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June 3, 2009 -  Wednesday of Ninth Week of Ordinary Time      LITURGICAL/THEME MEDITATION: "You  know neither the scriptures nor the power of God" UNIVERSAL CHURCH/WORLD EVENT(S): US Bishops Denounce Abortion Doctor Slaying; Vatican to Publish New Volume on Galileo SAINT OF THE DAY Blessed John XXIII  GENERAL MARIOLOGY THE DIVINE HISTORY AND LIFE OF THE VIRGIN MOTHER OF GOD Book Three - Chapter III    MOST HOLY MARY VISITS ELISABETH.  DIVINE MERCY Divine Mercy in My Soul Notebook III  TEACHING/TESTIMONY/CONVICTION: Testimony of David Brewer, MD, former Abortion Provider

DAILY LITURGICAL MEDITATION

Wednesday (6/3): "You  know neither the scriptures nor the power of God" Scripture: Mark 12:18-27 18 And Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection; and they asked him a question, saying, 19 "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man must take the wife, and raise up  children for his brother.  20 There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no children; 21 and the second took her, and died, leaving no children; and the third likewise; 22 and the seven left no children. Last of all the woman also died.  23 In the resurrection whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife."  24 Jesus said to them, "Is not this why you are wrong, that you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God? 25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.  26 And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God said to him, `I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? 27 He is not God of the dead, but of the living; you are quite wrong." Meditation: The Sadducees had one big problem – they could not conceive of heaven beyond what they could see with their naked eyes! Aren’t we often like them? We don’t recognize spiritual realities because we try to make heaven into an earthly image. The Sadducees came to Jesus with a test question to make the resurrection look ridiculous. The Sadducees, unlike the Pharisees, did not believe in immortality, nor in angels or evil spirits. Their religion was literally grounded in an earthly image of heaven. Jesus retorts by dealing with the fact of the resurrection. The scriptures give proof of it. In Exodus 3:6, God calls himself the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He defeats their arguments by showing that God is a living God of a living people. God was the friend of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when they lived. That friendship could not cease with death. As Psalm 73:23-24 states: "I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory." The Holy Spirit reveals to us the eternal truths of God’s unending love and the life he desires to share with us for all eternity. Paul the Apostle, quoting from the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 64:4; 65:17) states: “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him,” God has revealed to us through the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:9-10).  The promise of paradise – heavenly bliss and unending life with an all-loving God – is beyond human reckoning. We have only begun to taste the first-fruits! Do you believe the scriptures and do you know the power of the Holy Spirit?  “May the Lord Jesus put his hands on our eyes also, for then we too shall begin to look not at what is seen but at what is not seen.  May he open the eyes that are concerned not with the present but with what is yet to come, may he unseal the heart’s vision, that we may gaze on God in the Spirit, through the same Lord, Jesus Christ, whose glory and power will endure throughout the unending succession of ages.” (Prayer of Origen, c. 185-254) Psalm 123:1-2 1 To thee I lift up my eyes, O thou who art enthroned in the heavens! 2 Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid  to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he have mercy upon us.   www.dailyscripture.net   RETURN TO TOP

