On this day...

HYMN

In Parasceve

Judas Receiving Payment for his Betrayal, Giotto di Bondone (1267-1337)

On this day, Judas leaves his Master, and takes the devil for his guide. The love of money blinds him. He fell from the light, he became darkened ; for how could he be said to see, who sold the Light for thirty pieces of silver? But to us he has risen, he that suffered for the world : let us thus cry out unto him: Glory be to thee, that didst endure thy Passion, and hadst compassion, for mankind!

What was it, O Judas! that led thee to betray Jesus? Had he cut thee off from the number of his Apostles?  Had he deprived thee of the gift of healing the sick? When he supped with his Apostles, did he drive thee from table? When he washed their feet, did he pass thee by? And yet, thou wast unmindful of these great favours ! Thy ungrateful plot has branded thee with infamy: but his incomparable patience and great mercy are worthy of praise.

Say, O ye unjust ones!  What is it ye have heard from our Saviour?  Did he not expound unto you the Law and the Prophets? Why, therefore, have ye plotted how to redeem our souls?  They that had enjoyed thy unceasing gifts cried out: Let him be crucified! These murderers of such as were innocent, sought thee, that they might treat thee, their benefactor, as an evil-doer. But thou, O Christ! didst bear their wickedness with silence, for thou being the lover of mankind, didst desire to suffer for and save us.

We are prevented from speaking by the multitude of our sins: do thou, O Virgin Mother of God!  Pray for us to Him that was born of thee, for the Mother's prayer avails much with the mercy of our Lord. Despise not, O most pure Virgin! the prayers of sinners, for he that refused not even to suffer for us, is merciful, and is able to save us.

From The Liturgical Year,
by Dom Prosper Guéranger OSB

"Judica, Domine, nocentes me," Monday in Holy Week

This morning, also, Jesus goes with bis Disciples to Jerusalem. He is fasting, for the Gospel tells us, that he was hungry (Matthew 21:18). He approaches a fig-tree, which is by the way-side; but finds nothing on it, save leaves only. Jesus, wishing to give us an instruction, curses the fig-tree, which immediately withers away. He would hereby teach us what they are to expect, who have nothing but good desires, and never produce in themselves the fruit of a real conversion. Nor is the allusion to Jerusalem less evident. This City is zealous for the exterior of Divine Worship; but her heart is hard and obstinate, and she is plotting, at this very hour, the death of the Son of God.

The greater portion of the day is spent in the Temple, where Jesus holds long conversations with the Chief Priests and Ancients of the people. His language to them is stronger than ever, and triumphs over all their captious questions. It is principally in the Gospel of St. Matthew, that we shall find these answers of our Redeemer, which so energetically accuse the Jews of their sin of rejecting the Messias, and so plainly foretel the punishment their sin is to bring after it.

At length, Jesus leaves the Temple, and takes the road that leads to Bethania. Having come as far as Mount Olivet, which commands a view of Jerusalem, he sits down, and rests awhile. The Disciples make this an opportunity for asking him, how soon the chastisements he has been speaking of in the Temple will come upon the City. His answer comprises two events: the destruction of Jerusalem, and the final destruction of the world. He thus teaches them that the first is a figure of the second. The time when each is to happen, is to be when the measure of iniquity is filled up. But, with regard to the chastisement that is to befal Jerusalem, he gives this more definite answer: Amen I say to you: this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.i History tells us how this prophecy of Jesus was fulfilled: forty years had scarcely elapsed after his Ascension,, when the Roman army encamped on this very place where he is now speaking to his Disciples, and laid siege to the ungrateful and wicked City. After giving a prophetic description of that Last Judgment, which is to rectify all the unjust judgments of men, he leaves Mount Olivet, returns to Bethania, and consoles the anxious heart of his most holy Mother.

The Station, at Rome, is in the Church of Saint Praxedes. It was in this Church, that Pope Paschal the Second, in the 9th century, placed two thousand three hundred bodies of holy Martyrs, which he had ordered to be taken out of the Catacombs. The Pillar, to which our Saviour was tied during his scourging, is also here.

 PRAYER.

O great and Sovereign Lord ! (Adonai!) Christ our God! Crucify us, with thyself, to this world, that so thy life may be in us. Take upon thee our sins, that thou mayst crucify them. Draw us unto thyself, since it was for our sakes that thou wast raised up from the earth; and thus snatch us from the power of the unclean tyrant: for, though by flesh and our sins, we be exposed to the insults of th!e devil, yet do we desire to serve, not him, but thee. We would be thy subjects ; we ask to be governed by thee ; for, by thy death on the cross, thou didst deliver us, who are mortals and surrounded by death. It is to bless thee for this wonderful favour, that we this day offer thee our devoted service ; and humbly adoring thee, we now implore and beseech thee, to hasten to our assistance, O thou our God, the Eternal and Almighty ! Let thy Cross thus profit us unto good, that thou, by its power, mayst triumph over the world in us, and thine own mercy restore us, by thy might and grace, to the ancient blessing. O thou, whose power hath turned the future into the past, and whose presence maketh the past to be present,—grant, that thy Passion may avail us to salvation, as though it were accomplished now on this very day. May the drops of thy holy Blood, which heretofore fell upon the earth from the Cross, be our present salvation : may it wash away all the sins of our earthly nature, and be, so to say, commingled with, the earth of our body, rendering it all thine, since we, by our reconciliation with thee, our Head, have been made one body with thee. Thou that ever reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, now begin to reign over us, O God-Man, Christ Jesus, King for ever and ever!

