November 2006 Archives

From the homily of His Holiness, Patriarch Bartholomew I at the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral of Saint George in Istanbul:

Every celebration of the Divine Liturgy is a powerful and inspiring con-celebration of heaven and of history. Every Divine Liturgy is both an anamnesis of the past and an anticipation of the Kingdom. We are convinced that during this Divine Liturgy, we have once again been transferred spiritually in three directions: toward the kingdom of heaven where the angels celebrate; toward the celebration of the liturgy through the centuries; and toward the heavenly kingdom to come.

This overwhelming continuity with heaven as well as with history means that the Orthodox liturgy is the mystical experience and profound conviction that "Christ is and ever shall be in our midst!" For in Christ, there is a deep connection between past, present, and future. In this way, the liturgy is more than merely the recollection of Christ's words and acts. It is the realization of the very presence of Christ Himself, who has promised to be wherever two or three are gathered in His name.

At the same time, we recognize that the rule of prayer is the rule of faith (lex orandi lex credendi), that the doctrines of the Person of Christ and of the Holy Trinity have left an indelible mark on the liturgy, which comprises one of the undefined doctrines, "revealed to us in mystery," of which St. Basil the Great so eloquently spoke. This is why, in liturgy, we are reminded of the need to reach unity in faith as well as in prayer. Therefore, we kneel in humility and repentance before the living God and our Lord Jesus Christ, whose precious Name we bear and yet at the same time whose seamless garment we have divided. We confess in sorrow that we are not yet able to celebrate the holy sacraments in unity. And we pray that the day may come when this sacramental unity will be realized in its fullness.

And yet, Your Holiness and beloved brother in Christ, this con-celebration of heaven and earth, of history and time, brings us closer to each other today through the blessing of the presence, together with all the saints, of the predecessors of our Modesty, namely St. Gregory the Theologian and St. John Chrysostom. We are honored to venerate the relics of these two spiritual giants after the solemn restoration of their sacred relics in this holy church two years ago when they were graciously returned to us by the venerable Pope John Paul II. Just as, at that time, during our Thronal Feast, we welcomed and placed their saintly relics on the Patriarchal Throne, chanting "Behold your throne!" So, today we gather in their living presence and eternal memory as we celebrate the Liturgy named in honor of St. John Chrysostom.

Thus our worship coincides with the same joyous worship in heaven and throughout history. Indeed, as St. John Chrysostom himself affirms: "Those in heaven and those on earth form a single festival, a shared thanksgiving, one choir" (PG 56.97). Heaven and earth offer one prayer, one feast, and one doxology. The Divine Liturgy is at once the heavenly kingdom and our home, "a new heaven and a new earth" (Rev. 21.1), the ground and center where all things find their true meaning. The Liturgy teaches us to broaden our horizon and vision, to speak the language of love and communion, but also to learn that we must be with one another in spite of our differences and even divisions. In its spacious embrace, it includes the whole world, the communion of saints, and all of God's creation. The entire universe becomes "a cosmic liturgy", to recall the teaching of St. Maximus the Confessor. This kind of Liturgy can never grow old or outdated.

The only appropriate response to this showering of divine benefits and compassionate mercy is gratitude (eucharistia). Indeed, thanksgiving and glory are the only fitting response of human beings to their Creator. For to Him belong all glory, honor, and worship: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; now and always, and to the ages of ages. Amen.

November 30
Saint Andrew, Apostle

Romans 10:9-18
Psalm 18:8, 9, 10, 11
Matthew 4:18-22

A Cross On the Threshold of Advent

The feast of Saint Andrew marks the threshold of Advent with the sign of the Cross. We are accustomed to thinking of the Cross in the context of Lent and Paschaltide. The advent of the Lord is, nonetheless, entirely illumined by the mystery of the Cross. An ancient responsory says, “This sign of the Cross shall be in heaven when the Lord comes to judge. Then shall the secrets of our hearts be made manifest” (Office of May 3rd, Invention of the Holy Cross). By showing us the Cross today, the liturgy points through Advent to Christ’s passion, resurrection, and second coming. The whole economy of salvation bears the imprint of the Cross.

