Sacrament and the Sacramental

 

 Lenten Journey 30/40

Sacrament and the Sacramental

Whoever looks at the bronze serpent, shall live.  (Nm 21:4-9)

Beloved, wow it's our 30th day and today just as the bronze serpent was lifted as a sign for healing, Jesus reveals the sign of our redemption.

 Catechism teaches, "Sacramentals are sacred signs. They prepare men to receive the fruit of the sacrament and sanctify different circumstances of life... they always include prayer, often accompanied by a special sign, such as laying of hands, the sign of the cross, or sprinkling of holy water" (CCC 1668,1677) Apart from sacramental liturgy and sacramentals, other  forms of popular pieties sorrounding sacramental life include veneration of relics, stations of the cross, making the sign of the cross, genuflection, rosary, medals and other private devotions. (CCC 1675)

Sacraments too are outward sign of inward grace but they were directly instituted by Jesus. Sacramentals don't confer grace as sacraments do, but by the church's prayer they dispose and prepare us to cooperate with it (CCC 1670) they are the extention of the sacraments, they orient or lead us to them.

What's in Sacrament and sacramental 🤔 its actually the form and matter. Moses provided the bronze snake and mounted it and as far the  people looked at it, it effects healing. So also, the words/formula of blessing/consecration is  uttered by the priest/minister, and the effect follows necessarily. Dearly beloved, to whom much is given much is expected. What a treasure we have in the sacraments and sacramentals, unfortunately some deny themselves of this grace.

Good morning and have a nice day.

-Gerald Nwogueze, OFM Cap.

SAINT AGATHA, virgin and martyr.

 

The story and history of SAINT AGATHA. Agatha was born in Sicily, of rich and noble parents—a child of blessing from the first, for she was promised to her parents before her birth, and consecrated from her earliest infancy to God. In the midst of dangers and temptations she served Christ in purity of body and soul, and she died for the love of chastity. Quintanus, who governed Sicily under the Emperor Decius, had heard the rumor of her beauty and wealth, and he made the laws against the Christians a pretext for summoning her from Palermo to Catania, where he was at the time. “O Jesus Christ!” she cried, as she set out on this dreaded journey, “all that I am is yours; preserve me against the tyrant.”

And our Lord did indeed preserve one who had given herself so utterly to him. He kept her pure and undefiled while she was imprisoned for a whole month under charge of an evil woman. He gave her strength to reply to the offer of her life and safety, if she would but consent to sin, “Christ alone is my life and my salvation.” When Quintanus turned from passion to cruelty, and cut off her breasts, our Lord sent the Prince of His apostles to heal her. And when, after she had been rolled naked upon potsherds, she asked that her torments might be ended, her spouse heard her prayer and took her to himself.

©IBreviary

SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS, Priest and Angelic Doctor.

 

The story and history of SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS. Thomas Aquina was born of noble parents at Aquino in Italy, in 1226. At the age of nineteen he received the Dominican habit at Naples, where he was studying. Seized by his brothers on his way to Paris, he suffered a two years’ captivity in their castle of Rocca-Secca; but neither the caresses of his mother and sisters, nor the threats and stratagems of his brothers, could shake him in his vocation. While Thomas was in confinement at Rocca-Secca, his brothers endeavored to entrap him into sin, but the attempt only ended in the triumph of his purity. Snatching from the hearth a burning brand, the Saint drove from his chamber the wretched creature whom they had there concealed. Then marking a cross upon the wall, he knelt down to pray, and forthwith, being rapt in ecstasy, an angel girded him with a cord, in token of the gift of perpetual chastity which God had given him. The pain caused by the girdle was so sharp that Thomas uttered a piercing cry, which brought his guards into the room. But he never told this grace to any one save only to Father Raynald, his confessor, a little while before his death. Hence originated the Confraternity of the “Angelic Warfare,” for the preservation of the virtue of chastity.

Having at length escaped, Saint Thomas went to Cologne to study under Blessed Albert the Great, and after that to Paris, where for many years he taught philosophy and theology. The Church has ever venerated his numerous writings as a treasure-house of sacred doctrine; while in naming him the Angelic Doctor she has indicated that his science is more divine than human. The rarest gifts of intellect were combined in him with the tenderest piety. Prayer, he said, had taught him more than study. His singular devotion to the Blessed Sacrament shines forth in the Office and hymns for Corpus Christi, which he composed. To the words miraculously uttered by a crucifix at Naples, “Well have you written concerning mme, Thomas. What shall I give you as a reward?” He replied, “Nothing save yourself, O Lord.” He died at Fossa-Nuova, 1274, on his way to the General Council of Lyons, to which Pope Gregory X had summoned him. His tomb is located in Tolouse.

©Ibreviary

SAINT AGNES, Virgin and Martyr.

