Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Elizabeth's Benediction and Mary's Joyful Praise of God in Magnficat

In Novus Ordo, the last day of the month of May is the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, placed between the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord (March 25) and the Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist (June 24). This feast traces its origin to the Franciscans commemorating this significant even of the salvation history back in the time of St. Bonaventure. In 1389, the feast was made universal in the Church by Pope Urban VI in the hope for the unity of the Church against schism.

The feature of Mary’s visitation to her elder cousin, Elizabeth, which is reflected in the Second Joyful Mystery of the Holy Rosary, is Mary’s canticle of praising God with her joyful gratitude, known as Magnificat. And this canticle (Luke 1:46-55) takes up a large portion of the Gospel Reading of this feast (Luke 1:39-56).

The Visitation (Luke 1:39-56) is sequential to the Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38), as Mary traveled in haste to care for Elizabeth, as she learned from Gabriel of her pregnancy, in addition to learning of her virgin pregnancy with the Son of God by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35-40).

The first portion of the Gospel Reading of the feast (Luke 1:39-45) describes how Elizabeth and John the Baptist in her womb responded Mary and her Son, Jesus, in her womb, at her arrival with the Son in her womb.

As soon as Mary with Jesus in her womb arrived at the house of Zachariah and Elizabeth, John the Baptist in Elizabeth’s womb responded with joy to Jesus in Mary’s womb, by leaping for joy (Luke 1:41, 44) .It was how the forerunner of Jesus greeted him at his arrival with his mother, before their encounter on the bank of the Jordan River (Matthew 3:13-15).

Elizabeth blessed Mary as the one chosen by God among women to serve as the Theotokos and for humbly accepting God’s will on her to be the Mother of His Son (Luke 1:42a). Then, she blessed Jesus, recognizing him as the Messiah, who was growing in Mary’s womb (Luke 1:42b). And Elizabeth also expressed her joyful gratitude to have the honor of being visited by the mother of the Messiah (Luke 1:43).

Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:41), thus being in ecstatic joy (i.e. Galatians 5:22) not only for her unexpected pregnancy at her advanced age but also for having the honor to be visited by the mother of her Lord (Luke 1:43). Nobody had to tell Elizabeth about Mary’s virgin pregnancy with Jesus as the Holy Spirit enabled her to figure this out. So, Elizabeth spoke a benediction, “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled”(Luke 1:45). “What was spoken to you” refers to what God had spoken through Gabriel about Elizabeth’s pregnancy with John the Baptist (Luke 1:13-20) and Mary’s pregnancy with Jesus (Luke 1:30-35).

There is nothing to prevent God’s will from being done (Luke 1:37; Matthew 19:26). So, the chosen virgin, Mary, conceived the Son of God incarnated in the human flesh of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:28-35). And Elizabeth, who was past childbearing age and thought to be barren (Luke 1:7), also became pregnant (Luke 1:24). Though Mary is the only virgin to be impregnated by Him through the Holy Spirit, God made other women like Elizabeth pregnant, such as in the cases of Sarah (Genesis 18:9-15; 21:1-4) and Hannah (1 Samuel 1:1-20).

Knowing how marvelous God’s deeds are, making what is impossible for humans possible, Mary praises God in joyful gratitude for what He had done to her and to Israel, in her canticle, known as the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55).

This canticle of Mary has two parts: Praising God for his favor and marvelous deeds on her (vv. 46-49) and God’s gracious and merciful deeds for the salvation of Israel (vv. 50-55).

Mary sang:

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior. For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed. The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name (Luke 1:46-49).

First, Mary’s soul glorifies God as in Psalm 34:2-4, 35:9, as well as, in Isaiah 61:10 (Luke 1:46). And she expresses her joy to have been chose to have God’s special favor, namely, being the Immaculate Conception, being full of grace (Luke 1:47; cf. Luke 1:28, 30). She also foresees that the world regards her as blessed for being God’s favored one (Luke 1:48), as a woman in the crowd told Jesus, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed”(Luke 11:27), referring to his mother, Mary. So, she expressed her gratitude to God for great things done for her (Luke 1:49), including choosing her among the women to serve Him as the Theotokos , as His handmaid (Luke 1:38).

Then in the second part of her canticle, Mary sings of God’s mercy for those who are faithful throughout the history:

His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him (Luke 1:50; cf. Psalm 89:2; 103:13, 17).

After praising God’s mercy, Mary now sings His mighty arm of justice (Isaiah 52:10):

He has shown might with his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart. He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly (Luke 1:51-52).

These words of Mary reflects God’s words against the arrogant and for the humble (Isaiah 2:11). And Jesus also reiterated (Matthew 23:12).

In concluding her canticle, Mary sings God’s mercy reflecting the history of Israel:

The hungry he has filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped Israel his servant, remembering his mercy, according to his promise to our fathers, to Abraham and to his descendants forever (Luke 1:53-55).

In these words, God’s compassionate acts for His anawim are reflected, as in Psalm 107:9, recalling how He helped the Israelite sustain themselves for 40 years in the desert (Exodus 16:1-17:5) (Luke 1:53). Mary also reflects the servant-master relationship between Israel and God (Luke 1:54; cf. Isaiah 41:8-27), in connection to His caring covenants with Abraham (Luke 1:55; cf. Genesis 13:15; 17:7; 18:18; 22:17-18).

