Virgo Potens

2 of 2 ~ 20.— Tuesday after Trinity Sunday 2. To the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity is appropriated the wisdom of God. He is continually spoken of in Holy Scripture under the name of Wisdom, or the Word of God. It was thus the wisdom of God that caused Him to become man. For us He was made foolishness. For us He emptied Himself, not only of His glory, but in the eyes of men He lacked that wisdom which is His special prerogative. 3. It was by the Divine Word that all things were created. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was made nothing that was made." Hence, all created things are framed by the Wisdom of God and are made after His likeness. We ought to respect all things in proportion as they reflect the divine perfections, even the flowers and the beasts of the field, and above all man, who bears the image of the Son of God. ~ Rev. Richard F. Clarke, S.J., The Devout Year (1893)

2 of 2 ~ 20.— Tuesday after Trinity Sunday 2. To the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity is appropriated the wisdom of God. He is continually spoken of in Holy Scripture under the name of Wisdom, or the Word of God. It was thus the wisdom of God that caused Him to become man. For us He was made foolishness. For us He emptied Himself, not only of His glory, but in the eyes of men He lacked that wisdom which is His special prerogative. 3. It was by the Divine Word that all things were created. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was made nothing that was made." Hence, all created things are framed by the Wisdom of God and are made after His likeness. We ought to respect all things in proportion as they reflect the divine perfections, even the flowers and the beasts of the field, and above all man, who bears the image of the Son of God. ~ Rev. Richard F. Clarke, S.J., The Devout Year (1893)

Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 17th ✧❁❁✧✿✿✧❁❁✧ ~ 20.— Tuesday after Trinity Sunday God the Son 1. The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity proceeds from the Father by an eternal generation. As the coequal and coeternal Son, He is, as it were, the model or pattern whose divine and infinite perfections are reflected in the works of God. By Him, as Creator of the world, the whole of this physical universe was made. "By Him are all things," says St. Paul. By Him, in the unity of the Father, is the HolyGhost Himself. Adore this mystery, which surpasses our limited understanding, and pray for a firm faith. (continued)

2 of 2 The Sacred Heart of Jesus among Sinners 2. Once upon a time an unhappy woman was brought to Him who had been taken in adultery. She was a great sinner and deserved to die. But how did Jesus treat her? By silence He rebuked her accusers and then turned with Divine compassion to the poor adultress, and spoke to her words of peace. Where should I have been, on the side of the accusers or on the side of Jesus? 3. Jesus is just the same now, the Friend of sinners and therefore my Friend. He is the Friend of sinners, and therefore woe to me if I am hard on others as the Pharisees were. He is the Friend of sinners, I can therefore win His love by showing great kindness and tenderness and love to these His friends. ~ Rev. Richard F. Clarke, S.J., The Devout Year (1893)

Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 16th ✧❁❁✧✿✿✧❁❁✧ The Sacred Heart of Jesus among Sinners 1. One of the things at which the Pharisees took scandal during Our Lord's sacred ministry was His association with publicans and sinners. They taunted Him with His friendship for sinners. They asked His disciples why He ate and drank with them, talked to them words of gentleness and sympathy, seemed attracted by their company. Yes, it was all true. He was, above all, the Friend of sinners. He came to search them out and bring them back to the fold. He had a tender love for the miserable outcast because she was an outcast, and the compassion of His Sacred Heart went out towards her and longed to bring her back to purity and peace. Am I at all like to Jesus in His pity and love for sinners ? (continued)

2 of 2 ~ 19.— Monday after Trinity Sunday 2. To the First Person of the Holy Trinity is especially appropriated the power of God. It was by an exercise of His power that He created theworld. His almighty power alone sustains it in being. All the angels are completely subject to His power, and even those who hate Him are utterly helpless in any attempt to resist Him. It is no want of power that causes God to permit the devils to fight against Him; it is in the interest and for the benefit of His saints and servants. 3. The thought of this power of God is very comforting when all seems to go wrong, and the Church is persecuted, and all kinds of accusations are brought against her, and her Supreme Head is robbed of his children by the enemy. In times of weakness we should ever remember the omnipotence of God. The day will come when all His enemies will be made His footstool. Do I rely as I ought on the power of God, and leave myself in His hands, to do with me as He sees fit? ~ Rev. Richard F. Clarke, S.J., The Devout Year (1893)

Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 16th ✧❁❁✧✿✿✧❁❁✧ ~ 19.— Monday after Trinity Sunday God the Father 1. The first Person of the Blessed Trinity is the primeval fount whence all else proceeds. “Of Him are all things," says St. Paul (Rom. xi. 36). From Him proceed the Divine Word and the Holy Ghost. God the Father is first of the Three Persons, not in the order of existence, since all exist from all eternity, nor in order of dignity, since all are equal, but in order of origin. I, too, am from Him. The Eternal Father has deigned to fashion me. I owe my existence to Him. I depend upon Him in my every movement. In His presence, how can I venture to be independent? (continued)

