Being an accessory to sin

The serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals… He said to the woman, “Did God really say, You must not eat from any tree in the garden?” The woman said “God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die’.” "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. The woman saw, that the fruit was pleasing to the eye. She took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. … Adam lived 930 years, and then he died. __(Genesis)

“Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.” __(Romans)

Nine ways of being an accessory to the sins of another:

By counsel.

By command.

By consent.

By provocation.

By praise or flattery.

By concealment.

By partaking.

By silence.

By defense of the ill done.

R.I.P.

H.E. Alfons Maria Card. STICKLER SDB
Cardinal Priest of S Giorgio in Velabro

August 23, 1910-December 12, 2007

May everlasting light shine upon him, O Lord, with Your saints in eternity, for You are merciful. Grant him eternal rest, O Lord, and may everlasting light shine upon him.

Gaudete Sunday

December 16th., 2007

Gospel for the Third Sunday of Advent.

At that time the Jews sent from Jerusalem priests and levites to John, to ask him: Who art thou? And he confessed, and did not deny: and he confessed: I am not the Christ. And they asked him: What then? Art thou Elias? And he said: I am not. Art thou the Prophet? And he answered: No. They said therefore unto him: Who art thou, that we may give an answer to them that sent us? What sayest thou of thyself? He said: I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the Prophet Isaias. And they that were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked him, and said to him: Why then dost thou baptize, if thou be not Christ, nor Elias, nor the Prophet? John answered them, saying: I baptize with water: but there hath stood one in the midst of you whom you know not. The same is He that shall come after me, who is preferred before me: the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to loose. These things were done in Bethania, beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

___John 1: 19-28

Feast of Saint Lucy

The Thirteenth Day of December:

At Syracuse in Sicily, the birthday of St. Lucy, virgin and martyr, in the persecution of Diocletian. By order of the proconsul Paschasius, she was delivered to profligates, that her chastity might be insulted by the people; but when they attempted to lead her away they were not able to move her, either with ropes or by means of many yoke of oxen. Then having hot pitch, resin, and burning oil applied to her body without being injured, she finally had a sword driven through her throat, and thus completed her martyrdom.

V. And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.

R. Thanks be to God.

__(From the Roman Martyrology).

THE NINE WAYS OF PRAYER

The Sixth way

Saint Dominic, was also seen to pray standing erect with his hands and arms outstretched forcefully in the form of a cross. He prayed in this way when God, through his supplications, raised to life the boy Napoleon in the sacristy of the Church of Saint Sixtus in Rome, and when he was raised from the ground at the celebration of Mass, as the good and holy Sister Cecilia, who was present with many other people and saw him, narrates. He was like Elias who stretched himself out and lay upon the widow's son when he raised him to life.

In a similar manner he prayed near Toulouse when he delivered the group of English pilgrims from danger of drowning in the river. Our Lord prayed thus while hanging on the cross, that is, with his hands and arms extended and "with a loud cry and tears ... he was heard because of his reverent submission" [Heb. 5:7].

In a grave and mature manner, he would slowly pronounce the words in the Psalter which mention this way of prayer. He used to say attentively: "O Lord, the God of my salvation: I have cried in the day and in the night before thee, all the day I have cried to thee, O Lord: I stretched out my hands to thee" (Ps. 87:2-10). Then he would add: "Hear, O Lord, my prayer give ear to my supplication in thy truth . . ." He would continue "I stretched forth my hands to thee . . . Hear me speedily, O Lord" (Ps. 142:1-7).

This manner of prayer would help devout souls to appreciate more easily his great zeal and wisdom in praying thus. This is true whether, in doing so, he wished to move God in some wonderful manner through his prayer or whether he felt through some interior inspiration that God was to move him to seek some singular grace for himself or his neighbor.

Our Lady Vulnerata

Our Lady Vulnerata

In the great reredos of the Chapel of the English College, Valladolid, is the statue of Our Lady Vulnerata. The story of this statue begins in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England, in 1596. Spain had recovered from the defeat of the Invincible Armada and was gathering another fleet in the port of Cadiz, on the Atlantic coast of southern Spain. The Earl of Essex, one of England's most famous sea-dogs, together with Sir Walter Raleigh, led an English fleet into the harbour, destroyed the Spanish fleet and took possession of the city.

Some of the English troops ran riot and dragged a statue of the Virgin Mary and Child from a church to the market square where they desecrated it. They cut off both arms. All that remained of the Child were parts of his tiny feet on His Mother's knee.

The mutilated statue was given greater honour than ever and the Countess of Santa Gadea, wife of the Governor of Castilla, gave it place of honour in her chapel in Madrid.

The staff and students of the English College in Valladolid asked the Countess for the right to make reparation for the behaviour of their fellow countrymen who had desecrated the statue. Reluctantly she agreed and the statue was brought to Valladolid and installed with great solemnity in the College Chapel in 1600.

Queen Margaret of Austria, wife of King Philip III of Spain, who was present when the statue was installed, had asked for a novena in honour of Our Lady. On the last day of the novena the Bishop of Palencia gave the statue the title of Our Lady Vulnerata (which means wounded and insulted).

In 1979 it was renovated to mark its third centenary. More recently the facade was restored and the main doors renewed at the end of 1985; and the chapel was opened to the public.

Every week, to this day, special prayers are offered in reparation for the insults to Our Lady and the Child Jesus and to implore the intercession of Our Lady Vulnerata for the conversion of the people of England and Wales.

The story of the statue is depicted in eight paintings around the walls of the College chapel.

The Mass of Our Lady Vulnerata is celebrated in the College by special indult on the Sunday following the feast of the Immaculate Conception.

In the year 2000, the 4th Centenary of the arrival of the statue of Our Lady Vulnerata, after further renovation of the College chapel, the statue was given a new crown, a gift from the old boys of the College, at a solemn ceremony on the Feast of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.

LETTER OF THE BISHOP OF SCRANTON

My dear friends,

I speak to you today on a matter of grave urgency – the need for an amendment to our state Constitution which will protect marriage. As you know, God is the author of marriage. It is a sacred commitment ordained by Him to be a life-long, exclusive relationship between one man and one woman. Yet, in state after state, marriage is being re-defined. Massachusetts has legalized same-sex marriage. “Civil unions” are legal in New Jersey, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Maine, and California.

Pennsylvania has a Defense of Marriage Act. Still, there is always the danger that court challenges to overturn it will occur. Proponents of non-traditional alternatives to marriage are very motivated and well-financed. Already one proposed amendment to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman has been attempted in Pennsylvania.

I am asking you, at this time, to contact your state Senator to urge him or her to support an amendment to the Constitution of Pennsylvania defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman, with no recognition for any marriage-like unions. This weekend, in your parish bulletin, you will find the name and contact information for the Senator from your district. Please call, write or email as soon as possible. Pay a visit to his or her office if you can.

There are many who would say that the Church should not interfere in such matters. With my friend, Archbishop Chaput of Denver, I respond that American Catholics today face challenges not unlike those that faced the early Church. The Apostles and their successors preached the Gospel and people believed it, not just as a set of ideas, but in a way that made them unable to go on living like the people around them. In particular, early Christians believed that marriage was sacred. For them, following the practices of their Roman neighbors regarding human sexuality and marriage was unthinkable. So it is with us. In the long run, we serve our country best by remembering that we are citizens of heaven first. We are, in fact, better Americans when we are truly Catholic.

May Our Mother, Mary, who is the model of holiness, and St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse, intercede for us so that our efforts on behalf of marriage will be ever pleasing to her most gracious Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Most Reverend Joseph F. Martino, D.D., Hist. E.D.

Bishop of Scranton