UNIVERSAL CHURCH/WORLD EVENTS

US Bishops Denounce Abortion Doctor Slaying   WASHINGTON, D.C., JUNE 2, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-life Activities, denounced the killing of abortion provider Doctor George Tiller. Tiller, 67, was the owner and operator of Women's Health Care Services in Wichita, Kansas, one of three clinics in the country that provide late-term abortion after 21 weeks of pregnancy. He was shot Sunday outside his church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. "Our bishops' conference and all its members have repeatedly and publicly denounced all forms of violence in our society, including abortion as well as the misguided resort to violence by anyone opposed to abortion," Cardinal Rigali said. "Such killing is the opposite of everything we stand for, and everything we want our culture to stand for: respect for the life of each and every human being from its beginning to its natural end. We pray for Dr. Tiller and his family." A funeral service will be held Saturday morning for Tiller at College Hill United Methodist Church in Wichita.   Vatican to Publish New Volume on Galileo To Include 20 Documents Discovered Since '91   VATICAN CITY, JUNE 2, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The Vatican Secret Archives will publish a new edition of the documents regarding the Galileo case as part of the celebrations marking this International Year of Astronomy. The volume is expected at the end of next month, and has been directed by the prefect of the archives, Bishop Sergio Pagano, according to L'Osservatore Romano. The volume has a better selection of information from those who intervened in Galileo's case -- "each of them specified in the notes, and many of them inquisitors," according to Bishop Pagano. It will also include, in addition to all of the letters regarding the case, 20 new documents found in the Vatican since 1991, critiques of various documents that require an edition faithful to the original, as well as an extensive introduction on the historical circumstances and development of the case. The new volume will have 550 pages and 1,300 notes. Various errors Bishop Pagano reflected on the Galileo case, affirming that "the theologians' attitudes could have been more comprehensive and elastic." "Taking into account that the historical context was not ripe for receiving the scientific studies of the great scholar of Pisa, it is undeniable that in this matter various errors were committed, also on the part of Galileo himself," he continued. The bishop noted that in a culture dominated by the Ptolemaic perspective, which considered the Earth as the center of the universe, the Copernican system "systematically went against Scripture." The bishop also noted "Urban VIII's firm and resolved decision of wanting the investigation and the condemnation, entrusting the letters and the studies of Galileo to the screening of limited scholars and not always up to par." "Among the Jesuits -- who were left out of the investigation -- there wouldn't have been a lack of attitudes ready to be more indulgent with the scholar from Pisa," Bishop Pagano contended.   TURN TO TOP

DAILY LITURGICAL SAINT

June 3, 2009 Blessed John XXIII (1881-1963)   Although few people had as great an impact on the 20th century as Pope John XXIII, he avoided the limelight as much as possible. Indeed, one writer has noted that his “ordinariness” seems one of his most remarkable qualities. The firstborn son of a farming family in Sotto il Monte, near Bergamo in northern Italy, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was always proud of his down-to-earth roots. In Bergamo’s diocesan seminary, he joined the Secular Franciscan Order. After his ordination in 1904, Angelo returned to Rome for canon law studies. He soon worked as his bishop’s secretary, Church history teacher in the seminary and as publisher of the diocesan paper. His service as a stretcher-bearer for the Italian army during World War I gave him a firsthand knowledge of war. In 1921 he was made national director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith; he found time to teach patristics at a seminary in the Eternal City In 1925 he became a papal diplomat, serving first in Bulgaria, then in Turkey and finally in France (1944-53). During World War II, he became well acquainted with Orthodox Church leaders and with the help of Germany’s ambassador to Turkey, Archbishop Roncalli helped save an estimated 24,000 Jewish people. Named a cardinal and appointed patriarch of Venice in 1953, he was finally a residential bishop. A month short of entering his 78th year, he was elected pope, taking the name John, his father’s name and the two patrons of Rome’s cathedral, St. John Lateran. He took his work very seriously but not himself. His wit soon became proverbial and he began meeting with political and religious leaders from around the world. In 1962 he was deeply involved in efforts to resolve the Cuban missile crisis. His most famous encyclicals were Mother and Teacher (1961) and Peace on Earth (1963). Pope John XXIII enlarged the membership in the College of Cardinals and made it more international. At his address at the opening of the Second Vatican Council, he criticized the “prophets of doom” who “in these modern times see nothing but prevarication and ruin.” Pope John XXIII set a tone for the Council when he said, “The Church has always opposed... errors. Nowadays, however, the Spouse of Christ prefers to make use of the medicine of mercy rather than that of severity.” On his deathbed he said: “It is not that the gospel has changed; it is that we have begun to understand it better. Those who have lived as long as I have…were enabled to compare different cultures and traditions, and know that the moment has come to discern the signs of the times, to seize the opportunity and to look far ahead.” Pope John Paul II beatified him on September 3, 2000, and assigned as his feast day October 11, the day that Vatican II’s first session opened. Comment: Throughout his life, Angelo Roncalli cooperated with God’s grace, believing that the job at hand was worthy of his best efforts. His sense of God’s providence made him the ideal person to promote a new dialogue with Protestant and Orthodox Christians, as well as with Jews and Muslims. In the sometimes noisy crypt of St. Peter’s Basilica, many people become silent on seeing the simple tomb of Pope John XXIII, grateful for the gift of his life and holiness. After the beatification, his tomb was moved into the basilica itself. Quote: In 1903, young Angelo wrote in his spiritual journal: “From the saints I must take the substance, not the accidents of their virtues. I am not St. Aloysius, nor must I seek holiness in his particular way, but according to the requirements of my own nature, my own character and the different conditions of my life. I must not be the dry, bloodless reproduction of a model, however perfect. God desires us to follow the examples of the saints by absorbing the vital sap of their virtues and turning it into our own life-blood, adapting it to our own individual capacities and particular circumstances. If St. Aloysius had been as I am, he would have become holy in a different way” (Journal of a Soul).         http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/SaintofDay RETURN TO TOP

