Tradition, Legends and the Holy Cross

This story is so interesting that I shamelessly ripped it from the Aquinas & More Catholic Goods newsletter. Saint Helen is my patron saint, as well.

First, a quick quiz:

The true cross was carried through Jerusalem by ______.

A. Christ
B. Simon of Cyrene
C. The Holy Roman Emperor
D. All the Above

Every Christian and non-Christian alike knows that Our Lord carried the cross through Jerusalem, and if you've ever said the Stations of the Cross then you probably know that Simon of Cyrene was coerced into helping Him for part of the way. What you might not know is that the True Cross would one-day be carried through the streets again on the back of the Holy Roman Emperor.

There is a fascination with the True Cross that on some levels exceeds other mysterious artifacts like the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail and the legend is better than anything Spielberg could concoct. Monsignor Ronald Knox says of the cross that it bears many symbolic similarities with things in the Old Testament. It reminds us of the Ark, the healing serpent of Moses, and the tree in Eden.

The first legend says that when Adam lay on his death bed, the Archangel Michael appeared to his son Seth and gave him a seed from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Seth placed this seed in the mouth of Adam when he was buried.

From Adam's mouth grew a tree which was chopped down centuries later. For an unknown reason, the wood couldn't be used for anything so it was thrown across a river to serve as a bridge. On her journey to see Solomon, the Queen of Sheba was approaching this bridge when she received a vision which prephesied that Our Saviour would one day hang upon this wood. The queen hurried to King Solomon to tell him the story, which he immediately understood as a warning message.

Solomon feared that the death of the Messiah would also mean the destruction of his kingdom so he ordered that the tree be removed from the river and hidden. But a thousand years later the wood was found and it was used to make the Cross.

After Our Lord's crucifixion, the Emperors saw Christianity as a threat and tried to eradicate the memory of the Passion from people's minds by building over the places of veneration. By the early second century Golgotha was no longer a desolate hill top used for executions. Instead there stood a statue of Jupiter and a temple to Venus where pagans offered their sacrifices.

It was in 313 after the Edict of Milan had been signed that Christianity became legal again in the Roman Empire. Emperor Constantine received a vision of a cross high in the sky and saw the words, “By this sign you shall conquer.” Enthusiastic about the promise, Constantine sent his mother, Helen, to Jerusalem to find the Cross which had not been seen for three hundred years.

In Jerusalem there was only one man who knew where the cross was hidden: a Jew by the name of Judas. After heavy persuasion the Jewish man revealed that the cross was buried under the temple of Venus. Dedicated to her mission, St. Helen ordered the demolition of the temple and the excavation of the ground underneath.

They found the tomb of Christ and only a short distance away, instruments of the Passion and all three crosses used on Calvary that day. Legend says that the True Cross was exposed by touching the crosses to a boy who had just died. When the True Cross touched the boy, he was brought back to life.

This miraculous event was witnessed by many and caused many Jews, including Judas, to seek baptism. (Judas quickly changed his name to Kyriakus.) He would eventually be appointed bishop of Jerusalem and suffer a martyr's death under the tyrannical reign of Julian the Apostate in 363.

Upon the excavation site, Constantine ordered that a Christian church be built to house the venerable relics. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher was built and would be consecrated on September 13, 335.

For three hundred years the cross sat in peace until the Persian Emperor Khosrau II defeated the Roman army and sacked the holy city of Jerusalem and turned thousands of Christians into slaves. Among the plundered items were the instruments of the Passion and the Holy Cross. The relics remained in exile for fourteen years when in 627 Emperor Heraclius conquered the Persian army and recaptured the Cross. (Some sources indicate that he received the Cross as part of the negotiations after the war.)

In any case, the Emperor returned to Jerusalem to reinstate the Cross with great fanfare. The legend says that Heraclius was initially going to carry the Cross by horseback, but as he entered the city, the weight became too great. It was only after he attempted to bear the weight himself that it was light enough to carry.

Then, when he reached the gates Golgotha, he found his way blocked by an angel. The angel said that since Christ carried the Cross in all humility, he must follow in the same manner. When he had removed his golden crown, purple robes and shoes, the way was opened and he was able to carry the Cross into the church.

