2025 February | penitents

Confraternity of Penitents Newsletter

February 2025

SPIRITUAL GUARDIAN’S INSIGHTS: THE WORD BECAME FLESH

Article recommended by CFP Guardian, Fr. Joseph Tuscan, OFM Cap. Reprinted with the permission of the author Fr. Thomas G. Weinandy, OFM Cap – Part 2 (part 1 in CFP January 2025 newsletter) https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2024/12/21/the-word-became-flesh/

In the Prologue to the Gospel of John, the Evangelist relates that the Word “came to his own home, and his own people received him not.” Beginning with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Word found a home among the Jews. By means of a covenant, He made them His singular people. The prophets spoke His words and foretold His coming, yet when He came, His very own people refused to acknowledge Him. They knew Him not.

But to “all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” Only by receiving the Word, by believing in His name, do we become God’s children – not by way of natural means, by way of the flesh and the will of man, but rather, it is by the power of God. Only through faith and the new birth in the Holy Spirit does one become a child of God. But in whose “name” must one believe for this transformation to be achieved?

Here, John’s Prologue reaches its climax. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. Previously, God was present in the temple. There he tabernacled among his people. Now, the Word, who was with God and who is God before the beginning began, has come to exist as man, and He tabernacles in our very midst, as man. It is through the weakness of our sin-marred flesh, that we behold his glory – the glory of the Cross and the splendor of His resurrection. As God created all through His Word, so now the Father is re-creating His fallen Creation through His incarnate Word. The Father is making a new beginning through His only begotten Son.

As the incarnate Father’s Word, He possesses the fullness of grace, that is, the fullness of the Father’s loving salvific kindness. He is the author of humankind’s redemption. Likewise, the Incarnate Word embodies the fullness of truth, and so dispels the lies of Satan. Thus, “from his fullness have we all received, grace upon grace.” In, through, and with the Father’s incarnate Word there is an abundance of mercy, kindness, and love. It cannot be exceeded.

The reason for this superabundance is that, while “the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Finally, we know who the Word incarnate is. We now know the name in whom we are to believe so that we might become children of the Father. His name is Jesus Christ. Being named “Jesus” accentuates that the Word incarnated is “YHWH-Saves.” The Word became flesh and dwells in our midst as our Savior. Moreover, Jesus is the Christ – the long awaited and ever anticipated Spirit-filled Messiah. God’s promises of old have now been fulfilled and in a manner that no one would have ever expected.

Likewise, “No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.” As the Word was ever with God and was God, and so makes the truth of God known, so the Son is God and is ever in the Father’s bosom, and so also makes Him known. To behold God’s Incarnate Word is to behold the Father’s Incarnate Son. As the Word and as the Son, Jesus Christ manifests the fullness of who God the Father is. To believe in the name of Jesus, the Son, is to become Spirit-filled children of the Father. We are taken up into, and so dwell within the very life of the Trinity. This is the joy and splendor of Christmas! – Fr. Thomas G. Weinandy, OFM Cap

GRATITUDE (response to lesson Gratitude in Franciscan Virtues Through the Year book)

I am grateful (this is not an exhaustive list. I will keep it short):

for God taking me out of the world and revealing Himself to me and for the precious gift of faith, I am infinitely unworthy of these great graces and I know I received them from God’s Goodness and Mercy and I hope I will be faithful to God’s graces.
I am also grateful for other things that God has revealed to me like penance, humility, charity, the Holy Rosary,
I am extremely grateful for God giving us the Blessed Virgin Mary as our Mother.
I am grateful for many more things such as certain people in my life, nature, sunsets, birds, all animals, the stars and moon and also for the flowers and shells, and of course the ocean where we find the shells.
I love the singing songs of the birds and the dancing of the leaves and the blanket of snow that covers everything in winter.

I definitely have a lot to be grateful for and I didn’t realise this until I began meditating on the virtue of gratitude. I realised I have far more things to be grateful for than ungrateful for as my list of gratefulness is far longer than my list of ungratefulness.

The things I am ungrateful for are

a particular difficult individual I have in my life (landlord)
my mental health
hot weather, especially days over 35 degrees, not a fan of the heat, already dreading purgatory.

What causes me anger and bitterness in my life right now is the particular individual, my mental illnesses, some of my life circumstances and memories of my past or the sin causing situations in my life.

