Great Catholic Gifts & Catholic Giving

Now that we have officially entered in upon the height of the Christmas present buying season, I thought I would take this opportunity to suggest some places were one can purchase some really wonderful Catholic gifts for their friends and family.

But first an important note: as Catholics we ought to not only look to buy spiritually productive gifts for others, but also spend the money God gives us wisely and support good companies and causes, at least to the degree that is possible in today's world.

Thus we ought not, whenever, possible buy Catholic goods from third party secular companies like Amazon.com or other conglomerates.  Instead we should buy from our local Catholic retailers (yes even if the prices might be a bit higher) who often donate their proceeds to good Catholic causes.  And when it comes to books, we ought, when possible, buy directly from the publishers or again from a good Catholic company or local Catholic book shop.

We ought also to consider the things we buy all the time, in particular food items (i.e. Coffee), that we ought to support religious communities who produce these things when we can or our local producers for this is a true charity toward our neighbor.  Yes it will cost us more to buy the beer, cheese, coffee, etc from religious but we can consider that extra cost a donation and know that we are supporting a good cause.  And yes it will cost more at the Farmers Market, but you are getting a higher quality product, supporting real people and not the Agro-Industrial-Complex, and supporting your local economy.

First here is my list of solidly orthodox Catholic publishers:

Fraternity Publications 

 Tan Books 

Baronius Press 

Loreto Publications 

 Preserving Christian Publications 

 

And then I would very highly recommend Mystic Monk Coffee, Tea, and Gifts.  Please support this wonderful cause, and help my dear friends the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming!

  
 

Another great group of Monks you can support are the Benedictines of Clear Creek by buying something from their wonderful Gift Shop.

And for those living in Northern Virginia I would be remiss if I did not recommend you support our local Catholic goods seller: the Paschal Lamb, which is staffed by good Catholics from our local parishes and who support other wonderful Catholic initiatives (like the Institute of Catholic Culture) from their proceeds.  The Paschal Lamb also offers wrapping paper you can purchase that isn't made with slave labor of our dear Catholic brethren imprisoned in China simply for being Catholics.

And do not forget to give something to a worthy cause this Feast of the Nativity of our Lord.  There are many worthy causes that deserve our support.  Here are just a few suggestions:


Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem (WVa, USA)

Carmelite Monks of Wyoming (WY, USA)


Benedictine Monks of Perpetual Adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar (Meath, Ireland)

Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary (FSSP) (NE, USA)

Transalpine Redemptorists (Papa Stronsay, Scotland)

Benedictines of Mary - Queen of Apostles (MO, USA)

Carmel of Jesus Mary and Joseph (PA, USA)

HelpIraq.org (Sponsored by St. Thomas the Apostle Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of the U.S.A)


Institute of Catholic Culture (VA, USA & Online Everywhere!)

Traditionalist Pride and Why We Shouldn't Burn Heretics

Being a Traditionalist Catholic, though I take issue with that title as I've explained before (and here is why), I admit that I myself am guilty of this pride that is all too common among Traditionalists (as Father Ripperger explains here in his "Traditionalist Problems" sermon...see section #2 of sermons).  We feel better than our fellow Catholics because we posses the truth concerning the Catholic faith and not the twisted and bastardized version pawned off by most prelates today (wittingly or unwittingly).  We think because we attend authentic Catholic liturgies (the ancient Roman or Byzantine Rites) that we are somehow better than our peers who attend the Novus Ordo.  Sometimes we are more aware of this, but mostly I suspect it is as pride always is: rather insidious and often undetected without much self examination.

But I know that for me, someone who has been exclusively attending the Classical Form of the Roman Rite (aka Traditional Latin Mass aka "Tridentine" Mass aka "Gregorian" Mass aka Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite) for the last 8+ years, that there are many people I know who while ignorant of much are far holier than I.  Thankfully, God granted me a very special grace to come to know myself about 5 years ago.  I came to understand just how little I really know, just how prideful I really was, and how I ought not trust in my own opinions but rather in the wisdom of the Saints, the teaching of the Church, and words of our Lord Himself.  This is not to say that I am now somehow holy for knowing this, but rather simply that I know that I am not.

