THE PRINCE OF THIS WORLD COMETH

A SERMON FOR PENTECOST SUNDAY

It’s Pentecost already.  Fifty days have passed since Easter, and our Lord’s promise of a Comforter is today fulfilled.  Cloven tongues of fire appear on the heads of the Apostles, and they now begin their task of spreading the good news of the Gospel to the four corners of the earth.  Pentecost in the year of our Lord 33 marked the beginning of a new era in the world’s history.  With his death, Christ conquered Death, with his Resurrection he humiliated the Devil, and with his Ascension he re-opened the gates of heaven.  Today, a new Church is born, one that would replace the ancient Synagogue of the Jews with a global covenant for all mankind, Jews and Gentiles alike.   On this day, all things were made new again, and we were given a second chance.

How did Satan feel about all this?  On Good Friday, he had experienced the pinnacle of whatever evil glee his hatred permitted him to have when he witnessed the death of the Son of God on the cross.  But his victory had been turned into utter defeat on Easter Sunday, and he had found himself in a worse position than ever, with his human slaves now able to avail themselves of sacraments and graces unheard of in the Old Testament.  Heaven was once again open for business after a lockdown of four thousand years.  And people were anxious to change their lifestyles and make sure of their place in this newly opened heaven by staying away from sin.  Satan was losing his hold on his followers, and people were beginning to flock to the waters of baptism.

So what’s he going to do about it?  Quite simple.  If you hold a serpent by the tail and stick pins in it, you’re going to make it mad.  Real mad.  And then watch out, because it’s going to swing around and bite you.  And our blessed Lord knew this would happen, and that’s why he warns his apostles in today’s Gospel, that along with the coming of the Holy Ghost, “the prince of the world cometh” also.  With the coming of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost, another spirit comes slithering in, an unholy spirit, one that has just been deprived of its victory over the God it hates, and one fixated on revenge.

Since that first Pentecost, when the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church was born, our world has experienced the presence of these two spirits, the one holy and the other evil.  Men have been torn as never before in this struggle between the Holy Ghost and the Devil.  Each of us have experienced this struggle many times in our lives – shall I do what I want to do, or what I should do?   It’s the Jekyll & Hyde story over and over again. 

In the wider sphere of world history, the same struggle has been continually waged between the two forces of good and evil.  Victories and defeats, sometimes with evil being vanquished, other times with God’s forces seeming to suffer an ignominious beating.  But history is just that—it’s the story of what’s happened in the past.  Today, we are living tomorrow’s history.  The events of today are what will shape our future into what it will become.  The current crisis in world events brought about by a simple little bug has been the catalyst for developments that we’ll surely be feeling for years to come.  How will it all turn out?  Only time will tell.  Who’s to blame for what’s happening?  There are too many conspiracy theories clashing around these days for us to be able to pick the right one.  All I know is that the devil doesn’t miss a trick.  He recognizes the chance he has been given by this crisis, and he will use his human instruments to try and bring about changes in our society that fit his agenda.

“Brethren, be sober, be vigilant,” says St. Peter our first Pope in his epistle, “because your adversary the devil goeth about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.  Whom resist ye, steadfast in the faith!”  Here’s our agenda.  To be sober, to be vigilant, and finally to resist the assaults of the devil.  We’ll need to resist when the time comes, when we know exactly what we need to resist—whether it be hatred, division, immorality, or pressure to abandon our faith.  But in the meantime, for goodness’ sake, stay sober, keep your wits about you.  And above all, be vigilant—keep your eyes open for any cracks in the infrastructure through which the devil can enter in.  Whether it be our constitution, our laws, our local community.  Or maybe our own family.  Or our very own souls.  Don’t let him in.  Resist.

