An Easy Way to Become a Saint by Fr. Paul O’Sullivan

JESUS ON OUR ALTARS

Jesus remains on the Altar, waiting for our visits, ready to console and comfort us, ready to pardon the most depraved sinner, even as He pardoned the Publican in the Temple, to give help and strength to the weak, to comfort the sad, to console the sorrowful.

This Sacrament is indeed a Sacrament of peace and love. Here Our Lord is on a throne of Mercy, continuing the work of His life on Earth, but—dare we say it—in a more merciful way.

When on Earth, He was in one land; only the people of that land could hope to approach Him. In the Blessed Eucharist, He is in all lands, in all cities and towns, even in the deserts, wherever a Catholic missionary is found.

He is really and truly present; He sees us distinctly; He hears us; He loves us. He is waiting, longing for our visits.

A few incidents of recent occurrence will show us how really Our Lord is on the Altar.

A Protestant Minister in England was taking a walk with his little daughter, six years old. They entered a Catholic Church, where the minister explained to his little girl the meaning of the Way of the Cross and other objects of note in the church.

The little one, attracted by the red lamp burning before the Tabernacle, asked what that meant. Her father replied that it was to show that Jesus was in the Tabernacle.

“Jesus!” she exclaimed. “Our Jesus, the Son of God?”

“Yes, dear.”

The child was deeply impressed. Even after, when walking with her father or mother, she insisted on going into a Catholic church to see the lamp and to visit Jesus.

Wonderful visits! Our Lord was speaking to their hearts. After six months the child with her father and mother became fervent Catholics.

In London, two girlfriends, one a Catholic and the other a Protestant, went shopping. Passing a church, the Catholic said goodbye to her friend, as she wished to assist at Benediction. The Protestant, however, entered the church to wait.

She remained standing, looking about. It was the first time she had been in a Catholic church. When, however, the priest placed the Monstrance with the Blessed Sacrament on the Altar, she instinctively fell on her knees and folded her hands on her breast, gazing at the Sacred Host.

On leaving the church, to the surprise of her friend, she asked to be introduced to the priest. She wished to become a Catholic, though never before had she thought of it.

A Protestant young man fell in love with a Catholic girl, but after some time, as he refused to become a Catholic, she declared that she could not marry him, though she loved and respected him very much.

She begged him to consider the affair ended and asked him not to write to her again. Broken-hearted, the young man took his annual holiday and went off to a country village to try to forget his grief.

The hotel in which he stayed was near the Catholic church, and he could see from his room the Tabernacle lamp. The lamp became a fascination for him; sitting at his table, his eyes invariably turned toward it. It became an obsession.

He asked the servant who had charge of his room what that red lamp meant. Smiling, she answered, “It is the red lamp that burns before the Blessed Sacrament.”

The obsession continued, and finally he resolved to enter the church and see it for himself. On entering the church, great was his surprise to come face to face with the girl whom he had so wished to marry.

“What has brought you here?” he exclaimed.

“I came,” she answered, “to nurse my aunt, who is ill.”

“And what,” she asked in turn, “brought you into this Catholic Church, you who refused to think of becoming a Catholic?”

He told her simply that the red lamp, which he could see from his room in the hotel, fascinated him and he had to come to see it.

“Then continue,” she said, “Our Lord Himself is calling you.” He did so and gradually his doubts and dislikes for the Church cleared away and he became a fervent Catholic and the happy husband of the girl he loved.

STILL ANOTHER INCIDENT

A gentleman and his wife, both staunch Protestants, had a business transaction with the priest in whose parish they lived. Unfortunately the settlement of this affair caused annoyance to both parties, and the Protestants became more embittered than ever against the Catholic Church.

Some time elapsed, and the lady happened to be passing the church. Feeling tired, she went in to rest. She remained for twenty minutes, enjoying the calm and silence and looking at the High Altar.

This visit was repeated frequently, at first merely with the wish to rest, but gradually this gave way to a feeling of pleasure and peace.

A few months passed and both husband and wife became Catholics!

