CAPG's Blog 

One of the great tragedies of life is finding one upon whom so much love and kindness has been bestowed, totally unconscious of the gifts that have been so abundantly bestowed upon him. Sometimes it happens that a wife is untrue to her husband. She may even be the mother of children, in which case we should expect to find an increase of that love which is so characteristic of womankind, and yet, somehow, the true stream of human affection has become poisoned and love is unrequited. Passion sometimes takes the place of true love, and where affection should abound hatred and disappointment take its place.

The dictum, corruptio optimi pessima - "The corruption of the best is the worst," typifies what we mean. The greatest harm is often done not by those who have no knowledge of the faith, but by those who once were infused with divine goodness and love and then permitted their illumined minds and inspired wills to become perverted and corrupted.

When those who once loved each other in marriage and were two in one flesh decide to separate, the human race loses a partnership and receives a blow that strikes at the very cornerstone of the social structure. When husband and wife decide that love has now ceased to hold any attraction, not only do they personally suffer a loss, but through them and the solidarity of the human race all mankind suffers.

Unrequited love is the tragedy of our day. Passion is mistaken for affection and love is confused with lust and sin as though love consisted only of sensual satisfaction and concupiscence. The Church, wise with the wisdom of the ages, stands as the beacon light in the tempest that surrounds the shipwrecked folly of our age. The Church proclaims the blessedness of marital union, and while she is thoroughly conscious of the powerful instincts found in every man and woman and entrusted by almighty God for the propagation of the race and for the allaying of concupiscence, wise Mother that she is, she emphasizes the tender affections of the human heart that can be nurtured only on the finer things of the spirit.

Those who have experienced the conflicts that arise between spouses and who have spent long hours in listening to marital difficulties and in giving advice, tell us that most of the pain that is caused and most of the rifts that occur are occasioned by little things, such as the tone of voice, attitudes, the irate response, the lack of attention, and the many little irritants of daily living.

It is a common fault of human nature, and one of which many of us are frequently guilty, that we fail properly to appreciate the little courtesies that make life easier and our neighbor's lot a trifle less difficult.

Unrequited love is one the tragedies of America's divorce counts! When love of God is unappreciated and not repaid by a creature, life's darkest hour is experienced. When man the creature, shows no appreciation for God, the Creator, we have the greatest tragedy possible.
Today, one of Advent's steps to Christmas affords us the opportunity to return gratitude and to make reparation to God, to thank Him for the many blessings and benefits, and to repair the harm we have done by unrequited love.

Christmas affords us an occasion to make a gift of love to God and neighbor by trying to become more aware and conscious of our gifts and opportunities.

Prayer: Jesus, take our hearts today and purify them in the fire of Your love so that no stain of hatred or enmity may be present to us. Teach us to be conscious of the insignificant little courtesies of life, that we may be grateful for Your love.

Source: Spiritual Steps to Christmas by Very Rev. Msgr. Aloysius Coogan 1953

We have said that the Church, in her Advent Story, tells us the most beautiful of all the stories of earth, the story of God becoming man. Today, and every Advent day, she continues the tale. Just as a great artist uses many colors to bring out the beauty of his detail - and just as a tapestry weaver uses many colored skeins to beautify the design - and yet there always remains a prominent hue in this texture - so the greatest mother of them all, holy Mother the Church, paints for us today, by her liturgy of Advent, the picture of Christ's coming, and the dominant thread in the great detail of this tapestry of beauty which she is weaving is that of courage. The Divine Office of the Church is filled with the notes of joy, hope, and courage with which the soul awaiting Christ should be animated.

Holy Mother the Church says today to every Catholic heart, "Come with me." As loyal subjects, as children, we follow and in spirit we pass over the waters to a church in the City of Jerusalem, the Basilica of the Holy Cross. In the language of Sacred Scripture, Jerusalem is the image of the faithful soul. From the cross we are to take courage and hope. Of old the cross was an instrument of crucifixion. It was an object of horror and derision, but today, by virtue of the grace of God, the cross is an object of veneration. From the cross comes courage. St. Thomas a kempis says, "In the Cross is joy of spirit, in the cross is freedom from our enemies. Take up your cross and follow Jesus and you shall enter into eternal life."

Our infallible teacher and guide now guides us gently into the liturgy of the Mass, and, in the Epistle and Gospel we hear again the dominant note of courage inspired by a strong faith, a lively hope and an ardent charity.