2 of 2 The Excellence of the Sacred Heart 2. The Sacred Heart received all these perfections in order to dispense them to others. It overflows with graces; they proceed from it in copious streams to all who are willing to receive them. What beauty they impart to the soul that drinks in the stream of grace from that Heart! Every perfection of the Heart of Jesus is communicated to it in some degree, and renders it so beautiful that it is an object of admiration to God Himself. 3. Through the heart of man continually flows the blood that circulates throughout his body. Hence the precious Blood of Jesus flowed continually through His Sacred Heart. In that Blood what unbounded virtue! One drop is enough to cleanse the greatest sin, nay, the sins of the whole world. In that Heart there is the same virtue, and I, a sinner, can take refuge there, knowing that I shall be healed. ~ Rev. Richard F. Clarke, S.J., The Devout Year (1893)

Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 15th ✧❁❁✧✿✿✧❁❁✧ The Excellence of the Sacred Heart 1. The Sacred Heart of Jesus was the instrument of a human soul, which contained in it all the perfections, natural and supernatural, of which they are capable. It was the ideal of which the soul, even of the greatest of the saints, was but an utterly inadequate realization. Its sweetness, its gentleness, its power to attract, its Divine beauty was unbounded and almost infinite. Let us contemplate that Sacred Heart radiant with glory and splendor, and adore it with grateful love. (continued)

2 of 2 ~ 18.— Trinity Sunday 2. Yet this mystery is not contrary to human reason. There is nothing in it that reason revolts against, no contradiction, nothing that we can call impossible. On the contrary, the denial of it, not the assertion of it, ultimately leads to a contradiction. Thank God that you profess a faith which presupposes the full exercise of human reason, and is perfectly consistent with reason, instead of being a member of one of those various sects and false religions which ultimately lead those who profess them into an absurdity. 3. Although the mystery of the Blessed Trinity is beyond the grasp of created intellect, yet those to whom God has vouchsafed in large measure the gift of understanding see something of its truth, and glory, and harmony, and necessity in the supernatural order. To the saints it has a simplicity which is the effect of the divine light that illumines their souls. They penetrate farther than ordinary men into this deepest of all mysteries, and this because of their exalted sanctity. If the truths of Revelation are difficult to us, may it not be, in part at least, due to our own faults? ~ Rev. Richard F. Clarke, S.J., The Devout Year (1893)

Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 15th ✧❁❁✧✿✿✧❁❁✧ ~ 18.— Trinity Sunday The Mystery ofthe Blessed Trinity 1. On the octave of Pentecost we celebrate the most mysterious and the most unsearchable of all the mysteries of faith. HowGod can be Triune, three Persons in one God, altogether exceeds human comprehension. Even under the light of faith we have to bow our heads, and confess the inability of the reason to grasp the divine mystery. Make an act of faith in this mystery, and pray for a humble, child-like, submissive faith. (continued)

2 of 2 The Chief Desires of the Sacred Heart 2. This fire was not merely the fire of love to God, it was also the fire of mutual charity amongst men. When Christ came, hatred, jealousy, selfishness, strife, was the order of the day. He came to spread charity, self-sacrifice, peace, mutual good will. Yet how faintly this flame burns in my cold heart! How much of selfishness and ill-feeling and petty jealousy still remains there! 3. This fire of love to God and man gives birth to another fire, which also consumes the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and burns in the hearts of all who love Him; the fire of zeal for souls and a desire to labor and suffer for them. How this fire burned in the hearts of the saints, of St. Paul, St. Francis Xavier, St. Vincent de Paul, St. Alphonsus Liguori. I must pray for more of that true zeal that animated the saints of God. ~ Rev. Richard F. Clarke, S.J., The Devout Year (1893)

Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 14th ✧❁❁✧✿✿✧❁❁✧ The Chief Desires of the Sacred Heart 1. While Our Lord was upon earth, He several times expressed to His apostles what He had most at heart, and what was the work He had chiefly come to perform. He told them that He had come to send fire on the earth, and asked them what else they could expect Him to desire except that that fire should speedily be enkindled (St. Luke xii. 49). Yes, Jesus came to kindle on earth the fire ofDivine love. Does this fire burn brightly in my heart, and do I fulfill His longing that it should be kindled more and more in me? (continued)

