 St. Venantius Welcome to the Feria Friday series where every Friday the saint for the day is shared from Butler's Lives of the Saints along with five meatless recipes. "Feria" in regard to our blog series means without meat for the way the church uses Feria is in regards to those days that do not have a feast of a saint celebrated on a specific day in the liturgical year.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. 1894
May 18.—ST. VENANTIUS, Martyr.
ST. VENANTIUS was born at Camerino in Italy, and at the age of fifteen was seized as a Christian and carried before a judge. As it was found impossible to shake his constancy either by threats or promises, he was condemned to be scourged, but was miraculously saved by an angel. He was then burnt with torches and hung over a low fire that he might be suffocated by the smoke. The judge's secretary, admiring the steadfastness of the Saint, and seeing an angel robed in white, who trampled out the fire and again set free the youthful martyr, proclaimed his faith in Christ, was baptized with his whole family, and shortly after won the martyr's crown himself. Venantius was then carried before the governor, who, unable to make him renounce his faith, cast him into prison with an apostate, who vainly strove to tempt him. The governor then ordered his teeth and jaws to be broken, and had him thrown into a furnace, from which the angel once more delivered him. The Saint was again led before the judge, who at sight of him fell headlong from his seat and expired, crying, "The God of Venantius is the true God; let us destroy our idols." This circumstance being told to the governor, he ordered Venantius to be thrown to the lions; but these brutes, forgetting their natural ferocity, crouched at the feet of the Saint. Then, by order of the tyrant, the young martyr was dragged through a heap of brambles and thorns, but again God manifested the glory of His servant; the soldiers suffering from thirst, the Saint knelt on a rock and signed it with a cross, when immediately a jet of clear, cool water spurted up from the spot. This miracle converted many of those who beheld it, whereupon the governor had Venantius and his converts beheaded together in the year 250. The bodies of these martyrs are kept in the church at Camerino which bears the Saint's name.
Reflection.—Love of suffering marks the most perfect degree in the love of God. Our Lord Himself was consumed with the desire to suffer, because He burnt with the love of God. We must begin with patience and detachment. At last we shall learn to love the sufferings which conform us to the Passion of our Redeemer.
This Week's Five Meatless Recipes
 A traditional Catholic Planner based on the Litugical Year! Plan your homeschool, your home and your Liturgical Year celebrations/fastings all in one place! For more details and to purchase visit the Holy Simplicity Page.FREE PDF Version coming out June 1st!
The Liturgical Year - Paschal Time Vol. III
By: Dom Gueranger Imprimatur 1927
For the third time, holy Church marshals her children in procession, and makes a solemn appeal to the divine mercy. Let us follow her sacred standard, and join her in invoking the intercession of the saints. The Litany, in which we pray to all the choirs of the heavenly Jerusalem, is both a magnificent and a powerful prayer: it is the Church triumphant uniting with the Church militant in praying for the salvation of the world.
O MARY! Mother of God, Virgin of virgins, miracle of divine power, exercise in our favour thy maternal mediation with Him, who, though God, is thy Son!
Michael the invincible, Gabriel, welcome messenger of our salvation, Raphael, affectionate physician of them that are suffering; Angels and Archangels who watch over us, and co-operate in the work of our salvation; all ye choirs of blessed spirits, who are waiting for your ranks to be filled up by the elect of earth: intercede for your brethren, your clients!
John the Baptist, precursor of the Lamb of God' Joseph, spouse of Mary Immaculate, and foster-father of the Son of God; patriarchs, the glorious forefathers of the human race, and ancestors of the Messiahs; prophets, who foretold His coming, and described the events of His life, that so the earth might recognize Him as its promised Redeemer: remember us who are living in this exile, through which you also passed!
Peter, universal pastor, that holdest the keys of the kingdom of heaven; Paul, apostle of the Gentiles, armed with the sword of the word, and immolated by the sword of martyrdom; Andrew, crucified like thy master; James the Greater, son of thunder, founder of the Catholic kingdom; John, the beloved disciple, the adopted son and guardian of Mary, evangelist and prophet; Thomas, apostle of the Indies, pierced to death by a spear; James the Less, surnamed the 'brother of the Lord'; Philip, who didst preach the Gospel to the Scythians, and wast crucified at Heirapolis; Bartholomew, the teacher and martyr of Armenia; Matthew, the evangelist, who didst carry the faith into the scorching regions of Ethiopia; Simon, by whose zeal Mesopotamia was led to the knowledge of Christ; Thaddeus, the courageous destroyer of the idols of Egypt; Mathias, chose to fill up the place of the traitor Judas, and well worthy of the honour; Barnabas, Paul's companion, of the apostle of the Gentiles, and historian of the Incarnate Word; Mark, disciple of Peter, under whose direction thou wrotest the Gospel of salvation: we devoutly honour you as our fathers in the faith; pray for and with us!
Disciples of our Lord, who, though not raised to the rank of apostles, were chosen by Him to be their fellow-labourers, and who, on the day of Pentecost, were filled with the Holy Ghost; dear Innocents of Bethlehem, first-fruits of the martyrs: deign to join us in our supplications!
