Defending our Lady's Honor Against the Heretics

“Let us pass on to the second gate of Hell, which is blasphemy… A certain author says: "Every sin, compared with blasphemy, is light;" and first of all, St. John Chrysostom says, there is nothing worse than blasphemy. Other sins, says St. Bernard, are committed through frailty, but this only through malice. With reason, then, does St. Bernardine of Sienna call blasphemy a diabolical sin, because the blasphemer, like a demon, attacks God Himself. He is worse than those who crucified Jesus Christ, because they did not know Him to be God; but he who blasphemes knows Him to be God, and insults Him face to face. He is worse than the dogs, because dogs do not bite their masters, who feed them, but the blasphemer outrages God, Who is at that very moment bestowing favors on him. What punishment, says St. Augustine, will suffice to chastise so horrid a crime? We should not wonder, says Julius III, that the scourges of God do not cease while such a crime exists among us.”-Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, Six Discourses on Natural Calamities Divine Threats and the Four Gates of Hell

Each year at this time families are settling down to watch the now ubiquitous set of Christmas movies for the average American.  These films can all be viewed at one time or another on TV because they have become such "classics" in American culture.  These I think would include: It's a Wonderful Life (1946), Miracle on 34th Street (1947), Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964),  A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), etc.  

I certainly do not have a problem with these films, especially since they are vastly superior to most films today, but now into this series of "classics" have entered in any number of new Christmas movies in the last few decades, some remakes of the old classics and some new takes on old stories, but they all seem to have in common the very secular aspect of modern western Christmas.  

So it is then most understandable that when a movie comes along that purportedly is centered on Christ and the actual message of Christmas that Christians and especially Catholics would latch on to it.  Unfortunately, doing this blindly is a most dangerous mistake indeed. While movies that are entirely secular are less than desirable at this time of year a film which is supposedly focused on Christ but which subtly twists and subverts the true message of Christ and important Catholic theological teachings is far worse and even diabolical.  

Enter then the 2006 film: The Nativity Story.  I personally witnessed the great excitement of many Catholics even in the Roman Curia over this movie, which soon became very popular and even received praise from many Catholics, including some in the hierarchy.  Unfortunately this film is fraught with theological errors and countless instances of blasphemy.  But because of the lack of education of Catholics most have no idea that this is the case.  Thankfully there have been a number of good and Holy priest who are so devoted to our Lady that they were willing to speak out forcefully against this movie even in the face of Bishops and Cardinals seemingly praising the film.

One such priest, who I know personally, gives his thoughts in a short sermon here, and places the teachings presented in this powerful medium of film in contrast with that of the infallible teaching of the Catholic Church.


Now I want to make clear that there are many issues in this film that make it unwatchable for any Catholic.  It is fraught with all sorts of blasphemy and even one blasphemy is one too many.  For the Holy Spirit speaks in no uncertain terms about the evil of blasphemy in Sacred Scripture: "And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, dying let him die." (Lev. 24:16).  Just as we cannot be accomplices in murder or any other sin we most of all cannot be accomplices or indifferent to such offenses against God.

One instance that is particularly repugnant is our Lady's consent to having witchcraft practiced upon her.  The ever blessed virgin Mary approving of occult practices!  What incredible blasphemy! Certainly our Lady and Saint Joseph knew their Scriptures well:

"When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God shall give thee, beware lest thou have a mind to imitate the abominations of those nations.  Neither let there be found among you any one that shall expiate his son or daughter, making them to pass through the fire: or that consulteth soothsayers, or observeth dreams and omens, neither let there be any wizard, Nor charmer, nor any one that consulteth pythonic spirits, or fortune tellers, or that seeketh the truth from the dead. For the Lord abhorreth all these things, and for these abominations he will destroy them at thy coming." (Deut. 18:9-12)

That being said, for my part I researched into one specific issue concerning a blasphemy most prominently presented in the film that deeply outrages me.  This concerns the dogmas of the Perpetual Virginity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as well as her Immaculate Conception.  This particular doctrine of the Catholic faith is something that I always felt to be true before I had any support for it and it is something I have been bothered by in many accounts of the Nativity of our Lord that have appeared in film, TV, and on the radio. 

I am speaking here of the portrayal of our Lady having birth pains.

When I first heard this teaching that our Lady was free from pains of child birth it made perfect sense to me, because it is the most logical conclusion based on what the Church teaches.  Let me explain what I mean.

