Let us follow the Lamb with the saints (Rev 14:4)

This evening as we celebrate the Vigil of the Solemnity of All Saints, many other people are unknowingly celebrating halloween without understanding the stark contrast of the secular view of this special time compared to the Christian understanding. The world celebrates ghosts, witches, vampires and the dead - while we Catholics celebrate those who chose to follow the Lord of the Living & Dead who has the keys of eternal life. 

The saints known and unknown - all gloriously rejoice with Christ our King, the Lamb who was slain and now reigns forever. With them all interceding for us to fight the good fight, cheering us on in the race, and surrounding us as the witnesses of the power of the love of Christ - let us follow after our Crucified & Risen Saviour who calls us to follow him!

It is interesting to know, that I found out for the first time today that this special feast originated as a way for the early Church to celebrate all the different martyrs, and then over time as persecution in the Roman Empire ceased with the legalisation of Christianity then it eventually developed into “All Saints” as we now know it. The antiphons from this Evening’s Vigil prayers in the Divine Office beautifully highlight the wonder and glory of the saints united to Christ in triumph. 

Ant. 1 Eternal light will shine upon your saints, O Lord, and they will live for ever, alleluia.

Ant. 2 Jerusalem, city of God, you will rejoice in your children, for they shall all be blessed and gathered together with the Lord, alleluia.

Ant. 3 Before the throne of God and the Lamb the saints will sing a new song; their voices will resound throughout the earth, alleluia.

Magnificat Ant. The glorious company of apostles praises you, the noble fellowship of prophets praises you, the white-robed army of martyrs praises you, all the saints together sing your glory, O Holy Trinity, one God.

I believe in the Communion of Saints

I have recently been involved in giving a retreat to people on friendship with God and how through friendship with others we grow in virtue and discover God's love for us as we love others. In preparing for it, I grew deeper in my understanding of the Communion of Saints - especially in regards to how all of us support eachother in our growth in Christ, upbuilding eachother and upbuilding the Church. The more we understand that the Saints were friends of God, then it helps us to grow in our own friendship with the saints and with God and then extend that to others. This overflow of the love of God poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit helps us to love others in the Church, and this strengthens and builds communion in the Church. 

The more each of us grow in holiness, it has an overflow effect to everyone else in the Church which also helps them grow in holiness. The saints glorified in heaven have gone before us, but still support us and encourage us in our journey to fight the good fight and run the race towards our homeland.

As we come close to November where we celebrate All Saints day, and All Souls day - let us take some time to reflect on how we are all interconnected in the Church. We are all members of the Mystical Body of Christ and this means we are all connected intimately to eachother through grace and love. We have all been created by God for relationship with the Blessed Trinity and with eachother - this is a mystery we cannot understand fully here, but one day we will come to understand it and fully experience it when we see God face to face in the glory of heaven.

None of us ever becomes a saint in isolation. We are always part of a greater whole. None of us is ever alone in life. God has created us for relationship, and through relationships we grow into the maturity in Christ that God draws us into every moment.

Sin isolates us from God, from eachother and from ourselves. The devil will always try to isolate us because he hates unity. This is why he is always sowing division in the Church, in our relationships, our families and our own heart. St Teresa of Avila had a vision of hell and she described the torment of the souls there with the usual images of fire and weeping, but she also said that it appeared that even the souls themselves there seemed to be tearing themselves to pieces. What a powerful and frightening image!

Every Sunday we profess that we believe in the "Communion of Saints", this means we believe that in the Church we have communion with eachother who are all saints in the making, as well as the saints glorified in heaven. It is easy to often think of the saints as these distant, heroic, ideal figures removed from your personal circumstances. But we forget they had the same struggles we do, same sins, same problems - but through loving Jesus, growing in virtue and lead by the Holy Spirit they have been able to be faithful to Jesus and enter the gates of holiness. We too are called to this. This is not a unrealistic or unachievable goal - our brothers and sisters in the faith, the saints have shown us that it is possible in every age and generation and varied circumstances to be holy! We too through our witness and struggles in this life, will one day be examples to others to keep following Jesus and become holy.