If then Our Sweet Lord works so wonderfully on those souls who did not even pray to Him, what will He not do for those who pray fervently to Him?

As we get warmth and comfort when we approach a blazing fire in the wintertime, even so, our poor cold hearts are filled with the fire of love when we kneel lovingly before Jesus in the Sacrament of the Altar.

He is the same God who in Heaven fills the Angels with love. Here in the Blessed Sacrament He is on a throne of mercy and wishes to fill our poor souls with peace and joy.

We are in the midst of Angels, who stand around the Altar praying with us and for us. Our Lord has many times shown Himself in the Blessed Sacrament to help our faith.

We will mention just one fact. Thomas of Cantimbre, the celebrated Dominican Bishop, famed for his profound learning and deep piety, describes a miracle which he himself witnessed in company with many others.

Having heard that Our Lord had appeared visibly in a consecrated Host in the Church of St. Amand in Douay, he immediately hastened thither and begged the priest to open the Tabernacle and expose the Sacred Particle.

Many persons flocked to the church on learning of the Bishop’s arrival and were privileged to see the miracle once more.

The Bishop tells us what he himself saw: “I saw my Lord face to face. His eyes were clear and had an expression of wondrous love.

His hair was abundant and floated on His shoulders; His beard was long, His forehead broad and high; His cheeks were pale, and His head slightly inclined.

At the sight of my loving Lord, my heart well-nigh burst with joy and love. ”

After a little time Our Lord’s face assumed an expression of profound sadness, such as it must have worn in the Passion. He was crowned with thorns and His face bathed in blood.

“On looking on the countenance of my Sweet Savior thus changed, my heart was pierced with bitter grief; tears flowed from my eyes, and I seemed to feel the points of the thorns enter my head.”

Though we do not see Our Dear Lord as the Bishop did, He is there on the Altar, the same loving Lord.

“We’re terribly in danger all the time of taking God’s goodness too much for granted; of bouncing up to Communion as if it were the most natural thing in the world, instead of being a supernatural thing belonging to another world.” – Msgr. Ronald Knox, 1948

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Painting by Gennaro Befanio

by St. Peter Julian Eymard, How to Get More Out of Holy Communion

The love of Jesus Christ reaches its highest perfection and produces the richest harvest of graces in the ineffable union He contracts with the soul in Holy Communion. Therefore, by every desire for goodness, holiness, and perfection that piety, the virtues, and love can inspire in us, we are bound to direct our course toward this union, toward frequent and even daily Communion.

Since we have in Holy Communion the grace, the model, and the practice of all the virtues, all of them finding their exercise in this divine action, we shall profit more by Communion than by all other means of sanctification.

But to that end, Holy Communion must become the thought that dominates mind and heart. It must be the aim of all study, of piety, of the virtues.

The receiving of Jesus must be the goal as well as the law of life. All our works must converge toward Communion as toward their end and flow from it as from their source.

Let us so live that we may be admitted with profit to frequent and even daily Communion. In a word, let us perfect ourselves in order to receive Communion worthily, and let us live with a constant view to Communion.

But perhaps you will say that your nothingness is overwhelmed by the majesty of God. Ah, but no! That majesty, the celestial and divine majesty which reigns in Heaven, is not present in Holy Communion.

Do you not see that Jesus has veiled Himself in order not to frighten you, in order to embolden you to look upon Him and come near to Him?

Or perhaps the sense of your unworthiness keeps you away from this God of all sanctity. It is true that the greatest saint or even the purest of the Cherubim is unworthy to receive the divine Host.

But do you not see that Jesus is hiding His virtues, is hiding His very sanctity, to show you His goodness simply and solely? Do you not hear that sweet voice inviting you: “Come unto me”? Do you not feel the nearness of that divine love like a magnet drawing you?

After all, it is not your merits that give you your rights, nor is it your virtues that open to you the doors of the Cenacle; it is the love of Jesus.

“But I have so little piety, so little love; how can my soul receive our Lord when it is so lukewarm and therefore so repulsive and so undeserving of His notice?”