Back in the Middle Ages, when a village was attacked by foreign barbarians, the villagers would all run for cover in the local castle.  They would run inside, and then the drawbridge would be pulled up, and they would defend themselves from the safety inside the fortress walls.  Our souls are a bit like that fortress.  They are our house of defense that we need as the world outside seems to be collapsing.  First we had coronavirus, and before we’ve even had chance to breathe, we then get a new cold war with China and race riots in Minneapolis, all within the space of a few days.  Many in our own families have already fallen victim to the wolves of an apostate Church and a society of rotting morals.  So where else can we turn?  We must run for cover to the house of defense that is our own soul.  Know that as long as we keep that soul safe and free from sin, there is nothing an enemy can do.  Even the very prince of the world, the Devil, cannot enter in unless we throw the door open and invite him in.

Our soul is the temple of the Holy Ghost.  It is he that we must invite to fill our souls.  It is the Holy Ghost whom we must ask today to fortify our souls for the battle with evil, to arm us with his sevenfold gifts of wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord.  After you leave here today, look up that hymn we all learned as children: “Come Holy Ghost, Creator, come, from thy bright heavenly throne.  Come, take possession of our souls, and make them all thine own.  Far from us drive our deadly foe; true peace unto us bring; and through all perils lead us safe beneath thy sacred wing.”

COME, THOU HOLY SPIRIT, COME

A HYMN FOR WHITSUNTIDE

Translated from the Latin by Fr. Edward Caswall, 1849

1 Come, thou Holy Spirit, come,

and from thy celestial home

shed a ray of light divine;

come, thou Father of the poor,

come, thou source of all our store,

come, within our hearts to shine.

2 Thou of comforters the best,

thou the soul's most welcome guest,

sweet refreshment here below;

in our labour rest most sweet,

grateful coolness in the heat,

solace in the midst of woe.

3 O most blessèd Light divine,

shine within these hearts of thine,

and our inmost being fill;

where thou art not, man hath naught,

nothing good in deed or thought,

nothing free from taint of ill.

4 Heal our wounds; our strength renew;

on our dryness pour thy dew;

wash the stains of guilt away;

bend the stubborn heart and will;

melt the frozen, warm the chill;

guide the steps that go astray.

5 On the faithful, who adore

and confess thee, evermore

in thy sevenfold gifts descend:

Give them virtue's sure reward,

give them thy salvation, Lord,

give them joys that never end.

SPEAKING IN TONGUES

A REFLECTION FOR WHITSUNDAY

When our Blessed Lord told the apostles that after the coming of the Holy Ghost they should go and teach all nations, there is no record that any of them questioned him as to how they would communicate with all the foreigners they would encounter.  They were simple men, fishermen for the most part, so maybe it just didn’t occur to them that people spoke in different languages depending where they lived.  Perhaps they thought about it later, perhaps not.  All we know is that on the morning of Pentecost they started their mission, and everyone—everyone—understood exactly what they were saying.

“They were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”  These simple fishermen, most of whom spoke only Aramaic, now spoke in tongues that were completely unknown to them.  It was undeniably a miracle, and the multitude “were all amazed and marvelled.. because that every man heard them speak in their own language.”

As with all miracles, God had a purpose.  He does not perform party tricks for our amusement, and miracles happen for a reason.  He created nature, and this wonderful nature takes care of everything in one way or another as God intended.  He does not intervene in the workings of nature unless there is a very special reason for which he wills to make an exception.  In this particular case, the reason is obvious.  God wanted to make known his new covenant with mankind to as many people as possible and as quickly as possible.  And it was the miracle of tongues that made it possible.

One of the various hundreds of heretical sects that have come into being since those days is a group called the Pentecostals.  It originated at Bethel Bible College in Topeka, Kansas, and its members claimed that glossolalia (the ability to speak in an unknown language) was evidence that they had been truly baptized with the Holy Ghost.  More and more of them began gibbering in strange-sounding tongues, which sadly, nobody could understand.  They figured out that it would be good to also have members who could interpret the babbling of the first group, and then they claimed this as a further miracle.  We may legitimately wonder why God would go to all this trouble when all these people spoke English anyway.

Eventually, this bizarre cult found its way into other mainstream Protestant churches, and even into the post-Vatican 2 Catholic Church.  These groups are usually referred to as Charismatics, and don’t usually limit themselves to speaking in tongues.  You’ll find that they’re big on faith healing, fake exorcisms, and other “miraculous” parlor tricks that are designed to make money out of gullible converts.  They are not of God, and should be avoided like the plague.  Miracles are exceptions to the rule, and no one should be selling advance tickets to a weekly performance of them.