St Paul in the Letter to the Hebrews beautifully uses this image of the saints all encouraging and cheering us on in the arena of life as we compete in the race to run to Jesus. Jesus in the Gospel of Luke 15:17 also refers to this when he tells us the all of heaven REJOICES when one sinner repents. This means they are watching us in this battle here below, they are supporting us in our struggles, encouraging us to never give us and rejoicing in our victories! We are never alone in the struggle of holiness, we are all interconnected here and now. Your growth in holiness and prayers help me personally, just as mine do for you. We may not be aware of this dynamic of mutual support and interconnectedness, but this is precisely what it means when we profess we believe in the Communion of Saints.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." (Hebrews 12:1-3)

The solution to Church reform is not what you think

Often in the spiritual life we can get so caught up in all the problems “out there”, that we forget to focus on our own sins. We begin to despair over bad leaders in the hierarchy, Church scandals, financial issues, lack of evangelism, liturgical abuses, moral failings in society etc etc… the list is never ending. 

We forget that all problems come from sin, and sin is in the human heart. If we can’t control the sin in our own lives, how do we ever think we can have the answers or solutions to the problems in the world? What happens is that usually we get so angry and frustrated with our own inability to conquer ourselves, our selfish desires, our personal struggle with sin - that we begin to focus on other people and their sins instead. We begin to get bitter and angry, thinking to ourselves that if only other people were less annoying and selfish, if only society was not so immoral, if only our Church leaders were holier, if only our parish priest was a better preacher, if only the music at Mass was better, if only everyone did everything MY way - then I could finally solve all my problems! Then I could finally focus on my person sin and not be distracted by all you other sinners. 

Lord have mercy! How delusional we are! 

This self righteous attitude, this bitterness of the soul is not a fruit of the Spirit. This delusional thinking is from satan himself. 

The solution to all our problems is so very simple, and yet also the hardest thing. Personal holiness. Full stop. 

During the period of the Counter-Reformation in the 16th century, the Church had been torn apart by war, scandals, schism and heresy. Yet it is from this period that we also have some of our greatest saints. One of these saints is St Peter Alcantara. 

St Peter Alcantara was a Franciscan Friar and he was involved in an internal reform within the Franciscans themselves known as the “observant” movement. They wanted to live strict poverty, asceticism, and live the Rule of St Francis in what they believed was its purer and more authentic form. 

Through his life of penance, prayer, preaching, asceticism and personal holiness he was able to influence others in the Church. He was personal friends with St John of Avila (made Doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict) who through his example helped to reform the lives of local priests. He was also spiritual director of St Teresa of Avila and encouraged her in her spiritual life, growth in prayer, and supported her with her plans to reform the Carmelite Order. 

We can see that all the great reformers in the Church were also great saints. They strove to seek after holiness and reform themselves first. Then through their example they could help inspire and support others. 

Saints are never saints in isolation. In the history of the Church you will also see pockets of saints, who influenced eachother and supported eachother in clusters. This is the power and beauty of the Mystical Body of Christ and the Communion of Saints. We are all united together in faith, but also in holiness. The more we grow in virtue, the more it helps our brothers and sisters in Christ to also grow in virtue. Without the spiritual direction of St Peter of Alcantara then St Teresa may have given up on her reform, fallen into despair, not continued to work with St John of the Cross, not written her works and then all of us today would have been worse off. Not just because we would not have her writings on mental prayer, Friendship with Jesus and stages in spiritual growth. But without her, then we wouldn’t have St Alphonsus Ligouri, no St Therese of Lisuex, no St Edith Stein, no St Mother Teresa etc… all of these saints are spiritually linked as directly or indirectly being influenced by St Teresa of Avila. Yet without help from St Peter Alcantara, the Church and all of us would not have been enriched by this harvest of holiness and benefitted from it. 

