The Liturgical Year - Paschal Time Vol. III
By: Dom Gueranger Imprimatur 1927
To-day, again, the great Litany, the supplication, procession re-appears in the streets of the city, and in the quiet lanes of the country. Let us take our share in this sacred rite; let us blend our voice with that of our mother, and join the cry that pierces the clouds: Kyrie elesion! Lord have mercy on us! Let us think, for a moment, of the countless sins that are being committed, day and night; and let us sue for mercy. In the days of Noe, all flesh had corrupted its way; (Gen. vi. 12) but men thought not of asking for mercy. The flood came, and destroyed them all (St. Luke, xvii. 27.), says our Saviour. Had they prayed, had they begged God's pardon, the hand of His justice would have been stayed, and the flood-gates of heaven would not have been opened (Gen. vii. 11.). The day is come, when not water as heretofore, but fire, is suddenly to be enkindled by the divine wrath, and is to burn the whole earth. It shall burn even the foundations of the mountians (Deut. xxx. 22); it shall devour sinners, who will be resting then, as they were in the days of Noe, in a false security.
Persecuted by her enemies, decimated by the martyrdom of her children, afflicted by numerous apostasies from the faith, and deprived of every human aid, the Church will know that the terrible chastisement is at hand, for prayer will then be as rare as faith. Let us, therefore, pray; that thus the day of wrath may be put off, the Christian life regain something of its ancient vigour, and the end of the world not be in our times. There are even yet Catholics in every part of the world; but their number has visibly decreased. Heresy is now in possession of whole countries, that were once faithful to the Church. In others, where heresy has not triumphed, religious indifference has left the majority of men with nothing of Catholicity but the name, seeing that they neglect even their most essential obligations without remorse. Among many of those who fulfill the precepts of the Church, truths are diminished (Ps. xi. 2). The old honesty of faith has been superseded by loose ideas and half-formed convictions. A man is popular in proportion to the concession he makes in favour of principles condemned by the Church. The sentiments and actions of saints, the conduct and teaching of the Church, are taxed with exaggeration, and decried as being unsuited to the period. The search after comforts has become a serious study; the thirst for earthly goods is a noble passion; independence is an idol to which everything must be sacrificed; submission is a humiliation which must be got rid of, or, where that cannot be, it must not be publicly acknowledged. Finally, there is sensualism, which, like an impure atmosphere, so impregnates every class of society, that one would suppose there was a league formed to abolish the cross of Christ from the minds of men.
What miseries must not follow from this systematic setting aside of the conditions imposed by God upon His creatures? If the Gospel be the word of infinite Truth, how can men oppose it without drawing down upon themselves the severest chastisements? Would that these chastisements might work the salvation of them that have provoked them! Let us humble ourselves before the sovereign holiness of our God, and confess our guilt. The sins of men are increasing both in number and in enormity. The picture we have just drawn is sad enough; what would it have been, had we added such abominations as these, which we purposely excluded: downright impiety; corrupt doctrines, which are being actively propagated throughout the world; dealings with satan, which threaten to degrade our age to the level of pagan times; the conspiracy organized against order, justice, and religion, by secret societies? Oh! let us unite our prayer with that of holy Church, and say to our God: From Thy wrath, deliver us, O Lord!
The Rogation days were instituted for another end besides this of averting the divine anger. We must beg our heavenly Father to bless the fruits of the earth; we must beseech Him, with all the earnestness of public prayer, to give us our daily bread. 'The eyes of all,' says the psalmist, 'hope in Thee, O Lord! and Thou givest them food in due season. Thou openest Thy hand, and fillest with blessing every living creature.' (PS. cxliv. 15,16)) In accordance with the consoling doctrine conveyed by these words, the Church prays to God, that He would, this year, give to all living creatures on earth the food they stand in need of. She acknowledges that we are not worth of the favour, for we are sinners. Let us unite with her in this humble confession; but, at the same time, let us join her in beseeching our Lord to make mercy triumph over justice. How easily could He frustrate the self-conceited hopes, and the clever systems of men! They own that all depends on the weather; and on whom does that depend? They cannot do without God. True, they seldom speak of Him, and He permits Himself to be forgotten by them; but "He neither sleepeth nor slumbereth, that keepeth Israel." (Ps. cxx.4.) He has but to withhold His blessing, and all their progress in agricultural science, whereby they boast to have made famine an impossibility, is of no effect. Some unknown disease comes upon a vegetable; it causes distress among the people, and endangers te social order of a world that has secularized itself from the Christian law, and would at once perish, but for the mercy of the God it affects to ignore.
If, then, our heavenly Father deign, this year to bless the fruits of the earth, we may say, in all truth, that He gives food to them that forget and blaspheme Him, as well as to them that make Him the great object of their thoughts and of their service. Men of no religion will profit by the blessing, but they will not acknowledge it to be His; they will proclaim more loudly than ever, that nature's laws are now so well regulated by modern science, that she cannot help going on well! God will be silent, and will feed the men who thus insult Him. but why does He not speak? Why does He not make His wrath felt? Because His Church has prayed; because He has found the ten just men(Gen. xviii. 32), that is, the few for whose sake. He mercifully consents to spare the world. He therefore permits these learned economists, whom He could so easily disconcert, to go on talking and writing. Thanks to this His patience, some of them will grow tired of their impious absurdity; an unexpected circumstance will open their eyes to the truth, and they will, one day, join us both in faith and in prayer. Others will go deeper and deeper into blasphemy; they will go on to the last, defying God's justice, and fulfilling in themselves that terrible saying of holy Scripture: "The Lord hath made all things for Himself; the wicked also for the evil day.' (Prov. xvi. 4.)