In the Epistle, St. Paul, the great Apostle to the Gentiles, says: " Brethren, whatsoever things were written, were written for our learning; that through patience and the comfort of the Scriptures we might have hope." Again the great Apostle exhorts us to rejoice. In the Gospel of the day we are exhorted to have faith in Jesus, for "the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them." Here is the groundwork of our courage, a deep faith in Jesus Christ.

Finally, the third of the three virtues must be manifest in our courage, namely charity. This greatest of the virtues makes us most like unto God, who is love, just as the lack of it makes us most like unto the devil who hates fiercely! The members of Christ's Mystical Body must be motivated by love if their courage is to have deep-rooted effects. The members of anti-Christ have no place in their meetings for charity. Their Gospel is one of hatred. Red truly is the color of a heart inflamed, red is the color of martyrs, and red is the color of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of love and charity. We must revolutionize not bodies in rebellions of hate, but souls in rebellion against sin. Members of Christ's Mystical Body must be motivated by love for God. This battle of courage and love must be waged under our banner of red, which symbolizes the martyrs' blood and the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of love.

Like Christians warriors of old, panoplied in faith, hope, and charity, which constitute the armor of God, by Advent prayer and penance we will find our courage renewed! Despite the hardships of life and perversities of men, we "will take up arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them," for God is on our side.

Let us not think that this battle can be won except with the grace of God. Holy Mother the Church takes us in the spirit of the liturgy to Jerusalem, the city typifying the faithful soul. The Church in accents of liturgical chant and in colors of penitential purple shows us the holy cross and its reliquary, the Basilica of Jerusalem, in order to stir up our courage motivated by faith, hope, and charity.The Church gives us a model in today's Gospel, St. John the Baptist, who was not a reed shaken by the wind, nor a man clothed in soft garments, but rather a prophet, of whom it was written,"I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee."

We can win this battle only with Christ! Are we blind? then let us come to Him who is the Light of the world. Are we lame? He will cure us so that we can walk! Do we suffer from the leprosy of sin? He will cleanse us! Are we deaf to the dangers of perversion corrupting even the very salt of the earth? He will cause us to listen to the sweet inspiration of God's grace in our souls! Are we dead in sin? He will make us live the life of grace, the life of God. Are we poor? He will preach to us the Kingdom of Heaven, where "neither rust nor moth doth consume, nor thieves break through to steal." Come, Lord Jesus, we pray, come into our souls, renew our courage with deep sentiments of faith, hope, and charity. The world needs Your Advent! The world, as Isaias has said, is sickened and the whole body is sad. Yet, we have ardent hope for, like the voice of the captain on the bridge in a stormy peril at sea, we can hear above the din and noise of the turbulent waves the voice of our Master, "Lo, I am with you all days even unto the consummation of the world."

Prayer: Dear Jesus, teach me to forgive even my enemies that I may be forgiven. Show me the true motive of love which binds up the wounds and refuses to count the cost. Calvary is our great lesson. Help me to reflect upon it every day of my life. Bethlehem and Calvary are cycles - returning over and over again and teaching me of God's love and forgiveness. The Babe at Bethlehem and the God-Man on the cross both - the one and same divinity - extend arms of love and mercy.

Source: Spiritual Steps to Christmas by Very Rev. Msgr. Aloysius Coogan 1953

According to St. Paul, the Apostle, the honor and glory of God should be the principal motive of all our actions: "Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do; do all things for the glory of God." (1 Cor. X. 31.) "The glorification of God ought to be our especial aim in our works, most particularly in our acts of charity for the dead; and justly so, for, by delivering these holy souls, we lead them to Heaven, where alone God is perfectly known, loved and glorified.

If St. Teresa and other saints have declared their readiness to suffer all tortures imaginable for the promotion of God's glory in a single degree, what should we not do and suffer for the deliverance of these souls from the flames of Purgatory, since by so doing we increase His glory by millions of degrees, and not for one moment only, but for all eternity.

Prayer: Increase, O Lord, Thy honor, and glory, that all created beings may praise Thy mercy forever, because Thou hast shown clemency towards the souls who love Thee and ardently desire to behold Thee. Comfort them, therefore, O Lord. Let them behold Thy face in the land of the blessed, where they shall honor, praise and glorify Thee, world without end. Amen.

