September: Our Lady of Sorrows

 History of the Devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows
The seven founders of the Servite Order, in 1239, five years after they established themselves on Monte Senario, took up the sorrows of Mary, standing under the Cross, as the principal devotion of their order. The feast originated by a provincial synod of Cologne (1413) to expiate the crimes of the iconoclast Hussites.

It was kept at a great variety of dates, mostly during Eastertide or shortly after Pentecost, or on some fixed day of a month. From the end of the fifteenth century in several dioceses the scope of this feast was widened to commemorate either five dolours (sorrows), from the imprisonment to the burial of Christ, or seven dolours, extending over the entire life of Mary.
Pius VII extended the feast to the Latin Church (September 18, 1814).

September 8: Birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Be sure to visit our parish on September 8 to celebrate Our Lady’s Birthday. We will honor the Mother of God , as we do every year, with a bouquet of Rosaries, prayed every hour from 8AM to 5PM. Won’t you join us for this special devotion?

We do not usually celebrate the birthdays of the saints. Instead we celebrate the day they died, because that is the day they were born into the joys of heaven.
But the birthday of Mary, our Blessed Mother, is an exception. We do celebrate her birthday because she came into this world full of grace and because she was to be the Mother of Jesus.
The birth of Our Lady was like a dawn. When the sky starts to turn a rosy pink early in the morning, we know the sun will soon come up. In the same way, when Mary was born, she brought great happiness to the world. Her birth meant that soon Jesus, the Sun of justice, would appear. Mary was the wonderful human being whose privilege it was to bring the Lord Jesus to all people.

Even today, if we have Mary, we have Jesus. Whoever is very
devoted to her is very close to the heart of Jesus.

Gleanings…from our Founding Fathers (and others!)

Without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure. If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be one nation gone under.
Ronald Reagan
 


The right to freedom being the gift of God Almighty, it is not in the power of man to alienate this gift, and voluntarily become a slave.
John Adams

It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.
George Washington

The longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?
Benjamin Franklin

True religion affords to government its surest support.
George Washington

No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown. 
William Penn

Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.
Ronald Reagan

The rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God. 
John F. Kennedy

Are the religious and moral supports described by George Washington no longer as important to our nation’s well-being? Or do we ban the expression of such supports in our public square at the peril of our Republic?
Newt Gingrich



Our form of government makes no sense unless it is founded in a deeply felt religious faith.
Dwight Eisenhower

Will Catholics Be “Left Behind?”

 With the popularity of the “Left Behind” series of books and movies, Catholics must ask themselves: what does the theory of “The Rapture” have to do with us? You may have seen bumper-stickers that say, “In case of Rapture, this car will be driver-less.”

Carl Olson, a convert from Protestantism, has written a persuasive article, first published in Inside Catholic. We reproduce it here  in  five installments. Look for the remaining installments in future issues of The Hejnał.

Part One:

(Inside Catholic) About ten years ago, I mentioned to a Catholic friend that I was starting to work on a book critiquing the Left Behind novels. I explained that it would thoroughly examine premillennial dispensationalism, the unique apocalyptic belief system presented, in fictional format, within those books. Premillennial dispensationalism teaches that the "Rapture" and the Second Coming are two events separated by a time of tribulation and that there will be a future millennial reign of Christ on earth. "Why?" she asked, obviously bewildered. "No one really takes that stuff seriously."

That revealing remark merely reinforced my desire to write Will Catholics Be "Left Behind"? (Ignatius, 2003). Other conversations brought home the same point. Far too many people -- including a significant number of Catholics -- don’t recognize the attraction and power of this Fundamentalist phenomenon. Nor do they appear to appreciate how much curiosity exists about the "end times," the book of Revelation, and the "pretribulation Rapture" -- the belief that Christians will be taken up from earth prior to a time of tribulation and the Second Coming. In the course of writing articles, giving talks, and writing the book, I’ve encountered a number of questions and comments -- almost all from Catholics -- that indicate how much confusion exists about matters of eschatology (theology of the end times), not to mention ecclesiology, historical theology, and the interpretation of Scripture. The five myths I present here summarize many of those questions.

MYTH 1: "The Left Behind books represent a fringe belief system that very few people take seriously."

Exactly how many copies of the Left Behind books must be sold before the theology they propagate can be taken seriously? Sixty-five million? That’s actually where sales stand right now, making the 16 novels the biggest-selling series of Christian fiction ever. Then there are the movies, CDs, children’s books, devotionals, greeting cards, and a host of other products, along with a Web site that attracts hundreds of thousands of fans every month.

But that’s only part of the larger picture. The biggest-selling work of non-fiction (other than the Bible) since 1970 is dispensationalist Hal Lindsey’s The Late Great Planet Earth (Bantam, 1970), which sold more than 40 million copies and established the blueprint for a number of other popular, self-described "Bible prophecy" experts (including Tim LaHaye, creator and coauthor of the Left Behind series). LaHaye’s first work of "Bible prophecy" was The Beginning of the End (Tyndale, 1972), essentially a carbon copy of Lindsey’s mega-seller. In the years that followed, Lindsey and LaHaye, along with authors such as Salem Kirban, David Wilkinson, Dave Hunt, Grant Jeffrey, John Walvoord, and others, produced a string of best-selling books warning of the rapidly approaching pretribulation Rapture, the Antichrist, and the tribulation.