Little is known about the True Cross after this period. Splinters of it were dispersed and can be found wherever Christians are found. The largest pieces can be found in Notre Dame, Pisa Cathedral, Florence Cathedral, and Santa Croce in Rome.

Prayer for Purity

Jesus, Lover of chastity, Mary, Mother most pure, and Saint Joseph, chaste guardian of the Virgin, to you I come at this hour, begging you to plead with God for me. I earnestly wish to be pure in thought, word and deed in imitation of your own holy purity.

Obtain for me, then, a deep sense of modesty which will be reflected in my external conduct. Protect my eyes, the windows of my soul, from anything that might dim the luster of a heart that must mirror only Christlike purity.

And when the “Bread of Angels becomes the Bread of me” in my heart at Holy Communion, seal it forever against the suggestions of sinful pleasures.

Heart of Jesus, Fount of all purity, have mercy on us.

St Wenceslaus' Deeds of faith

The following story is an interesting addition to the post below "Name this Saint". It is from the 1849 book called Deeds of Faith, written by John Mason Neale, who also wrote the poem and Christmas Carol, Good King Wenceslaus.

Deeds of Faith was originally published in 1849 and was dedicated to Neale's daughter Agnes, for whom these stories were written. The purpose of the book, according to the Preface, was "to lead children to take an interest in Ecclesiastical History..." It consisted of 16 stories of saints and martyrs. The "Legend of S. Wenceslaus," the 11th story, is Neale's recounting of the legend of Saint Wenceslaus, about whom Neale also wrote a Saint Stephen's Day poem and carol, "Good King Wenceslaus." Source


THE LEGEND OF S. WENCESLAUS.

The holy Christmas-tide was drawing nigh. The Church was already far advanced in Advent; and was now bidding her children to look forward to the coming King. Winter had set in over Germany with unusual severity; hedges, fields, and ways, were blotted out in the deep soft snow; the creaking of the rude waggons was silent; the labourer was idle; the plough was in the shed; the spade and mattock in the tool-house.

King Wenceslaus of Bohemia sat in his palace. He had been watching, from the narrow window of the turret-chamber where he was, the sunset, as its glory hung for a moment on the western clouds, and then died away over the Erzgebirge, and the blue hills of Rabenstein. Calm and cold was its brightness; the colours that but now were of ruby and jasper, faded into purple, and were lost in grey; a freezing haze came over the face of the earth; the short winter day was swallowed up of night. But the crescent moon brightened towards the south-west; and the leafless trees in the castle gardens, and the quaint turrets and spires of the castle itself, threw clear dark shadows on the unspotted snow.

Still the King gazed forth on the scene, for he had learnt to draw lessons of wisdom from all these daily changes that we so little regard; and he knew that God speaks to us by this beautiful world; he was able, in a very true sense, thus to make the nights and days, the summer and winter, to bless the Lord, and to praise Him and magnify Him for ever. And so, in that sunset, he saw an emblem of our resurrection; he felt that the night would come, the night in which no man could work; but he knew also that the morning would follow, that morning which shall have no evening.

The ground sloped down from the castle towards the forest. Here and there on the side of the hill, a few bushes, gray with moss, broke the unvaried sheet of white. And as the King turned his eyes in that direction, a poor man—and the moonshine was bright enough to show his misery and his rags— came up to these bushes, and seemed to pull somewhat from them.

"Without there !" cried King Wenceslaus. "Who is in waiting !" and one of the servants of the palace entered, and answered to the call.

"This way, good Otto," said the King. " You see that poor man on the hill-side. Step down to him and learn who he is, and where he dwells, and what he is doing; and bring me word again."

Otto went forth on his errand, and the King watched him down the hill. Meantime the frost grew more and more intense; the east wind breathed from the bleak mountains of Gallicia; the snow became more crisp, and the air more clear. Ten minutes sufficed to bring back the messenger.

"Well, and who is it?" inquired King Wenceslaus.