Stephen the crowned, Laurence the brave and cheerful winner of immortal laurels, Vincent the victorious,- the glorious triumvirate of deacons; Fabian, pontiff designated by a dove sent from heaven; Sebastian, dauntless soldier of holy Church; John and Paul, Cosmas and DAmian, Gervasius and Protasius, brothers by nature and by martyrdom; oh! all ye holy martyrs, protect us under the shadow of your palms!
Sylvester, pontiff of peace; Gregory, vicar both of the meekness and of the authority of Christ; Ambrose, whose eloquence was sweet as honey, and whose courage was that of a lion; Augustine, doctor of doctors, and apostle of divine charity; Jerome inspired interpreter of the Scriptures; Martin thaumaturgus of the west, and Nicholas, wonder-worker in the east; holy pontiffs, holy doctors of the Church, lead back to Christ all His sheep that have gone astray.
Antony, the glory of the desert, and the conqueror of satan; Benedict, the Abraham of the new Testament, whose children are countless as the stars of heaven; Bernard, pillar of the Church, and favourite of the Mother of God; Dominic, preacher of the divine truth, and scourage of heresy; Francis friend of the spouse of poverty, crucified together with Christ; we honour you all; enkindle within our souls the desire of Christian perfection!
Priests of the Lord; holy monks, hermits, and confessors: pray for us who implore your aid!
Mary Magdalene, once a sinner, but afterwards a saint, whose devotedness to Jesus was so generous and fervent: obtain for us that compunction of heart, which makes amends for sin by love!
Agatha and Lucy, beautiful flowers of fair Sicily; Agnes who followest the Lamb whithersoever He goeth; Cicily, wreathed with thy roses and lilies, and queen of sweet melody; Catharine the wise virgin that confoundest the false wisdom of philosophers; Anastasia, the valiant woman that didst triumph over the trials of life and severity of tortures; oh! all ye holy virgins, spouses of Jesus, look with compassion on us who are dwelling in this land of exile!
All ye holy men and women, saints of God, who now reign in heaven above, think of us your brethren, who mourn in this vale of tears. We, too, are created for eternal happiness; and yet vanities of time engross our thoughts and affections. Make intercession for us, that, henceforth, we may walk worthy of God, who hath called us unto His kingdom and glory. (I Thess. ii.12)
The Litany is finished and for the third time, the holy Sacrifice is about to work reconciliation between our God and us His guilty children. Let us hope that He will make this year of peace and plenty; and next year, when the Church invites us to join her in this public supplication for pardon, may the number of those who respond to her call, be such as to merit an increase of every blessing!
The Mass is given above, page 144. Let us assist at it with a deep conviction of our own insufficiency to make atonement for our sins, and yet with a firm confidence in the infinite merits of the Paschal Lamb, our risen Jesus.
The ancient Church of Gual used to recite the following prayer on this third of the Rogation days. It will aid us to a spirit of penance.
Prayer (Immolatio)
It is truly meet and just, year most meet, that they who fast should seek thee alone, thee that art the teacher of abstinence, and the giver of eternal rewards to them that practise it. To them that fast, thou grantest that they, with faith ask of thee: thou cleanest them from the stains contracted by intemperate indulgence. It was thou that didst proclaim holy fasting by thy servant Moses, in the book of Leviticus, wherein thou commandedst that we should humble our souls, let we should be destroyed, as was the people that gave themselves up to excess in eating. Thine only-begotten Son sanctified this institution by himself fulfilling it, and, by his fast, opening to us the kingdom we had lost, and pardoning our sins. Do thou, therefore, graciously accept the fasts thou hast instituted, and, by them, absolve us from all our guilt.
The third morning of the Rogation days is over; the hour of noon has come, and from it we begin to count the hours of the last day which the Son of God is to spend upon earth in His visible presence. During these three days, we seem to have forgotten that the time of separation is close upon us; but not: the thought itself, and the humble supplications we have been presenting to heaven, in union with holy Church, have prepared us to celebrate the last mystery achieved by our Emmanuel on earth.
The disciples are all assembled in Jerusalem. They are grouped around the blessed Mother, in the cenacle, awaiting the hour when their divine Master is to appear to them for the last time. Recollected and silent, they are reflecting upon all the kindness and condescension He has been lavishing upon them during the last forty days; they are ruminating upon the instructions they have received from His sacred lips. They know Him so well now! They know in very deed that He came out from the Father. (St. John, xvii. 8.) As to what regards themselves, they have leared from Him what their mission is: they have to go, ignorant men as they are, and teach all nations; (St. Matt. xxviii. 19.) but (Oh sad thought!) He is about to leave them; yet a little while, and they shall not see Him! (St. John, xvi. 16.)
What a contrast between their sorrow and the smiling face of nature, which is decked out in her best, for she is going to celebrate the triumphant departure of her Creator! The earth is blooming with the freshness of her first-fruits, the meadows have put on their richest emerald, the air is perfumed with blossom and flower; and all this loveliness of spring is due to the bright sun that shines upon the earth to give her the gladness and life, and is privileged to be, both by its kingly splendour and the successive phases of its influence upon our glove, the grand symbol of our Emmanuel's passage through this world.