Miracles do happen though, and the events of Pentecost show us their true reality and purpose.  Don’t be taken in by imposters.

WAITING FOR GOD

A SERMON FOR THE SUNDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF ASCENSION

On Thursday, we celebrated the Ascension of our Lord into heaven.  We saw how the apostles accompanied their Master one last time as he took them up the Mount of Olives.  There they saw him rise up into the air, leaving them behind to gaze up after him into the clouds.  They must have been feeling lost at that moment, maybe even abandoned.  It took two men in white, angels sent from God, to shock them back into reality, reminding them that “this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”  And they remembered that our Lord had commanded them “that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.”  Don’t leave Jerusalem, he told them, but wait!

And so on this Sunday within the Octave of the Ascension, we find the Apostles waiting.  They’re back in the familiar surroundings of the Upper Room where they had enjoyed the Last Supper with our Lord, where he had ordained them priests, where they had hidden themselves during the Crucifixion, and where our Lord had first appeared to them after his Resurrection.  Its familiarity was comforting for them—so many memories—and they were further consoled by the presence of our Lord’s blessed Mother, who joined them there to wait with them.

With the benefit of hindsight we know now that they had to wait nine days for the arrival of the real Comforter, the Holy Ghost, at Pentecost.  At the time, of course, they did not know how long it was going to be, but with the encouragement of our blessed Lady, they spent the time in prayer, waiting patiently for our Lord’s promise to be fulfilled.  Nine long days of waiting.  It was the origin of the Novena, where we pray with patience for nine days for God to answer our prayers.  Our Lady and the Apostles taught us well that God likes us to be persistent in our prayers and steadfast in our faith.  For our own good, he teaches us that we have to wait!

With the first sin of Adam and Eve, the world was turned into one big waiting room.  We started by waiting four thousand years for a Saviour to be born who would re-open the gates of heaven.  That’s a long time!  And we human beings don’t like to wait.  Americans, especially, have a reputation for not liking to wait.   Amazon Prime delivers packages faster than it takes to get in the car and pick something at the local store.  It’s not enough to have whatever we want—we have to have it NOW!  Even if we can’t afford something, we just put it on a credit card and pay later.  If we’re hungry, we won’t wait for dinner, we’ll just reach out for the snack box and feed our faces.  This is not the way of God.  There’s no longer any sense of patiently waiting for mealtimes, of waiting for marriage before we indulge those other appetites, of saving money to buy something when we can afford it.  It’s all about grabbing what we want whenever we want it.

Please try not to let yourselves fall into this way of thinking.  Today we’re all waiting impatiently for things to get back to normal after the pandemic.  For stores to re-open, for the baseball season to start, for the kids to go back to school, for those lovely days spent drinking at the local tavern.  We just can’t wait for it all to come back.  Well, yes we can wait.  We can and we must wait—with patience if you please.  Because God likes it that way.  Patience is a virtue, and it’s one that can only be practiced and perfected by waiting for the things we want.  It’s one of the reasons we fast before going to Holy Communion—so we have to wait for those pancakes and bacon till after Mass.  First things first.  Wait for the money to buy that nice new dress you want.  Wait for Christmas to come.  Wait for your wedding night.  Understand God when he says “Not yet!”

There’s one thing we’re all waiting for that we should be more impatient than anything else to have.  It’s the greatest and most important thing that we could possibly want.  So you’d think we’d be chomping at the bit to get it, wouldn’t you?  This object of our desire is eternal life in heaven and the end of all our earthly woes.  And yet (and how ironic is this?), we not only try to put off having it, we actually dread it!  We are fearful of opening the door of death, and walking through that doorway to an eternity of unalloyed bliss.  We humans are truly strange creatures.  I suppose this fear of death must have been instilled into our nature by God so we don’t all jump off a cliff to be with him sooner.  We might find it hard to believe as we sit here comfortably, but there may come a time when we are ready to die, when we actually look forward to it.  Perhaps we’re in terrible pain with a terminal disease, maybe we’ve lost a loved one and feel we can’t go on without them, or maybe we’re just 110 years old and tired of the food in the nursing home.  No matter what, though, we can’t hasten the process.  We must wait patiently until God calls us.

