September, 2018

The Holy Father's Prayer Intention

Universal – Young People in Africa, That young people in Africa may have access to education and work in their own countries.

21 posted on 09/14/2018 4:17:59 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)

'You say you are my judge. Take care what you are doing; for in truth I am sent by God, and you place yourself in great danger.'

St. Joan of Arc

22 posted on 09/14/2018 4:19:05 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)

The Angelus

The Angel of the Lord declared to Mary:
And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of
our death. Amen.

Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to Thy word.

Hail Mary . . .

And the Word was made Flesh: And dwelt among us.

Hail Mary . . .

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray:

Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection, through the same Christ Our Lord.

Amen.

"Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you" (Lk 1:28)

"Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb"
(Lk 1:42).

23 posted on 09/14/2018 4:20:41 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)

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Feast of the Day — Exaltation of the Holy Cross

24 posted on 09/14/2018 4:52:35 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)

25 posted on 09/14/2018 4:53:32 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)

Information: The Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Feast Day: September 14

26 posted on 09/14/2018 5:14:35 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)

CATHOLIC ALMANAC

Friday, September 14

Liturgical Color: Red

Today is the Feast of the Exaltation
of the Holy Cross. "For the message
of the Cross is foolishness to those
who are perishing, but to us who
are being saved it is the power of
God." (1 Cor. 1:18)

27 posted on 09/14/2018 5:21:03 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)

Catholic Culture

Ordinary Time: September 14th

Exaltation of the Holy Cross

MASS READINGS

September 14, 2018 (Readings on USCCB website)

COLLECT PRAYER

O God, who willed that your Only Begotten Son should undergo the Cross to save the human race, grant, we pray, that we, who have known his mystery on earth, may merit the grace of his redemption in heaven. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

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Old Calendar: Exaltation of the Holy Cross; St. Maternus, bishop (Hist); St. Notburga, virgin (Hist) ; Other Titles: Exaltation of the Holy Cross

This feast was observed in Rome before the end of the seventh century. It commemorates the recovery of the Holy Cross, which had been placed on Mt. Calvary by St. Helena and preserved in Jerusalem, but then had fallen into the hands of Chosroas, King of the Persians. The precious relic was recovered and returned to Jerusalem by Emperor Heralius in 629.

The lessons from the Breviary tell us that Emperor Heraclius carried the Cross back to Jerusalem on his shoulders. He was clothed with costly garments and with ornaments of precious stones. But at the entrance to Mt. Calvary a strange incident occurred. Try as hard as he would, he could not go forward. Zacharias, the Bishop of Jerusalem, then said to the astonished monarch: "Consider, O Emperor, that with these triumphal ornaments you are far from resembling Jesus carrying His Cross." The Emperor then put on a penitential garb and continued the journey.

Historically today is also the feast of St. Notburga, a peasant who lived in the Tyrol, Austria and St. Maternus, Bishop of Cologne.

Triumph of the Cross
This day is also called the Exaltation of the Cross, Elevation of the Cross, Holy Cross Day, Holy Rood Day, or Roodmas. The liturgy of the Cross is a triumphant liturgy. When Moses lifted up the bronze serpent over the people, it was a foreshadowing of the salvation through Jesus when He was lifted up on the Cross. Our Mother Church sings of the triumph of the Cross, the instrument of our redemption. To follow Christ we must take up His cross, follow Him and become obedient until death, even if it means death on the cross. We identify with Christ on the Cross and become co-redeemers, sharing in His cross.

We made the Sign of the Cross before prayer which helps to fix our minds and hearts to God. After prayer we make the Sign of the Cross to keep close to God. During trials and temptations our strength and protection is the Sign of the Cross. At Baptism we are sealed with the Sign of the Cross, signifying the fullness of redemption and that we belong to Christ. Let us look to the cross frequently, and realize that when we make the Sign of the Cross we give our entire self to God — mind, soul, heart, body, will, thoughts.