Let us go back in through to the dismal days of the winter solstice. The sun looked then so pallid; his triumph over night was slow and short; he rose, and sank again, often without our seeing him; his light had a certain timid reserve about it, and his heat was, for weeks, too feeble to rescue nature from the grasp of frost. Such was our divine Sun of Justice, when first He came on earth; His rays made but little way in the world's thick gloom; He kept His spendour in, lest men should be dazzled by too sudden a change from darkness to light. Like the material sun, He gained upon the world by slow advances; and even so, His progress was shrouded by many a cloud. His sojourn in the land of Egypt, His hidden life at Nazareth, were long periods during which He was wholly lost sight of. But when the time came for all magnificence, upon Galilee and Judea; He spoke as one having power (St. Matt. vii. 29), His works bore testimony to His being God (St. John, x, 25.), and the people hailed Him with the cry of 'Hosanna to the Son of David!'
He was almost at the zenith of His glory, when suddenly came the eclipse of His Passion and Death. For some hours, His enemies flattered themselves that they had for ever put out His light. Vain hope! On the third day, our divine Sun triumphed over this final obstruction, and now stands in the firmament, pouring out His light upon all creation, but warning us that His course is run. For He can never descend; there is no setting for Him; and here finishes the comparison between Himself and the orb of day. It is from heaven itself that He, our beautiful Orient, is henceforth to enlighten and direct us, as Zachary foretold at the birth of the Baptist (St. Luke, i, 79.). The royal prophet, too, thus exultingly sang of Him: 'He hath rejoiced, as a great, to run the way: His going out is from the highest heaven, and His circuit even to the summit thereof: and there is no one that can hid himself from His heat. (Ps. xviii. 6,7).
This Ascension, which enthroned our Emmanuel as the eternal center of light, was, by His own decree, to take place on one of the days of the month which men call May, and which clothes in its richest beauty the creation of this same God, who, when He had made it, was pleased with it, and found it very good (Gen. i. 31). Sweet month of May! Not gloomy and cold like December, which brought us the humble joys of Bethlehem; not lowering and clouded like March, when the Lamb was sacrificed on Calvary; but buoyant with sunshine, and flowers, and life, and truly worth to be offered, each year, to Mary, the Mother of God, for it is the month of her Jesus' triumph.
O Jesus! our Creator and our Brother! our eyes and heart have followed Thee from Thy first rising uon our world. We have celebrated, in the holy liturgy, each of Thy giant steps. But Thy very growth in beauty and brightness told us that Thou must one day leave us, to go and take possession of the place that was alone worthy of Thee, the throne at the right hand of Thine eternal Father. The spendour that has been on Thee since Thy Resurrection, is not of this world; Thou canst no longer abide among us. Thou hast remained here below, for these forty days, only for the sake of consolidating Thy work' and tomorrow the earth that has been blessed with Thy presence for three and thirty years, will be deprived of its privilege and joy. We rejoice at Thy approaching triumph, as did Thy blessed Mother, Thy disciples, Mary Magdalene and her companions; but we are sad at the thought of losing Thee, and Thou wilt forgive us. Thou wast our Emmanuel, our 'God with us'; henceforth, Thou art to be our Sun, our King, reigning from the throne of heaven, and we shall no longer be able to hear Thee, nor see Thee, nor touch Thee, O Word of life(I St. John, i.l.). Still, dearest Jesus, we say to Thee with all our hearts: Glory and love be to Thee, for Thou hast treated us with infinite mercy! Thou owedst nothing to us; we were unworthy of a single look from Thee; and yet Thou camest down to this sinful earth, Thou hast dwelt among us, Thou hast paid our ransom by Thy Blood, Thou hast re-established peace between God and man. Oh, yes! it is most just that Thou shouldst now return to Him that sent Thee (St. John, svi. 5.). The Church, Thy bride, consents to her exile; she thinks only of what is most glorious to her Jesus; and she thus addresses Thee, in the words of the Canticle: 'Flee way, O my Beloved! and be swift as the roe and as the young hart, and ascend to the mountians, where the flowers of heaven exhale their sweet fragrance (Cant. viii. 14.)!' Can we, poor sinners as we are, refuse to imitate this loving resignation of her, who is Thy bride, and our mother?
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.
In anticipation of our 'blog vacation' and requests from several of our readers, we have placed the June Liturgical Year Bulletin Board pieces up ahead of time. Many people were requesting these be up early so that they could be well prepared, and I know how they feel. Its always nice to have things ready ahead of time! After Pentecost on the 27th of May the color of the liturgical season changes from gold/white to green. Maria Von Trapp, in her book Around the Year with the Trapp Family, calls this Time after Pentecost the 'Green Meadow". There is also an extra title piece for those of you who want to save your titles to use the next year. One has the year on it and the other just has the month. From here on out we will be providing both pieces and as the new year comes around we will update the others.God bless!Time after Pentecost Pieces (if you do not already have the green pieces ready from Time after Epiphany)June Title Pieces and PrayersJune Saints PiecesAs always all of these pieces and the others for the rest of the year can be found on the Liturgical Year Bulletin Board page located under the Catholic Education tab above.
