PathToHoliness

American Life League‘s Celebrate Life Magazine has an article about the star of the movie Bella, which is set to be released this fall. Eduardo Verastegui began his career as a model and soap opera actor in Mexico City and soon set his sights on Hollywood. But after a while he realized that something was missing in his life:

“I wasn’t happy,” Eduardo said. “I was impatient. I had been all over the world. I had money. I had fame. I had everything I wanted, so I had to ask, ‘How come I feel empty?’…I realized that the reason I wanted to be an actor was superficial; fame, money, power, lifestyle, women—the whole thing. I realized that I was poisoning society. So I went through a change of heart.”

That change led him back to his Catholic faith that he had not practiced in years. After discerning a priestly vocation, a spiritual director suggested that his talents and influence would best be put to use back in Hollywood. Embracing this vocation he decided he would do it under one condition: “I won’t do anything that will offend God. Period.”

This is not very easily done in Tinseltown, where immodesty is the name of the game, but Eduardo is determined:

“When you kill somebody in the movies, you’re not killing anyone. But when you kiss someone, it’s really a kiss,” Eduardo stressed. “In sex scenes, you’re really half naked. So I would recommend that people be careful, because you are working with fire and you’re gonna get burned. Don’t risk yourself for some role. I know because I did it. And I’m telling you, 12 years of that was nothing but emptiness, pain and suffering.” Eduardo described sex scenes as what they are: “legal adultery.” And because a kiss is sacred, he vows to kiss no woman unless she’s his wife.

“Every single person hardcore Catholics, told me I wouldn’t work,” Eduardo admitted. “So if changing my path to follow Christ means that I will never work, thanks be to God. I’m free, because you know what? I wasn’t born to be a movie star. I was born to be a saint, just like you. And this is not going to get in my way. Or God will make it happen in a way that I don’t have to compromise.”

Hopefully his devotion will rub off on others in Hollywood or at least help inspire those who view his movies. And what about this movie, Bella? It has gotten quite a buzz among pro-lifers. It is about a waitress who learns she’s pregnant and the chef (played by Verastegui) who comes to her rescue. It is supposed to be incredibly powerful.

To help get Bella in your hometown theater, see www.BellaTheMovie.com, email contact@MetanoiaFilms.com and call 888-474-6025.

With all the cafeteria Catholics in America picking and choosing which teachings acceptably correspond with their lifestyle, showing support for our Holy Father and all of the teachings of Holy Mother Church is imperative! Get your bumper sticker (shown above) at the Papal Shop. I am going to try to see if our Legion of Mary can make a bunch of these available in our parish.

Hat tip: The Catholic Knight

I must apologize. I was having server problems yesterday, so I was not able to post the final novena prayer. I tried to keep it going all nine days, but I ran into circumstances beyond my control yesterday. My humble apologies to all.

Ninth Day

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.

Today is the 10th anniversary of the death of our Carmelite sisters’ beloved “Little Mother,” the founder of the Carmelite monastery in my hometown of Jefferson City Missouri. She died during the celebration of Holy Mass on the last day of the novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, their holy patroness. I never knew who she was, but, after the car accident that left me paralyzed, the good sisters blessed me with Little Mother’s personal scapular (not the big brown habit one) to wear in the hope of obtaining the miracle of my being able to walk again. I wore the scapular for quite a while, but it began to wear down and come apart a little bit, so I decided I should probably take it off for fear of completely ruining it. But I keep it as a reminder of the sisters’ belief in the healing power of God and the holiness of this blessed Little Mother.

May her soul and the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God rest in peace. And, if it be in accordance with the will of God, may the holiness of her life be made known to the world.

I just got back from my two hour adoration time and realized that I forgot to post the novena prayer for Saturday. I apologize for that. So here are the prayers for Sat. and Sun.

Seventh Day

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.

The above are lyrics to an African hymn that a priest in our diocese, who was transferred from Nigeria, sings during Mass when he talks about devotion to our Mother Mary. A few nights ago I turned on the TV and a local Christian station was on with some protestant preacher accusing Catholics of divinizing Mary, worshiping her and making her equal to God. This is why it is important for us to really understand the Church’s teaching on Mary’s role and to know what true devotion consists of.

