Mary the Perfect Model of Humility

The following is an edited excerpt from some of Fr. Hardon's writings on the Eucharist. In this particular article he shows how Mary was humble because she carried God within and tries to show us that the way for us to acquire and receive this divine virtue is through the Eucharist, the real presence of Christ. Here it goes:

Mary practiced to an eminent degree the virtue of humility. At the Annunciation, she told the Angel, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord." In the Magnificat, she repeated the same term except she spoke of the lowliness of His handmaid to make sure nobody misunderstood what she meant by "handmaid." She told of how the Lord scatters the proud and exalts the lowly.
There are two kinds of exaltation: self-exaltation and divine exaltation. The greatest danger on earth is self-exaltation, because then we call down on ourselves the curse of God. But the condition for divine exaltation is lowly, Marian humility. She declared that the Lord fills the hungry (those who admit their emptiness) with good things. Hunger in the Bible means emptiness not only of the body, but a symbol of the admitted emptiness of everything. By ourselves, we are emptiness, a vacuum. But we must admit that we are a vacuum, or we shall not be filled by the goodness of God. We must admit and constantly confess our emptiness, which is another word for humility.
Mary declared how grateful she was that the Lord had done so much for Israel and His servant. Humility serves. Humility waits on others. Humility responds to the bidding of the one whom it serves. This is the mother of God, but only because she is also the lowly handmaid of the Lord. The more gifted a person, the more prone that person is to pride. Possession of anything naturally generates pride. And not only does possession generate pride, but the greater the possession the more pride it generates. Wealth of any kind inflates the human heart. The more a person has of physical or mental or moral or even spiritual riches, the harder it is for that person to be humble. How are we to be humble? How can we possess without being proud? Only through being in the presence of Jesus Christ.
We can consider the unspeakable humility of God not only in the Incarnation when He appeared as man, but also in remaining on earth in the Holy Eucharist. This is double humility: the humility of hiding His divinity as He did during His visible stay on earth and the divine humility in hiding even His humanity in the Holy Eucharist. He not only gives us the example of how humble we should be, but through Him, we receive the most fundamental grace we need in life: the grace of humility.
No matter what we possess, it tends to induce us to pride, and the more we have, the more tempted we are to be proud. But it's not just quantitative possession; it is qualitative possession that inclines to pride. And the highest possession we can have is sanctity. Dear God, how can I stay humble and grow in sanctity? This was the greatest temptation of the mystics. One does not possess the close union with God that saints like Catherine of Siena or Theresa of Avila or John of the Cross enjoyed without being tempted by pride. It's tempting to look down on "those lower mortals."
But Mary's humility is a paradox. The most gifted creature ever produced by the Creator was also the lowliest in her own eyes. That is the key to humility: seeing everything we are, everything we have, everything we hope to become, everything we hope to achieve or possess – seeing everything as a free, undeserved and totally gratuitous gift from God. But this is possible only by the grace with which the God who became man provides us. The same grace He provided Mary by His Real Presence with her, He provides by His Real Presence with us today. There's no more basic reason for the Real Presence on earth of Jesus Christ than to provide us with the humanly impossible grace of humility.

Anti-Catholic Bill 1098 Pulled today- VICTORY for the Catholic Church

I just got this great news. Notice also the association of Tom Gallagher with the National Catholic Reporter (a left wing so called "Catholic" newspaper), not to be confused with the National Catholic Register ( a truly Catholic newspaper). Praise the Lord!!

BREAKING NEWS:Connecticut Anti-Catholic Bill Pulled
3/10/2009
Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights (www.catholicleague.org/)
Chalk up a big victory for Catholics who are loyal to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church and to the religious liberty provisions of the First Amendment.
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal will now review the constitutionality of the bill.
HARTFORD (Catholic League) - The bill that would allow the state legislature in Connecticut to reconfigure the governing structure of the Catholic Church has been pulled. Introduced by Rep. Michael Lawlor and Sen. Andrew McDonald, the bill was withdrawn at the behest of the person who proposed it, Tom Gallagher; he is a contributor to the National Catholic Reporter, a left-wing Catholic newspaper. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal will now review the constitutionality of the bill. Catholic League president Bill Donohue responded as follows: “Every pre-law undergraduate knows that what Lawlor and McDonald tried to pull off—in stealth fashion—was flagrantly unconstitutional. For their fascist stunt, they should at least be censured by their colleagues. Ideally, they should resign or be forced out of office. “The big losers are the Catholic left-wing activists who pushed for this measure. To be specific, Voice of the Faithful, a dissident Catholic group comprised mainly of senior citizens, has been promoting a lay Catholic takeover of the Catholic Church for many years. .......................................