By singing this, Mary prophesizes that Jesus, the Son of God, in her womb will, perfect the servant-master relationship between not only Israel but the rest of the world with God, as he is the Father’s humble and faithful servant to let His will be done (i.e. Luke 22:42; John 5:30; 6:38; cf. Isaiah 52:13-53:13).

Therefore, Mary’s canticle in praising God with her joyful gratitude, is profoundly Christological and soteriological, reflecting back God’s eternal covenants with Abraham, focusing on God’s mercy and mighty arm of justice.

For this feast of the Visitation, there are two optional texts for the First Reading. First option (Zephaniah 3:14-18a; cf. Isaiah 66:7-14), which prophesizes joyful restoration of Jerusalem, projecting her eternal perfection as the New Jerusalem at the eschaton (Revelation 21:1-26). And this is reflected in the second part of Mary’s canticle (Luke 1:50-55), because the consummation of Mary’s Son’s mission, as the Messiah, results in the New Jerusalem. The second option for the First Reading (Romans 12:9-16) captures the mutual love and joy shared by Mary and Elizabeth at the Visitation, as well as, Elizabeth’s hospitality.

For Mary, becoming pregnant with the Son of God was not her will but God’s will. She had been chosen, as Pope Pius IX wrote in Ineffabilis Deus, in establish the Mariological doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. Though greatly troubled at first by the thought of being made pregnant without having a physical contact with Joseph (Luke 1:29), Mary not only humbly accept it and professing to serve God as His handmaid (Luke 1:38), she praised this in the first part of her canticle (Luke 1:45-49), followed by her praise of God for His mercy and mighty deeds of justice (Luke 1:50-55).

So, what is the significance of Mary’s visitation to Elizabeth? How does this significant event in our salvation history affect your faith? Do we respond to God’s will with our joyful gratitude, as Mary did in her Magnificat, even though it was not what we wanted at first?

Let us remember, the love and joy shared by these women are due to the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22), because of the presence of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:41).

Buddhism's Teaching of Nekkhamma Echoed in Jesus' Teaching (Monday and Tuesday of Eighth Week in Ordinary Time)

Teaching of Jesus in the Gospel Readings of Monday and Tuesday of Eighth Week in Ordinary Time (Mark 10:17-27, 28-31) seem to echo Buddhist teaching of dana and nekkhama, as well as, metta.

Dana in Sanskrit means giving, and in the context of Buddhism, it means generous charitable giving for charity (metta), echoed by Paul’s words to the Corinthians:

Consider this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each must do as already determined, without sadness or compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.  2 Corinthians 9:6-7

For us to practice what Buddhists call dana and what Paul calls “cheerful giving”, we must first commit ourselves to the Buddhist virtue of nekkhama, which is detachment from carnal and material inclination to ourselves. According to these Gospel Readings of the first two days of Eighth Week in Ordinary Time, Mark 10:17-27, 28-31, the virtue of nekkhama and dana are not exclusive to Buddhism but found in Jesus’ teaching, as well.

In Mark 10:17-27, Jesus responded to a man, who ran up to him and knelt and asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”(Mark 10:17). And Jesus reminded him of the importance of observing the commandments in the Torah (Mark 10:18-19). Then, the man said, “Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth”(Mark 10:20). So Jesus said:

You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me (Mark 10:21).

In response to these words of Jesus, this man, who seemed proud to have been observing all the commandments in the Torah, looked said and went away because he had so many possessions (Mark 10:22).

Then Jesus said to his disciples:

How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!

Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God (Mark 10:24-25).

The disciples seemed to have found this teaching rather difficult. So they said to Jesus, “Then, who can be saved?”(Mark 10:26).

In reply, Jesus said:

For human beings it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God (Mark 10:27).

So, here is a very important lesson from Jesus for our salvation, which is to enter the Kingdom of God through a narrow entry, like the eye of a needle: Detach yourself from your inclination to carnal and material clinging (nekkhama) so that you can give your material possessions for the poor in charity (dana for metta) , and you will be fit to enter the Kingdom through the eye of a needle.

It is impossible for human beings to save themselves. Following our desires to amass material wealth and fulfilling our carnal desires will not save us. Such pursuits only give a false sense of security. It is Christ the Son, who is incarnated in Jesus, set by the Father, filled with the Holy Spirit, who can save – if we believe and follow him practicing dana for metta as a result of nekkhamma.

And Peter began to say, “We have given up everything and followed you” (Mark 10:28). Indeed, he and other disciples practiced nekkhamma when Jesus called them to follow him (Mark 1:16-20).

Jesus replied:

Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come. But many that are first will be last, and the last will be first (Mark 10:29-31).

With the above words, Jesus explained benefits of nekkhamma for those who practice this virtue of renunciation, saying that God will reward manifoldly what we have given up to follow Christ and to benefit the poor. And the virtue of nekkhamma is not just about carnal and material things, which we tend to become attached, but our pride (mana). So, those who are meek (mardava) and humble (vinati) shall have the first place in the Kingdom.

Jesus teaches that superficial observance of the commandments does not suffice to enter the Kingdom with eternal life. A man who ran up to Jesus but left because he could not practice nekkhamma as Jesus commanded (Mark 10:17-22) is a good example for this. Practicing the virtue of nekkhamma means to overcome both tanha (carnal desire for material satisfaction) and mana (pride). Buddha taught that this is how we can be free from endless cycle of suffering (samsara). But Jesus taught that this is to receive eternal life and to enter the Kingdom through the small entry, comparable to the eye of a needle.