Friend of God

The liturgy calls Saint Andrew “the good teacher and the friend of God” (Responsory). Saint Andrew is a good teacher because he preached the wisdom of God in the word of the Cross (cf. 1 Cor 1:18, 24). Saint Andrew is the friend of God because the wood of his cross bound him to Christ our God in an everlasting friendship, even as Christ himself was bound to the Father and made over to Him once and for all by the sacrifice of his Cross.

O Wonderful Cross!

The Apostle Andrew does not mislead us with the “artificial sweeteners” of so many religious teachers, nor does he fill our minds with a preaching “emptied of its power” (1 Cor 1:17). In the end, Saint Andrew preached the cross by embracing it, and by stretching His body over its four arms. The liturgy sings that “When Andrew saw the cross, he cried, saying, ‘How wonderful art thou, O cross! O cross, how loveable art thou! O cross, thy bright beams enlighten the darkness of the whole world! Welcome a follower of Jesus, that, as by thee He died to redeem me, so by thee also He may take me unto Himself” (Responsory).

A number of years ago, I composed music for a French Office hymn for the feast of Saint Andrew. It was a feastday gift for Reverend Father Abbot Dom André, O.Cist. The text spoke to me very powerfully. A melody for it came to me all at once, in a kind of stream of inspiration.

As I prayed over the day’s texts, it occurred to me that I might translate the text of this hymn. It is being sung in a number of French–speaking monasteries today. Accept it as a kind of meditatio, as way of repeating the Word in other words. This hymn has been for many a kind of gift; may it speak to your heart as compellingly as it first spoke to mine.

Where then is your dwelling,
O Lamb of God who invite us?
Could it already be the tenth hour
for the disciple who set out to seek you?
For who can know the day and hour
when you will turn to us and say:
Come and see!

The joy of meeting you
is a brightness that transfigures:
a flame in this world’s night
since your Pasch of dazzling light.
Shine, and overcome the darkness,
that we may hear the Spirit’s whisper:
Jesus is Lord!

Filled now with your presence,
God, our every dawn indwelling,
we announce to all who seek you
a burning joy, an incandescence.
You alone can tell us
how that cry first pierced the silence:
Blessèd those who believe!

Lord, how can we follow you
with the faith of those fishers of men?
In this night of catching nothing
we would believe that your hands are full.
Stand again on this our shore,
and cry to us once more:
Cast the net!

On the threshold of your dwelling
Your Cross will be our sign;
for each apostle will have his hour
just as you had yours.
Stay with us, God our Master,
to say in your disciples:
Hail, Cross of Life!

ENTRANCE ANTIPHON

The Lord saw two brothers along the sea of Galilee,
Peter and Andrew, and he called to them:
Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men (Mt 4:18-19).

COLLECT

We humbly entreat your majesty, O Lord,
that the blessed apostle Andrew
may be as constant an intercessor for us in your presence
as he was outstanding in preaching and in ruling over your Church.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God forever and ever.

Thirty–Fourth Wednesday of the Year II

Apocalypse 15:1–4
Psalm 97:1, 2–3ab, 7–8, 9 (R. Apocalypse 15:3b)
John 19:5b–27

The Heart in Pilgrimage

Ubi Petrus, ibi Ecclesia. Where Peter is, there is the Church. It follows then that when Peter is in pilgrimage, the Church is in pilgrimage with him. Each of us is capable of making the pilgrimage of the heart. The psalmist says, “Blessed are the men whose strength is in thee, in whose heart are the highways to Zion” (Ps 83:5).

The Domus Mariae

This morning Pope Benedict XVI celebrated the Sacred Mysteries in an open space adjacent to the Domus Mariae, the Holy House of Mary near Ephesus. The Gospel at the Holy Father’s Mass was from the nineteenth chapter of Saint John: “Woman, behold thy son. . . . Behold thy mother.”

Mother of Unity

In his homily the Holy Father recalled the place of the Mother of Jesus in economy of salvation, her unique place in the household of God. “The Virgin Mary,” he said, “the Mother of Christ and of the Church, is the Mother of that mystery of unity which Christ and the Church inseparably signify and build up, in the world and throughout history.” The Virgin Mary is the Mother of Unity. After the Ascension of her Son, the unity of the infant Church was the chief concern of her maternal heart. The Mother of Christ is entirely at the service of the unity of His Mystical Body in all its manifestations. Just as a family disintegrates in the absence of the mother, so too do the children of the Church splinter into factions when Mary, the Mother of the Whole Christ, is not at the heart of their experience.