GENERAL MARIOLOGY

THE DIVINE HISTORY AND LIFE OF THE VIRGIN MOTHER OF GOD BOOK THREE Contains the most Exquisite Preparations of the Almighty for the Incar- nation of the Word in Mary most Holy; the Circumstances Accom- panying this Mystery; the Exalted State, in which the Blessed               Mother was placed; her Visit to Saint Elisabeth and the               Sanctification of the Baptist: Her Return to Nazareth              and a Memorable Battle of the Virgin with Lucifer CHAPTER III. MOST HOLY MARY VISITS ELISABETH. Having pursued their journey four days, the most holy Mary and her spouse arrived at the town of Juda, where Zachary and Elisabeth then lived. This was the special and proper name of the place, where the parents of saint John lived for a while, and therefore the Evangelist saint Luke specifies it, calling it Juda, although the commentators have commonly believed that this was not the name of the town in which Elisabeth and Zacharias lived, but simply the name of the province, which was called Juda or Judea; just as for the same reason the mountains south of Jerusalem were called the mountains of Judea. But it was expressly revealed to me that the town was called Juda and that the Evangelist calls it by its proper name; although the learned expositors have understood by this name of Juda the province, in which that town was situated. This confusion arose from the fact that some years after the death of Christ the town Juda was destroyed, and, as the commentators found no trace of such a town, they inferred that saint Luke meant the province and not a town; thus the great differences of opinion in regard to the place, where most holy Mary visited Elisabeth, are easily explained. It was at this city of Juda and at the house of Zacharias that most holy Mary and Joseph arrived. In order to announce their visit, saint Joseph hastened ahead of Mary and calling out saluted the inmate the house, saying: "The Lord be with you and fill souls with divine grace." Elisabeth was already forewarned, for the Lord himself had informed her in a vision that Mary of Nazareth had departed to visit her. She had also in this vision been made aware that the heavenly Lady was most pleasing in the eyes of the Most High; while the mystery of her being the Mother God was not revealed to her until the moment, when they both saluted each other in private. But saint Elisabeth immediately issued forth with a few of her family, in order to welcome most holy Mary, who, as the more humble and younger in years, hastened to salute her cousin, saying: "The Lord be with you, my dearest cousin, and Elisabeth answered : "The same Lord reward you for having come in order to afford me this pleasure.'' With these words they entered the house of Zacharias and what happened I will relate in the following chapter. After the first salutation of Elisabeth by the most holy Mary, the two cousins retired, as I have said at the end of the preceding chapter. And immediately the Mother of grace saluted anew her cousin saying: "May God save thee, my dearest cousin, and may his divine light communicate to thee grace and life'' (Luke 1, 40). At the sound of most holy Mary's voice, saint Elisabeth was filled by the Holy Ghost and so enlightened interiorly, that in one instant she perceived most exalted mysteries and sacraments. These emotions, and those that at the same time were felt by the child John in the womb of his mother, were caused by the presence of the Word made flesh in the bridal chamber of Mary's womb, for, making use of the voice of Mary as his instrument, He, as Redeemer, began from that place to use the power given to Him by the eternal Father for the salvation and justification of the souls. And since He now operated as man, though as yet of the diminutive size of one conceived eight days before, He assumed, in admirable humility, the form and posture of one praying and beseeching the Father. He asked in earnest prayer for the justification of his future Precursor and obtained it at the hands of the blessed Trinity. This happened before the most holy Mary had put her salutation into words. At the pronunciation of the words mentioned above, God looked upon the child in the womb of saint Elisabeth, and gave it perfect use of reason, enlightening it with his divine light, in order that he might prepare himself by foreknowledge for the blessings which he was to receive. Together with this preparation he was sanctified from original sin, made an adopted son of God, and filled with the most abundant graces of the Holy Ghost and with the plenitude of all his gifts; his faculties were sanctified, subjected and subordinated to reason, thus verifying in himself what the archangel Gabriel had said to Zacharias; that His son would be filled with the Holy Ghost from the womb of his mother (Luke 1, 17). At the same time the fortunate child, looking through the walls of the maternal womb as through clear glass upon the incarnate Word, and assuming a kneeling posture, adored his Redeemer and Creator, whom he beheld in most holy Mary as if enclosed in a chamber made of the purest crystal. This was the movement of jubilation, which was felt by his mother Elisabeth as coming from the infant in her womb (Luke 1, 44). Many other acts of virtue the child John performed during this interview, exercising faith, hope, charity, worship, gratitude, humility, devotion and all the other virtues possible to him there. From that moment he began to merit and grow in sanctity, without ever losing it and without ever ceasing to exercise it with all the vigor of grace.    RETURN TO TOP