Lukewarm? That is but one more reason why you should plunge again and again into this burning furnace.

Repulsive? Oh, never, to this good Shepherd, this tender Father, fatherly above all fathers, motherly above all mothers! The more weak and ill you are, the more you need His help. Is not bread the sustenance of both strong and weak?

“But if I have sins on my conscience?” If, after examination, you are not morally certain or positively conscious of any mortal sin, you may go to Holy Communion.

If you forgive all who have offended you, already your own offenses are forgiven you. And as for your daily negligences, your distractions during prayer, your first movements of impatience, of vanity, of self-love, as likewise for your failure, in your sloth, to put away from you immediately the fire of temptation — bind together all these shoots of Adam’s sin and cast them into the furnace of divine love.

What love forgives is forgiven indeed.  Ah, do not let yourself be turned away from the Holy Table by vain pretexts!

If you will not communicate for your own sake, then communicate instead for Jesus Christ. To communicate for Jesus Christ is to console Him for the neglect to which the majority of men have abandoned Him.

It is to confirm His wisdom in instituting this Sacrament of spiritual sustenance. It is to open the riches of the treasures of grace that Jesus Christ has stored up in the Eucharist, only so that He may bestow them upon mankind.

Nay, more, it is to give to His sacramental love the overflowing life it desires, to His goodness the happiness of doing good, and to His majesty the glory of bestowing His gifts.

By receiving Communion, therefore, you fulfill the glorious purpose of the Holy Eucharist, for if there were no communicants, this fountain would flow in vain, this furnace of love would inflame no hearts, and this King would reign without subjects.

Holy Communion not only gives to the sacramental Jesus the opportunity to satisfy His love; it gives Him a new life that He will consecrate to the glory of His Father.

In His state of glory, He can no longer honor the Father with a love free and meritorious. But in Communion, He will enter into man, associate with him, and unite with him.

In return, by this wonderful union, the Christian will give members, living and sentient faculties, to the glorified Jesus; he will give Him the liberty that constitutes the merit of virtue.

Thus, through Communion, the Christian will be transformed into Jesus Himself, and Jesus will live again in him.

Something divine will then come to pass in the one who communicates; man will labor, and Jesus will give the grace of labor; man will keep the merit, but to Jesus will be the glory.

Jesus will be able to say to His Father: “I love Thee, I adore Thee, and I still suffer, living anew in my members.”  This is what gives Communion its highest power: it is a second and perpetual incarnation of Jesus Christ.

“Never forget that it is God’s will that the parents should be the ones to teach the child to pray, as Mary and Joseph helped the boy Jesus to advance in wisdom and grace.” -A Dominican Nun, 1954

Lecture on protecting your family from the neo pagan society that we live in today. How to do that? Music, books, stories, liturgy, etc are answers.

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Painting by KOWALSKY Léopold-Francois

A strong reminder of the efficacy of the Mass…and not to take lightly our duty to attend on Sundays and Holydays of Obligation…

FOR TRADESMEN AND ARTISANS

The idol of our times is self-interest, and, alas, how many prostrate themselves before it offering to it at all times and in all places their undivided homage!

And thence it comes that, pursuing this idol, they forget the true God, and so come to plunge themselves into an abyss of evil, and a perpetual destitution of all true good; whereas, the holy Royal Prophet declares that all who in the first place seek God shall not encounter any evil, but shall abound in all good. Inquirentes Dominum non deficient omni bono (Ps. 33:11).

This is amply verified in those who, before applying to their business, manage first to assist at holy Mass, as the adventure which is told of certain traders of Gubbio well illustrates.

They had gone to a public fair held in the town of Cisternino, and having made a clearance of their wares, two of them began to speak of going, and fixed to start the next day at dawn, so as to arrive by evening in their own neighborhood.

But the third would not consent to start then, and protested that, next day being Sunday, he could never think of commencing a journey without having first heard holy Mass; that then, after a little food, they might take their departure more to their satisfaction, and that, should they not succeed in getting to Gubbio that evening, there was no want of comfortable inns on the road.