Prayer for Priests in Purgatory: My Jesus, by the sorrows Thou didst suffer in Thine Agony in the Garden, in Thy Scourging and Crowning with thorns, in the Way to Calvary, in Thy Crucifixion and Death, have mercy on the souls of priests in Purgatory, especially those most forgotten and who have no one else to pray for them. I wish to remember all those priests who ministered to me, the priests my heart has never forgotten, and for those that I no longer recall due to my frailty of memory. Do Thou deliver them from the dire torments they endure; call them and admit them to Thy most sweet embrace in Paradise.

Pope Saint Pius X and Saint John Vianney, pray for us and especially for our priests. Amen

Special Intercession: Pray for the souls who, while on earth, promoted the glory of God.

Lord grant them eternal rest, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen. (Three times)

Practice: Make a good intention before every work you perform.

Invocation: My Jesus, mercy!

Source: Manual of the Purgatorian Society, Redemptorist Fathers. 1907

The prayers and works of Charity which we bestow on the suffering souls in Purgatory, not only increase our spiritual merit, they also call forth the gratitude of the holy ransomed souls; for, when these dear souls are, by our endeavors, admitted to the vision of God, they cease not to prove the warmth of their thankfulness and love by imploring for us the help of which we are so much in need in the manifold dangers and great troubles of life. How can the faithful departed who are loved by God so tenderly, and predestined to glory, fail to pray, not indeed for themselves, but for their benefactors who still live in this vale of tears. Not only will they speedily pay their debt of gratitude to those who befriend them, but our dear Lord Himself, whose greater honor and glory we have promoted by our devotion to the holy souls, will readily assist them to requite the services rendered them by the faithful upon earth. St. Alphonsus of Liguori says: "He who assists these distressed souls, so tenderly loved by God, may confidently hope for his salvation; for, when such a soul obtains deliverance through his prayers and good works, it incessantly prays for this salvation, and God will deny nothing to such a soul."

Prayer: We beseech Thee, O Lord, vouchsafe to hear the suffering souls, who supplicate Thee for their benefactors, that we, in union with these holy souls, for whom we offer fervent prayers upon earth, may praise Thy mercies forever, Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.

Prayer for Priests in Purgatory: My Jesus, by the sorrows Thou didst suffer in Thine Agony in the Garden, in Thy Scourging and Crowning with thorns, in the Way to Calvary, in Thy Crucifixion and Death, have mercy on the souls of priests in Purgatory, especially those most forgotten and who have no one else to pray for them. I wish to remember all those priests who ministered to me, the priests my heart has never forgotten, and for those that I no longer recall due to my frailty of memory. Do Thou deliver them from the dire torments they endure; call them and admit them to Thy most sweet embrace in Paradise.

Pope Saint Pius X and Saint John Vianney, pray for us and especially for our priests. Amen

Special Intercession: Pray for the souls who suffer for their faults against charity.

Lord grant them eternal rest, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen. (three times)

Practice: Bestow charity upon others without expecting gratitude.

Invocation: My Jesus, mercy!

Source: Manual of the Purgatorian Society, Redemptorist Fathers. 1907

St. Thomas of Aquinas, the Angelic Doctor, affirms that the succor and suffrage given to the departed is more acceptable to God than that which is bestowed upon the living, because the former are more in need and are unable to obtain help for themselves. The Venerable Ludovico Blosio, a great master of the spiritual life, says: "Our good and merciful Lord loves the souls of His elect, who must be purified after death. And He desires their release so ardently that whenever in Christian charity we set free by our suffrages any soul from Purgatory, we do a thing as acceptable to God as if we had delivered the Lord Himself from a hard captivity. And He promises to give us as full recompense as such a work of mercy practiced towards Himself from a hard captivity.  For He Himself has said: "Amen, I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these, My least brethren, you did it to Me." (Matth. XXV. 40.)

The same is asserted by St. Ambrose: "Whatever we do for the suffering souls with a pious intention, will revert to our own merit, and shall be returned a hundred-fold in the hour of death."

