According to the Acts, Genesius addressed Emperor Diocletian and called on him to embrace Christianity:

I came here today to please an earthly Emperor but what I have done is to please a heavenly King. I came here to give you laughter, but what I have done is to give joy to God and his angels. From this moment on, believe me, I will never mock these great mysteries again. I now know that the Lord Jesus Christ is the true God, the Light, the Truth and the Mercy of all who have received his gift of baptism. O great Emperor, believe in these mysteries! I will teach you, and you will know the Lord Jesus Christ is the true God.”

Prayer of St. Genesius
There is no King but Him whom I have seen. I adore and worship Him, and 
for His sake, even though I be slain a thousand times, I will always be 
His. Torments are not able to take Christ from my mouth, nor from my 
Heart. Bitterly do I regret that I detested His Holy name in Holy men, 
and came so late, like a haughty soldier, to adoring the true King. 
Amen.

From the Fraternity of St. Genesius and Wikipedia

We would like to take this opportunity to share our music from the For Life… album.  Pro Life issues are not just about the unfair treatment of the unborn.  It is a celebration of life from conception to natural death.   From the choosing of one’s vocation–married or religious, the joy of a new baby, to healing from past mistakes, and recogizing the dignity of each human life.

Today we would like to offer our own music in solidarity with this important musical celebration.  Here are the songs Stephen M. Tefft wrote in the midst of the tragedy–before we knew the outcome.

Terri’s Song

Lest We Forget

And here is another that just seemed to fit.

Gone But Not Forgotten

His Love Endures Forever — live acoustic version

Fallen — live acoustic version

I’ve Been Working On Salvation — live acoustic version

Every Day — live acoustic version

Your Works Are Awesome — live acoustic version

Sing Alleluia — live acoustic version

What Do You Believe? — live acoustic version

We Are Loved — live acoustic version

Bless The Lord — live acoustic version

Come Holy Spirit — live acoustic version

For He Is God — live acoustic version

Into The Deep — live acoustic version

Called

Help My Unbelief — live acoustic version

Make Your Life A Prayer — live acoustic version

O What Wondrous Love — live acoustic version

Only You — live acoustic version

Only In You — live acoustic version

Praise The Lord — live acoustic version

Spirit Of God — live acoustic version

You Are My God — live acoustic version

 Revelation 7 — live acoustic version

God So Loved The World — live acoustic version

The Father, then, loves us infinitely as His sons and daughters.  Each one of us must discover deep within ourselves this unique reality: we are all children of God, thus, we can call ourselves His sons and daughters (1 Jn. 3:5.  2 Pt.).

This becomes a living reality in us through  the sacraments.

With the sacrament of Baptism, we become participants, akin with the nature of God.  As a baptized person I am not simply touched by the divine, but rather, I am given an abundance of divine grace, thus becoming a child of God, and because of this I can turn to Him and call Him Abba and dare to say: I am Your child, Your heir, and to Christ, You are my Brother.

A characteristic of the Old Testament is that of “a people” and the individual member is given birth by the elect people.  But in the New Testament, this insertion into the people of God happens through grace.  This establishes a very personal relationship between God and the individual.

When we think of God in the image of a symbolic Eye looking upon the people of the Old Testament, and we can imagine the same symbolic Eye looking upon us in the New Testament through Christ: we come to the Father through Christ.

Each one of us can say: I am loved, known and guided by God, and enabled to fulfill the marvelous design of love which the Father has planned for me in the Word (Christ) through the power of the Holy Spirit.

St. Paul reflected on this mystery of redeption in admiration and exclaimed: “He loved me, and died on the cross for me” (Gal. 2:20).

At this point we are not interested in theological subtleties which affirm that even if there had been only one single sinner in the world, the Word would still have become incarnate and died on the cross.  The fact that original sin did happen and it became the sin of all, and it was precisely in this that the incarnation and redemption found their motivation.  This does not mean that Christ came to die and to redeem only humanity as a whole, but His death and redemption were related to each individual person as well.  This reality carried with it the responsibility of a personal response to Him.  Both the present and the future should be affected by this relationship.  That it, present and future should be lived in the light of Christ, of the Spirit and of the Father.

