All posts by Fr. Higgins

Father Charles Jeremiah Higgins has been the parish priest at Mary Immaculate of Lourdes since 2007. Please also see his more recent pastoral notes published at maryimmaculateoflourdes.org.

History, Pastor's Note, Photo Gallery

Silver Jubilee of Ordination: An Occasion of Grateful Thanks

June 30, 2013 Fr. Higgins Leave a comment

Father Charles Jeremiah Higgins, June 25, 1988 — The Madonna by the artist Sassoferrato was the front of the prayer card for my priestly ordination. The back of the card, together with the photograph taken for the Boston Pilot, appear above. The words TOTUS TUUS (“Totally Yours”) are the motto from St. Louis de Montfort’s total consecration to Mary. —Fr. Higgins

Ten years ago or so one of my former professors at the Seminary told an amusing story about himself with regard to the preparations for his 50th Anniversary celebration. He was putting together a program and he brought the draft to the printer. In it were two pictures: one of him at ordination and one as he was at 50 years ordained. The woman at the counter pointed to the picture of the young priest and asked, “And who’s that?”. “Uh, that’s me,” the priest replied. After an awkward pause, the woman at the counter recovered cheerily: “It happens to us all!”

This past Tuesday, June 25th, I marked the happy occasion of my 25th Anniversary of priestly ordination. This Sunday, at all the parish Masses, I am adding this thanksgiving intention, and asking you for the support of your prayers: for my perseverance and the perseverance of all priests, that we may be faithful, generous priests to the end of our days.

On Ordination Day, 25 years into the future seemed a long time out. Looking back from now to then, it feels so quick, as do all of our markers in life. “Time, how short; Eternity, how long…”

As the ordination Class of 1988, we celebrated the day of our Silver Jubilee together at St. Joseph’s Retreat House in Milton, with a concelebrated evening Mass just for us in the Lady Chapel and then a time of fellowship with dinner in the retreat house. Our class preacher at this Mass was Fr. Steve Madden, pastor of St. Mary’s in Foxboro. I think he spoke for all of us when he stressed the spirit of gratitude felt on this occasion, as we look back on the last quarter century of our lives as ordained priests, and look forward in hope to the future.

(Fr. Higgins)

Pastor’s Note from the Mary Immaculate of Lourdes Bulletin for June 30, 2013

Pastor's Note

“Missiles in October”

October 21, 2012 Fr. Higgins

(Image: Painting of the Great Procession into St. Peter’s for the opening of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, October 11th, A.D. 1962. Artist, Franklin McMahon. This article is the Pastor’s Note from the Mary Immaculate of Lourdes Parish Bulletin for October 21, 2012)

On the night of October 11th, 1962, capping the opening day of Vatican Council II, two hundred thousand people filled St. Peter’s Square. Youths from Catholic Action, carrying lighted torches, formed a giant cross of light around the central obelisk (photo:below). The large, enthusiastic crowd was chanting and singing. Finally, Pope John XIII appeared at his window. “Dear children, dear children,” he called down to them, “I hear your voices.” There followed a conversation between the Pope and the crowds below. “Now go back home,” he concluded, “And give your little children a kiss—tell them it is from Pope John.”

Youths from Catholic Action, carrying lighted torches, form a giant cross of light around the central obelisk in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City on Oct. 11, 1962, the opening day of the historic Second Vatican Council. — Youths from Catholic Action, carrying lighted torches, form a giant cross of light around the central obelisk in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City on Oct. 11, 1962, the opening day of the historic Second Vatican Council.

The following day, October 12th, Pope John XXIII had an audience with the diplomats of 79 nations who had come to Rome for the opening of the Council. In his welcome he expressed his hope that this Church Council would contribute towards world peace, “peace based on growing respect for the human person and so leading to freedom of religion and worship.”

The happiness and the expectation of the Vatican Council’s opening days were quickly overshadowed, however, by the event of the Cuban Missile Crisis. On October 15th, US reconnaissance photos confirmed that the Soviets had placed nuclear missiles in Cuba in close range of the United States. On October 20th, President John F. Kennedy imposed a naval blockade on Cuba. For the next eight days the catastrophe of nuclear war threatened.

