The Fullness of Time

 "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman." ~Galatians 4:4

source:  google images

She was

swollen with hope

ripe with Love

abundant with grace

saturated with trust

complete with life

full of time

His time

His eternal

never-ending

always there

abiding, enduring, everlasting 

past, present and future

timeless time

He entered

through Her

for us

and we, too, 

are forever timeless

through His grace and with her yes

we exist

in the fullness of time

St. Casimir Church-Milwaukee

The altar at St. Casimir Church

My family and I had the great delight of attending Mass at St. Casimir's Church, part of Our Lady of Divine Providence Parish, in Milwaukee's Riverwest Neighborhood, for the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.  A year ago I wrote a post about The Seven Most Beautiful Churches in Milwaukee. This one should have definitely been included in that list, making the number eight.  It was gorgeous and I thoroughly enjoyed praying and worshiping God there!

The choir sang several Polish Christmas carols which brought back beautiful memories of my parents who would frequently listen to Czech and Polish carols.  One of the carols is included at the end of this post.

There are so many Catholic treasures hidden in the city. What a joy it is to discover and share them!

the tabernacle-so beautiful!

The Blessed Mother-we captured this shot after the altar server had already snuffed the candles that shone so brilliantly, but she is still magnificent!

A close-up of our Lady and the Infant Christ

St. Joseph with the candles still lit

the crucifix on the side of the church

I love these old-fashioned lights!

A case of reliquaries is in the back of church

A sliver from the Cross of Christ

One of the carols that the choir sang at Mass was Dzisiaj w Betlejem.

Today in Bethlehem

In Bethlehem, oh, in Bethlehem the tidings ring triumphant,

Purest of virgins, purest of virgins bore the Holy Infant.

The Virgin Mary, the Virgin Mary, holds the infant Savior.

As holy Joseph, as holy Joseph, ponders this new wonder.

Come, let us join in, come let us join in, raising grateful voices.

For this great mystr'y, for this great mystr'y:  Jesus comes to save us.

Refrain:

Christ is born truly, angels sing duly,

Kings come adoring, shepherds are glorying,

Even dumb creation kneels in adoration.

Oh, what wonders do they proclaim!

Comparison between the Church and Lou Gehrig's disease: A Guest Post by Fr. Benjamin Reese

Enjoy a thought-provoking post by Fr. Benjamin Reese, a priest from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee serving in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  Fr. Reese suffers from Lou Gehrig's disease and has used his current health situation to write a brilliant reflection on Holy Mother Church.  Please do keep Fr. Reese in your prayers as he prays for a reprieve from this illness so as to continue his priestly ministry.  You may want to join him in praying through the intercession of Venerable Pope Pius XII in hopes of obtaining a miracle toward the prospect of his sainthood.

My thoughts on ALS and our current crisis in the Church.

I have been praying as to why God has allowed me to develop ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease (not complaining, just wondering why ALS). The Church is the body of Christ and Jesus is the head of the Church, while the Pope functions as his Head on earth. The Head gives orders which the body should obey.

In ALS, the brain keeps working well (in my case it has always been a bit off), but the message no longer gets to the body (especially the tongue in my case). In other words, the head has thoughts which are no longer preached by the tongue, and the arms and legs don't do what the head tells them to do. Interestingly, the heart keeps working which keeps the body alive (although it finally becomes paralyzed). It would seem that the pollution of the spinal cord with bad chemicals and rogue mutant cells is what destroys the nerves and so cuts off communication and finally life.

In this way, ALS seems a perfect metaphor for the Church today. The head is working well and sending out the very same message of Christ which it has always done. We have had holy Popes and all their documents are easily accessible online. However, the message from Christ the head is no longer getting to the Body of Christ (particularly the younger members). The cultural and family environment has been polluted by the relativism and immorality of the modern world, and so the communication system (family life and Catholic education) are no longer conveying the message from Christ the Head, via the Pope, His head on earth. Indeed, many Bishops who function as heads of their own dioceses are also preaching well again today, but the body is not getting the message due to the acidic affects of modern culture on the body of Christ.

As with ALS, the cure will not be an easy one! We must reduce the cultural pollution which is blocking the message from Christ, the head, by turning off the television, violent video games, and access to impure images on the Internet. Also, Catholic education must be reformed so that the rogue mutants who are teaching heresy must be removed from Catholic schools. Bishops are starting to do this, and I have seen that parish schools and Catholic high schools and colleges are revitalized when this happens. We are blessed to already have medicine to heal the body from spiritual ALS, namely Holy Communion, Confession, and the daily Rosary. In other words, the cure is available, but people have to radically alter their life styles to bring about spiritual healing and the healing of the Church.

Finally, this helps me understand why God sent me to Pope Pius XII to pray for a cure. He was the head of the Church on earth, and he ruled it in such a way that the Church overcame modernism during his tenure. However, the level of modernism swelled in 1968, and so Pope Paul VI was not listened to and most Catholics and even many Bishops rejected his teaching on artificial birth control, which has now led to the acceptance of homosexuality.

God sent me on a pilgrimage to Rome to show that the Holy See functions as the head of Christ on earth.

I had Mass with the current Pope, who consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the presence of Our Lady of Fatima. Indeed, the Fatima message shows the primacy of the Pope and gives us the final solution to overcome modernism (spiritual ALS). If Catholics make a spiritual pilgrimage to Rome (in their hearts) and listen often to the message of Pope Francis, then the Church will be healed and so will I. If the people are not willing to listen to priests who are faithful to the Holy Father, then the Church will die and so will I. People did not listen to Jesus, and they Crucified Him. Today, the Body of Christ, His Church is being crucified by us (I am a sinner too). However, when He Arose, His heart poured out rays of Mercy, and that Mercy is always there whenever we turn to Him with Trust (until death when we are judged). O Blood and Water which gushed forth from the heart of Jesus as a fount of Mercy for us, I trust in Thee! Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us! St. Joseph, pray for us! Padre Pio, pray for us! Ven. Pius XII, pray for us!