God loves us infinitely and asks of us the fullness of our love.  And He proposes this not as an option, but rather, as a command.  This appears clear in the account of the last supper which John gives in his first Letter: “I give you a new commandment, love one another” (1 Jn. 3:23).  This commandment even though directed to others, has as its foundation the love for God.

We are obliged but not forced to love, since God never takes away our freedom from us.  In this sense, every call from God is an invitation, which leaves us free on our part but not so free in regards to Him, for His expectation is that we love Him in return.

Without any doubt, God wants our love.

God wants to be loved by us in a measure that equals His, that it, to the maximum.

But what is the maximum?

The maximum is the totality.  It is the totality of all that we are capable.  It is therefore, an essentially relative concept.  The poor widow in the temple who gave all she had, is an example of the maximum.  She gave all she had.

Zacchaeus, on the other hand, could afford to give back four times what he owed, and in addition give a luxurious dinner, cannot be the example of the maximum since he did not give everything.

First in the Old and then in the New Testament we read: “Therefore, you shall love the Lord our God, with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deut. 6:5); this is the prayer, the shema’, which the Hebrew recited twice a day.

The all is a personal all: it could mean the all of the person growing old and beginning to decline, feeling the pains.  Or it could mean the all of an adult person full of strength or that of a child, or the all of an ill person.  The important factor is not how much one has given, but that one has given all.

This is the meaning of the point of the Creed: God is love, He loves us infinitely as His children and He is not begging alms from us.  He turns to us, and in a simple way, asks: son, daughter, give Me your heart.

This chapter was taken from The Spirituality of the Pro Sanctity Movement by Bishop Giaquinta.  Reprinted with permission. 

Father, We Praise You

Chapter taken from: The Spirituality of the Pro Sanctity Movement by Servant of God Bishop Giaquinta.  Reprinted with permission.

GOD IS LOVE AND FATHER

HE LOVES US INFINITELY

AND DESIRES THE TOTALITY

OF OUR LOVE

I believe in You, Father, God of love,

Whose love for us is infinite

And Who asks of us in turn,

A response of total love.

God is love.   The expression found in the first Letter of John (Jn. 14:6) is one of the most impenetrable mysteries of our faith.  When we speak of God we can speak of Him only by analogy.  The only way we can formulate an idea of Him among ourselves is by using human concepts.

It is through experience that we learn the meaning of love.  Love, in fact, is ingrained in the human nature and each person is an entity in relationship to others.

The human person is born with the ability to relate, with a social nature, such is the nature of every human being.  Every relationship man or woman establishes, is a relationship of love.  As matter of fact, every human person is born from an act of love and lives in a love relationship with the one who gave life.

As we have just stated, we learn the meaning of love by experience, even though here we are speaking basically of a sensitive, susceptable, sensual or passionate type of love.

Keeping in mind the infinite distance between God and Man, we wonder in what way our concept of love can be applied to God and we ask what John’s expression might mean when he says: “God is love”.

This is the mystery!

The mystery is made clear by Christ Himself.  John can state “God is love” because he personally had  the experience of that love.  He is the one whom Jesus loved; the one who was allowed to count the beats of the divine heart as he laid his head on the heart of the Master (Jn. 14:22).

When Christ says to the Apostles: “I have called you friends” (Jn 15:14), He expresses His affection, His friendship at the psychological level.  Therefore, we cannot deny the love that is in Christ Jesus who is God.  This leads us to another mystery.  That is, how can we explain the unity of Christ’s person in two natures?

This is the deepest of all mysteries.  It is a mystery that we must keep in mind when we speak of the relationship between Christ/man to God and God to Christ/man.  We must explore this reality, even though the terms used to describe  the mystery escape our human intelligence.

Through the hypostatic mystery (union of the human and divine natures in one person), what we see in Christ we apply to God and what we see in God we apply to Christ.  Therefore, when we see Christ’s love, we can say that God loves and that if Christ is love, then God is love .  And we know that Christ is love, because He personally has shown us His love with His own life.

This realization helps us to formulate two definitions of God, which might seem to contradict each other, but in reality they meet.

1. “I am who am” (Ex. 3:14): He is the power, the omnipotent, the infinite, the holy, the one infinitely distant from Man; distant from  the one who is not.
2. “God is love” (Jn. 4:8): He loves Man and is close to him.

