Mary Mother of the Church

It's interesting to note that the Blessed Mother has more liturgical feasts dedicated to her than Jesus himself, and for the past 4 years, we have yet another celebration introduced recently by Pope Francis, honoring her as the Mother of the Church. Incidentally, a few days before this new feast was proclaimed, I was at the priests’ retirement home in Birkirkara, and I took a photo of this beautiful statue featuring Mary carrying a replica in miniature of a church with the Holy Spirit underneath. The feast is now celebrated annually the day after Pentecost. Yesterday we commemorated the birthday of the church, and as Mary gave birth to Jesus Christ, she somehow gave birth to the church, which He represents. Even this impressive statue shows Mary holding close to her heart and womb the church and the Holy Spirit, as if she is offering them to us from her own body. This feast was actually introduced by Blessed Pope Paul VI in 1964, who had declared Mary as Mother of the Church, that is Mother of all Christians and of all priests. Then in 1975, the Year of Mercy, the church had also introduced a special Mass in honor of Mary as Mater Ecclesia, mother of the church. Above all, we must look at Mary as the one who gives us life, that spiritual oxygen which energizes us and nourishes us with her presence in our lives. May the Blessed Mother bless all of our families and may they be strengthened in their weakness through her continued motherly protection. We pray especially at this stage in history that she will bring peace in so many troubled areas, especially in the same territory where she herself lived with Her Son and husband.

Come Holy Spirit

There is a beautiful hymn from the 13th century, written by Pope Innocent III  or the Archbishop of Canterbury, and is often sung in Latin in Gregorian chant in the Mass of Pentecost – Veni Sancte Spiritus, Come Holy Spirit, also known as the Golden Sequence. I share this hymn with you today as we celebrate the feast of the Holy Spirit, the descent of the Spirit on the Apostles

Holy Spirit, Lord of light, From Thy clear celestial height Thy pure beaming radiance give.

It’s a sincere prayer meant to enlighten all our work, our projects even our dreams.

You, of all consolers best, You, the soul’s delightsome Guest, Dost refreshing peace bestow.

A prayer of consolation and comfort, as we invite him to strengthen our souls.

You in toil are comfort sweet, Pleasant coolness in the heat, Solace in the midst of woe.

A prayer in the midst of tiredness, and a request for calm when facing struggles.

Light immortal, Light divine, Visit please these hearts of Yours, And our inmost being fill.

A prayer imploring a healing in our hearts,  and filling us with his graces.

Heal our wounds; our strength renew; On our dryness pour Thy dew; Wash the stains of guilt away.

A prayer to clean our hurts and strengthen our resolve, while asking to remove all stain of sin.

Bend the stubborn heart and will; Melt the frozen, warm the chill; Guide the steps that go astray.

A prayer to create an atmosphere of welcome and acceptance, and to keep us focused on following the Lord.

You, on those who evermore, Thee confess and Thee adore, In Your sevenfold gifts descend:

A prayer for those who ask forgiveness, and are respectful, to receive the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit

Give them comfort when they die, Give them life with Thee on high; Give them joys that never end. Amen Hallelujah.

A final prayer invoking joy that will stay with us forever, giving us comfort when we die.

About Apparitions

Medjugorje, where the unconfirmed apparitions took place in 1981

The Vatican has just updated its guidelines for reviewing apparitions, visions and alleged revelations, and reaffirmed that only a pope could formally deem something to be "supernatural." The guidelines outline six potential conclusions that may be reached. The update comes at a time when social media has led to an explosion of new claims of supposed apparitions or visions — including Jesus appearing on food and weeping statues of the Virgin Mary.

