Christ The King - Closing of the Year of Faith

On this last Sunday of the Church calendar we celebrate the solemnity of CHRIST, KING OF THE UNIVERSE.

From this humble blog we greet our Lord and King and give thanks for His Kinship of Love, Sacrifice, and Salvation upon us, and we repeat with so many martyrs of the last century:

¡¡VIVA CRISTO REY!!

LONG LIVE CHRIST THE KING!!

Today is also the closing of the YEAR OF FAITH which we have been celebrating since October 2012.

During this special Year we've had a special emphasis on the Creed, the prayer of the Church which summs up our Catholic faith, the faith I profess with Pope Francis and the whole Church

It is especially meaningful the celebration of the Eucharist that Pope Francis held today with all the Patriarchs and leaders of the Churches in full communion with Rome.
During the singing of the Creed, Pope Francis held in his hands a small urn containing the remains of the Apostle Peter, the first Pope, which were exposed to the public for the first time. Here is the video:

I believe in one God, the Father almighty,

maker of heaven and earth,

of all things visible and invisible.

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,

        the Only Begotten Son of God,

        born of the Father before all ages.

    God from God, Light from Light,

        true God from true God,

    begotten, not made, consubstantial

       with the Father;

        Through him all things were made.

    For us men and for our salvation

        he came down from heaven,

        and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate

        of the Virgin Mary,

        and became man.

    For our sake he was crucified

      under Pontius Pilate,

        he suffered death and was buried,

        and rose again on the third day

        in accordance with the Scriptures.

    He ascended into heaven

        and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

    He will come again in glory

        to judge the living and the dead

        and his kingdom will have no end.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

        the Lord, the giver of life,

    who proceeds from the Father and the Son,

    who with the Father and the Son

        is adored and glorified,

        who has spoken through the prophets.

I believe in one, holy, catholic,

     and apostolic Church.

    I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins

        and I look forward to the resurrection

        of the dead and the life of the world to come.

                          Amen.

The Year of Faith has been a year of incredible GRACE from God not only for the Church but also in my own life.

We've seen the amazing workings of the Holy Spirit in the leading of the Church through the historic and humble resignation of Pope Benedict and the gift of Pope Francis to the Church and the world.

In my own Diocesan Church we've seen also the resignation of our Bishop upon reaching the retirement age, and the appointment of our new Bishop.  Then, we've also had a change of Pastor at my parish.

But above and beyond these external -and important- changes, I've been blessed with a renewal of my own faith and my own vocation and place in the Church.

This might be a good time to reflect, how has the Year Of Faith influenced your own life? How has the Spirit touched (blessed - disturbed) you over the last 13 months?

May we all continue to grow stronger in our Faith, our Hope, and our Love.

Christ the King

Today the Church celebrates the last Sunday of its calendar with the solemnity of Christ The King, the Alpha and the Omega.

Whether we know Him or not, believe in Him or not our lives will be measured, ultimately, according to our submission to His Rule.

Too bad that we don't like this kind of language -left alone the reality of having to surrender to anyone -God included. It is too bad because we were born for this surrender to our Savior King.

The second reading of the Divine Office today gives us a hint, in the words of Origen -one of the Fathers of the Church- as to what can we expect from Christ's Kingship:

The kingdom of God within us will reach its highest point when the Apostle’s words are fulfilled, and Christ, having subjected all his enemies to himself, will hand over his kingdom to God the Father, that God may be all in all.

Note this about the kingdom of God. It is not a sharing of justice with iniquity, nor a society of light with darkness, nor a meeting of Christ with Belial. The kingdom of God cannot exist alongside the reign of sin.

There should be in us a kind of spiritual paradise where God may walk and be our sole ruler with his Christ. In us the Lord will sit at the right hand of that spiritual power which we wish to receive. And he will sit there until all his enemies who are within us become his footstool, and every principality, power and virtue in us is cast out.

Then God will reign in us, and we shall enjoy even now the blessings of rebirth and resurrection.

Christ is the only King who wants all and each one of us sitting in the throne with him sharing in the Glory of the children of God. He gave his life in the cross to conquer this legacy for us. This is our future in following Christ's lead.

In our times it has become almost common place to find accounts of what technically is called Near Death Experience. As an example I recommend, one of them is leading, right now, the New York Times "bestseller" list, Heaven is For Real. This kind of stories shortcut organized religion but can give us some taste of how true and real our Catholic religious faith is in spite of all the trappings and sinfulness of those who have passed it on to us -and in spite of our own poor discipleship and our doubts.

We can be sure that we will meet Christ in a more or less distant future. And when we meet him the issue will not be to present ourselves holy and without sin before him, but to be able to choose Him and trust Him in spite of our sins -past and present- because that's the only thing he needs to save us: that is, that we choose to be saved.

Let us think about this. Let us pray for this ultimate grace in our life and in the life of those we love. Let us become familiar with this choice for Christ in our life. Let us practice some training in making the most decisive choice of our lives, a choice that no human being can skip.

And let us rejoice as we sing with all the Saints.

Christ Jesus, Victor!

Christ Jesus, Ruler!

Christ Jesus, Lord and Redeemer!

Rule of Life as a Hermit

Fall season at Emmanuel Hermitage

Another "stand alone page" has been created under the title Rule of Life.

It can be accessed directly in the menu below the heading of this blog.


The post includes the complete text of the initial personal Rule of Life that served this Diocesan Hermit to step into the path of a contemplative solitary, and live it out for five years until first profession of canonical eremitical vows for the Diocese.

There are some comments on specific aspects of the Rule, and the page also touches on the identity as a Redemptoristine Hermitess.

The Assumption of Mary -Body and Soul- into Heaven

Coronation of Mary by Diego Velázquez: Spain 1599-1660

The Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven is a glorious feast of the triumph of the Plan of God for humanity.
Mary excels every other human being after her son Jesus the Christ. But her holiness is just the same as the holiness we are called to. It is the holiness of listening to and responding to God's invitation of Grace. It was not easy for her and it is not easy for us. But it is possible with God's grace because "All is possible with God".

Today we rejoice with Mary because in her humility she has become great with the greatness and the holiness of God. But above all we rejoice with her because she is totally one of us, and where she is not only we can be but we are called, urged to be.

I can think of all the Beatitudes of the Gospel welcoming her "home" today, and she herself joining in the praise of God who has done great things in her, Holy is his Name.


In this magnificent feast, with the background of the liturgical texts of Mary's triumph today God granted me the final confirmation of my vocation as a contemplative, as a pray-er and a Diocesan Hermit. My heart sings for joy and rejoices in the Peace of the Lord as well as in the goodness of the local Church community that God has called me to serve with my life of prayer. This is the Day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad.

With a grateful heart I delight especially in greeting Mary with my favorite hymn from the Liturgy of the Hours:

Mary the dawn, Christ the Perfect Day;
Mary the gate, Christ the Heavenly Way!
Mary the root, Christ the Mystic Vine;
Mary the grape, Christ the Sacred Wine!
Mary the wheat, Christ the Living Bread;
Mary the stem, Christ the Rose Blood-red!
Mary the font, Christ the Cleansing Flood;
Mary the cup, Christ the Saving Blood!
Mary the temple, Christ the temple's Lord;
Mary the shrine, Christ the God adored!
Mary the beacon, Christ the Haven's Rest;
Mary the mirror, Christ the Vision Blest!
Mary the mother, Christ the mother's Son
By all things blest while endless ages run. Amen.

Text: Anon., alt. by the Dominican Sisters of Summit, 1972