Never let the devil delude you into thinking there’s no point in praying, or trying to be holy, or growing in virtue, or asking the Holy Spirit to guide you. Never think that holiness is a distant abstract ideal. All of us are called the be saints - each and every one of us. As the Gospel of Luke says “the Kingdom of God is among/within you”.  This means if God does not reign as King of our heart, how can he be King of the world? If we do not have the light of Christ in us, how can we shine? If we do not have the love of God poured into our heart, how can we give to others what we do not have ourselves? 

Holiness begins today, here and now. Church reform begins with you and I. We as members of the Church build up the Church and eachother through our own co operation with grace. 

As many saints throughout history have repeated - if you want to reform the world/Church, then you need to begin with yourself. Once you have mastered your own inner demons, then you can conquer the world. 

Never fall into anger, bitterness or despair - fight the good fight, and become a saint.

St Ignatius of Antioch - teacher of the Christocentric and Eucharistic dimension of martyrdom

Today the Church gives us the memorial of St Ignatius of Antioch. Apostolic Father & Martyr. 

St Ignatius of Antioch is one of those early Church martyrs that many of us may not be aware of. He is also an Apostolic Father because he is one of the earliest Church Fathers directly after the Apostles themselves. Along with St Clement of Rome,  his teaching and example was so influential in the early Church that his writings almost became part of the accepted Canon of Scripture in the New Testament. 

St Ignatius had a burning love for Jesus and a very Eucharistic theology. He understood his martyrdom and suffering as a way of participating in the Eucharist to be a sacrifice to God. His teaching on the importance of Bishops for a valid Eucharist have also been fundamental in the Church’s understanding of ecclesiology. 

He heavily focused on the relationship between correct doctrine (orthodoxy) and correct practice (orthopraxy). This is best expressed in his beautiful quote where he says that it’s more important to be a Christian through his way of life, rather than by claiming to be a Christian. 

The early Church had a strong devotion to the martyrs because it was understood that by being witnesses of Christ (the original Greek meaning) that they were imitating Christ par excellence through their death, and also living the reality of the Paschal Mystery. This is why Martyrs are specifically mentioned in the Book of Revelation, the Te Deum mentions the martyrs, and the Church has reserved a special category of saints for martyrs. 

The Church (following from the doctrine and example of St Ignatius himself) teaches that there is a fundamental link between the Christocentric and Eucharistic dimensions of martyrdom. This found its fullest expression in the practice of many Churches having altars built over the tombs or sites of martyrs - which later developed into the custom we still have today of having the relics of saints fixed into consecrated altars. So the martyrs teach us how to be faithful witnesses unto death of the love of Jesus, to the point that our very life becomes a living sacrifice to God as St Paul teaches us in the Letter to the Romans. The more we participate in the Eucharist, the more we become united to Jesus and our life is confirmed to him to the point of being Eucharistic - a living sacrifice. 

Together with the Church, let us make this prayer today our own: 

Almighty ever-living God,

who adorn the sacred body of your Church

with the confessions of holy Martyrs,

grant, we pray, that, just as the glorious passion of Saint Ignatius of Antioch,

which we celebrate today,

brought him eternal splendor,

so it may be for us unending protection.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God, for ever and ever.

– Amen.

St Teresa of Avila and the necessity of the Sacred Humanity of Jesus in the spiritual life

Today is the Feast of that wonderful, passionate saint who the Church calls the Doctor of Prayer - St Teresa of Avila. 

For many of us we can over complicate prayer, we turn it into an abstract intellectual exercise and get caught up in our own thoughts or ideas. Or we fall pray to our own doubts, temptations, scrupulosity and fears. Other times we struggle so much with the effort required to pray that we just give up. 

St Teresa is a fantastic teacher of prayer needed today, just as much as any other time in the Church. She teaches us that prayer is about loving union with God, it is a gaze, an act of the will, it is not just merely words but it is spending time alone with someone who loves us, it is a loving relationship of friendship with Jesus. As Catholics if we ever fall into the temptation of thinking of prayer as anything else other than this then we are falling into dangerous territory. 