When Blessed Pope Pius IX infallibly declared the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of our Lady, in his encyclical Ineffabilis Deus on 8 Dec. 1854, he said the following:

“We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful. Hence, if anyone shall dare -- which God forbid! -- to think otherwise than as has been defined by us, let him know and understand that he is condemned by his own judgment; that he has suffered shipwreck in the faith; that he has separated from the unity of the Church; and that, furthermore, by his own action he incurs the penalties established by law if he should dare to express in words or writing or by any other outward means the errors he thinks in his heart.”

Now what follows from this then is that Mary would then be free from all the effects that we labor under who were indeed conceived with original sin.  No original sin means no effects of original sin.  It’s as simple as that.  Now what are these effects?  Principally: Concupiscence, with a darkened Intellect and weekend Will.  But God also gave some very specific punishments that were attached to the first fall:

“To the woman also he said: I will multiply thy sorrows, and thy conceptions: in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, and thou shalt be under thy husband's power, and he shall have dominion over thee.” (Gen. 3:16)

The labor pains that all women now suffer then are a direct punishment from the original sin and all who have the mark of original sin are subject to it.  Thus it clearly follows that because our Lady had no original sin, and no effects therefrom, she suffered no labor pains in giving birth to Christ.  It all seems very clear and logical to me, but I know many Catholics still seem to baulk at this assertion.  This is not merely my conclusion or even simply that of some holy priests I know, but in fact it is the position held by the greatest Fathers and Doctors of the Church!

Before we turn to these most trustworthy sources for the constant teaching of Holy Mother Church let me first turn you again to the infallible word of God, which clearly and evidently teaches this very fact that Mary was even prophesied to bring forth Christ without labor pains:

“Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.” (Isaias 66:7) 

This verse has always been applied by the Church to our Lady, and I believe is incontrovertible evidence of this teaching, but for those who may yet be skeptical let me give you the argument made for this teaching by the greatest genius, philosopher, and theologian the Church has ever seen that great Angelic Doctor Saint Thomas Aquinas:

The Summa Theologiae

Tertia Pars

 Q. 35 - Christ's Nativity
 a. 6 - Whether Christ was born without His Mother suffering?

Objection 1. It would seem that Christ was not born without His Mother suffering. For just as man's death was a result of the sin of our first parents, according to Gn. 2:17: "In what day soever ye shall eat, ye shall [Vulg.: 'thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt] die"; so were the pains of childbirth, according to Gn. 3:16: "In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children." But Christ was willing to undergo death. Therefore for the same reason it seems that His birth should have been with pain.

Objection 2. Further, the end is proportionate to the beginning. But Christ ended His life in pain, according to Is. 53:4: "Surely . . . He hath carried our sorrows." Therefore it seems that His nativity was not without the pains of childbirth.

Objection 3. Further, in the book on the birth of our Saviour [Protevangelium Jacobi xix, xx] it is related that midwives were present at Christ's birth; and they would be wanted by reason of the mother's suffering pain. Therefore it seems that the Blessed Virgin suffered pain in giving birth to her Child.

On the contrary, Augustine says (Serm. de Nativ. [Supposititious), addressing himself to the Virgin-Mother: "In conceiving thou wast all pure, in giving birth thou wast without pain."

I answer that, The pains of childbirth are caused by the infant opening the passage from the womb. Now it has been said above (28, 2, Replies to objections), that Christ came forth from the closed womb of His Mother, and, consequently, without opening the passage. Consequently there was no pain in that birth, as neither was there any corruption; on the contrary, there was much joy therein for that God-Man "was born into the world," according to Is. 35:1,2: "Like the lily, it shall bud forth and blossom, and shall rejoice with joy and praise."

Reply to Objection 1. The pains of childbirth in the woman follow from the mingling of the sexes. Wherefore (Genesis 3:16) after the words, "in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children," the following are added: "and thou shalt be under thy husband's power." But, as Augustine says (Serm. de Assumpt. B. Virg., [Supposititious), from this sentence we must exclude the Virgin-Mother of God; who, "because she conceived Christ without the defilement of sin, and without the stain of sexual mingling, therefore did she bring Him forth without pain, without violation of her virginal integrity, without detriment to the purity of her maidenhood." Christ, indeed, suffered death, but through His own spontaneous desire, in order to atone for us, not as a necessary result of that sentence, for He was not a debtor unto death.

Reply to Objection 2. As "by His death" Christ "destroyed our death" [Preface of the Mass in Paschal-time, so by His pains He freed us from our pains; and so He wished to die a painful death. But the mother's pains in childbirth did not concern Christ, who came to atone for our sins. And therefore there was no need for His Mother to suffer in giving birth.

