Claretian Teaching Ministry

By: Father Gabriel Amorth, Chief Exorcist of the Vatican writes:

One day a colleague of mine heard the devil say during an exorcism, “Every Hall Mary is like a blow on my head. If Christians knew how powerful the Rosary was, it would be my end.”

The secret that makes this prayer so effective is that the Rosary is both prayer and meditation. It is addressed to the Father, to the Blessed Virgin, and to the Holy Trinity, and is a meditation centered on Christ.”

I write in addition to the above:

Please enunciate each word of the Rosary clearly and distinctly. Do not trample on the heels of the words of anyone with your words. Do not speak over the leader if you are following or the respondent if you are leading the Rosary. Remember that they also are having a conversation With Mary Our Mother and it is not polite to speak when someone else is speaking.

In the case of the public Rosary there are only two people speaking: the Leader and the respondents. Each is speaking to the Blessed Mother and listening carefully to her response within their hearts as they meditate on the scene before them in their consideration of the mystery being spoken of and interpreted and translated into their lives.

Spread this powerful prayer of exorcism, the Rosary, which contains the Our Father, the Perfect Prayer, prayed five times in the recitation of each set of the Rosary’s Mysteries, backed up by the powerful prayers of Our Mother who prays with us as we pray 53 Hail Mary’s.

The Eternal. Father described to a group of us, through a Visionary Friend of mine, what happens when we pray the Rosary, saying, “When you pray Holy Mary Mother of God, pray for us sinners now ….. , the Blessed Mother comes instantly to your side to pray with you. And she does not come alone. She brings angels with her. And not just one or two for she is the Queen of Angels, so choirs of angels come with her. And she and Jesus are joined at the heart and cannot be separated so she brings Jesus with her. And Jesus cannot be separated from the Trinity so He brings the Father and the Holy Spirit with Him. And where the Holy Trinity is, all of creation is, and you are surrounded by such beauty and light as you cannot imagine in this life.

Your Mother comes as Our Lady of Grace with her hands outstretched. Rays of light emit from her hands piercing your body, healing you and filling you with graces. This is your inheritance, which was poured out from the heart of Jesus on the Cross, when the centurion pierced His Heart with the spear, into the only pure vessel ready to receive such graces at that time, Your Mother.

Now as you pray the Rosary, or even just recite one Hail Mary, you receive your portion of these graces.

He also said at this time, “Anyone who goes to Mary and prays the Rosary cannot be touched by Satan.” Is it any wonder that anyone who prays the Rosary from the heart is so blessed and protected and powerful in their prayers for others?

John H. Hampsch, cmf

After one of Bill Cosby’s performances a young couple went backstage hoping to get the comedian’s autograph on the baby book that was to chronicle the infancy of their newborn son. Cosby’s aide brought the book to him for his signature, but when it was returned, the couple was disappointed to find no signature inside the cover. Days later they found Cosby’s scribbling on an inside page, under “Baby’s First Complete Sentence.” It said, “I like Bill Cosby.”

Hollywood celebrities, sports heroes, politicians and others in the public spotlight are fulfilled—and some almost intoxicated—by the admiration of their devotees; red-carpet adulation is one of the most powerful driving forces behind today’s viciously competitive and increasingly sophisticated sports and entertainment industries. Of course, celebrities need fans, just as vendors need customers; without fans, very few would pursue the acting profession or professional sports.

Hence, simply being an admiring aficionado of a TV, movie or sports celebrity is certainly not a moral issue in itself. But, if cultivated to an extreme, it can become at least a behavioral and social distortion. That is almost implied in the etymology of the word “fan,” which is derived from the word “fanatic.”

Witness the all-night sidewalk campers before Oscar or Grammy night, waiting for a fleeting glimpse of their screen idols attired for their annual fashion contest. God help me for thinking this, but I can’t help wondering—perhaps with some rash judgment—what percentage of those mesmerized screaming, clapping, camera-flashing groupies have ever in their entire life spent even a single hour in prayerful adoration and praise of their very Creator. It’s more common for people to idolize talented humans than to honor their creator who bestowed that talent on them.  Often the celebrities are more noble-souled than many of their fans. (It was spiritually refreshing to see 30 of the celebrities themselves thanking God publicly at the 2012 Grammy Awards.)