O cross, you are the glorious sign of victory.
Through your power may we share in the triumph of Christ Jesus.

Symbol: The cross of triumph is usually pictured as a globe with the cross on top, symbolic of the triumph of our Savior over the sin of the world, and world conquest of His Gospel through the means of a grace (cross and orb).

The Wednesday, Friday and Saturday following September 14 marks one of the Ember Days of the Church. See Ember Days for more information.

Things to Do:

Study different symbols and types of crosses, history and/or significance. Then have an art project — creating own crosses, using different media, including paper. See variations of crosses for some ideas.
Learn and pray the prayer to Christ Crucified; pray the Stations of the Cross. Point out particularly the phrase repeated at each station:
We adore You, O Christ, and praise You,
Because by Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the world.
Study the history of St. Helena and Constantine, especially St. Helena’s quest for finding the relics of Jesus.
Make sure that crucifixes are displayed prominently throughout your home. Point out the crucifix in every room even to the smallest ones. Your child's first word may be "Jesus"!
Explain the meaning of the Sign of the Cross to your children and be sure that even the little ones are taught how to make it.
Encourage your children to make reparation for sin; read about sacramentals.
Teach your children a short ejaculatory prayer such as "Through the sign of the Cross deliver us from our enemies, O our God!".
Make a dessert in the form of a cross, or decorated with a cross. Although usually made on Good Friday, Hot Cross Buns would be appropriate for this day. Make a cross cake, either using a cross form cake pan, or bake a sheet cake (recipe of choice). Once cool, cut the cake in half, length ways. Then cut one of these sections in half width ways. This makes three sections - one long and two short. Lay the long section onto a serving plate. Set the two small sections next to the long section forming a cross. Frost and decorate as desired.
Tradition holds that sweet basil grew over the hill where St. Helena found the Holy Cross, so in Greece the faithful are given sprigs of basil by the priest. Cook a basil pesto, tomato basil salad (with the last of the summer tomatoes) or some other type of recipe that includes basil, and explain to the family.
More Ideas: Women for Faith and Family and Catholic Encyclopedia.
Folklore has that the weather on the Ember Days of this month (September 15, 17, and 18) will foretell the weather for three successive months. So Wednesday, September 15, will forecast the weather for October; Friday, September 17, for November; and Saturday, September 18, for December.

St. Notburga
St. Zita of Lucca, Italy, is the best-known patron of domestic servants. A less-known contemporary of Zita's was St. Notburga of Austria, who is venerated in the Austrian Tyrol, Bavaria, Istria, Croatia and Slovenia. Many a church in these lands bears her name.

Notburga was born at Rattenberg-on-the-Inn, a town in the Austrian Tyrol not far to the east of Innsbruck. At the age of 18, this devout young woman of peasant stock entered the employment of Count Henry of Rattenberg as a member of his kitchen staff.

Notburga was always very solicitous of the poor. She cut down on her own food, especially on Friday, so as to be able to give something to those who knocked on the kitchen door. Discovering that the staff were used to discarding the abundant food left over from the Count's table, she also began to hand this out, too. Count Henry's mother was apparently unopposed to the charitable practice. But after the mother's death Henry's wife, Countess Ottilia, ordered that all leftovers be fed to the pigs. Dismayed, Notburga obeyed for a time, but then renewed her former policy. Unfortunately, the bossy Ottilia caught her red-handed one day and saw to it that she was fired.

The young woman then found employment with a farmer at nearby Eben. Her new job involved fieldwork. A charming legend connecting her with harvesting has become a popular tale among the children of Tyrol. Notburga made a practice of going to church for Sunday's first vespers, and her employer had agreed not to interfere. One Saturday, however, when she was engaged in reaping, the vesper bell rang, indicating that Sunday had officially begun. The saint was getting ready to leave for church when the farmer ordered her to continue cutting the grain. She refused. With first vespers it was already Sunday, she said, and Christians do not work on Sunday. "But the weather might change and the crop be lost," he insisted. "All right," said the servant, "Let this sickle decide between us." Thereupon she threw the shiny crescent-shaped tool up into the air, and there it hung like a new moon! The farmer yielded, and she went off to church.

