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Tuesday, October 18, 2011

The New Shepherd of Syro Malabar Church meets his Shepherd in Rome!

Major Archbishop George Alencherry of the Syro-Malabar Church along with some of its members met Pope Benedict XVI at Rome yesterday, reported online Indian catholic news. The link is below.  Major ArchBishop George Alencherry was elevated as the Major Archbishop of the Syro Malabar Catholic Church in Kerala which is the second largest sui juris church among the 22 autonomous Catholic Churches that are in union with Rome. Syro Malabar Catholic Church in size is second only to Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and is a major source of priestly and other religious vocations for the Catholic Church.

Archbishop George Alencherry was selected by Pope Benedict XVI as the head of the Syro Malabr Catholic Church after the demise of his predecessor Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil. Late Major Archbishop Vithayathil was elevated to the rank of the Cardinals by the predecessor of Pope Benedict XVI and he had participated in the election of the current Pope.

It is not a requirement for a Major Archbishop to be given the  title Cardinal and Major Archbishop is not given the title of the Cardinal yet by the current Pope. Plainly speaking, the head of an autonomous Catholic Church is of a higher rank than of a Cardinal. It is also reported that some of the heads of the few sui juri churches have refused the title cardinal since the rank of Cardinal is below the rank of their title as the head of the autonomous Catholic Church.

While congratulating Major Archbishop for his new role I also wish him all success. He has a great job to do as the shepherd of the Syro Malabar Church. We the faithful look up to him as our mentor and guide in matters of faith and morals in union with Rome. May the Holy Spirit guide him and fulfill all His plans for the Church in India.

http://www.cathnewsindia.com/2011/10/18/major-archbishop-alencherry-meets-pope/

Sunday, October 16, 2011

The Spiritual Combat and A Treatise On Peace of Soul

The Spiritual Combat and A Treatise On Peace of Soul is a book written by Dom Lorenzo Scupoli in 1500s. He  was born in Italy in 1530 and died in Naples in 1610. We do not know much about the author's life. We know that at the age of 40 he joined the Theatines, a religious order of men founded in Italy, and ordained as a priest in 1577. For some unknown reason he was laicized  in 1585 and lived so till the end of his life. He never offered any defense of himself however it is also believed that his name was cleared at the end of his life. It is said that he met St Francis de Sales in Padua. They were either friends or acquaintances. Dom Lorenzo Scupoli gave a copy of his book The Spiritual Combat and A Treatise On Peace of Soul to St Francis de Sales and he read  this book everyday  and recommended it to everybody under his direction. 

The book is written in a very structured way, it will only take a page for you to be filled with the zeal not just to read the whole book but also to practice  the virtues that he mentions through out his book. This is one of the greatest classics in ascetic theology (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascetical_theology). Having said that it is not a work that can only be read and understood by theologians or those who are specially interested in such subjects. This book though written in such an eloquent style can be read and understood by anyone who already has the basic understanding of Christianity. A recommendation for anyone to read also does not mean that it is an easy read. It requires time and contemplation and also an openness towards the guidance of the Holy Spirit to imbibe the lessons that are meant to improve our quality as  Christians. 

It will be a futile effort if I attempt to narrate the contents of the book or try to summaries it in this blog. I would rather mention the kind of topics that are in the book. The Book starts with the introduction on perfection and what does a Christian perfection means etc. He narrates and explains the invisible battle of the good and the evil, the battle between the desire of the soul to reach it's absolute end  that is union with God and the desires of the material body that hinder the achieving of the perfection of the soul. He does this narration of the battle, that we knowingly or unknowingly fight, without any dramatization of the good and the evil as we might expect from the title "Spiritual Combat". This book is not an over-dramatization of the demons and other evils spirits like we see in the Hollywood movies or read in fiction novels and the physical manifestations of resistance of the vices by the Good. You will not find the stories of the possessed and the exorcisms  in this book. 