We, who glory in the simplicity of our faith, who acknowledge that we have all from God and nothing from ourselves, who confess that we are sinners and undeserving of His gifts, will as Him, during these three days, to give us the food we require; we will say to Him, with holy Church: That Thou vouchsafe to give and preserve the fruits of the earth: We beseech Thee, hear us! May He have pity on us in our necessities! Next year, we will return to Him with the same earnest request. WE will march, under the standard of the cross, through the same roads, making the air resound with the same litanies. WE will do this with all the greater confidence, at the thought that our holy mother is marshaling her children in every part of Christendom, in this solemn and suppliant procession. For thirteen hundred years has our God been accustomed to receive the petitions of His faithful people, at this season of the year; He shall have the ame homage from us; nay, we will endavour, by the fervour of our prayer, to make amends for the indifference and ignorance which are combining to do away with old Catholic customs, which our forefathers prized and loved.
The Mass is on the same asa yesterday's page 144.
We offer our readers the following prayer, taken from the ancient Gallican liturgy, and composed at a period when the observance of the Rogation days was in its first fervour.
Prayer (Contestatio)
It is truly meet and just, that, in all contrition of heart, we should praise thee by our fast, O almighty and eternal God, through Christ our Lord. Who, having come to teach us the hidden things of thy mysteries, revealed to us the symbol, shown to Noe, of the peaceful olive-branch borne in the dove's beak: it was the glorious figure of the beautiful tree of the cross. IT was in honour of Christ that the dove prefigured the cross, signifying that it was to be venerated by all men, through the grace of the Holy Spirit. We desire to be like this bird, by the innocence of our lives; we pray that we may be sanctified by that Spririt, of whom it was the figure. Therefore do we offer up our prayers in these three days of fasting and humiliation, carrying, at the head of the army of the faithful, the invincible standard of the cross, and singing psalms in praise of thy divine Majesty. We beseech thee, O almighty God, that thou receive all the prayers of thy people, and the sacred rites whereby they present them to thee. We also beseech thee so to sanctify them by this their fast, that they may deserve to be freed from all their sins.
The Liturgical Year Pascal Time - Book III
By: Dom Gueranger Imprimatur 1927
It seems strange that there should be anything like mourning during Paschal Time: and yet these three days are days of penance. A moment's reflection, however, will show us that the institution of the Rogation days is a most appropriate one. Trrue, our Saviour told us, before His Passion, that "the children of the Bridegroom should not fast whilst the Bridegroom is with them" (St. Luke, v. 34) but is not sadness in keeping with these last hours of Jesus' presence on earth? Were not His Mother and disciples oppressed with grief at the though of their having so soon to lose Him, whose company had been to them a foretaste of heaven?
Let us see how the liturgical year came to have inserted in its calendar these three days, during which holy Church, though radiant with the joy of Easter, seems to go back to her lenten observances. The Holy Ghost, who guides her in all things, willed that this completion of her paschal liturgy should owe its origin to a devotion peculiar to one of the most illustrious and venerable Churches of southern Gual, the Church of Vienne.
The second half of the fifth century had but just commenced, when the country round Vienne, which had been recently conquered by the Burgundians, was visited with calamities of every kind. The people were struck with fear at these indications of God's anger. St. Mamertus, who, at the time, was bishop of Vienne, prescribed three days' public expiation, during which the faithful were to devote themselves to penance, and walk in procession chanting appropriate psalms. The three days preceding the Ascention were the ones chosen. Unknown to himself, the holy bishop was thus instituting a practice, which was afterwards to form part of the liturgy of the universal Church.
The Churches of Gual, as might naturally be expected, were the first to adopt the devotion. St. Alcimus Avitus, who was one of the earliest successors of St. Mamertus in the See of Vienne, informs us that the custom of keeping the Rogation days was, at that time, firmly established in his diocese. St. Caesarius of Arles, who lived in the early part of the sixth century, speaks of them as being observed in countries afar off; by which he meant, at the very least, to designate all that portion of Gual which was under the Visigoths. That the whole of Gual soon adopted the custom, is evident from the canons drawn up at the first Council of Orelans, held in 511, which represented all the provinces that were in allegiance to Clovis. The regulations, made by the council regarding the Rogations, give us a great idea of the importance attached to their observance. Not only abstinence from flesh-meat, but even fasting, is made of obligation. Maters are also required to dispense their servants from work, in order that they may assist at the long functions which fill up almost the whole of these three days. In 567, the Council of Tours, likewise, imposed the precept of fasting during the Rogation days; and as to the obligation of resting from servile work, we find it recognized in the Capitularia of Charlemagne and Charles the Bald.
The main part of the Rogation rite originally consisted, (at least in Gual,) in singing of canticles of supplication while passing from place to place; and hence the word Procession. We learn from St. Caesarius of Arles, that each day's procession lasted size hours; and that when the clergy bcame tired, the women took up the chanting. The faithful of those days had not made the discover, which was reserved for modern times, that one requisite for religious processions is that they be as short as possible.
The procession for the Rogation days was preceded by the faithful receiving the ashes upon their heads, as now at the beginning of Lent; they were then sprinkled with holy water, and the procession began. It was made up of the clergy and people of several of the smaller parishes, who were headed by the cross of the principal church, which conducted the whole ceremony. All walked bare-foot, singing the litany, psalms, and antiphons, until they reached the church appointed for the station, where the holy sacrifice was offered. They entered the churches that lay on their route, and sang an antiphon or responsory appropriate to each.