Behind the scenes diplomatic efforts were underway to avert war, and in those efforts Pope John XIII played a crucial part as a discreet intermediary. After the Crisis was past the Soviet leader Krushchev himself acknowledged the Pope’s role: “What the Pope has done for peace will go down in history.”

On October 23rd, President Kennedy called Norman Cousins, author of a book which argued that the only “third-force” in a two-power stand-off was the Papacy, and said he wanted to make contact with the Vatican. Cousins then spoke with a Belgian Dominican priest Fr. Félix Morlion, O.P., who had contacts in the Vatican and who was also at that moment in Andover, Massachusetts, engaged in a dialogue with a delegation of visiting Soviet scientists. The scientists were anxiously trying to get home but Norman Cousins persuaded them to talk with Fr. Morlion, who had already received the go-ahead from the Vatican that Pope John would be willing to help in any way he could.

PHOTO: Jack Schlossberg, grandson of President Kennedy, receives a Russian coin from Sergei Krushchev, son of Nikita Krushchev, Kennedy Library, Boston, October 14th, 2012.

As a former Papal nuncio, Pope John understood what was expected of him. His help took the form of two signals to Krushchev—one through his weekly audience on October 24th, the other a message to the Soviet embassy in Rome, broadcast on Vatican Radio that afternoon, which would give the Soviet dictator the face-saving cover he needed to retreat, as a lover of peace. On Friday morning, October 26th, the official Soviet newspaper Pravda put Pope John’s message on its front page under the banner head-line: ‘WE BEG ALL RULERS NOT TO BE DEAF TO THE CRY OF ALL HUMANITY’.

On Sunday, October 28th, Pope John said the votive Mass for Peace in his private chapel. After the Mass he was brought a message which had just arrived from President Kennedy, thanking the Pope for his help. Krushchev had agreed to withdraw the missiles and the Soviet ships headed to Cuba were already turned back. Not only was the immediate crisis resolved but Krushchev wanted further contacts to discuss disarmament and détente. (John XIII: Pope of the Century, by Peter Hebblethwaite, revised edition, A.D. 2000.)

The newspapers in Rome that Sunday morning had been published before this latest news and were filled with alarm. At his noon Angelus Pope John XXIII was able to bring the anxious crowd gathered good news as well as hope. It was the Feast of Christ the King and the 4th Anniversary of his election as Pope.

There have been four years of prayer and service, of meetings and conversations, of joy but also some suffering: but everyday has been lived with a readiness to do the divine will, and in the confidence that all things work together for the edification of all. On today’s feast of Christ the King, I feel deeply moved and my spirit is led to serenity and calm. The word of the Gospel has not changed; but it rings out to the ends of the earth and finds its way into human hearts. Dangers and sufferings, human prudence and wisdom—all these should issue into a canticle of love, and a renewed plea, addressed to all men, to seek and restore the Kingdom of Christ.

(Fr. Higgins)

Calendar of Saints, Pastor's Note

Preaching the Word out of Season

October 14, 2012 Fr. Higgins Leave a comment

In his Second Epistle to Timothy, Chapter 4, St. Paul the Apostle gives this command to his younger disciple: “Preach the word: be instant in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke, in all patience and doctrine.”

In A.D. 1209 St. Francis of Assisi (Feast-day, October 4th) began to preach the Christian Gospel to people of his home region of Umbria with such energy and freshness that it ignited a popular religious renewal to the rest of Europe and beyond. Francis, three years before, had dramatically renounced all his inheritance rights as the only son of a rich merchant in the presence of the Bishop of Assisi, going so far as to surrender even his clothes back to his father. Shortly after, he went to live among the lepers, who had been cast out into the forest for their frightful disease.

Coming out of his obscurity, Francis preached repentance from sin and peace and reconciliation among his neighbors. He preached with great power, however, and was not cowed by any human respect. As one of his early biographers, St. Bonaventure, describes it:

And because he had first impressed upon his own mind by his works what he endeavored to impress upon others by his words, fearing reproof from no man, he preached the truth with great confidence. He was not accustomed to handle the sins of man delicately, but pierced them with the sword of the Spirit, nor did he spare their sinful lives, but rebuked them sharply and boldly. He spoke to great and small with equal constancy of mind, and with a like joyfulness of spirit, whether to many or to few; people of every age and sex came forth to see this man, newly given to the world by God, to look upon him and listen to his words.