 Before our conversions, we may have amassed material wealth, pursuing our tanha and we used to be so proud of what we have amassed. And it is a major obstacle to our salvation – to enter the Kingdom. But, upon conversion, we attain nekkhamma and become able to follow Jesus and prevent material things from accumulating for ourselves by practicing dana for metta, knowing God’s rewards and exaltation are incomparably better.

Beatae Mariae Virginis Ecclesiae Matris – Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of the Church

As instituted by Pope Francis in 2018, we honor Mary as the Mother of the Church, on Monday following the Solemnity of Pentecost, which is the Eighth Sunday of Paschaltide.

The First Reading (Genesis 3:9-15, 20) describes Mary as the New Eve.

Upon Eve’s fall to the temptation by Satan, God prophesized the coming of Christ through the New Eve, Mary, to crush the head of Satan (Genesis 3:15). This signals that Mary was predestined to be the mother of Christ the Son. So, Pope Pius IX wrote in his Apostolic Constitution, Ineffabilis Deus (1854):

From the very beginning, and before time began, the eternal Father chose and prepared for his only-begotten Son a Mother in whom the Son of God would become incarnate and from whom, in the blessed fullness of time, he would be born into this world. Above all creatures did God so love her that truly in her was the Father well pleased with singular delight. Therefore, far above all the angels and all the saints so wondrously did God endow her with the abundance of all heavenly gifts poured from the treasury of his divinity that this mother, ever absolutely free of all stain of sin, all fair and perfect, would possess that fullness of holy innocence and sanctity than which, under God, one cannot even imagine anything greater, and which, outside of God, no mind can succeed in comprehending fully.

This explains that Mary was predestined to be the Immaculate Conception, full of grace, absolutely free from any effect of Original Sin committed by Eve and Adam, in order to be the Mother of the Son of God, Christ. So, Archangel Gabriel announced Mary’s role as the Mother of the Son of God, which she humbly accepted as God’s handmaid (Luke 1:26-38). And as the Mother of the Son of God, Mary gave birth to him, the incarnated Christ (Luke 2:7).

In the Gospel Reading (John 19:25-34), we hear Christ dedicating his mother, Mary, also as the mother of the disciples, from the Cross, through these words:

Behold, your mother (John 19:27).

Jesus said this directly to John, who was standing at the foot of the Cross with Mary, upon telling her to behold her son (John 19:26).

The Gospel Reading capture a pivotal moment of Mary becoming the Mother of the all disciples, represented by John, faithful enough to follow Christ to his Cross, in addition to being the Mother of the Son of God.

Why did the incarnated Christ, the Son of Mary, made his Mother also the Mother of ours?

It is obvious that he wants to draw us closer to him (John 12:32) and to the Father through him (John 14:6), as his brothers and sisters (i.e. Hebrews 2:11), to be in him and he in us, as he is in the Father and He in him (John 14:20; 17:21). And he entrusts his Mother to direct our attention to him, as she did at Cana (John 2:1-11) so that we are attached to him securely as the fruitful branches are so to the vine (John 15:1-17).

The optional First Reading (Acts 1:12-14) and the First Reading of the Solemnity of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-11) remind us that the Church was born out of the assembly of the disciples with Mary as the Holy Spirit descended and filled them. Therefore, Mary became the Mother of the Church, which has been growing out of the assembly of the disciples on Pentecost.

On November 21, 1964, at a Vatican II Council session, Pope St. Paul VI invoked and honored Mary as the Mother of the Church for being the Mother of all faithful and their pastors.  As to reflect this, the Vatican II Council dogmatic constitution, Lumen Gentium, which was promulgated on that day, by Paul VI, states:

Redeemed by reason of the merits of her Son and united to Him by a close and indissoluble tie, she is endowed with the high office and dignity of being the Mother of the Son of God, by which account she is also the beloved daughter of the Father and the temple of the Holy Spirit. Because of this gift of sublime grace she far surpasses all creatures, both in heaven and on earth. At the same time, however, because she belongs to the offspring of Adam she is one with all those who are to be saved. She is "the mother of the members of Christ . . . having cooperated by charity that faithful might be born in the Church, who are members of that Head." Wherefore she is hailed as a pre-eminent and singular member of the Church, and as its type and excellent exemplar in faith and charity. The Catholic Church, taught by the Holy Spirit, honors her with filial affection and piety as a most beloved mother.  Paragraph 53

The maternal duty of Mary toward men in no wise obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows His power. For all the salvific influence of the Blessed Virgin on men originates, not from some inner necessity, but from the divine pleasure. It flows forth from the superabundance of the merits of Christ, rests on His mediation, depends entirely on it and draws all its power from it. In no way does it impede, but rather does it foster the immediate union of the faithful with Christ.   Paragraph 60

For Mary, who since her entry into salvation history unites in herself and re-echoes the greatest teachings of the faith as she is proclaimed and venerated, calls the faithful to her Son and His sacrifice and to the love of the Father. Seeking after the glory of Christ, the Church becomes more like her exalted Type, and continually progresses in faith, hope and charity, seeking and doing the will of God in all things. Hence the Church, in her apostolic work also, justly looks to her, who, conceived of the Holy Spirit, brought forth Christ, who was born of the Virgin that through the Church He may be born and may increase in the hearts of the faithful also. The Virgin in her own life lived an example of that maternal love, by which it behooves that all should be animated who cooperate in the apostolic mission of the Church for the regeneration of men.  Paragraph 65

Therefore, Mary, indeed, is the Mother of both the Redeemer and the Church to be redeemed. In order to ensure the redemption of Christ’s Church, us being born from above (John 3:3) by being baptized with the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:11), into the Church (Acts 2:2-4), the Mother always keeps us the Church to her Son and keep on the right path to the Father.