How can we make sense out of these two apparently opposed definitions: “I am who am” and “God is love”?  That is, how can we relate the distant God of the Old Testament with the God of love of the New Testament?

The solution is found in Christ (Lk 5:6): Christ’s love is a love in quest, a love that suffers and does not turn from the repulsive.  And so is the God of the Old Testament; He is the God in search of Man.

These two definitions can be reconciled through an understanding of God’s mercy.

God’s justice is not revengeful, as it might seem from certain passages of the Old Testament (i.e. Is. 31:5).  In the general picture of things, the justice of God becomes ” a love in quest”, a merciful love desiring to enter the history of humanity.

Already in the Prophets, especially Jeremiah, and very often in the Psalms, we find the concept of a God who loves.  This theme emerges later in its fullness in the New Testament.

According to the protestant biblical scholar Jeremias, every time Jesus addressed the Father, He called Him Abba.

We find this occasionally in the Gospel.  Abba is a familiar and intimate title used by a child towards his or her father; something like: Daddy or Papa.  In the Old Testament, this title would never have been used by an Israelite when addressing God.  God was usually called Father but never Abba.  Christ is the only one who could turn to God and call Him with such an affectionate title.  And we , too, in the manner of Christ, filled with His grace and transformed in Him, can turn to the Father and say, Abba.

Of all we have said, we find traces in the Letter of Paul to the Romans (Rom. 8:15) and to the Galatians (Gal. 4:6), in which Paul explains how the Holy Spirit cries out in us to the Father, Abba.

God, therefore, is our Father, and how true it is that when Christ taught His own to pray he said to pray like this: “Our Father…”.  This gives us the certainty that we do have a Father.

From the philosophical point of view, it must be said that when the Infinite Being acts it can only act in an infinite way.  This is a fundamental principle: the measure of the act of the Infinite is infinite.

And so God, the Infinite, loves us and His love for us cannot be anything but infinite.

This affirmation a priori   is a result of a logical thinking, which doesn’t necessarily have to be applied to God, to the infinitely distant, the totally Other.  However, this philosophical principle finds credibility in creation through the following statement, creation is a free act of God, but even more so through redemption, for “God so loved the world (to such a degree) that He gave (sacrificed) His only Son” (Jn. 3:16).

Here we should pause not so much to analyze or even meditate, but to contemplate and wonder at such reality.  If we could only understand the abyss existing between our nothingness and the greatness of God’s Son, we would find it absurd that God, the Infinite, could prefer us, poor  finite creatures, to His Son, the Infinite One.  Yet, this is the common meaning of the passage: “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son”.  We must conclude that God loves us infinitely.

St. John also says: “See what love  the Father has bestowed on us in letting us be called children of God!  Yet that is what we are” (1 Jn 3:1).

It takes a special logic to comprehend how the Father chose to sacrifice His Son in order to gather into one all His dispersed children (jn 11:52).  Undoubtedly, there is an essential difference between the only Son, the Eternal Word of God, and ourselves His adopted children.

These are unfathomable mysteries, above our human comprehension which can only be accepted as revealed truths.    

Abba, Father

1. The Father
2. Christ
3. The Spirit
4. The Church
5. We
6. Mary

In his words…

It almost expresses a dual concept of Trinity: the Divine Trinity (Father, Son, and Spirit) and the human trinity (the Church, We, and Mary).

Basically, the six points find their foundation in Scripture, but also in Tradition, for it is impossible to separate Scripture from Tradition, or to understand one part from another.

From these foundations is derived the theology of spiritual maximalism, which is a logical and systematic reflection on the gospel’s principles.  In fact, theology is the application of the intelligence to the revealed truth, that is, the in-depth study, at the logical and explorative levels, of that which has been revealed.

Theological principles, when translated into practice, become a spirituality.

Such spirituality must become a source of apostolate and of pastoral ministry, permeating the individual activities in the parochial and diocesan environments.

Each of the six points will be studied in depth and in a fourfold perspective: scriptural and patristic, theological, spiritual, and apostolic.  

