God wants a contrite heart'

"The reason why our prayers ought to be frequent and brief is in case
the enemy, who is out to trap us, should slip a distraction to us if ever we are long-drawn-out. There lies true sacrifice. 'The sacrifice which God
wants is a contrite heart' (Ps. 50:19). This indeed is the saving oblation,
the pure offering, the sacrifice of justification, the sacrifice of praise. These are the real and rich thank offerings, the fat holocausts offered
by contrite and humble hearts."
--St. John Cassian.

<<>><<>><<>>
July 22nd - Saint Mary Magdalen, Penitent

Commenting on St. Mary Magdalene, the Roman Martyrology says that
after Our Lord expelled the devils from her, she became so perfect
that she was worthy to be the first person to see Him resurrected.


Comments of the late Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira: (died 1995)

The famous episode in a banquet where St. Mary Magdalene washed the
feet of Our Lord Jesus Christ with perfume reveals some facets of her personality and her position in the Church.

We know that she was a sister of Lazarus. According to the traditions
and documents of that time, he was a person of high society, because
he had a rank of a prince and was very wealthy. He had been a prince
of a small people (tribe, clan) who had been incorporated into the
Jewish nation, and still had the title and honors of a prince even
though he no longer played a political role. Therefore, he and his two
sisters, Mary and Martha, were persons of a high social level.

However, Mary Magdalene strayed from the good path and became a public
sinner. She repented profoundly and became a model of two different
things: contemplation and penance.

Her contemplation was marked in contrast with the active life of
Martha, who censured Mary for not caring about the needs of the house
but only about staying close to Our Lord listening to Him and admiring
Him. Our Lord told her: “Martha, Martha, Mary has chosen the better
part, and it will not be taken from her.” She represents pure
contemplation, unlinked to the active life.

Her repentance, her penance, and her perfect fidelity prepared her to
stand with Our Lady and St. John at the foot of the Cross. Her penance
was so perfect and the pardon she received so great that she achieved
an extraordinary union with Our Lord. Studying her case, some serious theologians even raised the hypothesis that perhaps penance is more
beautiful than innocence.

In the episode of the banquet, she represented penance, contemplation
and complete detachment from worldly goods. To the contrary, Judas
represented treason, hatred dissimulated under the pretext of charity,
and attachment to material things. The opposition between Mary
Magdalene and Judas could not be more flagrant.

After that episode, the opposition continued. She, the repentant
sinner, was faithful and stood at the foot of the Cross. He, the
damned Apostle, was the one who delivered Jesus Christ to be
crucified. She was the first to witness the Resurrection of Our Lord
and His ascension to Heaven to meet the Eternal Father; the impenitent
Judas hanged himself in despair and hurled himself into Hell to meet
the Devil. The antitheses are strong and expressive. On one hand, in
Mary Magdalene, we see repentance, pure contemplation and detachment
from worldly goods. On the other hand, in Judas, we find final
impenitence, total attachment to money and cupidity for worldly goods.

St. Louis Grignion of Montfort distinguished two types of human
psychology: those who are like Jacob and those like Esau. St. Mary
Magdalene is characteristic of one with the spirit of Jacob: she had a
superior soul turned toward heavenly things and indifferent to the
things of this world. Judas, the opposite, was a type like Esau. He
not only sold his birthrights for a plate of lentils, but much worse,
he sold his Savior for thirty coins.

Fra Angelico painted the scene of the kiss of Judas delivering Our
Lord to the Jewish soldiers. He painted Our Lord’s head surrounded
with a golden halo, and Judas’ head with a black halo. He wanted to
express that Judas was the son of iniquity, the damned Apostle whose
spirit was one of sin and darkness, while Our Lord’s was filled with
sanctity and light. We could apply this to the contrast between St.
Mary Magdalene and Judas. One had a golden halo, the other a black
halo.