The new norms outline six prudential conclusions that may eventually be granted to such phenomena. They go from the most believable to the very unreliable:

·         Nihil obstat: Without expressing certainty about the event itself, there may be an appreciation of the potential spiritual and pastoral value, where the diocesan bishop is encouraged to promote its spread, including through possible pilgrimages to a sacred site;

·         Prae oculis habeatur: A recognition of certain positive signs, but notes there are some aspects of the event that may need further discernment or may cause confusion;

·         Curatur: An event where there have been "verifiable spiritual fruits" and where an outright ban "could upset the People of God," but where the bishop is asked "not to encourage this phenomenon but to seek out alternative expressions of devotion and possibly reorient its spiritual and pastoral aspects";

·         Sub mandato: An occasion where a person, family or group is misusing an event or occurrence that could potentially lead to exploitation;

·         Prohibetur et obstruatur: An occurrence where some legitimate merits are found, but where there appear to be "very serious" risks. In order to prevent confusion or scandal, the bishop is asked to declare that adherence to the phenomenon is not allowed. The bishop is also asked to provide further instruction and catechesis "that can help the faithful understand the reasons for the decision and reorient the legitimate spiritual concerns of that part of the People of God;" or, 

·         Declaratio de non supernaturalitate: An authorization to declare that the phenomenon is found to be not supernatural.

Watch what you say !

I heard a quote once which may sound crude, but it so true when you think about it. ‘Some people have constipation of thought and diarrhoea of words.’ It is so true, because some people can talk, and talk, but no sense comes out of their mouths.  Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a Swiss philosopher once wrote that ‘those who know much, speak very little, and those who know very little, talk nonstop, usually nonsense.’ Yes, it is so true, he who speaks much, thinks very little. A Maltese proverbs says that when you meet a person, you’ll get to know half of him. When you speak to him, you’ll get to know all of him. I like to say to penitents who come for confession that we can do much good by what we don’t say in a heated argument, than by what we say in anger or in frustration. St Teresa of Calcutta used to say ‘Words which do not enlighten with the Light of Christ, usually add to the darkness. While sweet words are easy to say them, but their echo has no limits.’ It’s important to watch what we say. In my homilies I often mention the notion of using the THINK Method. If something is True, Helpful, Important, Necessary, and Kind, then say it. If it’s none of  these, then don’t say it!

Socrates said it...

You may think that this quote was said by a group of senior citizens complaining about the behavior of their grand-children. But in actual fact, it was written by Socrates, the great Greek philosopher, over 2000 years ago: ‘Children now love luxury, they have bad manners, contempt for authority, and show disrespect towards elders. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannise their teachers.’ Not much seemed to have changed over all these centuries. Let’s hope our present-day parents instil in their children a sense of respect towards everyone around them.

Aurora Borealis

Four photos of Aurora Borealis at St. Mary's Lighthouse, UK.

The Aurora Borealis, also commonly known as the northern lights or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth’s sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and the Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of brilliant lights that appear as curtains, rays, spirals, or dynamic flickers covering the entire sky. A full understanding of the physical processes which lead to different types of auroras is still incomplete, but the basic cause involves the interaction of the solar wind with Earth’s magnetosphere. 

Aurora Borealis as seen in British Columbia, Canada

The aurora borealis is visible from areas around the Arctic such as Alaska, the Canadian Territories, Iceland, Greenland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Scotland and Siberia. On rare occasions the aurora borealis can be seen as far south as the Mediterranean and the southern states of the US, as was the case this past week, with some spectacular sights as captured with these two photos in British Columbia, Canada and Edinburgh, Scotland, and the first set of four from St. Mary's Lighthouse, UK.

Aurora Borealis as seen from Edinburgh, Scotland.

Floral Display

Once a year, in a big square in Valletta, they create a veritable garden, usually with flowers that paint a special design to be admired for a couple of weeks. This year the highlight was on plants, outdoor plants, shrubs, trees that created quiet a lush forest which contrasts so much with the dryness and lack of moisture we experience here in Malta. The garden features an impressive 62 mature trees, 5,000 shrubs and bushes, 13,000 flowering potted plants, and two ponds. Some of the trees reach heights of up to three meters and consist of a diverse selection of Mediterranean varieties such as Carob, Cypress, Canfora, Oleander, and Olive trees, many of which are between 60 and 80 years old. Circling all the plants were a large number of petunias, pretty colorful as you can see from these photos.