His companions did not yield to this wise and salutary counsel, but, bent on arriving at home next night, they answered that Almighty God would have compassion on them if they lost Mass for once.

So on Sunday morning before dawn, without ever entering church, they took their way on horseback toward home. They arrived near the river Corfuone.

By the violent rain which had fallen during the night it was now excessively swollen, and the current beating strongly against the wooden bridge had somewhat shaken and weakened it. They advanced upon it with their horses, and no sooner had they reached the middle than a still further rise and furious rush of the flood broke down and swept away the whole structure.

The two unhappy traders were, of course, plunged with their horses into the river and drowned, losing at once their money, their goods, their lives.

At the sound of the crash, and sight of the havoc, the peasants ran to the spot, and contrived with hooks to draw the corpses out, which they then left stretched out on the bank, in order that, if possible, they might be recognized and obtain burial.

Soon after, the third trader, who had been detained by his wish to satisfy the precept of attending Mass, and who had then taken to the road with joyful alacrity, came up to the river and beheld the two bodies on the bank.

Drawing up to observe them, he instantly recognized his two companions, and heard from the bystanders all the miserable catastrophe with the utmost agitation of spirit.

Then he lifted his hands to Heaven, returning thanks to the Most High, Who had so mercifully preserved him; and he blessed a thousand times the hour in which he assisted at the Holy Sacrifice, clearly recognizing the source of his safety.

When again at home, he announced the sad intelligence, got the relations to procure proper interment for the departed, and stirred up among all a lively desire of daily attendance at holy Mass. (Lohner. tom. 2, tit. 64.)

O accursed avarice!—let me give vent to what I feel— accursed passion, that cuttest off the heart from God, and takest away, as it were, from us the very faculty of free will, so far as regards the power of attending to the great business of eternal salvation!

That the avaricious may enter into themselves, I will illustrate my meaning by an example from Holy Scripture.

Samson, you are aware, was bound in vain even with the sinews of oxen, and with fresh ropes never before used. At last he informed his treacherous wife that the secret of his strength lay hid in the locks of his hair; and so no sooner were they cut off than he lost all his wonderful strength, fell into the power of the Philistines, was made blind by them, and condemned to work a mill.

Now, what was the chief and prime error of Samson? Was it, perhaps, in allowing himself to be so securely bound? That was not his error. The evil lay in telling the secret of his strength, and thus allowing the loss of his mysterious locks, which once gone, he was no longer himself.

Now, a man engaged in trade doubtless permits himself to be bound by a thousand ties of traffic, of accounts, of exchange, and so on. Does the deadly peril of avarice consist in all this? No, not in all this. The danger lies in cutting off the locks of hair. Let me explain.

Suppose a man in trade to have never so great a pressure of business, but hearing betimes every morning the bells that call to Mass, says to himself, “Business, wait a little; have patience; let us get our Mass safely settled”: such a man is Samson bound but not shorn—bound by the thousand cords of business, but not shorn of the secret source of strength.

Another is also caught in a multitude of cords: workmen to pay, accounts to clear, letters to write, correspondents with whom to negotiate: one man expects an answer, another his money. Alas, what a labyrinth of bonds!

No matter, Sunday at last comes  round, or the festival of some saint, his patron perhaps; he breaks loose from all, and goes with devotion to hear some Masses and offer up his prayers. This man also is a Samson bound but not shorn; for, amid all his affairs, he never loses sight of the great business of eternal salvation.

But attend to me now: if you are bound by a thousand ties of interest, without vigor to snap them through, if you fail to come forth at the proper time, and cease firmly to frequent the Sacraments and the Holy Sacrifice, then woe to you; then are you both bound and shorn.

In this case, though your gains be just, yet at such a cost they are sinful; there is within you a coarse and horrid avarice, which will treat you as Samson was treated, until, at last, as with Samson, the roof overhead shall fall in upon you. Then quae parasti cujus erunt?— “whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” (Luke 12:20.)