Such was the original ceremony of the Rogation days, and it was thus observed for a very long period. The monk of St. Gall's who has left us so many interesting details regarding the life of Charlemagne, tells us that this holy emperor used to join the processions of these three days, and walk bare-footed from his palace to the stational church. We find St. Elizabeth of Hungary, in the thirteenth century, setting the like example: during the Rogation days, she used to mingle with the poorest women of the place, and walk bare-footed, wearing a dress of coarse stuff. St. Charles Borromeo, who restored in his diocese of Milan so many ancient practices of piety, was sure not to be indifferent about the Rogation days. He spared neither word nor example to reanimate this salutary devotion among his people. He ordered fasting to be observed during these three days; he fasted himself on bread and water. The procession, in which all the clergy of the city were obliged to join, and which began after the sprinkling of ashes, started from the cathedral at an early hour in the morning, and was not over till three or four o'clock in the afternoon. Thirteen churches were visited on Monday; nine, on the Tuesday; and eleven, on the Wednesday. The saintly archbishop celebrated Mass and preached in one of these churches.
If we compare the indifference shown by the Catholics of the present age for the Rogation days, with the devotion wherewith our ancestors kept them, we cannnot but acknowledge that there is a great falling off in faith and piety. Knowing, as we do, the importance attached to these processions by the Church, we cannot help wondering how it is that there are so few among the faithful who assist at them. Our surprise increases when we find person preferring their own private devotions to these public prayers of the Church, which, to say nothing of the result of good example, merit far greater graces than any exercises of our own fancying.
The whole western Church soon adopted the Rogation days. They were introduced into England at an early period; as likewise into Spain and Germany. Rome herself sanctioned them by herself observing them; this she did in the eighth century, during the pontificate of St. Leo III. She gave them the name of the Lesser Litanies, in contradistinction to the procession of April 25, which she calls the Greater Litanies. With regard to the fast which the Churches of Gual observed during the Rogation days, Rome did not adopt that part of the institution. Fasting seemed to her to throw a gloom over the joyous forty days, which our risen Jesus grants to His disciples; she therefore enjoined only abstinence from flesh-meat during the Rogation days. The Church of Milan, which, as we have just seen, so strictly observes the Rogations, keeps them on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday after the Sunday within the Octave of the Ascension, that is to say, after the forty days devoted to the celebration of the Resurrection.
If, then, we would have a correct idea of th Rogation days, we must consider them as Rome does, - that is, as a holy institution which, without interrupting our paschal joy, tempers it. The purple vestments are used during the procession of Mass and do not signify that our Jesus has fled from us, but that the time for His departure is approaching. By prescribing abstinence for these three days, the Church would express how much she will feel the loss of her Spouse, who is so soon to be taken from her.
In England, as in many other countries, abstinence is no longer of obligation for the Rogation days. This should be an additional motive to induce the faithful to assist at the processions and litanies, and, by fervently uniting in the prayers of the Church, to make some compensation for the abolition of the law of abstinence. We need so much penance, and we do so little! If we are truly in earnest, we shall be most fervent in doing the little that is left us to do.
The object of the Rogation days is to appease the anger of God, and avert the chastisements which the sins of the world so justly deserve; moreover, to draw down the divine blessing on the fruits of the earth. The litany of the saints is sung during the procession, which is followed by a special Mass said in the stational church, or if there be no Station appointed, in the church whence the procession first started.
The litany of the saints is one of the most efficacious prayers. The Church makes use of it on al solemn occasions, as a means of rendering God propitious through the intercession of the whole court of heaven. They who are prevented from assisting at the procession, should recite the litany in union with holy Church: they will thus share in the graces attached to the Rogation days; they will be joining in the supplications now being made throughout the entire world; they will be proving themselves to be Catholics.
We give the Mass of the Rogations, which is the same for all three days. It speaks to us, throughout, of the power and necessity of prayer. The Church uses the lenten colour, to express the expiatory character of the function she is celebrating: but she is evidently full of confidence; she trusts to the love of her risen Jesus, and that gives her hope of her prayers being granted.
 Sunday Morning Storyland
Sunday Sermons for Children
By: Rev. Wildred J. Diamond
Imprimatur 1945
4th Sunday of Easter
"I got to Him that sent Me."
When our time comes to say, "I go to Him that sent me," what will be in store for us? We have two stories this morning to show you that what we do during our lives decides what our reward will be in Heaven.
A rich lady had a dream, one that we would all like to have. She dreamed that she was in Heaven. She walked around and saw a huge mansion being built.
She asked her guide, "Whose will that be?"
The angel replied, "That is for your gardener."
The lady was surprised because on earth the gardener lived in a tiny cottage with hardly enough room for his family.
The angel said, "He might live in a better house on earth if he were not so generous."
They walked on a little bit and saw a tiny little cottage being built.
The lady asked, "And whose will that be?"
The angel replied, "This is for you."
"But," the lady cried, "I live in a great mansion. I can't get used to a little cottage."
"Well," said the angel, "We do the best we can up here but we can use only the materials that are sent us from on earth."
The lady learned her lesson from this dream and began to do good works and lay up treasures for herself in Heaven.
The other story is about the palace of good works.
Alexander the Great, who conquered the whole known world of his day, made up his mind that he would have the most beautiful palace ever built by man. Being the richest most beautiful palace ever built by man. Being the richest man in the world, he could afford to do it. He chose a place far off in the hills and sent his agent Stephen with gold and jewels to do the work.
Stephen sent word to Alexander. "There is a village of people living in just the spot that you have chosen for your palace."
Alexander sent an order back, "Drive them away and destroy the village."
But Stephen was a kind and generous man. Instead of driving the people away and destroying their village, he used the jewels and money to feed them and help them. The starving came to Stephen and he fed them. The sick were brought to him and he cared for them.
After some time, Alexander came to see his palace. He aw what Stephen had done and was angry. Poor Stephen was cast into jail. But that night, Alexander had a dream,. In his dream he saw a palace far more wonderful than the one he had planned. Its walls were of gold, its floors of silver, and set in the walls were myriads of gleaming jewels. A voice in the dream spoke to him and said:
"Alexander, this is the palace of good works that Stephen has built for you."
Alexander awoke and released Stephen from jail. From his dream he had learned the lesson that we should so live that when our time comes to say, "I go to Him that sent me," we will know that we have sent up plenty of material from earth and that there is a palace of good works waiting for us in Heaven.