For St Teresa, contemplation is linked to asceticism, detachment, growth in virtue, humility, a groundedness in self knowledge, silence, participation in the Sacraments and a life of love with the Beloved, who loves us and knows us. Without knowledge of our own weaknesses and sins, then it is impossible to have true humility required to grow in grace and relationship with God. 

St Teresa has many images of God that she uses, and often we each will dwell on different ones at different times in our life. She focuses on God as King and often refers to him as His Majesty. But she also speaks more importantly of God as our friend, companion, gardener of our soul, sweet hunter, Bridegroom and Beloved. 

Jesus always needs to be our focus. Without him we are nothing. But this means Jesus as he really is - as he has revealed himself in the Gospels and not our false ideas of who he is. For St Teresa it is always very important for us to meditate on the Life of Jesus, to keep us focused on the truths of the faith that are live giving and transformative. Any concept of Jesus not based in scripture is a false idol that we need to be aware of. 

This brings me to the importance of understanding, knowing and loving the Sacred Humanity of Jesus in the teaching of St Teresa. She is very emphatic that no matter how far we think we have progressed in the spiritual life, no matter how mystical we think we are, no matter if we are experiencing dryness and suffering or on the heights of spiritual delight - we must never depart from the Sacred Humanity of Jesus. 

The person of a Jesus Christ is not an idea or concept or metaphor, but he is a living person who knows us, loves us and is constantly calling us into a relationship of Divine Intimacy with himself. St Teresa even goes so far as to warn the nuns that once they separate their spiritual life and prayer from the Sacred Humanity of Jesus, that it won’t be long before they lose devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. As Catholics we need to always beware of the temptation to think that the truths of our faith are just metaphors, that the sacraments are only symbols and that we can have any authentic spiritual life without a relationship of love with the person of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

The message of Fatima - prayer, penance and conversion

Today we remember that mysterious event known as Our Lady of Fatima - where our lady appeared to 3 shepherd children in Portugal to ask them to pray the rosary , make atonement and sacrifices to save sinners. Two of the children are now recognised by the Church as saints - St Francisco & Jacinta. 

Without going into all the particulars around the apparitions and the messages, the importance for all of us is to understand prayer, penance and conversion. The Church does not require us as Catholics to believe in particular apparitions and devotions - however the events and meaning of Fatima have been promoted by multiple Popes at the highest level. 

Whether you do the First Saturday devotions, pray the Fatima prayers, wear them Brown scapular, pray the rosary everyday or offer intentions through the Immaculate Heart of Mary - the important thing is that we take seriously what Jesus taught us, the Church has always taught, and what Fatima reaffirmed - the importance of prayer, sacrifice and conversion. 

Many of us are used to now praying the Fatima prayer at the end of every decade in the rosary, and this is a prayer that I have found very beautiful. Another prayer that I have found fruitful in my own spiritual life is the “pardon prayer”. I pray this before I pray the Divine Office, it helps me to understand the importance of intercessory prayer as a hermit as well as offering the Divine Office as prayer for others. 

One of the main messages Our Lady spoke about was the reality of hell, and many people going there. This is a mystery that many of us struggle with and would prefer to try and rationalise away. But it’s important for us all to understand the need for ourselves to grow in holiness, and through our example and prayers, to help other people come close to Jesus. 

Apart from the warnings about Communism and war, Our Lady also specifically singled out sins of the flesh. In todays society we have never been more inundated and saturated with sexualised speech, advertising, tv shows, music, pornography and promiscuity. It is almost impossible to escape from. So based on my own past life experience of living a gay lifestyle and now reconverting back to God as a hermit - I pray everyday for people bound in bondage with sexual addictions. This is my way of taking the message of Fatima and making it part of my spiritual life. 