This book is all about the virtues that we need to identify, develop and nourish in our daily life to counter attack all the vices that suppress, hide and hinder the growth and results of those virtues without which we will  unknowingly live in fool's paradise believing that we are marching towards the absolute goodness. How do we distrust ourselves ? How do we find confidence in God? Do we mistakenly take the lack of ability to be Holy as a virtue? How do we use our faculties properly? What are man's twofold nature? How we are to encounter sensuality? How do we prepare ourselves for the battle against vices? How do we curb our sudden impulses of passion? How do we fight against impurity? What we are to do when wounded? What are the cunning devices used by the devil to destroy us? How will we emerge victorious in this battle by the constant application of the virtues?  These are a very few topics or ideas that are covered in the book. 

We will also read and understand about mental prayer,meditation,intercession of the Blessed Virgin, spiritual communion,offering self to God, thanksgiving etc. At the end of the book, he dedicates few chapters , more precisely around fifteen chapters, for "Treatise on Peace of Soul and Inner Happiness".  I do not know if my description will do justice to this section of the book. The second and the last section is an advise and explanation on the state that we must put on in order to practice the virtues and obtain much fruits from them. How much care we need to exercise in practicing the virtues  and the necessity of applying the virtues to be at peace which is the sign of complete trust and confidence in God and the sign that our souls are free from the malice and the deception of this world.

In my honest opinion this book must be read by everybody. The spiritual advantages that can be obtained by the understanding we would develop from this work even if what is retained in our minds are just mere 10 percent of the whole book is immeasurable. We will grow more aware of the deep hidden meaning of every situation and understand the moral implications of every actions that we undertake vividly.We will also learn not to despair but to hope and to love. I pray and hope that this book will find a place in every Christian homes and will be read by many for the profit of the Holy Catholic Church and her mission to direct every soul to  their creator and lover, our Almighty God. 