 Jesus gives Peter the Keys This week's Keeping it Catholic Monday has been replaced with another 50 Days of Easter series. Keeping It Catholic Monday posts will resume after Pentecost.
First Fruits; A series of Short Meditations
By: Sister Mary Philip
Imprimatur 1918
"Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me more than these?" (St John. xxi.)
I.
Saint Peter had thrice denied his Lord and Master during the Passion, and now Our Lord gives him an opportunity of making reparation. All during the public life, even to the very night of the Last Supper, Peter had boasted that whatever the other disciples did, he at least would be true to Our Lord. We know how he fell, and how at a look
from Our Lord he went out and wept
bitterly. Do I ever boast that I am safe from such and such a fault, that in that respect at least I have no cause for fear ? If so, let me learn a lesson from St Peter. If, unhappily, I should fall, let me strive to imitate his deep and heartfelt penitence, a sorrow which he
kept up all his life.
II.
"Lovest thou Me?" I can imagine I hear
Our Lord addressing these words to me. "Lovest thou Me? Lovest thou Me sufficiently to sacrifice thyself for My sake ? Lovest thou Me when I ask thee to do some work for My sake which is naturally distasteful to thee ? Lovest thou Me in the person of My poor? Lovest thou My will above thine own ? Lovest thou Me sufficiently to follow Me, in whatsoever state of life I may call thee to? Answer Me My child, lovest thou Me?" What am I going to answer to this tender appeal of Our Lord ? Can I with truth say to Him : " Yea, Lord, Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I love Thee."
III.
Our Lord said to St Peter, "Lovest thou Me more than these?" I can understand
these words as addressed to myself in two ways. First, Our Lord may say to me, "Thou sayest that thou lovest Me more than others do, but where are the proofs of thy love? Where shall I find in thee the charity of My apostles, the purity of My virgins, the zeal of My confessors, the fidelity of My martyrs? Love is proved by deeds."
Secondly, Our Lord may ask : " Lovest thou Me more than these—more than thy
pleasures, more than thy convenience, more than thy life itself?" Lord, what can I say to Thee? Indeed, indeed I do love Thee, but I cannot compare with Thy holy ones. Increase my love that with more and more truth I may be able to say to Thee, " Lord, Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I love Thee."
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 First Fruits; A Series of Short Meditations
By: Sister Mary Philip
Imprimatur 1918
"It is the Lord" (St. John, xxi. 7).
I.
"... That night they caught nothing. But when the morning was come Jesus stood on the shore." Picture the Apostles weary with their labour during the long dreary night; they had probably started off full of hope that they would have a good night's work, and they caught—nothing ! Then, with the dawn, they drew nigh to the shore and Jesus stood there to welcome them. How often in my life do I start off full of hope? But things go wrong. Darkness seems to envelop me on every side, and I do no good. I make no progress. I seem to acquire no more virtue than I ever had. I
am not more patient, or more kind and submissive. In fact "I catch nothing" of the virtues of my Lord and Master. Then after a long and weary time the light begins
to break. Jesus shows Himself and the darkness is scattered; my weariness is
changed into joy.
II.
"The disciples knew not that it was Jesus." So often is it thus with me. Our Lord is there, but a mist hides Him partly from me, and, because my faith is weak, I do not recognize Him. Yet He is there close to me. In the early morning Mass He is there, offering Himself for me; yet my distractions, my worries, my pleasures perhaps, occupy my mind, and I do not realize that He is there. In the glare of mid-day. He is in the Tabernacle waiting for me. In the evening stillness He is raised on His throne to bless and comfort me, and yet I act as though I did not know that it was He. He comes to me in joy, and I forget that it is His joy, given in love to me. He comes to me in sorrow, and I will not rouse myself to see that it is the best gift He can give me, because it means likeness to and union with Him.
Lord, how often I know Thee not. Open my eyes that I may learn to know Thee
more and more, to recognize Thee under any disguise Thou choosest to take in order to try my faith.
III.
"It is the Lord!" It was St John, the Beloved Disciple, who first recognized Our Lord. Why? St. John was pure of heart. "Blessed are the pure of heart for they shall see God." If I want to see Our Lord in all that befalls me, and under all circumstances,
I must strive to obtain cleanness of heart. In the Blessed Sacrament we recognize
Our Lord, and say with St. John, " It is the Lord," and we know that the Banquet
Jesus has prepared for us there is sweeter far than that which He gave to His Disciples on the shore that April morning, for it is the Banquet in which He gives us His own Flesh and Blood.
O Sacred Banquet, in which Christ is received, the memory of His Passion is
renewed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us!
" Blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed." {
-St John xx..  First Fruits; A Series of Meditations
By: Sister Mary Philip
Imprimatur 1918
I. "Jesus stood in the midst of them and saith to them : Peace be to you, it is I, fear not." Peace is the great treasure Our Lord desires to give us. At the Last Supper He had said: "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you : not as the world giveth do I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid " (St John xv.). And now we picture Him in His glorious, risen Life, come to bring this same gift of peace to His disciples, and not to them only, but to all—to me! Our Lord's peace is true peace, founded on distrust of self and boundless confidence in Him. Whatever my troubles, temptations, and trials may be, I can always count on Him. He will give me peace and say to me, "Let not your heart be troubled." "It is I, fear not!"
II. St Thomas was not present at this apparition on Easter Sunday evening. When he came in he was greeted with the words, "We have seen the Lord!" He would not believe, " Unless I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into
the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe." How often in the past have I imitated the incredulity and distrust of St. Thomas, and how deeply has my want of trust wounded the heart of my Lord! I have wished, how often, to lay down conditions to God. By my conduct, if not by my words, I have said to Him, " Unless I see the result of my prayers, unless I get help in the exact way I want it, I will not believe!" I will kneel before Him now and ask His pardon for my want of faith, and say to Him sincerely and from the depths of my heart: "Heart of Jesus, I trust in Thee."