"My liege," said Otto, "it is Rudolph the swineherd, he that lives down by the Brunweiss. Fire he has none, nor food neither: and he was gathering a few sticks where he might find them, lest, as he says, all his family perish with cold. It is a most bitter night, Sire."

"This should have been better looked to," said the King; "and a grievous fault is it that it has not been. But it shall be amended now. Go to the ewery, Otto, and fetch some provisions, of the best; and then come forth, and meet me at the wood-stacks by S. Mary's Chapel."

"Is your Majesty going forth?" asked Otto.

"To the Brunweiss," said the King; "and you shall go with me; wherefore be speedy."

"I pray you, Sire, do not go yourself. Let some of the men-at-arms go forth. It is a freezing wind; and a league it is at least to the place."

"Nevertheless," said Wenceslaus, " I go. Go with me, if you will; if not, stay; I can carry the food myself."

" God forbid, Sire, that I should let you go alone. But I pray you to be persuaded."

" Not in this," said Wenceslaus. " Meet me, then, where I said; and not a word to anyone besides."

The noblemen of the court were in the hall, where a mighty fire went roaring up the chimney, and the shadows played and danced on the steep sides of the dark roof. Gaily they laughed, and lightly they talked, and they bade fresh logs be thrown into the chimney-place; and one said to another, that so bitter a winter had never been known in Bohemia.

But in the midst of that freezing night, the King of Bohemia went forth. He had put on nothing to shelter himself from the nipping air; for he desired to feel with the poor, that he might feel for them. On his shoulder he bore a heap of logs for the swineherd's fire; and stepped briskly on, while Otto followed with the provisions. He, too, had imitated his master, and went in his common garments; and over the crisp snow, across fields, by lanes where the hedgetrees were heavy with their white load, past the frozen pool, through the little copse, where the wind made sweet melody in summer with the leaves, and rivers of gold streamed in upon the ground, but now silent and ghastly — over the stile where the rime clustered thick, by the road with its ruts of mire, and so out upon the moor, where the snow lay yet more unbroken, and the wind seemed to nip the very heart.

Still the King went on first: still the servant followed. The Saint thought it but little to go forth into the frost and the darkness, remembering Him Who came into the cold night of this world of ours; he disdained not, a King, to go to the beggar, for the King of Kings had visited slaves; he grudged not to carry the logs on his shoulder, for the LORD of all things had carried the Cross for his sake. But the servant, though he long held out with a good heart, at each step lost courage and zeal. Then very shame came to his aid; he would not do less than his master; he could not return to the court, while the King held on his way alone. But when they came forth on the white, bleak moor, his courage failed.

"My liege," he said, "I cannot go on. The wind freezes my very blood. Pray you, let us return."

"Seems it so much?" asked the King. "Was not His journey from Heaven a wearier and a colder way than this ?"

Otto answered not.

"Follow me on still," said S. Wenceslaus. "Only tread in my footsteps, and you will proceed more easily."

The servant knew that his master spoke not at random. He carefully looked for the footsteps of the King: he set his own feet in the print of his lord's feet.

And so great was the virtue of this Saint of the Most High, such was the fire of love that was kindled in him, that, as he trod in those steps, Otto gained life and heat. He felt not the wind; he heeded not the frost; the footprints glowed as with a holy fire, and zealously he followed the King on his errand of mercy.

Eternal Maxims

Before I moved, a friend lent me a few books. One of them is called Victories of the Martyrs, and it is by my favourite Catholic author, St. Alphonsus de Liguori. It tells the stories of the most celebrated martyrs of the Church. It was published in 1954, and I am not sure if it is still in circulation. One of the little gems this book contains is a collection of hymns that were written by the Holy Doctor. I have never seen these in print before. This one is called Eternal Maxims, a subject on which St Alphonsus wrote much. Here is the hymn:

Why serve the world, the enemy,
And from thy thankless heart dethrone
That God whose love created thee-
To love and serve Himself alone.

Slave of a tyrant thou dost live;
He promises and breaks his word,
And for thy service nought can give
But bitter thorns as thy reward.

Remember death will come one day;
His touch thy fragile life destroys;
Then, then, alas! will fade away
Earth`s cheating hopes and empty joys.

