On May 30, 2024 we celebrated the Feast of Corpus Christi, the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Eucharist. This Feast day should give us great pause to meditate on why our Lord sits at the right hand of God yet has not left us orphans after His Ascension to Heaven. First consider that God created all things out of love for us in order that we might live with Him eternally. When we and earth pass away, where will we find ourselves? Since we did not create ourselves, our eternal destiny is of serious consequence that depends on our answer to the Father’s will, calling us to follow Christ and receive His precious body and blood in the Most Holy Eucharist in order to unite ourselves to Christ’s Divinity in every way in line with God’s Providence. Let us begin with thinking about the innocence of a child born with original sin. They require immediate attention to remove that defect for securing the eternal destiny of that innocent child. The Sacrament of Baptism grafts the child to Christ, removing original sin. But as the child grows to the age of reason his innocence is gradually diminished by the misuse of his free will in this fallen world. We are dependent on God and His infused graces received through the Sacraments of the Church, for continued health and wellbeing of our spiritual life with Him, in Him and through Him. The ultimate goal in the Christian life is to be guided to the Source and Summit of our faith, the Sacrament of Holy Communion, the real presence of Corpus Christi, because “God Himself wills it, in other words to give us His complete substance as the God-Man, making Himself the bread of our supernatural life, the Bread of our union with Him” (Divine Intimacy by Father Gabriel). In this way, we live the abundant life and begin a foretaste of Heaven on earth. “What more can a soul wish for when it has within itself the One who contains everything.” (Saint Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi)

I am no scholar, nor do I have any formal theological background on which to write anything of great consequence on the subject of the Incarnation of God made man. I am a grandmother who by upbringing in the Catholic faith by loving parents that taught their five children to honor, love and respect Jesus Christ and His teachings through the one true faith of the Catholic Church and by the Catechism classes we were urged to regularly attend- though laxity increased when we reached the high school years lay claim to an ever-burning and growing love for Christ and all the treasures lying deep within the Catholic faith that help us build upon our relationship with God and nourish our souls. That said, today belongs to Mary the incomprehensible Immaculate Virgin on the Feast day of the Mother of God, January 1, 2024, though this day is also a shared Feast of the Circumcision of Our Lord on the last day of the Octave of Christmas. We are in Christmastide which comprises the 40 days from Christmas Day to February 2, Candlemas. Nothing guides you better through the liturgical calendar year than the pre-1962 Latin Roman Rite of the Extraordinary Mass and all its accompanying devotions, prayers, meditations, litanies, psalmodies, Divine Office homilies, readings, traditions and practices of which we are blessed to have access. On this Feast day of the Mother of God, readings and homilies are likely to touch upon one of the most poetically beautiful scripture pieces in the bible, that of the Gospel of John 1:1-18. John 1:1-18 (from the Douay-Rheims Bible, also known as the prologue of Saint John's Gospel) 1- In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him: and without him was made nothing that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.  6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 This man came for a witness, to give testimony of the light, that all men might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but was to give testimony of the light. 9 That was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.  11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12 But as many as received him, he gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in his name. 13 Who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we saw his glory, the glory as it were of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. 15 John beareth witness of him, and crieth out, saying: This was he of whom I spoke: He that shall come after me, is preferred before me: because he was before me.  16 And of his fulness we all have received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. 18 No man hath seen God at any time: the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. There isn't a single Traditional Latin Mass that I've attended where this Gospel is not read with the deepest reverence at the end of Mass, hence called the last Gospel. Meditating on this prayer with the Priest during Mass leaves me with heart piercing love for God which lingers until the next time I meditate on it at the next blessed Mass developing a perpetual love for God infused through Holy Mass, Holy Communion and the unbutchered prayers of the usus antiquor, the Traditional Latin Mass. Knowing that this Gospel reading was removed from the sterile modern Mass which absolutely robs the faithful of its graces and benefits, one of my greatest prayers and hopes for the new year is that this prologue of Saint John the beloved be added back to the liturgy of all Masses as the last Gospel. In fact, to go one step further, my fervent prayer is to be able to see in my lifetime a steady growth of the Traditional Latin Mass in every parish around the world and one day hope that the Norvus Ordo Mass is totally abolished since in my view it laid the groundwork for stripping our Churches and people of their Catholic identity, laying waste the faith of the great majority of people and closing a tremendous number of our parishes. Finally, those who meditate upon the "Last Gospel" during the High Masses of the Traditional Latin Mass weekly or more often will very likely experience a deeper appreciation of the Incarnation of Christ our Lord and growth in the spiritual life that penetrates the soul indelibly. Mary, Mother of God, pray for us. Happy New Year to all! Keep the Faith. Find a Latin Mass nearest you.

PROVERBS 8:22-35. The Lesson prayed at Holy Mass on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, Dec 8. The preaching of wisdom. Her excellence. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His ways, before He made any thing in the beginning. I was set up from eternity, and of old before the earth was made. The depths were not as yet, and I was already conceived, neither had the fountains of waters as yet sprung out. The mountains with their huge bulk had not as yet been established before the hills I was brought forth. He had not yet made the earth, nor the rivers, nor the poles of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was present; when with a certain law and compass He enclosed the depths. When He established the sky above, and poised the fountains of waters: When He compassed the sea with its bounds, and set a law to the waters that they should not pass their limits; when He balanced the foundations of the earth; I was with Him forming all things: and was delighted every day, playing before Him at all times; Playing in the world: and my delights were to be with the children of men. Now therefore, ye children, hear me: Blessed are they that keep my ways, Hear instruction and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors. He that shall find me, shall find life; and shall have salvation from the Lord.