From The Liturgical Year,
by Dom Prosper Guéranger OSB 

St. Andrew Christmas Novena

St. Andrew Christmas Novena Prayer to Obtain Favors

(It is piously believed that whoever recites the above prayer fifteen times a day from the feast of St. Andrew, 30th November, until Christmas will obtain what is asked.)

Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold. In that hour, vouchsafe, O my God! to hear my prayer and grant my desires, through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His Blessed Mother. Amen.

Imprimatur
+MICHAEL AUGUSTINE, Archbishop of New York

New York, February 6, 1897

De Profundis

 

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord;
Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to my voice in supplication:

If you, O Lord, mark iniquities,
Lord, who can stand?
But with you is forgiveness,
that you may be revered.

I trust in the Lord;
my soul trusts in his word.
My soul waits for the Lord,
more than sentinels wait for the dawn.
More than sentinels wait for the dawn,
let Israel wait for the Lord;

For with the Lord is kindness
and with him is plenteous redemption;
And he will redeem Israel from all their iniquities.

- A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful, who piously recite this psalm.

Remembering the Souls of the Faithful Departed

Visit to a Cemetery
(Coemeterii visitatio)
An indulgence, applicable only to the Souls in Purgatory, is granted to the faithful, who
devoutly visit a cemetery and pray, even if only mentally, for the departed. The indulgence is
plenary each day from the 1st to the 8th of November; on other days of the year it is partial.

Visit to a Church or Oratory on All Souls Day
(Visitatio ecclesiae vel oratorii in Commemoratione omnium fidelium defunctorum)
A plenary indulgence, applicable only to the Souls in Purgatory, is granted to the faithful, who
on the day dedicated to the Commemoration of all the faithful departed piously visit a church,
a public oratory or -- for those entitled to use it -- a semipublic oratory.
The above indulgence can be acquired either on the day designated above or, with the consent
of the Ordinary, on the preceding or following Sunday or the feast of All Saints.
The above indulgence is contained in the Apostolic Constitution The Doctrine of Indulgences,
Norm 15, with account being taken of proposals made to the Sacred Penitentiary in the
meantime.
In visiting the church or oratory, it is required, according to Norm 16.

- The Enchiridion of Indulgences, Norms, and Grants

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord...

"'We will not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that are asleep, that you be not sorrowful, even as others who have no hope,' [1 Thess. iv. 13] The Church today has the same desire as the Apostle thus expressed to the first Christians. The truth concerning the dead not only proves admirably the union between God's justice and His goodness; it also inspires a charitable pity which the hardest heart cannot resist, and at the same time offers to the mourners the sweetest consolation. If faith teaches us the existence of a Purgatory where our loved ones may be detained by unexpiated sin, it is also of faith that we are able to assist them; [Conc. Trid. Sess. xxv] and theology assures us that their more or less speedy deliverance lies in our power. Let us call to mind a few principles which throw light on this doctrine, Every sin causes a twofold injury to the sinner: it stains his soul, and renders him liable to punishment. Venial sin, which displeases God, requires a temporal expiation. Mortal sin deforms the soul, and makes the guilty man an abomination to God: its punishment cannot be anything less than eternal banishment, unless the sinner, in this life, prevent the final and irrevocable sentence. But even then the remission of the guilt, though it revokes the sentence of damnation, does not cancel the whole debt. Although an extraordinary overflow of grace upon the prodigal may sometimes, as is always the case with regard to Baptism and Martyrdom, bury every remnant and vestige of sin in the abyss of Divine oblivion; yet is it the ordinary rule that for every fault satisfaction must be made to God's justice, either in this world or in the next.

On the other hand, every supernatural act of virtue brings a double profit to the just man: it merits for his soul a fresh degree of grace; and it makes satisfaction for past faults, in exact proportion to the value, in God's sight, of that labour, privation, or trial accepted, or that voluntary suffering endured, by one of the members of His beloved Son. Now, whereas merit is a personal acquisition and cannot be transferred to others, satisfaction may be vicarious; God is willing to accept it in payment of another's debt, whether the recipient of the boon be in this world or in the next, provided only that he be united by grace to the mystical Body of our Lord, which is one in charity. This is a consequence of the mystery of the communion of saints, as Suarez explains in his treatise on suffrages. Appealing to the authority of the greatest and most ancient princes of science, and discussing the objections and restrictions since proposed by others, the illustrious theologian does not hesitate to formulate this conclusion, with regard to the suffering souls in particular: 'I believe that this satisfaction of the living for the dead is a matter of simple justice, [Esse simpliciter de justitia.] and that it is infallibly accepted with its full value, and according to the intention of him who applies it. Thus, for instance, if the satisfaction I make would, if kept for myself, avail me in strict justice for the remission of four degrees of Purgatory, it will remit exactly the same amount to the soul for whom I choose to offer it.' [SUAREZ, De Suffragiis, Sectio vi]