All worldly pleasures then will be
To thee but weariness and woe;
The scene of life must close for thee,
Thy part is played and thou must go.

That body thou hast oft caressed
Such noisome stench shall send around,
That all will fly the loathsome pest,
And hide the carrion in the ground.

Forth flies the spirit from this clay,
Alone before its God to stand;
The soul scarce yet has passed away,
The judge already is at hand.

Sinner! Sinner! What will thou do,
Standing before the awful throne?
In vain for mercy wouldst thou sue-
Stern Justice triumphs there alone.

Ah, miserable, thoughtless one!
Say, what excuse thou darest bring?
Before that gaze of brightest sun,
The face of they offended King.

What horror then the soul shall pierce,
When, spurned away by heavenly ire,
'Tis hurled into the torment fierce
Of never-never ending fire!

The shall be closed upon thy pain
The gates of hope and liberty;
Thou seekest death - in vain, in vain;
It flies and mocks thy misery.

That moment when this life shall fail,
Or heaven or hell thy lot must be;
Eternal joys or endless wail
O moment, O eternity!

Think then, ere yet this life is over,
On that whereon thy all depends;
That evermore or nevermore,
Eternity which never ends!

Praying like the saints

Prayer, according to St. Alphonsus de Liguori, is the means to salvation. Here is what the holy Doctor recommends, from his book Preparation for Death:

It is necessary, after rising in the morning, to make the Christian acts of thanksgiving, love, oblation, and a purpose of avoiding sin, along with a prayer
to Jesus and Mary to preserve you from sin during the day. Afterward make your meditation and hear Mass.

During the day you ought to make a spiritual reading, visit the Blessed Sacrament and an image of the Divine Mother.

In the evening, say your Rosary, and make an examination of conscience. Go to Communion several times in the week, according as your director may advise: you should ordinarily go to confession with the same confessor.

It would also be very profitable to make the spiritual exercises in some religious house. It is likewise necessary to honour the most holy Mary by some special devotion, such as by fasting on Saturdays. She is called the Mother of Perseverance, and she promises to obtain it for all who serve her. Ecclus 24:30 They that work by me shall not sin.

Above all, it is necessary to ask of God holy perseverance, and especially in the time of temptation, invoking then more frequently the names of Jesus and Mary as long as the temptation continues. If you act in this manner, you will certainly be saved; if not you will be certainly be lost.

Food for thought, isn't it?

Dialogue of the Carmelites

A friend just lent me the book, Song at the Scaffold, which tells the story of the sixteen Carmelite nuns from Compiègne, who were martyred for their faith at the guillotine in the French Revolution, July 17, 1794. These humble nuns faced their death bravely, singing hyms of praise to God as they went, one by one, to their eternal glory. Their prioress, Teresa of Augustine, had prepared them well for martyrdom. The novice was the first to be executed, and the prioress, the last. In this You Tube of the finale for Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites, you can hear the blades of the guillotine as each nun, one by one, marches, singing, to her death. They were beatified by St. Pius X on May 13, 1906.

Consider this

Have you ever wondered why God doesn't always answer your prayers? According to St. Augustine, that which God refuses to you in His mercy, he grants to others through wrath. So maybe it is a good thing you didn't win the lottery last night! When we ask God for temporal blessings, we should always add ,"If it be for the greater glory of God and the good of my soul." It is a good practice to ask for temporal blessings on the condition they will profit your soul.
James 4:3 You ask, and receive not; because you ask amiss: that you may consume it on your concupiscences.

Spiritual graces should always be asked for, and asked in confidence of receiving them. Final perseverance, (the preservation of the state of grace till the end of life), is, according to St. Alphonsus Liguori, a grace which is only obtained through continual prayer. On our own, we cannot merit the grace of final perseverance, says St. Augustine, who adds this grace is only obtained through supplication. The Council of Trent confirms this: "The gift of perseverance can come only from Him who has the power to confirm the standing and to raise the fallen".