Much of what we believe about Mary comes straight from scripture. We believe that nothing written in scripture is insignificant or accidental and therefore its many references to Mary are worth noting. First and foremost is the link between the Old and New Testaments regarding Mary. In the few encounters between Jesus and His mother depicted in the Gospel of St. John Jesus does not refer to Mary by name or even as mother; he calls her ‘woman’ (Jn. 2:4, 19:26). For Catholics this ‘woman’ is an echo of the woman referred to in the book of Genesis (3:15):

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel.

This verse is also a foreshadowing of the ‘woman’ in the book of Revelation who was “clothed with the sun” and “gave birth to a son, a male child, destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod” (12:1, 5).

In his book, Hail, Holy Queen, Scott Hahn says, “That child could only be Jesus; and so the woman could only be His mother, Mary.”

Catholics’ desire to honor Mary is fitting because of her role in the redemption of mankind. Through her ‘fiat,’ her obedience to the Divine will of God, Mary was overshadowed by the power of the Most High (Lk. 1:35) and became the means by which the Son of God came into the world to redeem mankind and thus became also a cooperator, or co-redeemer with Him. More proof that Mary is intimately linked with the redemptive work of her Son is in the prophecy of Simeon in which he reveals that Mary will also share in the sufferings of Christ. As Christ suffered and died on the cross for our sins, those sins formed the sword that was to pierce the soul of Mary as well (Lk. 2:24-35). It is not the Church who has raised Mary to such a prominent position, but God himself who found favor with her and chose her to be blessed among women (Lk. 2:30, 42). Mary’s obedience undid the disobedience of Eve. For more on this see the Catechism of the Catholic Church n. 494 (which also, by citing the likes of St. Irenaeus, shows that the early Christians believed this as well).

Christ not only desired that Mary be honored among all women, but also that she should have a special relationship with the faithful. In handing Mary over to his beloved disciple he made all Christians, who are represented in the person of John, children of Mary (Jn. 19:26). In devoting ourselves to the care of our heavenly Mother we are using the same means He used to come down to us. That is why St. Louis DeMontfort calls true devotion to Mary an “easy, short, perfect and secure way of attaining union with our Lord.” It is perfect because,

“The Most High has come down to us perfectly and divinely, by the humble Mary, without losing anything of His Divinity and Sanctity. So it is by Mary that the very little ones are to ascend perfectly and divinely, without any fear to the Most High.”

Even Mary herself foresaw this devotion when she said in her great Magnificat; “behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed” (Lk. 2:48).

Nowhere in Catholic Church teaching do we claim that Mary is equal to God or that we worship her at all. In fact the Catechism expressly states that,

“This very special devotion[to Mary] … differs essentially from the adoration which is given to the incarnate Word and equally to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and greatly fosters this adoration,” (CCC n. 971)

We honor Mary, giving her the respect that is owed to such an important figure in Salvation History, one who is, as common sense tells us, the Mother of God. And we devote ourselves to her powerful intercession, a devotion which is, above all, Christ centered, with the goal of achieving perfect union with Him through the help of our Mother in heaven.

The same African priest I mentioned earlier explains Mary’s role this way: Two thousand years ago Mary brought Christ into the world; today she desires to bring Christ into our hearts.

Sources:
The Navarre Bible
The Catechism of the Catholic Church

Further reading:
True Devotion
Hail, Holy Queen: The Mother of God in the Word of God.
Mary of Nazareth
Imitation of Mary

Sixth Day

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.

Fifth Day

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.

As you have probably noticed, much of the Mt. Carmel novena has focussed on the scapular – shown on the right. But what about the scapular? The sisters at our Carmelite monastery use a booklet for their novena that offers some information on this popular devotion that is often associated with the novena:

Ask someone about the “Scapular” and you will likely be told it is a religious object associated with the Blessed Virgin.
The Brown Scapular consists of two small panels of cloth joined by strings and worn over the shoulders. Generally, one panel bears a woven or printed image showing the vision of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel to St. Simon Stock, while the other bears the image of Our Lady with the Child Jesus.
For centuries, the Scapular has been one of the most popular Marian devotions, second only to Our Lady’s Rosary. As a sacramental, it has been enriched by the Church with many spiritual blessings.
On July 16, 1261, at Aylesford in Kent England, according to tradition, Our Lady appeared to St. Simon Stock, a Carmelite, and made the Scapular a sign of her protection. With it came the promise that whoever wore her “habit” devoutly would be assured of eternal salvation. This is the Scapular promise of eternal perseverance.
Carmelites have always regarded themselves as “Brothers of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel,” and place their lives of Christ-centered prayer under her patronage.
~ Rev. Eamon R. Carroll, O. Carm.