Reply to Objection 3. We are told (Luke 2:7) that the Blessed Virgin herself "wrapped up in swaddling clothes" the Child whom she had brought forth, "and laid Him in a manger." Consequently the narrative of this book, which is apocryphal, is untrue. Wherefore Jerome says (Adv. Helvid. iv): "No midwife was there, no officious women interfered. She was both mother and midwife. 'With swaddling clothes,' says he, 'she wrapped up the child, and laid Him in a manger.'" These words prove the falseness of the apocryphal ravings.

You will note the close connection between this important teaching and the perpetual virginity of Mary which again is a Dogma of the Catholic faith and must be assented to by all the faithful or you cannot be saved:

"If anyone does not properly and truly confess in accord with the holy Fathers, that the holy Mother of God and ever virgin and immaculate Mary in the earliest of the ages conceived of the Holy Spirit without seed, namely, God the Word Himself specifically and truly, who was born of God the Father before all ages, and that she incorruptibly bore [Him], her virginity remaining indestructible even after His birth, let him be condemned." -Pope Saint Martin I, The Lateran Council, Canon 3, 649AD (DS 256)

But Saint Thomas, and for that matter Pope Saint Martin, here are merely teaching what had always been taught, and lest anyone think this was an invention of the middle ages see the following for evidence against this fanciful notion:

"Mary's virginity was hidden from the prince of this world; so was her childbearing, and so was the death of the Lord. All these three trumpet-tongued secrets were brought to pass in the deep silence of God."
-Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Father of the Church, Epistle to the Ephesians, 19; 107 AD

"Who loves you is amazed and who would understand is silent and confused, because he cannot probe the Mother who gave birth in her virginity.  If it is too great to be clarified with words the disputants ought not on that account cross swords with your Son.”
-Saint Ephraim the Syrian, Father and Doctor of the Church, Songs of Praise 1, 2; 306-373 AD

"Believe in the Son of God, the Word before all the ages, who was...in these last days, for your sake, made Son of Man, born of the Virgin Mary in an indescribable and stainless way,-for there is no stain where God is and whence salvation comes..."
-Saint Gregory Nazianzen; Bishop, Father, and Doctor of the Church; Oration on Holy Baptism, 40:45; 381 AD

 "Though coming in the form of man, yet not in every thing is He subject to the laws of man's nature; for while His being born of a woman tells of human nature; virginity becoming capable of childbirth betokens something above man. Of Him then His mother's burden was light, the birth immaculate, the delivery without pain, the nativity without defilement, neither beginning from wanton desire, nor brought to pass with sorrow. For as she who by her guilt engrafted death into our nature, was condemned to bring forth in trouble, it was meet that she who brought life into the world should accomplish her delivery with joy."
-Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Homily on the Nativity, 388 AD

“So far as He was born of woman, His birth was in accordance with the laws of parturition, while so far as He had no father, His birth was above the nature of generation: and in that it was at the usual time (for He was born on the completion of the ninth month when the tenth was just beginning), His birth was in accordance with the laws of parturition, while in that it was painless it was above the laws of generation. For, as pleasure did not precede it, pain did not follow it, according to the prophet who says, Before she travailed, she brought forth, and again, before her pain came she was delivered of a man-child (Isaiah 66:7). The Son of God incarnate, therefore, was born of her, not a divinely-inspired man but God incarnate.... But just as He who was conceived kept her who conceived still virgin, in like manner also He who was born preserved her virginity intact, only passing through her and keeping her closed (Ezekiel 44:2).”
-Saint John Damascene; Bishop, Father, and Doctor of the Church; On the Orthodox Faith, IV, 14; 676-754 AD

“How can death claim as its prey this truly blessed one, who listened to God's word in humility, and was filled with the Spirit, conceiving the Father's gift through the archangel, bearing without concupiscence or the co-operation of man the Person of the Divine Word, who fills all things, bringing Him forth without the pains of childbirth, being wholly united to God?... It was fitting that the body of her, who preserved her virginity intact in childbirth, should be kept from corruption even after death. She who nursed her Creator as an infant at her breast, had a right to be in the divine tabernacles.... It was fitting that she who saw her Son die on the cross, and received in her heart the sword of pain which she had not felt in childbirth, should gaze upon Him seated next to the Father.”
-Saint John Damascene; Bishop, Father, and Doctor of the Church; Second Homily on the Dormition of the Mother of God; 676-754 AD

It is then clear that this teaching is ancient and universal and following the guide of Saint Vincent of Lerins we can see what this means: 