 Ave Maria Beata Mater nostra, Mater Ecclesiae! Serva nos tuo Filio, Redemptore nostro!

Pentecost: The Holy Spirit Descending Like Ruah (רוּחַ), Filling Us as Nishmat (נִשְׁמַ֣ת), Forming Us as One Body of Christ, inscribing the New Law in Our Hearts

Upon spending 40 days from the day of his resurrection, appearing to the disciples numerous times (Acts 1:3), preparing them for their apostolic mission to do his works on a greater scale (John 14:12; 20:22-23), by instructing through the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:2), risen Jesus ascended to the Father, who had sent him to the world. Then, on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1), which was the fiftieth day after the Sabbath of Passover week (Leviticus 23:15-16), the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples, like violent winds and filled them to empower and enable (Acts 2: 4) to make disciples in all nations (Matthew 28:19), preaching Christ’s Gospel (Mark 16:15). The powerful descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost recalls the descent of God the Father on Mount Sinai in fire to give the Israelites the Law through Moses on the third day of the third month, through thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud and a very loud trumpet blast (Exodus 19:1-22).

Though coming down like רוּחַ/ruah (Genesis 1:2; 8:1)(Acts 2:2), the Holy Spirit filled the disciples (Acts 2:4) like נִשְׁמַ֣ת /nishamat, the life-giving breath, which God breathed into עָפָר֙ מִן־ הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה /apah min hadamah (dust of the ground) to create אָדָם /adam (a person), as a לְנֶ֥פֶשׁ חַיָּֽה׃/ nephesh chayyah (living being)(Genesis 2:7)(Acts 2:4), reflecting the gentle breath that risen Jesus breathed on the disciples in the evening of the resurrection day, commanding them to forgive (John 20:22-23). And Jesus has personified the Holy Spirit as ἄλλον Παράκλητον/allon Parakleton (another Advocate) (John 14:16), suggesting that he is another form of himself, as he himself is the Παράκλητος/Parakletos (Advocate)(1 John 2:1). This way, Jesus, the incarnated Christ, can come to the disciples, not leaving them orphans upon his return to the Father (John 14:18), as he is with them through his οὐσία/ousia (substance) always until his return at the end of time (Matthew 28:20; cf. Revelation 19:11-16).

As we are filled with the Holy Spirit upon receiving on Pentecost, we are endowed with many gifts of the Holy Spirit and form the Εκκλησιά/Ekklesia (Church) as one body of Christ with many functioning parts (1 Corinthians 12:4-27). This is why Pentecost is the birthday of the Church. Also, being filled with the Holy Spirit enables us to speak the Word of God boldly (Acts 4:31; cf. Mark 16:15).

Ever since the beginning of human creation, we have been kept alive through the Holy Spirit as the Father’s breath of life ( נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים/nisAchmat chayyim)(Genesis 2:7). And the Father descended from heaven to give His Law through Moses on Mount Sinai during Exodus (Exodus 19:16-22). The Son, who was with the Father (John 1:1), descended on earth, as He sent out of His love (John 3:16), incarnated to dwell among us (John 1:14), in the human flesh of Jesus, in Mary’s womb, by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:30-35), given human birth by Mary (Luke 2:7). The incarnated Son was baptized by John the Baptist, anointed by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:13-17), embarked on his public ministry, preaching the Kingdom of God (Luke 4:43; 9:2). He suffered, died on the Cross, and was raised (Acts 2:23-24) by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:11), fulfilling the prophesy (Isaiah 52:13-53:12). Having spent 40 days on earth to prepare his disciples to receive the Holy Spirit, upon his resurrection, the risen incarnated Son returned to the Father, ascending to heaven (Luke 24:50-53; Acts 1:2-3; 6-9), to sit at the right hand of the Father to oversee us (Mark 16:19) and to prepare a place for us in the Father’s house in heaven (John 14:2-3) and to be with us more intimately through the Holy Spirit (John 14:16, 18, 20; 16:7; 17:21; Matthew 28:20). Then, on Pentecost, the Holy Spirit the power (Acts 1:8) descended on and filled the disciples, appearing like tongues of fire (Acts 2:1-4), fulfilling the prophesy of baptism with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5; Matthew 3:11). And through the Holy Spirit, the New Law of Christ is inscribed in our hearts (2 Corinthians 3:3).

Memorial of Our Lady of Fatima and Mother’s Day: Honoring the Mother, Honoring Her Son

The second Sunday of May is Mother’s Day in the United States (and some other countries). We honor our mothers, grandmothers, and great grandmothers. We also send well wishes to expectant mothers and women who desire to be mothers one day. For Catholics, in addition to honoring our earthly mothers, grandmothers, and great grandmothers, we honor our Mother, Mary the Blessed Virgin.

