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vajranam · 3 years

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The Lotus Stalks

The Lotus Stalks - Teaching from a past life account of Buddha Shakyamuni:

Like deception and violence, sensual enjoyments are anathema to those who know the pleasure of detachment. Thus has it been heard:

The Bodhisattva (Lord Buddha Shakyamuni) was once born in a noble Brahmin family of impeccable standing, well know of its merits. He had six younger brothers and a sister who shared his virtues and followed his example out of affection and esteem.

The Bodhisattva studied the Vedas together with the Upavedas and the Vedangas. He became famous for his erudition and much respected by the people. Wise and modest, he looked after his parents with utmost devotion and guided his brothers into the world of learning like a teacher or a father.

His parents died in the course of time and the Bodhisattva was deeply affected. He performed their funeral rites and after some days spent in mourning, assembled his brothers and told them: ‘This is the inevitable and tragic way of the world. Death separates us no matter how long we live together. Therefore, I wish to renounce all this and take the blessed road to salvation, before death strikes me down like an enemy while I am still enjoying a householder’s life.

‘For this reason’, said the Bodhisattva, ‘I would like to inform all of you that the lawfully obtained wealth in this Brahmin household will be adequate for your needs. You should live here properly with mutual love and respect. Never slacken your regard for character and conduct. Devote yourself to studying the Dharma; attend to your friends, guests and kinsfolk; and observe the rules of righteousness. Adhere well to the householder’s life, always courteous, delighting in charity and intent on your studies. In this way your fame will increase together with your virtue and wealth. Even your afterlife will be secured. So, take care as you live here.’

The Bodhisattva’s brothers were greatly agitated by his talk of renunciation. Bowing to him with tears in their eyes, they said: ‘Grief at the loss of our father has pierced us like an arrow. The wound it caused is no yet healed. It does not behove you, brother, to rub the salt of yet another sorrow into it. Please give up this idea. Alternatively, if you consider domestic attachments to be inappropriate and the bliss of forest life the way to salvation, why do you wish to go away by yourself, leaving us bereft in this house? Your chosen path is equally ours. We will also renounce the world.’

Those who have not practiced detachment are usually motivated by worldly desires,’ the Bodhisattva replied. ‘They generally consider renunciation to be like falling off a cliff. That is why I desisted from asking you to take to forest life, even though I know fully well the difference between that and a householder’s existence. But, if it pleases you, we can all renounce the world.’

Thus, all seven brothers and their sister gave up their estate and valuable properties, their sorrowing friends and relations, and took to the life of homeless ascetics. With them went three others: a companion, an attendant and a maidservant.

Eventually the renunciants came to a vast forest. In it was a large lake whose pure, blue water seemed ablaze with blooming lotuses in the day and shimmering with lovely lilies at night. By the side of this lake, frequented by honeybees, they built themselves separate huts of leaves under shady trees, at some distance from each other to provide pleasant solitude. Here they lived, observing all the vows and rules and absorbing their minds in meditation. Every fifth day they would go to the Bodhisattva to listen to his pious discourses on the joys of tranquility. His inspiring words exhorted them to meditate and avoid the pitfalls of worldly desires. Dwelling at length on the pace of mind which comes with detachment, he also condemned idleness, hypocritical talk and other vices.

Their maidservant, who loved and respected them deeply, continued to look after them as before. Every day she would pull out lotus stalks from the lake and place them in equal portions on large lotus leaves at a clean spot on the shore. After that she would announce the meal time by striking a piece of wood against another and withdraw. Having performed their daily prayers, the hermits would then come out one by one in the order of their age and taking their portion of the stalks, return to their respective huts. There, they would take their meal in the prescribed manner and pass the remaining time in meditation. In this way they avoided seeing each other except at the time of discourses.

The hermit’s fame spread far and wide on account of their faultless character and conduct, love of detachment and contemplative life. Shakra, the king of gods, also heard about it and came down to test them. His respect for their virtues increased on observing that they were given to meditation, averse to wrongdoing and always calm and serene:

‘One free of desires,

Who lives in the forest

Devoted to peace,

Instils in the hearts

Of all good people

Respect for his virtues.’