Excerpt taken from the following site (to read the complete article click below)
http://www.catholic.org/politics/story.php?id=32530

Fr. Tim Gallagher, OMV on EWTN

IGNATIAN SPIRITUALITY SERIES ON EWTN. Fr. Tim Gallagher, Oblate of the Virgin Mary, will be on EWTN on Friday March 13 at 6:30 a.m. EST talking about Ignatian Prayer, on Tuesday March 17 at 6:00 p.m. EST talking about Ignatian Discernment, and on Friday March 20 at 6:30 a.m. EST talking about Ignatian Discernment. Fr. Tim's books can be purchased by clicking on the link provided in this blog on the left hand side column.

The anti-Catholic Bill in Connecticut: Bill 1098

As we know there is a proposed Bill 1098 before the Judiciary Committee which proposes to modify "corporate laws" for certain religious institutions", namely the Catholic Church. The Bill has been advanced by so called Catholics, members of the dissident group Voice of the Faithful (VOTF), that have as their real aim the destruction of the Church. The Bill oddly disregards the principle for separation of Church and State and is a meddling of the state in the affairs of the Chruch that interferes with the way the Church is administered and governed. In fact is an attempt also by the state to change the laws of Canon law within the Church that determine clearly how the temporal goods of the Church have to be administered. The saddest thing about this is that those people who are actually promoting this anti-Catholic Bill dare to call themselves Catholics. The website of the VOTF has tried to state more clearly their identity in the last couple of years, and now their site clearly state that their main objectives are " protecting children, to embrace an agenda aimed at reducing the power of the hierarchy, eliminating a celibate priesthood and introducing female priests." This comes as a no surprise to anybody who has seen what VOTF has done in the past years. Such dissident group has now been able to orchestrate a frontal attack on the Church that it is clearly of demonic origin and joins the ranks of other corporate structures that aim at destroying the Church in one way or another. The proposed legislation, S.B. 1098, aims to reorganize the internal structure of the Church, removing the bishop as the head of the board of the parishes in his diocese and requiring the pastor to report finances to a board composed of laity, instead of the bishop. Under the bill, the bishop is also relegated to being an "ex officio" member of the board, without voting rights. Anthony Picarello, General Counsel of the U.S. Conference of Bishops has described the bill as “blatantly unconstitutional” since it “targets the Catholic Church explicitly and exclusively, and attempts to use the civil law to alter Church governance.” We Catholics must pray that the smoke of Satan that hovers over the Church may be dispelled, and we must also express our opinion against such blatant attack on the Church by contacting the Judiciary through the following link provided by the Family Institute:
http://www.votervoice.net/Core.aspx?AID=274&IssueID=16729&atid=13401&siteid=0&App=GAC&target=true&isVisited=true&targetID=29729223

For more information about the Bill and the Church's view about this bill check this link:
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0901086.htm
This is a link that shows how VOTF has been ivolved
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2202864/posts

Visions of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven according to St. Faustina

The following passages are taken from the Diary of St. Faustina and they refer to her visions of Hell, Purgatory and Heaven. Very interesting.
"...I saw two roads. One was broad, covered with sand and flowers, full of joy, music and all sorts of pleasures. People walked along it, dancing and enjoying themselves. They reached the end without realizing it. And at the end of the road there was a horrible precipice; that is, the abyss of hell. The souls fell blindly into it; as they walked, so they fell. And their number was so great that it was impossible to count them. And I saw the other road, or rather, a path, for it was narrow and strewn with thorns and rocks; and the people who walked along it had tears in their eyes, and all kinds of suffering befell them. Some fell down upon the rocks, but stood up immediately and went on. At the end of the road there was a magnificent garden filled with all sorts of happiness and all these souls entered there. At the very first instant they forgot all their sufferings" (Diary 153).