Like the Apostles waiting for the Holy Ghost, we usually don’t know how long we have to wait for something.   How long will it be till I can get back to work?  Till the right girl comes along?  Till I die?  There’s no little voice in our ear telling us “Your estimated wait time is 3 hours and 45 minutes” like we get when we call Cincinnati Bell.  So we just have to put ourselves “on hold” and carry on with whatever useful things we can find to do until our turn comes.  The last thing the Apostles asked our Lord before he ascended into heaven was “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom of Israel?”  You see?  Impatient to the very end.  Will you do it now, Lord?  And his reply says it all: “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.”  He didn’t say “Never!”  He just doesn’t say when!  “But ye shall receive power,” he says, “after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.”  And they waited and prayed for nine days, and the prophecy was fulfilled.

So pray, pray and pray for the things you need, the things you feel you must have.  Don’t ever think God doesn’t hear your prayer just because he doesn’t grant it right away.  Keep praying, keep waiting, and trust in God that if it’s in your best interests, he will answer your prayer in his own good time.  Meanwhile, be patient!

COME HOLY GHOST, CREATOR BLEST

A HYMN FOR THE SUNDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF ASCENSION

Come, Holy Ghost, Creator blest,

Vouchsafe within our souls to rest;

Come with thy grace and heavenly aid,

And fill the hearts which thou hast made.

To thee, the Paraclete, we cry,

To thee, the Gift of God most high,

The Fount of life, the Fire of love,

The soul's Anointing from above.

The sevenfold gifts of grace are thine,

O Finger of the Hand Divine;

True Promise of the Father thou,

Who dost the tongue with speech endow.

Thy light to every sense impart,

And shed thy love in every heart;

Thine own unfailing might supply

To strengthen our infirmity.

Drive far away our ghostly foe,

And thine abiding peace bestow;

If thou be our preventing Guide,

No evil can our steps betide.

Make thou to us the Father known,

Teach us the eternal Son to own,

Be this our neverchanging creed,

That thou dost from them both proceed.

All praise be thine, O risen Lord,

From death to endless life restored;

Whom with the Father we adore,

And Holy Ghost, for evermore.  Amen.

THEY WILL PUT YOU OUT OF THE SYNAGOGUES

A REFLECTION FOR THE SUNDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF ASCENSION

We’ve been through a lot lately.  It all started with the realization that the very unpleasant situation that had been playing out in Wuhan, China, had made its way to our own shores and was going to become a major element in our daily lives.  As stories began to appear on our TVs of elderly people dying in Washington nursing homes, then the quarantine of New Rochelle in New York, enforced by the National Guard, we started to wonder how bad this was going to get.  It didn’t take long to find out.  Our fears of the virus itself were soon overtaken by other concerns, as food shortages and school closures eventually gave way to massive unemployment and financial mayhem as businesses closed and the stock market plummeted.

Not a very happy time, to be sure.  And the disaster was compounded by the behavior of many political leaders, who forced us to “stay-at-home” and practice “social distancing” with all the psychological and health effects that ensued—loneliness, stress, domestic abuse, addiction, and even suicide.  It was not easy being separated from our families, especially from those who really needed us, the elderly in their nursing homes who were suffering the most.  If ever in the course of human history there was a time when people felt the need for God, this was it.

But where was God to be found?  Most churches were forced to close.  We shouldn’t expect anything else from the Democrats, who mostly hate God, religion, and anyone who prays.  That is evident from their enthusiasm in flaunting God’s most basic laws (think abortion and same-sex marriage for starters).  What was more distressing was the action of so-called Catholic bishops who not only cooperated with, but exceeded the extent of the civil law, by closing all their churches and putting a complete stop to the public celebration of Mass.  I personally know of a bishop who forbade one of his priests from administering the Last Rites to a dying woman.  Admittedly, the wholesale abolition of invalid sacraments may be a good thing in the eyes of God, but it was nevertheless an alarming precedent.  To deprive the faithful of their ability to worship publicly was a new low for the pastors of the new Church.  It was somewhat consoling to see the ensuing rebellion of many new-order priests, as they organized drive-by confessions, drive-in Masses, and other innovative ways of bringing their sacraments to the faithful.  Hopefully, the latest presidential announcement will restore our right to worship without restriction.