III. After eight days Our Lord came and, with the utmost compassion, condescended to the weakness of St Thomas. "Put in thy finger hither, and see My hands . . . and be not faithless but believing." What could St Thomas do but fall on his knees, exclaiming, "My Lord and my God!" Then came Our Lord's gentle rebuke: "Because thou hast seen Me, Thomas, thou hast believed : blessed are they that have not seen and have believed." Here is my comfort, for I have to live by faith. I have not seen, and yet, O Lord, Thou knowest that I believe in Thee. "Thy wounds, as Thomas saw, I do not see, Yet Thee confess my Lord and God to be; Make me believe Thee, ever more and more. In Thee my hope, in Thee my love to store."
For the Kids....
 Sunday Morning Storyland; Sunday Sermons for Children
By: Rev. Wilfrid J. Diamond
Imprimatur 1945
Monmouth's Escape
In England many years ago there was a general named the Duke of Monmouth. His army was hopelessly defeated in battle and Monmouth was forced to flee for his life. He hid in the fields all day and traveled every night. Finally, his enemies caught up with him. They chased him into a shepherd's hut. Instead of closing the door on poor Monmouth the shepherd did a brave thing. He changed clothes with the Duke and stepped out to meet his foes. Long and well he fought, trying to delay the soldiers until Monmouth could make his escape. He held them off with his sword, for three hours, until he fell exhausted and was killed. The Duke of Monmouth by this time was far away and safe - saved by a good shepherd.
In the war against sin, people have always been pursued by the devil. But Our Lord became a man and fought the devil for three hours on the Cross of Calvary until He too was slain. During the struggle sinful man was able to escape from the devil's power. That is why Our Lord has a perfect right to call Himself the Good Shepherd Who lays down His life for His sheep. Over and over agin He tells us that He is the Shepherd of souls. "If a man has a hundred sheep and loses one, does he not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after that which was lost?" "Other sheep I have that are not of this fold; them also must I bring."
What wonderful things our souls must be if Christ the Good Shepherd is willing to lose his life to save them. We should always keep this in mind. We have something within ourselves which is very valuable, something which we treasure and guard. To be the Shepherd of our souls Christ came down to earth. Sheep go to the shepherd for all their needs. For food - Christ has given Himself in the Eucharist to be the food of our souls. For water - our souls drink the sweet waters of Christ in Baptism. For healing - Christ heals the wounds of our souls in the sacrament of Penance. For guidance - whenever we go astray Christ draws us back to Him as the shepherd draws back his sheep with his crook. For protection - the good shepherd will lay down his life for his sheep and Christ died on the cross for us. What wonderful things Christ has done for our souls! What wonderful things our souls must be! We should treasure them and not do anything that will make them displeasing to their Shepherd.
Just as the shepherd died to save the Duke of Monmouth, so did Christ die on Calvary to save us. That is why He has a perfect right to say, "I am the Good Shepherd. I lay down my life for my sheep."
 First Fruits ~ A Series of Short Meditations
By: Sister Mary Philip
Imprimatur 1918
"Stay with us, Lord, for the day is now far spent" (St. Luke, xxiv.).
I.
The two disciples are on their way to
Emmaus and are sad. Suddenly a third
traveler joins Himself to them, but "their
eyes were held so that they should not know Him." Our Lord does not reveal Himself to them yet, but He questions them as though He knew nothing of their trouble: "What are these discourses that you hold one with another and are sad?" This shows me how anxious Our Lord is that I should tell Him all my troubles, and lay before Him all my needs. He knows it all, of course, but He delights to receive my
confidence, and indeed has made my petitions the guarantee of my receiving. " Ask and you shall receive."
II.
"Ought not Christ to have suffered thesethings and so enter into His glory." Ought
not? As though the Scourging, the Crowning with Thorns, the Cross, and all His other sufferings were quite a matter of course. What a revelation these words are of Our Lord's humility! He, Who suffered solely for my sins and the sins of the world, speaks as though even for Him suffering was the only way to glory. Next time I have something to suffer I will say to myself: "Ought not I to suffer this, and so lay up merit for heaven?"
III.
When the travelers got to the cross-roads,Jesus made as if He would go farther, but the Disciples constrained Him, saying: "Stay with us, because it is towards evening and the day is now far spent. And he went in with them,"I will store up in my heart this beautiful prayer of the Disciples ; again and again I will say to Our Lord: "Stay with me, O stay with me, my Lord"; I will "constrain Him," beg Him, persuade Him. But Our Lord needs no persuasion, He is always willing to be with me, if only I desire Him. There is no moment in which I can afford to be without Him. Especially after Holy Communion I will beg Him to remain with me. I do not know how soon the evening of my life may close in upon me ; devoutly then, and with all my heart, I will say to Jesus: Stay with me. Lord, because it is towards evening, and my day may" even now be far spent.
 Mary Magdalene & Jesus in the Garden This Monday's Keeping It Catholic Post has been put aside in honor and celebration of the great Paschal season. It its stead is the 50 Days of Easter celebration posts. May you have a most blessed and fruitful Paschal season!
First Fruits; a Series of Short Meditations
By: Sister Mary Philip
Imprimatur 1918
"Jesus saith to her, Mary. She, turning, saith to Him, Rabboni " {St John, xx.).
I.
