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December 7, 2008 –  2nd Sunday of  Advent      DAILY LITURGICAL/THEME MEDITATION: "Prepare the way of the Lord" UNIVERSAL CHURCH/WORLD EVENT(S): Pontiff Shares Sorrows of Mideast Christians SAINT OF THE DAY St. Ambrose  GENERAL MARIOLOGY The Predestination of the Virgin Mother and Her Immaculate Conception The Predestination of Mary DIVINE MERCY On Merciful Heart of Jesus The Silent Heart Of Jesus  TEACHING/TESTIMONY/CONVICTION: Synod Propositions 4   Monthly Index

DAILY LITURGICAL MEDITATION

Sunday (12/7):  "Prepare the way of the Lord" Scripture: Mark 1:1-8 1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, "Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way; 3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight -- " 4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And there went out to him all the country of Judea, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.  6 Now John was clothed with camel's hair, and had a leather girdle around his waist, and ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And he preached, saying, "After me comes he who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 40:1-5,9-11 " Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her  that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins.  A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God." (Isaiah 40:1-3) Meditation:  John the Baptist's life was fueled by one burning passion -- to point others to Jesus Christ and to the coming of his kingdom.  Who is John the Baptist and what is the significance of his message for our lives?  Scripture tells us that John was filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb (Luke 1:15, 41) by Christ himself, whom Mary had just conceived by the Holy Spirit.  When Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth John lept in her womb as they were filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:41). The fire of the Spirit dwelt in John and made him the forerunner of the coming Messiah.  John was led by the Spirit into the wilderness prior to his ministry where he was tested and grew in the word of God.  John's clothing was reminiscent of the prophet Elijah (see Kings 1:8).  John broke the prophetic silence of the previous centuries when he began to speak the word of God to the people of Israel.  His message was similar to the message of the Old Testament prophets who chided the people of God for their unfaithfuless and who tried to awaken true repentance in them.  Among a people unconcerned with the things of God, it was his work to awaken their interest, unsettle them from their complacency, and arouse in them enough good will to recognize and receive Christ when he came. Are you eager to hear God's word and to be changed by it through the power of the Holy Spirit? John the Baptist was more than a prophet (Luke 7:26).  John was the voice of the Consoler who is coming (John 1:23; Isaiah 40:1-3).  He completed the cycle of prophets begun by Elijah (Matt. 11:13-14).  What the prophets had carefully searched for and angels longed to see, now came to completion as John made the way ready for the coming of the Messiah, God's Annointed Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  With John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit begins the restoration to the human race of the "divine likeness", prefiguring what would be achieved with and in the Lord Jesus.  John's baptism was for repentance -- turning away from sin and taking on a new way of life according to God's word.  Our baptism in Jesus Christ by water and the Spirit results in a new birth and entry into God's kingdom as his beloved sons and daughters (John 3:5).  Jesus is ready to give us the fire of his Spirit that we may radiate the joy and truth of the gospel to a world in desparate need of God's light and truth.  His word has power to change and transform our lives that we may be lights pointing others to Christ.  Like John the Baptist, we too are called to give testimony to the light and truth of Jesus Christ. Do you point others to Christ in the way you live, work, and speak? "Lord, let your light burn brightly in my heart that I may know the joy and freedom of your kingdom. Fill me with your Holy Spirit and empower me to witness the truth of your gospel and to point others to Jesus Christ." Psalm 85:7-13 7 Show us thy steadfast love, O LORD, and grant us thy salvation. 8 Let me hear what God the LORD will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints, to those who turn to him in their hearts. 9 Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land. 10 Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other. 11 Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky. 12 Yea, the LORD will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase. 13 Righteousness will go before him, and make his footsteps a way.   RETURN TO TOP