" Today, I was led by an Angel to the chasms of hell. It is a place of great torture; how awesomely large and extensive it is! The kinds of tortures I saw: the first torture that constitutes hell is the loss of God; the second is perpetual remorse of conscience; the third is that one’s condition will never change; the fourth is the fire that will penetrate the soul without destroying it, a terrible suffering, since it is a purely spiritual fire, lit by God’s anger; the fifth torture is conditional darkness and a terrible suffocating smell, and despite the darkness, the devils and the souls of the damned see each other and all the evil, both of others and their own; the sixth torture is the constant company of satan, the seventh torture is horrible despair, hatred of God, vile words, curses and blasphemies. These are the tortures suffered by all the damned together, but that is not the end of the sufferings. There are special tortures destined for particular souls. These are the torments of the senses. Each soul undergoes terrible and indescribable sufferings, related to the manner in which it has sinned. There are caverns and pits of torture where one form of agony differs from another. I would have died at the very sight of these tortures if the omnipotence of God had not supported me. Let the sinner know that he will be tortured throughout all eternity, in those senses which he made use of to sin. I am writing this at the command of God, so that no soul may find an excuse by saying there is no hell, or that nobody has ever been there, and so no one can say what it is like. I, sister Faustina, by the order of God, have visited the abysses of hell so that I might tell souls about it and testify to its existence. I cannot speak about it now; but I have received a command from God to leave it in writing. The devils were full of hatred for me, but they had to obey me at the command of God. What I have written is but a pale shadow of the things I saw. But I noticed one thing: that most of the souls there are those who disbelieved that there is a hell. When I came to, I could hardly recover from the fright. How terribly souls suffer there! Consequently, I pray even more fervently for the conversion of sinners. I incessantly plead God’s mercy upon them. O my Jesus, I would rather be in agony until the end of the world, amidst the greatest sufferings, then offend You by the least sin. (Diary 741).

" ...I saw my Guardian Angel, who ordered me to follow him. In a moment I was in a misty place full of fire in which there was a great crowd of suffering souls. They were praying fervently, but to no avail, for themselves; only we can come to their aid. The flames, which were burning them, did not touch me at all. My Guardian Angel did not leave me for an instant. I asked these souls what their greatest suffering was. They answered me in one voice that their greatest torment was longing for God. I saw Our Lady visiting the souls in Purgatory. The souls call Her “The Star of the Sea”. She brings them refreshment. I wanted to talk with them some more, but my Guardian Angel beckoned me to leave. We went out of that prison of suffering. [I heard an interior voice which said] ‘My mercy does not want this, but justice demands it. Since that time, I am in closer communion with the suffering souls.’” (Diary, 20)

" November 27, 1936. Today I was in heaven, in spirit, and I saw its unconceivable beauties and the happiness that awaits us after death. I saw how all creatures give ceaseless praise and glory to God. I saw how great is happiness in God, which spreads to all creatures, making them happy; and then all the glory and praise which springs from this happiness returns to its source; and they enter into the depths of God, contemplating the inner life of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, whom they will never comprehend or fathom. This source of happiness is unchanging in its essence, but it is always new, gushing forth happiness for all creatures. Now I understand Saint Paul, who said, “Eye has not seen, nor has ear heard, not has it entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love him.” And God has given me to understand that there is but one thing that is of infinite value in His eyes, and that is love of God; love, love and once again, love; and nothing can compare with a single act of pure love of God. Oh, with what inconceivable favors God gifts a soul that loves Him sincerely! Oh, how happy is the soul who already here on earth enjoys His special favors! And of such are the little and humble souls. The sight of this great majesty of God, which I came to understand more profoundly and which is worshipped by the heavenly spirits according to their degree of grace and the hierarchies into which they are divided, did not cause my soul to be stricken with terror or fear; no, no, not at all! My soul was filled with peace and love, and the more I come to know the greatness of God, the more joyful I become that He is as He is. And I rejoice immensely in His greatness and am delighted that I am so little because, since I am little, He carries me in His arms and holds me close to His Heart. O my God, how I pity those people who do not believe in eternal life; how I pray for them that a ray of mercy would envelop them too, and that God would clasp them to His fatherly bosom... "

(Diary 777).

