THE ABIDING PRESENCE

Father Bernard Vaughan S.J. in one of his retreats told of the advice once given to him by his doctor when he was feeling tired and rundown : "Sit in the Sun. Wrap yourself up well, and just sit in the sun. Nothing will do you more good".

He applied this to the spiritual life by saying : " So I ask you to spend much time basking in the sunshine of the BLESSED SACRAMENT .... This sun bath is a great cure. Rest in the Sun and you will be enriched with his blessings".

This recalls the analogy with the electric powerhouse, suggested by another famous retreat master Father Walter Drum S.J. - he compared the Tabernacle with the electric power house. Over the door, of each might be placed the sign : "Power, Light, and Heat supplied here.

All that we need do is to turn on the switch- just kneel in prayer before the Tabernacle !! ".

Credits: Don Bosco's Madonna, Mumbai
             November 1986
             "The Abiding Presence"
               Page 24

Catholic Classics Unlimited is 1 Year Old

Dear Friends in Jesus and Mary,

Greetings from Mumbai, India. My Catholic Blog is 1 year old. I commenced blogging on the 5th of November 2013, so the 5th of November 2014 makes it a Year now.

Please pray for me and for continuous success for my Blog - "Catholic Classics Unlimited".

I will be constantly updating my Blog with articles and with Links to known and unknown "Catholic Classics" throughout November and December 2014.

I invite all Catholics to my Blog and encourage them to read  many beautiful and magnificent Catholic Classics that are online @ my blog.

Happy Reading.

Louis Pasteur - A Lover of the Holy Rosary

I recently came across an interesting article about a Scientist in 19th Century France who was a great devotee of the Holy Rosary.

The Scientist in question is "Louis Pasteur".

Here is the story.

"Over a Hundred years ago, a University Student found himself seated in a train by the side of a person who seemed to be a well - to - do - peasant. He was praying the Rosary and moving the beads in his fingers.

"Sir, do you still believe in such outdated things ??" asked the student of the old man. "Yes, i do. Do you not ??" asked the Man.

The Student burst out into laughter and said, "I do not believe in such silly things. take my advice. Throw the Rosary out through the window and learn what science has to say about it."

"Science?? I do not understand this Science?? Perhaps you can explain it to me, "the man said humbly with some tears in his eyes.

The Student saw that the man was deeply moved so to avoid further hurting the feelings of the man, he said, "please give me your address and I will send you some literature to help you on the matter".

The Man fumbled in the inside pocket of his coat and gave the boy his visiting card. On glancing at the card, the student bowed his head in shame and became silent. On the card he read: "Louis Pasteur, Director of the Institute of Scientific Research, Paris".

The Title of this article was "He Prayed the Rosary". I found it in a prayerbook called "The Secret of Happiness" published in Denver, Colorado.

Credits and References :

The Secret of Happiness Prayer Book
Denver, Colorado 
 

October 7, 2014 Feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary

The Queen of Heaven's Rosary

History of a Binding Prayer:

This Feast of "Our Lady of the Rosary" was instituted by Pope Saint Pius 5th on the anniversary of the naval battle at Lepanto (1571) on the 7th of October. It was said that the Christians were victorious because of the "Help" of the Holy Mother of God, invoked by the saying of the Rosary.

Devotion to the Rosary through the Ages:

Our Lady at various times has appeared and requested that her Rosary be said for specific causes. Many centuries ago she appeared to Saint Dominic and encouraged the recitation of the Rosary to overcome a great heresy at that time. Saint Dominic preached the recitation of the Rosary and the heresy was overcome.

The past is full of records of devotion to the Rosary. Louis Pasteur, the great benefactor of humanity and a man of unquestionable learning and wisdom, was also remarkable for his deep faith. Many a time, while waiting for a train at a station he used those free moments to recite his Rosary. Instead, of losing time in idle conversation he preferred praying to his Heavenly Mother.

Our Lady's Promise to Fortuna Agrelli :

In the year 1884, in Naples Italy an Italian girl 19 years old named Fortuna Agrelli lay on a bed of intense suffering. She had been in that condition for more than a year and was now pronounced hopeless by her doctors.

Her Family therefore began a Novena of Rosaries to beg the Mother of God to cure her. After a few days the Queen of Heaven appeared to the dying girl, in company with Saint Dominic and Saint Catherine of Siena. In her left arm, the Holy Virgin held the Infant Jesus and in her right hand a Rosary.

The girl exclaimed eagerly "O Queen of the Holy Rosary, cure me !!" The Blessed Virgin answered, "Because you invoke me by that title so pleasing to me, I cannot refuse you. Make three Rosary Novenas, and you shall obtain what you ask and make it known to everybody that whoever desires to obtain favours from me should make three Rosary Novenas and three more in thanksgiving.