There are those who fear this whole situation may be a dry-run for something more drastic in the coming months, and there are those who are confident of the return to a more stable future.  But we should all recognize that these last couple of months have been a grim reminder of our Lord’s words in today’s Gospel:  “They shall put you out of the synagogues… and these things will they do unto you because they have not known the Father, nor me.”  These enemies of God, and there are many, still don’t know their divine Creator, and are certain to continue their assault on his Church.  So let’s prepare for an uncertain future by keeping today’s message stored in our minds: “These things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them.”

BEHOLDING OURSELVES IN A GLASS

A SERMON FOR THE 5TH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER

Most of us used a mirror this morning.  Ladies no doubt spent a bit of time carefully applying makeup, while the men were busying applying shaving cream.  Even the children probably shot a glance at themselves in the mirror as they brushed their teeth and combed their hair.  It’s called grooming ourselves and we do it to make ourselves just a bit easier to look at.  It surely can’t be for our own benefit, can it?  After all, most days we hardly ever see ourselves at all, except for this one visit to the mirror.  So hopefully it’s an act of charity towards our neighbor, those poor people who have to look at us all the day long. 

This daily review of our own face, while benefiting our neighbor no doubt, is unfortunately wasted most days as far as we ourselves are concerned.  So let’s change that today, by thinking of these visits to the mirror as an opportunity to take a look at who we really are.  What do I see in that reflection?  Do I like what I see?  Hopefully, we find ourselves looking at an aspiring saint, trying to rid himself of bad habits and vices, striving to perfect himself in the ways of God.  Or do I behold my reflection with shame, conscious of all the awful things I’ve done in my life?   Worse yet, maybe I see the self-satisfied face of someone still deliberately wallowing in uncontrolled appetites that dishonor God and himself?  “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?”

However we see ourselves, we should at least not try to fool ourselves into thinking we’re better than we are.  We men must never think we can remove, along with our facial hair, the shame and embarrassment of what we’ve become?  And you ladies, no amount of rouge and lipstick can cover up the real state of your character and your soul.  If we’re honest, we are always going to see, in that face that looks back at us, someone who is in need of much more than just physical improvement.

If we really take a good look in that mirror, we should find many reasons for improving that person we see in the reflection.  For this is, truly, an opportunity to reflect, in both meanings of that word.  We should reflect on who we are and who we really want to be, and then we should reflect on whether these two things match up.  Do our aspirations coincide with the present reality of our state of soul? 

And when we’ve finished “reflecting”, let’s not just go our way, as St. James says in his Epistle today.  Let’s not be like the man who “beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.”  Instead, when you review that face of yours, offer up a prayer to Almighty God, for the graces you need to improve what’s behind your face.  A man’s soul was never saved by having a nice clean-shaven chin.  Nor has any woman managed to make it through the pearly gates by flashing her mascara-covered eyelids at St. Peter.  So let’s concentrate on our salvation alone, and treat the externals for what they’re worth—at best, an act of charity towards our neighbor, and if not that, then simple vanity.

There’s a very popular hymn that most of you probably have heard.  Unfortunately, it has become associated with Billy Graham and his evangelist tent-meetings and “altar calls”, and that is indeed a pity.  It’s called “Just as I am” and you’ll find a copy in today’s bulletin.  It’s worth a second look, as the words convey a very simple yet profound acknowledgment that God accepts us for who we are, and not what we look like.  The Good Shepherd will welcome us back into the fold no matter what we’ve done in the past, no matter what bad habits we’ve managed to accumulate.  He’s always there, always ready to wipe away our tears of sorrow when we turn to him.  No matter how badly we’ve sinned against him, he invites us to save our souls.  So as we turn away from our reflection in the mirror to face the day, let’s remember that God is listening to our prayers, and waiting for our answer to his invitation, “Just as I am, O Lamb of God, I come!” 