"Mary stood without at the sepulcher weeping,. . . Jesus said to her: Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou?" Mary Magdalen could not bear to leave the place where her Lord's Body had been laid ; she could not tear herself away, so she stayed behind the other holy women, and wept because, she said, "they have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have laid Him." Our Lord was her one Treasure, her Friend, her only Love. Therefore when "she sought Him and found Him not " she was sad and gave full vent to her grief. Our Lord knew this perfectly well, yet He asked her: "Why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou?" Our Lord also knows the cause of my grief, yet if he should ask me, "Why weepest thou?" what should I be obliged to answer? How often, if I spoke the truth, I should be obliged to say: Because I am disappointed in this or that worldly hope ; because I have been thwarted; because I have been treated with coldness. How rarely I could say: My Lord, I am grieving because of my sins and the sins of the world; because I have lost Thy friendship; because I no longer feel the sweetness of Thy presence; because Thy Church is being persecuted; because the souls Thou lovest are being lost for ever!
II
"She thinking it was the gardener. . . ." Our Lord takes many disguises. Mary Magdalen did not recognize either Our Lord's form or His voice. She took Him to be the gardener. How often do I meet Jesus in my daily life and know Him not? I meet Him in the poor, the children, the lonely, the suffering, and I know Him not and pass Him by. Yet He has distinctly said to me: " Whatsoever you do to one of these, My least, you do it to Me." To-day if I am given the opportunity, I will serve my Lord in the person of one of His suffering members.
III.
"Mary- Rabboni!" Our Lord called Magdalen by her name, the name she was best known by, the name she had heard so often before from His lips. She recognizes Him at once now, and falls at His feet. "Rabboni! Master, dear Master!" she cries, and she would have embraced Our Lord's feet had He not stayed her with the words,
" Do not touch Me . . . but go tell my brethren, and say to them : I ascend to My
Father and to your Father, to My God and to your God." If Our Lord calls me by my name, how shall I respond? He knows me personally and is quite familiar with all that concerns me. One day He will certainly call me out of this world, but daily, if I will, I can hear Him speaking to my heart and asking me to accomplish some work of love for Him. Rabboni, dear Master, I offer myself to Thee for whatever work Thou canst entrust to me. Let me only hear Thee call me by my name and I will joyfully answer: "Yea, Rabboni, speak! for Thy servant heareth."
 St. Faith The Liturgical Year - Paschal Time Book 1
By: Dom Gueranger Imprimatur 1927
Our neophytes closed the Octave of the Resurrection yesterday. They were before us in receiving the admirable mystery; their solemnity would finish earlier than ours. This, then, is the eighth day for us who kept the Pasch on the Sunday, and did not anticipate it on the vigil. It reminds us of all the glory and joy of that feast of feasts, which united the whole of Christendom in one common feeling of triumph. It is the day of light, which takes the place of the Jewish Sabbath. Henceforth, the first day of the week is to be kept holy. Twice has the Son of God honoured it with the manifestation of his almighty power. The Pasch, therefore, is always to be celebrated on the Sunday; and thus every Sunday becomes a sort of Paschal feast, as we have already explained in the Mystery of Easter.
Our risen Jesus gave an additional proof that he wished the Sunday to be, henceforth, the privileged day. He reserved the second visit he intended to pay to all his disciples for this the eighth day since his Resurrection. During the previous days, he has left Thomas a prey to doubt; but to-day he shows himself to this Apostle, as well as to the others, and obliges him, by irresistible evidence, to lay aside his incredulity. Thus does our Saviour again honour the Sunday. The Holy Ghost will come down from heaven upon this same day of the week, making it the commencement of the Christian Church: Pentecost will complete the glory of this favoured day.
Jesus' apparition to the eleven, and the victory he gains over the incredulous Thomas—these are the special subjects the Church brings before us to-day.
By this apparition, which is the seventh since his Resurrection, our Saviour wins the perfect faith of his disciples. It is impossible not to recognize God in the patience, the majesty, and the charity of him who shows himself to them. Here, again, our human thoughts are disconcerted; we should have thought this delay excessive; it would have seemed to us that our Lord ought to have at once either removed the sinful doubt from Thomas's mind, or punished him for his disbelief. But no: Jesus is infinite wisdom, and infinite goodness. In his wisdom, he makes this tardy acknowledgement of Thomas become a new argument of the truth of the Resurrection; in his goodness, he brings the heart of the incredulous disciple to repentance, humility, and love; yea, to a fervent and solemn retraction of all his disbelief. We will not here attempt to describe this admirable scene, which holy Church is about to bring before us. We will select, for our to-day's instruction, the important lesson given by Jesus to his disciple, and through him to us all. It is the leading instruction of the Sunday, the Octave of the Pasch, and it behooves us not to pass it by, for, more than any other, it tells us the leading characteristic of a Christian, shows us the cause of our being so listless in God's service, and points out to us the remedy for our spiritual ailments.
Jesus says to Thomas: 'Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed!' Such is the great truth, spoken by the lips of the God-Man: it is a most important counsel, given, not only to Thomas, but to all who would serve God and secure their salvation. What is it that Jesus asks of his disciple? Has he not heard him make profession that now, at last, he firmly believes? After all, was there any great fault in Thomas's insisting on having experimental evidence before believing in so extraordinary a miracle as the Resurrection? Was he obliged to trust to the testimony of Peter and the others, under penalty of offending his divine Master? Did he not evince his prudence, by withholding his assent until he had additional proofs of the truth of what his brethren told him? Yes, Thomas was a circumspect and prudent man, and one that was slow to believe what he had heard; he was worthy to be taken as a model by those Christians who reason and sit in judgment upon matters of faith. And yet, listen to the reproach made him by Jesus. It is merciful, and withal so severe! Jesus has so far condescended to the weakness of his disciple as to accept the condition on which alone he declares that he will believe: now that the disciple stands trembling before his risen Lord, and exclaims, in the earnestness of faith, `My Lord and my God!' oh! see how Jesus chides him! This stubbornness, this incredulity, deserves a punishment: the punishment is, to have these words said to him: `Thomas! thou hast believed, because thou hast seen!'
