Legion of Mary Philadelphia Senatus

Our Lady of the Rosary: Fourth Sorrowful Mystery: The Carrying of the Cross –
(The fourth in a series of meditations on the  Mysteries of the Rosary by Rev. Addisalem T. Mekonnen, Spiritual Director of the Philadelphia Senatus)

Why do Bad Things Happen to Good People?

This is a cliché question that gets tossed around in books, T.V. shows and movies. Those bad things could be defined in a thousand different situations in a person’s life and yet it could be summarized simply as suffering. The living Word of God reveals to all people  that the underlying source of all suffering, and even death itself, is sin, which effects all of humanity, whether they acknowledge it or not. Sin is an unpopular word and concept that is not readily accepted or discussed much in our modern society—even for Christians. Sin is the disobedience of God’s commandments and that disobedience is essentially our rejection of God’s infinite and unconditional love for us. Even though this is not politically correct, or nice to say—the truth is that even good people sin. God alone is perfectly good, so everyone is a sinner in comparison to the holiness found in Jesus Christ. Our Blessed Mother, as the Immaculate Conception, is sinless, yet even our Lady acknowledged God as her Savior in the Magnificat Canticle. Some sufferings occur not because of personal sin, as in the case of Our Lady, but rather because that person is having a share in the Passion of Christ in reparation for someone else’s attachment to sin.

Our good Lord,who patiently and faithfully carried His cross to Calvary in the past, desires to carry it again in the present through His faithful disciples. Our Lord ardently loved His cross even thought it was a source of intense suffering that His Body was barely able to carry, since Simon had to help Him carry it. The famous motto of “Boys Town” in an orphanage for boys founded by Fr. Edward Flanagan  states “he ain’t heavy father… he is my brother”. Similarly, our Lord does not see His carrying the cross as some ambiguous random suffering accomplished out of some servile duty for His Heavenly Father and humanity. The infinite love that our Lord has for His Heavenly Father and every sinner, in every age, is a love that is as personal as our name—embracing us perfectly and completely. That is the reason why our Blessed Lord never complains about us as an unbearable cross before His Heavenly Father, but instead expresses His willing desire to carry us patiently and faithfully to Calvary in reparation for each sinner in every age throughout the world.  Therefore, through the intercession of our Lady, may our Blessed Lord help us to see with eyes of faith that our cross is not a bad thing but a visible sign of His personal powerful love living within us.

(The third in a series of meditations on the  Mysteries of the Rosary by Rev. Addisalem T. Mekonnen, Spiritual Director of the Philadelphia Senatus)

How does the worldly minded show their contempt for our Blessed Lord ?

We hear in the news a lot about how bullying seriously harms children and most especially teenagers. The definition of bullying is when an individual or a group of people with more power, repeatedly and intentionally cause hurt or harm to another person or group of people who feel helpless to respond. Those who are victims of bullying don’t usually report it because of fear of retaliation, or worse,they fear they will be ridiculed by someone who is in authority and not taken seriously. It seems that bullying happens for various reasons. Many teens in high school would ridicule others for not wearing some name brand fashionable shoes and clothing. This type of bullying would most likely end after that person conformed to their thought process regarding the vanities of the world. The worldly minded seeks out the weak in order to attack them because they believe this somehow makes them appear strong and superior to others. Therefore, bullies are insecure about their self worth, talents and ability to relate others who don’t share their worldly minded perspectives about their purposes in life. Bullies feed on the fears of others and experience a twisted joy when they are able to make someone who they believe to be weak suffer. Those who are bullied could be tempted to commit suicide or become a bully themselves by seeking revenge through deadly violence.

Bullying doesn’t disappear when someone becomes an adult so it is simply is expressed within the context of other organizations. It is not always the case, but it is possible for someone who identifies themselves strictly as a Liberal or Conservative Catholic could become a bully. Both terms and concepts of Liberalism and Conservatism are political terms that don’t apply to Theology. Judaism also had their own different organizations that Jews would identify themselves as such are the Pharisees, Scribes, Sadducees, Essenes, and Zealots. Prior to his conversion and because of his self-righteousness, St. Paul was a Pharisaical bully of sorts.But after he encountered Christ, he became a faithful disciple and apostle of Christ.  After his conversion, he learned that it was through his weakness, that Christ could act most profoundly through him. St. Paul very soon found out what it felt like to be persecuted by foreigners and also by various Jewish sects including the Pharisees but yet he was able to preach the Gospel.

Even our Blessed Lord was bullied by Roman soldiers when they crowned Him with thorns, struck His face, spitted upon Him, and mocked Him as King of fools because they thought He was unable to resist their attacks. Our Blessed Lord was fully able to resist their attacks physically, but chose to resist their attacks by His patient peaceful disposition. These Roman soldiers who appear to be strong on the outside were in reality intensely weak because they couldn’t overcome suffering, temptations, the devil and the spirit of the world. If our Lord wanted to, He could have called His Legion of angels to fight for Him, but He wouldn’t because He is not a dictator but a Savior. Our Lord overcame evil with good and darkness with light, so that even bullies can realize that they too are loved by Him and it is His hope that they repent before the day of judgment.