If you have not heard before of the 5 Fatima prayers, I encourage you to look at them today and perhaps see which one speaks to you and try to make it part of your prayer life. Whatever devotions and prayers we do, Our Lady has specifically requested we pray the rosary for our families, our nations, peace in the world and the conversion of sinners. Let us always remember that ultimately all conversion needs to start with our own heart first. 

Our Lady has promised that in the end her Immaculate Heart will triumph. She will be the refuge that brings us to Jesus who is our peace. 

Immaculate Heart of Mary - pray for us 

Sts Francisco & Jacinta - pray for us

Discovering our purpose through everyday holiness

I really love this quote for its simplicity. 

How often do we complicate the spiritual life? We get these grand ideas of being missionaries or preachers or great mystics - but forget that God has called us to holiness in our everyday life. 

We are all here for a purpose, created by God out of his living goodness, to find love, give love, and discover who we are called to be through relationship with eachother. 

St Therese has the story of a nun who used to really annoy her by her breathing and grinding of teeth, so she went out of her way to offer that sister a smile and to pray for her. This is the heroism we are called to as Catholics. We need to be a living example of Jesus love to other people, and the paradox in this is that the more we love others then the more we discover and experience God’s love for us. 

If you are struggling with a lack of direction or feeling despondent. Never forget that God has called you in his living plan of provide to be exactly where you are right now. This is where he is calling you to holiness and divine intimacy. Not in some distant far away perfect time “over there”, but right here and right now. 

- Do you work with someone who has little mannerisms that frustrate you? Pray for them and offer to help with tasks at work 

- Does your spouse frustrate you by not understanding your needs? Try to understand that they may not be deliberately ignorant of your emotional needs, and so try to do one thing a day for them that you know they love. They will begin to appreciate you more and even reciprocate 

- Do you live with family and find they don’t respect your space? Try to make them a tea/coffee once a day without them asking you, or offer to sit with them and watch their favourite show with them 

These little acts of penance for us, turn into acts of charity and slowly transform us. The day to day life is a struggle and believe me I struggle with lack of patience and charity the same as anyone else. But we never know in what moment that our act of service for someone else could be the exact moment they needed to feel God’s love for them. As Mother Teresa used to say, we aren’t all called to do great deeds, but we can do little deed with great love. 

Ask the Holy Spirit to help you today to see where he is calling you in your everyday life to grow in holiness. All of us are called to a purpose, we are also called into relationship with God and in others. None of us exist in isolation. The beauty of holiness attracts other people.

God, mental health & the love of Jesus

So today I had an interesting experience before evening Mass… every Sunday evening as an Acolyte I open the Parish Church at 5:30pm to set up and prepare for 6pm Mass. Today when I got to church and  I noticed there was someone already inside, even though it was all locked. As I turn on the lights, visit Jesus in the Tabernacle and check how many hosts are there, I notice there’s a 60 year old man man here by himself praying alone who’s never here by himself. So I ask him if he’s ok and starts crying, he tells  his wife has schizophrenia and goes through stages of not talking to him, she’s coming out of hospital soon and he’s feeling really overwhelmed. He struggles to look after himself, let alone her and says his son gets frustrated and yells at him instead of helping or supporting him. So I offered to pray for him and asked him if I could pray over him. I laid my hand on his shoulder and prayed over him. Afterwards he gave me a big hug and cried again. 

I told him about the 24/7 counselling hotline that is provided by Beyond Blue and also suggested Carers WA because sounds like he has carers burnout, along with his own mental health issues and no support. So I went to the sacristy and wrote the numbers down for him on a peace of paper, he left here smiling, hugged me and thanked me for being a friend. 

I reminded him he is not alone, that Jesus loves him and there is support available for him. 

Sometimes we can easily overlook the importance of mental health in relation to our faith. Many Christians still have stigma around asking for help or think it means they have weak faith. It is important for us all to know we can reach out for help - but always to  be willing to reach out to others and offer them help by listening to them, making them feel valued and loved, just as Jesus loves us. 

