On the Patronage of Our Lady of Prompt Succor

The Mother of God, under the title: Our Lady of Prompt Succor, has been the special patron of the City of New Orleans since the Ursuline nuns brought her image there in 1810. She came to the aid of the City in 1812 against the fire and again in 1815, and on numerous occasions since that time.

The following novena has been a great comfort to many:

Our Lady of Prompt Succor, ever Virgin Mother of Jesus Christ our Lord and God, you are most powerful against the enemy of our salvation. The divine promise of a Redeemer was announced right after the sin of our first parents; and you, through your Divine Son, crushed the serpent's head. Hasten, then, to our help and deliver us from the deceits of Satan.

Intercede for us with Jesus that we may always accept God's graces and be found faithful to Him in our particular states of life. As you once saved our beloved City from ravaging flames, and our Country from an invading army, have pity on us and obtain for us protection from hurricanes and all other disasters.

(Individual petitions.)

Assist us in the many trials which beset our path through life. Watch over the Church and the Pope as they uphold with total fidelity the purity of faith and morals against unremitting opposition. Be to us truly Our Lady of Prompt Succor now and especially at the hour of our death, that we may gain everlasting life through the merits of Jesus Christ Who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God world without end.

Amen.

More Honourable than the Cherubim, and incomparably more glorious than the Seraphim, thou who in virginity didst bear God, the Word; Thee, true Mother of God, we magnify.

On Christology and Ecclesiology -- The 21st Sunday of the Year

Isaiah 22:19-23

Thus says the LORD to Shebna, master of the palace: I will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your post.

On that day I will call my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah, and will clothe him with your robe and bind your sash on him. I will commit your authority to his hand, and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and no one shall shut; he shall shut, and no one shall open. I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place, and he will become a throne of honour to his ancestral house.

Matthew 16: 13-20

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’ Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Interesting lections. And, a very interesting juxtaposition of sayings. There seems to be a great deal of binding and loosing in earth and heaven, but what is it all for?

The Church makes strong claims about Jesus in the selection from Matthew. The community of Matthew struggles here with two difficult issues: Who is this Jesus; and how can the church really be a sign of Jesus' on-going activity in the world?

The Church, today, seeks an answer for Jesus' question, Who do you say that I am?, by a pointed reflection with these two stories. Who Jesus is and what all this binding and loosing is and is for. The image that interests me the most, today, is the peg.