But you are thinking that the avaricious will never listen except to a tune in their own key. Well, then, be it so. Get rich, gather up, make profit. What is the surest way? I will show you: daily hear holy Mass with thorough devotion.

It is plainly seen in the case of two artisans whom I could point out. Both pursue the same trade; one is burdened with a family: wife, children, grandchildren; the other is alone with his wife. The first has brought up his family in great comfort and even style, and all his transactions turn out wonderfully. Customers at his shop, and sales despatched.

So he has gone on, till he finds himself putting by every year a good round sum, to serve in time for marriage-portions for his daughters. The other, who is without children, at one time got little employment, was half famished, and was, in short, a ruined man.

One day he said confidentially to his neighbor, “How is it you do? In your home there rains down every blessing of God; while I, poor wretch, cannot hold up my head, and all sorts of calamities light on my house.”

“I will tell you,” said his neighbor; “tomorrow morning I shall be with you, and will point out the place from which I draw so much.”

Next morning he took him to church to hear Mass, and then led him back to his workshop; and so two or three different times, till at last the poor man said, “If nothing else is wanted than to go to church to hear Mass, I know the way well enough, without putting you to inconvenience.”

“Just so,” said the other; “hear holy Mass, my friend, with devotion, every day, and you will see a change on the face of your fortune.”

And, in fact, so it was. Beginning to hear holy Mass every morning, he be came well provided with work, shortly paid his debts, and put his house once more in capital condition. (Sar. in Vit. S. Joan. Eleem.)

Trust to the words of the Gospel. And if you do so, how can you doubt the fact? Does it not say clearly, Quaerite primum regnum Dei. . . et haec omnia adjicientur vobis? “Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matt. 6:33.)

Make but the trial for a year; hear holy Mass every morning with true earnest devotion for one year, and if your temporal interests do not take a better turn, lay the blame on me. But there is little fear of that; you will rather have many reasons to thank me.

At a certain moment when going to confession to a Capuchin father, she came to understand that it was just the opposite: her “defects did not displease God” and her littleness attracted God’s love, just as a father is moved by the weakness of his children and loves them still more as soon as he sees their good will and sincere love. ~ Fr. Jacques Philippe, The Way of Trust and Love – A Retreat Guided by St. Therese of Lisieux

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A very beautiful meditation about the Mass, the first part of the Mass, Going to the Altar. Father Knox apologizes because of the form in which it is written…to school age girls. I say, “Hurrah! Then I can understand it!” 😉

From The Mass in Slow Motion by Msgr. Ronald A. Knox, 1940’s

Glory to God in high heaven, and peace on earth to the men that are God’s friends. Luke ii.

We left the priest last Sunday at the foot of the altar; he has told us to get busy praying, and now he strides away from us; purposefully, like a man who knows what he is about; rather like our Lord going up to Judaea for his Passion, when the Gospels tell us that “ his face was set towards Jerusalem “.

I think you will find that most priests are walking rather fast, a. good deal faster than their usual pace, over those two or three steps. Indeed, if you could see inside the priest’s mind, you would almost say he was running up the steps.

It reminds me of some lines in a poem none of you know, a poem called “ David in Heaven.” It says there “His feet trip without a slip, Going to the altar “.

Well, of course it wouldn’t really do to run; it isn’t a bit easy to run upstairs in a cassock, and then there is generally lace on the end of one’s alb, on purpose so that one shall put one’s foot through it if one isn’t careful. And besides, the motion of that dance is meant to be slow all through.

But the priest is mentally running, so to speak; all through that business with the server which we were talking about last Sunday he has been tantalizing himself, as it were, by not going up just yet; very much as some of you would tantalize yourselves, on receiving a really exciting parcel, by insisting on undoing the knots before you looked inside it.

The priest rushes up to the altar and kisses it; he can’t hold himself in any longer. He didn’t kiss it when he went up before, to arrange the things, because he wasn’t really beginning the Mass then. Now he goes up and kisses it. And the meaning of that movement in the dance is obvious, I hope, even to the stupidest of us.