Meanwhile, Count Henry was in a dejected state of mind. Bossy Ottilia had died and he had been suffering all sorts of misfortunes, which he was inclined to blame on his dismissal of Notburga. When he remarried, therefore, he asked her to return to his castle as housekeeper. She did so, and lived the rest of her life happily and holily in his employ.

When Notburga was dying, it is said, she urged him to continue taking care of the poor. Furthermore, she instructed him to place her corpse on a wagon drawn by two oxen, and to bury her wherever the oxen might stop in their tracks. Henry complied. The oxen stopped right in front of the chapel of St. Rupert at Eben, so there she was laid to rest.

Although long venerated in the western and Adriatic parts of the Austrian Empire, Notburga was never officially canonized. In March 1862, however, Pope Pius IX formally confirmed her ancient cult and her saintly title.

When St. Notburga is represented in paintings or sculptures, it is often with a sickle, either in her hand or hanging in the sky like a new moon.

— Excerpted from Saints Alive and All God's Children, Father Robert F. McNamara

Patron: Servants and peasants.

St. Maternus
First known bishop of Cologne, in modern Germany. He was involved in the effort against the Donatist heretics and was asked by Emperor Constantine to hear charges against the Donatists in 313.

In a legend defended by St. Peter Canisius, Maternus is labeled a disciple of St. Peter and the son of the widow of Naim, resurrected to serve the faith once more. Maternus died at Trier, Germany, where it is believed he also served as a bishop at one time.

In art, Saint Maternus is a bishop holding a large key. He may also be shown holding three churches combined as one or with a crozier and pilgrim's staff or hermit's crutch.

Excerpted from Daily Gospel

28 posted on 09/14/2018 5:34:47 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)

Catholic Culture

Meditation: John 3:13-17

The Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Feast)

Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. (John 3:14)

There is a glorious, divine irony in today’s feast: a cruel instrument of suffering and death has been transformed into a grace-filled instrument of healing and resurrection.

We see the irony in today’s first reading. The Israelites had begun complaining and accusing God of abandoning them during their journey toward the Promised Land. Ultimately, all the venom in their words and hearts manifested itself in the form of poisonous serpents that attacked them. Their own sin fell back upon them and trapped them in death and destruction. That’s one irony: the people’s complaining made their situation worse.

Then, when the people begged God to save them, he told them to gaze on an image of a serpent. They had to fix their eyes on a symbol of their own sin and unbelief if they wanted to be set free from the consequences of their sin. That’s another irony: looking at their sin brought them salvation.

In the Gospel, Jesus promises Nicodemus that the Son of Man must be “lifted up” so that everyone who believes in him might have eternal life (John 3:14). He promises salvation to everyone who comes face-to-face with the consequences of their own sin. Yes, I helped crucify him. It was my own violence, my own hatred, my own self-centeredness and fallen desires that put him up there.

This is the final glorious irony. When we exalt the cross—when we lift it up and gaze on it—we experience God’s love and his healing. We see that it wasn’t just our sin that put Jesus there; it was also his love. It wasn’t just our enmity; it was his friendship. It wasn’t just our selfishness; it was his selflessness. We thought we were casting him out of our lives, when really he was giving himself to us in the fullest way possible.

Jesus could have stopped his death at any point, but he didn’t. He let us lift him up in death so that he could raise us up to eternal life.

Let’s all exalt the cross in our hearts today.