"In the Catholic Church itself, all possible care must be taken, that we hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, by all. For that is truly and in the strictest sense “Catholic,” which, as the name itself and the reason of the thing declare, comprehends all universally. This rule we shall observe if we follow universality, antiquity, consent. We shall follow universality if we confess that one faith to be true, which the whole Church throughout the world confesses; antiquity, if we in no wise depart from those interpretations which it is manifest were notoriously held by our holy ancestors and fathers; consent, in like manner, if in antiquity itself we adhere to the consentient definitions and determinations of all, or at the least of almost all priests and doctors." -Saint Vincent of Lérins, Father of the Church, The Commonitorium

But now I would like to return to that last point made by Saint John Damascene, the great Doctor of the Dogma of the Assumption, and that is of the suffering of our Lady on Calvary.  I have heard it suggested, particularly by women, that it is more beautiful to consider our Lady suffering the pains of childbirth, because otherwise I suppose they have nothing to look to in their own sufferings of labor and otherwise in their life.  This is, however, to miss a most important point of Catholic Theology and Mariology: Mary did not suffer in giving birth to her Son's physical body, but rather she suffered in giving birth to His mystical body, which is the Church!


Mary's "labor pains" in giving birth to the Church took place upon Calvary.  Where the all spotless and immaculate Virgin Mary the Mother of God saw her divine Son our Lord Jesus Christ, the Immaculate Lamb, suffer the most terrible death that has ever and will ever take place, unto the remission of the uncountable sins of mankind who are yet so ungrateful.  There she saw Him abandoned by even His closest friends, save one, and striped of everything even his very flesh.  Here it was that our Lady suffered pains unimaginable to us and certainly, had she not been sustained by the grace of God, it would have caused her to die of sorrow.

We must then at all times and in all places have no tolerance for blasphemy of any kind, and we ought to pray and do penance for the conversion of those who blaspheme God, His mother, His saints, or any other holy thing.

"Tell me, blasphemer, of what country are you? Allow me to tell you, you belong to Hell...What is the language of the damned?-----blasphemy. And they blasphemed the God of Heaven because of their pains and wounds. What do you gain, my brethren, by these your blasphemies? you gain no honor by them. Blasphemers are abhorred even by their blasphemous companions. Do you gain any temporal advantage?...What pleasure do you derive from blaspheming God? The pleasure of the damned; and that moment of madness past, what pain and bitterness does it not leave in your heart? Resolve to rid yourself of this vice in any event. Take care, if you do not abandon it now, that you will not carry it with you to death, as has happened to so many who have died with blasphemy in their mouths." -Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, Ibid

"I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel. " (Gen. 3:15)

The Man that Changed my Life: Saint Louis Marie de Montfort

There are three Saints who have most deeply and irreversibly changed my life through their lives and writings.  Two of them are: Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori and Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face.  But I owe much more to another Saint...the one that started it all, and without whom I would never have come to know these other two Saints and who has more deeply changed my life than anything else in my life (except for my Grandfather (Requiem aeternam), a saintly priest I know, and the reception of the Sacraments, which/who all prepared me to meet this Saint). 

Saint Louis Marie de Montfort knew very well the power of the book he wrote and the devotion it contained and he knew that the devil would do everything he could do to prevent its being published:

“I clearly foresee that raging beasts will come in fury to tear to pieces with their diabolical teeth this little book and the one the Holy Spirit made use of to write it, or they will cause it at least to lie hidden in the darkness and silence of a chest and so prevent it from seeing the light of day. They will even attack and persecute those who read it and put into practice what it contains. But no matter! So much the better! It even gives me encouragement to hope for great success at the prospect of a mighty legion of brave and valiant soldiers of Jesus and Mary, both men and women, who will fight the devil, the world, and corrupt nature in the perilous times that are sure to come.” (True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, #114)

And indeed this came to pass for this amazing work, written in 1712, was hidden away with other writings of his in order to survive the terrible scourge of the French Revolution even at one point being buried in a field until at last it was uncovered in 1842.  Almost immediately after being discovered it came before the reigning Pope at the time: Pope Gregory XVI, who just 4 years earlier on September 7th 1838 had declared Montfort Venerable, and he called for its immediate publication and promoted it without qualification.  Since then it has been published many different times and in 20 languages.  Today, one can easily find out if a Catholic publisher is orthodox by checking to see if they publish this exceptional work.

And every Pope since has not only promoted but practiced this devotion:

“The is the best and most acceptable form of devotion to our Blessed Lady”

-Blessed Pope Pius IX

“I heartily recommend True Devotion to Mary, and to all who read it I grant the apostolic Benediction.”