Signs in Ordinary Human Life
The world in which we live is full of material things which have symbolic meaning to us, such as, light, fire and water.
There are also, in every day life, experiences of relationships between human beings. These experiences express and symbolize deeper meanings in our lives. Sharing a meal is a sign of friendship; joining together in a national celebration is a sign of our identity.
We need signs and symbols to help us understand what is happening at present, or what happened before, and to give us an awareness of who we are, as individuals and as groups.

Signs in Christian Life
Jesus is the great sign and the embodiment of the Father’s love. he founded the Church as a sign and instrument of His love.
Christian life also has its signs. Jesus used bread, wine and water to help us understand higher things…things which we can neither see nor touch.
All our Christian celebrations, particularly the sacraments, are signs with special meaning. At the Eucharist the sign is bread and wine; during baptism it is water; as hands are laid on the sick it is the anointing with oil; and in the marriage ceremony it is the giving and receiving of rings. Each of these signs brings us into communion with God, Who, in different ways, is present in each of them.

The Scapular is a Sign of Mary
It is a sign approved by the Church and endorsed by the Crmelite Order as an external sign of Mary’s love for us. It confirms our love and trust in her, and our commitment to live like her.
With the passage of time,l people began to give symbolic meaning to the Scapular as a sign of commitment to follow Jesus Christ, our Savior, in the spirit of Mary.

The Scapular is not:

A magical charm to protect you
An automatic guarantee of salvation
An excuse for not living up to the demands of the Christian life

However the Scapular:

points to a renewed hope of encountering God in eternal life with the help of Mary’s protection and intercession
stands for thee decision to follow Jesus and imitate Mary, calling us to be…
– open to God and to His Will
– guided by faith, hope and love
– close to the needs of people
– prayerful, penitent and chaste
– conscious of God present in all that happens around us

I have been wearing the brown Scapular for a number of years and it has become like a kind of uniform for me. Actually, in the art of spiritual warfare, I have often heard it referred as just that – the Rosary is our weapon and the Scapular our uniform or shield. I think of it as an extra little sign, a personal reminder of devotion and commitment to the Blessed Virgin, through whom we strive to know and love Jesus and work for the salvation of souls.

Fourth Day

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.

Third Day

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.

Second Day

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.

Today is the start of the Novena to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. Every year we try to pray this novena with the Carmelites who live in the cloistered monastery next door to our Cathedral parish. It is always a very popular event among devoted Catholics in our town. I look forward to it every year. I especially love to see the beautiful floral arrangements that the nuns put together around their chapel. It’s like they bring their entire garden inside for these nine days of prayer.

First Day

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.

Also, get readyf

The basic message of Opus Dei is holiness in ordinary life, sanctifying one’s work. That was the message of the vicar of Opus Dei in the United States’ homily commemorating the feast day of Opus Dei founder St. Josemaria Escriva:

“So much depends upon our living the lives that God wants us to,” said Msgr. Bohlin, emphasizing that “every baptized Christian” has a “call to heroic Christian holiness in the hustle and bustle of everyday life.”

…Describing Opus Dei’s founder “as a modern-day saint” familiar with 20th-century life, Msgr. Bohlin said the charismatic St. Josemaria advocated “an apostleship of friendship” in which Catholics “from all walks of life” reach out “one on one” to those near them in the workplace, family, school and community.

American culture suffers from what some call “friendship-deficit syndrome,” he said, noting that “so many are surrounded by people but have few friends.”

Source: Catholic Online

See: Opus Dei Message

I promised you pictures, so here they are!

The pro-life table – Most of the visitors are attracted to the fetal development models and it is frequently pregnant women, people who know someone who is pregnant and parents showing their young children what they used to look like in the womb. Oh and the balloons and candy (we had lollipops and gum with precious feet on them) helped attract visitors also:

The Catholic table – these are the only good pictures we got of the Catholic side. Most of the devotional items we had were hand made locally. Both I and a woman from our parish made the 5 decade rosaries and the Carmelite nuns who live in a cloistered monastery next to our parish made some of the brown scapulars.