We well know how the Church seconds the goodwill of her children. By the practice of Indulgences, she places at their charitable disposal the inexhaustible treasure accumulated, from age to age, by the superabundant satisfactions of the Saints, added to those of the Martyrs, and united to those of our blessed Lady and the infinite residue of our Lord's sufferings. These remissions of punishment she grants to the living by her own direct power; but she nearly always approves of and permits their application to the dead by way of suffrage-----that is to say, in the manner in which, as we have seen, each of the faithful may offer to God who accepts it, for another, the suffrage or succour [SUAREZ, De Suffragiis, in Proremio] of his own satisfactions. Such is the doctrine of Suarez, who adds that an Indulgence ceded to the dead loses nothing either ot the security or of the value it would have had for ourselves who are still militant. [De Indulgentiis, Disput. liii. Sect. iii]

Now, Indulgences under every form are continually coming in our way. Let us make use of our treasures, and exercise mercy towards the poor suffering Souls. Is any condition more pitiable than theirs? So great is their anguish, that no distress on earth can approach to it; and withal so nobly endured, that not a murmur breaks the silence of that 'river of fire, which in its imperceptible current bears them on little by little to the ocean of Paradise.' [MGR. GAY, Christian Life and Virtues: Of Charity towards the Church, ii] All Heaven cannot help them, for there is no merit to be gained there. God Himself, though most merciful, owes it to His justice not to deliver them until they have paid the whole debt that they carried with them beyond the world of trial. The debt was contracted perhaps through our fault, and in our company; and it is to us they turn for help, to us who are still dreaming of nothing but pleasure, while they are burning, and we could so easily shorten their torments! 'Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you my friends, because the hand of the Lord hath touched me.' [Job xix. 21]

Whether it be that Purgatory is now more than ever overflowing with the multitudes daily sent thither through the worldliness of the age, or that the last and universal judgment is approaching-----the Holy Ghost is no longer satisfied with keeping up the zeal of ancient confraternities devoted to the service of the departed. He raises up new associations, and even religious families, whose one aim is to promote, by every possible means, the deliverance or the solace of the suffering souls. In this kind of redemption of captives there are likewise to be found Christians, who at their own risk offer to take upon themselves the chains of their brethren, by utterly forgoing, for this purpose, not only all their own satisfactions, but even the suffrages which may be offered for them after death: an heroic act of charity, which must not be lightly undertaken, but which the Church approves; [Propagated in the eighteenth century by the Regular Clerks Theatines, and enriched with spiritual favours by the Sovereign Pontiffs Benedict XIII, Pius VI, and Pius IX.] for it greatly glorifies our Lord, and in return for the risk incurred of a temporary delay of beatitude, merits for its author a greater nearness to God, both by grace here below and in glory in Heaven. If the suffrages of the simple faithful are of such value, of how much more are those of the whole Church, in the solemnity of public prayer, and the oblation of the awful Sacrifice, wherein God Himself makes satisfaction to God for every sin! From the very beginning the Church has always prayed for the dead, as did even the Synagogue before her. [2 Mach. xii. 46]

As she honoured with thanksgiving the anniversaries of her Martyred sons, so she celebrated with supplications the memory of her other children, who might not yet be in Heaven. In the sacred mysteries she daily uttered the names of both, for this twofold purpose of praise and prayer. As in each particular church it was impossible to name all the blessed of the entire world, a common mention was made of them all; and in like manner, after the recommendations peculiar to each place and day, a general commemoration was made of all the dead. Thus, as St. Augustine remarks, those who had no relatives and friends on earth were henceforth not deprived of suffrages; for, to make up for their abandonment, they had the tender compassion of the common mother. [AUG. De cura pro mortuis, iv]

The Church having always followed the same method with regard to the commemoration of the blessed and that of the departed, it might be expected that the establishment of All Saints' Feast, in the ninth century, would soon lead to the solemn commemoration of All Souls. In 998, according to the Chronicle of Sigebert of Gembloux, St. Odilo, abbot of Cluny, instituted it in all the monasteries under his crosier, to be celebrated in perpetuity on the morrow of All Saints. In certain visions, ordered in his life, Odilo and his monks had been denounced by the demons as the most indefatigable helpers of the holy Souls, and most formidable to the powers of Hell; and this institution was the Saint's retaliation. The world applauded the decree; Rome adopted it; and it became the law of the whole Latin Church.