Pope Benedict XVI will be celebrating Holy Mass today in a open place adjacent to the shrine of the Holy House of Mother Mary near Ephesus. Archbishop Marini's presentation suggests that the Mass will be that of the Commendatio Beatae Mariae Virginis, # 13 in the Collectio Missarum de Beata Maria Virgine. Here follows my own translation of the texts:

ENTRANCE ANTIPHON

MR
The Lord is high above all nations;
and his glory above the heavens.
Who makes the Blessed Virgin to dwell in the Church,
the joyful mother of children (cf. Ps 112:4, 9).

COLLECT

Lord, Holy Father,
who decreed the salvation of the human race
in the Paschal Mystery,
grant that we whom Jesus Christ dying upon the cross
entrusted to his Virgin Mother
may be numbered among your adopted sons.
Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.

I have never made a secret of it: Blessed Abbot Marmion has been for me a spiritual master, a father, and a friend from the time I was fifteen years old. I am thrilled to see a new edition of his spiritual letters.

Zaccheus Press is pleased to announce the release of Union with God: Letters of Spiritual Direction by Blessed Columba Marmion.

One of Mother Teresa's favorite books, Union with God is a collection of letters written by Blessed Columba Marmion to the many persons who sought his spiritual counsel -- with questions about prayer, faith, temptation, suffering, and the struggles of daily life. Marmion excelled in the art of letter-writing -- his advice was always simple and direct, yet profound. In his letters we see him bringing to bear his great depth of theological knowledge in a practical and human way.

Union with God: Letters of Spiritual Direction by Blessed Columba Marmion
ISBN 0-9725981-6-2
233 pages • $14.95 (paperback)

Read Father David L. Toups' Foreward to the new edition of Union with God:

Monday of the Thirty–Fourth Week of the Year II

Revelation 14:1–3, 4b–5
Psalm 23:1–2, 3–4ab, 5–6 (R. 6)
Luke 21:1–4

Prayer for the Holy Father

Thousands have taken to the streets in Turkey to protest the apostolic journey of the Holy Father to that country. Threats to his security are rising. Yesterday in his Angelus message the Holy Father asked for our prayers. This is what he said: “With confidence, I wish to follow in the footsteps of my venerated predecessors, Paul VI and John XXIII, and I invoke the heavenly protection of Blessed John XXIII, who for ten years was apostolic delegate in Turkey and felt great affection and esteem for that nation. I ask all of you to accompany me with prayer so that this pilgrimage may bring all the fruits willed by God.” It is crucial that we pray for the Holy Father, not only individually and privately, but also corporately and publicly during the coming days.

The Sights and Sounds of Heaven

In the First Reading, Saint John continues to gaze into the mysteries of heaven. He sees the Lamb and, all around the Lamb, those who bear “His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads” (Ap 14:1). Not only does Saint John see the sights of heaven, he also hears the sounds of heaven: “And I heard a voice from heaven like the sound of many waters” (Ap 14:2). He hears the “new song” that is sung before the throne of God by the choir of the elect.

John the Virgin Disciple of the Lord

To John, the virgin disciple of the Lord and the virgin son by adoption of the Virgin Mother, it is given to understand the beauty of chastity. The chaste are those “who follow the Lamb wherever He goes” (Ap 14:4). The companions of the Lamb are distinguished by the radiance of their purity: a purity preserved by a special gift of grace, or a purity recovered by a gift of repentance.

I offered Holy Mass in thanksgiving for my twenty years of priesthood today, gathering with family and friends in the little church of the Monastery of the Glorious Cross in Branford, Connecticut. Apart from the readings and the homily, Mass was sung in Latin from the 2002 Missale Romanum. . . all part of the hermeneutic of continuity. At the Offertory, my mother and father presented the gifts of bread and wine.

The nuns of the monastery were present, of course, together with Mother Véronique, their Prioress General from France. The Apostles of the Sacred Heart, good friends that they are, were also there.