 Thank you to everyone that has ordered this years Holy Simplicity Planner! There has been such an overwhelming response in orders! Starting this Thursday (Ascention Day), May 17th, all orders that arrive from that date through the rest of May will be placed on hold. We are taking a little vacation from our blog and orders during this time. You may still purchase a planner but note that the arrival time will be about double (10-14 business days from order). If you are super anxious for your planner please get your order by Wednesday 12 PM PST. All orders that are placed by that time will be shipped out on Friday. When we come back from our blog vacation orders will start going out again (June 1st) and we will also release the FREE PDF E-book of the Holy Simplicity planner! Thank you for your patience in this matter and we apologize ahead of time for any inconvenience. May God bless this special week full of Rogation days, and the Ascention!
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.
"My God, what will happen to me today, I do not know; but I do know that nothing will happen to me which Thou hast not forseen and ordained for my greater good. I accept, then, Thy thrice holy will; I submit myself to it, and desire to delight in it despite all the revolts of my reason, and the repugnance's of my nature."
 I stumbled upon a wonderful audio book called Counsels of Perfection for Christian Mothers. This wonderful book/mp3s touch on so many subjects that are near and dear to many Catholic mothers. Often I see online articles and blog posts about burnout in motherhood and/or homeschooling, in parenting, in the normal every day life. Typically these articles talk about many things; amongst them taking more time for oneself, taking breaks, more rest and organizing ones day. This book gives a truly Catholic aspect of those every day things of motherhood and it is very different from the modern day approach to give oneself more time alone doing the things one wants to do above our duties. In fact it speaks much of the opposite, sacrifice is the theme that runs through this book and there are many saints referenced to give wonderful examples. The book contains the following topics: True and false devotion, a catalog of souls, naturalism, the value of time, promptness in rising, venial sin-its ugliness, venial sin- its effects, impediments to spiritual progress, impediments to spiritual progress concluded, affections and aversions. Part two: spiritual reading - its advantages, spiritual reading- how to engage in it, spiritual reading- what books to read, meditation, good resolutions, examination of conscience, the art of rising after we fall, the interior life, the government of the tongue, spiritual imperfection. Part three: The holy Mass, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, Holy Communion, The communion of children and young people, the communion of little children, the Eucharistic education of the child and the Church. Chapter five gives a wonderful explanation of how we, as mothers, should have a daily rule of life just as the religious but with more flexibility yet an equal purpose:Chapter V - THE NEED OF A RULE OF LIFE. Let me call your attention to the advantages of a rule of life. First, it saves you from yourselves, so to speak; from the spirit of caprice which finds its way so easily into your actions, and robs you of the greater part of your merit. We all are tempted to do only what pleases us, and to avoid sacrifices as much as possible. An act needs but to take on the appearance of duty to become an object of aversion to us. The result is that unless you are bound by a rule, your lives will drift unceasingly; they will float along guided only by caprice, and the sense of duty will be almost entirely lost. In that case it is your own will that you have followed from morning until evening, and not the will of God…..Here is another article that ought to find its place in your rule: morning and evening prayers should be said kneeling. Moreover, there is hardly one among you who cannot spend a quarter of an hour each day in spiritual reading. You should have a special article binding you to that. Those of you who have the time, and who are unwilling to be satisfied with merely earthly piety, ought to take measures to make a meditation every morning, and also to attend Holy Mass each day, or at least several times during the week.This book keeps in mind our purpose for our life earth and our vocation. The MP3's are free to download (after clicking the link scroll down about 1/4 of the way) and if you would like a free printed version it can be found here. The book is long out of print and an original copy is near $100. Have any of you read this wonderful book? Have you written a Rule of Life?
Some free downloads to help organize a daily rule of life::
 Welcome to the Feria Friday series where every Friday the saint for the day is shared from Butler's Lives of the Saints along with five meatless recipes. "Feria" in regard to our blog series means without meat for the way the church uses Feria is in regards to those days that do not have a feast of a saint celebrated on a specific day in the liturgical year.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. 1894
May 11.—ST. MAMMERTUS, Archbishop. ST. MAMMERTUS, Archbishop of Vienne in Dauphin, was a prelate renowned for his sanctity, learning, and miracles. He instituted in his diocese the fasts and supplications called the Rogations, on the following occasions. Almighty God, to punish the sins of the people, visited them with wars and other public calamities, and awaked them from their spiritual lethargy by the terrors of earthquakes, fires, and ravenous wild beasts, which last were sometimes seen in the very market-place of cities. These evils the impious ascribed to blind chance; but religious and prudent persons considered them as tokens of the divine anger, which threatened their entire destruction. Amidst these scourges, St. Mammertus received a token of the divine mercy. A terrible fire happened in the city of Vienne, which baffled the efforts of men; but by the prayers of the good bishop the fire on a sudden went out. This miracle strongly affected the minds of the people. The holy prelate took this opportunity to make them sensible of the necessity and efficacy of devout prayer, and formed a pious design of instituting an annual fast and supplication of three days, in which all the faithful should join, with sincere compunction of heart, to appease the divine indignation by fasting, prayer, tears, and the confession of sins. The Church of Auvergne, of which St. Sidonius was bishop, adopted this pious institution before the year 475, and it became in a very short time a universal practice. St. Mammertus died about the year 477.