“We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, because by your cross you have redeemed the world.” (St. Francis of Assisi)

Numbers 21:4-9
Psalm 78:1-2, 34-38
Philippians 2:6-11

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Oops, #29 was The Word Among Us

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Daily Gospel Commentary

Homily attributed to Saint Ephrem (c.306-373)
deacon in Syria, Doctor of the Church
A homily attributed to Saint Ephrem the Syrian

"When I am lifted up from the earth I will draw everyone to myself" (Jn 12:32)

From now on, through the cross, all shadows have been dispelled and the truth arises, as the apostle John says: “The old order has passed away; all things are new” (Rv 21:4-5). Death has been stripped of prey, hell's captives liberated; man is set free; the Lord reigns; creation rejoices. The cross is victorious and all nations, races, languages and peoples (Rv 7:9) come to adore him. Together, in the cross we find our joy, exclaiming with blessed Paul: “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal 6:14). The cross gives light to the whole universe; it casts out darkness and gathers nations together in charity into one Church, one faith, one baptism, from West and East, from the North and from the seas. It stands at the very center of the world, set up on Calvary.

Armed with the cross, the Apostles go out to preach and gather together in adoration of it the whole universe, treading under foot every hostile power. Through it the martyrs have bravely confessed the faith, fearless of tyrants' cunning. Having taken it upon themselves, monks have joyfully made solitude their home.

When Christ returns this cross will first appear in heaven, the Great King's precious scepter, living, true and holy. “Then,” says the Lord, “the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven” (Mt 24:30). We will see it escorted by angels, illuminating the earth from one end of the universe to the other, brighter than the sun, proclaiming the Day of the Lord.

31 posted on 09/14/2018 7:00:43 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)

Marriage = One Man and One Woman Until Death Do Us Part

Daily Marriage Tip for September 14, 2018:

Lift high the Cross! Do you have a crucifix in a prominent place in your home? Seeing Jesus’ sacrifice is a great reminder of the love spouses are called to every day.

32 posted on 09/14/2018 7:05:30 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)

Regnum Christi

September 14, 2018 – God So Loves Me

13 Sep 2018

Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Father Patrick Butler, LC

John 3: 13-17

Jesus said to Nicodemus: “No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

Introductory Prayer: Your word in the Gospel reveals to me the beauty of the mystery of the Cross. I open myself now to you with a believing heart. Your love for humanity is so present in what you say. You give me hope that the world can be changed by your message of love. I want to be more like you, a lover of the Father, a lover of my brothers and sisters to the point of giving my life for them.

Petition: Lord, exalt the cross in my mind and my heart, that I might see it as an instrument of love.

Jesus’ Identity: Nicodemus comes to Jesus to find out who this miracle worker is. Jesus tells him that he is the Son of Man and God’s Son. He has come down from heaven and will return there. Now that he has identified himself, he has gotten Nicodemus’ attention and mine. His answer to the first question does not satisfy us because it has brought up several other questions. How can he claim to be the Son of God when there is but one God? If he is truly God’s Son, why has he come down to earth? What does he want or expect from me?

A Savior Greater Than Moses: Moses had, at God’s command, led Israel out of slavery in Egypt. When the people rebelled in the desert, they were punished by fiery serpents that bit them with poisonous venom. Moses intervened on their behalf, making a bronze image of a serpent, placed on a post; those who looked at it were saved. Jesus saves humanity from its rebellion, not by a symbol raised on a stick, but by sacrificing himself as he was raised on a cross. He saves me not from temporal death, but from eternal death. He is indeed a Savior greater than Moses.

The Degree of God’s Love: How much does the Father love me? If we could measure love on a thermometer, God’s infinite love would send the mercury out the end. His love is boundless. What would he withhold from me if he has already given his son to save me? My sentiments upon contemplating the immensity of God’s love for me should be gratitude, praise and a reciprocating love towards him.

Conversation with Christ: Lord, I am moved when I discover how much you love me. You came down from heaven, becoming the Son of Man so that I could know, love and imitate you. You loved me to the extreme of offering yourself up on the cross to save me from sin and death. I want to love you in return to the point of giving my life for you.