One of the most interesting things I was given was the letter written by Saint Thomas Aquinas to a fellow Dominican Brother who had asked his advice on how to study in which he said: 

"Do not consider who the person is you are listening to, but whatever good he says commit to memory."

And this seems to us very counter intuitive doesn't it?  So often we want to write off this or that person or even this or that priest because they don't seem to be very holy or maybe because they say the Novus Ordo we think they can't possibly be a good or trustworthy priest (I know some people who think this way).

Now sometimes we even may know a priest is good and holy and trustworthy, but then he starts saying things that seem contrary to what we thought was the case.  Are we then simply rejecting what they say out of hand?  Or do we stop and think and consider if possibly we may have had an erroneous position until now?

I had somewhat this experience this past Sunday when I listened to this sermon preached on this Sunday's Gospel [Matthew 13:24-30] (according to the Traditional Calendar), which you can listen to here.

I've taken the time over the last few days to pray and meditate about what he said and also upon the commentary given by Saint Thomas Aquinas in his Catena Aurea on this very Gospel, which you can read yourself here.

I stand corrected.

Why Russia Needs to be Consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

It may be that you have heard some Catholics speaking about “The Consecration” that needs to be made by the Pope of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  But you might not have any idea where this comes from or why this is so important.

It was in fact our Lady herself at Fatima, who identified herself there as our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary and our Lady of Mount Carmel and our Lady of Sorrows in particular, who first appeared to the three shepherd children (Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco) at Fatima in 1917 and asked for this consecration to be performed.

On December 10th 1925 our Lady appeared holding her Divine Son in her arms and asked Lucia (then a nun) to promote the devotion to her Immaculate Heart that she had requested in 1917.  Again, on February 15th, 1926 she received another visit from the Child Jesus and was asked again to promote this devotion to His mother.  On July 13th 1929, at the point when Stalin (the greatest Mass murderer of all time) had fully come to power in Russia, our Lord came to Sister Lucia once again, but this time with a new message.  He told her that it was now time for the Pope to perform the tasked requested by our Lady in 1917: the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart.

At this time in Russia the Catholic Faith had become illegal and any who were Catholic were prohibited from partaking in the most basic necessities of life, and even the solemn day of rest Sunday was abolished from existence in Russia.  Thus Lucia sent this message to the Holy Father (Pope Pius XI):

The Good God promises to make an end of the persecution in Russia if the Holy Father deigns to make, and orders to be made, by all the Bishops of the Catholic world a solemn and public act of reparation and consecration of Russia to the Most Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and if, in return for the end of this persecution His Holiness promises to approve and to recommend the practice of reparatory devotion (the first five Saturdays).

Why Russia?  When even the Eldest Daughter of the Church, France, is today in great need of conversion from her incredibly wayward path.  When England, once the "Island of the Saints", has been wallowing in the heresy of Protestantism for nearly 500 years and is now even beginning to succumb to Islam.  And when once glorious Catholic Spain and Italy have all but lost the faith that made them great.  Why Russia?  Why is its conversion so important for the Church and the world?

In fact, that great in-corrupt Benedictine: Dom Prosper Gueranger, gives us a beautiful and concise answer to this question in his entry for the Feast of Saint Josephat on his masterpiece: The Liturgical Year.  Writing some 60 or so years before the apparition of our Lady at Fatima he says:

“Russia becoming Catholic would mean an end to Islamism, and the definitive triumph of the Cross upon the Bosphorus, without any danger to Europe; the Christian empire in the east restored with a glory and a power hitherto unknown; Asia evangelized, not by a few poor isolated priests, but with the help of an authority greater than that of Charlemagne; and lastly, the Slavonic race brought into unity of faith and aspirations, for its own greater glory.  This transformation will be the greatest event of the century that shall see its accomplishment; it will change the face of the world.”

So then let us pray that this consecration will be performed as our Lady and our Lord have requested.  Let us pray that our Holy Father in union with all the Bishops of the whole world will consecrate Russia to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary so that once again the Church may breath with two lungs and at full strength be ready to combat the forces of evil which have become so powerful in these dark days.

You can read more about the context of this topic in my article: "Are We Living in the End Times?". 

