Catholic Family Vignettes

Soul, bedeck thyself with gladness!

Open wide the door!

Imperatives, as we approach the holy season of Advent. These exhortations are also titles for two beautiful compositions performed at a pre-Advent organ concert last night, by Holy Family parish music director, Dr. Elizabeth Krause.

Sitting in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament contained within the tabernacle, heart and soul stirred by the sweet melodies which filled the church, I contemplated the following:

*That all the wealth of the world, indeed the universe itself, is but a dim reflection of the splendor that awaits us behind the golden doors of the tabernacle...

*Small, humbled and vulnerable, our Lord comes to us in the Blessed Sacrament, and we become that same tabernacle...

*Receiving our King and Creator...is incomprehensible! It is staggering! The same Jesus that is "eternally begotten by the Father," worthy of all praise and adulation, cradled in the arms of His Immaculate Mother, is given to me by the holy hands of his priests...unworthy creature that I am.

*Shouldn't I "bedeck my soul with gladness?" "Open wide the door?"

Blessings to all, as we approach this holy season!

Deck Thyself, My Soul, With Gladness
(Johann Franck - 1649)

Deck thyself, my soul, with gladness,
Leave the gloomy haunts of sadness;
Come into the daylight’s splendor,
There with joy thy praises render
Unto Christ Whose grace unbounded
Hath this wondrous banquet founded.
Higher o’er all the heav’ns He reigneth,
Yet to dwell with thee He deigneth.

Hasten as a bride to meet Him
And with loving reverence greet Him;
For with words of life immortal
Now He knocketh at thy portal.
Haste to ope the gates before Him,
Saying, while thou dost adore Him,
Suffer, Lord, that I receive Thee,
And I nevermore will leave Thee.

He who craves a precious treasure
Neither cost nor pain will measure;
But the priceless gifts of heaven
God to us hath freely given.
Though the wealth of earth were offered,
Naught would buy the gifts here offered:
Christ’s true body, for thee riven,
And His blood, for thee once given.

Ah, how hungers all my spirit
For the love I do not merit!
Oft have I, with sighs fast thronging,
Thought upon this food with longing,
In the battle well nigh worsted,
For this cup of life have thirsted,
For the Friend Who here invites us
And to God Himself unites us.

In my heart I find ascending
Holy awe, with rapture blending,
As this mystery I ponder,
Filling all my soul with wonder,
Bearing witness at this hour
Of the greatness of God’s power;
Far beyond all human telling
Is the power within Him dwelling.

Human reason, though it ponder,
Cannot fathom this great wonder
That Christ’s body e’er remaineth
Though it countless souls sustaineth
And that He His blood is giving
With the wine we are receiving.
These great mysteries unsounded
Are by God alone expounded.

Sun, who all my life dost brighten,
Light, who dost my soul enlighten;
Joy the best that any knoweth;
Fount, whence all my being floweth;
At Thy feet I cry, my Maker,
Let me be a fit partaker
Of this blessèd food from heaven,
For our good, Thy glory, given.

Lord, by love and mercy driven
Thou hast left Thy throne in heaven
On the cross for me to languish
And to die in bitter anguish,
To forego all joy and gladness
And to shed Thy blood in sadness.
By this blood redeemed and living,
Lord, I praise Thee with thanksgiving.

Jesus, Bread of Life, I pray Thee,
Let me gladly here obey Thee.
By Thy love I am invited,
Be Thy love with love requited;
From this supper let me measure,
Lord, how vast and deep love’s treasure.
Through the gifts Thou here dost give me
As Thy guest in heaven receive me. Read more!

On August 14th we mark the Feast Day of St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe. Known for his great love and devotion to Our Lady under the title of the "Immaculata", St. Maximilian Kolbe received the crown of martyrdom on this day in Auschwitz, a Nazi concentration camp.

His heroic death is recorded as follows:

"One day a prisoner escaped. The penalty for such a crime was the starvation of ten prisoners. Mercilessly, the men were rounded up and made to stand beneath the sweltering sun for hours. Then the commander “naturally selected” the ten men. When the last man was chosen he began screaming, weeping and pleading with the Nazi leader, “My poor wife! My poor children! How will they survive?” Watching the scene, Fr. Maximilian knew that his time had come. Now he was to advance down the road and receive his final crown. Walking fearlessly, for Our Lady and Lord walked with him, St. Maximilian stood before the commander and requested to starve in place of the man. Learning that he was a Roman Catholic priest, the leader eagerly complied.
Days passed, St. Maximilian and the nine other men remained in the starvation bunker. Yet, prayers and hymns to the Immaculata resounded from the barren cell. In the face of the cruelest death, Fr. Maximilian sang of the most wondrous life. For like St. Ignatius of Antioch who loved the Blessed Sacrament so dearly and constantly told the people that it was really the Body and Blood of Jesus they received, “he gave his flesh to the lions for love of Jesus,” dying finally by a lethal injection (Rev. Daniel A. Lord, S. J.)."

My own dear son Maximilian, is quite devoted to good St. Maximilian and we look forward to celebrating his name-saint.

Here are a few lovely quotes on the Eucharist, from St. Maximilian:

St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe Eucharistic Quotes:

"God dwells in our midst, in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar."

"He remains among us until the end of the world. He dwells on so many altars, though so often offended and profaned."

"The culmination of the Mass is not the consecration, but Communion."

"You come to me and unite Yourself intimately to me under the form of nourishment. Your Blood now runs in mine, Your Soul, Incarnate God, compenetrates mine, giving courage and support. What miracles! Who would have ever imagined such!"

"If angels could be jealous of men, they would be so for one reason: Holy Communion."

"Let us give ourselves to the Immaculata. Let her prepare us, let her receive Him in Holy Communion. This is the manner most perfect and pleasing to the Lord Jesus and brings great fruit to us."

"Niepokalanow is a home like Nazareth. The Father is God the Father, the mother and mistress of the home is the Immaculata, the firstborn son and our brother is Jesus in the most Holy Sacrament of the altar. All the younger brothers try to imitate the elder Brother in love and honor towards God and the Immaculata, our common parents, and from the Immaculata they try to love the divine elder Brother, the ideal of sanctity who deigned to come down from heaven to be incarnated in her and to live with us in the tabernacle...

"The whole world is a large Niepokalanow where the Father is God, the mother the Immaculata, the elder brother the Lord Jesus in all the tabernacles of the world, and the younger brothers the people."

"My aim is to institute perpetual adoration," he said, for this is the "the most important activity."

"My aim is to institute perpetual adoration," spoke St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe, Franciscan priest and founder of the Knights of the Immaculata. For he said that this is "the most important activity," and "if half of the Brothers would work, and the other half pray, this would not require too much."

"God dwells in our midst in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar" Read more!