My brother Terence (The Dog Trainer) with his wife Sandy and the two children Michael Colin (3 years) and Mary Elizabeth (1 year) drove down from New Hampshire. Terence and Michael came to church while little Mary stayed at home with Sandy who is expecting another little gift of God. Michael Colin seemed to appreciate the golden thurible with bells on it! Michael and Kerry Guidone were there with recently baptized Michael Mario who slept blissfully through the whole Mass.

Father John F. Ringley together with Ann Marie and Victoria were there to lead the singing — all out of the Graduale Romanum! They sang the complete Propers, Ordinary IX, Cum jubilo (a little tribute to Our Lady), and the splendid and rarely sung Credo VI.

So many other dear friends from near and far came to be with me today. Barbara and Katie, ever faithful friends, drove down from Massachusetts and New Hampshire. I am very grateful to God and to each one. After Mass we gathered in the monastery meeting hall for cranberry nut bread and sherry. Later on in the day, my sister Donna and her husband Wayne together with Sean and Lauren, my "senior" nephew and niece, joined us. Some of us shared an exquisite dinner at New Haven's most delightful Italian restaurant: Skappo.

Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
Last Sunday in Ordinary Time B

John 18: 33-37
Apocalypse 1:5-8
Daniel 7:13-14

November 26, 2006
Mass in Thanksgiving For My Twenty Years of Priesthood

Worthy is the Lamb

As we crossed the threshold into the Sacred Mysteries today, we sang of a breathtaking vision. John, the Beloved Disciple, in solitude on the island of Patmos, lifted his eyes to heaven’s open door. And what did he see? He saw the throne of God, and “the Lamb, standing as though it had been slain” (Ap 5:6). John’s eyes were opened, and so too were his ears. “Then, I looked,” he says, “and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, singing with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and blessing’” (Ap 5:11-12).

A Glimpse and Foretaste of Heaven

In a word, John was given a glimpse and foretaste of the heavenly liturgy. And then he heard “every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all therein, saying, ‘To Him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honour and glory and might forever and ever!’ And the four living creatures said. ‘Amen!’ and the elders fell down and adored” (Ap 5:13–14).

Heaven in the Heart and the Heart in Heaven

The priest, every priest, is a poor man, “a man of unclean lips dwelling in the midst of a people of unclean lips” (Is 6:5) at the service of this glorious mystery. When the priest, whoever he is and wherever he may be, enters the sanctuary for Holy Mass, the angels enter with him, myriads of myriads of angels and thousands of thousands. Heaven descends to rest upon the altar and, from the altar, the whole Church — that is all who gathered about it — are assumed into heaven. Holy Mass is just this: an hour in heaven. The priest and, with him, anyone who partakes of the Holy Mysteries, believing, hoping, loving, desiring, and adoring, leaves church with heaven in his heart and with his heart in heaven.

In 1925 Pope Pius XI decreed that the Consecration of the Human Race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus first carried out by Pope Leo XIII on 11 June 1899 should be renewed yearly on the Feast of Christ the King. The text of the Consecration follows together with the commentary on it given by Pope John Paul II in 1999.

Consecration of the Human Race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
on the Feast of Christ the King

Most sweet Jesus, Redeemer of the human race,
look down upon us humbly prostrate before Thine altar.
We are Thine, and Thine we wish to be,
but, to be more surely united with Thee,
behold each one of us freely consecrates himself today
to Thy most Sacred Heart.

Introit

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
to receive power and divinity
and wisdom and strength and honour;
to Him be glory and empire
forever and ever (Ap 5:12, 1:6).
V. O God, give your justice to the King,
and to the King's Son your justice (Ps 71:1).

Collect

Almighty and everlasting God,
whose will it is to restore all things
in your beloved Son, the King of the universe,
mercifully grant that all creation
liberated from servitude for the service of your majesty,
may together praise you unceasingly.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.