Viewing the over-all issue of “Hollywood-ized hero-worship,” especially as practiced by those as fanatical as the overnight “camp-out” fans, it’s hard to imagine most of them (or for that matter, even most religious devotees) spending a cold and sleepless night at curbside awaiting a more sublime event, such as a pro-life march, or a papal entourage, or even a Corpus Christi procession. The celebrity-extolling function in our society, though valid in its basic purpose, seems somehow to reflect an axiological displacement. The psychosocial need for hero-worship, methinks, has become even more distorted and frenetic than it was in the past.

Along with entertainment and public sports technology, especially in our contemporary TV epoch, hero-worship has remarkably expanded and evolved—some would say devolved—as a social phenomenon. The innocent era of Jeanette MacDonald and Maurice Chevalier, and the “comic strip” period that vetted Mary Worth and Dick Tracy as enviable icons for adults, have long since evaporated. Yet, I recall a not-too-ancient high school survey in which Elvis was voted as the top-of-the-list idol by teens, while Jesus Christ rated 37^th on the same list of imitable candidates. If society’s moral status could be calibrated by accolades, what would that survey tell us?

In the divine plan, as God’s word reminds us, all human talent and gifts are to be received gratefully and humbly, while directing the resulting admiration of such human abilities to their source—which of course, is the Creator of those gifts and talents. If God is taken out of the picture of celebrity admiration, the result is merely superficial flattery, and, on the part of the celebrity, a shallow vanity in embracing that adulation.

Peter outlines this theology in common sense language:  “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others…with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory…” (1 Pet.  4:10-11). Jesus phrased it even more succinctly: “let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” And Paul reaffirms the mandate that we must do everything, even eating and drinking, ultimately for the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31).

The Art of Admiration

Nature itself exposits countless activities that spawn our wonderment and awe. For instance, the origin of the universe 13 ½ billion years ago, starting with the  Big Bang—the now accepted theory proposed in 1927 by the abbot-astronomer, Lemaitre. Easterbrook’s fascinating book, Beside Still Waters—Searching for Meaning in a World of Doubt, says that astrophysicists have ascertained that, with a slightly less violent “Big Bang” explosion, the cosmos would have collapsed back upon itself, while with slightly more violence it would have left the cosmos too thinly dispersed to permit the aggregation of matter into stars and galaxies. The very nature of that unimaginably condensed pinpoint of matter allowed for an extremely small “margin of error” between too much and too little explosive energy. That “margin of error” was about one-quadrillionth of 1% of the ideal!  How could one not be amazed at that?

And how could anyone not admire the divine wisdom and divine power that engineered the drama of creation, drawing matter from non-existence into existence?  Amazement at that great cosmic event overshadows our amazement at any human talent into a mere ho-hum observation. If you have a need for hero-worship and you’re looking for an awesome celebrity, you would do well to start with the Almighty himself. Then you’ll view all human celebrities as fragments of a broken mirror, with each reflecting his splendor.

Amazement gives birth to admiration—the emotion that appreciates and extols the one in whom a talent is manifest. That’s what makes a celebrity to be the cynosure of our attention. Amazement relates to an ability or attractiveness, while admiration is directed toward the person manifesting those qualities. Admiration is thus a kind of awe or wonderment in recognizing someone’s “amazing” ability or attractiveness. That’s the simple dynamic of “hero-worship.”

This sort of amazement-admiration was often directed to Jesus during his earthly sojourn—an admiration observed in his human nature. The amazement that triggered the admiration he received was, for instance, in response to his incisive and awe-inspiring teaching—even as a 12-year-old discussing theology with the rabbinical elders. “Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers” (Luke 2:47).  Later, his “render-to-Caesar” teaching and his miracle working and healing educed the same response. But it was at his healing of the paralytic that the witnesses effectuated the ultimate purpose of human amazement and admiration: “Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God,” while the patient himself “went home praising God” (Luke 5:25-26).

The transition from amazement to admiration requires some degree of spiritual insight and maturity. A child can be amazed by a magic trick without admiring the magician. A spiritually immature adult, such as an atheist, can be amazed by the wonders of nature without adverting appreciatively to the Creator that caused those wonders. Amazement without admiration is truncated insight.