St Bernard teaches to ask for this grace through Mary, for what Mary asks, she obtains, and her prayers are never fruitless. Make it a daily habit to ask the Blessed Mother to obtain for you the grace of final peseverance; that when you die, God will infuse you with His grace that you may withstand the temptations of the devil, who will surely be trying to snatch your soul.
Luke 21:36 Watch ye, therefore, praying at all times, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that are to come, and to stand before the Son of man.

The Life of St John the Baptist in Art

Thursday, June 24 is the feast of St. John the Baptist. Our Lord tells us that "amongst those that are born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist." (Luke 7:28) God ordained that this great saint be born under extraordinary circumstances, having been cleansed of Original Sin, while still in the womb. For this reason, the Church celebrates not only the day of his birth into eternal life, but the day of his birth into this world as well.


Zachary's wife Elizabeth was beyong childbearing age, and John's birth was foretold by the angel Gabriel to the priest Zachary, John's father, who was temporarily struck dumb for his disbelief, receiving the power of speech again only at John's circumcision.


When Mary visited and greeted Elizabeth, who was in her sixth month, Our Lord, in Mary's womb, implemented Sanctifying grace to John, whose mission in God's plan was to be the forerunner of Christ. And he whose joy it was to prepare the way for the Lamb of God and who rejoiced "because of the Bridegroom's voice" (John 3:29)did recognize the presence of Jesus and Mary before he was even born, and this moved him to leap for joy in his mother's womb.


St John the Baptist lived in the desert for some thirty years before he began his public ministry.


He went into the country around Jordan preaching to "do penance for the kingdom of heaven was at hand," (Matthew 3:2)


His clothes were made of camel's hair, and a leather girdle about his loins, and he came neither eating or drinking. (Matthew 11:18)


John baptized his listeners in the Jordan, challenging their pride by calling them all a "brood of vipers," (Luke 3:7-9) and earning himself his name, "The Baptist."


After some time of John's preaching, Jesus came to be baptized by him, and John gave testimony that Jesus was the Son of God, but at first John refused to baptize Jesus, saying "I ought to be baptized by thee, and comest thou to me?" (Matthew 3:14).


When Herod fell in love with his niece Herodias, the wife of his half-brother Philip, and brought her to Galilee, John publicly rebuked Herod, and at Herodias' bidding, was bound and thrown in prison. "She laid snares for him: and was desirous to put him to death" (Mark 6:19).


John the baptist was the undaunted champion of truth and virtue, and Herodias was furious with him, swaying Herod to put John to death. The daughter of Herodias, named Salome, danced before Herod, and pleased him such that he said he would grant her anything she wished for.


Under the influence of her mother, Salome was swayed. "Who when she had gone out, said to her mother, What shall I ask? But her mother said: The head of John the Baptist. 25 And when she had come in immediately with haste to the king, she asked, saying: I will that forthwith you give me in a dish, the head of John the Baptist. 26 And the king was struck sad. Yet because of his oath, and because of them that were with him at table, he would not displease her: 27 But sending an executioner, he commanded that his head should be brought in a dish." (Mark 6:24-28)


The Church celebrates the feast day of the beheading of John the Baptist on August 29.

Name this Saint

Here's a challenge for you - can you name this saint who was a Bishop? His feast day was historically on Sept 8, but no longer appears on either the new or old calendar. He was a great Apostle of Bavaria, and a native of Chartres in France. He lived alone in a cell close to a chapel for fourteen years. He was sought after for spiritual counsel, with many miracles making his holiness well known.

A tradition relates that on his way to Rome, a bear killed his pack horse, and this saint's servant placed the Bishop's pack on the back of the bear, and the bear proceeded to carry the pack all the way to the Eternal City.

Who is he?

Numbering your sins

Wisdom 11: 21 ...But thou hast ordered all things in measure, and number, and weight.

Tomorrow on my day off, I have to work an eleven hour shift for free. That's right; I have to get up early, drive to work and put in eleven hours for free. Why? It's some kind of a scheduling anomoly where I was assigned ten hour shifts instead of the usual twelve, (through no fault of my own) so now I have to pay back the hours that I "owe" to my employer. Most of my co-workers show up and then book off sick without ever having to turn a wheel when this happens to them. That way, they still get credited for the "owed" hours, (after all they did show up for the shift). Then they go home and enjoy what was supposed to be their day off to begn with.

