Be Not Afraid! 30 Pictures and Quotes of JPII - Clinging to the Truth and Love of Christ - Our Hope in this Present Darkness

Happy Feast Day JPII!!!

Pope St. John Paul II, pray for us! 

Intercede for our Church and our nation for we are desperately in need of your prayers. 

You forever challenged us and emboldened us to never be afraid!
Thank you for your amazing witness, and the Love and Truth that you shared! 

May your words encourage and enliven us and lead us to be the great saints you called us to be in this time of unprecedented darkness and evil.
This post is filled with images of JPII. Each image is just one of his many amazing quotes.
Enjoy and may his prayers help us to stand fast in the great hope of God, UNAFRAID, for he never tired of proclaiming:

'Brothers and sisters, do not be afraid to welcome Christ and accept his power. Help the Pope and all those who wish to serve Christ and with Christ’s power to serve the human person and the whole of mankind.
Do not be afraid. Open, I say open wide the doors for Christ. To his saving power open the boundaries of states, economic and political systems, the vast fields of culture, civilization and development. Do not be afraid. Christ knows “that which is in man”. He alone knows it.
So often today, man does not know that which is in him, in the depths of his mind and heart. So often he is uncertain about the meaning of his life on this earth. He is assailed by doubt, a doubt which turns into despair. We ask you, therefore, we beg you with humility and with trust, let Christ speak to man. He alone has words of life, yes, of life eternal.
Responsory
Do not be afraid. The Redeemer of mankind has revealed the power of the Cross
and has given his life for us.
—Open, open wide the doors for Christ.
In the Church we are called to partake of his power.
—Open, open wide the doors for Christ.
- From today's liturgy of hours

So let us "Be Not Afraid!" -even as:

"We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has ever experienced. I do not think that the wide circle of the American Society, or the whole wide circle of the Christian Community realize this fully. We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-church, between the gospel and the anti-gospel, between Christ and the antichrist. The confrontation lies within the plans of Divine Providence. It is, therefore, in God's Plan, and it must be a trial which the Church must take up, and face courageously." - JPII address given in 1976 in America 

 © Janet Moore 2018.

O Come, O Wisdom From on High!

I love these late Advent weekdays!
I love praying the O' Antiphons, one of the riches in the immense treasury of prayers that the Church gives to us to prepare our hearts for Jesus' coming.

Today, we are called to pray with Mary and all the faithful ones of Israel
who eagerly awaited and prayed for the Messiah
- praying for Wisdom to guide and direct their paths.

How much are we need wisdom today?!

With the threat of terror ever increasing.
When we are tempted to fear, to doubt, to anxiousness
how much do we need to enter into the silence of these late Advent days?
--preparing with prayer
our hearts to receive Jesus,
Who is Wisdom Incarnate!

And so, let us sing and pray as never before:

"O Come, O Wisdom from on high
Who orders all things far and nigh,
To us the path of knowledge show
And teach us in her ways to go.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee O Israel!

We often think of Wisdom as a thing, 

Rather than a Person.

Yet, Wisdom is a Divine Person
Who came to earth
- to be with us!
Not only with us to be "like us in all things but sin"
externally, 

but to be with us in the depths of our being
-- Coming to "live and move and have His dwelling" within us!
Hoping to guide our hearts and minds
and to direct our paths
by receiving Him
--Who is Wisdom Himself.

But, do we make room for Him in our lives?

He is ALWAYS EMMANUEL
GOD WITH US
Yet, how often is it that we don't recognize His Presence
in His Hidden Stillness?

Because our silence is so full of noise
that we cannot
recognize His Coming

Are our hearts so filled with anxiety that
He, Who is the great
I AM
cannot come into my heart to set me free?

Captive as I am to
noise
busyness
worries, problems, concerns...
Captive to sin...
to shame, guilt,
self-pity and sorrow
doubt,
fear
consumerism
people's opinions....

And in our captivity, we are so full
that we do not have room in our hearts for His Wisdom.

But, Jesus came to free us of all these things!!!!
That is the Good News!!!!

It is only in Christ we can be freed
If we allow Him freedom to crush the power of sin and death within us
as He did once and for all on the Cross

But, it is often only in prayer
that we can recognize the WISDOM and TRUTH
of our captivity and
that a tremendous battle is going on in our hearts and minds,
that is keeping us from making room
for the Hidden King of Kings.

Who are we listening to?

What are we filling our moments of silence with?
Is it with prayer
Scripture
Mary
repentance and confession
so to make room in our hearts for His Coming?

If we don't,
we often miss
the coming of God by grace.

For God's Wisdom first manifested Himself
in a way completely hidden from the world
-- as He grew within the womb of Mary.
Often times Wisdom is missed for He still hides Himself in the womb of Mary.

So, it is only
in silence
in prayer
in thanksgiving
and in praise...
and in Mary
that we can make room for Him.



May we not let this Christmas come and go
without preparing a place in our hearts for Him to dwell within us
in all His Wisdom.

"O Come, O Wisdom from on high
order our thoughts and our days aright
as you order all things far and nigh,
To us the path of knowledge show
And teach us in her ways to go.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee O Israel!

© 2015 Janet Moore. All Rights Reserved.

The Teacher of St. Thomas Aquinas: St. Albert the GREAT!

St. Thomas Aquinas is widely known and hailed as one of the most brilliant theologians of the Church, writing the Summa Theologica, a work that sought to encompass the whole of Theology (the Study of God).  

Do you ever wonder who taught St. Thomas?  

Who formed him and helped him to achieve such wisdom and knowledge?  

We don't hear about him nearly as much as we should, but it is the saint we celebrate today -- his  teacher was St. Albert the Great!  St. Albert, even to his contemporaries was known as the GREAT because of his brilliance!  