How can I be grateful for these difficult areas in my life? I could definitely try to look at them from a different angle,

I could see the particular individual as someone sent by God to humble me,
I could see the difficult circumstance in my life as situations to help me grow in strength and trust in God,
I can also be grateful that things are not much worse, I can be grateful that I don’t have cancer or one leg for example.
With my past sins and events that happened that I hate, I can be grateful that they are my past and not my present and certainly hopefully not my future.
When trials come I can be grateful toward God by being patient and trusting during the trial and by thanking Him in advance for the good He will bring out of this trial. I need to work on patience and trust in God. (An Anonymous CFP Member)

OUR RULE: MONEY AND THE PENITENTIAL LIFE

Read the lives of any of the medieval lay penitent saints and you will notice a common feature: They were rich and one of the features of their sainthood is that they gave away much or all of their fortune. They did things like found hospitals and practiced charity to the poor. For instance:

St Elizabeth of Hungary founded hospitals and practiced charity to the poor
Saint Louis X of France founded hospitals, built churches, promoted learning, ruled his kingdom with Christian values.
St. Margaret of Cortona formed a community of women to care for the poor, founded a hospital and the Confraternity of Our Lady
Blessed Luisa Albertoni cared for the poor, especially destitute young girls who needed work or a dowry.

The Rule of 1221 and its modern adaptation, the CfP Constitutions, are plainly designed to facilitate similar behavior on our part. But we also have an absolute obligation to take care of our families and to set a good example for our children and our neighbors.

The Rule of 1221 and the CfP Constitution are a plan for living. They are like a four-legged stool. Done right our life is one of prayer (about 90 minutes a day plus Daily Mass or an alternative), fasting about a third of the year and abstaining from meat four of seven days a week, simplifying our physical possessions, starting with our wardrobe, and finally paying off our debts and practicing tithing.

The last leg of this stool is what this article is about, because it is sort of a conundrum. We have an absolute obligation to take care of our families, which implies we should buy or rent a house. Unless we live in a large city with excellent transit, we need a car. And then most of us have credit card debt and student loans.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton reminds us that the first rule of our Savior’s life was to do his Father’s will. “Well, then, the first end I propose in our daily work is to do the will of God; secondly, to do it in the manner he wills; and thirdly, to do it because it is his will,” she says.

“I know what his will is by those who direct me; whatever they bid me do, if it is ever so small in itself, is the will of God for me,” she adds. For us, and for all religious, understanding God’s will begins with the Rule we are to follow.

So, how do we balance our obligation to our family, to our work and to the Article 29b of the CfP Constitution which tells us to “pay up (our) debts” and to tithe.

Aside from the fact our Constitution obligates us to become debt free, why else should we pay up our debts? Doing so will reduce stress, it will take us our of bondage to the bank, it will enable us to take better care of our families – and to better give to charitable institutions in imitation of early penitents.

How to do this? It’s two seemingly contradictory steps: Pay off your credit cards and buy a house at the same time.

Yes, buy a house. And accept the fact you will probably have to take on a mortgage to do so. Your real estate agent will encourage you to go for the biggest house you can afford. Try to resist that temptation. The larger the house the more it will cost you every month to heat or cool, to maintain physically – and the more stuff you will acquire to fill us the empty space.

Why buy a house rather than rent? Buying will let you build equity. It’s a “forced savings plan.” Your landlord is counting on you to build his equity while you collect rent receipts. Build your own equity, not his. (A side note: Yes, real estate prices can go down. But if you’re in a decent area, they will go up again. The exception: If the underlying economics of your area change, such as a plant closing or a riot in or near your neighborhood.)

About the mortgage: No one knows whether mortgage rates are going to go up or down, so try to avoid an adjustable rate mortgage. Yes, it’s true, the rate could go down – but the rate could also go up which could boost your monthly payment a thousand dollars or more. So, stick with a 30-year, self-amortizing mortgage. If rates do go down, you can always refinance.

Why not a 15-year mortgage? It’s true you can get debt free a lot quicker with a 15-year mortgage and save hundreds of thousands of dollars in interest payments. But you want as much flexibility as possible if you lose your job or some other disaster occurs. So, get the 30-year mortgage – but, if you can, pay it as if it is a 15-year mortgage.

Don’t buy a car until you really have to – because your old car no longer works, or annual repair bills exceed what you would pay each month to buy a replacement vehicle.

Yes, pay off your credit cards. As quickly as possible. Remember, it’s not how much you make, it’s how much you keep. The interest rate on many cards exceeds 30%. That simply is loan-shark territory. Paying off credit cards is an art in itself, but it starts by not using any credit card if you have to carry a balance from month to month. Pay cash, write a check or use a debit card. Think of it as a credit card fast.