-Pope Saint Pius X

“Small in size but of what great authority and what great sweetness.  May it be spread every more and still more, and rekindle the Christian spirit in souls in ever growing numbers.”

-Pope Benedict XV

“I have practiced this devotion every since my youth.”

-Pope Pius XI

“The force and unction of the words of Mary’s servants have no only touched but captivated and converted many souls.”

-Venerable Pope Pius XII

“Reading this book was a deceive turning point in my life.  This perfect devotion is indispensable to anyone who means to give himself without reserve to Christ and to the work of redemption.”

-Blessed Pope John Paul II

And my favorite Pope: Leo XIII (between Pius IX and Pius X) gave a great evidence of his approval of this devotion when he renewed his consecration to Mary according to this method as one of his last acts on his death bed.

I had no idea in January of 2005 what I was in for when my dear friend Marie Ann asked me if I wanted to do the “consecration to Mary”.  I had no idea what she was talking about and usually I am very reluctant to undertake new devotions or practices without fully understanding them, but I immediately responded with an affirmative.  I still almost missed out when she forgot I was one of the interested parties and I just happened to be in the building just when the first meeting was starting.  It is clear that our Lady was looking out for me as it has become clear that she has been all along even since my very birth when she had me come a bit early so that I could be born on her own birthday.

If one reads this book with and open and prayerful heart and embraces this devotion which is more a way of life than just a mere devotion you will become a saint.  I have seen the incredible power of conversion in my own life and this even when I have been all too often half hearted in my love and devotion to our Lord and our Lady through this devotion.  I can’t imagine where I would be today without this devotion, but I know I would never have grown in my faith to the point of spending two years in Seminary and I would never have met and connected so immediately with my best friend who also had made this consecration.
 

This book and the devotion contained therein has saved my life, and I believe that if I do my best to persevere in it until the end of my earthly life that I will be assisted by our Lady to her Son and everlasting life, and just so if I were to abandon it I will surely be lost.  This is why I pray for perseverance in this devotion each day and it is a prayer we all ought to make each day that we may persevere until the end in sanctifying grace.

"He that hearkeneth to me, shall not be confounded: and they that work by me, shall not sin. They that explain me shall have life everlasting." -Ecclesiasticus 24:30-31

My Debt to the Saints

There have been a number of Saints who have influenced or even completely changed the course of my life.  Chief among them are my dear "little sisters in Heaven": Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face, Saint Bernadette Soubirous, and Blessed Jacinta Marto of Fatima.  Also there are the Saints like the great Doctors Saint Alphonsus Ligouri, Saint Thomas Aquinas, and Saint Francis de Sales who have impacted me greatly though their teaching.  

Therese is especially beloved by the Irish people.

And of course there is Saint Louis Marie de Montfort and Saint Maximilian Kolbe who (along with Saint Alphonsus) taught me how to love our Lady and to consecrate myself to her Son Jesus Christ through her.  

Our Lady of Knock, Ireland.  A unique apparition of modern times in which our Lady did not call for penance for the people of Ireland as she did in France at La Salette and Lourdes, at Fatima in Portugal, and Akita in Japan.  Rather she came for the purpose of consoling the Irish people who were suffering greatly at that time by an economic disaster and famine orchestrated by the Protestant English.

And then there are those like Saint Josef Damien de Vuester, Saint Gabriel of our Lady of Sorrows, Blessed Bartolo Longo, Venerable Father Augustine of the Most Blessed Sacrament OCD, Venerable Leon Dupont, and Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen who have inspired me immensely by the witness of their lives.  The last of these of course being one of Saint Patrick’s greatest sons and a immense blessing given by him via the Irish people to the United Sates.  And he now rests, most fittingly, in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in New York.  When I was in High School I had the great privilege to go down into the crypt and see the tomb, though I did not appreciate it at the time it was a great blessing indeed.

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen giving a lecture series on Saint Therese in Ireland (1973)

But there are three Saints to whom I owe everything.  If it were not for these three Saints I would not be Catholic and I very well might not have even existed, and nor might you.  These great men are Saint Patrick, Saint Benedict, and the much lesser known (most unjustly) Saint Columbanus (whose feast is celebrated on November 24^th in Ireland).

The great Apostle to Ireland, Patrick who was born in Scotland in 387 and died in Ireland in 493. The end result of the work of Saint Patrick is so astounding that there is no equal to it in history.  No other Saint who single handedly converted a nation: not Saint Remigius (France), nor Saint Boniface (Germany), Saint Leander of Seville (Spain), and not even the glorious Apostles Saints Peter and Paul (Italy) and has it remained on the whole actually Catholic to this day.  For more than one and half millennia the work Saint Patrick did has endured.  It is no wonder that it is said that one Lent he went up on top of a mountain in Ireland and stayed there until Easter praying and doing penance, and at the end of which he was given a choice by God to have whatever he wanted and he asked to have the privilege of judging the Irish people himself at the end of time and it was granted to him.