But Shakra became all the more keen to put them to a test. On the following day the maidservant gathered lotus stalks for the sages as usual. She washed the stems, white and tender as the tusklets of an elephant calf and placed them in equal portions, decorated with lotus petals and stamens on emerald-green leaves of the plant. After that she struck together two pieces of wood to announce the mean and withdrew. At that moment Shakra, the lord of the goods, decided to test the Bodhisattva by causing the first portion of the lotus stalks to disappear.

The extent of a good man’s patience can be seen as it grows when troubles occur and comforts vanish. When the Bodhisattva came to the place where the first portion of the lotus stalks used to be kept, he noticed that the decorations were in disarray and there were no stalks on the lotus leaf. ‘Someone has taken away my share,’ he concluded without any agitation or anger and returned to his hut where he resumed his meditation. To avoid upsetting the other sages, he did not inform them about this; they in turn assumed he would have taken his share as they took theirs before returning to their huts to eat and meditate.

On the following day Shakra again concealed the Bodhisattva’s share of lotus stalks and repeated this test on the third, fourth and fifth day. As for the great one, he remained calm and content as always:

‘For good people, the minds turmoil

Is more deadly than death itself;

the wise will not get agitated

though their lives are put on stake.’

On the afternoon of the fiftieth day, when the other sages came as usual to the Bodhisattva’s hut to hear his discourse, they found him looking gaunt, with sunken eyes and hollow cheeks, his face wan and his voice weak. But though emaciated, he was delighted to look at as the crescent moon for his fortitude and tranquility were unaffected.

The Bodhisattva’s brothers were worried. Approaching him politely, they enquired why he had become so thin. When he told them what had happened, they could not imagine that any of them would do such a thing. ‘Alas! Alas!’ they cried, distraught at his suffering and stood before him, their heads hanging in shame.

The power of Shakra had clouded the brother’s judgement and they could not figure out how the lotus stalks had disappeared. At last the eldest brother uttered an extraordinary imprecation to display both his emotion and his innocence. ‘O Brahmin!’ he cried, ‘may he who stole your lotus stalks find fulfilment with a charming wife, children and grandchildren and a house embellished with all the signs of prosperity!’

‘O chief of Brahmins!’ exclaimed the next brother, ‘may he who stole your lotus stalks indulge in exquisite worldly pleasures, flaunting garlands and sandalwood paste, fine garments and ornaments which his children have touched for good luck.’

‘May he who stole your stalks even once,’ said the third brother, ‘enjoy himself at home without worrying about the passage of time; and may he make money from framing, live with his family and delight in the prattle of his children.’ ‘May he who stole your lotus stalks out of greed rule the entire earth,’ said the fourth brother. ‘May other kings pay him homage, humbly like servants, the plumes quivering on their bowed heads.’ ‘May he be a royal priest, that person who stole your lotus stalks,’ said the fifth brother. ‘May he know the auspicious incantations and receive honors from the king.’

‘May he who sought your lotus stalks and not your virtues be a teacher well versed in the Vedas,’ said the youngest brother. ‘May people come and honor him with the reverence due to ascetics.’ ‘May the person who could not subdue his greed for your lotus stalks receive four hundred fine and prosperous villages for his enjoyment from the king.’ Said the companion, ‘and may he die before his passions fade.’ ‘May he who harmed his own interest for the sake of the lotus stalks become a village chief,’ said the attendant. ‘May he enjoy himself with his friends amidst the singing and dancing of women and never be troubled by the king.’

Then spoke the sister. ‘May the person who stole the lotus talks of even someone such as you have a figure of radiant beauty,’ she said, ‘and may the kind make her his wife, the first among a thousand women.’ ‘And may she who saw your lotus stalks and not your righteousness, look past good people.’ said the maidservant. ‘May she amuse herself eating all alone the tasty morsels she receives as gifts.’

Now some denizens of the forest – a yaksha, an elephant and an ape had also come to listen to the Bodhisattva’s discourse. They too were disturbed and ashamed to hear what had happened. The Yaksha pronounced a curse to demonstrate his innocence. ‘ May he who betrayed even you for the sake of the lotus stalks live in the great monastery of Kachangala,’ he cried, ‘and be an artisan making windows every day.’