How Saint Maximilian Kolbe Made me a Traditionalist

I love Saint Maximilian Kolbe for all of what he did and who he was and is, but beyond that I love him for the special gift he gave me in the Fall of 2006.  To explain how amazing this gift was I need to give a little bit of background context.

At the end of my freshman year of college I was very blessed to make my total consecration to Jesus through Mary according to the method of Saint Louis Marie de Montfort.  This act changed my life forever and over the course of that following summer I delved into everything I could get my hands on concerning our Lady and I began the daily recitation of the Holy Rosary.  When I returned in the Fall for classes I was all on fire with love and devotion for our Lord and our Lady and I wanted to do everything I could to spread this love I had in my heart to others.

But I found that nearly all of my fellows who had made the consecration to Mary had sadly lost their first fervor, and the only other one who hadn’t had graduated.  I assisted in the founding of a small group of Catholics at the University who went to pray the rosary in front of an abortion clinic every Saturday morning, and I took control of the weekly Rosary said before Holy Mass in the Chapel for the Catholic Campus Ministry on Thursday evenings.  But as time went on I couldn't find anyone else who felt as I did and even those who expressed interest in learning more or praying the rosary together with me never actually did.  Even my two best friends at the time did not understand though they tried to support me with their words and care for me but I still felt very alone.

In the spring my friend who had put the group together to do the consecration to Mary the year before gathered another group to do the consecration and the two of us made our first re-consecration, and during this short time I was buoyed up, but this did not last long and at the end of that year my best friend graduated after which we completely lost touch with one another.  This was a tough time for me and over the summer I became more and more dissatisfied with how things were going and the resistance of the administration of the Catholic Campus Ministry to the fostering of Marian devotion, or least the lack of any support, as it seemed to me.

Then on the Feast of Saint Maximilian 2006 I happened upon a Catholic radio show that was talking about Saint Maximilian Kolbe who I had never heard of before.  After listening for a short time I immediately fell in love with this holy saint.  I sought out all the information I could about him and began reading up on him and his Militia of the Immaculata which I would join and make my Kolbian Consecration to Mary on the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary just a few weeks later on September 8^th (which was also the 116th anniversary of Saint Therese making her final vows as a Carmelite).

On the Octave day of this wonderful Marian Feast is the Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary (September 15th), to which the entire month of September is devoted and most fittingly follows upon the Feast the previous day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, I found myself in the basement of the CCM Chapel preparing for their yearly Fall retreat.  I had just days before acquired a copy of Kolbe: Saint of the Immaculata, which I was very excited about and so I was showing it to one of my friends who had a particular devotion to Mary.  It was at this point that a freshman I had never met leaned in and asked about what book I was showing my friend.  I showed it to him and explained a little about Saint Maximilian, consecration to Mary, and the M.I. to which he responded that he too knew of the Saint and had done both the Montfort Consecration as well as the Kolbian and had joined the M.I..  I was blown away by this revelation as I had never met anyone who had done either consecration apart from the people I had done it with myself.  My immediate reaction was to think: “this guy is awesome!” and deep down even then I think it was something like “best friends at first sight” for me, and most definitely an answered prayer and a special gift of Saint Maximilian to me.

I got to know my new best friend a bit over the course of the retreat and afterwards we became thick as thieves and spent a large portion of our free time together.  It was during this time that he introduced me to the “Traditionalist” movement in the Catholic Church that sought to restore authentic Catholic teaching and worship to the Mystical Body of Christ.  Of course a large part of this movement, and indeed the focal point of this movement was the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered according to the Roman Missal of 1962.  

I had actually attended the Mass in this form many times as a child because my Grandparents attended a special parish in Richmond Virginia, which they helped to found, that exclusively offered the traditional rite of Mass, but I had never understood what it was or the difference from the Mass I went to at home other than it being in Latin.  

My best friend helped me to begin in my understanding of these differences and after some months we finally resolved to trek into Washington DC and into Chinatown to Saint Mary Mother of God Parish, where a Low Mass was to be offered for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  This was his first Latin Mass ever and my first since the funeral of my Grandfather, and this was a decisive turning point in my life and has completely altered the course of my life and is still profoundly doing so at this very moment.  And I think that Saint Maximilian must have been there again because it was under this very title of the Immaculate Conception that he focused his devotion to our Lady and always called her: the Immaculata.

