Whimpers of the infant God

Far into the night, at the coldest time of the year, in a chilly grotto, more suitable for a flock of beasts than for humans, the promised Messiah – Jesus – the saviour of mankind, comes into the world in the fullness of time.

There are none who clamour around him: only an ox and an ass lending their warmth to the newborn infant; with a humble woman, and a poor and tired man, in adoration beside him.

Nothing can be heard except the sobs and whimpers of the infant God. And by means of his crying and weeping he offers to the Divine justice the first ransom for our redemption.

He had been expected for forty centuries; with longing sighs the ancient Fathers had implored his arrival. The sacred scriptures clearly prophesy the time and the place of his birth, and yet the world is silent and no one seems aware of the great event. Only some shepherds, who had been busy watching over their sheep in the meadows, come to visit him. Heavenly visitors had alerted them to the wondrous event, inviting them to approach his cave.

So plentiful, O Christians, are the lessons that shine forth from the grotto of Bethlehem! Oh how our hearts should be on fire with love for the one who with such tenderness was made flesh for our sakes! Oh how we should burn with desire to lead the whole world to this lowly cave, refuge of the King of kings, greater than any worldly palace, because it is the throne and dwelling place of God! Let us ask this Divine child to clothe us with humility, because only by means of this virtue can we taste the fullness of this mystery of Divine tenderness.

Glittering were the palaces of the proud Hebrews. Yet, the light of the world did not appear in one of them. Ostentatious with worldly grandeur, swimming in gold and in delights, were the great ones of the Hebrew nation; filled with vain knowledge and pride were the priests of the sanctuary. In opposition to the true meaning of Divine revelation, they awaited an officious saviour, who would come into the world with human renown and power.

But God, always ready to confound the wisdom of the world, shatters their plans. Contrary to the expectations of those lacking in Divine wisdom, he appears among us in the greatest abjection, renouncing even birth in St. Joseph’s humble home, denying himself a modest abode among relatives and friends in a city of Palestine. Refused lodging among men, he seeks refuge and comfort among mere animals, choosing their habitation as the place of his birth, allowing their breath to give warmth to his tender body. He permits simple and rustic shepherds to be the first to pay their respects to him, after he himself informed them, by means of his angels, of the wonderful mystery.

Oh wisdom and power of God, we are constrained to exclaim – enraptured along with your Apostle – how incomprehensible are your judgments and unsearchable your ways! Poverty, humility, abjection, contempt, all surround the Word made flesh. But we, out of the darkness that envelops the incarnate Word, understand one thing, hear one voice, perceive one sublime truth: you have done everything out of love, you invite us to nothing else but love, speak of nothing except love, give us naught except proofs of love.

The heavenly babe suffers and cries in the crib so that for us suffering would be sweet, meritorious and accepted. He deprives himself of everything, in order that we may learn from him the renunciation of worldly goods and comforts. He is satisfied with humble and poor adorers, to encourage us to love poverty, and to prefer the company of the little and simple rather than the great ones of the world.

This celestial child, all meekness and sweetness, wishes to impress in our hearts by his example these sublime virtues, so that from a world that is torn and devastated an era of peace and love may spring forth. Even from the moment of his birth he reveals to us our mission, which is to scorn that which the world loves and seeks.

Oh let us prostrate ourselves before the manger, and along with the great St. Jerome, who was enflamed with the love of the infant Jesus, let us offer him all our hearts without reserve. Let us promise to follow the precepts which come to us from the grotto of Bethlehem, which teach us that everything here below is vanity of vanities, nothing but vanity.

St Pio da Pietrelcina
Epistolario IV," Edizioni Padre Pio,
San Giovanni Rotondo, pages 1007-1009

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St. André Bessette, Ora pro nobis.

St. André Bessette of Mount Royal

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday urged Canadian Catholics to follow the example of St. Andre Bessette, the man better known to Montrealers as Brother Andre.

Friend to the poor and sick, founder of Montreal's St. Joseph's Oratory, and a man once dubbed the Miracle Man of Montreal, Bessette officially joined the sainthood along with five others during an elaborate ceremony in St Peter's Square.

Bessette "knew suffering and poverty very early in life," Pope Benedict said in a homily before an estimated 50,000 pilgrims from around the world, gathered in St. Peter's Square.

Born to an extremely poor family in St. Gregoire, southeast of Montreal, Bessette was orphaned at age 12 and drifted for years as an illiterate, unskilled worker. In 1870, he joined the Congregation of Holy Cross, which reluctantly accepted him and assigned him to a lowly job at the reception area of College Notre Dame in Cote des Neiges.

His early-life difficulties "led him to turn to God for prayer and an intense interior life," Pope Benedict said. "Doorman at College Notre Dame in Montreal, he showed boundless charity and did everything possible to soothe the despair of those who confided in him."

The diminutive lay brother "was the witness of many healings and conversions. 'Do not try to have your trials taken away from you,' he said, 'rather, ask for the grace to endure them,' " Pope Benedict added.

"For him, everything spoke of God and His presence.

"May we, following his example, search for God with simplicity to discover Him always present in the core of our lives. May the example of Brother Andre inspire Canadian Chrisltian life."

For the estimated 5,000 people here to celebrate Brother Andre's sainthood, Sunday's event was a long time coming. His devotees have been pressing the church for canonization since 1937, the year Brother Andre died.

When the gates to St. Peter's opened at 8 a.m. (2 a.m. Montreal time), the lines were already long, with many groups of pilgrims singing hymns to pass the time.

Those here for Brother Andre were easy to spot: they wore white scarves around their necks bearing images of Brother Andre and St. Joseph's oratory, along with the words: "A brother, a friend, a saint."