The elephant followed suit. ‘O best of sages,’ he said, ‘may he who stole your lotus stalks be exiled from the delightful forest into human habitation, there to be bound in six hundred strong fetters and suffer pain of the sharp elephant goad.’ The ape spoke next. ‘May he who was so greedy as to steal your lotus stalks wear a floral garland and a tin collar to chafe his neck,’ he said. ‘And may he be beaten with sticks made to confront serpents and be kept in the snake charmer’s house, tied to a harness.’

The Bodhisattva replied to all of them in persuasive words full of courtesy, which displayed his profound calmness. ‘Someone stated that the stalks have vanished when actually they have not,’ he said. ‘Or someone suspects you all of having done this. May he obtain all the pleasures he desires and live out his life as a householder.’

Shakra, the king of the gods, marveled at the extraordinary imprecations which had been uttered. They indicated an abhorrence of indulgence in pleasures which roused his respect. Revealing himself in his radiant form, he approached the sages and said, as if in anger, ‘Yu must not speak like this! Why do you run down worldly pleasure? People are so anxious to obtain them that they cannot sleep; they are prepared even to undergo the travails of penance for their sake.’ ‘Sensual enjoyments, sir, mean endless suffering,’ the Bodhisattva replied. ‘Listen in brief to what these are. It is because of them that sages have no praise for such pleasures. People suffer imprisonment and death while seeking them. They are afflicted by grief and fear, by fatigue and all kinds of misery. It is only for the sake of pleasure that kings oppress virtue and go to hell when they die.’

‘It is due to the pursuit of pleasure,’ the Bodhisattva added, ‘that friendships fade suddenly. People tread the dirty paths of political chicanery, lose their reputations and suffer in the afterlife. Pleasures are destructive, of both this and the next world, for all kinds of people, the worst, the middling as well as the best. That is why, O Shakra, they are avoided like angry snakes by sages who seek spiritual betterment.’

The king of gods welcomed these words. Pleased at the sages’ nobility of mind, he admitted his own misdemeanor. ‘Respect for merits comes when they are tested,’ he said. ‘It was in order to test you all that I hid the lotus stalks. They now testify to the firmness of your character. The world is fortunate to have sages like you whose fame is based on facts.’ With these words Shakra presented the lotus stalks to the Bodhisattva. But the latter rebuked him for his discourtesy and audacity. ‘We are not your kinsmen or companions,’ he said forcefully, ‘nor are we performers or buffoons. On what basis did you then come here, O king of the gods, to play such a game with sages?’

Thus addressed, Shakra hastily took off the earrings which lit up his face and his crown in a gesture of penitence and bowing to the Bodhisattva with the utmost respect, asked for forgiveness. ‘You have no selfish thoughts,’ he said. ‘I have explained why I acted so rashly. You must pardon me sir, like a father and a teacher. Some people are blind to wisdom and it is natural for them to give offence even to the virtuous. But for those who are self-contained it is equally natural to forgive. So, do not be angry with me.’

Having sought forgiveness, Shakra disappeared straightaway. Thus it is that sensual enjoyments are anathema, like deception and violence, to those who know the pleasures of detachment. The Lord Buddha thus explained his birth story. ‘I, the son of Sharadavti, Maudgalayayana, Kashyapa, Purna, Aniruddha and Ananda were then brothers. Utpalavarna was the sister, Kubjottara the maidservant and the householder Chitra, the attendant. Satagiri was the yaksha, Parileya the elephant and Madhudata the ape. Kalodayi was Shakra. Thus should this birth story be remembered.’