The success of these books and of the dispensationalist system isn’t "fringe." Far from it -- they’re actually quite main- stream, influencing even nominal Christians and non-Christians. It reflects a trend that has been steadily growing for several decades. While Lutherans, Methodists, and Episcopalians dwindle in number and influence, Fundamentalist and conservative Evangelical groups continue to form and grow vigorously, making their mark increasingly in the secular realm. Many of these Fundamentalists -- including "non-denominational" Christians, "Bible-believing" Christians, "born-again" Christians, Baptists, and Assembly of God members -- are antagonistic toward the Catholic Church and her teachings, and a majority of them believe in some form of dispensationalism.

Harvard historian Paul Boyer, author of When Time Shall Be No More: Prophecy Belief in Modern American Culture (Harvard University Press, 1998), estimates that 30 to 40 percent of Americans believe in "Bible prophecy" and hold to eschatological beliefs such as those taught in the Left Behind novels. Admittedly, such numbers are difficult, if not impossible, to verify with any real accuracy. Still, it can be safely said that tens of millions of Americans believe in a pretribulation Rapture and would readily accept the Left Behind books as a fairly accurate, fictionalized depiction of the fast-approaching end of the world.

Rumble and Carty: The radio priests who evangelized the world

Rev. Dr. Leslie Rumble

The Rev. Dr. Leslie Rumble, MSC, a priest in Australia, was a convert from Anglicanism. In 1928, he became a priest of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. He began a one-hour ‘Question Box’ program on radio on Sunday evenings that was heard all over Australia and New Zealand. For five years he answered questions on every subject imaginable that had been written to him from all over that part of the globe.

Said Fr. Rumble, “"I was brought up as a Protestant, probably with more inherited prejudices than most non-Catholics of these days.  My parents were Anglican and taught me the Anglican faith. My 'broad-minded' protestant teachers taught me to dislike the Catholic Church intensely. I later tried Protestantism in various other forms, and it is some thirty years since, in God's providence, I became a Catholic. As for the 'open, free, sincere worship' of a Protestant Church, I tasted it, but for me it proved in the end to be not only open, but empty; it was altogether too free from God's prescriptions."

 

Rev. Charles Mortimer Carty:

I broadcast my radio program, the Catholic Radio Hour,  from St. Paul, Minnesota.

I was also carrying on as a Catholic Campaigner for Christ, the Apostolate to the man in the street through the medium of my trailer and loud-speaking system. In the distribution of pamphlets and books on the Catholic Faith, Radio Replies proved the most talked of book carried in my trailer display of Catholic literature. As many of us street preachers have learned, it is not so much what you say over the microphone in answer to questions from open air listeners, but what you get into their hands to read. The questions Fr. Rumble had to answer on the other side of the planet are same the questions I had to answer before friendly and hostile audiences throughout my summer campaign."

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen’s Introduction to Radio Replies

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

If I were not a Catholic, and were looking for the true Church in the world today, I would look for the one Church which did not get along well with the world; in other words, I would look for the Church which the world hated.
My reason for doing this would be, that if Christ is in any one of the churches of the world today, He must still be hated as He was when He was on earth in the flesh. If you would find Christ today, then find the Church that does not get along with the world. Look for the Church that is hated by the world as Christ was hated by the world. Look for the Church that is accused of being behind the times, as our Lord was accused of being ignorant and never having learned.

Look for the Church which men sneer at as socially inferior, as they sneered at Our Lord because He came from Nazareth. Look for the Church which is accused of having a devil, as Our Lord was accused of being possessed by Beelzebub, the Prince of Devils.

Look for the Church which, in seasons of bigotry, men say must be destroyed in the name of God as men crucified Christ and thought they had done a service to God. Look for the Church which the world rejects because it claims it is infallible, as Pilate rejected Christ because He called Himself the Truth. Look for the Church which is rejected by the world as Our Lord was rejected by men.

Look for the Church which amid the confusions of conflicting opinions, its members love as they love Christ, and respect its Voice as the very voice of its Founder, and the suspicion will grow, that if the Church is unpopular with the spirit of the world, then it is unworldly, and if it is unworldly it is other worldly. Since it is other-worldly, it is infinitely loved and infinitely hated as was Christ Himself. But only that which is Divine can be infinitely hated and infinitely loved. Therefore the Church is Divine.

Excerpts from Radio Replies by Rumble & Carty

1. Please give me evidence that God exists. I have never had any such evidence for I do not accept the Bible.
What do you mean by evidence? Some people think that evidence must be seen and touched, as an animal sees a patch of grass and eats it. But men are not mere animals. They have reason, and can appreciate intellectual evidence. For example, the evidence of beauty in music or in painting is perceived by man's mind, not by his senses. An animal could hear the same sounds, or see the same colors, without being impressed by their harmony and proportion. Apart from the Bible altogether, reason can detect sufficient evidence to guarantee the existence of God.