I don’t think any Saint has ever come into my consciousness and won my heart in such a short amount of time and I think this was a gift from our Lady and as a reward for my immediate outpouring of love and devotion to Saint Maximilian he worked this miracle for me that is still impacting me deeply today.  

The consequences of this gift of meeting my best friend has shaped my life in ways I could never have imagined and provided me vast riches of grace, a great increase of my knowledge of the faith,  more importantly a much closer relationship with Mary and her Son Jesus, and finally it has left me with a small family of friends who love our Lord and our Lady as much, if not more than, I do.

What else can I say but that I love Jesus, I love Mary, and I love Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe and I am forever in their debt.  Have mercy on me and pray for me my Lord, my Mother, and my dear friend.

Pope Benedict XVI praying in the cell were Saint Maximilian Kolbe died in 2006.

 

This picture hangs on the wall of my personal home chapel.

O That You Would be an Image of the Holy Family!

In recent years I have been very blessed to witness a number of my friends enter into the married state through the Holy Sacrament of Marriage.  Some recieved the sacrament according to the modern Roman Rite, while others recieved it in the ancient and beautiful traditional Roman and Byzantine Rites.  

Even more wonderful is that I'm already beginning to lose track of all the little ones that have come into the word as a result of this.  I am so very happy to know so many young fervent Catholic couples having children.  For me it is really an extremely wonderful thing to see and it really buoys me up when at times I am weighed down by all the evil in the world today.  King David spoke truly and certainly inspired by the Holy Ghost when he sang: 

“Behold, children are a gift of God, the fruit of the womb is a reward.” (Ps 126:3)  

This for me is a light shining in the darkness of this “culture of death” which fulfills the last prophecy made by our Lord: 

“For behold, the days shall come, wherein they will say: Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that have not borne, and the paps that have not given suck.” (Lk 23:29)

Both the joy of these my friends and the sorrow of the evil in the world stirs my heart to fervent prayer for families and for children.  My special patron and favorite Saint (after our Lady) who I turn to especially in my prayers is of course Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face.  She has deepened in me a devotion to the Holy Family that was planted as a seed in my soul by our Lady quite some years ago.  This devotion to the Holy Family and the Child Jesus has purified my prayers in this area down to one single phrase: 

“O that they may be an image of the Holy Family!”

And this is what I pray for each day either explicitly or implicitly having entrusted these intentions with all things to Jesus through Mary.

Taken from: http://holycardheaven.blogspot.com/

Just think how wonderful it was in that first adoration chapel ever in the world in the cave in Bethlehem, and even more what must it have been like to remain close to Him just as our Lady and Saint Joseph were in the Holy House at Nazareth for 30 years?!  For us adoration is a privilege we are only able to partake in maybe a few times a week if we are so blessed (unless we are in a seminary, monastery, or convent), but for the Holy Family it was simply a constant state of being in the presence of our Lord.  From this we can see how incredibly holy our Lady and Saint Joseph had to have been in order to live like this, but still they were human and they are clearly held up as the perfect model of a holy family.

A very wise and fitting recommendation for families to live out their vocation of imitation of the Holy Family I once read struck me most profoundly and has never left me.  I came across this advice in the wonderful book: The World’s First Love – Mary Mother of God, by the late great Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen…

“…(T)o all young married couples: here is your model, your prototype, you Divine Imaginal.  From these two spouses, who loved as no couple on earth has ever loved, learn that it takes not two to love, but three: you and you and Jesus.  Do you not speak of “our love” as something distinct from the love of each one of you?  That love, outside of both of you, and which is more than the addition of your two loves, is the love of God.

“Married couples ought to say the Rosary together each night, for their common prayer is more than the separate prayers of each.  When the child comes, they should say it before the crib, as Joseph and Mary prayed there.  In this earthly trinity of Child, mother, and foster father, there were not two hearts with but a single thought but one great Heart into which the other two poured themselves out as confluent streams…”

Now one might think that it wouldn’t be quite the same thing for a Catholic couple to be praying over their little baby, however, it is actually much nearer to the reality of the Holy Family than you might think.  You must remember that a baptized child before the age of reason is necessarily in the state of grace, and any soul in the state of grace has the most Blessed and Adored Trinity present within him/her. 