I have some personal reasons for being very fond of Saint Théophane Vénard. Many years ago when I was serving as Master of Novices, I had in my care a Vietnamese novice who had taken the name of Marie–Théophane. While in France to preach a retreat I had the opportunity to stop at the Missions Étrangères de Paris. I asked if it might be possible to obtain a first–class relic of Saint Théophane for my young confrère. The kind priest who welcomed me was a retired missionary. He radiated a gentle, sturdy holiness. He explained that no relics were available. "But," he said, "we do have here in this glass case the soutane worn by Saint Théophane when he was beheaded." With that, he unlocked the case, pulled scissors out of his pocket and cut off a generous piece of the black soutane. "Take this to your petit frère vietnamien," he said. I was astonished. And tears came to my eyes. You can imagine Frère Marie–Théophane's joy when he received the precious relic.

The second thing that moves me is Théophane's utter fidelity to the Divine Office, even in the most trying conditions. Any priest who has difficulty being faithful to the Liturgy of the Hours should invoke Saint Théophane Vénard. Right up until his martyrdom, even while imprisoned in a bamboo cage, he prayed his breviary, the only book that remained in his possession.

The third and last thing I want to mention is that in 1860, the year before his death, with his bishop's permission, Saint Théophane offered himself to God as a victim for the Church in Tonkin. He offered himself by the hands of the Blessed Virgin Mary, consecrating himself to her according to the formula of Saint Louis Grignion de Montfort. That, it seems to me, is the perfection of the eucharistic and priestly life: total identification with Christ, the immolated Lamb. It is not fashionable in some circles to speak of "victimhood." It makes the learned and the clever sniff and grimace. Tant pis! One who approaches the altar day after day "in spirit and in truth" will, if he surrenders to the Mystery and allows himself to be formed by the Blessed Virgin, realize in his own flesh not only the priesthood of Christ, but also His victimhood. This mystical identification with Christ Priest and Victim is the secret of all sacerdotal fecundity.

Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face (1873–1897)
Saint Théophane Vénard (1829–1861)

It is true that the Lord chooses the little ones to confound the strong of this world. I do not rely on my own strengths, but on the strength of Him who, on the Cross, conquered the powers of hell.
(Saint Théophane Vénard quoted by Saint Thérèse)

Speaking to French pilgrims on the day after the canonization of the Martyrs of Vietnam, Pope John Paul II said, "Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus was on intimate terms with Saint Théophane Vénard whose picture never left her as she suffered the pangs of death."

Thérèse wrote, "I like Théophane Vénard even more than Saint Aloysius Gonzaga because the life of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga was extraordinary and Théophane Vénard's was quite ordinary. . . . My soul is like his. He is the one who has best lived my way of spiritual childhood." The young Carmelite pinned a picture of Théophane Vénard to her bed curtains, together with one of the Blessed Virgin and photos of her little siblings who had died.

Thérèse had read the young martyr's biography and his correspondence. She composed a poem in his honour and, at the end of her life, expressed the deepest sentiments of her soul by copying out passages from Théophane's letters. "Théophane is a little saint," she wrote. "As a parting souvenir I have copied for you certain passages of the last letters he wrote to his parents; these are my thoughts. My soul resembles his."

On 6 September 1867, twenty–four days before her death, Thérèse was presented with a relic of Théophane Vénard. She caressed it and asked to hold it close that she might kiss it. It was the life and death of Théophane that inspired Thérèse to say that after her death she would return to work on earth until the end of the world.

The 2002 edition of the Missale Romanum presents a Proper Mass for the memorial of the Holy Martyrs of Vietnam. Whereas on the feasts of other groups of martyrs, the Mass is ordinarily taken from the Common of Several Martyrs, today's saints are honoured with a Mass specially composed for them.

The Entrance Antiphon is a remarkable new composition juxtaposing two Pauline texts:

Far be it from us to glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
To us who are being saved
the word of the Cross is, in fact,
the power of God (cf. Gal 6:14; cf. 1 Cor 1:18).

The Collect uses a unique form of address, Deus, omnis paternitatis fons et origo. The motif of the Cross, already present in the Entrance Antiphon, recurs in the Collect. Saint Théophane Vénard and others were condemned to death after refusing to trample the Cross.

O God, wellspring and origin of all fatherhood,
who made the blessed martyrs Andrew and his companions
faithful to the cross of your Son
even to the shedding of their blood;
by their intercession, grant that,
while spreading your love among our brethren,
we may be able both to be called your children
and to be what we are called.