Monday, October 10, 2011

The Dolorous Passion Our Lord Jesus Christ-2

In my previous post The Dolorous Passion Our Lord Jesus Christ-1 I tried to introduce the book The Dolorous Passion Our Lord Jesus Christ and Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich briefly. Here in this second post I will try to introduce the contends of the book. As I mentioned in the first part the book describes the events from the Holy Thursday till the Easter Sunday.
The book begins with the preparation of the Pasch. We all know what the Gospels narrate. In this book Anne Catherine gives a detailed account of that evening. Who was that man to whom the Lord sent His disciples to ask for a place for His Last Pasch? (Math 28:16) The details of the supper room, the duties and activities of the disciples including Judas who was to betray Him, the mysteries of the Chalice that was used by Our Lord and its connection with Melchizedek, the people who were present during that last supper, the presence of Our Lady and other holy women etc are perfectly detailed to give us a clear description of all that happened on that day. Among all these the most touching is the institution of the Most Holy Eucharist and washing of the disciples feet. She describes as she had seen in her visions the most profound emotions, sanctity and divinity with which the Holy Eucharist was instituted. The spellbound disciples were transported to the mysteries though not to its complete understanding. Jesus taught His disciples on how to celebrate this mystery and many other things during those last few hours and that is a revelation that our Holy Catholic Church still rely on the tradition  that was handed over by disciples of Christ. May be it was impossible for the disciples to write all of them down in the Gospels as you can see in John 21:25 .
Then she goes on in details about the struggle  Jesus encountered in the garden of Olives. The visions Jesus had, the sins of the world since our first parents and till the end of the world were played in front of Him. He was also shown the result of all His sacrifices, the triumphant church and the destruction of the enemy. The propensity of the sins that were committed and are to be committed till the end of the world was so horrific that He even started to beg for His Father's help and consolation. He desired that this Chalice to be taken away from Him . That makes us understand the Human aspect of that true God. Devil tempted him and attacked Him violently. His appearance was changed because of  such blasphemous attack from devil. Devil tried to infuse doubts and despair into His heart by telling Him that the humanity cannot be saved because of the magnitude of their sins, that it is all a waste and His scarifies will not be sufficient. Our Lord endured this diabolical attack and showed us how we need to seek assistance through prayer and perseverance at the time of trials and temptations.
The character of Judas is more clearly described by Anne and we will understand who  he was and why did he betray Jesus and how much Love and compassion was poured on him by Our Lord and Our Lady during the whole time he was in the company of them. There are many personalities mentioned in the Gospel with or without naming them but still leaving us to wonder who they really were. In this book Anne gives voluminous details of many personalities like Lazarus, Joseph of Arimathea, Simon of Cyrene who helped Jesus to carry His Cross and conversion of his soul, Veronica and the story of the Holy Face on her veil, the roman soldiers who were in charge of the whole affairs of crucifixion, their conversion, the miracles happened even during the time of His Passion, the name and story of the good thief and how he met Jesus in limbo before taking him to Paradise as promised, the soldiers who kept watch over his tomb and their witness to His resurrection and how they even gave up  their life to uphold the truth about his resurrection when forced to lie about it etc.
It is important to mention about the company of the holy women . Many of them were close family relatives and relatives and friends of disciples. The details regarding them are very elaborate that I cannot go into such details here. Above all we understand that pure motherly heart of His Holy Mother who united herself completely to all the suffering and passion of Our Lord, her son. She suffered silently along with him in spirit. They communicated each other in spirit. She started to follow Jesus in all the places He suffered or faced insults and to kneel down , pray and meditate. She continued to do that till his crucifixion and even after His death. Thus the Holy Mother of God handed over that very holy long standing tradition of "the Way of the Cross". She taught us the unimaginable graces that we can obtain by partaking in his suffering and by meditating upon His suffering and pain. It is impossible for me to go into details here but I invite you  to read the book yourselves and experience how miraculously you will be transformed in humility,repentance and above all in Love.
How could have I know the connection of Adam and Jesus, Eve and the Virgin Mary. How the places of Our Lord's suffering, death and burial was historically forgotten but was indeed connected to our first parents.
More than knowing the personalities associated with Jesus or the geographical details of the places all these events took place what is most moving is the minutest details of the suffering and passion of Jesus. From the moment he was tempted and attacked by devil in the garden of olives till the lancing of His side that pierced His heart open and made an opening in His other side, He suffered  cruelties, insults and pain that no human being can fathom. I cannot even begin to describe them. I couldn't help but shed tears in gratitude when I reached the page where Anne Catherine perfectly narrates the incident of Jesus being raised on the cross and the temple below the mountain resounded with the blast of trumpets which were always blown to announce the immolation of the Paschal lamb.If  only they knew that the real Paschal lamb is being immolated on the cross as a sacrifices for the sake of the human kind.
I felt as if I was there at the foot of the Cross with Mary, our Mother and his few disciples and the Holy women. Reading the entire ceremony and preparation for His burial was equal to attending it. I saw everything so vividly and I was able to be overpowered by the sadness, silence and reverence of those moments and felt the nature that went silent. It was almost like standing  afar and watching the dead rising and people getting frightened, earthquakes destroying the buildings and the temple, sun going dark and is forbidden to shine and the Hell is shaken with terror and fear. Yes, All that happened. It is beyond any human understanding. Even many people who witnessed them did not comprehend it. Great many of them were under the grip of the devil.
In the end this book will  leave an everlasting impression on the reader. It changes everything. I believe this book is indeed a miraculous intervention of Our Lord. We live in a world full of pride and sin. A God who came as a man and gave up his life is nothing a but a fairy tale for our generation. No one finds it real or even possible. Scriptures are  been looked at as  literary works or a great novel. I humbly submit these few imperfect words at the foot of the Cross. I pray earnestly that all the generations may exalt His Holy name for what He has done for us. I leave these few words at the mercy and Will of God in order that it may bring some fruits according to His good pleasure.  Amen.