Let’s remember to say that little prayer as we turn away from our reflection in the mirror to face the day.  Let’s resolve at that point to do whatever’s necessary.  Each of us must get to know that face in the mirror well enough to acknowledge what those necessary steps might be.   Whether it’s confession, a change of lifestyle, certain occasions of sin we need to avoid, work to be done conquering this or that sinful habit—today on Rogation Sunday and throughout Rogationtide, let’s pray more fervently than ever to God and the holy saints for the enlightenment to know what we must do and the graces to give us strength to do it. 

JUST AS I AM

A HYMN FOR THE 5TH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER

By Charlotte Elliott, 1873

Just as I am - without one plea,

But that Thy blood was shed for me,

And that Thou bidst me come to Thee,

-O Lamb of God, I come!

Just as I am - and waiting not

To rid my soul of one dark blot,

To Thee, whose blood can cleanse each spot,

-O Lamb of God, I come!

Just as I am - though toss'd about

With many a conflict, many a doubt,

Fightings and fears within, without,

-O Lamb of God, I come!

Just as I am - poor, wretched, blind;

Sight, riches, healing of the mind,

Yea, all I need, in Thee to find,

-O Lamb of God, I come!

Just as I am - Thou wilt receive,

Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;

Because Thy promise I believe,

-O Lamb of God, I come!

Just as I am - Thy love unknown

Has broken every barrier down;

Now to be Thine, yea, Thine alone,

-O Lamb of God, I come!

ROGATIONTIDE

A REFLECTION FOR ROGATION SUNDAY

The Rogation Days were introduced about AD 470 by Bishop Mamertus of Vienne in France, and were eventually adopted elsewhere.  They comprise the three days following Rogation Sunday concluding with the Vigil of Ascension on Rogation Wednesday.

The word “Rogation” comes from the Latin “rogare”, meaning “to ask”, and was applied to this time of the liturgical year because the Gospel reading for today includes the passage “Ask and ye shall receive” (Gospel of St. John 16:24).  Today is often called Rogation Sunday as a result, and marks the start of a three-week period (ending on Trinity Sunday) when clergy did not solemnize marriages.  In England, Rogation Sunday is called Chestnut Sunday.

The faithful typically observed the Rogation days by fasting in preparation to celebrate the Ascension, and farmers often had their crops blessed by a priest at this time, which always occurs during the spring in the Northern Hemisphere.  Violet vestments are worn at the Rogation Litany and its associated Mass, regardless of what color is worn at the ordinary liturgies of the day.  A common feature of Rogation days in former times was the ceremony of “beating the bounds”, in which a procession of parishioners, led by the priest, churchwarden, and choirboys, would proceed around the boundary of their parish and pray for its protection in the forthcoming year.  These days were also known in England as Gang-days and Cross Week, and in Germany as Bittage, Bittwoche and Kreuzwoche.

The Litany of the Saints is obligatory on the three Rogation days for all those bound to the Divine Office.  For this reason, the days of Rogation are all known as the Days of the Lesser Litanies.  They have the name “lesser” to distinguish them from the “Greater Litanies” sung in procession on April 25, the Feast of St. Mark.  In fact, there is no difference in the text of the Greater and Lesser Litanies, and you will find them listed in your Missal as simply the Litany of the Saints.

During this time when we ask God for favors, there is no better time than to recite these Litanies and implore the saints to intercede for us at the throne of God.  This year especially, our poor world is in need of more prayers even than usual, so let’s make the sacrifice of a little time and, in the spirit of the Church, recite the Litany of the Saints on the next three Days of Rogation.