If you know anyone who needs help or is struggling please refer them to Beyond Blue. 

They have a 24/7 free counselling hotline 1300 22 4636

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/

The powerful intercession of Our Lady through the rosary

Today the Church gives us the beautiful feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. 

This feast was instituted by Pope Pius V in thanksgiving for the victory at the battle of Lepanto against the Ottomans, through the intercession of Our Lady through the rosary. 

For many of us the rosary can be a struggle to pray, it can be too long, feels boring or monotonous - but it is a prayer that has captured the hearts of Catholics throughout the centuries and been promoted by many many Popes. 

Any prayer can be a battle or struggle as the Catechism tells us, and the rosary definitely brings this out in us. But through the repetition of the prayers and meditating on the mysteries of each decade, we slowly enter into the deeper contemplative dimension of the rosary. The rosary is a weapon in spiritual warfare as many saints have attested, but why is this? It is because through the Hail Mary (formerly known as the Angelic Salutation) we are re-announcing, we are proclaiming the words of our salvation. The greeting to Mary recalls the moment when she consented to be the Mother of God and so began our salvation. But it also fulfills the prophecy of Mary that all generations will call her blessed. 

For me, I have found it helps my focus to bow/nod my head at the name of Jesus as I pray each Hail Mary. It helps keep a rhythm and also brings the high point of the prayer - Jesus who was born, suffered, died, rose and  ascended for us. He is always the focus that Our Lady points us to. 

As well as being a meditative prayer, the rosary is also an intercessory prayer. We offer the rosary for many intentions - our family, friends, conversion of others, healings etc .. all intercessory prayer. This is also an aspect of spiritual warfare. We take time to pray to Mary who takes us by the hand, listens to our petitions and brings them and us to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. How many of us are here through the prayers of our family or people at church faithfully praying their rosary for us? How many graces have we received through the rosary without realising it. 

Today on this special day - I ask you to take some time and pray a rosary. But really pray it, don’t just say it or rattle off the prayers as fast as you can. Pray the words with meaning, unite yourself to Our Lady through the rosary, bind yourself through the prayers on the chain, understand that each Angelic Salutation is a rose you are offering to the Mother of God in honour of her “Yes” to Jesus. Follow her example and say “Yes” to Jesus today as all. Pray for your family, friends, enemies or even people you don’t know. Pray for a particular intention that someone needs or even offer the intentions to Our Lady to use as she chooses as the Mediatrix of Grace. 

For many of us the rosary is associated with guilt, an obligation we have to do to be a “good Catholic”. But the rosary is something beautiful and powerful when you understand it and enter into the prayers. Take time today and learn from the school of the rosary, let our Lady take you by the hand through the rosary to unite yourself closer to Jesus. 

In the same way that through the rosary Our Lady interceded at the battle of Lepanto and granted them victory, so too today may she intercede for you and teach you to intercede for others in spiritual battle.

The Little Flower - my older sister in Carmel

I have always struggled with my relationship with St Thérèse of Lisieux. She is so popular and loved by so many yet I have always been put off by what I can only describe as the “saccharine” sickly sweet devotion surrounding her. Reading her Story of a Soul many years ago I struggled with aspects of her personality where she could be described as spoilt and even bit of a brat. 

But this year something has changed. Since I was granted Spiritual Affiliation to the Carmelite Order (O.Carm) in 2021 I have begun to sense this real sense of kinship with my fellow Carmelite saints. I have always loved St Teresa of Avila & St John of the Cross, and this years because of his canonisation I discovered St Titus Brandsma. So I can now add St Therese to this growing list - Today I now feel her presence as my big sister in the Order, teaching me her “Little Way” of holiness. 

Once you get past all the flowers and sweet images of her, she is a real giant of the faith. She was declared a Doctor of the Church for a reason and today for the first time in my life I can wholehearted say “St Therese - pray for me” 🙏

Today on her feast day I hope you too can discover something of her “Little Way” of spiritual childhood, to be holy in the garden of Jesus