Our Lady of Fatima

Jacinta, Lucia and Francisco

Along with Lourdes and Guadalupe, Fatima is the most visited country as far as Marian religious pilgrimages are concerned. And as if to further accentuate its importance in history, May 13, 1917 was replicated in 1981 for a moment of importance, although in a negative way. On that day Pope John Paul II was shot inside the Vatican Square and almost died. But he recovered enough to make a pilgrimage a year later on May 13, 1982, to thank the Blessed Mother for her intervention in saving his life. But very much like Lourdes and Guadalupe, the quietness of these small little villages was turned upside down when the Blessed Mother appeared to 3 young children, Francisco and his sister Jacinta Marto, and Lucia dos Santos. Nobody would believe them at first, and were almost imprisoned for fabricating lies. But eventually, religious leaders, priests and bishops in Fatima, Portugal investigated the whole story and found it to be true, with the Vatican officially proclaiming that the apparitions were believable. Francisco and Jacinta died shortly afterwards, but Lucia became a nun and lived into the third millennium in a monastery in Portugal, being visited by 2 Popes.  A huge basilica was built on the spot where the Blessed Mother appeared to the children, encouraging them to pray the Rosary, and pray for the conversion of souls. She even gave the children some well-kept secrets, which were only shown to the reigning Popes, but we know now that they spoke about the conversion of Russia and other tragic events that took place over the years, and other historic events which were predicted, like the end of World War I. Thousands of pilgrims visit Fatima every year, and the devotion to the Blessed Mother and the Rosary spread far and wide. The prayer that is said between each decade of the Rosary was devised after the Fatima apparition: O my Jesus forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to heaven, especially those who have most need of thy mercy.

Celebrating Mother’s Day

My mother Mary in 1985

To all our mothers, grandmothers, godmothers, mothers-to-be, foster mothers and step-mothers, our prayers are with you. On this special day, we pray that they will place their lives and their families’ well-being under the Blessed Mother’s protection. Let us also remember those mothers who are in heaven, waiting for us as patiently as they used to wait at midnight when we were late coming home from a party. A news item on TV showed that if a mother who stays home were to be paid according to the work she does, cleaning, cooking, teaching, counselling, fixing, decorating, driving, etc, she would be working an average 92 hours a week, and she will be earning a minimum of $138,000 a year. My own mother would have earned over $8 million in her lifetime! She was born on April 26, 1929 and died one day short of her birthday, on April 25, 2010, aged 81. We love them, and we thank them for all they do for us. May God bless them with eternal happiness in his bosom, until we eventually join them at our final destination. The idea to celebrate Mother’s Day came to Anna Jarvis, a Philadelphia school teacher, first expressed to a group of friends in 1907. She was originally from rural West Virginia, but her family had moved to Philadelphia at the turn of the 20th century. So persuasive was her concept, so diligent was her dedication, that by 1908 she marshalled the support to carry out the first observance of Mother’s Day in May 1908, back in her family surroundings of Grafton, Virginia. Two years later, Mother’s Day became a state holiday by a proclamation by the then-Governor William Glassman. And behold, three years later, Congress proclaimed that henceforth, Mother’s Day should be a national holiday, marked by a Presidential Proclamation issued in May 1914. Today, Mother’s Day is celebrated all over the world on the second Sunday in May.

Bloody Wine

A farmer had a vine and was watering it with water from a nearby well. A friend of his saw him and asked him why isn’t he using a different watering system. He suggested using blood instead of water, and in fact he offered to give him some blood from his farm. So this man came back with four buckets of blood. He told him ‘make sure you water it well, you have a bucket full of blood of a lamb, another one blood of a lion, another one blood of a monkey and the fourth one is blood of a pig.’ The farmer obeyed the instructions and the vine gave an abundance of large grapes. His neighbors heard about this discovery and asked him for a sampling of a branch, so that they can try it. Now when the wine was produced and people drank from it, they found out that they first appear as sweet as a harmless lamb. If they drank some more, they however became as terrible as a lion. If they persisted in drinking, they would end up acting crazy and mischievously like a monkey. And if they haven’t had enough, another gulp will make them look really like a gluttonous pig. This story has a clever message. If you drink a little, it will do you good, but if you drink too much, you will go bankrupt, your health will suffer terribly and people will certainly make a laughing stock out of you.