St. Francis of Assisi’s unction was of a high degree which no preacher should presume to imitate as a style. Nonetheless, it is much to be wondered at, with all of the market-style strategizing on how to “get people back to Church”, is there any thought given to the solemn charge: “be instant in season, out of season…”

(Fr. Higgins)

Pastor’s Note from the Mary Immaculate of Lourdes Bulletin for October 14, 2012

Pastor's Note

Sister Maria Cecilia, M.I.C.M.

September 2, 2012 Fr. Higgins

(Pastor’s Note from the Mary Immaculate of Lourdes Parish Bulletin for September 2, 2012)

This past January one of our parishioners Erika da Silva entered the convent of the Sisters of the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (M.I.C.M.) in Still River, Massachusetts, as a postulant. On August 22nd, the octave day of the Feast of Our Lady’s Assumption and the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary according to the pre-1970 Calendar, Erika took the next step forward and received the white veil of a novice Sister. She also gave up her name ‘in the world’, Erika, for a new name ‘in religion’, Sister Maria Cecilia. Several members of our Ladies’ Sodality were present for Sr. Maria Cecilia’s novitiate
reception and I have included some of the photos in this week’s bulletin.

The evident joy on Sr. Maria Cecilia’s face bespeaks the hidden treasures of the interior life of grace, which the unbelieving world dismisses out of hand as not objectively real without ever considering the evidence for it in a fair way.

After St. Teresa of Avila entered the Carmelite Monastery of the Incarnation on All Souls Day (November 2nd), 1535, she experienced great joy and peace at her decision. As she wrote of it many years later:

At the same time as I put on the holy habit, God showed me His preference for those who constrain themselves in His service. I also felt so happy in my new position that this blessed feeling still continues. Nothing could rob me of this delight. God changed the dryness that could bring me to doubt into love for Him.

All the monastic practices were congenial to me. I often had to mop the floor in hours during which formerly I had dressed or amused myself. Just the thought of being free of all these silly things gave me renewed joy. I did not understand the source of so much joy.

At my home parish of St. Joseph’s Church in Needham, I remember as a boy that there was a vocation flier from the Carmelite Sisters on one of the bulletin boards at the entrance stairs to the church. It was a black and white photocopy without any particularly professional design, but the words were compelling in their paradox:
POVERTY our greatest wealth,
CHASTITY our greatest love,
OBEDIENCE our greatest freedom.
Poverty, Chastity and Obedience are the three Evangelical Counsels of Perfection which Religious Community men and women take as vows.

Let us as a parish lend the support of our prayers to Sister Maria Cecilia as she continues to test her vocation. And let us also be mindful of the need to pray for those who feel in their hearts that they too might be called to serve the Lord in a priestly or religious vocation, but who are still trying to find their way.

(Fr. Higgins)

Catechetical Corner, Pastor's Note

Theological Censure

August 26, 2012 Fr. Higgins

(Pastor’s Note from the Mary Immaculate of Lourdes Parish Bulletin for August 26, 2012)

In last Sunday’s bulletin note I presented the Catholic Church’s approach to dogma, which is to carefully make distinctions among different grades of theological certainty. Some things are to be believed with the certainty of faith, de fide, whereas other things are less theologically certain but are still part of Catholicism.