Now just a few years before the death of the Apostle to Ireland the great Father of Western Monasticism, Saint Benedict, was born in Italy in the year 480.  He would see the entrance of the barbarians into Italy and even into Rome which was in the midst of its final collapse during his childhood.  His great contribution to Europe and ultimately to the world was his great Monastic Rule.  This rule has proven to be the basis of more houses of religious life than probably any other throughout history because of its incredible wisdom and prudence and the fact that it is not to strict and nor is it too mild but suited to turning ordinary men and women in saints without fail for century upon century.  The impact this one single document has had on the world is incalculable and has been the basis of more religious orders than any other Rule of religious life.  

The great Patriarch of Western Monasticism would die in 543 and in the same year would be born one of the greatest and most influential sons of Saint Patrick, and this is of course Saint Columbanus.  He was raised devoutly by his mother and grew to be good Catholic man, but like all of us he struggled with temptations.  This was partly due to the temptations put before his eyes by some of his less devout countrywomen who found him attractive and attempted to entice him to themselves.  He was at last delivered from this perilous situation by the council of a holy religious woman who told him:

Twelve years ago I fled from the world, and shut myself up in this cell. Hast thou forgotten Samson, David and Solomon, all led astray by the love of women? There is no safety for thee, young man, except in flight.

And at this point he was given a great grace to see his path in life and that was the monastic life.  He entered one of the many monasteries of Ireland and placed himself under the tutelage of a holy old monk who instructed him in the ways of sanctity.  He great greatly in holiness and after a number of years he began to feel the tugging of his heart by God to take all that he had learned and the holiness he acquired and share it with the world.  He then discerned that he was called to be a missionary to the European continent which had became overrun with barbarians and had greatly been diminished in the faith.  And so after obtaining permission from his superiors he set out with 12 companions and crossed the channel to Gaul (modern day France).  From there they traveled through the land re-evangelizing the people and as they moved the began to spread out and the apostles of Ireland set about saving Europe.  Our dear Holy Father (Emeritus) Pope Benedict XVI spoke about the work of Saint Columbanus in his Pastoral Letter to the Catholics of Ireland of 19 March 2010, on the Solemnity of Saint Joseph as follows:

Historically, the Catholics of Ireland have proved an enormous force for good at home and abroad. Celtic monks like Saint Columbanus spread the Gospel in Western Europe and laid the foundations of medieval monastic culture. The ideals of holiness, charity and transcendent wisdom born of the Christian faith found expression in the building of churches and monasteries and the establishment of schools, libraries and hospitals, all of which helped to consolidate the spiritual identity of Europe. Those Irish missionaries drew their strength and inspiration from the firm faith, strong leadership and upright morals of the Church in their native land.

Thus the holiness of Saint Patrick still so very strong in those days as if he was even still among them personally was infused into these 13 apostles to Europe.  One of these disciples, Saint Gall, would travel as far as the alps in an area that would one day become Switzerland.  There he would work and he would die.  Near where he was buried would be erected a monastery which bears his name (as does the entire Canton or “state” that surrounds that area) and was known as the Abbey of Saint Gallen.

This monastery and many others that would be established by Saint Columbanus and his disciples would initially follow the monastic rule written by that Saint, but the rule was incredibly severe and after the death of the Saint many of these monasteries chose to take the Rule of Saint Benedict.  Thus many count Saint Columbanus as a Benedictine saint even though technically he is not.  You can read more about his life here.

The Apostle to Europe would die in 615.  But his legacy and that of Saints Patrick and Benedict would endure.  Just a little over 13 centuries later a young boy and his two sisters would attend the Abbey school in Saint Gallen, and there they were instructed in the Catholic faith by the Monks living there and became devout and good people. 

Years later after the birth of his first son this young man would travel by sea with his wife and child to the new world.   Eventually he would settle in an old town near a Benedictine Monastery.  It was in the school taught by these monks that he placed his son (and later his second son) and there they were instructed from Elementary School through High School. 

When his first Grandson was born to his elder son some years later there was a strong possibility that he was not to be baptized Catholic (or even at all), but strong in his faith he insisted that his first grandchild would be Catholic.  And so he was on the Feast of Saint Gertrude the Great one of the greatest Benedictine Saints in all of history.  At his grandsons first communion he would come with great joy to celebrate the day and gave his grandson a most precious gift: a medal of Saint Benedict.  From this day the great Father of Europe would be watching over this young boy.  When it came time for his confirmation again his now very elderly grandfather was his Confirmation sponsor. 

