THE PEOPLE GATHERED TOGETHER

People gather together at Immaculate Conception to share their very faith with one another in the Eucharistic Lord. How can we put into words the presence of Divinity. 'This is My Body.' It IS HIS Body, adn we are His Body thru sharing in His.

IP CRL

'Happy the Man who finds Wisdom,' [Prov. 3:13]

When I enter into prayer I experience the presence of God, but not in a tangible way as coming from the senses, but as a presence which is beyond every conceivable presence, yet revealed thru His Holy Word-as Revelation.

Eternal Father, I believe, I hope in You, I Love in You; Eternal Son, I believe, I hope in You, I Love in You; Eternal Spirit, I believe, I hope in You, I Love in You.

IP CRL

Union, Mo.

Immaculata Publishing is now making its Corpus Christ Newsletter available to local parishioners at Immaculate Conception Parish in Union, Mo. by door-to-door visitations of the parish family.

When I place my trust in God and spend time with Him in adoration it soothes the soul. His presence is deep and lasting and refreshes more than any joy I can conceive. Why? Because he made us and we belong to Him. Even the Psalmist says this:

"Where can I go from your presence? If I climb the heavens you are there. If I go to the depths of the sea you are there. You know when I sit and when I stand." [Ps. 139:+]

But, we say, this is today? No, 'I have loved you with an everlasting love.' Can we conceive of an everlasting love. I mean a love that has no end; that had no beginning-FOR US, SINNERS ALL! Welcome to Jesus Christ! AND Welcome to Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.

Christ instituted this sacrament on the last supper for our good and he as the Faithful Witness of God's Love remains with us.

We adore you O Christ and we bless you , because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world. Even when evil grasps us, we are free. WE know it: 'The truth will set you free.' What is this truth? 'I am the way, the truth, and the life.'

So I enjoy my tabernacle visits here at Immaculate Conception. I enjoy coming into his presence and adoring him every Tuesday for the whole parish after the children's litury to 7:30 p.m. or daily when I have a chanve.

Also as an extension of this adoration it is a blessing to share with others in the parish about the presence of God in the Eucharist.

IP CRL

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Immaculata Publishing has chosen feedburner as its proprietary feed promoter. With feedburner all of the work of making its many feeds to the Catholic Community will be routed thru its well-established feedburner.com website.

IP CRL

 2:44:26 PM.

small independent publishers dream come true. Intelex specializes in complete works of Well-known Authors works and makes them available to researchers on CD-ROM, for both Windows and Macintosh. Our newly acquired CD-Rom of both Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine [A joint venture with New City Press adn Intelex] both part of Intelex Past Masters series, has made research in these spiritual Masters much easier. At the simple typing of any word and a prompt of the query button the whole corpus available of these two authors can be brought up in seconds to show thousands of relevant passages from their works. Moreover, after relevant passages are found a person can create what is known as a SHADOW file which mirrors the original text for personal notes, etc. Anything from pop-up buttons on teh text to stick notes on the side menus or query searches attached to text or program and other links can be added to make research an keeping notes much easier. All of these notes can be calle dup thru the query buton at any later time. Though each shadow file is limited to 1 megabyte it is well worth the effort work. For example, recently I was researching the miracle of transubstantiaion as taught by Aquinas and was reading a passage from the Summa Theologica of Aquinas concerned with the transubstantiation of the species of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ at the consecration. One part of the passage, in which Aquinas indicates that the species of the bread and wine during the consecration cannot return to primary matter which would amount to returning to nothing nor can they remain with the transubstantiated Body and Blood of Christ after the Consecration. In ordet to understand the passage better I had to understand several of the key words and phrases such as 'dissoulution' or 'primary matter' or perceived by the senses.' No problem, 'Folio views,' the software that comes with Intelex' many CD-Rom's makes that easy. Since all of the words are categorized and easily searchable thru simple or boolean searches, it made these phrases easy to find where Aquinas used them in other passages of his works. Rather than having to spend hundreds of hours going thru each volume I was able to seach and find immediately and then narrow my search and choose the relevant passages within an hours time. It is this kind of software that makes reseach more and more manageable for the small independent publisher who hasn't the time or the research staff tomake this possible otherwise. Thanks to Intelex.