QUEEN FOR A DAY

A SERMON FOR THE 4TH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER

When God gave Moses the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, the Bible tells us that they were written on two tablets of stone.  The first tablet contained the first three commandments, which dealt with our relationship with God himself.  The other seven commandments, dealing with man’s relationship with his neighbor, were inscribed on the second tablet, with the Fourth Commandment standing above all others, “Honor thy father and thy mother.”  On this Mothers’ Day, we especially honor our mothers.  Not all of us are mothers, obviously.  But we all have mothers.  We are all children of mothers.  Today, all of us are called upon to honor those mothers.  To visit them if we can, to bring them gifts, to make them happy.  Or if our mothers are no longer living, we can still show our love by praying for their souls.  We entrust them all, living and deceased, to the care of Almighty God, the Blessed Mother, and the patron saint of mothers, Saint Monica.

Monday of this past week was the feast of St. Monica.  She’s a saint who is familiar to most of us, and certainly to all our mothers, famous because she had a rather unruly son who gave her a very hard time.  Despite being a great intellectual and living a life of luxury, this son of hers was infected in both his faith and morals with things that were displeasing to God, and neither scolding nor pleading with him had any effect.  So St. Monica turned to God and pleaded with him instead.  Graces were poured from above on her son, who for a long time chose to ignore them, clinging to his false beliefs in the heresy of Manichaeism, and to the lustful habits of his personal life.  He’s famous for the prayer he made to God:  “Lord, make me chaste—but not yet!”  St. Monica described his as “the son of so many tears.”  Thanks, no doubt, to those tears, he eventually started reading the New Testament and was converted to the true faith, being baptized by the Archbishop of Milan, St. Ambrose.  Monica’s wayward son went on to become perhaps the greatest of the western doctors of the Church, St. Augustine.

And on this Mothers’ Day, when, I hope, your children rally round you to make you Queen for a Day, let them know that flowers and chocolate-covered strawberries are all very nice, but the only way they can ever make you really happy is by living their faith according to God’s commandments.  Are your children at Mass today?  If not, then shed those tears in front of the Blessed Sacrament this morning and pray like St. Monica did for your children’s conversion.

One mother who certainly never had that particular problem was the greatest mother of them all, the Most Blessed Mother.  Most blessed because she was the Mother of God.  And yet, even she shed tears.  Not for her Child’s salvation of course, but for what that Child had to endure for our salvation.  For we are her children too.  “Son, behold thy Mother,” said our Lord from the Cross.  She still sheds those tears—look at the apparition of our Lady at La Salette: despite her crown of glory, she still has her head buried in her hands as she weeps for a mankind that never seems to deviate from our sinful ways. 

Today, we crown her statue here on this Mothers’ Day.  As we honor our own mothers today, so too do we venerate our Blessed Mother also.  For in effect, we all have two mothers, a physical mother who delivered our bodies into this world, and a Blessed Mother who, if we are faithful children, will deliver our souls into heaven.  We love our own mother and we must love the Blessed Mother too.  We their children must do whatever we can to make both of them happy.  To stop them shedding those tears, tears shed for us.

The May Crowning is not just a happy little Catholic tradition.  It’s not just for little girls.  It’s a reminder that our Mother in heaven loves us because she is our Mother.  As a mother, she can’t help but love us.  But do we really love her in return, with the true love of sacrifice?  Are we ready to give up our own little pleasures in order to please her and make her happy?  And we please her by pleasing her Son, by doing his divine will, by following all his commandments—not just the Fourth!

FOR MARY, MOTHER OF THE LORD

A HYMN FOR MOTHERS' DAY

By John R. Peacey, 1896-1971

For Mary, Mother of the Lord

God's holy name be praised,

Who first the Son of God adored

As on her child she gazed.

The angel Gabriel brought the word

She should Christ's mother be;

Our Lady, handmaid of the Lord,

Made answer willingly.

The heavenly call she thus obeyed,

And so God's will was done;

The second Eve love's answer made

Which our redemption won.

She gave her body for God's shrine,

Her heart to piercing pain,

And knew the cost of love divine

When Jesus Christ was slain.

Dear Mary, from your lowliness

And home in Galilee,

There comes a joy and holiness

To every family.

Hail, Mary, thou art full of grace,

Above all women blest;

Blest in thy Son, whom thine embrace

In birth and death confessed.