Two years later on the 31^st of March in the month of the Feasts of Saint Patrick and Saint Benedict on Easter day of that year he would pass to his eternal reward.  A few days later at the Traditional Requiem Mass offered for his funeral his grandson sat in the front pew pouring tears from his eyes.  But it was at that very moment that God reached down into the soul of this young boy and by an incredible and entirely unmerited movement of His grace converted the boy, and placed an unquenchable fire in his soul to work perseveringly for the rest of his life to attain salvation, and to one day in Heaven see his Grandfather again.

I am that boy.

I would beg you in your charity to please pray for the repose of the soul of my grandfather Otto. Requiescat in pace.

Judas: The Most Tragic Man in History

"Woe to that man by whom the Son of man shall be betrayed: it were better for him, if that man had not been born." -Matt. 26:24

I have long had the impression that the general attitude toward Judas among Catholics and various other Christians is one of disdain, disgust, and even hatred.  We even find in the writings of the saints and the sacred liturgy the same sentiments (i.e. in the Byzantine Liturgy he is referred to as "the wicked betrayer").  And even among non-Christians in the western world the betrayal of our Lord by Judas is so well known and famous that it has become common speech to refer to one who perpetrates a betrayal as "a Judas".

But what I have thought about during my meditation on the various aspects of the passion and my own sinfulness over the past eight years or so is that I do not feel so much of the above feelings but rather more of a sense of a deep pity for this man who will suffer for all eternity for his sins.

I have looked at the passion through the eyes of our Lady at times, at other times putting myself in the place of the apostles, and of course considering the perspective of our Lord (to the degree this is even possible).  Each mode has revealed another aspect of the passion and deepened my love for our Lord and my compunction for my own sins.

As I said, at times I have considered the actions of the apostles during the passion and the three that stick out to me most are Peter, John, and Judas.

Judas, I feel we sometimes forget, was a beloved friend of our Lord, His mother Mary, and the other Apostles and disciples.  He journeyed with them all for three years, and I believe he did truly love our Lord when it all began.  Nor do I think he was made to fall, for God does not create any of us with the intention of destroying us. Judas could have been saved.

With this in mind, consider again that scene in the garden just after our Lord sweat His own blood so profusely that he had soaked his garments and the ground around Him, knowing full well all that lay before Him.  Judas and his band enter into the garden and the apostles are confused and upset, while our Lord looks upon Judas with a look of love mixed with utter sadness.  Judas then greeted Him with a kiss, just as a close friend would, and Jesus responded by saying: "Friend, whereto art thou come?" (Matt. 26:50)

He called him His friend.  But then the guards seized Jesus and the Apostles understood that Judas had betrayed their Lord and them.  Imagine then if someone from among a group of your closest friends so deeply betrayed your best friend right in front of you?  How would you feel? But more how would you feel if you were the one betrayed?  Or the one who did the betraying, and suddenly realizing upon committing the terrible act just how terrible was the thing that you did?

Judas sat at the feet of our Lord just like the others and was counted among His closest friends.  He witnessed all the same miracles, and was give the same abundance of graces.

How could he have fallen so far?

Most will cite His greed which led to theft, and which ultimately led him to sell His friend to His enemies for what amounts to about $20 in today's money.   And this is true, but most miss the far worse sin that began his descent into darkness, and which crowned his evil actions with the worst sin of all.

The late great Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, points out in a retreat given to a group of Priests that Judas' fall (and the fall of most priests of our time) can be traced back to his denial of an essential teaching of the Catholic Faith, and not just any teaching, but that given by our Lord on His own most Precious Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Many miss the final lines of the 6th chapter of the Gospel of John (the chapter often referred to as the "Bread of Life Discourse"):

"Jesus answered them: Have not I chosen you twelve; and one of you is a devil? Now he meant Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon: for this same was about to betray him, whereas he was one of the twelve." -Jn 6:71-2

This is the moment Sheen points to when Judas turned away from our Lord in his heart, even if for some time after he still seemed outwardly to be just another one of His devout followers.