The Prayer Over the Offerings asks for the grace of fidelity to God inter adversa vitae nostrae. It further asks that we may present our very selves to God as a sacrificial offering (hostia), an acceptable victim.

Receive, holy Father, the gifts we offer
as we venerate the memory of the holy martyrs,
so that in the midst of the adversities of this life
we may be worthy of being found faithful to you
and present our very selves as a victim acceptable to you.

Votive Mass In Thanksgiving to God

1 Kings 8:55-61
Psalm 144: 2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 10-11
John 15:9-17

“Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven” (1 K 8:22); and said, “Blessed be the Lord who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised; not one word has failed of all His good promise” (1 K 8:56). Solomon standing in prayer before the altar is a figure of Christ, the King of Peace, the Eternal High Priest who, according to the Letter to the Hebrews, “is able to save those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (Heb 7:25). Solomon stands before the altar with his hands spread toward heaven; he is already the image of every priest of the New Covenant who, configured to Christ, adopts that very same posture at the moment of the Great Thanksgiving that is the Mass.

The royal priestly prayer of Solomon is brought to perfection in the prayer of Christ; the prayer of Christ is perpetuated and actualized in the Eucharistic action, the Thanksgiving of the Church. “Do this in remembrance of me” (Lk 22:19), He said; and so she does. “Was ever another command so obeyed? For century after century, spreading slowly to every continent and country and among every race on earth, this action has been done, in every conceivable human circumstance, for every conceivable human need from infancy and before it to extreme old age and after it . . . week by week and month by month, on a hundred thousand successive Sundays, faithfully, unfailingly” (Dom Gregory Dix, The Shape of the Eucharist, p. 744).

This is the Great Thanksgiving of the Church, one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. This is the Great Thanksgiving of Jerusalem and of Antioch, of Rome, Alexandria, and Constantinople. This is the Great Thanksgiving woven into the history and culture of the Western World. This is the Great Thanksgiving that inspired men to raise altars to God and build cathedrals and churches to house them.

Being a Papist and not a Puritan, I have always felt somewhat ambiguous about the Thanksgiving holiday . . . not about the domestic observance of Thanksgiving, but about the attempt to interpret it liturgically. The Thanksgiving holiday originated in the sacramental void of Protestantism. When one silences the Gratias agamus Domino Deo nostro of the Mass, one necessarily begins to look for something to put in its place. This, I think, is why it is so difficult to catholicize the American Thanksgiving holiday. It feels foreign to the Catholic ethos.

This year Thanksgiving squeezes out Pope Saint Clement I and Saint Columban. I suppose the best pastoral solution is to offer the Mass given in the Roman Missal under the title "In Thanksgiving to God." That is something I am perfectly willing to do. The nuns I serve as chaplain are very keen on having proper readings. So be it. I choose my battles. But I will miss preaching on the magnificent page of The Apocalypse appointed in the Lectionary.

One of the nicer things about Thanksgiving is that it always occurs on a Thursday. This does open the door to the Cenacle and to the mystery of the Eucharist. It does rather call for a catechesis on Holy Mass as the Great Sacrifice of Thanksgiving offered from the rising of the sun to its setting. So inspired, I will take a thoroughly papistical approach to this Protestant holiday.

I do cherish the Thanksgiving dinner lovingly prepared by Mom and the blessing pronounced by Dad. I do enjoy being with my family. It's like having a big Italian Catholic Sunday Dinner on Thursday. But I'll never be a Puritan.

Thirty–Third Wednesday of the Year II
Memorial of Saint Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr

Revelation 4:1–11
Psalm 150:1–2, 3–4, 5–6 (Rev 4:8b)
Luke 19:11–28

Heaven’s Open Door

Saint John says, “I, John, looked, and behold, in heaven, an open door” (Ap 4:1). The image of the open door in heaven is a fascinating one. Everyone, after all, is curious about what lies beyond the door of heaven. Everyone wants to catch a glimpse of what goes on in paradise. Countless saints and mystics, beginning with Saint Stephen the Protomartyr, have been allowed to look through heaven’s open door.