Yes, Mary is the mother of Jesus, as it is she, in whom he was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:30-35), and who gave birth to him (Luke 2:7). And he commissioned her to be our mother before his expiration on the Cross (John 19:27).

Why did Jesus do this to his mother, making her also our mother?

This way, we are assured to be guided on the right path.

Yes, Jesus the Parakletos (1 John 2:1) asked the Father to send the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, as another Parakletos (John 14:16) so that we will not get lost after his ascension back to the Father (i.e. John 14:26; cf. Luke 12:12). This way, as he promised, we will not be left in the world as orphans (John 14:18; cf. 14:28).

And we do have the mother, who comes down from heaven to guide us to make sure that we stay with her Son, Jesus to save us from troubles, as she directed servers during wedding reception at Cana to him (John 2:5), even if we do not listen to another Parakletos.

So, we cannot forget to honor Mary, our Mother, on Mother’s Day. And we thank her for her motherly care, keeping us from troubles – keeping us to her Son, the Parakletos, and to listen to another Parakletos, the Holy Spirit.

It is no coincidence that the memorial of Our Lady of Fatima (May 13) comes around Mother’s Day. On this memorial, we honor Mary, our Mother, as Our Lady of Fatima, commemorating her first apparition to three peasant children, Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco, in Fatima, Portugal, on May 13, 1917. Henceforth, she appeared on June 13, July 13, August 13, September 13, and October 13, as a messenger from heaven.

Through these apparitions, our Mother gave us solemn warnings against going away from God, negligence in observing her Son’s teaching and commandments, via these children. Her messages are rather prophetic – showing grave consequences of our unrepentance. She even showed a glimpse of purgatory and hell.

These apparitions of our Mother in 1917 were series of wake-up calls for us. We had been slumbered by rising erroneous modernism.

Though since Pope Gregory XVI’s Mirari Vos in 1832, the Church had been pointing against errors in modernism, the Catholics did not heed Papal warnings. In 1864, People Pius IX issued Quanta Cura with the syllabus of errors. Then, from 1878 until 1903, Pope Leo XIII vigorously issued more warnings against spiritual venoms of modernism’s errors. Yet, many Catholics continued to played with devils of modernism. As a result, the world was full of conflicts. And World War I broke out in 1914. It was during this great war, our Mother made these apparitions to warn us on the Father’s wrath.

As many did not listen to Jesus, did not believe in him, during his public ministry, as the Israelites did not listen to judges and prophets, as reminded in the Old Testament, the world did not listen to the papal warnings against errors in modernism. World War I, in a way, was a grave consequence of this.

The hell on earth was unfolding as World War I continued on, while “lost sheep” kept killing one another, in their own pursuit of what modernism teaches. And this would bring even greater man-made hells (and so the Bolshevik Revolution happened and World War II broke out, bringing the Cold War, and escalating nuclear arms race, to further bring the creation on the blink of extinction).

It was the historical context where our Mother made series of apparition as Our Lady of Fatima to call for our conversion from destructive modernism to the truth in her Son’s teaching and commandments, pressing us to pray the Holy Rosary with contrite heart.

In the Gospel Reading of her memorial (Luke 11:27-28), we hear an unnamed woman among the crowd, saying to Jesus, "Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed." And to this, Jesus replied:

Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.

Our most blessed mother, Mary, appeared in Fatima, to directs our hearts to her Son, to listen to the word of God in his teaching and commandments, so that we can be spared from the Father’s wrath, as we come to realize how devilishly erroneous the modernism is. She reminds us that we cannot attain salvation in modernism, which is relativistic.

It has been more than 100 years since the first apparition of Our Lady of Fatima to issue series of solemn warning against errors of modernism and their grave consequences in a prophetic way. Yet, the world continues to head to the extinction, while many have lost faith in God, rather drifting to relativism, which has brought by modernism. This also has brought numbers of false teachers within the Church, only to sow seeds of more divisions.

Do we listen to our Mother this time? 

We had not listened to her well. So, she made another series of apparitions from 1973 to 1979 in Akita, Japan, reiterating her messages in Fatima with a more pressing tone. 

If we do not,  this Mother’s Day would be meaningless.

Remember, Our Mother is also the heavenly Gebirah (Queen Mother) to her Son, who is the King of the Universe. And she is God’s most favored one, the Immaculate Conception, being full of grace (Luke 1:28).  So Elizabeth greeted Mary with these words upon the visitation, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”(Luke 1:42-43). In response, Mary sung the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55). And this joyful canticle of Mary to God is a reflection of the First Reading (Isaiah 61: 9-11).

With the Father, and her Son, and the Holy Spirit, and us, our Mother’s joy is in full. She wants what her Son wants, and it is that we are in him, he in us, as he is in the Father, He in him (John 17:21; cf. 14:20). This is how God’s blessed family should be (i.e. Galatians 4:1-7).

So let us honor our most blessed Mother by listening to her message in Fatima, turning away from erroneous modernism and to her Son – to be in him and to let him in us, as he is in the Father and He in him.

