On the Corruption of Nature and the Efficacy of Divine Grace [I]

[Weedy]

On the Corruption of Nature and the Efficacy of Divine Grace [I]

THE DISCIPLE.
O Lord my God, Thou have created me in Thy own image and likeness.
Grant me this great grace, so necessary to my salvation, that I may
conquer the base elements of my nature, (Rom.7:23) that drag me down
into sin and perdition. Within my being I can feel the power of sin
contending against the rule of my mind, leading me away an obedient
slave to all kinds of sensuality. I cannot resist its onslaughts,
unless Thy most holy grace is poured glowing into my heart to help me.
--Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 3 Ch 55

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4 March – Saint Peter of Pappacarbone

(c 1038-1123)
Bishop, Abbot, Reformer. Born in Salerno, Italy and died in 1123 of
natural causes. Patronage – Policastro, Italy. Also known as – Pieror
de Cava, Peter of La Cava, Peter I of Cava.

The Roman Martyrology reads: “In the Monastery of Cava de Tirreni in
Campania, St Peter, Abbot, admirably renewed the discipline.”

Peter was a native of Salerno in Italy, a nephew of St Alferius,
founder of the Monastery of Cava. Peter entered the religious life at
a very early age under St Leo, the 2nd Abbot of Cava. He distinguished
himself at once by his piety, mortifications and love of solitude.

At this time, the fame of the Abbey of Cluny had spread far and wide,
and the young monk was so attracted by what he had heard, that in
about 1062 he obtained Permission to leave Cava and go to France to
investigate the way of life at Cluny When the older Monks at Cluny
would have sent him to the school to be trained, their Abbot, St Hugh
disagreed, saying that Peter might be young in years but that he was a
full-grown man in devotion. The Abbot’s opinion was abundantly
justified, for Peter proved himself well amongst that household of
holy men and he remained there for some six years.

He was then recalled to Italy, having been released by St Hugh
apparently at the request of the Archdeacon of Rome, Hildebrand (who
was afterwards Pope St Gregory VII). Peter was appointed the first
Bishop of Policastro but he found himself unfitted for the turmoil of
the world and for the secular cares which devolved upon him. He
obtained permission to resign and retired to Cava, where Abbot Leo,
realising that he himself was becoming too old to govern, nominated
him as his successor and withdrew. The Monks, by their votes, had
confirmed the election of their new superior but soon found the strict
rule he had brought from Cluny extremely irksome: they began to murmur
and rebel and some of them carried their complaints to the aged Leo in
his retirement.

Peter, far from resisting and equally far from relaxing the rule,
quietly left and betook himself to another Monastery. It was not long
before the Monks of Cava, urged by Abbot Leo, came to entreat Peter to
return, which he consented to do. Thereafter it was remarked, that
those who had the most vehemently opposed him, were now foremost in
welcoming the rule they had previously spurned.

Under the government of Abbot Peter the Monastery flourished
amazingly. Not only did numbers of aspirants to the religious life
flock to him from all sides but men and women in the world, showered
money and lands upon the community, which was then enabled to minister
far and wide, to the sick and the poor. The Abbey itself had to be
enlarged to admit the new members and a new Church was built, to the
dedication of which came Pope Urban II, who had been with Peter at
Cluny and had remained his close friend. The description of this
occasion was preserved in the chronicles of Cava, where it is stated
that Blessed Urban talked freely with the Abbot and Monks, as though
“forgetting that he was the Pope.”

Peter lived to a great age and died in 1123. He was succeeded by St
Constabilis, who had served as Peter’s Assistant and Auxiliary.

The Abbey of Cava still exists and in 1912 the Monks gave proof of
their devotion to the Founders of their observance by reprinting, from
the unique ancient manuscript in their possession, the Lives of the
Saints Alferius, Peter and two other early Sainted Abbots, purporting
to be written by Hugh of Venosa, a younger contemporary of St Peter.
It is to this biography, which may be found in the Acta Sanctorum
(March, vol. i), that we owe all our knowledge of St Peter of Cava.

The first four Abbots of Cava were officially recognised and Canonised
as Saints on 21 December 1893, by Pope Leo XIII. They are Alferius,
the Founder and first Abbot (1050), Leo I (1050–79), Peter of
Pappacarbone (1079–1123) and Constabilis (1122-1124). Their relics
rest in the Abbey Church in the Chapel of the Saintly Fathers.’

https://anastpaul.com/2022/03/04/


“But I say to you, love your enemies” – Matthew 5:44

REFLECTION – “One of you will say: “I’m not able to love my enemies at
all.” All through Holy Scripture God has said to you that you can and
do you answer Him that, to the contrary, you cannot!? Now think about
it – who are we to believe? God or you? Since He who is Truth itself
cannot lie, let human weakness leave off its futile excuses forthwith!
He who is just, cannot demand something impossible and He who is
merciful, will not condemn someone for something that person could not
avoid. So why these evasions then? There is no-one who knows better,
what we are capable of, than He who has given us the ability...
– St Caesarius of Arles (470-543) Bishop and Monk – Sermons to the
people, no 37

PRAYER – Almighty God, to whom this world, with all it’s goodness and
beauty belongs, give us grace joyfully, to begin this day for Christ
Your Son, in Him and with Him and to fill it, with an active love for
all Your children, even those who may not like or who do us harm. Help
us to love as You do, so that we may become like You. St Casimir, you
who spread your charity abundantly in your short life and continue to
do so now from Heaven, pray for us. Through Christ our Lord, with the
Holy Spirit, one God, forever, amen.

Whoever will come after Me, let him deny himself —Matt. 16:24

"The measure of our advancement in the spiritual life should be taken
from the progress we make in the virtue of mortification; for it
should be held as certain that the greater violence we shall do
ourselves in mortification, the greater advance we shall make in
perfection"
--St. Jerome

When St. Francis Borgia heard it said that anyone was a saint, he
used to answer, "He is, if he is mortified" In this way he himself
became so great a saint; for he exercised himself in mortification to
such a degree that only that day seemed to him truly wretched in which
he had not undergone some mortification, either bodily or spiritually.

When a young monk once asked an aged saint why, among so many who aim
at perfection, so few are found perfect, he replied, "Because in order
to be perfect it is necessary to die wholly to one’s own inclinations,
and there are few who arrive at this."

("A Year with the Saints" March - Mortification)


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Prayer to the Sacred Heart

May all the words that I speak be dipped
in the Blood of Thy Sacred Heart,
O Jesus, that they may be so many arrows
to pierce the hearts of all who hear
them with love for Thee.