DIVINE MERCY

Divine Mercy In my soul   The Mercy of the Lord I will sing Forever. Divine Mercy in my soul. Sr. Faustina, Diary Notebook III   April 23, 1937. I have begun a three-day retreat today. In the evening, I heard these words in my soul: "My daughter, know that I shall speak to you in a special way through this priest (Father Plaza) so that you may not yield to doubt concerning My wishes." Already in the first meditation my soul was struck by the following words of the priest: I must not oppose God's will and God's designs, whatever they might be; and as soon as I am convinced of the certitude and the authenticity of the will of God, I have the duty of carrying it out. No one can release me from this. Whatever the will of God may be, once I come to know it, I ought to carry it out. This is just a very short summary, but the whole meditation imprinted itself on my soul, and I have no doubts about anything. I know what God wants for me, and what I ought to do. There are, in my life, times and moments of spiritual insight; that is, divine illuminations, when the soul receives inward instruction about things it has not read in any book and has not been taught by any person. These are times of great inner knowledge which God himself imparts to the soul. These are great mysteries... I often receive light and the knowledge of the interior life of God and of God's intimate disposition, and this fills me with unutterable trust and a joy that I cannot contain within myself; I desire to dissolve completely in Him..... The quintessence of love is sacrifice and suffering. Truth wears a crown of thorns. Prayer involves the intellect, the will, and the emotions. Today there was a beautiful teaching (by Father Plaza) on the goodness and mercy of God. During this conference my soul experienced the flames of God's love, and I understood that God's word is a living word. My particular examen is still the same; namely union with the merciful Christ, and silence. The flower which I lay at the feet of the Mother of God for May is my practice of silence. Virtue without prudence is not virtue at all. We should often pray to the Holy Spirit for this grace of prudence. Prudence consists in discretion, rational reflection and courageous resolution. The final decision is always up to us. We must decide; we can and we ought to seek advice and light... Today during meditation, God gave me inner light and the understanding as to what sanctity is and of what it consists. Although I have heard these things many times in conferences, the soul understands them in a different way when it comes to know them through the light of God which illumines it. Neither graces, nor revelations, nor raptures, nor gifts granted to the soul with God. These gifts are merely ornaments of the soul, but constitute neither its essence nor its perfection. My sanctity and perfection consists in the close union of my will with the will of God. God never violates our free will. It is up to us will. It is up to us whether we want to receive God's grace or not. It is up to us whether we will cooperate with it or waste it. In the last evening conference, which was a preparation for the renewal of vows, Father was speaking about the happiness that flows from the three vows, and about the reward that comes from observing them faithfully. Suddenly, my soul was thrown into great interior darkness. My soul was filled with bitterness instead of joy, and my heart was pierced with a sharp pain. I felt so miserable and unworthy of this grace and, conscious of my misery and unworthiness, I would not have dared to so much as approach the feet of the youngest postulant to kiss them. I saw the postulants, in spirit, beautiful and pleasing to the Lord; and myself an abyss of misery. After the conference, I flung myself at the feet of the hidden God, midst tears and pain. I threw myself into the sea of God's infinite mercy, and only there did I experience relief and feel that all of His omnipotent mercy was enveloping me.   RETURN TO TOP