Once the amazement is person-focused, it becomes admiration for that person; it may be termed hero-worship or a marveling, that is, admiration of the person. But a third stage is called for, namely articulating that admiration. When articulated, one’s admiration becomes an act of glorifying the person who is admired for his greatness. Every creature with a functioning intellect is morally obliged to glorify the Creator with what is theologically referred to as “formal glory.” It is classically defined by St. Augustine as clara cum laude notitia (full acknowledgement with praise).

A simple example of this theology of glorification can be found in the above-mentioned case of the miraculously healed paralytic in Luke 5. The gospel says that “he went home praising God.” The onlookers, it says, by “seeing incredible things that day were seized with astonishment” and “glorified God.” Thus, they grew rapidly through three stages—from amazement to the admiration of Jesus, to glorifying God. Hero-worship of Jesus thus eventuated in glorifying God.

To glorify someone is to praise that person. When one’s praise is directed to God, either directly in a specific prayer of praise, like Psalm 89, or indirectly by adverting to the gifts and talents of his creatures, you can be sure it is incipiated by the Holy Spirit, as Paul says in Romans 2:29. And the Holy Spirit as the Sanctifier, fashions that praise into a sanctifying experience,

Take a moment to excite amazement at your own talents and gifts, whether limited or outstanding; then observe the talents of others around you. You and they are all celebrities in God’s eyes, having God-breathed gifts and talents designed to be used for the glory of the Divine Celebrity of the cosmos.

You may still be a fan, but you’re better than that—you’re a celebrity!

John H. Hampsch, cmf

One of the many purposes of suffering—one seldom recognized as such—is its ability to equip us to comfort and encourage others effectively; it fashions us into more refined instruments in the hands of the divine Comforter. As with so many insights into suffering, this one is primarily Pauline: “The Father of compassion and the God of all comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God…Through Christ our comfort overflows” (2 Cor.1:4-5).

All self-help groups are really the afflicted comforting the afflicted. Alcoholics Anonymous has proven that no one can help an alcoholic as well as one who has struggled with that same problem and compassionates the victim in his struggle. This one-to-one comforting ability is enormously enhanced when, as Paul says, our comforting overflows “through Christ.”

But this first requires that we have learned to suffer with Christ, whose sufferings “flow over into our lives” (verse 5).  Peter says, “If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength that God provides…through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet.4:11). Those who are most effective in providing spiritual and emotional strength to AIDS or cancer patients or the elderly infirm, the bereaved, or any distressed person, are those who have had the maturity to recognize in their own adversities the love of God, his wisdom and the grandeur of his sovereign will.

Such wounded comforters, in channeling God’s soothing love to his precious children languishing in misery, transmit Jesus’ own presence to a suffering humanity. They happily share in his prophesied messianic calling “to comfort all who mourn and provide for those who grieve…to bestow on them the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair” (Is. 61:3).

 The greatest challenge of Christian spirituality is to believe that no one is intrinsically unlovable, and no one is intrinsically unforgivable. No one can keep you from loving or forgiving, although you’ll find persons who will refuse to accept your love or your forgiveness. You are sure to find persons who cross your path in life who are simply hard to love and hard to forgive. That’s the challenge.

Remember, forgiving is not condoning an evil; it is accepting the evildoer with a spiritual love, which is not necessarily an emotional friendship love, or a romantic love  or marital love, etc., but a “benevolential” love, as St. Thomas calls it. To use the words of St. Augustine, “you must hate the sin, as God hates the sin; but you must love the sinner, as God loves the sinner.” This obligatory type of love is also called agape love. ” It is exercised by the will, not necessarily the emotions; it is an interior act of  “benevolence” by which we  sincerely desire good for the person–the good of his salvation, not wishing his damnation; wishing for him the good of his repentance, and growth in holiness. It requires a form of Christian zeal of desiring the good of his repentance as well as his spiritual growth. Hence, forgiveness does not mean that you must like a person who offended you (and more importantly, offended God), but it means that you must love that person with a truly spiritual love—a benevolential love , a kind of  “wishing-well” love, as explained above.