Sine Fine Dicentes

John hears a trumpet–like voice inviting him to come up, and in the twinkling of an eye, finds himself in the Spirit standing before the very throne of God and the whole heavenly court. All around the throne of God he sees fantastic creatures “full of eyes all round and within, and day and night they never cease to sing” (Ap 4:8). It is this one phrase that makes today’s First Reading so suitable for the feast of Saint Cecilia: “they never cease to sing” (Ap 4:8). It is this phrase that the Church enshrines in the Preface of the Mass where she describes the hosts of heaven as sine fine dicentes, ceaselessly singing.

The Vicar of Hodnet and His Hymn

And what are the hosts of heaven singing? “Holy, holy, holy. Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come” (Ap 4:8). In 1826, a clergyman of the Church of England named Reginald Heber, the Vicar of Hodnet in Shropshire, wrote a hymn inspired by this text for Trinity Sunday. Another Anglican clergyman composed the tune for it. With the expansion of the British Empire the hymn spread to every corner of the English–speaking world. Heber himself died as bishop of Calcutta in 1826.

ENTRANCE ANTIPHON

GR
I spoke of your testimonies before kings,
and I was not ashamed:
I meditated also on your commandments,
which I loved (Ps 118:46-47).

COLLECT

O God, who gladden us
with the yearly festival of blessed Cecilia,
grant, we beseech you,
that the things devoutly passed on concerning your handmaid,
may give us an example to imitate,
and that the wonders of Christ your Son in his servants
may be recounted.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.

Strong, Serene, Majestic, Invincible

When in 1867 Abbot Prosper Guéranger set about opening a Benedictine monastery for women at Solesmes, he placed the whole enterprise under the protection of Saint Cecilia. Jenny Bruyère, the young woman who would become the first abbess of Sainte-Cécile, had taken the name of Cécile at the time of her confirmation; as a Benedictine her whole life would unfold under the patronage of the Roman virgin martyr.

Abbot Guéranger recognized in Saint Cecilia, “an embodiment of the Roman Church of the first centuries, strong, serene, majestic, invincible.” This fascination with Saint Cecilia was communicated to anyone who came within under the spiritual influence of Solesmes. When the young Suzanne Wrotnowska was received as a Benedictine Oblate of the Abbey of Sainte-Marie de la Source in Paris, a monastery of the Solesmes Congregation, Saint Cecilia was among the saints held up for her imitation and veneration. Later, writing her meditations on the liturgy, she would offer her daughters memorable commentaries on the Mass and Office of Saint Cecilia.

Her Heart Was Enkindled With Fire From Heaven

It is not surprising that Benedictines should feel a certain affinity with Saint Cecilia. One of the responsories for her Office aptly illustrates the monastic life: “The glorious maiden carried the Gospel of Christ always in her breast, and meditated therein day and night, talking with God and praying. V. She spread forth her hands and prayed unto the Lord, and her heart was enkindled with fire from heaven. R. Talking with God and praying.”

I never tire of looking at the statue of Saint Cecilia which lies over the tomb in her church in Rome’s Trastevere. Cecilia is lying on her side, looking almost as if she had been flung there. Her lovely face is hidden and her head is covered with the veil of virgins. The slash of the cruel blade across her neck is visible.

Even in death Cecilia declares her Catholic faith: the finger of one hand is extended, signifying her faith in the one true God. With three fingers of the other hand she confesses the Most Holy Trinity. Her knees are drawn up, making her look like a sleeping child. Her dress falls in graceful folds about her body. The whole composition is marked by purity and grace.

In 1599, when Pope Clement VIII disinterred Saint Cecilia’s body, it was found to be incorrupt. The Pontiff engaged Stefano Maderno to carve Cecilia just as she was discovered. The artist inscribed his testimony on the statue’s base: “Behold the body of the most holy virgin Cecilia whom I myself saw lying incorrupt in her tomb. I have in this marble expressed for thee the same saint in the very same posture of body.”

Maderno was only twenty–three when he carved his Saint Cecilia; though he lived be forty, Saint Cecilia is his masterpiece. Reposing in death, Cecilia illustrates the truth of the psalmist’s words: “God gives to His beloved in slumber” (Ps 127:2).