Reflection.—"Know ye that the Lord will hear your prayers, if you continue with perseverance in fastings and prayers in the sight of the Lord" (Judith iv. 11).
This weeks five Meatless Recipes
 Plan your home, homeschool and Liturgical Year all in one place with this one of a kind truley Catholic homeschool lesson planner! Get your copy today!
“After that, He saith to the disciple: Behold thy Mother.”
"And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own.”
-St. John xix. 27  Our Blessed Mother -Talks on Our Lady
By Father Edward Leen, C.S.Sp. And Father John Kearney, C.S.Sp.
DE LICENTIA SUPERIORUM 11 Octobris 1946
NEHIL OBSTAT & IMPRIMI POTEST: 24 Novembris, 1951
CHAPTER IV
You cannot have failed to notice that the Church celebrates throughout the year a multitude of feasts of Our Blessed Lady. No month passes without several reminders of her glory and of her dignity. No week passes without at least one day—Saturday; particularly set aside in her honour. No day passes without her being invoked in some particular manner whether in Holy Mass, the Divine Office or the Rosary. Indeed the Church wishes us to keep constantly before our minds this most glorious creature, God’s Masterpiece, “our tainted nature’s solitary boast.” We should strive therefore to discover some method of approach to Our Blessed Lady so that we may be the better enabled to understand her position in regard to us, and the reason why the Church insists so much on our devotion to her. One supremely consoling truth provides us with this method of approach to Mary and explains all that we want to know. It is the truth of Mary’s Motherhood. Mary is a Mother. Let us dwell awhile on this fact and examine its import.
Our Blessed Lady is really a Mother. Now you all know what that word “mother” means. Every letter of that word spells loyalty, sacrifice and love. All the dearest associations of life cling to it. The word brings up a vision of her who brought us into the world, who cared for us and nourished us. It tells of days of anxious watching and loving care. A mother’s love is the most perfect reflection of the love of God Himself. It is the most gentle, the most tender, the most compassionate affection on earth. A mother’s heart is a divine creation. No one but God could have thought of motherhood. None but God could have given us mothers.
So wonderful a creation is motherhood that God Himself determined to have a Mother. When He decided to send His Divine Son upon earth to save us, a Mother was chosen to minister to His needs. And Mary was this Mother. Of all mothers she is the tenderest, the most understanding, the gentlest, the most full of sympathy and compassion, the most motherly, and Mary was all this for her beloved Son. When she smiled on Him at Bethlehem her smile was a perfect mother’s smile; when she clasped her Child to her heart at Nazareth it was the perfect embrace of a Mother; when she stood beneath His Cross on Calvary her sacrifice was the perfect consummation of her motherly love. The relation of a mother and son, always sacred, reaches its summit in the highest perfection that can be conceived when Mary is the Mother and Jesus is the Son. The love of a mother is unlike all other love and the crown of the love of mothers is the love of Mary the Mother of Jesus.
Mary, Mother of Jesus, holds an unique place in God’s creation. By God’s grace she possesses the singular privilege of divine Motherhood. She is the Mother of God. There is none beside her. When we say God is God, we have said all that can be said of God. In like manner when we say that Mary is the Mother of God we have exhausted the measure of her dignity. When that is said, all is said: it resumes and includes everything. Every honour is contained for Mary in the title of Mother of God. It is an immense prerogative for her to possess with the Heavenly Father a mutual Son.
When you think of it, was it not a tremendous privilege for Our Lady to be the Mother of Jesus! For thirty years she lived side by side with Him. She alone of all the human race enjoyed with Him for all those years that intimacy and familiarity which exist between a mother and son. During those years she exercised all the functions and fulfilled all the duties of a mother. She was the witness of His smallest actions, she piously laid up each one of His words in her heart, she knew intimately each one of the sentiments which animated Him. And to His Mother Jesus paid a perfect tribute of submission, respect and love. Never was mother so loved, never was Son so loving. Now it was in this close association with her Son that Mary learned to love mankind. It was with Jesus that she prepared to be the Mother of Men. For, besides being the Mother of Jesus, Mary is our Mother.
It was her Divine Maternity that made Mary our Mother. When she became Mother of Jesus she became our Mother too. Her Motherhood of us is not of the body, for we have our bodies from our earthly mothers. Mary is our spiritual Mother. She is the Mother of Jesus in the flesh; she is the Mother of His members in the Spirit. Because she is the Mother of the Head, she is the Mother of all the members. The Mother of Christ is the Mother of the members of Christ because the Head and the members form but the one Christ. To give birth corporally to the Head was to give birth spiritually to the members. Motherhood consists above all in the communication of life. Mary fulfilled this function of motherhood in giving life to Jesus, Our Saviour, and in giving to us her children, the spiritual life of our souls.