2 of 2 ~ 17.— Saturday after Pentecost 2. They who before were timid, irresolute, almost cowardly, now became as bold and as brave as lions. They challenged the Jewish authorities with a freedom of speech that the chief priests were unable to explain, until they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. They faced the wrath of the Sanhedrin undismayed. "If it be just in the sight of God to hear you rather than God, judge ye." Have I the same boldness in advocating the cause of God and His Church, and the same superiority to human respect? 3. They who before had shrunk from suffering now courted suffering, and faced death with joy, by reason of the spirit of love, which engendered in them an invincible fortitude, and made them regard it as a privilege to suffer for Christ's sake. How little have I of this spirit! How unwilling am I to suffer! How prone to avoid all that is opposed to my natural inclinations! ~ Rev. Richard F. Clarke, S.J., The Devout Year (1893)

Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 14th ✧❁❁✧✿✿✧❁❁✧ ~ 17.— Saturday after Pentecost The Effects of Pentecost : the Change in the Apostles themselves Hitherto wehave been dealing with the results of Pentecost on the apostles in their official character as messengers of Christ, commissioned to preach the Gospel in all the world. We must now see the change worked in their own souls. 1. They who before had been narrow, selfish, and ready to condemn others now became full of an overflowing charity to all the world. Into their hearts the spirit of love had descended. Their motto henceforth was: Caritas Christi urget nos— the charity of Christ is the one motive of all we think, and do, and say. What shall separate us from the love of Christ? (continued)

Mother of Mercy, pray for us. THE NOVENA of THREE HAIL MARY’s This Novena honors three special gifts given to Our Lady by God: her power, her wisdom, and her mercy. The traditional practice of praying three Hail Mary’s each day in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, requesting her assistance throughout the course of one’s daily life, is centuries old, and has been recommended by St. Anthony of Padua, St. Mechtilde (Matilda) and St. Alphonus Liguori. It originated about the same time as the most Holy Rosary in the form in which we have it today. Begins today at Christus Regnat ~ https://t.me/RexUniversi

2 of 2 The Compassion of the Sacred Heart 2. He has a still greater compassion for those who have separated themselves from God by sin, and who are desirous to be freed from the chain that has bound them down, and to return to their Father in heaven. What countless, boundless graces flow from His Sacred Heart to help them in their difficulties! What sweetness thence proceeds to fill the heart of the sinner who does penance! 3.He has the greatest compassion of all for His servants and saints who are suffering for Him. How it grieves Him to witness their pains! What consolations He pours into their souls! What a reward He promises Himself to give them for what they have endured for love of Him! It is indeed of all privileges the greatest to earn the sympathy of the Sacred Heart by suffering for the cause of Christ. ~ Rev. Richard F. Clarke, S.J., The Devout Year (1893)

Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 13th ✧❁❁✧✿✿✧❁❁✧ The Compassion of the Sacred Heart Jesus Christ came into the world to suffer with us as well as for us. Every sort of suffering has a claim on His Divine compassion. 1. He has the most intense compassion for those who are suffering any earthly sorrow. None appreciates as He the utter loneliness of the mother who has lost her son; of the friend who is separated from one who was dear as life itself. At the tomb of Lazarus and at the gates of Naim He manifested His tender sympathy with sorrow. To Him, then, we will have recourse when earthly shadows press hard upon us. (continued)

2 of 2 ~ 16.— Friday after Pentecost 2. Power to convince. It was impossible to resist the force of the apostles’ arguments. They spoke of the things they had seen and heard. Man is born for truth, and God gives him the power of instinctively recognizing truth. Truth has always a strong attraction for men of good will. If I am such, I shall accept with a joyful spirit of loyalty every truth that the Church teaches. 3. Force to persuade. It would not have been enough if the apostles had power to convince the intellect. The heart must be reached, the will moved to action. This was the effect of St. Peter's first sermon. They that heard it had compunction in their heart, and said to the apostles, What shall we do? Am I moved by sermons, good books, etc., to do more for Christ? And do I carry out what God suggests to me? ~ Rev. Richard F. Clarke, S.J., The Devout Year (1893)

Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 13th ✧❁❁✧✿✿✧❁❁✧ ~ 16.— Friday after Pentecost The Effects of Pentecost : the Commission to Teach The result on the apostles themselves of the descent of the Holy Spirit was that they at once began to proclaim to others the doctrines of Jesus Christ. They could not keep silence. The Holy Ghost dwelling within them spoke through their mouth. Hence they had— 1. Authority in speaking. On all who listened to them there came a strange awe. It was not poor, ignorant men whose words were listened to, but a divine power speaking through them, carrying with it the grace of the Holy Spirit. This is why Catholic priests have an influence no ordinary man possesses. They have authority to teach from God. With what reverence, then, should we listen to them, for their sacred office's sake! (continued)