I think that is stealing as well as lying, and I will not be following their example. As much as I don't want to work for free for an employer that:
1) claws back seventeen cents on every dollar I make
2) makes me work an eighty hour work week but pays me for only seventy hours
3) claws back a good portion of my overtime earnings (ie. I get paid 1.5% for OT but only see 1.2% of it because they keep the rest in a process they call "factoring"

I still, in spite of the above unfair practices, I will not be "sick" tomorrow. Why not? Sure, it would be a sin, but I could just go to confession after, right? Wrong!

According to Scripture and many of the saints, God has fixed for each of us the number of our days, the degrees of health and talent which will be given to us, and so has He determined the number of sins He will pardon; when this number is completed, He will pardon no more. Citing Scripture, Saint Alphonsus Liguori tells us in his book Preparation for Death that God witheld His vengeance against the Amorrhites (Genesis 15:16) "for as yet the iniquities of the Amorrhites are not at the full ." Saint Alphonsus compares the number of our sins to a harvest, that when it is ripe, God will pluck it. Then the holy Doctor goes on to warn us that one more sin may be the one that causes us to reach that pre-determined limit that God has set upon us and cause God to remove His mercy from us:
Ecclesiasticus 5:4 Say not: I have sinned, and what harm hath befallen me? for the most High is a patient rewarder. 5 Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin.

It's tough to be Catholic. We always have to take the high road, but that is the surest way to heaven.

Saint Joachim

August 16 is the traditional feast day of Saint Joachim, father of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Joachim is believed to have been a native of Nazareth, and according to the Protoevangelium of James, Saints Anne and Joachim could not conceive a child, so Joachim went into the desert to fast and pray for forty days. An angel of the Lord then came to him and told him that his wife would conceive a child. There is a tradition that says Our Lady was conceived in a miraculous manner when Saints Anne and Joachim embraced beneath the Golden Gate at the Temple upon his return from the desert. It is believed that Saint Joachim witnessed the Presentation of the Infant Jesus in the Temple and that he died soon afterwards.

Note: the Protoevangelium of James is a very interesting read. The link I used is from New Advent and it is a fascinating one page story.

Name these Saints

Every Saturday, I am going to run a little series called "Name these Saints." I will post one or several pictures of saints, along with a hint or two, and the readers can guess who they are. It's a great way to educate ourselves about the saints, especially if you also give a little information about the saint in the picture when you leave your guess in the combox.



In the above image, Our Lord is bestowing on this saint His own Heart in exchange for hers. She was also a stigmatist who received Communion directly from the hands of Jesus. Who is she?





Before his conversion, this saint fell victim to the Manichæan heresy. He is known as one of the great Doctors of the Church. Who is he?

Guess away!

The Wonder of it all

“When you are before the altar where Christ reposes, you ought no longer to think that you are amongst men; but believe that there are troops of angels and archangels standing by you, and trembling with respect before the sovereign Master of Heaven and earth. Therefore, when you are in church, be there in silence, fear, and veneration.”
- Saint John Chrysostom

Blessed Imelda

The Patroness of First Communicants is Blessed Imelda Lambertini (1322-1333). She literally died of love for God after receiving Holy Communion for the first time at the age of eleven.

Blessed Imelda was born into a wealthy family in Bologna; she was a very pious child who begged her parents to allow her to become a Dominican when she was just nine years old. Her parents, though saddened at having to be separated from their only child, recognized God's will for their daughter, and Imelda joned the nuns at Val di Pietra. Her status among the nuns is unclear, but she received the habit and participated in the life of the nuns to some extent.

At that time, children were not allowed to make their first Holy Communion until they were fourteen years of age, but Imelda prayed continually that she would be able to receive Our Lord without having to wait so long. When she was eleven, after Mass on the Vigil of the Ascension, the Sacred Host was seen suspended amidst a brilliant light above Imelda's head. The chaplain, who was immediately summoned, gave the Host to Imelda. The nuns retreated to allow Imelda to make her thanksgiving. The prioress soon discovered, however, that Imelda, who had been in ecstacy, had died shortly after receiving her First Holy Communion, so much was she in love with Our Lord in the Eucharist.