Here’s how to pay off your credit cards:

1. Take your credit cards out of your pocket. If you don’t have access to them, you can’t use them.

2. If you don’t have a reserve fund, start one. Most experts recommend at least $2000 in your reserve fund. You can fund it a bit each month. For instance, you could deposit $100 a month for 20 months and have a bit more than $2,000. Or $50 for 40 months. This will protect you against most things like bank overdrafts, having to buy a new set of tires, an emergency call to the plumber, etc.

3. If you have just one credit card, figure out how much more than the minimum you can reasonably pay each month and begin making that payment. Your credit card statement will have a helpful chart on the front page showing you much to pay each month to pay that card off in three years.

4. If you have balances on two or more credit cards, decide whether you want to pay off the card with the lowest balance or the highest interest rate first. The lowest balance will get that card paid off relatively quickly, but paying off the one with the highest interest rate first will save you more on interest. It’s your call. I would recommend setting up an automatic payment. If you can roll all your credit cards into a debt consolidation loan at a rate lower than your cards, do so. Just don’t resume using your cards unless you can pay the entire balance each month.

Two more questions: If your employer will match your payment to a 401(k) or similar plan, by all means make a big enough contribution to get the full match – but no more. Your No. 1 priority is to pay down your debts.

Take a vacation? By all means. But avoid those big-ticket vacations to Walt Disney World or Universal Studios. Make your vacation a “staycation” – operating from your house, visit the local sights. If you can, tie it into a retreat. (CfP retreats are relatively inexpensive, and you get the opportunity to get to know your brother and sister penitents.) In some cases, it’s possible to stay at a retreat center for several days after the retreat ends, so you can avoid an expensive hotel room while you explore sites in the area.

And remember, those who don’t have to worry about expenses got that way by worrying about expenses. Interest, whether on a credit card or a mortgage, is always an expense. We want to get rid of interest expense as quickly as possible, generally starting with the highest-rate interest. –Joel Whitaker, CfP

Confraternity Photo Album

MEET SUSAN PORZIO, CFP HOLY ANGELS GIFT SHOP MANAGER

Susan lives at Annunciation Women’s Vita Dei House and, therefore, is two blocks away from the CFP Holy Angels Gift Shop where she has been volunteering for the past two years. Gradually she’s learning all the ins and outs of the CFP Holy Angels Gift Shop.

The CFP is very blessed to have someone of Susan’s caliber and integrity to be the shop manager. Thank You, Lord!

Susan has created several prayer cards for the CFP Holy Angels Gift Shop as well as a chaplet for priests in Purgatory. All are available at www.cfpholyangels.com or by writing to CFP Holy Angels Gift Shop, 1702 Lumbard Street, Fort Wayne IN 46803 USA.

Call 260-7239-6882 to place an order by phone.

All cards have bulk discounts.

Susan’s prayer cards and chaplet are pictured below:

Chaplet for Priests in Purgatory $6.75

Christmas Rose Prayer Card 25c

Vintage Christmas Greeting Prayer 25c

Prayer Card Mary Carrying YOU 25c

Prayer Card Mary Carrying YOU 25c

Litany to Eternal Father 35c

Jesus in Blessed Sacrament Prayer Card 25c

Write Your Message on Blank Back 25c

Prayer to Saint Benedict the African 25c

NO GREATER LOVE: FROM THE LAST SUPPER TO THE LORD’S DAY

At the Last Supper, the Lord instructs the Apostles to repeat what He had just done. Pope Benedict, in Jesus of Nazareth, explains for us what they were to repeat. In Paul and Luke, the words "This is my body which is the given for you” are followed by the instruction to repeat the action: “Do this in remembrance of me!” Paul repeats the instruction in a more detailed form after the words over the chalice. Mark and Matthew make no reference to this instruction, but since the concrete form of their accounts is shaped by liturgical usage, it is clear that they too understood these words to be instituting something: they understood that what happened here for the first time was to be continued in the community of disciples.

Yet we may ask: What exactly did the Lord instruct them to repeat? Certainly not the Passover meal (if that is what Jesus' Last Supper was). The Passover was an annual feast, whose recurring celebration in Israel was clearly regulated through hallowed tradition and tied to a specific date. Even if what happened that evening was not an actual Passover meal according to Jewish law, but Jesus' last meal on earth before his death, still, that is not what they were told to repeat.

The instruction to repeat refers simply to what was new in Jesus' actions that evening: the breaking of bread, the prayer of blessing and thanksgiving accompanied by the words of consecration of bread and wine. We might say: through these words our "now" is taken up into the hour of Jesus. What Jesus had proclaimed in John 12:32 is here fulfilled: from the Cross he draws all men to himself, into himself.