 There is no member of the human race of whom Mary is not the spiritual Mother, for there is no member of the human race who is not, either actually or potentially, a member of the Mystical Body of Christ, an adopted son of God, and therefore a child of Mary. But just as physical motherhood is not confined to conception and to the labours of childbearing, but must continue in the rearing and education of the child until it can fend for itself, so also the function of Mary’s spiritual motherhood, in regard to men, is not merely that of conceiving and giving birth to the life of their souls. The role of motherhood must be prolonged until the supernatural life, which under Christ we owe to her, is beyond all the dangers that assail it. Our spiritual mother must rear her children until they have reached spiritual manhood, until they have arrived at the age of the “fullness of Christ,” that is, until they have entered into the glory of heaven. During the whole of our life on this earth, according to the teaching of St. Paul, we are spiritually children, and until we have “put away the things of a child” we need the constant care of our spiritual Mother. How greatly then are we dependent on our good Mother. How essential to our happiness is her motherly care. Our dependence on Mary is perfectly illustrated by the dependence of a child on its mother; not the child who has seen the light of day, but the little infant yet unborn. The reason for the choice of this illustration is evident. The little infant is absolutely dependent on its mother. We too, whatever may be the degree of sanctity which we have reached, are completely dependent on Mary. At each moment Mary is essential to us. We can do nothing without grace, and it is through Mary, that every grace comes to us. We cannot, therefore, at any moment, no matter how holy we may be, be without Mary’s care. Her motherly care is ceaselessly active. We are the very little infants of the most holy Virgin, and our lips ought to address her as “Mamma” rather than Mother. This childlike title has nothing about it of the puerile or the affected. It shows in its own way, and perhaps in the fullest way, this incontestable truth—the fact of our littleness, of our utter dependence as infants and of Mary’s preparation by God that in her ceaseless solicitude as Mother, she might answer our need. This attitude of spiritual infancy towards our good Mother, is not a pious excess, but it expresses simply our very real condition. It clarifies and makes easier our relations with God, Our Father. Led, so to speak, by the hand of Mary, we are brought with Jesus, and in Jesus, Our Brother, to the true home of the family of the Blessed Trinity. Developing within us the spirit of Mary, a spirit that looks to humility, to joyous, loving resignation, to childlike tenderness, to holy courage in prayer, to perfect confidence, we are led to have the same childlike attitude towards Our Father in Heaven. Mary is the teacher, training us in the exercise of that baptismal gift by which the Holy Spirit enables us to say “Abba, Father.” (Rom. viii. 15.) Through her is revealed in human flesh the maternal tenderness of God for His children, who are in Jesus, His only Son. We are the brethren of Jesus. He calls us His Brethren. “Go and tell My Brethren” are Our Lord’s own words spoken of His disciples. He who is Mary’s Son calls us His Brethren. Hence His Father is Our Father, and His Mother our Mother. Our Lord by His Brotherhood has given us a share in His Divine Sonship, and so we are the Sons of God. He has also given us a place by His side in His Mother’s Heart. We are the children of Mary, for Our Brother is Mary’s Child. Mary is our Mother by a threefold title. Firstly, by the title of our spiritual relationship with Jesus her Divine Son, for as we have seen, Our Divine Lord has adopted us as His Brethren, made us to be His members, so that we form one Mystical Body with Him. At Nazareth, in conceiving Jesus, Mary conceived us too. By her consent to give Him corporal life, she consented to give us the life which He had come to bestow. Mary bore, though in different ways, both Jesus and His members in her maternal womb, for the members and the Head have not a separate existence. Secondly, Mary is Our Mother by her co-operation in the great work of our Redemption by which the life of grace was truly merited for us. Mary bore Jesus without sorrow, but she bore us, her adopted children, with the greatest anguish. On Calvary she brought us forth when she offered up her Son as a sacrifice for us. Our deliverance from sin and death was accomplished only on Calvary. And it was in union with His Mother that Jesus accomplished this work. She had conceived Him as a Victim; she had brought Him up for the sacrifice, and at the supreme moment she offered Him to the Father for our salvation. At that moment her Motherhood in our regard, was completed. That is why Our Divine Lord proclaimed it by confiding John to Mary and Mary to John: “Mother, behold thy son; son, behold thy Mother.” (John xix. 26-27) These words did not create that motherhood; they attested, confirmed, and completed it at that most solemn moment of His life, in that hour when His Mother, having become our Mother in the full sense of the word, was able to understand her maternal mission. And thirdly, Mary is our Mother by her truly maternal solicitude; she continually intercedes for us and looks after all our necessities. During the whole course of our lives she does not cease to busy herself with us. As our Mother, Mary knows all the graces of which we stand in need; as the best of Mothers, Mary asks these graces for us; as the Mother of God, and therefore all-powerful, Mary obtains them for us. We will always be her “little children” whom she continues to bear “until Christ be formed in us.” She loves us all, we who are so poor and imperfect; she loves us all with a love that surpasses in purity and intensity the motherly love of all the mothers of the world. Mary is Mother of Jesus. She is our Mother too. It is our duty then to be loyal to her, to honour her, to obey her, to imitate her, to love her as Jesus loved her. It is our duty to love one another, because we are her children and she loves every one of us most dearly. It is our duty never to grieve her maternal heart by offending her in any way. It is our duty to be united with her and to make her interests our interests. But