UNIVERSAL CHURCH/WORLD EVENTS

Pontiff Shares Sorrows of Mideast Christians Addresses Members of Order of the Holy Sepulcher   VATICAN CITY, DEC. 5, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI says he shares the "sorrows and difficulties" of the Christian of the Holy Land, who are suffering at hands of political, economic and social instability in the region. The Pope said this today upon greeting members of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem, who are in Rome for the order's five-yearly assembly. The central theme the weeklong meeting was how to increase aid to Christians of the Holy Land. The chivalric order seeks to form in its members the spirit and ideal of the Crusades from which it originated. This includes preserving the faith in the Middle East and defending the rights of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land. In his address, the Pontiff thanked the order for its "generous work," and encouraged them to continue working in the Holy Land as "convinced and sincere ambassadors of peace and love between brothers." He said Christians in the Holy Land have been "oppressed in recent years by an uncertain and dangerous climate," due to the "political, economic and social crisis of the Middle East." Benedict XVI expressed his special closeness to all those "who feel obliged" to emigrate: "How can we not share the sorrow of these tried communities?" The Pope invited the order's members to reflect further on the central point of their spirituality, which is the celebration of the death and resurrection of the Lord, through the special bond that unites them with the Holy Sepulcher. He said the Equestrian Order was "called to offer an eloquent evangelical testimony, to be builders in our time of an active hope based on the presence of the Risen Lord, who, with the grace of the Holy Spirit, guides and sustains the work of those who dedicate themselves to the edification of a new humanity inspired in the evangelical values of justice, love and peace."   RETURN TO TOP

DAILY LITURGICAL SAINT

December 7, 2008 St. Ambrose (340?-397)   One of Ambrose’s biographers observed that at the Last Judgment people would still be divided between those who admired Ambrose and those who heartily disliked him. He emerges as the man of action who cut a furrow through the lives of his contemporaries. Even royal personages were numbered among those who were to suffer crushing divine punishments for standing in Ambrose’s way. When the Empress Justina attempted to wrest two basilicas from Ambrose’s Catholics and give them to the Arians, he dared the eunuchs of the court to execute him. His own people rallied behind him in the face of imperial troops. In the midst of riots he both spurred and calmed his people with bewitching new hymns set to exciting Eastern melodies. In his disputes with the Emperor Auxentius, he coined the principle: “The emperor is in the Church, not above the Church.” He publicly admonished Emperor Theodosius for the massacre of 7,000 innocent people. The emperor did public penance for his crime. This was Ambrose, the fighter, sent to Milan as Roman governor and chosen while yet a catechumen to be the people’s bishop. There is yet another side of Ambrose—one which influenced Augustine, whom Ambrose converted. Ambrose was a passionate little man with a high forehead, a long melancholy face and great eyes. We can picture him as a frail figure clasping the codex of sacred Scripture. This was the Ambrose of aristocratic heritage and learning. Augustine found the oratory of Ambrose less soothing and entertaining but far more learned than that of other contemporaries. Ambrose’s sermons were often modeled on Cicero and his ideas betrayed the influence of contemporary thinkers and philosophers. He had no scruples in borrowing at length from pagan authors. He gloried in the pulpit in his ability to parade his spoils—“gold of the Egyptians”—taken over from the pagan philosophers. His sermons, his writings and his personal life reveal him as an otherworldly man involved in the great issues of his day. Humanity, for Ambrose, was, above all, spirit. In order to think rightly of God and the human soul, the closest thing to God, no material reality at all was to be dwelt upon. He was an enthusiastic champion of consecrated virginity. The influence of Ambrose on Augustine will always be open for discussion. The Confessions reveal some manly, brusque encounters between Ambrose and Augustine, but there can be no doubt of Augustine’s profound esteem for the learned bishop. Neither is there any doubt that Monica loved Ambrose as an angel of God who uprooted her son from his former ways and led him to his convictions about Christ. It was Ambrose, after all, who placed his hands on the shoulders of the naked Augustine as he descended into the baptismal fountain to put on Christ. Comment: Ambrose exemplifies for us the truly catholic character of Christianity. He is a man steeped in the learning, law and culture of the ancients and of his contemporaries. Yet, in the midst of active involvement in this world, this thought runs through Ambrose’s life and preaching: The hidden meaning of the Scriptures calls our spirit to rise to another world. Quote: “Women and men are not mistaken when they regard themselves as superior to mere bodily creatures and as more than mere particles of nature or nameless units in modern society. For by their power to know themselves in the depths of their being they rise above the entire universe of mere objects.... Endowed with wisdom, women and men are led through visible realities to those which are invisible” (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, 14–15, Austin Flannery translation).   RETURN TO TOP