(This is the second in a series of meditations on the Mysteries of the Rosary by Reverend Addisalem Mekonnen, Spiritual Director of the Philadelphia Senatus)

Our Lady of the Rosary: The Second Sorrowful Mystery:  Jesus was scourged at the Pillar

            How can we enter into this mystery not only spiritually, but also physically?

Canon 1250: “All Fridays through the year and the time of Lent are penitential days and times throughout the entire Church. Canon 1251: “Abstinence from eating meat or another food according to the prescriptions of the conference of bishops is to be observed on Fridays throughout the year unless (nisi) they are solemnities; abstinence and fast are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and on the Friday of the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Many people normally hit the gym and go on some type of diet in order to look good at the shore or for a wedding or some other public celebration. Living in a consumerist society, we see many companies that want to present their products as the easiest possible way to achieve impressive results in a short of amount of time. Other companies help people become physically fit by promoting some type of equipment that can be utilized at home. Some companies try to draw people to work out in their gym, with or without a personal trainer.  It is praiseworthy to take care of our physical health because it is not only the soul, but the body that is consecrated to God in the Sacraments of Initiation. This is the reason why it is a serious sin to harm our body through illegal drugs or euthanasia. If we purify our intentions from vanity into opportunities to serve God by making a prayer of self-offering before we exercise, it then becomes a form of penance that points back to our Lord who was scourged at the pillar.

That form of penance would be a good start, but if you are unable to this, there is no need to be disappointed because it is the practice of fasting that is the most powerful way to practice penance. Our Blessed Lord practiced fasting in the desert and so through the Church He continues to call all of His disciples to fast as well. Fasting gives us an opportunity to mortify our senses which means it is a practical way to become detached from an inordinate love of pleasure for creatures and creation. Prayer coupled with fasting then gives an opportunity to have an intimate union with Jesus in an un-bloody manner in the second sorrowful mystery.  If we are unable to fast for some good reason, then abstinence is another excellent practice of penance on Fridays. Fasting and abstinence are a means to an end of loving of God and neighbor, so if we do these penances out of spiritual pride it is no longer pleasing to God. Therefore, we should turn to our Lady to help us receive the grace to have purity of intention as we meditate on our Lord’s Scourging at the Pillar. If you want an in depth understanding of how and why we should fast, then I highly recommend reading “The Spirituality of Fasting: Rediscovering a Christian Practice” by Charles M. Murphy.

Weekly Internet TV  Program:

The Legion of Mary Wilmington Curia in Delaware State hosts a

Weekly Divine Mercy Holy Hour.

 Join us by watching our Legion of Mary Wilmington Curia YouTube Channel (link below)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn7uDEUrHNg4xPmdf8lBW2Q

Then click on the “LIVE image for the week” every Friday afternoon at 3 pm Eastern time 

(This is the first in a series of meditations on the Mysteries of the Rosary by Reverend Addisalem Mekonnen, Spiritual Director of the Philadelphia Senatus)

Our Lady of the Rosary: The First Sorrowful Mystery:  Jesus’ Agony in the Garden                                    

                What can we do when we feel tempted to leave the Church which is our home?

It is unfortunate that the whole Church is suffering so much evil because some of her sheep have been seriously wounded and victimized by unfaithful shepherds. This has caused many of both the laity and the faithful clergy righteous anger for those unfaithful shepherds who failed miserably to protect our Lord’s sheep. The news media has been the medium that has not caused the sufferings, but reported the findings of those investigations. I apologize for the evil my brother shepherds have caused to our Lord’s sheep. This has caused many Catholics to feel many intense emotions most especially that of rejection, anger, sadness and isolation in the world because our faith has sought the presence of Jesus in all of the shepherds of the Church. We are tempted then to fall into one or another extreme of either categorizing all shepherds as unfaithful or faithful.

This then should motivate us to seriously seek Jesus the Good Shepherd with eyes of faith from within our own soul after we receive Him through Holy Communion and by praying the Sacred Scriptures through the holy Rosary. We are called as mature disciples with the help of our Blessed Mother to seek Christ with a living faith from within our own soul because just as we hear what was written in the letter to the Hebrews namely, that Jesus Christ is the author and perfecter of our faith (Heb 12:3).

Just imagine how our Lord felt when He Himself was betrayed by His chosen disciple and apostle Judas Iscariot. Our Lord felt rejected and alone as He prayed in the garden taking upon Himself the sins of every single person in the world throughout human history. Our Lord’s three closest apostles were sleeping as He prayed not only for them not to lose their faith, but also for the faithfulness of the future shepherds and people of God. These eleven holy apostles were completely unaware of the evil that Judas intended to do even at our Lord’s institution of the Holy Eucharist despite the fact our Lord prophesized this intentional betrayal multiple times. Our Lord understands and can easily relate to feeling betrayed since He experienced this for Himself, so He can help experience the healing we are looking for from within our own heart. Our Lord could see not only Judas but future shepherds that would betray His trust and reject His infinite love.

We must never fall into a sorrow that leads to despair because this is self-destructive, but one that leads to hope for healing which is support for the whole Church as the living Body of Christ. This healing is possible because our Lord has the power to accomplish it and is more than willing to apply this healing to those who reveal their sufferings to Him in the Rosary. Our Lord turned to His Heavenly Father in His agony and our Lady turned to her Son in her agony, so may we turn to Jesus living in Mary to help us feel a consolation that can come from within our own soul.