Read very carefully and prayerfully the four rules that Jesus proclaims about relating to our enemies (Luke 6:27-36):  1) love your enemy (with spiritual, benevolential, agape love); 2) do good to your enemy, not just refrain from doing evil toward him; 3) pray for your enemy; and 4) call down God’s special blessings on your enemy (things like happiness, good health, peace, joy, prosperity, etc.).

 Those four commands of Jesus are the applications and also the sign of authentic Christianity: “By this will all know that you are my disciples, that you show your love for one another” That includes your enemies! And the love required is the agape love described above. When emotional love or romantic love, or friendship love or conjugal love is almost dead and hard to revive, this agape love is easy for any true follower of Jesus. We must strive, with God’s grace, to exercise that kind of love in every trying situation, and allow our example to show others how they can and must do the same.

 In the words of Pope St. Pius V, “In loving our enemies, there shines forth in us some likeness to God our Father, who by the death of his Son, ransomed from everlasting perdition and reconciled to himself those previously hostile toward him.  Following God’s example, we must desire for everyone eternal life; additionally, every Christian has the duty to respect and try to understand everyone without exception, because of his dignity as a human person, made to the image and likeness of the Creator.”

 Check yourself by this critical test. If some hurtful episode happened not to you, but to a stranger down the street from you,  you should, of course, be saddened that God had been offended by the sin of the assailant—the rapist, mugger, hit-and-run driver, or whatever.  However, since you were not personally offended in that hypothetical situation, you probably would not be indignant or feel bitterness toward the assailant. However, if you were the victim, would you be embittered or hate-filled or indignant? If so, why?  Because you were the victim.  We should be equally indignant toward any sin, regardless of whether we were the victim or another person, friend or stranger. Otherwise the resentment or bitterness would show nothing but self-centered self-pity, rather than a deep concern that God was offended –far more than you were as the victim.

It is hard to forgive when we –not only others—are offended.  We tend to forget Jesus’ words, “Be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). Or the words of the Lord’s Prayer: “Forgive us as we forgive.”  In the words of James 2:13, “Mercy will not be shown to anyone who is not merciful. “ This mandate is most vehemently expressed by Jesus himself in Matthew 6:15: “If you do not forgive others, your heavenly Father will not forgive you your sins.” Any unforgiving person is not just immature, but remains in a horrible sin-soiled state that leaves their very salvation in peril.

Think about God’s uncompromising demand to forgive on the occasion of the next hurtful thing you experience from another.  Ponder it well, not just now, but every time you are offended by anyone.

John H. Hampsch, cmf

John H. Hampsch, cmf

Here’s a head-scratcher for you.

Imagine the earth as a smooth, non-mountainous ball, girded by a metal band at the equator. Now imagine enlarging that 25,000-mile band by, let us say, for example, an extra 50 feet, thus loosening it all around. Guess how much space would be left between that band and the earth at any given point. Could you slip your finger under it, or crawl under it or stand or walk under it? The answer? You could walk under it, since the enlarged band would then be about eight feet above the surface—get this—at every point around the globe.

But wait. If the band tightly encircled not the earth, but the moon, or a basketball or a cantaloupe, that band, when expanded by the same amount, 50 feet, would have exactly the same eight-foot separation as with the earth.

The same phenomenon can be considered from another point of view. Thus, amazingly, adding only 50 feet of fencing around any size circular field, even many miles wide, would add room for an 8-foot-wide path all the way around it. Mathematically, the circumference is irrelevant to the radial increase.

Parallel to this remarkable “Euclidean mathematical constant,” there’s an even more remarkable “spiritual constant.” It’s seen in the constancy of God’s loving mercy—in its availability to every sinner (that’s all of us!), regardless of each person’s individual “circumference of sin”—that is, their accumulated guilt.

There are many types of sinners, with many types of “sin circumference.” They range from terrorists, like Saul before he became St. Paul, to immoral profligates, like St. Augustine, to saintly souls like Mother Teresa, whose peccadilloes probably never exceeded that of momentary impatience.

Whether your “sin circumference” is great or small, God’s awesome mercy is equally and constantly available to you. Both the dissolute prodigal son and his faithful but resentful brother experienced their Father’s love (Luke 15:31). Nothing is more constant than God’s love focused on each of us sinners on this sin-pocked planet. And nothing is more constant than his forgiveness and mercy for absolutely every sinner who turns to him in humble repentance. “Whoever confesses and renounces sin finds mercy,” says Proverbs 28:13.