When St. Mary Magdalene repented, she completely rejected all those
things that had induced her to sin. In her case, this constituted the
brilliant things of life. As penance she distanced herself totally
from such things, she completely detached herself from them. To
achieve such detachment she abandoned all links with the active life
and became a pure contemplative. Her contemplation, therefore, was
born from penance and detachment. It made her understand the
excellence of heavenly things and how every created thing was made to
serve and glorify heavenly things. So, nothing could be more
consistent for her than to take a very valuable perfume and pour it on
the divine feet of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

What had induced the despicable Judas to be attached to money, which
led him to hate Our Lord? Yes, I say hate, because no one betrays the
Man-God as he did only for a profit. What induced Judas to steal the
alms collected for the poor? No one can know for sure, but one can
raise a hypothesis.

When Our Lord was preaching His doctrine, Judas was probably thinking
about other things, for instance, about the prestige of the Pharisees
in Jerusalem and how he would like to do something to impress them.
So, he wanted to become rich and have a parallel career in order to be considered an important man by the Pharisees. He started to think
about these things of this world and fell into sin, he started to
steal money. This habit made him more and more hostile to Our Lord.
The process continued to the final extreme, where Judas handed over
Our Lord to the ones he admired and wanted to impress, and also to
make some money.

The processes of both, Mary Magdalene and Judas, are logical. One has
the logic of the golden halo; the other, the logic of the black halo.
The pathway of a woman who was in sin and became a saint crossed the
pathway of an Apostle who was in grace and became a traitor.

What was the most profound reason why one repented and other fell into
despair? In my opinion it is because of their different relations with
Our Lady.

St. Mary Magdalene was always close to Our Lady, helping her and
giving her support, above all at the supreme moment when her Son was
crucified and died on Calvary. Judas, however, was cold toward Our
Lady. Catharine Emmerich says that before the treason was consummated,
Our Lady, who knew what he was planning, approached Judas and spoke
with him for a long time, trying to convert him. He rejected
everything, and the Gospel affirms that after the Last Supper, the
Devil entered his soul.

The woman who had warm and close relations with Our Lady became one of
the greatest saints of the Church, who in Heaven certainly is very
close to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. The Apostle who was cold
toward her became the son of perdition, who was pictured by Dante
inside the very mouth of Satan in the deepest place of Hell.

This contrast has many lessons. The principal one is for us to be as
close as possible to Our Lady, no matter what our situations are,
whether we be in the state of grace or in sin.

http://www.traditioninaction.org/SOD/j083sdOlMaryMagdalen_7-22.htm


Saint Quote:
I find myself so bound to the divine will that neither death nor life
is important: I want to live as He wishes and I want to serve Him as
He likes, and nothing more.
-- Saint Rose Venerini

Bible Quote:
He who believes in Me, the works that I do he also shall do, and
greater than these shall he do.  (John 14:12)


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Prayer to St. Dymphna - Prudence

You were marked in life, St. Dymphna, by a high degree of
prudence. You sought and followed the advice of your
confessor and spiritual guide. You fled from temptation even
when it meant exile and poverty. In your last extremity you
chose to die rather than offend God. Please help us now by
your merits not only to know what is right, but procure for us
also the strength to do it. Amen.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

God wants a contrite heart'

"The reason why our prayers ought to be frequent and brief is in case
the enemy, who is out to trap us, should slip a distraction to us if ever we are long-drawn-out. There lies true sacrifice. `The sacrifice which God
wants is a contrite heart' (Ps. 50:19). This indeed is the saving oblation,
the pure offering, the sacrifice of justification, the sacrifice of praise. These are the real and rich thank offerings, the fat holocausts offered
by contrite and humble hearts."
--St. John Cassian.

<<>><<>><<>>
July 23rd - John Cassian

This patriarch of monachism, commonly known simply as Cassian, was
born about 360, probably in the Dobruja (Romania), and may have fought
against Goths at the battle of Adrianople. Somewhere about the year
380 he set out with a friend, Germanus, to visit the holy places of
Palestine. In Bethlehem they became monks. In those days the heart of
the contemplative life was in Egypt, and before long they went into
that country, and visited in turn the famous holy men who from their
solitudes "had a great mission to the world, not only a mission of
prayer for the needs of the world, but a great mission to edify and
instruct the ages after them" (Ullathorne).

