...snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding...Let them praise the name of the Lord.                                                                       (Psalm 148)                                          

Neumann and the Blessed Sacrament

"In the Blessed Sacrament Bishop Neumann found the sweet object of his lively faith, his firm hope, his tender love. His devotion to Jesus hidden under the Eucharistic veils was earnest and edifying and intense was his desire to enkindle the same among his flock." --Rev. John Berger, C.Ss.R, nephew of St. John Neumann.





                    
           
                                                




                                                 ...in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me...(Psalm 27:5)

St. John Neumann

Saturday, January 5, is the feast day of St. John Neumann, the fourth bishop of Philadelphia. Oddly enough, when he was made Venerable, there was some concern that his virtue was not "heroic." Pope Benedict XV had this to say in reply:  "...the most simple of works, if carried out with constant perfection in the midst of inevitable difficulties, can bring every servant of God to the attainment of a heroic degree of virtue....Wonderful results can come from simple deeds when they are graced with perfection and carried out with unremitting constancy." Fr. Alfred C. Rush, C.Ss.R., adds "Neumann advanced on the way of Christian holiness from day to day and from virtue to virtue."

He became a hero for us, for the Catholics of America. He established parish schools and churches. He fostered the wide practice of Forty Hours' Devotion and Eucharistic Adoration. He stood firm in the face of bigotry and violence. In the statue above, he holds the first Baltimore Catechism, which he wrote, enabling all to understand and live the Faith.

                                                St. John Neumann, pray for us!

"Today God is still mysterious; indeed, he seems to have a special kind of obscurity in store for each person's life." --Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger

"...the dawn from on high shall break upon us..." --Canticle of Zechariah

Herod the King, in his raging,
Charged he hath this day;
His men of might, in his own sight,
All children young, to slay.

"All children young, to slay." God, have mercy on us!

Pray for all the slaughtered innocents, born and unborn.

Light-bearer

See, the days will not dawn for piety,
     and the nights are dark with awe.

 I will kindle lights, O my soul,
      I will kindle joy to all the ends of your humanity:

Hail to her who carried the Lord!
                        --Gertrude von Le Fort, Hymns to the Church

Advent

"But it [is] wrong to make Advent a sort of sentimental preview of Christmas....Advent is really a continuation of the Church's autumn season, her preparation for the Saviour's return. In this light Christmas and Epiphany are one great feast oriented to the parousia." (Pius Parsch, The Church's Year of Grace)

Yes, the parousia. The Second Coming. The end times. The final judgment. When you pray your Advent prayers, that's what you're praying for. But judgment as the prophets yearned for it: the universe set aright.

Isaiah 26:9 -- My soul yearns for you in the night, yes, my spirit within me keeps vigil for you; when your judgment dawns upon the earth, the world's inhabitants learn justice. 

"Ever since Christianity came into the world, it has been, in one sense, going out of it. It is so uncongenial to the human mind, it is so spiritual, and man is so earthly, it is apparently so defenceless, and has so many strong enemies, so many false friends, that every age, as it comes, may be called 'the last time'. It has made great conquests, and done great works; but still it has done all, as the Apostle says of himself, 'in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling'. How it is that it is always failing, yet always continuing, God only knows who wills it--but so it is; and it is no paradox to say...it may last many years more, and yet...is likely to end any day." (From a sermon preached by Bl. John Henry Cardinal Newman, December 6, 1840)