The Lord’s words of consecration “This is My Body”, “This is My Blood” were not said in isolation. They were part of the Lord’s prayer of praise and thanksgiving at the end of the Last Supper, the Jewish “berakah”. In the Church, this became the Christian prayer of praise and thanksgiving, the Eucharist. Pope Benedict notes that in the very early Church there probably was a communal meal, patterned after the Last Supper, consisting only of bread which was then followed by the celebration of the Eucharist. The “meal” part of the celebration soon became a problem as the Church grew in size and into different cultures. In his letter to the Corinthians, written in the mid 50’s AD, St. Paul notes how at the Eucharistic celebration the communal meal became a feast for the rich while the poor had only bread. (1 Cor 11:20-22,34). Thus, the communal meal part of the Eucharist soon dropped out and only the consecration with the praise and thanksgiving prayers remained. Pope Benedict quotes a scholar who states that it was not until the sixteenth century (the Protestant Reformation) that the Eucharist was ever referred to as a “meal”. What we celebrate as the Eucharist is not a meal but rather something very different which occurred in the context of a meal.

The Eucharist is a celebration of praise and thanksgiving, but for what? The Lord’s death on the Cross for us as expiation for our sins was accepted by the Father. The Father’s acceptance was proven by the Lord’s Resurrection on Easter Sunday. The Jewish berakah becomes the Lord’s Eucharist, His prayer of praise and thanksgiving for His triumph over sin and death on Easter Sunday. Of course, when we receive the Eucharist worthily, we are not only giving praise and thanksgiving for the Lord’s Resurrection, but also our own. “As the Living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.” (Jn 6:57-58)

In 70 AD, the animal sacrifices in the Jerusalem Temple, as required by the Old Covenant, ended when the Romans destroyed the Temple. Since the animal sacrifices could only be carried out in Jerusalem, they had to end. For Christians, however, these sacrifices really ended in 33 AD in the upper room at the Last Supper in Jerusalem. The sacrifices of animals were replaced by the Eucharist, the Lord’s offering of bread and wine as His Body and His Blood. However, from where did the offering of bread and wine come?

In psalm 110, God is speaking to the Messiah, who Christians believe to be Jesus Christ. “The Lord has sworn and will not waver ‘Like Melchizedek you are a priest forever.’” (Ps 110:4) Who is Melchizedek? About 1850 years before the Last Supper, Lot, the nephew of the patriarch Abraham was captured by marauding kings. Abraham gathered together 318 men and attacked these kings in their camp at night. He scattered them and rescued Lot and his family. Near Jerusalem, the King of Salem, Melchizedek, who was also a priest of God, offered bread and wine as a thanksgiving sacrifice for Abraham’s victory. Melchizedek said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, creator of heaven and earth, and blessed be God Most High for handing over your enemies to you” (Gn 14:20) Like the Eucharist, this was a thanksgiving sacrifice, and bread and wine was offered to God and not an animal. The Lord’s institution of the Eucharist in Jerusalem was prefigured almost two thousand years earlier in Jerusalem. The connection between the priesthood of Melchizedek and Jesus Christ is made in the letter to the Hebrews, chapter 7, and Christian tradition.

While the offering of bread and wine in the Mass can be done on most days of the year, the Lord’s Day, the Day when we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ by the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is Sunday. When we receive the Eucharist or are present at Mass we are encountering the Risen Lord. While the Lord instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper on Holy Thursday, the Eucharist could not be celebrated until the Lord had risen from the dead. This is why Catholics are required to attend Mass, if at all possible, on Sunday. It is the central sacrament of Christian life.

In the Jewish environment of Jesus and His disciples, the animal sacrifices could only be offered in the temple in Jerusalem and Jews were required to be in Jerusalem three times a year. The rest of the year, devout Jews observed the Sabbath in synagogues. Many places in the Gospels mention Jesus attending and teaching in a synagogue. These were places, where, unlike the temple which was only in Jerusalem, could be anywhere. Here, Jews or anyone could be instructed in the scriptures. The synagogue instruction and animal sacrifices were complementary. Jews and gentiles could learn about the Mosaic Law and the prophets in the synagogue. The Catholic Holy Sacrifice of the Mass combines the temple and the synagogue. First there is the liturgy of the Word where scripture is read and the priest instructs the congregation with a sermon. This is followed by the Eucharistic Sacrifice where the priest offers bread and wine. The scripture reading and the priest’s sermon compliments the Eucharist just as the synagogue teachings complimented the animal sacrifices in the Jerusalem Temple.