It is meant to express the great desire we ought to have for God, the desire to get closer to Him, get in contact with Him, which is the real reason for our saying any prayers at all.

What he kisses, actually, is the corporal, the big white thing folded in nine squares which he takes out of the large green envelope on the top of the chalice.

Underneath the corporal is-what? Three thicknesses of altar-cloth. Underneath the altar-cloths is-what? A piece of stone all wrapped up in waxed cloth, so as to be waterproof.

That stone has been consecrated long ago, by a bishop; and the bishop in consecrating it fills up some holes in it with-what do you think? Tiny bits of relics of the saints.

People used to use relics of that kind rather freely in the Middle Ages; they used to put them into bridges, for instance, so as to be sure that the bridges held up.

I know a very old bridge on the upper Thames where you can still see, in the masonry at the side, a kind of socket where they obviously used to keep the relics of some saint long ago.

King Henry the Sixth (no, not King Henry the Eighth; King Henry the Sixth, Wars of the Roses) used to be regarded as a saint before the Reformation, and they kept a relic of his on the bridge between Caversham and Reading, and another relic of his, so I’ve been told, on the bridge at Bridgnorth.

Well, that’s all beside the point; nowadays it is only altars that have to have relics in them; but they’ve jolly well got to.

Even a military chaplain carries round with him an altar stone, with relics let into it, and he must never say Mass without having that stone on the soap-box or whatever it is he is using for an altar.

And if you ask why the Church should insist on that rather inconvenient regulation, the simplest answer is this; if he didn’t, he would start the Mass by telling a lie.

I hope you all remember that the Mass proper hasn’t started yet; all that preparation business we were talking about last Sunday was only preparation really.

Now, just as he is going to begin the Mass proper, the priest rushes up to the altar, kisses it, and says, “We beseech thee, O Lord, by the merits of those saints whose relics are here, and of all the saints, to be indulgent towards my sins”.

The saints whose relics are here – why is that so important? Why, because in the very early days, when the Christians at Rome were being persecuted, they used to meet for worship in the catacombs just outside the city.

The catacombs are miles and miles of underground passages, which you can still explore with a guide if you go out to Rome. There the Christians used to bury the poor mangled remains of their friends who had been killed in the persecution; and on the tombstones raised over these bodies of the martyrs the Roman bishop used to say Mass.

And when the priest, saying those words, kisses the tiny relics tucked away in the altar-stone, he reminds himself, if he has any sense of history, that by that action he is putting himself in touch, so to speak, with the Universal Church that is in Communion with Rome.

All altars, all over the world, are one altar really, the mother altar of Christendom; all altars must have relics in them, so as to remind us that we belong to the martyrs of the first century, and they to us.

St. John, in the Apocalypse, says “I saw beneath the altar the souls of all who had been slain for love of God’s Word”; some people think that is a reference to this habit of saying Mass over the martyrs’ tombs – it’s as old as that.

And when you see the priest kissing the altar just then, you may think of Christian history, all through these nineteen centuries, as linked up. The Mass is all one, in A.D. 48 or in A.D.1948; the Mass is all one, in the catacombs at Rome or in the tin chapel.

That altar-stone is a kind of keyhole through which you get a glimpse into the whole of our Christian past.

I would say this – that by far the easiest and least troublesome way of rearing a family of which you can be proud is to institute the family rosary in your home, and keep it up. It knits the family together with bonds 10,000 times stronger than any that can be forged by merely natural means. -Joseph Breig, 1950’s

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At the tender age of twenty, the Rosary and the Consecration to Our Lady (St. Louis de Montfort style) was what set my feet on solid ground in a world that spun around me with all sorts of “answers” to life’s problems. And I wanted answers…

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From Jesus, Our Eucharistic Love

The infinite greatness of the Holy Mass should enable us to understand the need of attentively and devoutly taking part in this Sacrifice of Jesus. Adoration, love and sorrow ought to have undisputed predominance among our sentiments.