Then was Thomas obliged to believe before having seen? Yes, undoubtedly. Not only Thomas, but all the Apostles were in duty bound to believe the Resurrection of Jesus even before he showed himself to them. Had they not lived three years with him? Had they not seen him prove himself to be the Messias and the Son of God by the most undeniable miracles? Had he not foretold them that he would rise again on the third day? As to the humiliations and cruelties of his Passion, had he not told them, a short time previous to it, that he was to be seized by the Jews in Jerusalem, and be delivered to the gentiles? that he was to be scourged, spit upon, and put to death?
After all this, they ought to have believed in his triumphant Resurrection, the very first moment they heard of his Body having disappeared. As soon as John had entered the sepulchre, and seen the winding-sheet, he at once ceased to doubt; he believed. But it is seldom that man is so honest as this; he hesitates, and God must make still further advances, if he would have us give our faith! Jesus condescended even to this: he made further advances. He showed himself to Magdalen and her companions, who were not incredulous, but only carried away by natural feeling, though the feeling was one of love for their Master. When the Apostles heard their account of what had happened, they treated them as women whose imagination had got the better of their judgment. Jesus had to come in person: he showed himself to these obstinate men, whose pride made them forget all that he had said and done, sufficient indeed to make them believe in his Resurrection. Yes, it was pride; for faith has no other obstacle than this. If man were humble, he would have faith enough to move mountains.
To return to our Apostle. Thomas had heard Magdalen, and he despised her testimony; he had heard Peter, and he objected to his authority; he had heard the rest of his fellow-Apostles and the two disciples of Emmaus, and no, he would not give up his own opinion. How many there are among us who are like him in this! We never think of doubting what is told us by a truthful and disinterested witness, unless the subject touch upon the supernatural; and then we have a hundred difficulties. It is one of the sad consequences left in us by original sin. Like Thomas, we would see the thing ourselves: and that alone is enough to keep us from the fulness of the truth. We comfort ourselves with the reflection that, after all, we are disciples of Christ; as did Thomas, who kept in union with his brother-Apostles, only he shared not their happiness. He saw their happiness, but he considered it to be a weakness of mind, and was glad that he was free from it!
How like this is to our modern rationalistic Catholic! He believes, but it is because his reason almost forces him to believe; he believes with his mind, rather than from his heart. His faith is a scientific deduction, and not a generous longing after God and supernatural truth. Hence how cold and powerless is this faith! how cramped and ashamed! how afraid of believing too much l Unlike the generous unstinted faith of the saints, it is satisfied with fragments of truth, with what the Scripture terms diminished truths. It seems ashamed of itself. It speaks in a whisper, lest it should be criticized; and when it does venture to make itself heard, it adopts a phraseology which may take off the sound of the divine. As to those miracles which it wishes had never taken place, and which it would have advised God not to work, they are a forbidden subject. The very mention of a miracle, particularly if it have happened in our own times, puts it into a state of nervousness. The lives of the saints, their heroic virtues, their sublime sacrifice -- it has a repugnance to the whole thing! It talks gravely about those who are not of the true religion being unjustly dealt with by the Church in Catholic countries; it asserts that the same liberty ought to be granted to error as to truth; it has very serious doubts whether the world has been a great loser by the secularization of society.
Now it was for the instruction of persons of this class that our Lord spoke those words to Thomas: `Blessed are they who havenot seen, and have believed.' Thomas sinned in not having the readiness of mind to believe. Like him, we also are in danger of sinning, unless our faith have a certain expansiveness, which makes us see everything with the eye of faith, and gives our faith that progress which God recompenses with a super-abundance of light and joy. Yes, having once become members of the Church, it is our duty to look upon all things from a supernatural point of view. There is no danger of going too far, for we have the teachings of an infallible authority to guide us. `The just man liveth by faith.' Faith is his daily bread. His mere natural life becomes transformed for good and all, if only he be faithful to his Baptism. Could we suppose that the Church, after all her instructions to her neophytes, and after all those sacred rites of their Baptism which are so expressive of the supernatural life, would be satisfied to see them straightway adopt that dangerous system which drives faith into a nook of the heart and understanding and conduct, leaving all the rest to natural principles or instinct? No, it could not be so. Let us therefore imitate St Thomas in his confession, and acknowledge that hitherto our faith has not been perfect. Let us go to our Jesus, and say to him: `Thou art my Lord and my God! But alas! I have many times thought and acted as though thou wert my Lord and my God in some things, and not in others. Henceforth I will believe without seeing; for I would be of the number of those whom thou callest blessed!'
This Sunday, commonly called with us Low Sunday, has two names assigned to it in the Liturgy: Quasimodo, from the first word of the Introit; and Sunday in albis (or, more explicitly, in albis depositis), because on this day the neophytes assisted at the Church services attired in their ordinary dress. In the Middle Ages it was called Close-Pasch, no doubt in allusion to its being the last day of the Easter Octave. Such is the solemnity of this Sunday that not only is it of Greater Double rite, but no feast, however great, can ever be kept upon it.
At Rome, the Station is in the basilica of St Pancras, on the Aurelian Way. Ancient writers have not mentioned the reason of this Church being chosen for to-day's assembly of the faithful. It may, perhaps, have been on account of the saint's being only fourteen years old when put to death: a circumstance which gave the young martyr a sort of right to have the neophytes round him, now that they were returning to their everyday life.
Mass
The Introit repeats those beautiful words of St Peter, which were addressed, in yesterday's Epistle, to the newly baptized. They are like new-born babes, lovely in their sweet simplicity, and eager to drink from the breasts of their dear mother, the Church, the spiritual milk of faith -- that faith which will make them strong and loyal.
Introit
As new-born babes, alleluia: desire the rational milk without guile. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Ps. Rejoice to God our helper: sing aloud to the God of Jacob. Glor, ect. As new-born, ect.