The basic structure of the Mass was already present on the evening of Easter Sunday. Two of the Lord’s disciples were walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They encounter a stranger who asks them what they were talking about. They were talking about Jesus who had been a great prophet, but the Jewish authorities tried Him and had Him crucified by the Romans. However, on the third day after He was killed some women had testified that they saw Him alive. The stranger then instructed them about the scriptures and how they predicted what was to happen to Jesus. When they arrived at Emmaus, the two disciples persuaded the stranger to stay with them since it was already late. When they were eating, the stranger took bread and said a blessing, broke the bread and gave it to the two disciples. When the stranger did this, the disciples realized that the stranger was Jesus. (Lk 24:13-35) While these two disciples were probably not present at the Last Supper, they may have been present at other times when Jesus broke bread with His disciples. This caused them to recognize Him. The Gospel does not tell us whether the two disciples ate the bread which the Lord had given them. They did immediately return to Jerusalem to tell the other disciples what had happened.

In around 58 AD, when St. Paul was returning to Jerusalem after his third missionary journey, he arrived in Troas on the western coast of modern-day Turkey. He met with his companions there at the beginning of the first day of the week, which for us would be Saturday evening. St. Paul gave a very long sermon which lasted to about midnight. The sermon was so long that a young man sitting on a window fell asleep, fell from the third story, and died from the fall. However, St. Paul went to the young man, embraced him, and he came back to life. Then Paul “broke bread” with his companions and continued to speak with them until daybreak and then he left Troas. (Acts 20:7-12) The “breaking of bread” was the Eucharist. St. Paul was obeying the command of the Lord to repeat what He had done at the Last Supper. This passage from the book of Acts is the earliest evidence that the Church celebrated the Eucharist on Sunday. (the first day of the week) Here again, we have the structure of the Mass with teaching (the liturgy of the Word) followed by the Eucharist. This basic structure continues to this day. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the fulfillment of the Lord’s Mission to the world which He accomplished on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. – Jim Nugent, CfP

HUMOR: PUNS

I tried to come up with a carpentry pun that woodwork. I think I nailed it, but nobody saw it.
What’s the difference between ignorance and indifference? I don’t know and I don’t care.
I accidentally passed my wife a glue stick instead of a chap stick. She’s still not talking to me.
A friend said she didn’t understand cloning. I said that makes two of us.
What’s Irish and stays outside all year? Patty O’Furniture.
What do you call a bullet proof Irishman/ Rick O’Shea
A lumberjack went into a magic forest to fell a tree. Upon arrival, he went to swing at the tree when it shouted, “Wait! I’m a talking tree!” The lumberjack grinned and said, “And you will dialogue.”
My friend went bald a few years ago, but he still carries around an old comb. He just can’t part with it.
I went to MacDonald’s today and ate a Kid’s Meal. It was good but his mom was furious.
What do you call a belt made out of 100 dollar bills? A waist of money.
What do you call a melon that’s not allowed to get married? A cantaloupe.

Carry the Cross with Padre Pio - Daily Reflections for Lent -- Retails for $16.95. Save with this extraordinary sale! Limited supply of this new book at this $4.95 price. Available from the CFP Holy Angels Gift Shop www.cfpholyangels.com Discounts start at 2 or more copies to same address.. As low as $3.95 for 10 or more copies. Discount calculates upon checkout.

Through carefully selected excerpts from St. Pio’s letters, you will follow in the footsteps of this holy Capuchin monk who spent fifty years carrying his cross and mirroring Christ’s Passion.

Journey from the dust of Ash Wednesday to the glories of Easter, witnessing both the sufferings St. Pio endured and the graces he received. Discover how he embraced each day as a “little Lent,” drawing closer to holiness by uniting his sufferings and sacrifices with Christ.

Through the six weeks of Lent, you will accompany Padre Pio through the significant spiritual moments of his life, including these:

His childhood experiences that led him to consecrate himself to Jesus and Mary
His teenage calling that erupted into a flame of intense, lifelong love
His mystical gifts—including the stigmata—and purposeful suffering
His spiritual battles against the powers of evil
His “mystical touches” that consoled him and enabled him to persevere
His devotion of Christ’s Passion and his intent to offer himself for souls

Each week begins with a Marian-themed reflection followed by four days that explore aspects of St. Pio’s supernatural gifts and challenges. Each week concludes with a story about his encounter with a consoling angel.

Before you begin your Lenten journey with Padre Pio, De Bartoli encourages you to consider what cross the Lord is asking you to carry for love of him as you journey toward Easter. Without suffering, there can be no healing, no redemption. Take a moment now to thank the Lord for the journey of love ahead as we walk together toward the glories of Easter.

Confraternity of Penitents Newsletter February 2025