her interests are identical with those of her beloved Son. Consequently she wants us to adopt and to enter into the programme for which He came down on earth and died on the Cross. She wants us to be true and faithful members of the Catholic Church of which she is the Mother. She wants us to profess our willingness to respect God’s rights over us. She wants us to signify this willingness by striving, as a united body, to mould the society in which we live in accordance with her Divine Son’s programme for the order of the world. And for this end she wants us to unite ourselves with Him, through her, in that great central act of submission to the Blessed Trinity, the Holy Mass, which is the representation of Calvary. Then only can we say most truly that we are her children, and that she is our Mother. Then only can we call her with Jesus “Mother.” It was from her maternal womb that we first came to the real life of our souls. Let us ask her to take us back again into her bosom at the hour of our death, to be born again, and to live for ever with Jesus as her children in heaven. “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.” Amen. “Am I not your Mother?” Taken from Our Blessed Mother. Listen to this entire book, and all the books by Father John Kearney on Cassette tapes. Order from: Holy Family Publication Ministries For other audio books on MP3 please visit http://www.jmjsite.com/audiobooks.html
A side note: Starting May 19th we will be taking a little blog vacation until the first of June (when the FREE PDF Holy Simplicity Planner is released!). In the next week and a half I'll be posting the last of the 50 Days of Easter blog series along with topics on Mary as May is dedicated to her and also the Ascention, Pentecost and Rogation days. Prayerfully I'll get it up before our little blog vacation starts! Thank you for your patience as I know there hasn't been as much on our blog latley due to the release of the Holy Simplicity Planner. God bless! Ascension
 Around the Year with the Von Trapp Family
By: Maria Von Trapp
In the weeks between Easter and the Ascension there are four days set aside where the Church has her children go out into the fields and pastures chanting the litany of All Saints and asking God's blessing for a good harvest and as protection against hailstorms, floods, and droughts. One day is the feast of St. Mark, April 25th, and the other three days are called "Rogation Days" and are the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday preceding the Ascension, which always falls on a Thursday. We always make these outdoor processions up on our mountain. The very first hue of green is appearing in the meadows, the birds are singing in the woods again, and the whole atmosphere is one of spring and hope.
Pentecost
 Around the Year with the Von Trapp Family
By: Maria Von Trapp
On Ascension Day begin the nine days of waiting and preparing, together with the Apostles and Mary, the coming of the Holy Ghost. These are the days when families should discuss the "Gifts of the Holy Ghost" and the "Fruits of the Holy Ghost" evening after evening. As I look back over the years I marvel at how different these discussions were every year, always full of surprises, partly because there were different people participating--guests of the family or new friends of the children--who do not ordinarily hear the workings of the "Gifts of the Holy Ghost" discussed around the family table. We devote one whole evening to each one of the gifts.
First is the Gift of Knowledge, offered to help us in our dealings with inanimate and animate created nature, with things and people. It teaches us to make use of them wisely, and to refrain from what is dangerous for us. As we consider a typical day, we discover that this gift is needed from the very moment of awakening, when we have to part from the created thing "bed." The younger ones discover that the Gift of Knowledge helps them to remember that they have to make use of such created things as the toothbrush and the shower. In fact, there is hardly a moment of the day in which we do not have to make decisions about using something or dealing with somebody, and when we do not need the immediate help from the Holy Spirit to carry us safely through the day.
The second evening is devoted to the Gift of Understanding, which is extended to us for the understanding, with mind and heart, of revealed truth as we find it in Holy Scripture and the liturgy, and in the breviary. This gift we need for our hours of prayer and meditation. It fulfills the Lord's promise: "The Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things" (John 14:26).
The third evening is devoted to the Gift of Counsel, which helps us to distinguish, in every moment of our life, what is the will of God. This gift we also need when someone turns to us for advice. It is most necessary to parents and teachers, priests, and all persons in authority. But above all it should help us to make the right choices in everyday life--even in such minor matters as "Should I do my homework now or later? Should I see this movie or not?"
The Gift of Fortitude helps us to overcome our own will. This may start with such seemingly small matters as jumping out of bed the moment we had intended to do so; with giving up smoking or candies and cookies for certain times; with keeping silence when we might have a sharp answer ready; with doing little things for others at the cost of our own comfort; and it may lead to the ultimate test--aiding us in joining the thousands of contemporary martyrs who are called to lay down their life for God. Again, a gift that is needed throughout the day! The Gift of Piety does not sound particularly attractive, until we realize that it infuses our hearts with a special kind of love, directed toward everything belonging and related to God all persons consecrated to His service--the Holy Father in Rome, bishops and priests, missionaries, nuns, and lay brothers--and all things set aside for God only, such as church and altar, chalice and monstrance, vestments, and the sacramentals in our home--rosaries, holy water, medals. This precious gift also makes us eager to devote time to the service of God. It helps overcome morning laziness when it is time for Mass. It makes us want to visit our hidden God once in a while in church. In other words, it instills the interest for the supernatural in our souls. How could we do without it!