In a very moving reflection, Ven. Pope Pius XII described the state of mind with which one should take part in the Holy Mass: it should be “the state of mind that the Divine Redeemer had when He sacrificed Himself—the same humble spirit of submission—that is, of adoration, love, praise and thanksgiving to the great majesty of God, so that we reproduce in ourselves the condition of victimhood, the self-denial that follows the Gospel’s teaching, by which of our own accord we make a willing sacrifice of penance, sorrow and expiation for our sins.”

Let us ask ourselves seriously: is this the state of mind with which we participate at Holy Mass?

The Crucifix and the Candles

True and active participation at Holy Mass is what makes us into sacrificial victims like Jesus. Such participation succeeds in “reproducing in us the pain-shared features of Jesus” (Pius XII), bestowing upon us “a companionship with Christ in His sufferings” and rendering us “conformable to His Death” (Phil. 3:10). All the rest is mere liturgical ceremony, external dress.

St. Gregory the Great taught: “The Sacrifice of the Altar will be truly acceptable as a Victim offered in our behalf to God when we make ourselves into the Victim.”

As a reflection of this doctrine, in early Christian communities, the faithful, wearing penitential garbs and chanting the litany of the saints, went in procession to the altar for the celebration of Holy Mass, with the Pope presiding. If we would go to Mass in this spirit, we should want to make our own the sentiment St. Thomas the Apostle expressed when he said, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him” (Jn. 11:16).

When St. Margaret Mary Alacoque attended Holy Mass and would gaze at the altar, she would never fail to glance at the Crucifix and the lighted candles. Why? It was to impress on her mind and heart two things: that the Crucifix should remind her of what Jesus had done for her; that the lighted candles recall what she must do for Jesus—that is, sacrifice herself and be consumed for Him and for souls.

Every day the King of France, St. Louis IX, would assist at Holy Mass on his knees, on the bare floor. One time a valet offered him a kneeler, but the king told him, “At Mass God offers Himself as a sacrifice, and when God sacrifices Himself, kings should kneel on the floor.”

St. John Bosco recommended that young people participate at Holy Mass by following the method of St. Leonard of Port Maurice, who divided the sacrificial part of the Mass into three parts, whereby one meditates, first upon the Passion of Jesus (from the Offertory to the Elevation); second, upon our sins, the cause of the Passion and Death of Jesus (until Communion); and third, upon the resolution to live a pure and fervent life (from Communion to the end of Mass).

To be able to do this in the simplest and most fruitful way, it is enough to commit oneself to follow attentively the priest at the altar. In this way one overcomes more easily the distractions and boredom. (And on Sundays one should not go in search for—as some do—the shortest Mass, simply because they can hardly wait for Mass to end!)

One day the father of Guido of Fontgalland asked his son how one should occupy himself during Mass. “During Holy Mass,” the holy youth replied, “our single occupation is to follow it. It is enough to read with the priest the prayers that he recites at the altar….”

It is the same reply that Pope St. Pius X gave to whomever wanted to know what prayers to recite during Holy Mass: “Follow the Mass, say the prayers of the Mass!”

Be like Our Lady on Calvary

The best example of participation at the Holy Sacrifice is given us at the foot of the Cross by the most Blessed Virgin Mary, St. John the Evangelist and St. Mary Magdalene with the pious women (Jn. 19:25).

To assist at Mass is very much like being at Calvary. A meeting of love and sorrow with Jesus Crucified—this is participation at Holy Mass.

St. Andrew of Avellino used to be moved to tears as he said, “One cannot separate the most Holy Eucharist from the Passion of Jesus.” One day a spiritual son asked St. Pio of Pietrelcina, “Father, how should we take part at Holy Mass?” St. Pio replied, “As Our Lady, St. John and the pious women did on Calvary—with love and compassion.”

In a missal of one of his spiritual children St. Pio wrote: “In assisting at Holy Mass, concentrate intently on the tremendous Mystery which is taking place before your eyes, which is the Redemption and reconciliation of your soul with God.”

At another time he was asked, “Father, why is it that you weep so much during Mass?”

“My daughter,” replied St. Pio, “what are those few tears compared to what takes place at the altar? There should be torrents of tears!”