St Thomas More on fairness

When St. Thomas More was Chancellor of England, before he was martyred by Henry VIII, he was known for his fairness, and a movie about him was appropriately titled ‘A Man for all Seasons.’ One day when he was still a judge, a woman who had a case in court, came to speak to him and presented him with a gift, hoping he would favor her cause. He said to her: ‘Take what you brought with you. If you are right, I will give you the credit even without a gift. And if you are wrong, none of the gold this Empire possesses will be enough to even entice me to do an injustice.’ St.Thomas More was eventually killed for not allowing King Henry VIII to divorce his wife.

St George Preca Prayer

St George Preca delivering one of his many speeches.

Today being the feast of the Maltese saint, St. George Preca, I thought of sharing with you one of his most popular prayers, which is known as the Quotidie, a prayer to be said daily by members of the MUSEUM, the organization he founded. He was born in 1880 and died in July 1962, and was canonized on June 3, 2007.

Lord God, you are here and I am in you: I speak to you and you listen to me: I ask of you and you grant to me because you have shown us in Holy Scripture that it is your delight to be with us your children, and also that it is your wish that we should have recourse to you in all our needs. It is with total confidence, therefore, that we ask of you as children ask of their parents.

Lord God, glorify your name.

Lord God, reign over all people.

Lord God, defend your honour.

Lord God, make yourself known.

Lord God, do your own will.

Lord God, rejoice in your works.

Lord God, enjoy your own beauty.

Lord God, show the beauty of your law.

Lord God, enjoy your infinite treasures.

Lord God, convert sinners to you.

Lord God, give perseverance to the just.

Lord God, save the dying.

Lord God, grant rest to the faithful departed.

Lord God, console those who are sad.

Lord God, enlighten the ignorant.

Lord God, restore health to the sick.

Lord God, help those in need.

Lord God, help those experiencing worries to accept your will.

Lord God, purify my heart.

Lord God, give me the spirit of Christ.

Lord God, save me from all deceits.

Lord God, lead me in all my ways.

Lord God, make me rejoice in your peace.

Lord God, keep me always in your hands.

Lord God, fill me with the spirit of sacrifice.

Lord God, seek me to adore you.

Lord God, bless my soul at the hour of my death.

Jesus Christ the Nazarene, King of the Jews, the only Son of the living God, and of the Virgin Mother Mary, sole mediator between us and God, show your divine wounds to the Justice of God, and through your merits save the whole world. Amen.

Our Lady of Pompeii

A special devotion to the Blessed Mother of Pompeii is celebrated today in various churches. One of the persons who spread the devotion towards Our Lady of Pompeii is an Italian man who was beatified in 1980 by Pope St. John Paul II. His name was Bartolo Longo who built a huge Basilica in 1883 in Pompeii in Mary’s honor. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum was destroyed by a volcanic eruption of Mt Vesuvius in the first century AD. By the last half of the nineteenth century the Valley of Pompeii, near Naples, was practically deserted. In October 1872, Bartolo Longo came to the valley. He had been reared a Catholic, although it seems he was not very devout. On October 9th, a few days after his arrival, he was walking along a rather desolate road when suddenly a voice seemed to speak to him. It told him that if he wished to be saved, he should spread devotion to the Rosary. Bartolo fell on his knees and replied that if the Virgin had truly so promised then he would be saved; he would not leave the valley until he had popularized the Rosary. His early efforts to interest the people in the Rosary devotion do not seem to have been very successful, but he persisted, and in two or three years he had gathered quite a group around him for the daily recitation of the prayers in the little chapel. The Bishop visited the valley in 1875 and he suggested that a church be built there in honor of Our Lady of Pompeii. As the number of people taking part in the daily recitation of the Rosary grew, it was decided to obtain a picture of the Blessed Virgin, and Bartolo searched hard for a really good picture but could not find any, and could only afford a second-hand painting from a junk store for five lire (today a few cents worth). A trucker not knowing what the package contained pitched it on top of a load of garbage and so the picture arrived at the chapel. The people enshrined the painting and almost immediately several miracles took place through Mary’s intercession as Our Lady of Pompeii. The Miraculous painting of Our Lady of Pompeii was restored three times, and crowned with two golden crowns, one for Mary and one for baby Jesus. The painting shows Mary with baby Jesus and two saints who spread the devotion of the Rosary, St Dominic and St Catherine of Siena. With the approval of Pope Leo XIII, the church was built between 1876 and 1891. A new basilica was built between 1934 and 1939, ordered by Pope Pius XI. Many people visit this beautiful Church near Naples every May 8, when her feast day is celebrated. The devotion is also popular in Malta, where a church is dedicated to her in the parish of Marsaxlokk.