The divine constancy of the Lord’s merciful love can make any person break through the encircling bonds of sin and expand their love of God until it melts into sincere repentance. David’s love of God did that: “Have mercy on me, as you always do to those who love your name” (Ps. 119:132). The unbinding and expanding by repentance is nothing more or less than a heartfelt regret at having offended the gentle Savior who, while hating sin itself, loves, beyond all measure, every sinner, great or small. His limitless, universal, extravagant and unwavering love for each of us adds new dimensions to the word “constant,” for “his compassions never fail. They are new every morning” (Lam. 3:22-23).

With that assurance, it’s inane to neglect the loving invitation of God’s word in Hebrews 4:16: “Let us approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy, and find grace to help us in our time of need.”  ++

John H. Hampsch, cmf

One of the most disconcerting types of suffering is that which results from being targeted by another person as the object of an evil curse, (similar to a hex, which is a witchcraft-induced evil spell). A curse or hex may take any of countless manifestations; and, in many cases, the victim may never know who the culprit is who imprecated the curse or hex.

A curse may be cultural (Gypsy, Indian, Italian, etc.); it may be of occultic or Satanic origin, or simply an act of perverse retaliation as a kind of vendetta—simply an enmity-engendered hatred from another person. Invoking curses is a frequent practice among those involved in any of the many evil forms of occultism, such as Santeria, Voodoo, Obeah, etc. Anyone who invokes a curse is certainly (knowingly or otherwise) under demonic influence. By invoking a curse such a person commits the most heinous sin against the virtue of charity that is possible; it delights Satan, but calls down the vengeance of God upon the one responsible. The most serious type of curse is one that turns a good Christian into an irreligious or anti-religious person. The most difficult type of curse to break is one invoked by a family member or by a living or deceased ancestor.

The following may be regarded as effective Catholic norms for responding, if you are unfortunate enough to be targeted by a curse or hex:

1) Your success in drawing down God’s power against a curse will be in proportion to the level of your faith. In the words of Jesus, “According to your faith it will be done” (Matt. 9:29). It helps to elicit a faith-filled prayer of deliverance from a priest, a mature Christian or a prayer group. Like healing or any prayer-induced miracle, curse-lifting is not a frequent occurrence. Why? Because most people pridefully overestimate their own faith; they are satisfied with their low level of faith that is enough to induce them to pray frantically for relief, but not enough to humbly beg for a deeper degree of faith that would trigger that sought-for relief. Praying for a cure is less important than praying for enough faith to induce that cure. The latter must come first, as Jesus taught when correcting his apostles’ failed attempt at exorcism (Mark 9:19 and 23).

2)  Make frequent and fervent use of the Sacraments—especially by very humble and contrite confessions, and by receiving Communion with exquisite devotion and love. The Enemy’s power, even when operating through malicious human agents, is vastly reduced when these Sacraments are received, not routinely, but humbly and devoutly.

3) Never reverse a curse by calling down harm on the person or persons responsible for this flood of evil. (See 1 Peter 3:9 and Rom. 12:17-21).

4) Stand meditatively and expectantly beneath the cross of Jesus to be covered symbolically by his Precious Blood as a shield to deflect the onslaughts of evil in the afflicting curse. By that “atoning blood” (Rom. 3:24) shed on the cross, the forces of evil are disarmed and conquered, as Paul says (Col. 2:15).

5) Do the four things that Jesus asks us to do in relating to our enemies, like those who invoke curses on us; these are outlined in Luke 6:27-28. The four things are: Love your enemy, do good to your enemy, pray for your enemy and call down God’s special blessings on your enemy (see also 1 Pet. 3:9). Love of enemies is a challenge, but loving in this context does not mean liking. It means benevolential love, or “agape” love, as St. Thomas Aquinas says. This love consists in desiring good for one’s enemies. Yearn for their salvation, not their damnation; desire that they repent and become holy. In this endeavor, St. Augustine’s maxim is pertinent: Hate the sin but love the sinner, as God does.