Don’t insist on perfection. Expecting perfection from yourself and others is a setup for disappointment. Things won’t go as planned and you won’t be perfectly organized. Let it go. This, too, shall pass. -Charlotte Siems

Do you need some good reading suggestions? Visit My Book List.

I was introduced to this book from a dear friend and it has been a source of joy and inspiration! The Holy Mass is there for us, do we take advantage of the multitude of graces it offers? Do we have special intentions, do we have anxieties and fears, do we have sinners to pray for? The Mass is the greatest prayer….life is short! Let’s get to it!

The Hidden Treasure by St. Leonard of Port Maurice

“Where there is no Mass,” writes one of the Fathers of the English Oratory, “there is also no Christianity.”

The reason is plain: Christ’s life was one of sacrifice—not merely of the figurative sacrifice of praise and prayer, but one of outward act, of suffering and of death.

His religion must be like Himself: it must be the continuation of the divine-human life that He led upon earth, representing and perpetuating, by some sacred rite, the sacrifice that began in the womb of Mary and ended upon the Cross of Calvary. That rite is the holy Mass.

Do we always realize it as such? Does the conviction sink deep into us, when offering, or assisting, at the adorable Sacrifice, that Jesus is reenacting, in our presence, the mysteries of His life and death?

The altar of the Mass is the holy house of Nazareth, the crib of Bethlehem, the Egyptian place of exile, the hill of Calvary, the garden-tomb in which Our Savior’s corpse reposed, and the Mount of Olives from which He ascended.

The Passion, it is true, is that which is primarily represented and continued in the holy Mass; yet the prayers and rites of the Sacrifice refer, at times, to other mysteries. Thus the dropping of a part of the sacred Host into the Chalice, before the Agnus Dei, represents the reunion of Christ’s soul with His body and blood on the morning of the Resurrection.

For a description of the many and beautiful analogies between the Eucharistic life of Our Lord and His sacred Infancy, we refer the reader to Father Faber’s Treatise on the Blessed Sacrament.

The Mass is truly a “hidden treasure,” and, alas, our cold, dead faith allows it to remain so. If we valued it as we ought, we would hurry every morning to the church, careless of the snows of winter and the heats of summer, in order to get a share of the riches of this treasure.

The saints knew the value of one Mass: that was a dark day in their calendar on which they were deprived of the happy privilege of saying or hearing Mass.

Although St. Francis de Sales was overburdened with apostolic work on the Mission of the Chablais, he made it a point never to miss his daily Mass. In order to keep his holy resolution, he had frequently to cross the river Drance, to the village of Marin, in which there was a Catholic church.

It happened, in the winter of 1596, that a great freshet carried away a portion of the bridge over the stream, and the passengers were, in consequence, compelled to cross on a plank laid over those arches of the broken structure that had withstood the waters.

Heavy falls of snow, followed by severe frosts, made this board very slippery, so that it became dangerous to attempt passing on it; but St. Francis was not to be deterred, for, despite the remonstrances of his friends, he made the perilous journey every morning, creeping over the icy plank on his hands and feet, thus daily risking his life rather than lose Mass.

Dear Christian reader! Beg this glorious Saint to obtain for you and me some portion of his burning love for the most holy and adorable Sacrifice of the altar.

 If we really have in our hearts good-will to men, we shall not only wish every one well, but we shall seek every opportunity to do good to every one, beginning with those at home. It will make us good wives, good mothers, good neighbors, kind, obliging, ready always to lend a hand, to do another a good turn. -Finer Femininity

A great gift, the Catholic Young Lady’s Maglet is for the young (and not-so-young), Catholic, Feminine Soul. It is a compilation of traditional, valuable Catholic articles on the subjects that touch the hearts of serious-minded Catholic young ladies. There are articles on courtship, purity, singleness, vocation, prayer, confession, friends, tea parties, obedience, etc. This information is solid, written by orthodox Catholic writers (most of them gone to their eternal home) that cared about the proper formation of a young Catholic adult in a confused world.