Remember that the title "Queen of the Holy Rosary" is most precious and dear to me.

Needless to say, Fortuna Agrelli was soon completely cured. Pope Leo 13th was so deeply impressed by this incident that no fewer than twenty encyclicals came from his pen during his lifetime urging the clergy and the faithful to love and recite the Rosary everyday.

Contemporary Perspective :

Today's celebration (October 7th) urges all to meditate on the mysteries of Christ, following the example of the Blessed Virgin Mary who was in a special manner associated at the Incarnation, Public Ministry, Passion, and Glorious Resurrection of the Son of God.

Jesus Christ came on  earth because he wanted to be understood, to be seen, to be pondered. But How ?? You may ask.

I answer : "Lying in a manger, resting on his Mother's lap, preaching on the Mount, spending nights in prayer; or hanging on the cross, the pallor of death on his face like one forsaken among the dead, overruling the powers of hell; or rising again on the third day, showing the Apostles the print of the nails, the sign of victory, and finally ascending from their sight into heaven".

The 20 Mysteries are real visions that summarise Our Lord's Life under the headings of Joy, Sorrow, Light, and Glory.

The best way to grasp their full richness is to see them through the heart of the one who was closest to him, "Our Blessed Mother".

The Process is equal to a perfect orchestration: The Main Theme keeps on repeating itself in different variations, all laced together by the recurring refrain. Indeed Jesus Christ, the greatest of themes ever in the repetition of every Hail Mary appears in his life's facets: Son of God and of Our Lady; born in a stable ..... presented to the Temple .... dying on the Cross on Calvary; gloriously risen etc.

The Rosary, therefore is not a prayer for the lazy who do not know what to say; it is instead a binding prayer, binding us to follow in imitation of Our Lady, and specially Our Lord who is the way, truth, and life. Only then our life will take on the right transformation.

Reciting the Rosary is a must:

The old tradition of reciting the Rosary in the Family is a "MUST". Instead of spending endless hours as silent spectators of the profane altar of the T.V. ; the pious recitation of the Rosary will be the binding prayer that will keep us knit together. "The Family that prays together stays together".

Conclusion:

October is the Month of the Holy Rosary. Make it part of your daily life. It can be said during a few spare minutes at home or in church, on the train, on the bus, or while driving to work or while one is at the super market.

Gather your family about you, mothers and fathers in the evening for the recitation of the family Rosary. Make October truly Mary's Month of the Holy Rosary and she will take care of you and yours.

Credits:
1. Don Bosco's Madonna Mumbai October 1975 No. 434 Page 3

2. Don Bosco's Madonna Mumbai October 1986 No. 566 Pages 3, 20, and 21. (A Binding Prayer on Pages 20 and 21).

3. Don Bosco's Madonna Mumbai October 2010 Vol - 12 No 6. The Queen of Heaven's Rosary by Crusader of the Divine Child Page 28.

6 Important Sayings of Saint Padre Pio for us today

1. "Always remain close to the Catholic Church, because it alone can give you true peace, since it alone possesses Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament,  the true prince of Peace.

2. "On this earth, everyone has his cross. But we must act in such a way that we are not the bad but the good thief."

3. "In the spiritual life, you must take one step forward each day in a vertical line, from the bottom up."

4. "The proof of love is to suffer for the one you love."

5. "It would be easier for the earth to exist without the Sun, than without the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass."

6. "Let's approach Holy Communion with holy love and fear. May the entire day be preparation  and thanksgiving for Holy Communion."

Credits : The Examiner, Mumbai
                Vol - 162, No. 21
                May 21, 2011
               "Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina"
               A True Face of Jesus Christ by Fr. Michael Fernandes OFM. CAP
               Page 8

Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus 2014 Dedicated to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

                                       A Share in his riches

Introduction : "June is the Month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus".

When Jesus Christ invited the crowds, "Come to me all you who labor and are overburdened and I will give you rest .... for I am gentle and humble in heart (Matthew 11:28) he made no idle promise. That heart is still as humble and gentle now as then with an inexhaustible capacity to understand our suffering and pain and help us bear our load.

Touching his Heart :

Even when the individual did not ask to be singled out, Jesus Christ still gave his personal attention. On some occasion he was on his way to a dying child when he was caught in a jostling throng. A woman with an embarrassing haemorrage edged her way through the crowd towards him.

"If only I can touch his cloak" she told herself, "I shall be saved". (Matthew 9:21)

Jesus Christ however turned and saw her and acknowledged her faith with warmth.Even though, he was on urgent business he would not let this woman disappear into obscurity again. She had touched his heart as well as his garment and that heart went out to her in so human a way that it revealed its hidden divinity.