The Greeks make a general commemoration of the dead the eve of our Sexagesima Sunday, which with them called Apocreos, or Carnival, and on which they celebrate the second coming of our Lord. They give the name of 'Saturday of All Souls' to this day, as well as to the eve of Pentecost, when they again pray solemnly for the departed.

. . . Formerly the Roman Church on this day doubled her task of service to the Divine Majesty. The Commemoration of the Dead did not distract her from the Saints, and the Office of the second day within the Octave preceded the Dirge. She now recites only the Office of the Dead.

At the day Hours, as well as at Matins and Lauds, the hymn and the Deus in adjutorium are suppressed; the ordinary psalms are concluded with Requiem aeternam; and the Collect for the Dead is said at the close. She has, moreover, extended to the universal Church a privilege already existing in Spain, which allows each priest to offer three Masses for the Dead.

The Commemoration of the Faithful Departed ends at None; but Cluny, up to the last century, had the custom of celebrating second Vespers.

As to the obligation of resting from servile works on All Souls' day, it was of semi-precept in England, the more necessary works being permitted; in some places the obligation lasted only till mid-day; in others assistance at Mass was alone enjoined. For some time, Paris kept November 2 as a Feast of obligation; in 1673 the command to observe it until mid-day was retained in the statutes by the Archbishop Francis de Harlay. The precept no longer exists, even at Rome.

. . . While the Soul is supplying in Purgatory for the insufficiency of her expiations, the body she has quitted returns to the earth in virtue of the sentence pronounced against Adam and his race from the beginning of the world. But, with regard to the body as well as the Soul, justice is full of love; its claims are a prelude to the glory which awaits the whole man. The humiliation of the tomb is the just punishment of Original Sin; but in this return of man to the earth from whence he sprang, St. Paul would have us recognize the sowing necessary for the transformation of the seed, which is destined to live again under very different conditions. For 'flesh and blood cannot possess the kingdom of God'; [1 Cor. xv. 50] neither can corruptible members aspire to immortality. The body of the Christian, which St. Ignatius of Antioch calls the wheat of Christ, is cast into the tomb, as it were into the furrow, there to leave its own corruption, the form of the first Adam with its heaviness and infirmity; but by the power of the new Adam reforming it to His Own likeness, it shall spring up all heavenly and spiritualized, agile, impassible, and glorious. Blessed be He, who willed to die for us in order to destroy death and to make His own victory ours!

The Church . . . did not formerly exclude from the funerals of her children the joyful Alleluia; it expressed the happiness she felt at the thought that a holy death had secured Heaven to the new elect, although his expiation might not yet be completed. But the adaptation of the liturgy for the dead to the rites of Holy Week having altered this ancient custom, it would seem that the Sequence, originally a festive sequel to the Alleluia, ought also to be excluded from the Requiem Mass. Rome, however, has made a welcome exception to the traditional rule, in favour of the remarkable poem, Dies irae, of Thomas de Celano. This and the Stabat Mater of Fra Jacopone have won renown for the Franciscan lyre. The Dies irae was first sung in Italy in the fourteenth century; and in two centuries more it had spread to the entire Church.

Dies irae, dies illa

Day of wrath and doom impending,
David's word with Sibyl's blending,
Heaven and earth in ashes ending!

O what fear man's bosom rendeth,
When from Heaven the Judge descendeth,
On whose sentence all dependeth!

Wondrous sound the trumpet flingeth,
Through earth's sepulchres it ringeth,
All before the throne it bringeth.

Death is struck, and nature quaking,
All creation is awaking,
To its Judge an answer making.

Lo! the book exactly worded,
Wherein all hath been recorded;
Thence shall judgment be awarded.

When the Judge His seat attaineth,
And each hidden deed arraigneth,
Nothing unavenged remaineth.

What shall I, frail man, be pleading?
Who for me be interceding,
When the just are mercy needing?

King of majesty tremendous,
Who dost free salvation send us,
Fount of pity, then befriend us!

Think, kind Jesu!-----my salvation
Caused Thy wondrous Incarnation;
Leave me not to reprobation.

Faint and weary Thou hast sought me,
On the Cross of suffering bought me;
Shall such grace be vainly brought me?

Righteous Judge! for sin's pollution
Grant Thy gift of absolution,
 Ere that day of retribution.

Guilty, now I pour my moaning,
All my shame with anguish owning;
Spare, O God, thy suppliant groaning!

Through the sinful woman shriven,
Through the dying thief forgiven,
Thou to me a hope hast given.

Worthless are my prayers and sighing,
Yet, good Lord, in grace complying,
Rescue me from fires undying.

With Thy sheep a place provide me,
From the goats afar divide me,
To Thy right hand do thou guide me.

When the wicked are confounded,
Doomed to shame and woe unbounded,
 Call me, with Thy Saints surrounded.

Low I kneel, with heart's submission,
See, like ashes my contrition!
Help me in my last condition!