St. Teresa of Avila and Obstacles to Spritual Growth

St. Teresa speaks in her autobiography entitled “Her Life” about the main obstacles that stifled her growth during the first years of her cloistered life. The first obstacle was “carelessness about sin”, that is, Teresa in the beginning paid little attention to the harmful effects even of venial sins, this was partly due to the liberal and permissive advice of priests of her time. Teresa makes a distinction between deliberate freely chosen venial sins those venial sins that are not freely chosen. We should desire to avoid deliberate venial sins, and if necessary to die before committing even a venial sin. This is what St. Ignatius would refer to as the second degree of humility. As for those venial sins not freely chosen they will probably stay with us in some degree throughout the rest of our life but they do not impede spiritual growth in the same manner that deliberate venial sins do.
The second obstacle to growth is “not avoiding occasions of sin.” In fact many people fall into this trap, they can never overcome certain sins because they are not willing to avoid people, places, objects, circumstances, or situations, that may lead them into sin. They are not prudent in their behavior and in their associations and they keep falling. It is very difficult for them to make any progress as long as they are not willing to avoid anything or anyone who becomes an obstacle in their relationship with God. Teresa says that this is one of the most dominant mistakes beginners make and unless they are willing to cut off these occasions of sin, they will never grow spiritually.
The third obstacle is “self-reliance.” Many people get wearied and discouraged in the spiritual life because they do not see much progress, and this due in great part in the fact that they rely primarily in their own strength and not in God’s grace and power. People must learn to distrust themselves and to trust completely in God. We must certainly cooperate with God’s grace, and it is necessary that we cooperate, but we must always remember that our efforts although NECESSARY are not SUFFICIENT. Holiness comes from God and it is primarily His gift, therefore we have to be humble about it and beg constantly for God to transform us and make us holy.
The fourth obstacle is “not valuing the graces of God.” This happens when we do not respond with readiness, promptness to those interior inspirations of the Holy Spirit. The saints were prompt to respond to whatever inspirations they received without postponing the action to be carried out. We tend to postpone things, if we feel inspired by the Holy Spirit to pray now or perform some act of charity towards someone in need, but instead we say later, or tomorrow, then not only we fail to disobey, but in fact most likely we end up not doing it after all. If we cannot be found to be trustworthy in small matters how can we expect to be entrusted with greater matters?
Fr. Fernando Cuenca, OMV

St. Teresa of Avila and Spiritual Growth

St. Teresa of Avila one of the greatest mystics in the Catholic Church left us a profound treasure of spiritual heritage regarding the ways to grow in the spiritual life. For those whom Teresa considered beginners she always warned them about the necessity to grow in prayer and self-knowledge. St. Teresa likens the prayer life to tending a garden. The garden represents the heart, planted by the Lord but tended by us. Service for the Master is a great honour and delight. He walks there often and delights in the flowers which symbolize our developing virtues. Developing our prayer life is not easy, and Teresa acknowledges that the beginning stages require some hard labour, which she likens to watering a garden by drawing buckets from a well. We need to train ourselves in the ways of prayer but, just as in any discipline, rewards are sure to follow as we build upon sound instruction. With growth the required labour progressively lessens until, in the highest form of prayer, God pours out blessings as the rain falls from heaven, requiring no effort at all from the gardener.
Regarding self-knowledge she speaks about the need for humility in the First Mansion of the Interior Castle, Chapter 2, she says "(First Mansion, Chapter 2): "I do not know whether I have put this clearly; self-knowledge is of such consequence that I would not have you careless of it, though you may be lifted to heaven in prayer, because while on earth nothing is more needful than humility. Therefore, I repeat, not only a good way, but the best of all ways, is to endeavour to enter first by the room where humility is practised, which is far better than at once rushing on to the others. This is the right road;—if we know how easy and safe it is to walk by it, why ask for wings with which to fly? Let us rather try to learn how to advance quickly. I believe we shall never learn to know ourselves except by endeavouring to know God, for, beholding His greatness we are struck by our own baseness, His purity shows our foulness, and by meditating on His humility we find how very far we are from being humble."