Search for the Stray :

So concerned was he for the individual that Jesus Christ taught his disciples to be the same. "Will a Shepherd not leave the ninety- nine on the hillside he asked and go in search of the stray" ?? ( Matt 18:12)

It was the stray he cared for most.

Nothing deterred the Shepherd - Heart of Christ,not even the religious leaders who disapproved of his healing on the Sabbath. Jesus Christ by passed their disapproval since as he said himself the whole of the Law is fulfilled in loving and it was for our sake that the Sabbath was made not the other way round. (Matt 22: 36-40 and Mark 2:27)

So, he did not hesitate to heal the man with the withered hand and to straighten the woman bent nearly double for eighteen years. These miracles were his way of showing his even greater power to cure the internal withering and maladies of the soul in sin. It was after such events that the Pharisees went out and plotted how to kill him.

Love to the End :

Not even their murderous schemes, however could defeat Jesus Christ. As he hung from the cross he prayed for them to his Father : "Father, forgive them, they do not know what they are doing. (Luke 23:34)

In that moment, he had totally absorbed into his "Dying Heart", not only the leprosy of the leper, the bleeding of the woman, the withered limbs and twisted spines of those bent double. He had even absorbed the hatred of those who wished him dead.

All these he transformed into a power for good that burst from his heart when he died. It was upon his heart that the last wound on his body was inflicted, when a Roman Soldier ripped it open with a spear.

Even in death, that heart remained open, emptying itself to the last drop of blood.

Saint John Chrysostom writes movingly :

"The Soldier pierced his side : he breached the wall of the holy temple and I found the treasure and acquired the wealth". This Month Jesus Christ invites all who labour and are overburdened to acquire a share in that wealth too. It flows from his wounded heart specially for you.

Credits : Don Bosco's Madonna, Mumbai
              June 2008 Vol. 10 No 2
              A Share in his Riches by T. Oliver Pages 18-19

Corpus Christi Sunday 2014 - Dedicated to the Real Presence of Jesus Christ 22nd June 2014

                                              Faith in His Presence

Introduction :

When the two disciples who had walked with Our Lord to Emmaus looked back afterwards at their experience; they must have realized that never again could they think of Jesus Christ as simply absent. The Risen Lord is always present in the Upper Room,on the Emmaus road,beside the Sea of Galilee, on top of Mount Olivet, everywhere.

Old Testament Presence :

The presence of the Lord is one of the great themes of the Old Testament by which the teachers of Israel were unconsciously preparing for Christ. It began in the desert in a tent or tabernacle. The word "Tabernacle" means "Tent", where Moses kept the Ark of the Covenant. This was called the "Tent of Meeting" and there Moses would come to consult the Lord.

New Testament Presence :

In the New Law, the presence of the divinity is given a new centre in the person of Jesus Christ. For Christians who are Catholics therefore, the first tabernacle of God is the "Flesh of Christ". When in the Middle Ages, the Church began to develop its devotion to the Body of Christ in the Sacrament; it often built the place of reservation in the form of a tent, even if the material was stone or wood and this place became the new "Tabernacle" of God.

Just as the disciples at Emmaus learned their lesson about the divine presence from their experience on the road, so most of us learn it from our experience of the "Tabernacle".

The Sacrament of Presence :

As we know, there are many ways in which Christ becomes present to us, but at the centre of them all and maintaining our belief in all the others stands the tabernacle.

The "Reserved Sacrament" is for us, the Sacrament of Presence.

A Deeper Notion of Presence :

This also helps us to appreciate how in its higher forms "Presence" should be mutual. It is one thing for Christ to be present to us in the tabernacle; it is another thing for us to be present to him.

Indeed here, we see one of the great purposes of the tabernacle. It is not just to bring his presence to us, since he is present to us already in so many ways; but this form of his presence is intended precisely to bring about our presence to him. It is really in view of this mutual sharing of presence that the "Reserved Sacrament" is called the Sacrament of Presence.

Mutual Presence :

Finally, we discover here how the tabernacle fulfils a role which the Mass by itself cannot do.

There is so much happening during " The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass" and we are hopefully active in the liturgy in so many ways that rarely during Mass do we have the peace and quiet to concentrate on the wonder of this mutual presence between Our Lord and ourselves.

This then is what we can do more easily before the tabernacle.

Credits: Don Bosco's Madonna Mumbai
             July 2007,Vol 9 No 3
             "Faith in his Presence" by Raymond Maloney
             Pages 18-19

Notes : To know more about the "Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist"

Log on to http://www.therealpresence.org/