10 Catholic Things That Caught My Eye Today (May 11, 2015)

Every devout reception of Holy Communion is a defeat for the demons.

— Charles, OFM Cap. (@FrCharles) May 11, 2015

2. Can you believe it’s the sixth Monday of Easter already? Here’s one homily.

3. St. Symeon the New Theologian today (1012, Constantinople) — titled: “In the Midst of Persecution the Advocate Will Come” — is not to be missed in Magnificat today:

As you piercingly cry out to him,
as you seek him out, the Provider of happiness,
the Giver of joy, the Riches that last and subsist forever,
while he tests your will,
see to it that you do not grow discouraged, my soul, that you do not turn back,
that you do not say: “How long will he remain so incomprehensible to me?”
that you do not say: “Why, when he has just appeared, does he again hide himself?
How long yet will he heap troubles upon me instead of mercy?”
That you do not say: “How can I undergo until the end such crosses?”
But do not shrink back, O my soul,
in seeking the Master,
but as a soul which has once and for all
given itself over to its own death,
do not grope to seek your own ease,
do not seek out glory,
nor the pleasure of the body,
nor the affections of the neighbors.
Do not look at all to the right nor to the left,
but, as you have begun, so even run more ardently!
Make haste always to apprehend, to seize the Master!
As often as he would disappear, even 10,000 times,
likewise 10,000 times he will appear to you.
and thus he who cannot be grasped
will be grasped by you.
10,000 times, or rather as long as you still breathe,
seek with greater ardor to run towards him!
For he will not forsake you, he will not forget you.
Little by little, nay, he will even show himself more and more.
And the more frequently, my soul,
the Master will be present to you,
and after having perfectly purified you
by the radiance of his light,
he himself, the Creator of the world, will be with you.
He himself will be with you, the Creator of the world.
And you will have real riches such as the world
does not possess,
But such as Heaven and those
who are inscribed there possess.
If such will be yours, tell me, what more do you desire?

"To untie all knots and smooth them" — She Never Fails Us: http://t.co/Zxn1Ifcaof #MonthofMary #MaryUndoerofKnots pic.twitter.com/qwZNJljnL0

— Arlington Diocese (@arlingtonchurch) May 11, 2015

Catholics used to speak about reason and reality as a matter of course. In the lectures Ronald Knox gave to… http://t.co/ZA3kzrJejt

— Ethika Politika (@EthikaPolitika) May 11, 2015

''Come back! Come Back…'' by Heather King http://t.co/Rw5BjsKwd7 pic.twitter.com/6Y4SUsZsl1

— Word On Fire (@WordOnFire) May 11, 2015

7. From the treatise On the Trinity by Didymus of Alexandria in the Liturgy of the Hours today:

The Holy Spirit renews us in baptism through his godhead, which he shares with the Father and the Son. Finding us in a state of deformity, the Spirit restores our original beauty and fills us with his grace, leaving no room for anything unworthy of our love. The Spirit frees us from sin and death, and changes us from the earthly men we were, men of dust and ashes, into spiritual men, sharers in the divine glory, sons and heirs of God the Father who bear a likeness to the Son and are his co-heirs and brothers, destined to reign with him and to share his glory. In place of earth the Spirit reopens heaven to us and gladly admits us into paradise, giving us even now greater honor than the angels, and by the holy waters of baptism extinguishing the unquenchable fires of hell.

We men are conceived twice: to the human body we owe our first conception, to the divine Spirit, our second. John says: To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God. These were born not by human generation, not by the desire of the flesh, not by the will of man, but of God. All who believed in Christ, he says, received power to become children of God, that is, of the Holy Spirit, and to gain kinship with God. To show that their parent was God the Holy Spirit, he adds these words of Christ: I give you this solemn warning, that without being born of water and the Spirit, no one can enter the kingdom of God.

Visibly, through the ministry of priests, the font gives symbolic birth to our visible bodies. Invisibly, through the ministry of angels, the Spirit of God, whom even the mind’s eye cannot see, baptizes into himself both our souls and bodies, giving them a new birth.

Speaking quite literally, and also in harmony with the words of water and the Spirit, John the Baptist says of Christ: He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Since we are only vessels of clay, we must first be cleansed in water and then hardened by spiritual fire—for God is a consuming fire. We need the Holy Spirit to perfect and renew us, for spiritual fire can cleanse us, and spiritual water can recast us as in a furnace and make us into new men.

Went to Mass in a nursing home and this is the image in my mind. How they are…and how Jesus sees them. https://t.co/0SgKVG1igD

— Sr. Julia Darrenkamp (@SrJuliaMary) May 11, 2015

As the rust lessens and the soul is opened up to the divine rays, happiness grows — St Catherine of Genoa

— Fr. Thomas Petri, OP (@petriop) May 11, 2015

And one more for the #OPPower hashtag:

Become a Dominican! https://t.co/gF740FR2pH

— Fr. Dismas, O.P. (@dismasop) May 11, 2015

10.

May we, your faithful, not be slow to believe; give us the courage to proclaim your victory over death. Christ, our life, hear us. #vespers

— Fr. Patrick Brennan (@Pathound) May 11, 2015

PLUS: Today’s Mass readings. And #homilytweets:

Without the gifts of the #HolySpirit we cannot open our minds and hearts to God #homilytweet

— Kathryn Jean Lopez (@kathrynlopez) May 11, 2015

They are killing Christians, thinking they are worshipping God. Be strong. #homilytweet #christianpersecution

— Kathryn Jean Lopez (@kathrynlopez) May 11, 2015