Resolution: I will contemplate the cross as a symbol of love, making it a symbol that says something to me whenever I see it. I will try to bear my cross today with love.

33 posted on 09/14/2018 7:10:19 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)

Homily of the Day

September 14, 2018

“Let what was seen in Christ Jesus be seen in you,” (Phil 2: 5) provides the proper context to the second reading: Have the same attitude, have the same mind of Christ Jesus. And that is to empty oneself of the ego, of self-referential thoughts and feelings: hence to be humble and obedient to the Father, even to the point of shedding blood and dying on the Cross.

Have you ever noticed how our mind is so often cluttered with many thoughts and how many feelings, often negative ones, piggy-back on those thoughts? This cluttered mind and bruised feelings have often and frequently left our soul in disarray and confusion.

A spiritual writer has suggested to focus on one word, e.g. “love,” or “surrender,” and gently sit quietly with the word. When other thoughts come, let them go. Picture life as a river, as a stream of water sailing by and as one thought occurs, imagine putting that thought on a boat and letting the boat sail away with it.

This method has been considered prayer because at the heart of it is all is the emptying of ourselves of all thoughts and feelings and surrendering them to the Father. It is emptying, kenosis in Greek, very much like the emptying that Jesus did when he was on this earth. It was dying every day in the physical, spiritual and emotional dimensions of his life. It was dying because he turned his thoughts, his feelings, his body and ultimately his will in utter and complete surrender to the Father.

Practice this method for twenty minutes twice a day. The more you practice it, the more it will bear fruit. And what is the fruit? Have the same attitude, the same mind as Jesus Christ!

It is a difficult practice. And it is difficult indeed because in the final analysis it is dying, like Jesus on the Cross.

34 posted on 09/14/2018 7:15:45 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)

One Bread, One Body

Language: English | Espanol

All Issues > Volume 34, Issue 5

<< Friday, September 14, 2018 >>

Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Numbers 21:4-9
Philippians 2:6-11
View Readings

Psalm 78:1-2, 34-38
John 3:13-17
Similar Reflections

HE WINS!

"Because of this, God highly exalted Him." --Philippians 2:9

The cross is the ultimate symbol of shame and defeat, both the public shaming of a criminal and an agonizing, slow death. Jesus overturned the defeat of the cross and has transformed the cross into a symbol of victory. Many Christians wear a cross around their necks as a sign of victory for all who believe in Jesus crucified and risen.

The serpent mounted on a pole is a "type" of the cross. The serpents in the desert were an instrument of death for the Hebrews, but became a sign of life once mounted on the pole. Our lives are to be such a sign also. "Continually we carry about in our bodies the dying of Jesus, so that in our bodies the life of Jesus may also be revealed. While we live we are constantly being delivered to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be revealed in our mortal flesh" (2 Cor 4:10-11). We deny our very selves, take up our daily cross (Lk 9:23), and crucify ourselves to the world (Gal 6:14). To those living under the influence of the world, the flesh, and the devil (1 Jn 2:16), we seem dead, yet we are for them like that serpent mounted on the pole, or Jesus hanging on the cross. When those who dismiss us are hurting, it is we to whom they may turn for compassion, healing, or encouragement.

"Mercy triumphs over judgment" (Jas 2:13). The crucified Jesus triumphs over death, sin, and pride. Jesus has overcome the world (Jn 16:33). We have to celebrate and rejoice (Lk 15:32). Jesus has won the victory. Carrying our cross leads to risen life and triumph. In Jesus crucified, we are more than conquerors (Rm 8:37). Alleluia!

Prayer: Jesus, keep me "near the cross."

Promise: "God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him may not die but may have eternal life." —Jn 3:16

Praise: "We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You, because by Your holy cross You have redeemed the world."

35 posted on 09/14/2018 7:26:02 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)

36 posted on 09/14/2018 7:33:51 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)

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