Prayer: O God of love and mercy, animated with charity and compassion for our departed brothers and sisters, we offer Thee our prayers and good works and supplicate Thee to accept them as a propitiatory sacrifice in their behalf. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen

Prayer for Priests in Purgatory: My Jesus, by the sorrows Thou didst suffer in Thine Agony in the Garden, in Thy Scourging and Crowning with thorns, in the Way to Calvary, in Thy Crucifixion and Death, have mercy on the souls of priests in Purgatory, especially those most forgotten and who have no one else to pray for them. I wish to remember all those priests who ministered to me, the priests my heart has never forgotten, and for those that I no longer recall due to my frailty of memory. Do Thou deliver them from the dire torments they endure; call them and admit them to Thy most sweet embrace in Paradise.

Pope Saint Pius X and Saint John Vianney, pray for us and especially for our priests. Amen

Special Intercession: Pray for the souls of those who were negligent in offering good works for the suffering souls.

Lord grant them eternal rest, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen. (three times)

Practice: Bear your sufferings with patience, and offer them for the holy souls.

Invocation: My Jesus, mercy!

Source: Manual of the Purgatorian Society, Redemptorist Fathers. 1907

We Catholics have a great share in this Exaltation of the Cross. It is our special trust, our badge, our glory. Like the first Christians, it is ours to honor, to use, to be known by. Those who have fallen from the true faith have laid it aside as childish and not fit for the mature. But the Gospel was preached to the childlike, and the Kingdom of Heaven reserved for them. So we will keep our childlike ways, and loyally use the sacred sing. We will make it with reverence, with confidence, with joy. And the day will come when we who are signed with the Sign of the Cross upon our foreheads will go forth to meet our Redeemer, and He will acknowledge us to be His own. Like Constantine, by that sign we shall conquer.

Source:  The Manual of the Holy Catholic Church, McGovern, James J. (James Joseph), 1906

"To all foregoing considerations permit me to add that the salvation of souls is the great work of priests, whose holy office was founded simply for man's salvation. How weighty are the obligations of priests! What a burden is laid upon their shoulders! Listen to the words of the Prophet Ezechiel, " I will seek that which was lost; and that which was driven away, I will bring again. And I will bind up that which was broken and I will strengthen that which was weak, and that which was fat and strong I will preserve: and I will feed them in judgment." (Ezech. 34, 16). Five things must be observed to discharge these sacerdotal obligations.

The first is for the priest to conduct himself so that his life may be a model of priestly devotion. "Be Thou an example of the faithful in word, in conversation, in charity, in faith, in chastity." (1 Tim. 4, 12). "In all things shew thyself an example of good works, in doctrine, in integrity, in gravity." (Titus 2, 7). A priest should be such that he may say at all times, " For we are the good odour of Christ unto God" (2. Cor. 2, 15). Thus, he should be a living example of charity, purity, sobriety, humility and patience. He should be like John the Baptist, " A voice of one crying in the wilderness" (Luke 3, 4) that is, crying to sinners in the wilderness of the world: "Do penance".

Do you not know that the robe of the Great High Priest was adorned with little bells to show, as st. Jerome explains, that the priest should be totus vocalis, all voice, and that everything about him should be a tongue preaching and instructing those who come in contact with him.

Nothing is so potent as the example given by the priest be it good or bad. Thus, St. Gregory says that priests deserve eternal damnation as often as they give bad example to those confided to their care.

The priest should be "a burning and shining light". (St. John 5, 35), burning before God, shining before men; burning in prayer, shining in action; burning by example, shining by doctrine. "Let your light shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven," says St. Matthew (5, 16). And St. Bernard says that "the light shed by a priest must be so strong and so bright that the wind of vanity will not extinguish it."

The second thing that the priest must do is to instruct the faithful on their Christian obligations.. He must teach them to know and love God, to fear and serve Him through obedience to His Commandments. He must lead them to know their Savior, His principal mysteries, Jesus and Mary, the Church and the Sacraments. They must be made to pray in gratitude and petition for pardon and help. They should learn to recite their daily prayers with utmost care, the Lord's Prayer, the Hail Mary, the Creed and the Confiteor. Through exhortations from the pulpit and in catechism classes, the priest should encourage the faithful to cooperate to the fullest extent in their own salvation.

 Thirdly, he should eradicate spiritual disorders from the lives of the flock. To do this he must know this people and their conduct. He should be unsparing in his pains to track down and root out evils which may exist; he should frequently visit the schools to instruct and guide the young in the way of salvation. He should enjoin great respect for the church and all holy places, insisting on proper deportment there at all times. He should keep everything pertaining to the altar in good order and see that the liturgical functions are carried our with the dignity becoming the King of heaven and earth.