Monday, March 07, 2005 ISSN 1553-8257

It is very heard to understand how day after day for certuries now, Christians have met for the Eucharist in such small groups of people as we have today, here at Immaculate Conception. I presume that Christ had this in mind when he instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper. The Eucharist, as it takes place in the Catholic Liturgy is a Sacred Mystery and the Church views all of the actions of the Eucharistic Liturgy as being sacred actions also. For example, the introit, 'I confess to you Almighty God,' the Church dispenses her grace thru these actions, where the people of God confess their sins together with the Priest. [The Church also believes that onece a priest is ordained, whether he is faithful or not, the sacrament is always valid, regardless of the personal life of the Priest.] The Church dispenses grace because as the sacred institute of Christ, the Church is united to Christ as body to the head and thru the actions of the Body the head dispenses grace won by his Sacred Passion, Death and Resurrecion. My experience of the Liturgy goes back to the early 70's when I was able to join the sisters in prayer, and it was those days that put such a profound effect on my life. There is something so awe-inspiring about these actions that even, when I experience a totally silent participation of the Liturgy, there is something so supernatural taking place in the Church at these times. This experience has stayed with me not only here at Immaculate Conception, but also at every parish I have ever been part of. It also coincides with my growth in faith, hope, and charity. As this morning when I attended this Holy Litrugy I felt the pull of the flesh against the spirit and the division in the Mystical Body, for all who attend have some different degree of faith and participation in the Divine Presence of the Lord. Despite the fact that the Liturgy can overall be rather dry and a source of trial for one's faith, for it always calls forth a greater degree of self-gift ot the Incarnate Word who is present in the Church and in the Priest, still there is something that is absolutely uplifting for body, mond, and spirit. Now, none of this will ever make sense unless a person has faith, and when I say faith, I mean just that, the infused gift of faith in Divine Revelation; otherwise, none of this will ever make sense. This faith that we profess, is to some people just a word, like when someone tells me something, I belive it on the word of another. But we have to get beyond the mere human understanding of this word to its divine origins-it is absolutely a gift of God and no one can minic it. It is like trying to minic that you are a rocket scientist, but you only have a first grade education or that you have a law degree from Harvard but have never set foot within a Court Room or never opened a law book. First of all, faith has to come from within in the deepest part of your Spirit. When you practice your faith, you are absolutely vulnerable to God and every other on teh face of the earth; you are at the heart of all creation, you pplace your entire destiny in the hands of God, there is no going bacak, there is only one way forward. Everyone can do whatever they want to you, but it just doesn't matter, since you are there to serve Jesus Christ. The moment that you realize that you are bread for the world and lunch for the worldly, then you start to open the door of faith to the reality that it is-a Mystery of God's Love for Mankind, a Way in which God reveals himself moment by moment to all of us. But more than this way of thinking about Faith, it is YOUR salvation in Christ and it is a key that you have to start to practice moment by moment to make it real. This seems to be sufficient for today!

IP CRL

Immaculata Publishing© 2005

When Bernard Lonergan speaks about Insight in the introductory paragraphs he speaks about insight as taking place in an atmosphere of the 'tension of inquiry.' This tension takes place between a searching and a finding: a searching for what the mind considers part of a 'composite' structure of knowledge and the finding that composite structure which it once found to be missing, but not yet understood. When this information, in whatever form it takes, the mind registers it as an insight to a previous search.

Lonergan is very concerned in making the reader understand that this kind of insight happens under certain circumstances and not under others. If it happens under one it happens for a reason, while it it doesn't happen under others, it also happens for a different reason, though usually in a counter complimentarity or inverse fashion. In other words, as Jesus said: ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find; knock and the door shall be opened.' He didn't have to say, 'whoever does not seek will not find, whoever asks will not receive; whoever doesn't knock shall not enter,' since this is understood by teh truth that he spoke. Jesus expects his followers to 'seek, ask, and knock.' Also, there is a consequence to the type and quality of the seeking, asking, and knocking. THE one who sincerely seeks Jesus with all 'one's mind, heart, soul, and strength' will genuinely seek what he knows what he should seek and not what he shuldn't seek in wanting to find Jesus; in asking what he should and not asking what he should not ask of God in finding; lastly, in knocking as long and as hard and as consistently as it takes to be united to the One He loves with his 'whole mind, heart, soul, and strength.' For in the end, He realizes that in the proper asking, seeking, and knocking is already a gift, not so much in the receiving, finding, and the door being opened. For Jesus Himself and His Spirit is all of this and more: " I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE."

Asking , seeking, knocking! All this is only possible because first ' sought us, found us, and loved us.' If he Himself has sought, who could hide; if He Himself has knocked who would not want to open, if he Himself has asked, who would not give. So it is a privilege just to desire to give to he who has already sought and found; to he who has asked and has been given; to he who has knocked and the door of our hearts have been opened.

Not that we were worhty of his asking, his seeking, or his knocking, for 'we had all gone astray like sheep without a Shepherd, ' and were perishing as surely as the sun rises. No, the invitation to return in asking, seeking, and in knocking comes as a pure gift from he whom nothing is needed, nothing is missing, nothing changes.

For if the tension of our inquiry is not motivated by the love of He who created and sustains us, what will we truly ask for? If our inquiry is not motivated by seeking He who died for us to set us free from sin and death, what will we truly find; lastly , if our inquiry is not motivated by a love for He who truly knocked on the door of our hearts by putting on Himslef the 'form of a slave,' and emptying Himself for our sakes, what other door will we find worthy of entering?

IP CRL