Every Christian must sincerely desire that bad persons become good, like the great terrorist, Saul, who, when converted became St. Paul, a champion of Christianity; or, like the thief, Dismas, when dying next to Jesus, was canonized by him: “This day you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). In the words of Jude 22, “Snatch others from the fire and save them…show mercy.” James 5:20 speaks of the amazing benefits of converting a sinner from his life of sin. If you turn from sin the one cursing you, that enemy will befriend you for all eternity.

6)  Until the time arrives for you to be released from the curse, strive to conform to even hidden moves of Providence, with faith-reliance on Jesus as demon-evictor (Mark 16:17). Offer up your sufferings that result from the curse or curses. Like all suffering, disappointment, adversity, etc., this unique type of suffering should be united–even joyfully–with Jesus’ redemptive suffering (1 Pet. 4:13). Don’t waste suffering that could otherwise lead to your sanctification and consequent reward. Carrying this cross courageously infuriates the Devil and his demons lurking behind this evil. Sustaining the affliction will grace-fill your soul, help other souls, and reward you for all eternity (see Heb. 6: 10-11).

7)  For curse-breaking, invoke the angels and saints, your guardian angel and patron saint, Archangel Michael, and the especially the sinless Virgin Mary who is prophesied to crush the head of the sinful serpent (Gen. 3:15).

Of course, you should seek relief from the effects of a curse, as you would for sickness or any hurtful situation. But meanwhile, as you await your release, use your curse-caused suffering; though it is admittedly hurtful, it may well be the very sacrifice used by God to obtain salvation for your persecutors,  as well as your own sanctification and your unimaginable heavenly reward.

The bottom line is this: after our lifelong struggle against evil, the last chapter of the Bible tells how it will all end. With Christ, we are the winners!

+++++++++++++++

John H. Hampsch, cmf

“When all is said and done, more is said than done.”

Among the 10,000 one-liners in Henry Youngman’s Encyclopedia of One-Liners, (Ballymore Books, NY, 1989) that particular one-liner applies most appropriately to divine revelation. Even in the most succinct examples of divine revelation, like the Ten Commandments, certainly “more is said than done.” If anyone actually fulfilled all of God’s expressed mandates, accepted his many invitations, heeded his countless promises, reveled in his proclaimed glory, melted in his awesome love, or surrendered to his offered embrace of mercy and compassion, such a person would merit instant canonization.

The holy word of God, in a most poignant way, shows not just what the Lord wants us to do, but also tells us also how we can become more receptive to it. For instance, in Chapter 19 of the First Book of Kings, we find the premiere prophet Elijah learning a basic lesson in how to discern the voice of God. That pericope clearly and emphatically demonstrates how he speaks to us and guides us even personally in any specific calling or even our life-vocation. He does this, not by ostentatious means (as he showed Elijah by his divine silence in the violent wind, the earthquake and the fire). On the contrary, as he taught that great prophet, the Lord speaks very softly, by “a gentle whisper.” At times, this can be a mere “soul-whisper”—one intended to be perceived and exquisitely discerned only in quiet prayer.

Elijah had come to Mt. Horeb by his own decision, not by God’s direction, as he had done in previous journeys. By God’s “whispering voice” (in this occasion, it was a personalized word of God called a “rhema”), Elijah was told to return to the Desert of Damascus, where he was to encounter Elisha, whom he was to anoint to become his protégé and pre-eminent successor-prophet (verse 21). Because he acted without first consulting and listening to the Almighty, Elijah had to face the arduous task of retracing his steps.

The lesson here is that we should listen for the word of God, which most often, but not always, is uttered in “divine whispers.” “His sheep follow him because they know his voice (John 10:4). God’s “voice” may communicate very subtly through a compelling insight of a biblical passage, by a simple spiritual inspiration, by a nudging of one’s own well-formed conscience, by an ecclesiastical norm, by a holy tradition, or even by an inspiring example of another person. To dispose ourselves to receive from the Lord any revelation, whether subtle or trenchantly forceful, with the generous intention of implementing it in our life, we must cultivate an ever-present mental posture patterned after that stated in Psalm 85, verse 8: “I will listen to what God the Lord will say.” In its context, the psalmist’s assertion suggests an ongoing mentality of eager waiting to learn what God wants of us in response.