Another way to appreciate these distinctions is to contrast them with the theological censures, that is, the judgment that certain things are contrary to Catholic Faith and Morals or at least doubtful. Here follows a list of the theological censures:

Heretical Proposition: false teaching, a proposition that is opposed to a formal dogma, e.g. God is not a Trinity of Persons is a heretical proposition.
Proximate to Heresy: a proposition which goes against a truth which is proximate to the Catholic Faith, e.g. the belief that Jesus Christ did not actually sin, but also could not sin is a truth proximate to the Catholic Faith: to deny or question it would be a proposition “Proximate to Heresy”.
Savoring or Suspect of Heresy.
Erroneous Proposition: a proposition which contradicts a teaching proposed by the Church as intrinsically connected with Revealed Truth or opposed to the common teaching of theologians, e.g., a denial that Original Sin consists in the deprivation of grace caused by the free act of sin committed by the head of the human race is an erroneous proposition.
False Proposition: contradiction of a dogmatic fact, e.g., that St. Peter established his episcopate in Rome is a dogmatic fact.
Temerarious Proposition: deviation without reason from the general teaching of the Church.
Offensive to Pious Ears: a proposition made which is offensive to religious feeling, even if not, strictly speaking, untrue.
Proposition Badly Expressed (male sonans): a proposition subject to misunderstanding by reason of its method of expression.
Captious Proposition: reprehensible because of its intentional ambiguity.
Proposition Exciting Scandal.

(Source: Fundamentals of Catholicism, Dr. Ludwig Ott, Introduction, “Theological Grades of Certainty”, 4th edition, A.D. 1960)

In the life of the Church over the last few decades the faithful have been subjected to many things from individuals who can claim to have an official status within the Church, as priests, consecrated religious, professional pastoral ministers or theologians. They declare things which are quite deserving of one or more of the Theological Censures on this list. I know that I have heard and read things, particularly touching upon the humanity of Jesus and Mary, which should fall under the censures—at least—of “Offensive to Pious Ears”, “Badly Expressed”, “Captious” and “Exciting Scandal”.

It is no longer the practice for Church authority to publicly and formally impose censures, except in the most egregious cases. Pope John XIII set the tone for our times in the early 1960s when he said that the Church of today should prefer to use “the medicine of mercy” in place of her historical recourse to condemnations, the anathemas.

For our own protection, however, we need to allow our “sense of faith” to register both reserve and disapproval when we hear things asserted by an official or professional Catholic which strike us as unsound and not the “Faith of our Fathers”. The spirit of our age is particularly marked by flippancy, irreverence, and a reflexively oppositional attitude towards traditional morality. It is not surprising that we should find these things within the Household of Faith. Nevertheless, we have to push back against them for the sake of the integrity of our own faith-life.

(Fr. Higgins)

Pastor's Note

Theological Certainty

August 19, 2012 Fr. Higgins

(Pastor’s Note from the Mary Immaculate of Lourdes Parish Bulletin for August 19, 2012)

On Wednesday of this past week, August 15th, we celebrated the feast-day of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven, body and soul. Although belief in the Assumption of Mary had long been held in the Church, it was not until relatively recently that a Pope solemnly defined it with the certainty of faith. This Solemn Definition took place on November 1st, 1950, in Rome when Pope Pius XII publicly proclaimed: “After frequently praying to God and invoking the light of the Spirit of truth, to the glory of Almighty God who enriched the Virgin Mary with special favor to the honor of her Son, the immortal
King of ages and victor over death and sin, to the increase of the glory of His august Mother, to the joy and exultation of the whole Church, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ and of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul and by Our own authority, We declare and define as a revealed dogma that the Immaculate Mary ever-Virgin, Mother of God, when she had finished the course of her earthly life, was taken up body and soul into the glory of heaven.”

The question may arise: well, if the Assumption of Mary was already believed in and observed as a liturgical feast-day, what exactly did the Solemn Definition of 1950 change? The answer is: what changed was the theological grade of certainty. The Assumption of Mary went from being a probable opinion, which it would have been “impious and blasphemous to deny” (Pope Benedict XIV), to a defined dogma of the Catholic Faith.

The Solemn Definition of the Assumption of Mary was an instance of the Infallible Teaching Office of the Church, the “Magisterium”, exercising its authority to vouch for the fact that a Truth is contained in God’s Divine Revelation. When we give our free assent to it we reinforce our act of faith in the Catholic Church as a divine institution.