GENERAL MARIOLOGY

The Predestination of the Virgin Mother and Her Immaculate Conception  By Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner, F.I.   The Predestination of Mary (7) Theological Reflection Systematically, however, the unique manner in which Our Lady alone enters the order of the hypostatic union and so occupies after Christ the highest place in the saving counsels of God, and the one closest to us (cf. Lumen Gentium, 54), came to be studied consequent to discussion of the absolute predestination or primacy of Christ as set forth by Bl. John Duns Scotus and his disciples, a discussion closely bound up with the theological justification of the Immaculate Conception. In fact, Scotus himself does not directly treat of the predestination of Mary. But he laid down the principles on the basis of which Mary’s predestination has been treated ever since. Hence, the best way to grasp the sense of the theme, to appreciate its importance and why the Catholic concept of predestination does not lead to predestinationism or Calvinism, is to organize our exposition along the lines of Scotus himself (12). The Contribution of Bl. John Duns Scotus 1. By predestination Scotus means God’s gratuitous or gracious fore-choice of creatures for glory. It is the prior love of God for us, before we have loved him, viz., gained any merit, of which St. John speaks in his first letter (1 Jn 4:10). This act of love is absolutely gratuitous, viz., is prior to and independent of any consideration of personal worth or merit, not only in the case of created persons, but also in case of the Incarnation or hypostatically assumed humanity of Jesus. This prior act of the Father no more deprives the creature so predestined to glory, viz., to the sharing of the divine nature and beatific vision, of his personal freedom than does the act of creation and of formation of Adam preclude Adam’s freedom and personal activity. Quite the contrary: the formation of spiritual or rational creatures in the image and likeness of God is the very basis of their freedom and its presupposition, justice. So, too, in the higher order of glory which does not follow automatically from the fact of creation, the prior love of God is the presupposition of the very possibility of merit or cooperation in the work of salvation. Set in this context, the many references of St. Paul to the absolute predestination of Jesus, and with him of the elect, as a pure gift of grace, antecedent to any considerations of merit or demerit (cf. Rom 9:6-13), hardly preclude, but constitute the very basis for the possibility of human freedom and merit. Ephesians 1:3ff. and 2 Timothy 1:9 are examples, but hardly the only ones, of the classic Pauline doctrine on which rests the articulation of the predestination of Mary. This predestination to glory, at the very core of the theology of grace, is commonly considered a matter of faith. Further, this concept of predestination to grace and glory is, in the order of divine intentions, prior to any consideration of sin, either on the part of the angels or on the part of Adam and Eve and their offspring. On the very possibility of the grace of the Incarnation or absolute primacy of Christ rests the possibility both of creation and of a redemption from sin. 2. The second point on which Scotus insists is that of St. Paul in the Letter to the Ephesians. On the part of God, acts of predestination are not multiplied in relation to the number of persons predestined to glory; all are predestined simultaneously in the predestination of the Head of the saints, viz., Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word. Predestination is a joint affair within which the place or order of single persons to Christ the Savior is situated, not simply by divine fiat, but in view of the merits of Christ or in short, of his human fiat. The notion of headship implicates above all this truth. The conferral of the blessings of salvation occurs in and through the body of Christ according to the mutual ordering of the members therein. The grace of headship is precisely the power to do this in the context of the Mystical Body. The blessings of salvation are dispensed, not aside from or independently of the merits and satisfaction of Christ, but through him, nor according to a certain subordination to Christ as Head through the merits of the elect themselves. The elect can indeed merit eternal glory, but neither the first grace nor the grace of perseverance, for these are merited for them by the merits and satisfaction of the Savior-Redeemer. This teaching is also commonly acknowledged as a matter of faith. 3. The third point of Scotus, often known as the "Franciscan thesis," but hardly exclusive to Franciscan theologians, concerns the absolute primacy of Christ as Head of those predestined jointly in him. The Incarnation of the Savior is willed absolutely prior to any consideration of sin or of creation, in that sense independently of both. On the other hand both creation, and afterwards the redemption of mankind, are willed dependently in view of the Incarnation, the central mystery of salvation effected through the divine-virginal maternity. Hence, within the one act of jointly predestining all in Christ, there is a more restricted sense of joint predestination, viz., that of one of the elect to be Mother of the incarnate Head-Savior, and so Mediatrix of all graces, viz., the person through whom the Mediator comes to us and through whom we are incorporated into Christ. On this basis later theologians will distinguish, within the divine counsels of salvation, between the order of the hypostatic union and the order of the saved-redeemed. Mary by reason of her singular role as Mother of God, a role resting on her unique personal state of holiness (Immaculate Conception), pertains to both orders, so making possible the realization of the Incarnation and the cooperation of the Church and faithful in the work of salvation. The predestination of all the elect in Christ before the foundation of the world is in view of their cooperation in the work of salvation. Whereas the creation of the world depends solely on the fiat of the Father, that of its salvation depends also on the world’s cooperation (13). Here we see most clearly the root of the differences between a Catholic and Protestant soteriology, the Catholic insisting that the mediation of Christ does not exclude, as Protestant soteriology