I remember hearing in a sermon of a story of a group of Catholics who wished to pray in the presence of God but for the lack of the Eucharist they found a little baptized baby and placing him before them all knelt and prayed and worshiped the Blessed Trinity taking it’s repose in the pure heart of that little child.  You see then that if you were to do as the good Archbishop councils you would be making a wonderful act of faith in God and recognizing indisputable theological truth that indeed your little baptized baby is in fact not unlike a little living tabernacle with the presence of God within him/her.

Taken from: http://holycardheaven.blogspot.com/

Of course this does not replace Adoration, but in lieu of that this is the next best thing and for busy married couples with young children this is a wonderful practice indeed.  And as the children grow they can join you in honoring our Lord Jesus and His Mother in the Holy Rosary and you will be teaching them this same truth about the dwelling of the trinity in a soul in the state of grace and their little brothers and sisters.  This will also give rise to a perfect opportunity to teach them, even from a young age, the incredible importance of remaining pure and not sinning.  This is the example given us by the mother of Saint Maria Goretti who, because of the good teaching of her mother and her parish priest, went to her death rather than commit one single serious sin.  Her story is one I will never tire of mentioning or retelling and it is one that brings tears to my eyes every time of think of it.

As they say: “the family that prayers together will stay together”, and if you need any more inducement to pray the most Holy Rosary just consider how richly the Church has honored this prayer with indulgences and even more the promises given by our Lady to those who would faithfully pray the Holy Rosary.  Pope Leo XIII, my favorite Pope who was the Holy Father during the life of Saint Therese and who she met, went so far as to write a total of eleven encyclicals on the most Holy Rosary alone.  Nearly every Pope of the last two centuries has highly recommended the Family Rosary.

Finally, I would just like to leave you with a sermon from a priest I know that is a compact but rich catechesis on living the married life:

Holy Families Don't Just Happen

And I would also like to recommend for your consideration a sermon on NFP from the same priest that is possibly a rather different take on the subject from what most Catholics have heard:

The Sanctity of Marriage: The Duty of Motherhood Versus the Abuses of NFP

I would also very highly recommend this clear and concise Thomistic treatment of the nature of Men, Women, and Marriage...

Feminism: The Demeaning of the Holy Family

And here are two wonderful Encyclicals on the Holy Sacrament of Marriage... 
 
Arcanum - On Christian Marriage - Pope Leo XIII

Casti Connubii - On Christian Marriage - Pope Pius XI



And for anyone who is interested in listening to more sermons on the subjects of marriage and family I would recommend the following list:

  
Single Sermons

• Blesseds Louis and Zellie Martin: Sanctification in the Married State
• What does MARRIAGE Mean? 
• Destroying Marriage and the Family: An Essential Principle in the Culture of Death
• Marriage: Fall from Eden to the Rise in Grace
• Principles of Catholic Education
• Making Your Home a Holy Place
• Women and Children First: Holy Purity
• Holy Matrimony
• Our Lord's Last Prophecy Before His Death: Griswold vs. CT 1965
• Mary, Our Beautiful Model of Motherhood
• The 6th Day of Creation: Man, Woman, and Their Differences
• The Meaning and Significance of the Wedding Ceremony
• The Sacraments: Marriage

Sermon Series 

• The Sanctity of Marriage: We Are Left to Battle Paganism On Our Own 
• The Sanctity of Marriage: The Duty of Motherhood Versus the Abuses of NFP 

• Spiritual Fatherhood: The Solution to the Modern Crisis
• True Feminine Dignity: Spiritual Motherhood to Priests

• The Errors of Russia: How They Affect Family Life
• The Errors of Russia: Their Plan and the Plan of Heaven
• The Errors of Russia: the Plan of Heaven -- Model the Holy Family

• Marriage: Rules on Marriage, part 1
• The Meaning of the Ceremonies of the Traditional Wedding Mass, part 2
• The Marriage Contract, part 3
• Series on Marriage, part 4: Periodic Abstinence and NFP 

Taken from: http://holycardheaven.blogspot.com/

You Are "Pro-Life", but Are You Catholic?