Once we have definitely established that mentality, we’ll be overwhelmed with the conviction that, in the Creator-creature dialog as it relates to us personally, God in his revelation has said much, while we have done little in response. The epithet in that setting is seen as more than a clever bromide; it is viewed as a humbling heaven-uttered indictment: Truly, “when all is said and done, more is said (by God) than done (by us).”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

John H. Hampsch, CMF

“What’s in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

That oft-quoted Shakespearean truism may ring true for most names of persons or objects in most cultures in recent centuries. But in the Middle East in ancient times, a person’s name was more than a mere label to distinguish one person from another. A name served to describe a person’s qualities, characteristics, values, or goals. Hence, in biblical times, names were often changed to denote a change or upgrading of vocation or status (something like the names of popes, monks, nuns, etc. today). Hence, Abram morphed to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah, Jacob to Israel, Simon to Peter, Saul to Paul, etc.

Thus, in a biblical mindset, a personal name conveyed something significant by which the individual could be better known. Thus, the various names referring to God revealed something about him of profound significance. For instance, the name Elohim—a plural form in Hebrew—suggests a pre-Christian hint of the Trinitarian nature of God, like the name Adonai, which stresses God as man’s master, authority, and provider. El Shaddai (Almighty God) emphasizes his power; El Elyon (the Most High God) portrays his strength, sovereignty and supremacy, El Olam (the Everlasting God) implied that he is unchangeable and inexhaustible. Yahweh, in its vowel-less Hebrew form, YHWH, bespeaks its own reverence in being unutterable; it suggests that the very entity of God is self-existent. It is a name rephrased through the Bible in multiple compounds in various contexts.

Once we grasp this often-unappreciated truth that names provide knowledge about the one named, the words of Jesus’ prayer of John 17:3 become profoundly nuanced and spiritually meaningful for us, prompting us in some mysterious way to know God: “This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and to know Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

That insight should inspire us to a devotional use of the name of God in its generic form, as well as in some of its more specific forms found in the sacred Scriptures. God, as revealed by his names in the Old Covenant is shown to become even more meaningful to us in the New Covenant, where he is staged in his incarnate form as the God-man, Jesus Christ, with a litany of names like Good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus, Our Savior, Redeemer, Master, etc. God’s sacred revelation of himself is projected in the New Covenant even more beautifully than in the Old, for it is in the New Testament that our awesome Deity is unveiled as even more self-revealing—and more love- revealing!

In five places in John’s gospel, Jesus, as the Incarnate God, tells us to “ask in his name.” The devout exploration of the various names of our Divine Creature-Creator can enable our entire life to become God-centered. Such a meditation should become an integral part of our daily life, for it is an all-pervasive and life-framing mandate of God’s holy word. You’ll find it emblazoned in the sublime words of Paul to the Colossians (3:17): “Everything you do or say should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus as you give thanks through him to God the Father.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

John H. Hampsch, C.M.F.

Think for a moment of one of your loved ones who has passed away some time ago, and recall the grief you experienced at the funeral. Give yourself a “numerical” score for your grief at that time, on a scale of 1 to 100. Now think about the death of a victim of terrorism that you read about in yesterday’s newspaper, and give yourself a “grief score” for that tragic event. How do your two scores compare? Why is there such a divergence in the grief experienced in the first as compared to the grief (if any) from reading the news event? The answer, of course is the degree of love and the type of love for the deceased—in one case, deep and intense, and in the other, distant and almost casual. The greater the love, the greater the loss experienced when the beloved is taken away. Whether it is the loss of a pet or the loss of a diamond ring, the pain of the loss or of deprivation is always proportionate to the affection toward the person or attachment to the object. Jesus wept at the death of his good friend Lazarus (“Behold how he loved him!”), even though he was dead for only four days before his miraculous resurrection.

Now take another test—a test in terms of time-lapse rather than closeness of relationship. How intense is your “grief score” today—perhaps years after the loss of a dear one—compared to your grief at the funeral? There may be surging “waves” of heartache periodically, but overall, you have probably learned that “time heals all wounds” (for some bereaved persons this healing is faster than for others). This is God’s gentle bereavement “anesthetic.” “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matt. 5:4).