Bishop Giaquinta adopted a Creed for Holiness.  It is an adaptation of the writings of  St. Cyril of Jerusalem.  For him it captured the entire message and mission of his spirituality.

1) I believe in You, Father, God of love, whose love for us is infinite and who asks of us, in turn, a response of total love.

2) I thank You for Your Son, Jesus Christ, eternal Word made flesh, and our brother who with His life-death-resurrection has actually made us new human beings.

3) Give us the Spirit of love that He may guide us in the living-out of Your message, form in us the image of Your Son and grant us the courage to extend to all your invitation to holiness. 

4) May the Holy Church , Bride of the Lamb and our Mother, be for us a living source of transforming grace which we draw abundantly from the sacraments given to us by the Apostles, Your ministers.  Grant that in her we may persue our call to holiness and become light for all people.

5) Let Your Word be for us and for all an invitation to bring about Your universal plan of love, to form new families in a new world where all shall live as brothers and sisters in Christ.

6) May Mary, Your Mother and ours, assist us; May your Saints, our modles, who have gone before us on the path of love, be our companions.

Amen.

(From The Spirituality of the Pro Sanctity Movement  by Bishop Giaquinta, pages 7-9 — Reprinted with permission.)

Servant of God, Bishop William Giaquinta wrote extensively on the need for saints.  As he saw it, we are all called to be saints.  We were created at conception for the purpose for sainthood.  From the moment we blink into existance,  the Lord God calls us to Himself,  to be His children. 

No pressure.

The question becomes, “How do we accept this call in the midst of a world gone the way of Babylon?”

Bishop Giaquinta has a few suggestions for us.  He outlines them in the Pro Sanctity Decalogue.

Pro Sanctity Decalogue

1. Strive for perfection.
2. Develop your prayer life.
3. Foster your sacramental life.
4. Be faithful to the teaching of the Holy Father.
5. *Offer daily a consecration to Jesus
6. Offer your sufferings in union with Jesus Crucified for the holiness of all persons.
7. Each week offer Mass and Communion for the holiness of our priests.
8. *Give some of your time to the service of others.
9. *Aid charities financially to the best of your ability.
10. Invoke Our Blessed Mother to help you live and spread God’s call to holiness.

* prayer suggestions have been generalized to make them more universal.

One of the prayers Bishop Giaquinta wrote has become a favorite daily consecration to the Lord.

Jesus, Divine Master

Jesus, Divine Master, who came down from heaven to give us the abundance of grace, increase it within us and make it become a river that overflows into eternal life.

Of Your free will, You chose the agony of Your passion and death and in the Eucharist You give Yourself as food for all people: help us understand the greatness of such an example.

May  the fire of Your love burn away the impurities of our human weakness, and give us the strength to follow Your invitation to the infinite perfection of the Father.

Of faith give us firmness; of charity, zeal; of hope, firm certainty.  Give us the desire to be heroic in ever virtue, and the trust to attain holiness with the help of Mary, Your mother and our mother.

Amen.

Jesus, Divine Master

The second mystery is the wedding feast at Cana.  At this point Jesus has already begun his public ministry, but he had not performed any signs.  In the past, God chose opportune moments for prophets perform signs to optimize conversion.  In the case of Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego, the Babylonian King himself witnessed an angel of the Lord protecting them from harm.  King Nebuchadnezzar was so amazed by this that he made a royal decree that every citizen shall pay homage to the God of Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego or face dire consequences.  Likewise, their friend Daniel met a similar fate with King Darius.  The Angel of the Lord protected Daniel from harm, and King Darius made a royal decree that every citizen shall pay homage to Daniel’s God.   

Jesus had not had the opportunity to perform a very public sign as of yet.  He was certainly not expecting to do so at a family gathering.  However, His mother noticed a need, and she brought it to His attention. 

Considering the ease at which she gained access to the kitchens to discover the shortage of wine, she must have been well-known to the family, and recognized among the household.  She knew that a wedding feast has little to do with the happy couple—unless something went wrong.  If something went wrong, it was the couple’s responsibility.  It was their shame if someone else did not plan for enough food and wine to last through the evening.  Blessed Mother could not have that embarrassment befall an innocent couple on their happy day.  Certainly, her Son could understand that.  She told her Son that something must be done, and she told the servants to do whatever He told them.  Then she left the kitchens. 