The greatest moment in all of human history was when a humble virgin co-operated with the Holy Will of God and consented to become the Mother of God bearing within her Womb the Second Person of the most Blessed Trinity.  It was at this moment that Eve’s disobedience was undone and our salvation secured for into the world had come the Savior.

"Consequently, then, Mary the Virgin is found to be obedient, saying: 'Behold, O Lord, your handmaid; be it done to me according to your word.' Eve, however, was disobedient; and when yet a virgin, she did not obey.... having become disobedient, was made the cause of death for herself and for the whole human race; so also Mary, betrothed to a man but nevertheless a virgin, being obedient, was made the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race.... Thus, the knot of Eve's disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. What the virgin Eve had bound in unbelief, the virgin Mary loosed through faith."  -Saint Irenaeus, Against the Heresies, Book II, 180 AD

The amazing thing is that Mary could have said “no” to this child, but she didn’t and because she didn’t every generation shall call her blessed (Lk 1:48).

As Catholics we need to remember that we are Catholics not “Pro-Lifers”, though at times those two terms may be synonymous they are not always.  The Pro-Life movement in many cases is not Catholic, and all too often its champions and heroes are not Catholic and when they fail it hurts the Pro-Life movement and it’s message and often scandalizes many Catholics.

We need to remember that as Catholics our heroes and role models must be first of all Our Lord and Our Lady and then the Saints.  We must look to them as our examples and point to them as the basis of our convictions.

I’ve heard far too many conversations amongst younger Catholics and younger Catholic couples concerning their disposition about how many children they want/expect to have.  And I have to say that in almost all cases I was most un-edified.

I find that all too often young Catholics are so deeply and subtly poisoned by the world in which we live that totally unaware of what is happening they begin to adopt the position which they believe they actually hold against.  And while so many young "Pro-Life" Catholics say they reject contraception they have unknowingly imbibed a contraceptive mentality from the culture they live in.

I wonder then if the great Saints we hope and pray for in these dark days simply have not come because they have not been allowed to be born in all too many cases.

I began considering who we might not have had if Catholics of past generations thought as so many Catholics think today.

The most striking example of the consequences of a lack of openness to life might have to be to consider what might have happened if the parents of Saint Vincent Ferrer had not been open to life?  He was their 4th child and he would go on to actually avert the end of the world.  So had his parents thought 2 or 3 children were "enough" then you and I and everyone who was born, has lived, and who have died since the middle of the 14th century would never have existed.

And what if the great and noble Fieschi family had not been open to life?  We wouldn’t have known the youngest of their 5 children: Saint Catherine of Genoa.

Or what about Saint Gerard Majella who was also the youngest of 5 and who we now have as the patron Saint of expectant mothers?!

And what a great loss to the Church, and the world, it would have been if we had not had Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque to whom our Lord revealed his Most Sacred Heart so that it could once again be better known as it once was.  She was the 5th of 7 children.

How much would the world and the Church have lost had not that noble family of Napels in the 13th century had their 6th and youngest child?  If they had not been open to life we would not have the greatest thinker, philosopher, and theologian the world has ever seen.  Saint Albert the Great would never have had his unmatched pupil to teach, the Council of Trent wouldn’t have had the clear and sure guide in that great gem of the Dominican Order from which to base the majority of their pronouncements, for indeed we would have been deprived of Saint Thomas Aquinas!

Easily the most incredible example of a saintly and large family is the family of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux who was the 3rd of 7 children all of whom have been canonized including their parents, as well as the spouse and daughter of the eldest son.  The entire amazing store is recounted in “The Family That Overtook Christ”.

And then we come to my favorite Saint who is most dear to my heart and who was born not all that long ago in 1873.  She was the youngest of 9 children.  What if Saints Louis and Zelie Martin were not open to any more children, especially after they had lost four children in infancy?  We would never have had that young Carmelite who has touched the lives of countless souls, become the 33rd Doctor of the Church, whose name was taken in religious life by Blessed Mother Teresa, and who was called by Pope Saint Pius X: “the greatest Saint of modern times”.  The world would have been deprived of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face.

And what about the great hero of Pro-Life Catholics: Saint Gianna Beretta Molla?  What if her parents hadn’t been open to life?  She was the 10th of 13 children in her family, and she would never have given birth to her four children (the last of whom she died so that they could be born).