CATHOLIC  TEACHING/CONVICTION/TESTIMONY

Testimony of David Brewer, MD, former Abortion Provider (This testimony was originally given at a "Meet the Abortion Providers" workshop sponsored by the Pro-life Action League of Chicago, directed by Joe Scheidler. Priests for Life offers their video, "Inside the Abortion Industry," containing excerpts of the testimonies of many former providers. Contact us for more details.)  That happens to us sometimes in life and it's a hard thing. But I got so callused that when I was on duty at night some of the doctors who were in partnership with the doctor who lived in Abortion Manor would come in to do their saline abortions. These were women who were farther along, and they would do five in a night...line the women up all in one big room and put the needles in and put the salt solution in, and then there would be five therapeutic miscarriages, right? Five times 500 is 2,500. That's not bad fifteen years ago for one night's extra work. You do that a couple of nights a week and that's a lot of money. But I really had no concept, having been through medical school even, of what was inside because when we got on the OB service we delivered normal, healthy babies most of the time. There weren't very many miscarriages at four and five months. Once in a while we would see one. But once they began doing abortions and doing the saline abortions, and I would take my turn with the other residents being on duty, guess who came in at night to take care of the women when they had trouble delivering the babies or had trouble delivering the afterbirths? The doctor who did it and made the money? No. It was me and the other residents. So I would go to a room and a lady would be screaming and crying and walk in, and here was like the "candy apple babies" that you've seen all scarred and burned from the salt solution, and the placenta would be stuck and we'd have to work with them, and once in a while we'd have to take them to surgery and do a D&C. Boy, that was grim! That was a lot worse than a little sock, because somebody else had to look through the sock now that I was a big resident and doing abortions and they had to check for me, so I didn't have to look in the sock anymore. But one night, a lady delivered and I was called to come and see her because she was uncontrollable. I went in the room and she was going to pieces. She was having a nervous breakdown, screaming and thrashing. The nurses were upset because they couldn't get any work done and all the other patients were upset because this lady was screaming and I walked in, and here was her little saline abortion baby. It had been born and it was kicking and moving for a little while before it finally died of those terrible burns. Because the salt solution gets into the lungs and burns the lungs too. Like Dr. Hill, I began thinking and you just think that if you club somebody on the head enough with a big club, they'd wake up, but like him, I had a very thick head, I guess, too. But I saw that more and more. Every time it would begin to eat away, I would thicken that callous a little bit more. I wasn't making any money because I wasn't in private practice yet. So it's not that I was in it for the money. I was just simply uncommitted, and that's the way a lot of people today are. We're uncommitted; we're afraid to stand up; we're afraid to speak out. Maybe we aren't afraid; we just don't have our own convictions settled yet. I remember another experience as a resident when I had an opportunity to help one of Abortion Manor's partners on a hysterotomy. This lady was too far along for a suction D&C; we did not have prostaglandins in those days; we did not do D&Es very often in those days. So since she was in the second trimester and far enough along (four to five months), why she was going to have a hysterotomy. Well, that was kind of exciting to me, to see a Caesarian on a baby that young, so I helped on that surgery. I remember as we made the incision and got in and made the incision in the uterus, to see the baby move underneath the sack of membranes as the Caesarian incision was made before the doctor broke the water. The thought came to me, my God, that's a person! Then he broke the water, and when he broke the water it was like I had a pain in my heart just like when I saw that first suction abortion. Then he delivered the baby and I couldn't touch the baby. I wasn't much of an assistant; I just stood there and the reality of what was going on was finally beginning to seep in to my calloused brain and heart. They simply took that little baby that was making little sounds and moving and kicking over and set it on the table in a cold stainless steel bowl. Every time I would look over while we were repairing the incision in the uterus and finishing the Caesarean, I would see that little person kicking and moving in that bowl. It kicked and moved less and less, of course, as time went on. I can remember going over and looking at that baby when we were done with surgery and the baby was still alive. You could see the chest moving as the heart beat and the baby would try and take a little breath, and it really hurt inside and it began to educate me as to what abortion really was. (to be continued)   RETURN TO TOP

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