Jesus was not terribly interested in this mundane dilemma.  It was not His time.  This small act wasn’t going to further His mission.  And as for righting wrongs, there were far greater injustices in the world than a shortage of wine!  No one was sending Him off to take care of those!  No, He was asked by His mother to do something to prevent public embarrassment—not war, not tyranny, not murder—embarrassment!  But, really, what else could He do?  It was such a little thing, and it meant so much to His mother.  She knew that He could tell the servers to go about their business, but she trusted that He would create more wine.  And He did.  He told the servants to fill the stone jars with water and take a sample to the headwaiter.  In that time, the water had been changed to fine wine, and the couple was saved from inevitable embarrassment.

One benefit of this first miracle was that the apostles bore witness to the events, and they believed.  The servers bore witness, and they believed.  His ministry had truly begun.

 The Wedding At Cana

The Baptism In the Jordan

The first mystery tells us Jesus is Baptized by John in the Jordan River.  In those days Baptism was a ritual bathing that washed away the old ways and brought with it a new life of repentance and adherence to God’s commands.  John the Baptist spent much of his adult life as a hermit, fasting, praying, and opening himself to God’s will.  When it was his time to fulfill his part in God’s plan, he left his self-imposed exile to preach to the people.  He had the same authority as the other prophets before him, and the people came from far and wide to listen to his word.  After all, he brought words of hope: Prepare the way of the Lord!

The people had been waiting for the savior to come and restore Israel to its former greatness for generations.  They sought to amend their fallen ways and make themselves ready for the coming of the redeemer.  John preached and Baptized until one day he saw his cousin in line. 

Let’s refer back to our last episode when the babies greeted each other with full self-awareness from the sanctuary of the womb.  They knew their own roles in the Father’s plan, and they knew the other’s role.  They greeted each other with great joy, with John leaping in Elizabeth’s womb.

John, seeing his cousin standing before him at the Jordan, was aware of two things at this moment: he had no authority to Baptize the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE with water, and his time as prophet had ended.  Jesus was here.  His time had come. 

Jesus assured John that the Baptism was necessary, much to John’s dismay.  John performed the ritual, and the Heavens opened.  One would think something like this might frighten passer-bys.  To the contrary, it seemed to make Jesus very popular outside His home town.  The Holy Spirit descended like a dove and came to rest above the head of Jesus.  The Father’s voice boomed from the sky, “THIS IS MY SON, IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED.”  

And there we have it, the Triune God plain as day at the Jordan River reinforcing the acts of a prophet and taking these actions to realms only God can offer.  Baptism is good.  Second Person of the Triune God walking among us is better.  Where was a Starbucks when you needed one?     

 The Baptism

According to legend there were three wise men, Casper from Europe, Melchoir from Asia, and Balthazar from Africa, who watched the star from its rising, and recognized that it hailed the birth of the new King of Israel.  In this time it was customary to pay the child homage and bring gifts appropriate for such a grand occasion.

The men set off from their homelands and met on the road to King Herod’s palace.  Israel was unique in that the crown was not always passed from father to son.  However, the palace was a good place to start.  When they arrived and inquired, their news was met with dismay rather than great joy.

Herod’s advisors sent them East to Bethlehem.  The King, not wanting to be replaced, told them go and return to him with the location,”…so that I too may do him damage–I mean homage .”

The three set off and found the Child with His mother in a house where they were residing.  They presented their gifts of gold, frankencese and myrh.  Though seemingly customary gifts: gold for His kingship, frankencence to offer in prayer, and myrh for the anointing, there is a darker side.  Myrh is also used in the anoiting of the dead.  Without knowing it, they were foreshadowing Jesus’ role in our world: He came to the poor, He came for the Gentiles, He was our King, He was our High Priest, He was our Sacrifice that we may be reconciled to the Father.

After their visit, an angel of the Lord appeared to them and warned them not to return to King Herod’s court, so they set out by a different way.  As they traveled, they decided not to return to their homelands but instead to remain together and travel for the rest of their days.

Today they are entombed side by side in a church in Germany.   

Follow The Star

Song Of The Magi