For Our Spiritual Object Permanence and Secure Attachment: Risen Christ Starts Prepping Us for Our Apostolic Mission - 4th week (week of Good Shepherd Sunday) of Paschaltide On

For the first three weeks of Paschaltide, the Gospel Readings admonishingly remind us of our blindness and how our blindness can make us be like lost sheep. Throughout Paschal Octave, we read excerpts from the resurrection narratives of all four canonical Gospels. These remind that the disciples were like “lost sheep” in their responses to the fact that Jesus was risen. They were “lost” because they did not really believe that Jesus would resurrect on the third day from his death – though Jesus had foretold this multiple times (Matthew 16:21; 17:22-23; 20:18-19).

During the Second Week of Paschaltide, the Gospel Readings reflect how Nicodemus was lost to the soteriological truth that Jesus was teaching him (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: John 3:1-8; 7b-15; 16-21). On Thursday of the Second Week, we read a Christological testimony on Jesus, presumably made by John the Baptist (John 3:31-36), to make sure we understand who the resurrected Christ is. Through these readings from John 3 from Monday through Thursday of the Second Week of Paschaltide, we see both Jesus and the Holy Spirit in their relation to the Father. Namely, we begin to understand who Jesus, the Son, is in the context of Trinity. Then, from Friday of the Second Week of Paschaltide to Saturday of the Third Week of Paschaltide, we read from John 6 for weekday Masses.

Why do we read John 6 during Paschaltide?

John 6 is about Jesus miraculously feeding the hungry crowd out of mere five loaves of bread and two fish (vv.1-15), the crowd chasing Jesus, hoping to be fed by him again (vv.16-25), and Jesus’ Living Bread of Life Discourse in response to the crowd’s continuous pursuit of him (vv. 26-71). Throughout the narratives of John 6, we see the crowd’s blindness to the Christological truth in Jesus. And this resulted in their inability to understand the soteriological truth in him as the living flesh (sarx) as the living bread of life for eternal life. Because of this, they gave up on their chance of salvation. And we reflect on ourselves what can be our blindness to the truth in Jesus the Christ and Corporis et Sanguinis Christi. The fact that nearly 70% of Catholics truly believes that the Sacrament of the Eucharist is truly the body and blood of Christ reminds that such a vast portion of us are blind to the Eucharistic truth.

So through the blindness of the disciples to the truth of the resurrection, the blindness of Nicodemus to the soteriological truth in the baptism with the Holy Spirit (being born from the above), and the blindness of the crowd not understanding the Eucharistic truth, we come to the Fourth Sunday of Paschaltide as the Good Shepherd Sunday. The Gospel Reading of the two preceding Sundays: John 20:19-31 (Second Sunday) and Luke 24:13-35 (Third Sunday) portray risen Jesus as the Good Shepherd, who reaches out to his lost sheep, who are his disciples lost in fear, confusion, and grief, because of their blindness to the resurrection (John 10:16; i.e. Matthew 18:10-14; cf. Colossians 1:13-14; cf. 1 Peter 2:25). Risen Jesus found and redeemed his disciples lost in fear, confusion and grief due to their ignorance, in the locked upper room and on the way to Emmaus.

Then, on Fourth Sunday of Paschaltide we are reminded of our need to have the Good Shepherd, because we would be lost without him.

The Gospel Readings of Fourth Sunday of Paschaltide (John 10:1-10 (A); 11-18 (B); 27-30 (C) reflect that Jesus is our Good Shepherd. And the Gospel Readings of Monday and Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Paschaltide (John 10:1-10 or 11-18; 22-30) further reflect what it means to have the Good Shepherd. Then, from Wednesday of Fourth Week of Paschaltide on, the Gospel Readings are drawn from Jesus’ Last Supper Farewell Discourse and Prayer (John 13:31-17:26), to prepare us to be able to function without getting lost upon his departure (ascension) so that we can receive the Holy Spirit , the power (Acts 1:8), another Parakletos (John 14:16) and the Spirit of truth (John 14:17) to be sent out on our apostolic missions on Pentecost. This means cultivating spiritual maturity, comparable to what Jean Piaget describes as “object permanence”,  a baby no longer feeling anxious even his or her mother is not in sight, understanding she is still present. And this is due to what John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth describe as “secure attachment”.

Namely, what we need to achieve during these 50 days of Paschaltide is forming secure attachment to Christ, as the branches are so to the vine (John 15:1-17). In fact, through Jesus’ Last Supper Farewell Discourse and Prayer (John 13:31-17:26), Jesus calls us to be one with him as he is one with the Father (John 14:0; 17:21; cf. John 10:30, 38). And this is achieved as we die to sin and rise with and in Christ (i.e. Romans 6:10-12; Galatians 2:20; cf. 2 Corinthians 4:10-11) during Paschal Triduum.

In concluding Paschaltide, on Pentecost, we will be sent out to the hostile world – like sheep around wolves (i.e. Matthew 10:16) upon receiving the Holy Spirit.

But would we be really sheep without the Good Shepherd (cf. 1 Kings 22:17; Ezekiel 34:5; Zechariah 10:2; Matthew 9:36; Mark 6:34)?

Upon his Ascension, Christ the Good Shepherd will be in us and us in him, as he in the Father and He in him, through the Holy Spirit (i.e. John 14:18, 28). Remember, Christ is our Parakletos (1 John 2:1) and the Holy Spirit is another Parakletos (John 14:16). And his departure to the Father in heaven through the ascension does not mean his departure from us. In fact, he has promised to be with us until his return at the eschaton (Matthew 28:20), as Immanuel (Emmanuel)(Matthew 1:23; Isaiah 7:14).