 The story and history of SAINT AGNES. Agnes was only twelve years old when she was led to the altar of Minerva at Rome and commanded to obey the persecuting laws of Diocletian by offering incense. In the midst of the idolatrous rites she raised her hands to Christ, her spouse, and made the sign of the life-giving cross. She did not shrink when she was bound hand and foot, though the bonds slipped from her young hands, and the heathens who stood around were moved to tears. The bonds were not needed for her, and she hastened gladly to the place of her torture.

Next, when the judge saw that pain had no terrors for her, he inflicted an insult worse than death: her clothes were stripped off, and she had to stand in the street before a pagan crowd; yet even this did not daunt her. “Christ,” she said, “will guard His own.” So it was. Christ showed, by a miracle, the value which he sets upon the custody of the eyes. While the crowd turned away their eyes from the spouse of Christ, as she stood exposed to view in the street, there was one young man who dared to gaze at the innocent child with immodest eyes. A flash of light struck him blind, and his companions bore him away half dead with pain and terror.

Lastly, her fidelity to Christ was proved by flattery and offers of marriage. But she answered, “Christ is my spouse: he chose me first, and his I will be.” At length the sentence of death was passed. For a moment she stood erect in prayer, and then bowed her neck to the sword. At one stroke her head was severed from her body.

-IBreviary.

SAINT ANTHONY OF EGYPT

 

The life of SAINT ANTHONY will remind many people of Saint Francis of Assisi. At 20, Anthony was so moved by the Gospel message, “Go, sell what you have, and give to [the] poor” (Mark 10:21b), that he actually did just that with his large inheritance. He is different from Francis in that most of Anthony’s life was spent in solitude. He saw the world completely covered with snares, and gave the Church and the world the witness of solitary asceticism, great personal mortification and prayer. But no saint is antisocial, and Anthony drew many people to himself for spiritual healing and guidance.

At 54, he responded to many requests and founded a sort of monastery of scattered cells. Again like Francis, he had great fear of “stately buildings and well-laden tables.”

At 60, he hoped to be a martyr in the renewed Roman persecution of 311, fearlessly exposing himself to danger while giving moral and material support to those in prison. At 88, he was fighting the Arian heresy, that massive trauma from which it took the Church centuries to recover. “The mule kicking over the altar” denied the divinity of Christ.

Anthony is associated in art with a T-shaped cross, a pig and a book. The pig and the cross are symbols of his valiant warfare with the devil—the cross his constant means of power over evil spirits, the pig a symbol of the devil himself. The book recalls his preference for “the book of nature” over the printed word. Anthony died in solitude at 105.

©Ibreviary

He knows and holds your future

 Saturday of the first week in Ordinary Time. Year C

He knows and holds your future

“The LORD anoints you commander over his heritage.You are to govern the LORD’s people Israel" (1 Sm 9:1-4, 17-19; 10:1)

Beloved, the ways of the Lord is perfect, and different from ours. Saul did not plan what happened to him today, God led him through the search for the lost asses of his father, to his destiny of kingship. 

God knew Saul's future, his strength and weakness, yet he still goes on to annoint him.  He perfects his plan in mysterious ways. Jesus continues in like manner, he said he did not come to call the righteous but sinners. 

Beloved, don't be over worried about your past or future, put them in the hands of Him who holds the key to your life and future. Don't also condemn anyone. You see dearly beloved, every saint has a past and every sinner has a future. You are destined for greatness and God is willing to hold you by the hand, to lead you to the rightful place he prepared for you before you were born. He does this in mysterious ways, you only need to trust him, and live in the present moment, grateful for the past and hopeful for the future. 

Good morning and have a blessed day.

-Gerald Nwogueze, OFM Cap.

Is God still with us?

 

 Thursday of the first week in Ordinary Time. Year C

Is God still with us? 

 “Why has the LORD permitted us to be defeated today by the Philistines?" (1 Sm 4:1-11)

Beloved, this was a very bad moment for Israel. They were defeated and the All powerful ark was  captured. Why?

There had been moments when I questioned the whereabouts of God while his people suffer. But coming to think of it, we abandoned him first when we chose to sin, but did the just God ever abandon us because of our sins? 🤔 

Why would God, All powerful and loving not prevent evil on his people? Don't we deserve good life, no sickness, no robbery, no accident, no kidnapping, no rape, no death, a cross free Christianity? 

The gospel of Mark 1:40- 45 instead, presents Jesus offering his healing presence to the leprous man, and all who sought him even when he wanted to be alone in the desert. No matter what caused the defeat of Israel today, obviously the sons of Eli and Eli were forewarned, Christ did not promise us sun without rain, love without hurt, life without suffering, he promises to fill our suffering with his presence! So in the mystery of suffering, will you still hold on to him?

We are often confused on what direction to take in the _way_ full of diverse routes, wide and narrow; who to trust in a _truth_ mixed with falsehood, and troubled over a _life_ that has an end, unknown to us. -Fulton Sheen-. Christ calls us to abide in him always, he is the way, truth and life, cut off from whom we can do nothing. 

Good morning and have a blessed day.

-Gerald Nwogueze, OFM Cap.

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