Blessed Imelda was declared Patroness of First Communicants by Pope St. Pius X. Her historical feast day is May 12.

Catholic Suffering

Luke 9:23 And he said to all: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Have you ever seen a Protestant roll their eyes at the mere mention of offering up one's sufferings for their own sanctification? I have encountered it often; Protestants tend to rationalize that because Jesus died once and for all for our sins, we are covered. After all, they say, how can anything we do possibly atone for our sins? Didn't Jesus take care of that when He died on the Cross? Protestants appear to have an easy passage through life, never having to make any sacrifices to achieve a high degree of sanctification. All that is required of them is love and prayer.

So why is it that Catholics love to suffer? St Alphonsus Liguori explains it well, using the passage from Luke 9:23 quoted above. First, says this great saint and Doctor of the Church, Jesus tells us to come after Him, not to Him. He tells us to walk the road He walked; He goes before us, and we must follow. His path is one of sufferings, and to follow Him on the road to Calvary is to deny ourselves out of love for Him.

St Alphonsus goes on to explain that when Jesus says "Let him take up his cross daily and follow Me," first, He is telling us to "take up" our crosses, that is to willingly bear the sufferings He sends us out of love for Him. When we take up our cross, we are embracing it, and if we bear it patiently, its load will lighten and we will be consoled with the graces that God sends.

Our cross is our daily sufferings, those which He sends, not those that we hope He will send. (O Lord, let me be a martyr for my faith, but let it be a quick and painless death!) Further, He tells us to do this daily, not when we feel like it; we are to accept our crosses willingly as long as He chooses to send them.

St Alphonsus tells us that when God sends us sufferings, it is a sure sign that He wishes to deliver us from eternal chastisement; that God prepares good things for those who suffer on His account. St. Paul says likewise, in this passage from Romans:

Romans 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us.

The Making of a Saint

Who would think that this picture of a saintly old woman, bowed down with age, was once a beautiful young woman who had everything - wealth, family, admirers, and material possessions; she led a sinful life that had no room for God in it. Here, she is bent not only with old age, but also with sorrow in reparation for her past sins. Note the instruments of the Passion she holds - the Cross, the nails, the lance, the reed and sponge; in her left hand she holds a scourging whip, and in her right, a bundle of scourging rods. It is with these instruments we inflict pain on Christ every time we sin. It is as though we were there at His scourging, holding the whip and lashing Him, torturing Him with our sins, for indeed our sins are the instruments of His Passion.

Here she is again, a beautiful young woman at the moment of her conversion.

Meditate on the difference between the two pictures, and the road in between, from the start of her conversion where she realized her sinfullness, to the long hard way of the Cross that led to Blessed Angela's sanctification and redemption. May we all persevere on that road.

Good Saint Anthony

Good Saint Anthony

please look around.

something's lost

and can't be found.

The first time I discovered the power of this great saint in finding lost articles was when I lost a key in the grass. I searched for it for three days, getting down on my hands and knees, spreading my fingers though the grass, combing for the key almost blade by blade to no avail. Then, a friend told me about Saint Anthony. She said their dog had been lost, and her mother had prayed a novena to Saint Anthony for his safe return. Three weeks after his disappearance and a few days after the novena ended he turned up, all skin and bones, barely alive, but still recognizable. He was nursed back to health, another example of this great saint's power to return lost items to their owners.

I prayed to Saint Anthony, not a novena, but some other little prayers, then I went to the area where I had lost my key. The sun caught a glint of silver and reflected it in my direction even before I had time to search the ground. It was my key! And it was in the exact same area I had searched meticulously for three days. There was no other possible explanation than the intercession of Saint Anthony. I was a believer.