Fourthly, the priest should practice charity. He should be affable and kind to all without distinction. He should be assiduous in visiting the sick, especially those in danger of death. He should console the afflicted and the needy, and be ever kind to the poor. He should advise those who seek his fatherly counsel, correct those who are wayward and seek to put an end to any quarreling among his parishioners.

Fifthly, he must administer the Sacraments with holiness, for the glory of God and becomingly lest though carelessness he neglect any requisite. Above all else, he should apply himself heartily to the administration of the Sacrament of Penance, for though it he will know the state of his people, their spiritual needs and weaknesses. Through it he will find the means of curing the ailments of their souls. He will open to them unexplored avenues of grace, will spread before them in his instructions and encouragements a banquet of heavenly delicacies.

These are the chief obligations of the priest and he must be ever vigilant lest even one souls be neglected or lost for the Sovereign Pastor will hold him responsible, and the price of Christ's Blood will be visited upon him: "I will require his blood at thy hand." ( Exech. 3, 20). I mention neglect for this makes him a murdered in God's eyes, a murdered of souls committed to his charge.

St. John Chrysostom observes that when priest allow themselves to fall into sin, the people quickly follow. Every soul will be held to a strict accounting of his misdeeds, but the priest will also be held responsible for those of his flock who fall because of his example.

"If each individual soul will find it difficult to render an account of his works on judgment Day, " says St. Augustine, "What must be said of priests, who must give an accounting of the souls committed to their care?"

Source: The Priest His Dignity And Obligations St John Eudes

We can only find our happiness on earth in loving God, and we can only love Him in prayer to Him. We see that Jesus Christ, to encourage us often to have recourse to Him through prayer, promises never to refuse us anything if we pray for it as we should. But there is no need to go looking for elaborate and roundabout ways of showing you that we should pray often, for you have only to open your catechism and you will see there that the duty of every good Christian is to pray morning and evening and often during the day – that is to say, always....

Which of us, my dear brethren, could, without tears of compassion, listen to those poor Christians who dare to say that they have not time to pray? You have not the time! Poor blind creatures, which is the more precious action: to strive to please God and to save your soul, or to go out to feed your animals in the stable or to call your children or your servants in order to send them out to till the earth or to tidy up the stable? Dear God! How blind man is!.... You have not the time! But tell me, ungrateful creatures, if God had called you to die that night, would you have exerted yourselves? If He had sent you three or four months of illness, would you have exerted yourselves? Go away, you miserable creatures; you deserve to have God abandon you in your blindness and leave you thus to perish. We find that it is too much to give Him a few minutes to thank Him for the graces which He is giving us at every instant!.... You must get on with your work, you say.

That, my dear people, is where you are greatly mistaken. You have no other work to do except to please God and to save your souls. All the rest is not your work. If you do not do it, others will, but if you lose your soul, who will save it?

Prayer for Lent: O Lord who, for our sake, didst fast forty days and forty nights; give us grace to use such abstinence that, our flesh being subdued to the spirit, we may worthily lament and acknowledge our wretchedness, and may obtain perfect remission and forgiveness of Thee, the God of all mercy, who livest and reignest with the Father and Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen

Source: Lenten Reading plan: Daily readings from St. John Vianney, Patron of Parish Priests, compiled by Fr. Bryan W. Jerabek. Used with Permission.

Crucifix, Mother of Mercy Catholic Church, Washington NC

"The contemplation of Calvary is heartbreaking. The very name Golgotha connotes a world of woe. The ghastly deeds done upon the hill outside of Jerusalem are like a nightmare to devoted Christians. Even to the imagination the Crucifixion is a hideous thing. The swish of scourges upon naked flesh, the spatter of blood, the demoniacal cries of the mob of fanatics and murderers, the sound of the crunching of nails driven powerfully into human flesh and sinews, the inhuman shout of triumph when their Victim was nailed to His cross, the crude, coarse jesting, the blasphemous banter, all the unknown, incredible cruelty of an Oriental mob- it is enough to make the heart stand still with horror.
But we have no right to shrink from witnessing the tragedy of Calvary. If we know not Calvary, we know not Christ. We dare not, like cowardly Christians, omit the cross from our Christianity. God forbid we should glory except in the cross of Christ."

Source: A Thought a Day for Lent, Rev. James M Gilles, C.P.; Paulist Press, 1923.