We are now going through the final phase of our apostolic preparation. And Jesus says:

Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me (John 13:20).

It is because we are in Christ and he in us, as he is in the Father and He in him. And this is what we need to achieve through the 50 days of Paschaltide, as it is the essence of our spiritual secure attachment with Christ in the Trinitarian context for our spiritual object permanence.

St. James the Just, Later Comer but Great Leader, and St. Philip, Earlier Disciple and Passionate Evangelizer

On May 3, the Roman Catholic Church honors the lives of St. James the Just and St. Philip. These Saints share the same feast day because Pope Pelagius I brought the relics of these Saints from Constantinople and place them at the same time in the Church of the Holy Apostles in Rome.

James the Just is also known as James the Less to distinguish him from James the Great, the elder brother of John, a son of Zebedee. James the Just is described as “brother of Jesus”, but he is actually Jesus’ cousin. His mother is Mary of Clopas (Matthew 27:56; Mark 15:40; 16:1; Luke 24:10), whose sister if Mary, the mother  of Jesus (John 19:25). Second Century Christian writers, Papias and Hegesippus, identified Clopas as a brother of Joseph, the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus.

It seemed that James the Just was not a believer during Jesus’ early public ministry (Mark 3:31–35//Matthew 12:46–50//Luke 8:19–21). However, after Jesus’ resurrection, James the Just was a believer and one of his disciples, as risen Jesus made a personal appearance to him (1 Corinthians 15:7). He (described as a son of Alphaeus) was together with Philip and the rest of the disciples in the Upper Room, praying and preparing to receive the Holy Spirit on Pentecost (Acts 1:13).

Upon Pentecost, as the Apostolic Age began, James the Just exhibited his leadership skills at the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:1-31), settling the matter of whether to impose the Mosaic Law on Gentile Christians, as some Pharisaic Christians demanded (Acts 15:13-21). In fact, it was Peter, who entrusted James’ leadership to the church of Jerusalem (i.e. Acts 12:17). He did not go various places, like the other Apostles, but remained in Jerusalem as the first bishop of Jerusalem (i.e. Acts 21:15-26) until his martyrdom there. He also wrote his epistle (the Letter of James), sharing his pastoral wisdom as the first bishop of the church of Jerusalem.

St. Philip, on the other hand, unlike St. James the Just, who became a disciple much later, was one of the earliest batch of disciples, along with Andrew, Peter, James the Great, and John (John 1:35-44). And he was the one who brought his friend, Nathaniel, to Jesus (John 1:45-51). This fact certainly counts Philip as one of the 12 disciples (Matthew 10:2-4//Mark 3:14-19//Luke 6:13-16). This means that Philip had a privilege to be with Jesus nearly the his entire public ministry. It means that he has been with Jesus at least since his first miraculous signs during the wedding at Cana (John 2:2) and all the way to Jerusalem (John 12:21-22). However, he did not fully understand who Jesus really is in his relation to the Father (John 14:8-14).

Thanks to Jesus’ explanation and assurance (John 14:9-14) and another Parakletos, the Holy Spirit, as the Spirit of truth (John 14:16-31; 15:26-16:33), Philip became ready to receive the Holy Spirit on Pentecost by the time of Jesus’ ascension (Acts 1:13). Therefore, he became a great apostolic evangelizer, combining his original interpersonal communication skills to bring people to Christ and his insight on Christ and the Scriptures, successfully converting Samaria to Christ (Acts 8:4-16), and evangelizing the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26-39). So, he kept preaching actively from place to place (Acts 8:40).

Though he was originally not into Jesus’ teaching, St. James the Just, became a great leader of the nascent Church. Entrusted by Peter, he served as the first bishop of the church of Jerusalem, which is the very first church, from which the Church has been growing. One highlight of James’ leadership skills is mediation to resolve a conflict.

St. Philip, in contrast, has been a disciples of Jesus from the beginning of his public ministry. He had exhibited his passion in bringing people to Christ and skillful evangelization. And we owe him – his inquisitiveness on Jesus – for soliciting Jesus to reveal more about his Christological identity in his relation to the Father, in the Trinitarian context.

So, as a Christian, which means a disciple of Christ, today, are you more like St. James the Just or St. Philip? See what gifts that God has bestowed on you so that you will know how you can serve the Lord on your apostolic call.

Whether your gifts are more like the ones of St. James the Just or the ones of St. Philip, we are in One Body, One Church, and with One Lord and One Spirit.

St. Athanasius’s Courage to Stand against Popular Heresy of Arius

We cite the Nicene Creed every time we attend Mass. But many Catholics do not seem to know much about how this important Creed came about from the Nicene Council, 325 AD. And it seems that only a small number of Catholics know that the Nicene Council was convened by Emperor Constantine to resolve the Arian controversy to preserve the ecumenical unity of the Church and the Christendom.

At the Nicene Council, though it learned toward the Arius’ heretical Christology, in which the divinity of Christ the Son was denied, because the Son is “different” from the Father and the Holy Spirit, as well. This view of Arius seemed to be an extreme counter-reaction to the heresy of the Sabellianism (modalism), which denies the distinctness of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. However, thanks to the efforts of Alexander, the predecessor of Athanasius, at the council, the Arianism was found to be another heresy, and Arius was excommunicated. Nevertheless, the Arian heresy remained strong and continued to threat the orthodoxy of the Nicene Creed and the Church.