He was a brilliant theologian and scientist.  He sought to compile all the knowledge of the time, including astronomy, mathematics, economics, logic, rhetoric, ethics, politics, metaphysics and all branches of natural science into one great body of work which took him over 20 years to complete.

The media often portrays the Church as an enemy of science.  But that couldn't be farther from the truth.  It was men of the Church, intellectual worshippers God, who marveled at God's creation and sought to study its beauty and magnificence!  He saw no discrepancy between the study of science and the study of God.

"In this, we should follow the example of St. Albert the Great, who saw in everything that he studied the God who made it and to whom it is ultimately ordered. Surely, as Pope Leo XIII remarked, “Truth cannot contradict truth”; hence, let us join the “teacher of everything” by allowing everything we study to lead us to the contemplation of God, the Supreme Truth."

For all his intellectual greatness, it was his heart for God that made him one of the greatest of saints.  So great, in fact, that the Church has named him as one of only 35 Doctors of the Church.  Being named a Doctor of the Church is a recognition of the saint's teaching was so extraordinary that it was meant for "any age of the Church."

Albert was born around the year 1200.  He pursued his studies at the University of Padua and entered the Dominicans in 1223.  He taught in many universities and was eventually sent to the University of Paris, to earn his doctorate in 1245 with Thomas Aquinas. In 1248, they both returned to Cologne to House of Studies for the Dominican order, where Albert was named Regent and Thomas was named second professor and Master of Students. In 1254, Albert was elected Provincial of the Dominican Order in Germany. In 1256, he traveled to Rome to defend the Order against attacks and while there was named the Pope's theologian and preached on the Gospel of St. John and the Epistles.  He resigned as Provincial in 1257 in order to devote himself to study and teaching.  During his long life, he continued to teach, would become Bishop, help form the direction of studies for the Dominicans, sent letters to aid St. Thomas in his fight against heretics, and took an active part in the Council of Lyon with Pope Gregory X (1274).  It was on the way to the Council that he heard that St. Thomas had died. It:

was a heavy blow to Albert, and he declared that "The Light of the Church" had been extinguished. It was but natural that he should have grown to love his distinguished, saintly pupil, and it is said that ever afterwards he could not restrain his tears whenever the name of St. Thomas was mentioned. Something of his old vigour and spirit returned in 1277 when it was announced that Stephen Tempier and others wished to condemn the writings of St. Thomas, on the plea that they were too favourable to the unbelieving philosophers, and he journeyed to Paris to defend the memory of his disciple. Some time after 1278 (in which year he drew up his testament) he suffered a lapse of memory; his strong mind gradually became clouded; his body, weakened by vigils, austerities, and manifold labours, sank under the weight of years. He was beatified by Pope Gregory XV in 1622; his feast is celebrated on the 15th of November. The Bishops of Germany, assembled at Fulda in September, 1872, sent to the Holy See a petition for his canonization; he was finally canonized in 1931.

From the Breviary today, we have the great treasure of actually reading his own words and being blessed by his teaching: 

From a commentary of the gospel of Luke by Saint Albert the Great, bishop

(22,19; Opera omnia, Parisiis 1890-1899,23,672-674)

He was a shepherd and doctor who built up the body of Christ

Do this in remembrance of me. Two things should be noted here. The first is the command that we should use this sacrament, which is indicated when he says: Do this. The second is that this sacrament commemorates the Lord’s going to death for our sake.

Do this. Certainly he would demand nothing more profitable, nothing more pleasant, nothing more beneficial, nothing more desirable, nothing more similar to eternal life. We will look at each of these qualities separately.

This sacrament is profitable because it grants remission of sins; it is most useful because it bestows the fullness of grace on us in this life. The Father of spirits instructs us in what is useful for our sanctification. And his sanctification is in Christ’s sacrifice, that is, when he offers himself in this sacrament to the Father for our redemption, to us for our use. I consecrate myself for their sakes. Christ, who through the Holy Spirit offered himself up without blemish to God, will cleanse our consciences from dead works to worship the living God.

Nor can we do anything more pleasant. For what is better than God manifesting his whole sweetness to us. You gave them bread from heaven, not the fruit of human labor, but a bread endowed with all delight and pleasant to every sense of taste. For this substance of yours revealed your kindness toward your children, and serving the desire of each recipient, it changed to suit each one’s taste.

He could not have commanded anything more beneficial, for this sacrament is the fruit of the tree of life. Anyone who receives this sacrament with the devotion of sincere faith will never taste death. It is a tree of life for those who grasp it, and blessed is he who holds it fast. The man who feeds on me shall live on account of me.

Nor could he have commanded anything more lovable, for this sacrament produces love and union. It is characteristic of the greatest love to give itself as food. Had not the men of my tent exclaimed: Who will feed us with his flesh to satisfy our hunger? as if to say: I have loved them and they have loved me so much that I desire to be within them, and they wish to receive me so that they may become my members. There is no more intimate or more natural means for them to be united to me, and I to them.

Nor could he have commanded anything which is more like eternal life. Eternal life flows from this sacrament because God with all sweetness pours himself out upon the blessed.

When putting this post together, I ran across the amazing quote and early picture of our Holy Father, Pope Francis, as a priest who rode the bus each day to get to work.  

What a wonderful summary of St. Albert the Great!  

What truth and humility!  

One of the greatest minds of all time proclaims that it is the lover of God, who lives the Gospel in joy who can truly comes to know the mysteries of God! 

May this give us all hope and great joy!  It is not so much in our intellect, but in our love for God, that we become truly wise and come to know His Mysteries!

St. Albert the Great, pray for us!

There is so much to read about St. Albert the Great, I couldn't hope to give a adequate summary of his greatness.  These facts and more can be found at New Advent.

Copyright 2014 Janet Moore