~Jatakamala Sutra (Translated by A.N.D. HAKSAR, 2003)

#wisdom #spirituality #mindfulness #meditation #religion #buddhism #self care #zen #visualization #tibet

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chiseler · 5 years

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FATS WALLER: Baby Elephant Patter

Was Fats Waller put on this earth to send up inane pop songs, or did Tin Pan Alley busy itself churning out an endless supply of vapid tunes just to feed his enormous appetite for ridicule? Either way, it wasn’t a bad deal: while he was irrepressible in his vocal shenanigans and merciless in his mockery of cornball lyrics, Waller also bestowed on assembly-line songs unwarranted beauty. His touch on the piano was like a hummingbird’s wings, like sunlight scattering on moving water. The great clown of jazz, Thomas “Fats” Waller belongs, with Oliver Hardy and Roscoe Arbuckle, to that brotherhood of fat men whose girth serves to counterpoint their buoyant grace and delicacy. His music is at once thundering, voluminous, and dainty, like the “baby elephant patter,” he invokes in “Your Feets Too Big,” or like one of Disney’s hippo ballerinas twirling on pointe.

Waller’s own compositions are subtle and elegant, never hard-selling their melodies, but floating with insouciant ease and lingering like a complex perfume. His best songs were written with lyricist Andy Razaf, whose full—indeed overflowing—name was Andreamenentania Paul Razafinkerierfo, and whose great-aunt was the queen of Madagascar. Razaf’s lyrics for “Ain’t Misbehavin’” and “Honeysuckle Rose” fit the tunes so well that the words and music seem to be born from a single thought. He also wrote the bitter lyrics for “(What Did I Do To Be So) Black and Blue?” which started as the complaint of a dark-skinned woman over men’s preference for lighter complexions (“All the race fellows crave high yellows”), but which Louis Armstrong stripped down and turned into an angry lament about being judged by one’s skin color. This transformation wouldn’t have worked so well if Waller’s melody hadn’t had the depth and authority of the blues.

Fats Waller is often accused of having wasted his vast composing talents, and he never earned a full place in the Great American Songbook despite the popularity of his two best-known songs. But he turned out a lot more delightful if too little known songs, from catchy toe-tappers like “Crazy ‘Bout My Baby” and “Aintcha Glad?” to lovely, softer tunes with a pensive touch, like “Blue Turning Grey Over You” and “I’ve Got a Feeling I’m Falling.” It is proper to lament that he didn’t record more instrumentals displaying his full musical talents, and that he was forced by the commercial demands of his record label to be instead an entertainer and comedian—but his comic performances are so marvelous that I can’t put my heart into such a complaint. After all, great musical comedians are rarer than great pianists.

The triteness and sentimentality that plagued popular song of the jazz age was Waller’s unfailing spring of humor. (The glories of Porter, the Gershwins, Rodgers & Hart et al. rose above this morass, but Waller rarely got to sing any great songs besides his own.) Once you’ve heard him make light of a shopworn lyric, you will never again be able to hear a straight rendition without snickering. Above all, he gleefully skewers the melodramatic hyperbole larded into love songs: if you break my heart I’ll die. In “It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie,” Fats updates this to, “If you break my heart I’ll break your jaw and then I’ll die,” and in “Stay,” a duet with a female singer, when she sighs lugubriously, “And please believe me / Without you I would die,” he interjects, “’Course, I ain’t gonna let her die—no, I might kill her lightly…” He salvages (and savages) “The Curse of an Aching Heart,” a self-pitying bit of rubbish, with a spoken introduction: “Yeah, this is me—look at me, look at me! I look like something the cats had in the alley last night…” Then he sings the rest of the song like a drunken Pagliacci. Listen to a lot of Waller’s recordings, and the whole enterprise of the love song teeters on its throne, raising the question of whether passion can coexist with a lively sense of the absurd. (Irving Berlin wrote a song on this subject, lamenting, “I want to be romantic, but I haven’t a chance, / You’ve got a sense of humor, and humor is death to romance.”)

Alfred Appel, Jr. justly titled Waller the “King of Razz.”