For a time they lived as hermits under Archebius, and then Cassian penetrated into the desert of Skete, there to hunt out the anchorites
concealed among its burning rocks and live with the monks in their
cenobia. For some reason unknown, about the year 400 he crossed over
to Constantinople. He became a disciple of St. John Chrysostom, by
whom he was ordained deacon, and when that great saint was
uncanonically condemned and deposed Cassian was among those sent to
Rome to defend the archbishop's cause to Pope St. Innocent I. It is
possible that he was ordained priest while in Rome, but nothing more
is known of his life until several years later, when he was in
Marseilles.

Here Cassian founded two monasteries, one, whose church was built over
the tomb of St. Victor the martyr, for monks, the other for nuns; and
there radiated from him and his foundations the spirit and ideal of
Egyptian asceticism which had great effect on the Church of southern
Gaul. For the instruction and guidance of religious he drew up his
Institutes of the Monastic Life and Conferences*...{*Collationes, a
word which has crept into our common speech. For "collation", in the
sense of a meal, derives from the monastic custom of reading
collationes (not necessarily Cassian's) while food is taken.}... on
the Egyptian Monks, and these were destined to have an influence far
beyond anything within the intention of the author; for, with the
Vitae patrum and the Rule of St Basil, they were recommended by St
Benedict as the most suitable reading for his monks after the Bible,
and had the greatest influence on his rule, both in the planning of
its life and the adumbration of its spirituality.

Through St. Benedict, Cassian has left his mark on all Christendom. In
the first four books of the Institutes he describes a way of living as
a pattern for the monastic state; the rest of the work is devoted to
the virtues which the monk must strive for and the deadly sins that
lie in wait for him in common with all Christians.

He prefaces the book with the declaration that, "I shall make no
attempt to relate anecdotes of miracles and prodigies. For although
I have heard of many unbelievable marvels from my elders and have seen
some with my own eyes, I have wholly omitted them because they
contribute nothing but astonishment to the instruction of the reader
in the perfect life."

That sobriety is characteristic of Cassian.

It is surprising that Cassian is not named in the Roman Martyrology;
but doubtless he was not included by Baronius because he came to be
regarded as the originator and leading exponent of that teaching which
is now known as Semi-Pelagianism. His views were expressed in the
course of a controversy about St. Augustine's “On Rebuke and Grace”,
and may more fairly be called "anti-Augustinian". All St. John
Cassian's later life was passed at Marseilles, where he died about
433; there his feast is kept today and by the Byzantines on February
29.

There is no ancient life of Cassian, but a good deal of information
may be found collected in the Acta Sanctorum, July, vol. v; see also
the introduction to Petschenig's edition of his works in the Vienna
Corpus script. eccl. Lat. English trans. of works by E.C.S. Gibson
(1894). Most writers who are concerned with early monasticism make
frequent reference to him, e.g. Herwegen, Albers and C. Butler.
Cassian has received a good deal of attention lately, e.g. L.
Cristiani's Cassien (2 vols., 1946); but an even better book on the
strictly biographical side is O. Chadwick's John Cassian (1950), full bibliography. Cf. also DHG., vol. xi.

Saint Quotes:
“Whoever has achieved love
has God within himself
and his intellect is always with God.”

“No structure of virtue
can possibly be raised in our soul
unless, first, the foundations
of true humility are laid in our heart.”

“The thief on the cross certainly did not receive
the Kingdom of Heaven as a reward for his virtues
but as a grace and a mercy from God.
He can serve as an authentic witness
that our salvation is given to us
only by God’s mercy and grace.
All the holy masters knew this
and unanimously taught
that perfection in holiness
can be achieved only through humility.”
--St John Cassian (c 360- c 435)

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O Lord our God, grant us grace to desire you with a whole heart,
so that desiring you we may seek you with a whole heart,
so that desiring you we may seek and find you;
and so finding you, may love you; and loving you,
may hate those sins which separate us from you,
for the sake of Jesus Christ.
--St. Anselm (1033-1109)

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)