asserts in the famous Christus solus, but includes in a certain order a subordinate mediation of the redeemed. This is clearly affirmed by Lumen Gentium 62, precisely after ascribing the title Mediatrix to Mary. Just as clearly this implies that in the order of divine providence such cooperation hinges on the fiat of Mary. This point is fundamental to any grasp of the possibility, unique in Mary, to be actively involved not merely in the distribution of divine blessings once acquired by the Redeemer, but to be associated with him in their acquisition, in the so-called "objective redemption" or redemptio ad sufficientiam (14). Hence, Mary’s capacity, under and with Christ, to merit the conferral of grace on others. Without the Immaculate Conception, Mary’s maternal mediation, and so our cooperation in the work of salvation (cf. Col 1:24), would not be possible. Lacking that cooperation, a perfect redemption could not be realized. Whence, the crucial importance of the mystery of the Immaculate Conception as foundation for the actualization of all Mary’s other privileges in the order of history, culminating in the consummation of her maternal mediation in Christ and in the Church (divine and spiritual maternity). Is this merely a theological theory or is it revealed truth? The disciples of Scotus (15) have always insisted that the theological discussion is rooted precisely in Revelation. Anyone who considers the evidence assembled in such works as those of F. Risi (16) and C. Urritibehety (17) will understand why more and more scholars, including biblicists, agree that the Scotistic reading is the correct one (18). It is this fact or "fecit" of the old axiom: potuit, decuit, ergo fecit (he was able, it was fitting, therefore he did it), associated with Scotus’ defense of the Immaculate Conception, which grounds the "decuit" and "potuit" (19). Our redemption is most perfect precisely because it follows upon the absolute primary of Christ, rather than acting as exclusive condition-motive for the Incarnation (20). 4. Our fourth point concerns the relation between predestination and conferral of the graces whereby the predestined come to enjoy all the blessings of paradise. Precisely because their predestination to glory is in Christ, therefore all of them attain these blessings in facto esse through the merits and mediation of Christ the Head: one way in Mary and another way in all the rest. Whereas the fullness of grace in Mary is in view of the foreseen merits of her Son, the participation in grace by all others is in view of the mediation of Jesus and Mary. Because of the fact of sin on the part of Adam and Eve, that mediation of Christ, when realized historically after the tragic event of original sin and the fall of the angels, is in fact redemptive as well as saving: preservatively in Mary (and in a subordinate way in the angels who did not fall) and libertatively in all others. In Mary redemption is her Immaculate Conception; in us it is our liberation from sin. In both cases redemption is the term of divine mercy: more perfectly, however, in Mary than in us, and in us dependently on its realization in the Immaculate. This brings us to the final point, not expressly discussed by Scotus, but taken up by his immediate disciples, the predestination of Mary to be the Mother of God, the Savior-Head of the saved. Does this postulate in her a unique relation to Christ? St. Bonaventure calls (21) her relation to Jesus a singular sacred order (hierarchy), above all other orders, such that the mystery of the Incarnation and divine maternity constitute a single indivisible mystery of salvation (22), or as later theologians are accustomed to say the order of the hypostatic union. The Scotistic answer, reflecting Bonaventure, is affirmative, both in relation to the original holiness of the angels and in relation to Adam and Eve before the fall. Hence, it is the basis in Mary of her Immaculate Conception or preservative redemption. Precisely because Mary is predestined to be Mother of God in the joint predestination of all in Christ, therefore she is also Mother of the Church and so the pre-eminent member of the Church, because maternal Mediatrix of all grace. For in a manner beyond our comprehension she is actively involved in the conferral on Jesus of the grace of the Incarnation by the power of the Holy Spirit, i.e., she is the instrument of the Holy Spirit at the Incarnation in forming the Body of Christ, which includes the Church, just as the formation of the body of the first Adam included in some way the entire human family (23). Here we must underscore a point overlooked by all the critics of Scotus. In the joint predestination of Jesus and Mary, the distinctive personal roles of Jesus and Mary are not confused, nor does their coordination within a single work of mediation put Mary on a par with Jesus, any more than the capacity of the blessed to think and love in the mode of divine persons (a kind of coordination, anticipated in the divine indwelling by grace) put them on a par with the divine persons. Such coordination, heart of the supernatural order of grace, rests ever on a radical subordination. In this joint predestination Jesus is ordained absolutely for his own sake, and Mary for the sake of Jesus and no other, not even herself. Yet in virtue of the very grace of the Immaculate Conception whereby she totally belongs to Jesus and to the Church as Mother, she is ennobled in a most personal way, thereby revealing how grace transforms and perfects the person (24). The logical corollary of this is the assertion that Mary would not have existed except that the Incarnation was de facto decreed as the reason for creation. That means that Mary in her being and in her activity is totally related to Christ and to the work of salvation and redemption. The perfection of human existence and personal freedom is directly proportionate to its assimilation within the totality of Mary’s relation to Christ and to his work. This is what it means to be full of grace: so holy that one can contribute to the sanctification of others, even if sanctified by the merits of Christ. Mary is in some true manner the maternal Mediatrix of all persons: as Christ’s Mother bringing him to us; as Mother of the Church and of believers bringing us to Christ. On this rests the meaning and importance of total consecration to Mary Immaculate. (to be continued)  RETURN TO TOP