On this the last day of the great Octave, the Church, in her Collect, bids farewell to the glorious solemnities that have so gladdened us, and asks our Lord to grant that our lives and actions may ever reflect the holy influence of our Pasch.
Collect
Grant, we beseech thee, O almighty God, that we, who have clebrated the Paschal solemnity, may, by the assistance of thy divine grace, ever make the effects thereof manifest in our lives and actions. Through, ect.
Epistle
Lesson of the Epistle of St. John the Apostle. I Ch. V.
Dearly beloved: Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world: and this is the victory which overcometh the world, our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? This is he that came by water and blood, Jesus Christ: not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the spirit which testifieth, that Christ is the truth. And there are three who give testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one. And there are three that give testimony on earth: the spirit, the water, and the blood, and these three are one. If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater. For this is the testimony of God which is greater, because he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth in the Son of God, hath the testimony of God in himself.
The Apostle St John here tells us the merit and power of faith: it is, says he, a victory, which conquers the world, both the world outside, and the world within us. It is not difficult to understand why this passage from St John's Epistles should have been selected for to-day's Liturgy: it is on account of its being so much in keeping with the Gospel appointed for this Sunday, in which our Lord passes such eulogy upon faith. If, as the Apostle here assures us, they overcome the world who believe in Christ, that is not sterling faith which allows itself to be intimidated by the world. Let us be proud of our faith, esteeming ourselves happy that we are but little children when there is a question of receiving a divine truth; and let us not be ashamed of our eager readiness to admit the testimony of God. This testimony will make itself heard in our hearts, in proportion to our willingness to hear it. The moment John saw the winding-bands which had shrouded the Body of his Master, he made an act of faith; Thomas, who had stronger testimony than John (for he had the word of the Apostles, assuring him that they had seen their risen Lord), refused to believe: he had not overcome the world and its reasonings, because he had not faith.
The two Alleluia Versicles are formed of two texts alluding to the Resurrection. The second speaks of the scene which took place on this day, in the cenacle.
Alleluia, alleluia.
On the day of my Resurrection, saith the Lord, I will go before you into Galilee. Alleluia.
After eight days, the doors being shut, Jesus stood in the midst of his disciples, and said: Peace be with you. Alleluia.
Gospel
The sequel of the holy Gospel according to Jon. Ch. XX.
At that time: When it was late that same day, being the first day of the week the doors were shut where the disciples were gathered together for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them: Peace be to you. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples therefore were glad when they saw the Lord. He said therefore to them again: Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you. When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained. Now Thomas, one of the twelve, who is called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him: We have seen the Lord. But he said to them: Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Jesus cometh, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said: Peace be to you. Then he said to Thomas: Put in thy fingers hither, and see my hands, and bring hither thy hand, and put it into my side; and be not faithless, but believing. Thomas answered and said to him: My Lord and my God! Jesus saith to him: Because thou hast seen me, Thomas, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not see, and have believed. Many other signs also did Jesus in the sight of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God: and that believing you may have life in his name.
We have said enough about St Thomas' incredulity; let us now admire his faith. His fault has taught us to examine and condemn our own want of faith; let us learn from his repentance how to become true believers. Our Lord, who had chosen him as one of the pillars of his Church, has been obliged to treat him with an exceptional familiarity: Thomas avails himself of Jesus' permission, puts his finger into the sacred wound, and immediately he sees the sinfulness of his past incredulity. He would make atonement, by a solemn act of faith, for the sin he has committed in priding himself on being wise and discreet: he cries out, and with all the fervour of faith: My Lord and my God! Observe, he not only says that Jesus is his Lord, his Master, the same who chose him as one of his disciples: this would not have been faith, for there is no faith where we can see and touch. Had Thomas believed what his brother-Apostles had told him, he would have had faith in the Resurrection; but now he sees, he has experimental knowledge of the great fact; and yet, as our Lord says of him, he has faith. In what? In this, that his Master is God. He sees but the humanity of Jesus, and he at once confesses him to be God. From what is visible, his soul, now generous and repentant, rises to the invisible: `Thou art my God!' Now, O Thomas! thou art full of faith! The Church proposes thee to us, on thy feast, as an example of faith. The confession thou didst make on this day is worthy to be compared with that which Peter made, when he said: `Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God!' By this profession, which neither flesh nor blood had revealed to him, Peter merited to be made the rock whereon Christ built his Church: thine did more than compensate thy former disbelief; it gave thee, for the time, a superiority over the rest of the Apostles, who, so far at least, were more taken up with the visible glory, than with the invisible divinity, of their risen Lord.
The Offertory gives us another text of the Gospel relative to the Resurrection
Offertory
An angel of the Lord came down from heaven, and said to the women: He whom ye seek is risen, as he said, alleluia.
In the Secret, the Church expresses the holy enthusiasm wherewith the Paschal mystery fills her; she prays that this joy may lead her to the never-ending one of the eternal Easter.
Secret
Receive, we beseech thee, O Lord, the offerings of thy joyful Church: and as thou hast given occasion to this great joy, grant she may receive the fruits of that joy which will never end. Through, ect.
While giving the Bread of heaven to her neophytes and other children, the Church sings in her Communion Antiphon the Words spoken by Jesus to Thomas. This Apostle was permitted to touch our Lord's sacred wounds; we, by the holy Eucharist, are brought into still closer intimacy with this same Jesus: but that we may derive the profit intended by such condescension, we must have a faith lively and generous, like that which he exacted from his Apostles.
Communion
Put forth thy hand, and mark the place of the nails, alleluia: and be not incredulous, but believe. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Church concludes the prayers of her Sacrifice by asking that the divine mystery, instituted to be a support to our weakness, may give us untiring perseverance.
Post Communion
Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord our God, that the sacred mysteries thou hast give us to preserve the grace of our redemption may be our present and future remedy. Through, ect.
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