Ah! that day of tears and mourning!
 From the dust of earth returning,
Man for judgment must prepare him:

Spare, O God, in mercy spare him!
Lord, all-pitying, Jesu blest,
Grant them Thine eternal rest. Amen.

. . . Purgatory is not eternal. Its duration varies according to the sentence pronounced at each particular judgment. It may be prolonged for centuries in the case of the more guilty souls, or of those who, being excluded from the Catholic communion, are deprived of the suffrages of the Church, although by the Divine mercy they have escaped Hell. But the end of the world, which will be also the end of time, will close for ever the place of temporary expiation. God will know how to reconcile His justice and His goodness in the purification of the last members of the human race, and to supply by the intensity of the expiatory suffering what may be wanting in duration. But, whereas a favourable sentence at the particular judgment admits of eternal beatitude being suspended and postponed, and leaves the bodies of the elect to the same fate as those of the reprobate; at the universal judgment, every sentence, whether for Heaven or for Hell, will be absolute; and will be executed immediately and completely. Let us, then, live in expectation of the solemn hour, when 'the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God.' [St. John v. 25] He that is to come will come, and will not delay, as the Doctor of the Gentiles reminds us; His arrival will be sudden, as that of a thief, we are told, not only by St. Paul, but also by the prince of the Apostles and the beloved disciple; and these in turn are but echoing the words of our Lord Himself: 'As lightning cometh out of the east and appeareth even unto the west: so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.'

Let us enter into the sentiments contained in the beautiful Offertory. Athough the poor suffering Souls are sure of their eternal blessedness, yet they entered upon this road to Heaven at a moment of utmost peril: the supreme effort of the devil in his last assault, and the agony of the judgment. The Church, therefore, extending her prayer to every stage of this painful way, does not forget its opening. Nor is she afraid of being too late; for, to God, who sees all times at one glance, this day's supplication was present at the moment of the dread passage, and obtained assistance for the straitened souls. This same prayer follows them also in their struggles with the powers of Hell, when God permits these, according to the revelations of the Saints, to be the ministers of His justice in the place of expiation. At this solemn moment, when the Church is offering her gifts for the tremendous and all-powerful Sacrifice, let us redouble our prayers for the faithful departed. Let us implore their deliverance from the jaws of the infernal lion. Let us obtain from the glorious Archangel, whom God has set over Paradise and appointed to lead souls thither, [Ant. et Resp. in festo S. Michaelis] that he would bear them up to the light, to life, to God, Who is Himself the reward promised to all believers in the person of their father Abraham."

- The Liturgical Year, Volume 15 by Dom Prosper Guéranger

Happy Feast of All Saints!

The Coronation of the Virgin, FILIPPO LIPPI, 1447

"The glorious company of the apostles praise Thee.
The goodly fellowship of the prophets praise Thee.
The white-robed army of martyrs praise Thee.
All Thy saints and elect with one voice do acknowledge Thee,
O Blessed Trinity, one God!" 

- From the Te Deum

St. Jude Thaddeus, Apostle

SAINT JUDE, APOSTLE.

The apostle St. Jude is distinguished from the Iscariot by the surname of Thaddaeus, which signifies in Syriac, praising or confession, (being of the same import with the Hebrew word Judas) also by that of Lebbaeus, which is given him in the Greek text of St Matthew; that word signifying, according to St. Jerom, a man of wit and understanding, from the Hebrew word Leb, a heart; though it might equally be derived from the Hebrew word, which signifies a Lion. St. Jude was brother to St. James the Less, as he styles himself in his epistle; likewise of St. Simeon of Jerusalem, and of one Joses, who are styled the brethren of our Lord, and were sons of Cleophas, and Mary, sister to the Blessed Virgin. This apostle's kindred and relation to our Saviour exalted him not so much in his master's eyes as his contempt of the world, the ardour of his holy zeal and love, and his sufferings for his sake. It is not known when and by what means he became a disciple of Christ; nothing having been said of him in the gospels before we find him enumerated in the catalogue of the apostles. After the last supper, when Christ promised to manifest himself to every one who should love Mm, St. Jude asked him, why he did not manifest himself to the world ? By which question, he seems to have expressed his expectation of a secular kingdom of the Messias. Christ by his answer satisfied him, that the world is unqualified for divine manifestations, being a stranger and an enemy to what must fit souls for a fellowship with heaven but that he would honour those who truly love him with his familiar converse, and would admit them to intimate communications of grace and favour.