Not all the Catholic Truths are proposed for our belief with the same degree of theological certainty. The highest degree or grade of theological certainty is accorded to those Truths which are “of FAITH”—de fide. If its certainty is based on God’s Revelation it is “divine faith”: if its certainty is based on the Magisterium’s teaching that the Truth is part of Revelation it is “Catholic faith”. Hence, the expression “of divine and Catholic faith”. Moreover if the Truth is defined by a solemn judgment of the Pope or of a General Council it is said to be of “defined faith”. The Assumption of Mary into Heaven is just such a Truth. We believe in it de fide.

Other grades of theological certainty include doctrines which the Magisterium of the Church has decided are to be accepted with a faith solely based on the authority of the Church—ecclesiastical faith. The infallibility of the Church includes these doctrines as well as dogmas proper.

Then there are those doctrines considered as “Teachings proximate to the Faith”, regarded by theologians generally as truths of Revelation but not finally presented by the Church as such, or “Teachings pertaining to the Faith”, which again the Church has not pronounced on but their truth is guaranteed by their intrinsic connection with the doctrine of Revelation.

“Common Teaching” (sententia communis) is a doctrine which although in itself still in the field of free theological opinion is generally accepted by theologians as true. An example would be the belief that Mary underwent a bodily death (her “Dormition”) prior to her Assumption.

Other theological opinions of lesser grades of certainty are listed as “Probable”, “More Probable”, and “Well-founded”. Those opinions which are in agreement with the consciousness of Catholic faith are categorized as “Pious Opinions” (sententia pia). The phrase used for that is: “it may be piously believed…” An example of this was Pope John XXIII’s favorable endorsement of the bodily assumption of St. Joseph into Heaven as a pious belief.

The least degree of certainty is the Tolerated Opinion (opinio tolerata), which is only weakly founded but nonetheless tolerated by the Church.

It ought to be clear then that the Church’s Teaching Authority takes great care to distinguish between its grades of certainty so
that only the most important things, expressed in terse, precise formulas, are to be believed as de fide. Catholic Truths are anything but a “Party line” or a stultifying list of fundamentalist, time-bound thought-controls. The Living Magisterium of the Church allows plenty of room for the Holy Spirit to maneuver, while at the same time safeguarding against mistaking the “spirit of the age” for the promptings of the Holy Spirit of God.

(Fr. Higgins)

(Source: Fundamentals of Catholicism, Dr. Ludwig Ott, Introduction, “Theological Grades of Certainty”, 4th edition, A.D. 1960)

Pastor's Note

What is “Sedevacantism”?

July 22, 2012 Fr. Higgins

In last Sunday’s Pastor’s note, I reprinted Fr. Lawrence Brey’s summary on the Catholic Church’s teaching regarding Private Revelations. In today’s space I want to present a 2010 essay entitled THE ERROR OF THE SEDEVACANTISTS by Fr. Thomas Carleton. The “Sedevacantism” he is talking about is a dissent coming from the right-wing of contemporary Catholic life, and it has disturbed the peace-of-mind of not a few traditional-minded Catholics. Sadly, some of our brethren who once worshipped alongside us at Holy Trinity Church and at Mary Immaculate of Lourdes have been taken in by this schismatic error and walk no more with us. Fr. Carleton’s essay is very clarifying:

“…They were distressed, and lying like sheep that have no shepherd.” (Matthew 9,36)

The case does not exist where an individual lamb decides whether or not the flock has a shepherd. A sheep, as Our Blessed Lord explains, recognizes the voice of the shepherd: “My sheep hear My voice: and I know them, and they follow Me.” (John 10,27). The individual sheep can only recognize the Shepherd’s voice and follow it; or, contrarily, not recognize it, follow a hireling, or be eaten by wolves. When an individual sheep fails to recognize the voice of the shepherd, it does not mean that he is not the shepherd, it only means that that sheep is not part of the flock: “You do not believe, because you are not part of My sheep.” (John 10,26)

The “sedevacantist” is one who maintains that the Church is without a pope. The proper use, however, of the term “sedevacante” (or “vacant seat”) refers to the period between the death of one pope and the election of his successor. The Church, though, is never without shepherds. The sedevacantist not only rejects the pope, but rejects as well the apostolic college, the successors of the apostles, who are the shepherds who have elected the pope, the supreme visible shepherd. Our Blessed Lord established His Church so that His flock would not be “like sheep that have no shepherd”. (Matthew 9,36)