When we come to the Gift of the Fear of the Lord, there is always someone to raise the argument "This I don't understand. That is the spirit of the Old Testament, of the chosen people who were trembling before Jehovah so that they said to Moses, `You go up the mountain and talk with Him--we are afraid.' But the New Testament teaches us to say `Our Father,' and Our Lord says, `I don't call you servants any more, I call you friends!' One isn't afraid of one's father or one's friend! What do I need the Gift of Fear for?" It is then that something very tender and beautiful comes to light. If a person loves another one very much, you may often hear him say: "I'm afraid to wake him up, he needs his sleep"; or, "I'm afraid to disturb him." In other words, love is afraid to hurt the beloved one.
The Gift of Fear should lead us to a state of mind which makes us afraid to sin because it would hurt Him. The Gift of Wisdom, finally, seems to sum up all the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, just as charity sums up all His fruits. If we ask throughout all our days for the other Gifts of the Holy Ghost and cooperate with them, if we examine our conscience every night about the use we made of them--wisdom will grow in our hearts. This wisdom has nothing to do with ordinary human intelligence, with knowledge learned in schools and from books. One doesn't even have to be able to read and write in order to become wise. Once in a while one meets an old lay brother or lay sister, an old farmer in the country, or some bedridden person, who may not be learned in the eyes of the world, but may impress us deeply by a true wisdom expressed in all simplicity.
At the end of the seventh day we have all renewed our conviction that we cannot lead a truly Christian life without the special aid of the Holy Ghost, that we have to ask for it as we start each day, and be faithful to it as we go through the day. Children, with the generosity of young hearts, are remarkably responsive to this suggestion. The eighth day of the novena is dedicated to the "Fruits of the Holy Ghost" as they are enumerated in St. Paul--especially the first three love, peace, and joy. On this day we always call to mind the admonition of one of our dearest friends, Reverend Father Abbot, to take the word of Our Lord literally, that "by their fruits thou shalt know them." In every individual soul, in every family or community we should watch whether the fruits are the fruits of the Holy Ghost, whether love, peace, and joy prevail. On the last day of the novena we meditate together on the two great hymns, "Veni, Sancte Spiritus" and "Veni, Creator Spiritus." Through our previous discussions, these texts are seen in a new light, and the repeated "Veni, veni" ("Come, Holy Ghost, come") really rises from longing hearts. And when, during High Mass on Pentecost Sunday, priest and community kneel down at the solemn text of the Gradual, "Veni, Sancte Spiritus," we feel the miracle of the first Pentecost repeated in our hearts, filled by the Holy Ghost in response to the intensity of our "Veni."
In the old country, ancient Pentecost customs are still alive. On the Saturday before Pentecost Sunday the young men go out with long whips, cracking them with special skill to produce a noise called "Pfingstschnalzen." This is followed by "Pfingstschiessen," done with the same ancient guns that are used for shooting on Easter and other festivities. In some valleys people walk barefoot up into the mountains through the dew, calling for the Holy Ghost. In the Alps, cattle decorated with wreaths and garlands are sent up to the high pastures, accompanied for a little way by most of the villagers. Many of the old churches throughout the Alps have a hole in the ceiling above the altar through which, on Pentecost Sunday, during High Mass the "Holy Ghost dove" is let down into the church. On Ascension Day, the statue of the Risen Lord is lifted on wires after the Gospel to disappear in the same opening, which brings the mystery of the day very close to all children, big and small. In some parishes the Risen Lord, at the end of the Mass, sends gifts down from heaven--apples and cookies and candies for the children, and flowers and green branches for the grownups, and everybody tries to take at least a leaf or a petal home. This brings us to the end of the holy Paschal season.
The octave day of Pentecost, known as Trinity Sunday, is dedicated to the Blessed Trinity. While in the first centuries the Easter Communion had to be received on Easter Sunday, the Church later extended "Easter Time," which now begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Trinity Sunday. Once a family has celebrated the year of the Church faithfully from the First Sunday in Advent, feasting and fasting together, until the fullness of the Holy Ghost crowns their efforts throughout the days of Pentecost, it will be a very happy family indeed. TO THEE, THE HOLY GHOST, WE NOW PRAY The text of this invocation of the Holy Spirit is by Berthold of Regensburg (d. 1272). The melody, inspired by the Gregorian "Veni Creator," goes back to the 13th century. Published in the oldest Catholic Hymn Book, of Michael Vehe, in 1537. Sing this hymn three times, each time a tone higher. To Thee, the Holy Ghost, we now pray, Firm of faith that we Thy will obey; When our hour comes, be Thou close beside us; Safely to our home with Thee above guide us. Kyrieleis.
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