All this clowning can’t conceal the iridescent brilliance of his playing, with its springy stride rhythm and gossamer arpeggios. No other pianist gave a more accurate demonstration of “tickling the ivories.” Occasionally, as though giving voice to his piano, he would cry, “Aw, the ticklin’ is so terrific!” He punctuates instrumental sections with exhortations to the band, a six-piece ensemble dubbed His Rhythm: conversing with the soloists (“Boy, would you plunk them strings? Plunk ‘em, plunk ‘em!”), and the instruments, as when he demands of a disgruntled-sounding muted trombone: “Who is you growlin’ at, woman?” He knowingly and sarcastically uses this kind of fractured grammar, so offensively imitated by white lyricists like Berlin (“It’s just the bestest band what am, honey lamb”), then turns it on its head by translating “your feets too big” into the peerlessly pompous, “Your pedal extremities are colossal.”

All the interjections, wordplay and verbal slapstick were ad-libbed, as he plowed through piles of mostly mediocre or worse songs he’d never seen before in marathon recording sessions for RCA Victor, fueled by sandwiches and gin. He veers into a prissy, whining falsetto or a goofy operatic basso profundo; scats, baby talks, reacts with surprise to the lyrics he’s singing, and enacts little spoken dramas in the background. But for all his hamming and volcanic spirit of ridicule, his teasing is never mean-spirited, and now and then he gives a straightforward, tender rendition that elevates a potentially cloying song like, “My Very Good Friend, the Milkman,” or reveals an unexpected gem like the charming tribute to a liberated woman, “A Little Bit Independent.” Despite his comic bent, Waller’s singing has far more heart and warmth than reptilian crooners like Rudy Vallee put into their high-pitched drone of seduction.

He made far fewer film appearances than one would wish, since his facial expressions are as finely calibrated for comedy as his voice. In Stormy Weather (1943) he does a duet with Ada Brown, accompanying her as she belts out a low-down blues and slipping in hilarious asides in response to her allegations of mistreatment (“Suffer, excess baggage, suffer!”), while his chubby features rearrange themselves into a mask of supercilious disdain or flinch in fastidious dismay.

Even his eyebrows had rhythm. Thick, black and extravagantly arched, they had the springy calligraphy of Hirschfeld’s pen-strokes, and when he sang they waggled up and down, saucy as chorus girls’ hips. His face was moon-shaped and, in black-and-white film, almost moon-pale, a striking backdrop for the eyebrows, the huge mouth daintily outlined with a mustache, and the round black eyes, which rolled dramatically or narrowed to sleepy, mischievous slits. A derby tilted over one eye completed this cartoon-like, yet minutely expressive face.

Alas, he died in 1943, not yet 40, at the height of his popularity. The cause was pneumonia, but his system was worn down from too much touring, too much eating, too much drinking, and the stress of legal wrangling over alimony payments. He was the son of respectable, strait-laced parents, his father a Baptist minister; young Thomas used to accompany his services on the organ, which remained his favorite instrument. As a teenager he played in movie theaters, and his recordings on the pipe organ use its vast palette to surprisingly light and graceful effect, creating watercolor-like washes of sound that still swing. His vocal mannerisms often show the influence of preaching, with call-and-response patterns and shouts of soul-fired joy. Predictably, his parents were opposed to his becoming a musician, no doubt predicting he would fall into evil company—as he did if the story can be believed that he was once kidnapped at gun-point and made to give a command performance at a birthday party for Al Capone. If true, this speaks well of Capone’s taste. It’s something to imagine, this meeting of two men who were both, in their very different ways, experts at misbehaving.

by Imogen Sara Smith

#Imogen Sara Smith #Fats Waller #The Chiseler

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pamphletstoinspire · 6 years

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The Church's Year - INSTRUCTION ON THE ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

At the Introit pray with the priest for brotherly love and for protection against our enemies within and without:

INTROIT God in his holy place; God, who maketh men of one mind to dwell in a house: he shall give power and strength to his people. Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered; and let them that hate him flee from before His face. (Ps. LXVII.) Glory etc.

COLLECT Almighty, everlasting God, who, in the abundance of Thy loving kindness, dost exceed both the merits and desires of Thy suppliants; pour down upon us Thy mercy, that thou mayest forgive those things of which our conscience is afraid, and grant us those things which our prayer ventures not to ask. Through...