2. What is this evidence for God's existence, apart from the Bible?
There are many indications, the chief of which I shall give you very briefly: The first is from causality. The universe, limited in all its details, could not be its own cause. It could no more come together with all its regulating laws than the San Francisco Harbor Bridge could just happen, or a clock could assemble itself and keep perfect time without a clock-maker. On the same principle, if there were no God, there would be no you to dispute His existence. A second indication is drawn from the universal reasoning, or if you wish, intuition of men. The universal judgment of mankind can no more be wrong on this vital point than the intuition of an infant that food must be conveyed to the mouth. The stamp of God's handiwork is so clearly impressed upon creation, and, above all, upon man, that all nations instinctively believe that there is a God. The truth is in possession. Men do not have to persuade themselves that there is a God. They have to try to persuade themselves that there is no God. And no one yet, who has attained to such a temporary persuasion, has been able to find a valid reason for it. Men do not grow into the idea of a God; they endeavor to grow out of it.
The sense of moral obligation confirms these reasons. In every man there is a sense of right and wrong. A man knows interiorly when he is doing wrong. Something rebukes his conduct. He knows that he is going against an inward voice. It is the voice of conscience, dictating to us a law we did not make, and which no man could have made, for this voice protests whether other men know our conduct or not. This voice is often quite against what we wish to do, warning us beforehand, condemning us after its violation. The law dictated by this voice of conscience supposes a lawgiver who has written his law in our hearts. And as God alone could do this, it is certain that He exists.

Finally, justice demands that there be a God. The very sense of justice among men, resulting in law-courts, supposes a just God. We did not give ourselves our sense of justice. It comes from whoever made us, and no one can give what he does not possess himself. Yet justice cannot always be done by men in this world. Here the good often suffer, and the wicked prosper. And, even though human justice does not always succeed in balancing the scales, they will be balanced some day by a just God, who most certainly must exist.
3. You, as a Priest, argue to a clock-maker. I, as a rationalist, ask,
"Who created your uncreated clock-maker?"
That is not a rational question. I say that the universe is obviously created, and that what is created supposes a Creator who is uncreated, or the problem goes on forever, the whole endless chain of dependent beings as unable to explain itself as each of its links. It is rational to argue to an uncreated clock-maker. It is not rational to ask, "Who created this uncreated clock-maker?" God was not created. If He were, He would be a creature and would have a creator. His creator would then be God, and not He Himself. God always existed. He never began, and will never cease to be. He is eternal.

We Walk Together to God

Not too many Americans know about the ancient and miraculous icon of the Holy Family of Kalisz located at the Collegiate Church of Kalisz in Poland.  Although the icon is very old, there is an interesting story connected with it from World War II and the concentration camp at Dachau.

Icon of The Holy Family of Kalisz

    Many people do not know that Dachau was the concentration camp that Hitler designed just for priests.  Several hundred thousand priests were tortured and murdered there.

Dachau Concentration Camp

    In April 1945, as the war was ending, the Nazis, in order to destroy any evidence or witnesses to their crimes, decided to liquidate all the priests left at he death camp in Dachau.  One of the priests encouraged the other prisoners to pray to the Holy Family of Kalisz.  The camp was miraculously liberated several hours before the Nazis could begin their planned executions.  Ever since, the priests from Dachau have made an annual thanksgiving pilgrimage to the Icon of the Holy Family in Kalisz.
    If you look closely at the icon it has an interesting image of the Holy Family and the Holy Trinity.  Jesus, May and Joseph are shown walking hand in hand together beneath the Holy Spirit and God the Father.
    Icons can teach us many lessons because they were created not only as objects to be venerated but as visual books to teach.  While there are many things that this icon can teach us there is one little detail that I should like to call attention to.  Notice that the Holy Family is walking together.  Jesus, Mary and Joseph.  The parents and the child are walking together in harmony and unity.  That little detail is a lesson for us.  It means that a family, a community, friends, a parish, must walk together towards a particular goal in unity and harmony.  Together they are strong and can overcome all obstacles.  Together they support each other and direct each other and keep each other from losing sight of their goal.
    To put it simply, here are three lessons this icon can teach us:

    1. I must never put myself before others… we are all equal in God’s love.. We walk together as a family… as the Holy Family.

    2. I must always presume the best of others as I hope they would presume the best of me… in other words, I must learn to take others at their word and not judge them… we walk together as a family… as the Holy Family.
   
3.  I must always try to support others, either by a kind word or gesture or even just a smile… I must hold their hands as we walk together as a family… as the Holy Family.   

The more we look at this icon the more we will learn… what it means to be a family, a community, a parish, a Christian!

The Seven Sorrows of Our Lady

* at the prophecy of Simeon;
* at the flight into Egypt;
* having lost the Holy Child at Jerusalem;
* meeting Jesus on his way to Calvary;
* standing at the foot of the Cross;
* Jesus being taken from the Cross;
*  at the burial of Christ.     
Father, as Your Son was raised on the cross,
His mother Mary stood by Him,
sharing His sufferings.
May Your Church be united with Christ
in His suffering and death
and so come to share in His rising to new life,
where He lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.