After our Lord's ascension and the descent of the Holy Ghost, St. Jude set out with the other great conquerors of the world and hell, to pull down the prince of darkness from his usurped throne ; which this little troop undertook to effect armed only with the word of God, and his spirit. Eusebius relates, that the apostle St. Thomas sent St. Thaddaeus, one of the disciples of our Lord, to Edessa, and that king Abgar and a great number of his people received baptism at his hands. St. Jerom and Bede take this Thaddaeus to have been the apostle St. Jude : but it is the general opinion that it was another person, one of the seventy-two disciples whom the Greeks commemorate in the Menaea on the 21st of August. Nicephorus, Isidore, and the Martyrologies tell us, that St. Jude preached up and down Judaea, Samaria, Idumaea, and Syria ; especially in Mesopotamia. St. Paulinus says, that St. Jude planted the faith in Lybia. This apostle returned from his missions to Jerusalem in the year 62, after the martyrdom of his brother, St. James, and assisted at the election of St. Simeon who was likewise his brother. He wrote a catholic or general epistle to all the churches of the East, particularly addressing himself to the Jewish converts, amongst whom he had principally laboured. St. Peter had written to the same two epistles before this, and in the second, had chiefly in view to caution the faithful against the errors of the Simonians, Nicholaits, and Gnostics. The havoc which these heresies continued to make among souls stirred up the zeal of St. Jude, who sometimes copied certain expressions of St. Peter, and seems to refer to the epistles of SS. Peter and Paul as if the authors were then no more. The heretics he describes by many strong epithets and similes, and calls them wandering meteors which seem to blaze for a while, but set in eternal darkness. The source of their fall he points out by saying, they are murmurers, and walk after their own lusts; for being enslaved to pride, envy, the love of sensual pleasure, and other passions, and neglecting to crucify the desires of the flesh in their hearts, they were strangers to sincere humility, meekness, and interior peace. The apostle exhorts the faithful to treat those who were fallen with tender compassion, making a difference between downright malice and weakness, and endeavouring by holy fear to save them, by plucking them as brands out of the fire of vice and heresy, and hating the very garment that is spotted with iniquity. He puts us in mind to have always before our eyes the great obligation we lie under of incessantly building up our spiritual edifice of charity, by praying in the Holy Ghost, growing in the love of God, and imploring his mercy through Christ. From Mesopotamia St. Jude travelled into Persia, as Fortunatus and several Martyrologies tell us. Those who say, that he died in peace at Berytus, in Phenicia, confound him with Thaddaaus, one of the seventy-two disciples, and the apostle of Edessa, of whom the Menasa gives that account.( Fortunatus and the western Martyrologists tell us, that the apostle St. Jude suffered martyrdom in Persia; the Menology of the emperor Basil, and some other Greeks say at Arat or Ararat, in Armenia, which at that time was subject to the Parthian empire, and conseqently esteemed part of Persia. Many Greeks say he was shot to death with arrows: some add whilst he was tied on a cross. The Armenians at this day challenge him and St. Bartholomew for the first planters of the faith among them.

We owe to God a homage of eternal praise and thanks for the infinite mercy by which he has established a Church on earth, and a Church so richly furnished with every powerful means of sanctity and grace ; a Church in which his name is always glorified, and many souls, both by the purity of their love and virtue, and by their holy functions, are associated to the company of the blessed angels. It ought also to be our first and constant petition in our most earnest addresses to God, as we learn from our Lord's prayer, and as the first dictates of divine charity and religion teach us, that for the glory of his holy name he vouchsafe to protect and preserve his Church, according to his divine word ; to extend its pale, to sanctify its members, and to fill its pastors with the same spirit with which he so wonderfully enriched his apostles, whom he was pleased to choose for the foundation of this sacred edifice. If we desire to inherit a share of those abundant and precious graces which God pours forth upon those souls which he disposes to receive them, we must remember that he never imparts them but to those who sincerely study to die to themselves, and to extirpate all inordinate attachments and affections out of their hearts; so long as any of these reign in a soul, she is one of that world to which God cannot manifest himself, or communicate the sweet relish of his love. This is the mystery which Christ unfolded to St. Jude. The world hath not known him. Few even among those who know God by faith, attain to the experimental knowledge of God, and the relish of his love, because few, very few, disentangle their affection from creatures. So long as their hearts remain secretly wedded to the world, they fall in some degree under its curse. And how few study perfectly to extinguish its spirit in their hearts!

- The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints, Volume 10
By Alban Butler

Prayer to St. Jude
TO BE SAID IN CASES DESPAIRED OF

St. Jude, glorious Apostle, faithful servant and friend of Jesus, the name of the traitor has caused thee to be forgotten by many, but the True Church invokes thee universally as the Patron of things despaired of;  pray for me that finally I may receive the consolations and the succor of Heaven in all my necessities, tribulations and
sufferings, particularly [make your request], and that I may bless God with the Elect throughout eternity. Amen.

King of kings and Lord of lords: The Reign of Christ the King!

"His empire includes not only Catholic nations, not only baptized persons who, though of right belonging to the Church, have been led astray by error, or have been cut off from her by schism, but also all those who are outside the Christian faith; so that truly the whole of mankind is subject to the power of Jesus Christ."

- Pope Leo XIII

Christus vincit, Christus regnat, Christus imperat!