The sedevacantist attempts to mask his estrangement from the Church in the manner of the Protestant theory of private Biblical interpretation, that is to say, by his own collection and interpretation of various texts (in his case, of former popes or councils), which, in turn, he then uses to pass judgment on the Vicar of Christ. The First Vatican Council has taught that a pope cannot be a heretic, which would itself be a direct attack on the infallible intercessory prayer of Christ: “I have prayed for thee,” Our Blessed Lord assures Peter, “that thy faith fail not.” (Luke 22,33) In sedevacantists, indeed, is verified the rebuke of the Lord: “You err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.” (Matthew 22,29)

The pronouncements and formulae of the Church, moreover, are not, nor have they ever been, used to decide who is a shepherd: “The Lord hath sworn, and He will not repent. Thou art a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedech.” (Psalm 109,4) “All things therefore whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do: but according to their works do ye not; for they say, and do not.” (Matthew 23,3)

When St. Paul speaks of the “house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (I Timothy 3:15), he is not referring to a collection of past or present documents, he is referring to the teaching of the present successors of the Apostles in union with the Vicar of Christ, who would, no less than Peter, be guided by the Holy Spirit.

It is impossible for one to say that he rests upon the pillar and ground of truth, which is the Church, if he has not Peter. It is the “bark of Peter” that is an image of the true Church. Attacking the Captain of the ship forms part 0f that despised work of mutiny. Our Blessed Lord has given to the Church a visible Captain so that we can be sure whose boat we are in. When someone fails to recognize the visible pilot of the ship, it does not mean that he is not the true captain, it merely means that that person is not in the right boat, the only boat that has been assured of safely arriving into the harbour of heaven, the shores of eternity.

The sedevacantist errs in believing that the documents of the Church can be a “rule of faith” independent of a living shepherd, just as the Protestant (with actually even greater reason than the sedevacantist) believes that the Holy Scriptures themselves, privately interpreted, can be a rule of faith. It is for this reason that there is no “rule of faith”, nor is there any “magisterium”, apart from Peter, and that is to say, apart from living shepherds: “He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me, despiseth Him that sent Me.” (Luke 10,16) The texts, documents, and formulae of the Church are considered only the proximate inanimate rule of faith. These must have the proximate animate rule of faith, which is the Church guided by living shepherds. Our Blessed Lord, in fact, did not say to His Apostles: Go write down what I have said; He said to them: “Going therefore, teach ye all nations.” (Matthew 28,19)

It is for a deep reason that Our Divine Lord tells us that we must follow, not the words (verba), as if written, but the voice (vox) of the shepherd. We have a living shepherd, not a dead shepherd. It is also important to note that
a lamb, much like an ever faithful dog, does not distinguish words as individual concepts, but merely the living sound or voice of his shepherd, and the name given him by that shepherd. In other words, it does not rest on the individual lamb to pass judgment, as such, on the truth content of a shepherd’s words; it rests, rather, upon the individual sheep to recognize who his shepherd is. The Good Shepherd could not have made it more simple than that for us poor sheep. The Good Shepherd assures His sheep that if they should stray away, He shall come after them (cf. Matthew 18,12-14); but He gives no such assurance to those who are not His sheep, those, that is, who do not recognize the voice of the shepherd.

Many sedevacantists use the present scandals and troubles in the Church to justify their Position, but Holy Scripture does not promise that we will always be in green pastures; it promises that, if we follow the shepherd, we will be led to green pastures: “For though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils for Thou art with me. Thy rod and Thy staff, they have comforted me.” (Psalm 22,4)

The Gospel does not say that the boat of Peter will not pass through violent storms and never come near to sinking; on the contrary, it prepares us for rough sailing and fierce tempests, when the only thing more dangerous than being in the boat, will be being outside the boat, which, in fact, is where sedevacantists have thrown themselves.