EPISTLE (i Cor. XV. 1-10.) Brethren, I make known unto you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand: by which also you are saved: if you hold fast after what manner I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all, which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures: and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: and that he was seen by Cephas, and after that by the eleven. Then was he seen by more than five hundred brethren at once, of whom many remain until this present, and some are fallen asleep. After that he was seen by James, then by all the apostles. And last of all, he was seen also by me, as by one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God; but by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace in me hath not been void.

INSTRUCTION I. St. Paul warns the Corinthians against those who denied the Resurrection of Christ and exhorts them to persevere in the faith which they have received, and to live in accordance with the same. Learn from this to persevere firmly in the one, only saving Catholic faith, which is the same that Paul preached.

II. In this epistle to the Corinthians St. Paul gives us a beautiful example of humility. Because of the sins he had committed before his conversion, he calls himself one born out of due time, the least of the apostles, and not worthy of being called an apostle, although he had labored much in the service of Christ. He ascribes it to God's grace that he was what he was. Thus speaks the truly humble man: he sees in himself nothing but weakness, sin, and evil, and therefore despises himself and is therefore willing to be despised by others. The good which he professes or practices, he ascribes to God, to whom he refers all the honor. Endeavor, too, O Christian soul, to attain such humility. You have far more reason to do so than had St. Paul, because of the sins which you have committed since your baptism, the graces which you have abused, and the inactive, useless life you have led.

ASPIRATION Banish from me, O most loving Saviour, the spirit of pride, and grant me the necessary grace of humility. Let me realize that of myself I can do nothing, and that all my power to effect any good, comes from Thee alone who alone workest in us to will and to accomplish.

GOSPEL (Mark vii. 3I-37.) At that time, Jesus going out of the coast of Tyre, came by Sidon to the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coast of Decapolis. And they bring to him one deaf and dumb, and they besought him that he would lay his hand upon him. And taking him from the multitude apart, he put his fingers into his ears, and spitting, he touched his tongue: and looking up to heaven, he groaned, and said to him, Ephpheta, which is, Be thou opened: and immediately his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke right. And he charged them that they should tell no man; but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal did they publish it, and so much the more did they wonder, saying: He hath done all things well: he hath made both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.

Whom may we understand by the deaf and dumb man?

Those who desire neither to hear nor to speak of things concerning salvation.

Why did Christ take the deaf and dumb man aside?

To teach us that he who wishes to live piously and be comforted, must avoid the noisy world and dangerous society, and love solitude, for there God speaks to the heart. (Osee ii. i4.)

Why did Christ forbid them to mention this miracle?

That we might learn to fly from the praise of vain and fickle men.

What do we learn from those who brought the deaf and dumb man to Jesus, and notwithstanding the prohibition, made known the miracle?

That in want and sicknesswe should kindly assist our neighbor, and not neglect to announce and praise the works of God, for God works His miracles that His goodness and omnipotence may be known and honored.

SUPPLICATION O Lord Jesus, who during Thy life on earth, didst cure the sick and the infirm, open my ears that they may listen to Thy will, and loosen my tongue that I may honor and announce Thy works. Take away from me, O most bountiful Jesus, the desire for human praise, that I may not be led to reveal my good works, and thus lose the reward of my Heavenly Father. (Matt. vi. I.) .

ON RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES

What are ceremonies?

Religious ceremonies are certain forms and usages, prescribed for divine service, for the increase of devotion, and the edification of our fellow-men; they represent externally and visibly the interior feelings of man.

Why do we make use of ceremonies in our service?

That we may serve God not only inwardly with the soul, but outwardly with the body by external devotion; that we may keep our attention fixed, increase our devotion, and edify others; that by these external things we may be raised to the contemplation of divine, inward things. (Trid. .Sess. 22.)

Are ceremonies founded on Scripture?