The bereaved soul who “walks with the Lord” in the courage and trust infused by the renowned 23^rd psalm, walks with him through the valley of the shadow of death; there’s no evil in a shadow—no venom in serpent’s shadow and no cutting edge in the shadow of a sword. The Good Shepherd who “has borne our grief and carried our sorrows” (Is. 53:4), leads both the dead—and also the mourning survivors—through the valley of the shadow of death. A valley is a fruitful plain; death is spiritually fruitful for the sheep dying in the arms of the Good Shepherd, as well as for the afflicted and lonely sheep bereft of their presence. The living who linger behind are called to trust in his promise,  proclaimed in his holy word: “The Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended” (Is. 60:19-20).

Moreover, death is a “walk” through this valley—a gentle, pleasant walk. Noble Christians take delight in their pleasurable walk into the next world, stepping forward willingly as they take leave of this world, linking arms with the Master in the beautiful healing walk called death. And they walk “through” this valley, never getting lost in it; they trust their great Shepherd to get them safely to the mountain of glories beyond the valley. Trust for any loved one, living or dead, is simply the act of committing them totally to the Lord, knowing that “people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them light has shone” (Is. 9:2). While fostering a tranquil but prayerful concern for their posthumous spiritual needs, our mourning for our beloved dead should be without any worrisome anxiety.

Do our beloved dead leave us, or do we leave them? They must somehow feel that we leave them if we don’t paradoxically “rejoice with them as we weep for them.” If we truly love someone, we are happy to know that they’re happy, even though we are sad in being deprived of their immediate loving presence. But that’s where trust in God reaches its peak. For those whose trust falters under the grief of bereavement, Paul has a comforting word: “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope [trust]” (1 Thess. 4:13).

While condolences from our friends can be very helpful, ultimately we must look only to God to sustain us and dissolve our anguish. “This is my comfort in my distress, that your promise gives me life” (Ps. 119:50).

Both before and during your time of bereavement it would be most beneficial to meditate on the following norms for bereavement presented in God’s holy word in the book of Sirach, 38:16-23:

My child, let your tears fall for the dead, and as one in great pain begin the lament. Lay out the body with due ceremony, and do not neglect the burial.

Let your weeping be bitter and your wailing fervent; make your mourning worthy of the departed, for one day, or two, to avoid criticism; then be comforted for your grief.

For grief may result in harm, and a sorrowful heart saps one’s strength.

In calamity sorrow continues, and the life of the poor weighs down the heart.

Do not give your heart to grief; drive it away, and remember your own end.

Do not forget, there is no coming back; you do the dead no good, and you injure yourself.

Remember his fate, for yours is like it; yesterday it was his, and today it is yours.

When the dead is at rest, let his remembrance rest too, and be comforted when his spirit has departed.

+++++++++++++++

Venerable Matt Talbot

Here are prayers for those addicted to alcohol, drugs, pornography, food, or any other type of addiction.

The feastday of Ven. Matt Talbot is June 19^th.

Short prayer: (say for nine days)

May Matt Talbot’s triumph over addiction, brings hope to our community and strength to our hearts, may he intercede for ___(name)___who struggles with his/her addiction, through Christ Our Lord, Amen

Longer Prayer: (say for nine days) Prayer for the Addicted.

God of mercy, we bless you in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, who ministered to all who come to Him. Give Your strength to (name of the person or persons who have addictions) Your servant(s), bound by the chains of addiction. Enfold him/her in Your love and restore him/her to the freedom of God’s children. Lord, look with compassion on all those who have lost their health and freedom. Restore to them the assurance of Your unfailing mercy, and strengthen them in the work of recovery. To those who care for them, grant patient understanding and a love that perseveres. We ask this through Christ our Lord, Amen

For his beatification:

“Lord, in your servant, Matt Talbot you have given us a wonderful example of triumph over addiction, of devotion to duty, and of lifelong reverence of the Holy Sacrament. May his life of prayer and penance give us courage to take up our crosses and follow in the footsteps of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Father, if it be your will that your beloved servant should be glorified by your Church, make known by your heavenly favours the power he enjoys in your sight. We ask this through the same Jesus Christ Our Lord, Amen

To read more on the life of Matt Talbot:

http://venerablematttalbotresourcecenter.blogspot.com/