And once Judas had sunken to the depths of darkness, just after being ordained a Priest and Bishop, at the Last Supper when our Lord said these chilling words:

"Amen I say to you, that one of you is about to betray me. And they being very much troubled, began every one to say: Is it I, Lord? But he answering, said: He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, he shall betray me. The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man shall be betrayed: it were better for him, if that man had not been born. And Judas that betrayed him, answering, said: Is it I, Rabbi? He saith to him: Thou hast said it." -Matt. 26:22-25

And even after this final warning from our Lord he sacrilegiously received His precious Body and Blood.  Immediately following this he was fully possessed by the devil, and went out to betray our Lord:

"And after the morsel, Satan entered into him. And Jesus said to him: That which thou dost, do quickly...He therefore having received the morsel, went out immediately. And it was night." -Jn 13:27, 30 

Judas vs. Saint Peter or Why there is No "Saint Judas"

Now Judas having done his evil deed realized what was going to happen to our Lord, and only then fully realized what his sin had wrought.

"Then Judas, who betrayed him, seeing that he was condemned, repenting himself, brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and ancients." -Matt. 27:3

But sadly, though deeply sorry for what he had done, Judas despaired of the mercy and forgiveness of our Lord.

He made the very same mistake so many today make and failed to ask for the mercy of God.  (Though today most go around without asking for God's mercy while they sin with impunity assuming that because God is merciful that they are entitled to His mercy, but never asking for it they will end up with Judas.  You can read a discourse by Saint Alphonsus on the abuse of God's mercy at the end of this article here.)

Now Saint Peter too received a chilling warning from our Lord at the Last Supper:

"Then Jesus said to them: All you shall be scandalized in me this night. For it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be dispersed. But after I shall be risen again, I will go before you into Galilee. And Peter answering, said to him: Although all shall be scandalized in thee, I will never be scandalized. Jesus said to him: Amen I say to thee, that in this night before the cock crow, thou wilt deny me thrice. Peter saith to him: Yea, though I should die with thee, I will not deny thee. And in like manner said all the disciples." -Matt. 26:31-35

And indeed, despite all of his promises, Saint Peter, the First Pope, would publicly deny our Lord three times.  And this last denial was even in the sight of our Lord:

"And the Lord turning looked on Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, as he had said: Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.  And Peter going out, wept bitterly." -Luke 22:61-62

But in Saint Peter's case he did not despair of the mercy of God even though he had this terrible thing.  But rather he repented of what he did and would ask forgiveness for it from our Lord and would go on to be one of the greatest Saints that has ever, and will ever live.

Saint Peter vs. Saint John

But then why was Saint John different, for as our Lord said: All you shall be scandalized in me this night. But yet Saint John was the only one who didn't betray our Lord or leave Him, but followed Him even to Calvary.  Why?  What made John different from the rest?  Two things: the Sacred Heart and the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The Sacred Heart

At the Last Supper, the First Holy Mass, the position of Saint John is most important to consider.  We know that Saint Peter was not sitting immediately next to our Lord because when our Lord spoke of the one who would betray Him Peter asked John to ask our Lord for him who it was that would betray Him. John himself records that he was then "leaning on the breast of Jesus" (Jn. 13:25)  This was the very same position he took during a meal they all shared after the resurrection as well (Jn. 21:20).  John then could even hear and feel the beating of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, and it was this most Sacred Heart that would strengthen him until he saw that very same Heart pierced by Saint Longinus with a lance on Mount Calvary.

The Blessed Virgin Mary

But what also, most importantly, supported John during the terrible Passion and Death of our Lord was the presence of our Lady whose side he never left.  It was our Lady who strengthened him also and who surely appreciated his company during that time in where her suffering it is said to have exceeded the suffering of all the martyrs combined.

We need then to learn from Saint Peter to ask for the mercy of God for our sins, and from Saint John to stay always close to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart of Mary.  If we are faithful to these things it is impossible that we can be lost for our Lord will certainly pour out His goodness and mercy from His most Precious and Sacred Heart and if our request does not obtain His mercy for us then the request of His own Mother, to whom He can refuse nothing, will obtain it for us.

St. Peter Weeping before the Virgin by Guercino

Dirígere et sanctificáre, régere et gubernáre dignáre, Dómine Deus, Rex cæli et terræ, hódie corda et córpora nostra, sensus, sermónes et actus nostros in lege tua, et in opéribus mandatórum tuórum: ut hic et in ætérnum, te auxiliánte, salvi et líberi esse mereámur, Salvátor mundi: Qui vivis et regnas in sǽcula sæculórum. Amen. (O Lord, Almighty God, King of heaven and earth, Savior of the world, bless, lead, rule and govern our hearts and bodies, our senses, words and deeds today, following thy law and commandments, that here and for eternity with thy help we shall be saved in freedom. Who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.)

-From the Divine Office at the Hour of Prime for each day