Security was tight. Bags were sent through x-ray machines and pilgrims were checked by metal detectors.

The five other new saints are: Mother Mary MacKillop, Australia's first saint; Stanislaw Soltys, a 15th-century Polish priest; Italian nuns Giulia Salzano and Battista Varano; and Spanish nun Candida Maria de Jesus Cipitria y Barriola.

© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

In Honour of the Beatification of Venerable John Henry Card. Newman of The Oratory

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Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom
Lead Thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home
Lead Thou me on!
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
the distant scene — one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor pray'd that Thou
Shouldst lead me on.
I loved to choose and see my path, but now
Lead Thou me on!
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will: remember not past years.

So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still
Will lead me on,
O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till
The night is gone;
And with the morn those angel faces smile
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.

Blessed Margaret Plantagenet Pole

Murdered on this day in 1541 by her earthly King Henry VIII and his wrteched hencheman, Cromwell, the regular executioner being unavailable, it took the Crown's rookie murderer 10 blows to sever her head. She was the last of the Plantagenet's and mother of Reginald Cardinal Pole. Her last act was to pray for the King and to recite "Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

The last Catholic noblewoman of England was Beatified by Pope Leo XIII.

Blessed Margaret Plantagenet Pole
Pray for England and the realm; the mother land once so Catholic and now amongst the most corrupt of this world.

Who crushes the serpent.

In Canada, we know little of Our Lady of Guadalupe, yet she is considered to be for the "Americas." Perhaps, it is our own inferiority and fear of the elephant next door that we never refer to ourselves of being part of "America" that keeps us from recognizing our beautiful Patron and Mother.

It is so remarkable that the apparition to Juan Diego has gone so ignored amongst the "elites." Political correctness and revisionist history would have us believe that all native societies in the Americas were so benign until the "white Europeans" arrived. While that may be true to some of the natives of the plains in Canada and the United States and the east coast, it certainly was not of the Iroquois, Apache, Haida and many other nations. But nothing was as evil and vile as the Aztec and Mayan "civilizations." While in many ways they were gifted in intelligence with their ability to develop a pretty accurate calendar, that is not enough to praise them as so many are wont to do. Human sacrifice was so integral to their culture of death that at one feast over 80,000 were estimated to have been sacrificed. Children were the most favoured. And these were not merciful deaths! Hearts wripped out, disembowlment, boiling--and then cannabalism. And, it wasn't the Spanish that were shrinking heads.

Except today, we slaughter millions of babies, 40,000,000 in the United States since Roe v. Wade. Here in Canada there is no regulation, total free access to abortion. Our societies and cultures are dying, for the sake of sexual delight. Are we much different from those who practiced human sacrifice? Actually, we are worse. They did not know any better!

How powerful a symbol yet how ignored that within five years of the Apparition of Our Lady at Guadalupe the pagan culture and its human sacrifice was ended once and for all and the people were converted.

What else is there about this Apparition of Mary? What is the less than obvious connection with Fatima and Islam?

Could the little unknown village of Fatima been chosen by God for Mary's appearance be mere coincidence? Or was there a more profound reason, Fatima, was named for a convert from Islam and the wife of a Portuguese Prince. Fatima was also the name of Mohammed's daughter.

What is the connection between the River of the Wolf (Guadalupe) in Spain and Coatlaxopeuh which in the Aztec language translates to "crushes the serpent." The words themselves are remarkably similar and pronunciation identical.

What is the connection with the statue of Our Lady holding Jesus allegedly carved by St. Luke which was discovered in 1326 after having been lost for 600 years by a shepherd near the town of Guadalupe in Spain? He dug after being instructed to do so by an apparition of Our Lady. But had it gone lost? Or was it directed to be buried in the 8th century to save it from the Mohammedan hordes?

The Koran frequently mentions Mary and holds her higher than all women. While not be the same expression, Mohammedans acknowledge her Immaculate Conception, Annunciation by the Angel Gabriel, Virgin Birth of the Messiah, Jesus and her perpetual virginity!

One could almost say that given what they deny about Jesus, they almost hold Mary in higher esteem!

"And I shall put enmity between your seed and her seed, and she shall crush your head, and you will bruise her heal."

"And behold, I saw a woman clothed with the sun with the moon at her feet."

As we gaze upon the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, let us look at that upon which she is standing. It is the moon. Yet, it is no ordinary moon, it is a "crescent" moon and it was Mary through the power of God who placed the image on Juan Diego's cloak.

Perhaps she is trying to tell us something more?

Sister Leonella--the Lioness of Jesus

The blood of Martyrs is the seed of Christians.

Sister Leonella Rosa Sgorbatti, R.I.P.

This is Sister Leonella who was brutally murdered in the Somali capital of Mogadishu. Shot in the back, four times by brave mohammedan's apparently upset over Pope Benedict's remarks that God and violence for the spread of religion are incompatable, Sister died not long after being taken to hospital. She had worked in Kenya and Somalia for 38 years.

In a memorial Mass today in Nairobi, Kenya; Father Maloba Wesonga says she whispered, "I forgive, I forgive," in her native Italian just before she died. She obviously knew the country well, she used to joke that there was a bullet in Somalia with her name engraved on it. Her funeral will be held on Thursday.

Sister Leonella's name means "Lioness."

She was a Lion for God, she put her love for Jesus into action. She gave her life and in her last breaths took the lesson of Christ to her heart and her lips, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

Saints are made by God. The Church proclaims them when she is certain of God's actions through them.

Sister Leonella is no doubt already a Saint. Please pray for us St. Leonella and for the Vicar of Christ.