Beggar

The Sending of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Excerpts from Against Heresies  by St. Irenaeus   When the Lord told his disciples to "go and teach all nations" and to "baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit", he conferred on them the power of giving people new life in God. He had promised through the prophets that in these last days he would pour out his Spirit on his servants and handmaids, and that they would prophesy.  The Spirit accomplished the Father's will in people, who had grown old in sin, and gave them new life in Christ. Luke says that the Spirit came down upon the disciples at Pentecost with power to open the gates of life to all nations and to make known to them the New Covenant.  So it was that people of every language joined in singing one song of praise to God.  Scattered tribes, restored to unity by the Spirit, were offered to the Father as the firstfruits of all the nations. This was why ...

The Fifth Sunday of Easter From a Sermon by St. Maximus of Turin, Bishop      Christ is risen!  He has burst open the gates of hell, and let the dead go free.  He has renewed the earth through the members of his Church now born again in baptism.  He has made it blossom afresh with men brought back to life.  His Holy Spirit has unlocked the doors of heaven, which stand wide open to receive those who rise up from the earth.  Because of Christ's resurrection the thief ascends to paradise, the bodies of the blessed enter the holy city, and the dead are restored to the company of the living.  There is an upward movement in the whole of creation, each element raising itself to something higher.  We see hell restoring its victims to the upper regions, earth sending its buried dead to heaven, and heaven presenting the new arrivals to the Lord.  In one and the same movement, our Savior's passion raises men from the depths, lifts t...

O Holy Joseph,      Today on your glorious Feast, I honor you as worker, spouse and father.  I kneel before you in awe of your exceptional tasks, that of Virgin-Father of our Savior, Chaste Spouse of our Blessed Mother, and Protector and Provider for both.        Your abundance of grace surpasses that of all angelic hosts.   You are enflamed with love that blazes more brightly and powerfully than that of other human beings, with the exception of Mary. +          +          +      Your heart suffered with the hearts of Jesus and Mary.  Yours was a silent suffering, for it was your God-given vocation to shield, as long as God willed, the Mother and Son from the malice and hatred of men.      Your most painful sorrow was to know beforehand their Passion, while knowing that you would not be there to console them.  Their future suffering w...