The Dolorous Passion Our Lord Jesus Christ-1

The Dolorous Passion Our Lord Jesus Christ is a detailed account of Our Lord’s suffering and death on the Cross. It is worth noting that, without even attempting to suggest that the chronology of events and narration of the incidents which took place from the Last Supper to the Easter Sunday described in the Gospels are in anyway insufficient, the book dolorous passion indeed satisfies a curious and thirsty mind that earnestly desires to plunge deep into the mysteries and the extensive details of those most painful yet salvific hours. It will be prudent to introduce Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich who was highly favoured by her Heavenly Spouse, Our Lord  to receive these most astonishing and mystical visions  before I attempt to present the nature of the contents of the book.
It is impossible to summarize the mystical character called Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich in a paragraph. A book of more than thousand pages could only give a brief description of her life. I will try to restrain myself from going into any details. Bl Anne Catherine Emmerich was born on 08th September 1774 at Flamske , a village in Minster, Germany. Her parents were poor peasants but distinguished for their piety and virtue. Since she was a child she had many extraordinary experiences. She used to be frequently visited by her Angel, Our Lady and Our Lord. Our Lord used to visit her in the form a little shepherded. She used to be highly knowledgeable of the matters of faith and many mysteries for her age and she was extremely pious from her childhood. Anne Catherine entered her novitiate on the 13th November 1802 in an Augustinian convent. I deliberately do not elaborate on the financial, spiritual and circumstantial difficulties she had to endure before finally being accepted by the Augustinian nuns. She was already experiencing mystical phenomena by the time she entered the convent. Immediately after her joining the convent she had started suffering from what looked like some great painful sickness which continued internally or externally till the end of her life. In 1803 she pronounced her solemn vows. She lived in a time when all the religious orders were facing great persecutions and her convent was shut down and was ordered to leave and flee. However she with the help of some benefactor found an extremely modest place of a widow to continue living faithfully to her vows. The great suffering and mystical experiences cuased from her contemplations on the Passion of Our Lord continued for a life time. Her internal suffering was externally manifested through the Stigmata she bore which bled greatly and caused her much pain. The eye witnesses often feared that she would die each time she was in suffering during her ecstasies.
She wanted to unite herself completely with the suffering of Jesus Christ and earnestly prayed to allow her to partake in that suffering and desired to know the details of His Passion. During the course of her life Our Lord granted the grace to see all that suffering and cruelty Our Lord endured for the sake of the human kind.  These meditations and visions were recorded by the divine grace through Mr Clement Brentano, a prominent literary figure of the day. She was beatified by Bl. Pope John Paul II in 2004. I am not qualified to write in details about this mystical figure who in her complete self- abandonment to her divine spouse has earned the grace to reveal to us the terrible agony of our Lord, His infinite Passion and Death brought on by each person’s sins. We can nothing but thank God for this book that will melt a heart of stone.
I will attempt to  write about the contents of the book The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the next post in which I am hoping to cover personalities that are mentioned in the Gospels but whose identities are not known or understood, Who are the Holy Women,Mary Magdalene, the Holy Mother of God , the disciples and the roots of many traditions that we follow fervently even today.
 †

Mystical City of God-1

Hi,
This is the second post here. I thought I will make this post something like a dairy entry of the day.  Today I finally got hold of the book called Mystical City of God ( all the four volumes) by Venerable Sister Mary of Agreda of Jesus.  This book  was written in 16th century and is not easy to find these days. It falls under the category of private revelations.
I just started to read it so I cannot comment anything on  the content. However I have read the reviews, history and heard about the amazing details on the life and mysteries of Our Lady, the Holy Mother of God. The whole work is divided into 8 books published in four volumes under the titles The  Conception, The Incarnation, The Transfixion and The Coronation.  The author had received these private revelations on the mysteries related to the Holy Mother of God for many years and after very many dramatic turn of events  the book was finally written down. Those events of writing these revelations down is kept for another post for another day.
It is also worthwhile to mention that Venerable Sr Mary of Agreda of Jesus was apparently preaching Gospel to the North Americans (Texas, New Mexico and Arizona) years before the missionaries set out for those places through a phenomena associated with many saints in the Holy Catholic Church called  bilocation. At the time she was preaching Gospel in North America she was also confined to her convent in Agreda, Spain.  300 years after the death her body is still incorrupt and is kept in the church of her convent in Agreda, Spain.
Well, Thats it for now about it. I am thinking of writing more about the history of the book Mystical City of God and also related to the many controversies associated with it. That will be Mystical City of God 2.
God bless,
Joe