Sedevacantists like to present themselves as “traditionalists”, but how can we consider what they are doing as “traditional” when the Church says: “Nemo judicat papam [No-one judges the Pope]?” Union with the Vicar of Christ, as the Popes have taught (cf. Boniface VIII, Pius XII), is essential to belonging to the Church. In any case we should have compassion on the sedevacantists because they are “lying like sheep that have no shepherd.” (Matthew 9,36)

In conclusion, let me tell you what really was the simple old “traditional” rule of thumb that we grew up with: If someone is attacking the Holy Father—it is probably the devil!

Father Thomas Carleton
Feast of Pope Saint Pius V, 2010 A.D.

(Fr. Higgins)

Pastor’s Note from the Mary Immaculate of Lourdes Bulletin for July 22, 2012

Pastor's Note

The Price of our Redemption

July 1, 2012 Fr. Higgins

(Pastor’s Note from the Mary Immaculate of Lourdes Bulletin for July 1, 2012)

One of the earliest prayers I was taught as a child was a bed-time prayer which began: “Night is falling, dear other/And the long day is o’er/And before thy loved image I am kneeling once more… In the course of the prayer-verse were these words:

For one drop of Thy Blood,
Which for sinners was spilt
Is sufficient to cleanse
The whole world from its guilt.

In Catholic devotion this month of July is dedicated to the Precious Blood of Christ, the price of our Redemption. Although, as theology tells us, but one drop of Christ’s Blood would have been sufficient to atone for the sin-debt to divine Justice, Christ in fact shed all of His life-blood for us on the Cross. This is a demonstrable proof of the self-sacrificing superabundance of God’s love for us wayward sinners.

We know in human terms how appalling it is to witness people indifferent or even contemptuous of the sacrifices which have been made for them: a nation which refuses to recognize the sacrifices of its war veterans, for example, or a new generation which takes the normality of its tolerably pleasant existence for granted without reference to the responsibility which the older generations—who endured much harder conditions of life—undertook to provide for their future.

How much more appalling it is to see the human race so cold and so ungrateful towards the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross. And we are talking here about the coldness and ingratitude of so many professed Christians! They acknowledge that Christ, the Just and Innocent One, died a terrible death on a cross for the sake of the guilty, but it does not seem to shape their approach to life very much. They take their cues from the ways of the world just like anyone else.

During this month of July then, we can at least stir up in ourselves the right sentiments of gratitude and awe for—let us say it—the extravagance of God’s sacrifice for us, sentiments so beautifully expressed in these verses of the Precious Blood Hymn Festivus Resonet:

Let the streets resound with festive hymns and the people’s joy be seen in their faces as young and old, each in his rank and carrying a flaming torch, walk in procession.

Yet while we are mindful of His Passion and pay honor to the Blood that Christ shed from His many wounds as He hung upon the cruel tree, it is but right that at least we should shed tears.

The old Adam’s sin resulted in death and misery to mankind, but the new Adam’s sinlessness and loving-kindness gave life back to all men…

(Fr. Higgins)

Pastor's Note

“Ad Multos Annos”, Father William Blazek, S.J.

June 24, 2012 Fr. Higgins

(Pastor’s Note from the Mary Immaculate of Lourdes Bulletin for June 24, 2012)

Today is a day of great rejoicing for our parish as we welcome back newly-ordained Jesuit priest Fr. William Blazek, S.J. for a Mass of Thanksgiving. Fr. Blazek will be celebrant at today’s 10:30 a.m. Solemn High Latin Mass. Directly following Mass we will hold a reception for Fr. Blazek and will have the opportunity to receive his First Blessing.

It adds greatly to the spirit of celebration that today’s Mass is a special feast-day: the Nativity of St. John the Baptist. It is also sometimes called the “Summer Christmas”, as the birth of Our Lord’s cousin St. John the Baptist six months before His nativity in Bethlehem is closely related to the joyful Mysteries of Christmastide. At one time in the Church’s history St. John’s Nativity was celebrated as a Holy Day of Obligation and Three Masses were offered as at Christmas. Great bonfires were lighted on the hilltops (St. John’s Fires) to symbolize John’s mission as the one who was to bear witness to Christ, the true Light of the World, just before He came.