Another incredible family to go along with that of the Clairvaux’ is the family of Saint Basil the Great who was 1 of 10 children including also Saint Gregory of Nyssa and the youngest of the 10 was another Saint: Peter of Sebaste.  Their mother, Emilia, is also a Saint.

Consider also, when our Lady appeared in Fatima Portugal, how many children would she have met tending the sheep if Ti Marto and his wife had not been open to life despite being poor farmers?  Only Lucia would have been there and not her two youngest cousins who were the 10th and 11th children in their family, and we would not have dear Blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto of Fatima.

Living at the same time we have a great and holy Saint: Gabriel Possenti, known in religion as Gabriel of our Lady of Sorrows, who was the special mystical friend of Saint Gemma Galgani.  He too wouldn’t have existed because he was the 11th of 13 children.

Still more terrible would it have been for the world if a certain set of parents hadn't been open to life.  These were the parents of the founder of one of the most prolific missionary religious orders in history.  How many countless souls would have been lost and how many saints would not have been able to pursue a vocation in the once great Jesuit order if it had never existed if Saint Ignatius of Loyola had never been born since he was the youngest of 13 children.

And for those who say that these numbers are more reasonable and that Catholics can’t be expected to have 20+ children let us recall one more example.  She is quite possibly one of the most influential Saints in the history of the Church and thus was declared a Doctor of the Church.  She is also one of the holiest Saints in all of history, and she had a powerful influence on me personally when I was young.  Of course she is the great Saint Catherine of Siena and what if her parents had stopped at 15 children?  Or even 20?  Then we wouldn’t have ever known their 25th and youngest child who brought the Pope back from Avignon to Rome.  She also did a great deal for both of her parents.  She converted her mother so far as to cause her to join the convent she lived in, and suffered all the pains of purgatory due to her father for him.  Had they had only 24 children they would not have had this immense blessing, nor the Church, nor the world.

Still, more than all these stories there is one that moves me to tears every time I hear it, and it is that of a priest I know who has had a massive, even life altering, effect on my life by his preaching.  

In a sermon discussing the common misuse of NFP by many Catholics he explains, in a way that pierces the heart, the fact that he is happy to exist considering that he is the son of a 10th child, his mother is the daughter of an 11th child and his father the son of a 10th child and the grandson of a 19th child.  

Had any of a number of people over generations not done their duty according to their state in life as married men and women then this good and holy priest would never have existed and so deeply touched my life and the lives of so many others, as he is still continuing to do to this day.

Mary and our Hidden and Forgotten Treasure

The first and most natural consequence of True Devotion to Mary and the Consecration to Jesus through Mary is an irresistible desire for the Blessed Sacrament, both the reception of Him at Holy Mass as well as the visiting of Him wherever He is present.  This, at least, has been my own experience, and something that Montfort expects will be the case as well.

Thus the first book by that great devotee of our Lady, Saint Alphonsus Maria de Ligouri, that I ever purchased was not, as one might suspect, The Glories of Mary but actually the tiny little work: Visits to the Blessed Sacrament and the Blessed Virgin Mary.

This little book, far too little know today even by most Catholics, is in fact the first of the 111 books he would publish in his life (published in 1745), and which was originally shorter and only for the members of his fledgling religious community: The Redemptorists.  Due to its popularity and great fruit it produced he expanded the work to have a “visit” for every day of the month, and it was made available to the faithful.  And is actually one of the most published books in human history, boasting more than 2000 editions across all languages.  The book can usually be purchased for just a few dollars and ought to be daily reading for every Catholic.

One section in this work struck me very deeply all those years ago and has stayed with me always in my mind…

Many Christians submit to great fatigue, and expose themselves to many dangers, to visit the places in the Holy Land where our most loving Saviour was born, suffered, and died. We need not undertake so long a journey, or expose ourselves to so many dangers; the same Lord is near us, and dwells in the church, only a few steps distant from our houses. If pilgrims, says St. Paulinus, consider it a great thing to bring back a little dust from the crib, or from the holy sepulchre in which Jesus was buried; with what ardour should not we visit the Most Blessed Sacrament, where the same Jesus is in person, and where we can go without encountering so much fatigue and so many dangers!