They are; for besides those which Christ used, as related in this day's gospel, in regard to the deaf and dumb man, He has also made use of other and different ceremonies: as, when He blessed bread and fishes; (Matt. xv. 36.) when He spread clay upon the eyes of a blind man; (John ix. 6.) when He prayed on bended knees; (Luke xxii. q.i.) when He fell upon His face to pray; (Matt. xxvi, 39.) when He breathed upon His disciples, imparting to them the Holy Ghost; (John xx. 22.) and finally, when He blessed them with uplifted hands before ascending into heaven. (Luke xxiv. 30.) Likewise in the Old Law various ceremonies were prescribed for the Jews, of which indeed in the New Law the greater number have been abolished; others, however, have been retained, and new ones added. If, therefore, the enemies of the Church contend that ceremonies are superfluous, since Christ Himself reproached the Jews for their ceremonial observances, and said: God must be adored in spirit and in truth, we may, without mentioning that Christ Himself made use of certain ceremonies, answer, that He did not find fault with their use, but only with the intention of the Jews. They observed every ceremony most scrupulously, without at the same time entertaining pious sentiments in the heart, and whilst they dared not under any circumstances omit even the least ceremony, they scrupled not to oppress and defraud their neighbor. Therefore Christ says: God must be adored in spirit and in truth, that is, in the innermost heart, and not in external appearances only. -Do not, therefore, let the objections, nor the scoffs and sneers of the enemies of our Church confound you, but seek to know the spirit and meaning of each ceremony, and impress them on your heart, and then make use of them to inflame your piety, to glorify God, and to edify your neighbor.

INSTRUCTION CONCERNING THE ABUSE OF THE TONGUE

There is no member of the body more dangerous and pernicious than the tongue. The tongue, says the Apostle St. James, is indeed a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold how small a fire kindleth a great wood. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is placed among our members, which defileth the whole body, and inflameth the wheel of our nativity, being set on fire by hell. (James iii. 5. 6.) The tongue no man can tame: an unquiet evil, full of deadly poison. By it we bless God and the Father; and by it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. (ibid. iii. 8-10.) There is no country, no city, scarcely a house, in which evil tongues do not cause quarrel and strife, discord and enmity, jealousy and slander, seduction and debauchery. An impious tongue reviles God and His saints, corrupts the divine word, causes heresy and schism, makes one intemperate, unchaste, envious, and malevolent; in a word, it is according to the apostle a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue of the serpent seduced our first parents, and brought misery and death into the world. (Gen. iii.) The tongue of Judas betrayed Jesus. (Matt. xxvi. 49.) And what is the chief cause of war among princes, revolts among nations, if it is not the tongue of ambitious, restless men, who seek their fortune in war and revolution? How many, in fine, have plunged themselves into the greatest misery by means of their unguarded tongue? How can we secure ourselves against this dangerous, domestic enemy? Only by being slow to speak according to the advice of St. James, (i. 19.) to speak very few, sensible, and well-considered words. In this way we will not offend, but will become perfect. (James iii. 2.:) As this cannot happen without a special grace of God, we must according to the advice of St. Augustine beg divine assistance, in the following or similar words:

ASPIRATION O Lord, set a watch before my mouth, and a door round about my lips, that I may not fall and my tongue destroy me. (Ps. cxl. 3.)

#eleventh sunday after pentecost

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pope-francis-quotes · 4 years

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24th February >> (@RomeReports) #PopeFrancis #Pope Francis’ message for #Lent 2020 ~ “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Cor 5:20)

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

This year the Lord grants us, once again, a favourable time to prepare to celebrate with renewed hearts the great mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus, the cornerstone of our personal and communal Christian life. We must continually return to this mystery in mind and heart, for it will continue to grow within us in the measure that we are open to its spiritual power and respond with freedom and generosity.

1. The paschal mystery as the basis of conversion

Christian joy flows from listening to, and accepting, the Good News of the death and resurrection of Jesus. This kerygma sums up the mystery of a love “so real, so true, so concrete, that it invites us to a relationship of openness and fruitful dialogue” (Christus Vivit, 117). Whoever believes this message rejects the lie that our life is ours to do with as we will. Rather, life is born of the love of God our Father, from his desire to grant us life in abundance (cf. Jn 10:10). If we listen instead to the tempting voice of the “father of lies” (Jn 8:44), we risk sinking into the abyss of absurdity, and experiencing hell here on earth, as all too many tragic events in the personal and collective human experience sadly bear witness.