That was years ago. I still pray to Saint Anthony when I lose items, and he comes through in the most difficult circumstances. Last night, my work partner left our jump kit behind at a call. (A jump kist is the bag of medical supplies we carry with us whenever we exit the ambulance on a call). Without our jump kit we are out of service, and there is a lot of expensive equipment in it. As soon as my work partner alerted me that we had to head back and look for it, I prayed to Saint Anthony that it would be found. (Usually, we never get them back; they became lost inventory when forgotten on scene). We pulled up to the facility where we had picked up our patient, and it was nowhere in sight. Then a voice came over the intercom, asking us if we were looking for our red bag! We had just to come inside and get it. Someone had seen it on the street and brought it inside. This almost never happens.

I could go on about similiar stories where I have had things returned to me in the most unlikely situations, but I would rather hear your stories. You can leave them in the combox below.

Catholic Culture Quiz

Who knows what event in Catholic history this picture represents, and what significance in the liturgical calendar does that event still hold today for the Catholic Church? Ready, set, go!

Salve Regina - the author of this great hymn

September 25 is the historical feast date of Blessed Herman the Cripple (born Feb 18, 1013) in the old calendar. He was born a cripple, afflicted with both cerebral palsy and spina bifida. Even though Herman struggled to learn to read and write, he was so highly intellectual that at the age of seven, his parents consigned him to the learned Abbot Berno, on the island of Reichenau. Herman became a monk in 1043 and his brilliance enabled him to master the subjects of theology, mathematics, astronomy, music, and the Latin, Greek, and Arabic tongues. He was as virtuous as he was brilliant, attracting students from far and wide. Blessed Herman wrote the history of the important events dating from the life of Christ to his day, a chronicle which still exists today. Widely attributed to Blessed Herman is the authorship of both the Salve Regina and the Alma Redemtoris Mater hymns.

Source: Catholic Encyclpedia

To listen to the Salve Regina, click here. (Thanks Tom, for finding this for me!)

Salve, Regina, mater misericordiae;
vita, dulcedo et spes nostra, salve.
Ad te clamamus, exsules filii Hevae.
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
in hac lacrimarum valle.
Eia ergo, advocata nostra,
illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte.
Et Iesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui,
nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.
O clemens, o pia, o dulcis Virgo Maria.

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy,
hail, our life, our sweetness, and our hope.
To you we cry, the children of Eve;
to you we send up our sighs,
mourning and weeping in this land of exile.
Turn, then, most gracious advocate,
your eyes of mercy toward us;
lead us home at last
and show us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus:
O clement, O loving, O sweet virgin Mary.

The Road to Hell

When someone left a comment on a recent post, I was fascinated by its content. The comment was the story of St John Bosco's vision, The Road to Hell, and though it is too lengthy to reproduce here, I urge you to read it in its entirety.

Here is the beginning - it should be enough to capture your attention that you want to click on the link to read the rest.

I have another dream to tell you, a sort of aftermath of those I told you last Thursday and Friday which totally exhausted me. Call them dreams or whatever you like. Always, as you know, on the night of April 17 a frightful toad seemed bent on devouring me. When it finally vanished, a voice said to me: "Why don't you tell them?" I turned in that direction and saw a distinguished person standing by my bed. Feeling guilty about my silence, I asked: "What should I tell my boys?"

"What you have seen and heard in your last dreams and what you have wanted to know and shall have revealed to you tomorrow night!" He then vanished.

I spent the whole next day worrying about the miserable night in store for me, and when evening came, loath to go to bed, I sat at my desk browsing through books until midnight. The mere thought of having more nightmares thoroughly scare me. However, with great effort, I finally went to bed.

"Get up and follow me!" he said. "For Heaven's sake," I protested, "leave me alone. I am exhausted! I've been tormented by a toothache for several days now and need rest. Besides, nightmares have completely worn me out." I said this because this man's apparition always means trouble, fatigue, and terror for me. "Get up," he repeated. "You have no time to lose." I complied and followed him. "Where are you taking me?" I asked. "Never mind. You'll see." He led me to a vast, boundless plain, veritably a lifeless desert, with not a soul in sight or a tree or brook. Yellowed, dried-up vegetation added to the desolation I had no idea where I was or what was I to do. For a moment I even lost sight of my guide and feared that I was lost, utterly alone. Father Rua, Father Francesia, nowhere to be seen. When I finally saw my friend coming toward me, I sighed in relief.... read the rest here.