At the time when I read this I was in college and knew many young Catholics willing to go through a great deal to visit a National Shrine, Rome, Jerusalem, ect but wouldn’t walk a few hundred meters or drive a few minutes to visit our Lord truly present in the Most Blessed Sacrament.

This is something that I continue to see applied both to visiting our Lord within the context of Holy Mass and especially outside of it.

What also bothers me is that people will make a special trip to come hear Holy Mass because of the particular Priest, Bishop, or Cardinal offering the Mass even through the Mass is a regularly offered week day Mass that they could attend every week and where one far greater than any prelate is always going to be present!

And, though I admit I am guilty of neglecting to always visit Him on a daily basis even when I could, how many times have I visited our Lord and found the Church empty without anyone there to keep Him company.  It breaks my heart to see so few visiting Him when there are thousands of people in these parishes, and I can go weeks without running into another soul while visiting our Lord for an hour or more at a time each day.

One other concern, which might seem very strange to suggest, but which was a concern I heard voiced by a very holy monastic Priest who has devoted his life and founded a community around adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, is that because so called “perpetual adoration” where the Blessed Sacrament is exposed in a monstrance for most or all of each week has become more and more popular (and in my diocese it is very common) it has reinforced a faulty mentality that it’s not the same when we visit our Lord hidden in the tabernacle and thus if He is not exposed for adoration He is never visited.  And this has been my experience for many years visiting many parishes with perpetual adoration where those adoration chapels are always occupied but our Lord is left cold and alone in the Church.

The exposition of the Blessed Sacrament really ought to be something rare and special and for great and special feasts.  The rest of the time we can visit our Lord while he resides in the tabernacle.  He is no less there and no less able to hear our prayers when He is there, and we have the opportunity to humble ourselves and to make reparation by adoring Him in His hiddeness.

Our Lord loves us so very much and desires to be with us and to speak to us and pour out His mercy and graces upon us.  If we would only give Him the opportunity to do so O how He would bless us for keeping Him company!  I cannot tell you all the many wonderful effects He has brought about in my life from my frequent visits to Him that our Lady inspired(s) me to make.

If we really desire to be a Saint then we ought to desire to be always with our Lord as much as we can be.  Reading the lives of the Saints there are many examples of Saints so devoted to our Lord that if they passed by a Church where He was present they couldn't help but "stop in" to say hello and in many cases would stay for some time in conversation with our dear Jesus.

These frequent visits to our Lord are in fact one of the very questions they ask about a person who is put forth for canonization:

Did he pray long and frequently before the Blessed Sacrament?

This can be found in the Questionnaire for the Process of the Beatification and Canonization of a Saint.

Let us conclude by meditating upon the rest of the 23^rd Visit from the afore mention work the first part of which was quoted above… 

A religious person, to whom God gave great love for the Most Blessed Sacrament, amongst other things, wrote as follows in a letter: 'I see that every good thing that I have comes to me from the Most Blessed Sacrament. I have given and consecrated my whole self to Jesus in this Sacrament. I see innumerable graces, which are not granted because people do not go to this Divine Sacrament. I see the great desire that our Lord has to dispense His graces in the Sacrament. O holy mystery! O sacred Host! Where is it that God manifests His power the most, if it is not in this Host? For this Host contains all that God has ever done for us. Let us not envy the blessed who are in heaven, since on earth we have the same Lord, with greater wonders of His love. Endeavour that all with whom you speak should devote themselves to the Most Blessed Sacrament. I speak thus, because this Sacrament makes me beside myself. Neither can I cease speaking of the Most Blessed Sacrament, which deserves so greatly to be loved. I know not what to do for Jesus in this Sacrament,' Thus the letter ends.

O Seraphim, who remain sweetly burning with love around your and my Lord; though it is not indeed for love of you but of me that this King of Heaven is pleased to be present in this Sacrament,—O loving Angels, let me also burn with love; and do you enkindle your love in me, that with you I also may burn! O my Jesus, teach me to know the greatness of the love which Thou bearest to men, that at the sight of so great love, my desire to love Thee and please Thee may go on always increasing! I love Thee, most amiable Lord, and will always love Thee; and this alone to please Thee.