It has long been a common custom to give to Christ the metaphorical title of "King," because of the high degree of perfection whereby he excels all creatures. So he is said to reign "in the hearts of men," both by reason of the keenness of his intellect and the extent of his knowledge, and also because he is very truth, and it is from him that truth must be obediently received by all mankind. He reigns, too, in the wills of men, for in him the human will was perfectly and entirely obedient to the Holy Will of God, and further by his grace and inspiration he so subjects our free-will as to incite us to the most noble endeavors. He is King of hearts, too, by reason of his "charity which exceedeth all knowledge." And his mercy and kindness which draw all men to him, for never has it been known, nor will it ever be, that man be loved so much and so universally as Jesus Christ. But if we ponder this matter more deeply, we cannot but see that the title and the power of King belongs to Christ as man in the strict and proper sense too (Eph. iii, 9). For it is only as man that he may be said to have received from the Father "power and glory and a kingdom," (Dan. vii, 13-14) since the Word of God, as con-substantial with the Father, has all things in common with him, and therefore has necessarily supreme and absolute dominion over all things created.

The foundation of this power and dignity of Our Lord is rightly indicated by Cyril of Alexandria. "Christ," he says, "has dominion over all creatures, a dominion not seized by violence nor usurped, but his by essence and by nature." His kingship is founded upon the ineffable hypostatic union. From this it follows not only that Christ is to be adored by angels and men, but that to him as man angels and men are subject, and must recognize his empire; by reason of the hypostatic union Christ has power over all creatures. But a thought that must give us even greater joy and consolation is this that Christ is our King by acquired, as well as by natural right, for he is our Redeemer. Would that they who forget what they have cost their Savior might recall the words: "You were not redeemed with corruptible things, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled" (I Pet. i, 18-19). We are no longer our own property, for Christ has purchased us "with a great price" (1 Cor. vi, 20); our very bodies are the "members of Christ" (I Cor. vi, 15).

 - Excerpted from QUAS PRIMAS (7 and 13)
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PIUS XI
ON THE FEAST OF CHRIST THE KING

Act of Dedication of the Human Race to Jesus Christ the King

Pope Leo XIII

Most sweet Jesus, Redeemer of the human race, look down upon us humbly prostrate before Thy altar. We are Thine, and Thine we wish to be; but to be more surely united with Thee, behold each one of us freely consecrates himself today to Thy most Sacred Heart. Many indeed have never known Thee; many too, despising Thy precepts, have rejected Thee. Have mercy on them all, most merciful Jesus, and draw them to Thy Sacred Heart. Be Thou King, O Lord, not only of the faithful who have never forsaken Thee, but also of the prodigal children who have abandoned Thee; grant that they may quickly return to their Father's house lest they die of wretchedness and hunger. Be Thou King of those who are deceived by erroneous opinions, or whom discord keeps aloof, and call them back to the harbor of truth and unity of faith, so that soon there may be but one flock and one Shepherd. Be Thou King of all those who are still involved in the darkness of idolatry or of Islamism, and refuse not to to draw them all into the light and kingdom of God. Turn Thine eyes of mercy towards the children of that race, once Thy chosen people: of old they called down upon themselves the Blood of the Savior; may It now descend upon them, a laver of redemption and of life. Grant, O Lord, to Thy Church assurance of freedom and immunity from harm; give peace and order to all nations, and make the earth resound from pole to pole with one cry: "Praise be to the Divine Heart that wrought our salvation; to It be glory and honor for ever." Amen.

Raphael: "God has healed"

"The approach of the great solemnity, which will soon be shedding upon us all the splendours of heaven, seems to inspire the Church with a profound recollection. Except for the homage she must needs pay, on their own date, to the glorious Apostles Simon and Jude, only a few Feasts of simple rite break the silence of these last days of October. Our souls must be in conformity with the dispositions of our common Mother. It will not, however, be out of keeping to give a thought to the great Archangel, honoured to-day by many particular churches.

The ministry fulfilled in our regard by the heavenly spirits is admirably set forth in the graceful scenes depicted in the history of Tobias. Rehearsing the good services of the guide and friend, whom he still called his brother Azarias, the younger Tobias said to his father: 'Father, what wages shall we give him? or what can be worthy of his benefits? He conducted me and brought me safe again, he received the money of Gabelm, he caused me to have my wife, and he chased from her the evil spirit, he gave joy to her parents, myself he delivered from being devoured by the fish, thee also he hath made to see the light of heaven, and we are filled with all good things through him.' (Tob. xii. 2-3)

And when father and son endeavoured, after the fashion of men, to return thanks to him who had rendered them such good service, the Angel discovered himself to them, in order to refer their gratitude to their supreme Benefactor. 'Bless ye the God of heaven, give glory to him in the sight of all that live, because he hath shewn his mercy to you When thou didst pray with tears, and didst bury the dead. .... I offered thy prayer to the Lord. And because thou wast acceptable to God, it was necessary that temptation should prove thee. And now the Lord hath sent me to heal thee, and to deliver Sara thy son's wife from the devil. For I am the Angel Raphael, one of the seven, who stand before the Lord— Peace be to you, fear not;... bless ye him and sing praises to him.' (Tob. xii. 6-18)

We too will celebrate the blessings of heaven. For as surely as Tobias beheld with his bodily eyes the Archangel Raphael, we know by faith that the Angel of the Lord accompanies us from the cradle to the tomb. Let us have the same trustful confidence in him. Then, along the path of life, more beset with perils than the road to the country of the Medes, we shall be in perfect safety; all that happens to us will be for the best, because prepared by our Lord; and, as though we were already in heaven, our Angel will cause us to shed blessings upon all around us.