Ecological notice

A huge mango tree in India had this notice attached to its trunk:
I warm your house because I provide you with logs and timber to heat your fireplace and the entire house.
I create for you an area in shade enough to shelter you from the sweltering sun and its rays.
I can give you mouth-watering fruit that will quench your thirst and envigorate you.
I can also provide you with enough wood for you to craft tables, windows, doors and furniture.
If you ever want to sail the oceans, I can give you enough wood for you to build a boat and venture into the ocean.
And to accompany you till the end, I can have the material available for a coffin so that your family can give you a decent burial.
Let us all appreciate nature and ecology, and show gratitude for all the blessings we receive from a simple tree. Truly, nature has blessed us over the years with enough wood to craft and sculpture some precious and valuable works of art, displayed for everyone to see in churches and museums and other buildings. 

Elections looming

With the European Union elections a few weeks away, besides the local Council elections on the same day, I take you back today to 1971, when a big election took place, with the Labor Party replacing the Nationalist Party, and eventually reigning for another 16 years. Back then, they didn’t have billboards or Facebook or the Internet to advertise. So posters were the most popular way of canvassing and letting people know who was running for the 55 seats that formed the Parliament back then. This photo shows a building covered with posters, mostly of the two leaders, Dom Mintoff the Labor Party leader, who would become Prime Minster, and George Borg Olivier, the opposition leader who was Prime Minister a few times in the 1950s and all through he 1960s, being the father of Independence, which Malta gained in 1964. Many of these posters would be seen on every conceivable wall available in towns and villages. Corner meetings as well as huge mass meetings were held in the month leading to the election. This particular building was the parcel Post Office in Valletta, the capital city, and was taken down a few years ago. In its place here is a small square with a bronze statue of the Grandmaster La Vallette, for whom the capital city was named.

Fruit

The Superior of a monastery was given a basket full of fruit, plenty of peaches, apples, apricots, bananas and grapes. He thought about it and remembered that Friar Frank had just returned from the hospital after a few weeks hospitalization, and passed it on to him. Friar Frank was happy, but the altruistic type that he was, he thought of giving them to the most senior monk in the monastery, Friar Juniper, and he was delighted with all that fruit. Yet he thought of Friar Peter Paul who was all alone with no relatives, and he quietly passed the basket of fruit to him. Friar Peter Paul grabbed a banana  and a couple of grapes, but he wanted to share them with the others, so he passed it on to Friar Seraphim, who in turn gave them to Friar Sylvester, who passed them on to the Superior.  And the fruit ended up where they had started their altruistic journey. And as you can see, the spirit of brotherhood and kindness can turn this world into a heaven on earth.

Honesty First...and Best

When George Washington (the first US President) was a young boy, one day he got hold of an axe, and chopped down a beautiful cherry tree in the garden at their house. His father was pretty angry when he saw the demolished tree, and asked his son who did it. Ashamed, little George admitted his vandal and immature act. However, touched by the sincerity of his son, his father said: ‘I forgive you George. Your action deserves a punishment, but your honesty deserves forgiveness. In a way, it’s better to have one less tree in our garden and a sincere son, than having one hundred trees and a liar for a son.’

Sun Halo

A friend of mine, Colleen Clark from Mount Vernon, Oregon just sent me a photo she took of a fascinating ring that formed around the sun. It is called a 22° halo, which is an atmospheric optical phenomenon that consists of a halo with an apparent radius of approximately 22° around the Sun or the Moon. Around the Sun, it may also be called a Sun Halo. Around the Moon, it is also known as a moon ring, storm ring, or winter halo. It forms as sunlight is refracted by millions of hexagonal ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere. Its radius, as viewed from Earth, is roughly the length of an outstretched hand at arm's length.  Moon rings are said to warn of approaching storms. Like other ice halos, sun halos appear when the sky is covered by thin cirrus and cirrostratus clouds that often come a few days before a large storm front.

