Carnem levare

James 4:1-10; Ps 55 Throw your crew on the Lord, and he will support you; Mark 9:30-37

James in the first letter for this day's celebration of the Eucharist ask a question that is striking and zeroed in, "Where do the wars and where do the conflicts among you come from?"

What a question to ask especially in the recent history of the world where it seems every time we turn around their is a another flare up in a different corner of the global scene.

Conflicts in Syria, Egypt, ISrael, Iran, Iraq, Palestine, and that is just in one small corner. There are conflicts every where.

Can all of this be boiled down to the passions as James so describes, "Is it not from your passions that make war within your members? "


Our passions!

"Do you not know to be a lover of the world is to be an enemy of God!"

One must hate the world enough to change it and love it enough to think it worthy of change.

We eneter in to Fat Tuesday, tomorrow we step into those 40 days of Lent. The latin to describe this tuesday before Ash Wednesday is Carnem Levare, "Leave away from the flesh."

Thus Lent affords us the opportunity to train the flesh, to discipline our bodies and appetites and to truly put an end to the wars that wage within us as a human community. IT is a time to grow in the willingness to no longer seek our self in love, to set aside our selfishness and to learn to give our selves in love, to truly be sacrificial.

A little mortification goes a long way.

Here are a few words from St Josemaria Escriva:

"Whenever you see a poor, wooden cross, alone, uncared-for, worthless...and without a corpus, don't forget that that cross os your cross-the everyday hidden cross, unattractive and unconsoling-the cross that is waiting for the corpus it lacks: and that corpus must be you."

As James continues, "Submit yourself to God. Resist the Devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to gOd and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you of two minds. Begin to lament, to mourn, to weep. Humble yourself before the Lord and he will exult you."


Here is what the Catechism of the Church states in regards to passions

CCC 1767 "In themselves passions are neither good nor evil. They are morally qualified only to the extent they effectively engage reason and will. Passions are said to be voluntary, "either because they are commanded by the will or because the will does not place obstacles in their way." It belongs to the perfection of the moral or human good that the passions be governed by reason."

CCC1768 "Strong feelings are not decisive for the morality or the holiness of persons; they are simply the inexhaustible reservoir of images and affections in which the moral life is expressed. Passions are morally good when they contribute to a good action, evil in the opposite case. The upright will orders the movements of the senses int appropriates to the good and to beatitude; an evil will succumbs to disordered passions and exacerbates them. Emotions and feelings can be taken up int o the virtues or perverted by the vices."

CCC1766 "To love is to will the good of another. All other affections have their source in this first movement of the human heart toward the good. Only the good can be loved"


words of St Peter Damian whose feast is today,
"May Christ be heard in our language, may Christ be seen in our life, may Christ be perceived in our hearts."


Today is also the feast day of the Holy Face of jesus instituted by Pius XII in 1958. Blessed MArie Pierina de Micheli (1945) had visions in which JEsus spook to her inviting people to make up for the sins of others by devotion to his face,

"I will that My Face, which reflects the intimate pains of My Spirit, the suffering and the love of My Heart, be more honoured. He who meditates upon Me, consoles Me. Every time that My Face is contemplated, I will pour My love into the hearts of men and through My Holy Face will be obtained the salvation of many souls"

Ilumine Domine Vultum tuum supernos, Mane Nobiscum Domine
"May, O Lord, the light of your countenance shine upon us; Saty with us, O Lord!

The bet way to purify the passion is to meditate on the passion of Christ seen in his face.

Today find an image of the Shroud of Turin and look upon it. Spend a few moments gazing upon he face of Christ gazing on you. Let his gaze tame the fire of your passions and truly allowing you to be passionate as he desires.