St. Augustine used the turning of the seasons as a way to make a spiritual analogy to the Christian life. John’s Nativity, he says, occurs at the time of the year when the daylight is longest (at least in the northern hemisphere), and then daylight gradually decreases. The Feast of Christmas, however, occurs just after the shortest day and gradually the light increases. And just as John the Baptist said that “He [Christ] must increase, and I must decrease,” after Jesus had begun His Public Life, so we might use the declining daylight after St. John’s
Feast as a reminder of how our ego-life must decrease in order for Christ’s-life within us to increase.

Another significant theological truth about John’s birth is that he was sanctified in the womb of his mother St. Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard the voice of Mary’s greeting, she felt at once her child leaping in her womb for
joy: the unborn baby John was mystically greeted by the unborn Child Jesus. John is born without the stain of Original Sin.

We celebrate the birthdays on earth of only three individuals in our Church cycle of feasts: Our Lord Jesus Christ on Christmas, December 25th (He is sinless by nature); Our Lady’s Nativity on September 8th (she is sinless by her Immaculate Conception); and St. John the Baptist on June 24th, for he is born without sin. A special holiness and virtue is his portion for the unique role he is to play as the Herald of the Messiah. So holy was he that many people of that day understandably concluded that John himself was the long-awaited Christ.

(Fr. Higgins)

Pastor's Note

“I Wish Them to Come in Procession…”

May 6, 2012 Fr. Higgins

(Pastor’s Note from the Mary Immaculate of Lourdes Bulletin for May 6, 2012)

May, 1967 A.D.—Parish May Procession with the First Holy Communion children, Mary Immaculate of Lourdes. This and other photos may be viewed in the Newton Upper Falls photo gallery within City of Newton’s website. Photo: A. Kalicki

Few words were spoken by Our Lady to St. Bernadette Soubirous over the course of the 18 Apparitions at Lourdes, 1858. One of the things Our Lady told her was: “I wish them to come in procession,” by which was meant the religious procession so much a part of Catholic worship.

Visitors to Lourdes to this day can experience the fulfillment of Our Lady’s request. Each evening there is a candle-light Rosary Procession at the Shrine. For many, the participation in this Procession is one of the most moving experiences of their time at Lourdes. It is to share in the expression of religious faith as a corporate thing, a ritual enactment by the members of the Mystical Body of Christ: they are following in the train of the Risen Lord Jesus who is the Body’s Head. They are not atomized, isolated individual subjects in a free-floating, hit-or-miss quest for spirituality.

The Eucharistic liturgy of the Mass is, of course, the most perfect expression of the Christian collectivity, but the religious Procession can nevertheless subjectively intensify the objective reality of being part of the larger Church for us.

May, 1967 A.D.—Parish May Procession with the First Holy Communion children, Mary Immaculate of Lourdes, passing in front of the St. Elizabeth Center. Photo: A. Kalicki

Throughout the Catholic year there are several significant processions which are called for. On February 2nd, Candlemas Day, the last feast-day of the Christmas Cycle, there is the Procession of blessed candles, signifying Christ as the Light of the World and our incorporation into Him by the light of our Baptismal grace. On Palm Sunday, there is the Procession of Palms as Holy Week begins. Holy Thursday night has the solemn Procession of the Eucharist to the Altar of Repose. There is the “Greater Litanies” Rogation Procession on St. Mark’s Day, April 25th, by which we implore God’s mercy for a fruitful land to sustain us and special divine protection from all the calamities (drought, storms, disease, war, the hidden attacks of the devil, etc.) which hang over our earthly existence.

May Devotions have a particularly beloved place in Catholic life. The association of the parish children’s First Holy Communion with the May Procession in Honor of Our Lady is well-known.

The Eucharistic Procession of the Blessed Sacrament on Corpus Christi is the most jubilant of all the religious Processions of the year. Here we see most clearly the unity of the Catholic Church as the Mystical Body of Christ. Christ is there at the head of the Procession in His Real Presence, and we all of us, the members of His Body, follow behind.

An outdoor, public religious procession is a beautiful thing to participate in and a blessing for the place in which it happens. May we experience this grace during our parish May Devotions for 2012.

(Fr. Higgins)