Wasn’t it too bad that Tommy paid a quarter that was really worth a thousand dollars, to get into the movies?” They’d say, “Tommy sure was a prize dope. Can you imagine not wanting to wait a few weeks to cash in a quarter that was worth a thousand dollars?”

Would you believe it if I told you that there are people who are a million times more foolish than Tommy? All that he lost was money! But there are people who lose God’s friendship for the sake of a few minutes of bodily pleasure or for the sake of a few dollars! And the most terrible part of it all is this—they know that they’re losing His friendship, but they do it anyway. We can easily feel sorry for anyone who lets a fortune slip through his fingers because he doesn’t know any better. But there is only one word that truly describes a person who would pass up God’s friendship for anything which He created. Do you know what, that word is? The word is stupid!

What’s so awful about losing God’s friendship? You may die without ever regaining it! Do you know what happens to people who die without being friends of God? They suffer forever in hell! They will never see God or enjoy His companionship. They will never get into heaven with its unending happiness. Forever and ever, they’ll realize what fools they were! They had a wonderful treasure in their possession, and they sold it for practically nothing. How could the quickly passing pleasure that comes from the money which you steal, or the sleep which you enjoy when you deliberately miss Sunday Mass, or the taste of a hamburger steak on Friday, or the brief thrill from a sin of impurity possibly compare to the happiness of a heaven that will last not just a few billion years, but forever?

Boys and girls, if you ever make the terrible mistake of losing God’s friendship through a serious sin, make an Act of Contrition immediately (tell God you’re really sorry), and then get to confession as soon as you possibly can. Never, never forget the warning that our Lord gave to every one of us: “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and then suffers the loss of his own soul?” Remember—life is short, death is certain, judgment will be final, and heaven will last forever!

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Father Krier will be in Pahrump September 10, Albuquerque September 11 and Los Angeles September 12. He will be in Eureka September 17.

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