In this Lent of 2020, I would like to share with every Christian what I wrote to young people in the Apostolic Exhortation Christus Vivit: “Keep your eyes fixed on the outstretched arms of Christ crucified, let yourself be saved over and over again. And when you go to confess your sins, believe firmly in his mercy which frees you of your guilt. Contemplate his blood poured out with such great love, and let yourself be cleansed by it. In this way, you can be reborn ever anew” (No. 123). Jesus’ Pasch is not a past event; rather, through the power of the Holy Spirit it is ever present, enabling us to see and touch with faith the flesh of Christ in those who suffer.

2. The urgency of conversion

It is good to contemplate more deeply the paschal mystery through which God’s mercy has been bestowed upon us. Indeed, the experience of mercy is only possible in a “face to face” relationship with the crucified and risen Lord “who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20), in a heartfelt dialogue between friends. That is why prayer is so important in Lent. Even more than a duty, prayer is an expression of our need to respond to God’s love which always precedes and sustains us. Christians pray in the knowledge that, although unworthy, we are still loved. Prayer can take any number of different forms, but what truly matters in God’s eyes is that it penetrates deep within us and chips away at our hardness of heart, in order to convert us ever more fully to God and to his will.

In this favourable season, then, may we allow ourselves to be led like Israel into the desert (cf. Hos 2:14), so that we can at last hear our Spouse’s voice and allow it to resound ever more deeply within us. The more fully we are engaged with his word, the more we will experience the mercy he freely gives us. May we not let this time of grace pass in vain, in the foolish illusion that we can control the times and means of our conversion to him.

3. God’s passionate will to dialogue with his children

The fact that the Lord once again offers us a favourable time for our conversion should never be taken for granted. This new opportunity ought to awaken in us a sense of gratitude and stir us from our sloth. Despite the sometimes tragic presence of evil in our lives, and in the life of the Church and the world, this opportunity to change our course expresses God’s unwavering will not to interrupt his dialogue of salvation with us. In the crucified Jesus, who knew no sin, yet for our sake was made to be sin (cf. 2 Cor 5:21), this saving will led the Father to burden his Son with the weight of our sins, thus, in the expression of Pope Benedict XVI, “turning of God against himself” (Deus Caritas Est, 12). For God also loves his enemies (cf. Mt 5:43-48).

The dialogue that God wishes to establish with each of us through the paschal mystery of his Son has nothing to do with empty chatter, like that attributed to the ancient inhabitants of Athens, who “spent their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new” (Acts 17:21). Such chatter, determined by an empty and superficial curiosity, characterizes worldliness in every age; in our own day, it can also result in improper use of the media.

4. A richness to be shared, not kept for oneself

Putting the paschal mystery at the centre of our lives means feeling compassion towards the wounds of the crucified Christ present in the many innocent victims of wars, in attacks on life, from that of the unborn to that of the elderly, and various forms of violence. They are likewise present in environmental disasters, the unequal distribution of the earth’s goods, human trafficking in all its forms, and the unbridled thirst for profit, which is a form of idolatry.

Today too, there is a need to appeal to men and women of good will to share, by almsgiving, their goods with those most in need, as a means of personally participating in the building of a better world. Charitable giving makes us more human, whereas hoarding risks making us less human, imprisoned by our own selfishness. We can and must go even further, and consider the structural aspects of our economic life. For this reason, in the midst of Lent this year, from 26 to 28 March, I have convened a meeting in Assisi with young economists, entrepreneurs and change-makers, with the aim of shaping a more just and inclusive economy. As the Church’s magisterium has often repeated, political life represents an eminent form of charity (cf. Pius XI, Address to the Italian Federation of Catholic University Students, 18 December 1927). The same holds true for economic life, which can be approached in the same evangelical spirit, the spirit of the Beatitudes.

I ask Mary Most Holy to pray that our Lenten celebration will open our hearts to hear God’s call to be reconciled to himself, to fix our gaze on the paschal mystery, and to be converted to an open and sincere dialogue with him. In this way, we will become what Christ asks his disciples to be: the salt of the earth and the light of the world (cf. Mt 5:13-14).

FRANCIS

Rome, at Saint John Lateran, 7 October 2019 Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary

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