I suggest that you visit Colleen’s Blog here, and encourage her to re-start it as it has been inactive for a while. She has some great, well-written inspirational posts: https://turn-uppatch.blogspot.com

Expensive Sins

There was an island off the cast of Galway in Ireland, and it had only one Catholic church, which was not used much. In fact the priest from Ireland would come every few months to say Mass, baptize the babies and marry the lovely couples. One day the priest started to wonder what the parishioners do for confession. One of the representatives of the parish council told the priest, ‘well Father, we have to wait till you come here for confession. We cannot afford to go to the mainland Ireland by boat. It’s too expensive for venial sins and too risky for mortal sins!’

St Joseph the Worker

We honor today St Joseph, foster father of Jesus. His liturgical feast is actually celebrated on March 19th, but today we honor him as the patron of workers. Renowned to be a carpenter, Joseph taught the tricks of the trade to his son Jesus, and people invoke his prayers when searching for a job or looking for work. May Day celebrations are held around the world, especially in communist countries, but the Church emphasizes the image of Joseph as the patron of all those who work. Through his intercession, may those who are unemployed find adequate jobs to make a living to support their families. In his honor, I wrote this prayer today.

Lord Jesus, as the world celebrates May Day today, the church celebrates the feast of Saint Joseph, patron saint of workers, and so our thoughts and prayers go to all those who work, those searching for work and that the dignity of all workers be respected and honored everywhere.
We pray for those who work with their hands, carpenters, construction workers, farmers, ranchers, fishermen, writers, printers, nurses, sculptors, painters, engineers, cooks, chefs, and yes, even baseball, snooker and football players. May they always stay focused on the work at hand and avoid any accidents or mishaps. We also pray for those who use their minds at work, doctors, lawyers, accountants, counsellors, teachers, planners and inventors, politicians and strategists, priests and teachers, and mothers and fathers who use both hands and mind and heart. We ask you Lord to provide work opportunities for those parents who need some form of income to support their families. May employers and employees collaborate together and see good, productive work accomplished with dedication, honesty and commitment. And as we continue the work of creation, remind us also to rest on specified days, and never waste any time at work, or do things which are otherwise done during leisure time. We ask this prayer through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Pope St Pius V

Pope Pius V blessing Francesco Lapparelli

Born Antony Ghislieri on January 17, 1504, he was raised by poor parents and entered the Dominican Order with whom he was ordained in 1528 and taught philosophy and theology in Dominican colleges . He quickly became bishop and Cardinal and followed his predecessor, the easy-going Pope Pius IV in 1566. He started his Papacy by implementing the reform of the Council of Trent. He cleaned up the curia, excommunicated heretical bishops, cleaned up the immorality in the church and swept the church clean – paving the way for the great surge in the church we call the Counter Reformation. He also excommunicated the tyrant Elizabeth I of England and formed the Holy League – a confederation of Catholic armies which eventually defeated the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Lepanto. Pius V also instituted the Feast of Our Lady of Victories. He was also very helpful to Malta when after the Great Siege of 1565, he sent his own architect and military engineer Francesco Lapparelli to help the Knights of Malta rebuild the capital city of Valletta. We owe him great respect and appreciation for this kind gesture.

Pope Pius V also published the catechism of Trent and improved the breviary and the Roman Missal, which was still being used until 1962. He tried to clean Rome from any immorality, forbidding bull fights and even tried to stop bull fighting from Spain, one of the few things he was unsuccessful in. He died on May 1, 1572 and was canonized by Pope Clement XI in 1712. Since he was a Dominican, he frequently kept using the white cassock or habit that Dominicans used, and the custom remained that successive Popes kept using white, possibly to beat the summer Roman heat. And that is why the Popes still uses white as the color of his cassock. And the first thing Pope Francis did when he was elected Pope was the visit Santa Maria Maggiore and pay tribute to the tomb of Pope St Pius V.