DIVINE MERCY

Dairy from St. Faustina On Merciful Heart of Jesus The Silent Heart Of Jesus Although the desert is fearful, I walk with lifted head and eyes fixed on the sun; that is to say, on the merciful Heart of Jesus (Diary, 886). † In difficult moments, I will fix my gaze upon the silent Heart of Jesus, stretched upon the Cross, and from the exploding flames of His merciful Heart, will flow down upon me power and strength to keep fighting (Diary, 906). † When great sufferings will cause my nature to tremble, and my physical and spiritual strength will diminish, then will I hide myself deep in the open wound of the Heart of Jesus, silent as a dove, without complaint (Diary 957). RETURN TO TOP

CATHOLIC  TEACHING/CONVICTION/TESTIMONY

Synod Propositions 4 Dialogical Dimension of Revelation When dialogue refers to Revelation it implies the primacy of the Word of God addressed to man. In his great love, in fact, God willed to encounter humanity and took the initiative to speak to men calling them to share in his very life. The specificity of Christianity is manifested in the event of Jesus Christ, summit of Revelation, fulfillment of the promises of God and mediator of the encounter between man and God. He, "that has revealed God to us" (cf. John 1:18), is the unique and definitive Word entrusted to mankind. To receive the Revelation, man must open his mind and heart to the action of the Holy Spirit who makes him understand the Word of God present in the sacred Scriptures. Man responds to God in full liberty with the obedience of the faith (cf. Romans 1:5; 2 Corinthians 10:5-6; "Dei Verbum," 5). Mary, Mother of Jesus, personifies this obedience of the faith in an exemplary way; she is also archetype of the faith of the Church that listens to and receives the Word of God.   RETURN TO TOP

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