Having succeeding a great apologist of the authentic Christology, Alexander, Athanasius became Bishop of Alexandria in 328. And he continued to fight against the growing popularity of the Arian heresy. But this resulted in persecution against himself. For his defense of the authentic Christology and the legitimacy of the Nicene Creed, especially on the consubstantiality of the Father and the Son, which Arius denied, Athanasius was falsely accused by powerful and influential supporters of the Arian heretic doctrine. Because of this, Athanasius had to leave  Alexandria, moving from place to place, until it became safe enough to return.

St. Athanasius reminds us that not only following Christ but defending the authenticity of his teaching may result in persecution not only by the secular worldly power but also by even by fellow Christians – heretic Christians and those who uphold a popular heresy in the Church.

If you raise a doctrinal or theological question on what has been popular in the Church, you may be treated as Athanasius was treated by fellow Christians – even by some priests and bishops.

Today’s Church is divided  by various ideologies. But these are not just ideologies. Many of these controversial ideologies touch on our Scriptures and the doctrine. Some bishops, priests, and theologians espouse heretical ideologies, with their authorities.

In response, many seem not to raise issues for the sake of “tolerance” and “unity”. But, some, though small in the number, stand up to uphold “ad fontes” of the Vatican II Council principle, to fight against heretical or misleading teaching on the other Vatican II principle, “aggiornamento” .

Where do you stand on this reality of today’s Church? How do you place St. Athanasius in this reality of the Church today?

Remember, St. Athanasius of Alexandria:

In the midst of the Church he opened his mouth,
and the Lord filled him with the spirit of wisdom and understanding
and clothed him in a robe of glory, alleluia.   Entrance Antiphon (cf. Ben Sirach 15:5)

Not May Day But the Feast Day of St. Joseph the Worker - Ite ad Ioseph!

In the secular world, May 1 is known as “May Day”, the international worker’s day. It is a consequential phenomenon of the Haymarket Riot Massacre on May 4, 1886, in Chicago, escalating crash between the communist labor movement demonstrators, demanding for the8-hour-a-day work condition, and the Chicago Police. Like many other communist and atheist movements, “May Day” has its own bloody background.

For the Catholics, on the other hand, May 1 is not the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, honoring St. Joseph, who is the beloved stepfather of Jesus, and the husband of Mary the Blessed Virgin, the Theotokos. This feast was officially implemented in 1955 by Pope Pius XII, to counter the widespread threat of atheism-communist to the Church, with the motto: “Ite ad Ioseph!”(God to Joseph!). It is because the Church sees St. Joseph as a model for workers in the context of her teaching on meaning of Christian workers in relation to God’s mandate on us to serve as the stewards of His Creation works, with the dignity of labor, which is addressed extensively by St. John Paul II in Laborem Exercens.

The feast of St. Joseph the Worker calls us we are not only created in the image of God but in the image of God as the Worker.

As the First Reading (Genesis 1:26b-2:3) recalls, it was God, who worked first, to create everything. We exist because God created us in His own image in the Trinitarian context (Genesis 1:26-27). And He calls us to make sure the orderliness of His Creation works is maintained, giving us everything we need for this work (Genesis 1:28-30).

God’s work did not end with the creation of the humans in His image (Genesis 1:27) on the sixth day of the Creation. Though God rested on the seventh day, known as holy day of sabbath, His work continues on. For this, not only He created us in His image to work on His works of the Creation but also He sent His only begotten Son (John 3:16) to carry out on with His works (John 5:17; cf. 10:25), being among us (John 1:14), as we do the work of the stewardship (Genesis 1:28-30).  And the Son has done the Father’s “pastoral carpentry work” to have laid the foundation for the Church, upon which we work to further build the Church (1 Corinthians 3:10-11), finding St. Joseph the carpenter, as our model. So, “Ite ad Santo Ioseph!”(Go to St. Joseph!) to learn from, because he showed young Jesus how to do the work on earth, reflecting how the Father showed him in heaven, before being sent (John 5:19; 6:38; 8:28; 10:32;12:50; 14:10).

The carpentry works of Joseph supported the Holy Family, in which Jesus grew up in wisdom and strengths. His work was his way of stewardship, as the guardian of the Holy Family. And he is our model in our stewardship works for God’s Creation (Genesis 1:28-30) and our apostolic works (John 14:12; Matthew 28:19), as well.

In his Laborem Exercens, St. John Paul II connects our works, in response to Jesus’ command to carry our crosses (e.g. Matthew 16:24), unites us with Christ, who was crucified to death and raised from the dead (V-27). As St. Joseph had to let go off all his “own” will in order to let God’s will on him be manifested in all his works, we need to let Christ’s will on us to carry our crosses in our stewardship works and apostolic works to carry out the works of Christ in building the Church.

As the Gospel Reading (Matthew 13:54-58) admonishingly reminds us, we must have steadfast faith in God, who has commanded to do the stewardship works and in Christ the Son, who has commanded to carry out his “pastoral carpenter work” to further build the Church through our apostolic commitment.

Yes, St. Joseph was faithful to God, as Abraham was. So, all his works were done according to God’s will.

For our works, no need for Karl Marx. We have St. Joseph the Worker, who fostered Jesus the Worker of God.

“Ite ad Santo Ioseph!”