We will borrow from the Ambrosian Breviary a hymn in honour of the bright Archangel.

HYMN.

O Raphael, divinely sent guide, graciously receive the hymn we suppliants address to thee with joyful voice.
Make straight for us the way of salvation, and forward our steps : lest at any time we wander astray, and turn from the path to heaven.
Look down upon us from on high ; reflect to our souls the splendour shining from above, from the holy Father of lights.
Give perfect health to the sick, dispel the darkness of the blind: and while driving away diseases of the body, give spiritual strength to our souls.
Thou who standest before the Sovereign Judge, plead for the pardon of our crimes : and as a trusty advocate appease the avenging wrath of the Most High.
Renewer of the great battle, crush our proud enemy : against the rebel spirits give us strength, and increase our grace.
To God the Father be glory, and to his only Son, together with the Paraclete Spirit, now and for evermore. Amen."

The Liturgical Year, Volume 14 by Dom Prosper Guéranger

PRAYER TO ST. RAPHAEL, ARCHANGEL.

Glorious archangel St. Raphael, great prince of the heavenly court, illustrious by thy gifts of wisdom and grace, guide of travelers by land and sea, consoler of the unfortunate, and refuge of sinners, I entreat thee to help me in all my needs and in all the trials of this life, as thou didst once assist the young Tobias in his journeying. And since thou art the "physician of God," I humbly pray thee to heal my soul of its many infirmities and my body of the ills that afflict it, if this favor is for my greater good. I ask, especially, for angelic purity, that I may be made fit to be the living temple of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Indulgence of 100 days.—Leo XIII., June 21, 1890.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Have Mercy on Us!

"[T]he Heart of the Incarnate Word is deservedly and rightly considered the chief sign and symbol of that threefold love with which the divine Redeemer unceasingly loves His eternal Father and all mankind.

It is a symbol of that divine love which He shares with the Father and the Holy Spirit but which He, the Word made flesh, alone manifests through a weak and perishable body, since 'in Him dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily.'

It is, besides, the symbol of that burning love which, infused into His soul, enriches the human will of Christ and enlightens and governs its acts by the most perfect knowledge derived both from the beatific vision and that which is directly infused.

And finally—and this in a more natural and direct way—it is the symbol also of sensible love, since the body of Jesus Christ, formed by the Holy Spirit, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, possesses full powers of feelings and perception, in fact, more so than any other human body.

Since, therefore, Sacred Scripture and the official teaching of the Catholic faith instruct us that all things find their complete harmony and order in the most holy soul of Jesus Christ, and that He has manifestly directed His threefold love for the securing of our redemption, it unquestionably follows that we can contemplate and honor the Heart of the divine Redeemer as a symbolic image of His love and a witness of our redemption and, at the same time, as a sort of mystical ladder by which we mount to the embrace of 'God our Savior.'"

- HAURIETIS AQUAS (On Devotion To The Sacred Heart) Pope Pius XII, May 15, 1956

ACT OF ADORATION TO THE SACRED HEART 
by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

With all the power of my heart, I now adore Thy sovereignty, O most Sacred, Divine and Adorable Heart of Jesus, whom I wish to fear and respect with continuous attention never more to offend Thee because Thou art infinitely good. O most Sacred Heart, I love Thee and wish to love Thee above all things with all my strength and power. I detest every mortal sin and all voluntary venial sins; I hope that as we belong to Thee, who hast given birth to us on the Cross with so much pain, Thou wilt have pity on our weakness and misery and not allow us to perish.

I offer myself entirely to Thee, O Heart of love, with the intention that my whole being, my life and my sufferings may be employed in loving, honoring and glorifying Thee in time and in eternity. I love Thee, O most amiable Heart, as my sovereign good, my entire happiness and all my joy, as the sole object worthy of the love of all hearts. May my heart be reduced to cinders by the ardor and vehemence of this love, by which I renew with my whole soul all the offerings which I have made to Thee of myself. Keep me from displeasing Thee and grant me to do what is most pleasing to Thee. O Heart, Source of pure love, would that I might be all heart to Thee and all soul to adore Thee! Grant that by Thy holy grace, I may be able to love only Thee, to love in Thee and by Thee and for Thee. May my memory think only of Thee, may I have no other understanding but to know Thee, no other will or affection but to love Thee, no tongue but to praise Thee, no eye but to see Thee, no hands but to serve Thee, no feet but to seek Thee, in order that I may be able one day to love Thee without fear of losing Thee for all eternity. Amen.