Maderno’s Saint Cecilia reminds me also of the young Thérèse Martin who lingered before it while on pilgrimage to Rome with her father in 1887. Later on, Thérèse was inspired to write this prayer:

Cecilia, lend to me thy melody most sweet:
How many souls would I convert to Jesus now.
I fain would die, like thee, to win them to His feet;
For him give all my tears, my blood. Oh, help me thou!
Pray for me that I gain, on this our pilgrim way
Perfect abandonment that sweetest fruit of love.
Saint of my heart! Oh, soon, bring me to endless day;
Obtain that I may fly, with thee, to heaven above!

April 28, 1893

In his address at the Pontifical Gregorian University on 3 November, the Holy Father identified the immediate object of the different branches of theological knowledge as God himself, revealed in Jesus Christ, God with a human face. I am grateful to Richard Chonak for calling my attention to the pontifical affirmation of the motif of this blog.

"I can tell you, dear Professors and students, that if the effort of study and teaching is to have any meaning in relation to God's Kingdom, it must be sustained by the theological virtues. In fact, the immediate object of the different branches of theological knowledge is God himself, revealed in Jesus Christ, God with a human face.

Even when, as in Canon Law and in Church History, the immediate object is the People of God in its visible, historical dimension, the deeper analysis of the topic urges us once again to contemplation, in the faith, of the mystery of the Risen Christ. It is he, present in his Church, who leads her among the events of the time towards eschatological fullness, a goal to which we have set out sustained by hope.

However, knowing God is not enough. For a true encounter with him one must also love him. Knowledge must become love."

Forty–two years ago today, on 21 November 1964, Pope Paul VI solemnly declared the Blessed Virgin Mary Mother of the Church.

Pope John Paul II recalled this moment in a General Audience on 17 September 1997:

The title "Mother of the Church" thus reflects the deep conviction of the Christian faithful, who see in Mary not only the mother of the person of Christ, but also of the faithful. She who is recognized as mother of salvation, life and grace, mother of the saved and mother of the living, is rightly proclaimed Mother of the Church.

Pope Paul VI would have liked the Second Vatican Council itself to have proclaimed "Mary Mother of the Church, that is, of the whole People of God, of the faithful and their Pastors". He did so himself in his speech at the end of the Council’s third session (21 November 1964), also asking that "henceforth the Blessed Virgin be honoured and invoked with this title by all the Christian people" ( AAS 1964, 37).

From the Holy Father's Angelus Message, 19 November 2006

On the occasion of the liturgical memorial of the Presentation of Mary Most Holy in the Temple, we celebrate "pro Orantibus" Day, dedicated to remembering cloistered religious communities. It is a particularly appropriate occasion to thank the Lord for the gift of so many persons who, in monasteries and hermitages, are totally dedicated to God in prayer, silence and hiddenness.

Some wonder about the meaning and value of their presence in our time, in which many urgent situations of poverty and need must be addressed. Why "shut oneself" forever behind the walls of a monastery and deprive others of the contribution of one's talents and experiences? What efficacy can prayer have to resolve the numerous concrete problems that continue to afflict humanity?

In fact, also today numerous persons often surprise friends and acquaintances when they abandon professional careers, often promising careers, to embrace the austere rule of a cloistered monastery. What leads them to take such a committed step if not their having understood, as the Gospel teaches, that the Kingdom of heaven is "a treasure" for which it is worth abandoning everything (cf. Matthew 13:44)?

These brothers and sisters silently witness that in the midst of daily vicissitudes, at times extremely convulsive, God is the only support that never falters, the unbreakable rock of fidelity and love. "Todo se pasa, Dios no se muda" [Everything passes, God is unchanging], wrote the great spiritual teacher Teresa of Avila in her famous text. And, given the widespread need that many experience to leave the daily routine of the great urban agglomerations in search of appropriate spaces for silence and meditation, monasteries of contemplative life appear as "oases" in which man, a pilgrim on earth, can go to the sources of the Spirit and slake his thirst along the way.
These places, apparently useless, are, on the contrary, indispensable, like the green "lungs" of a city: They are beneficial for all, including for those who do not visit them or perhaps do not know that they exist.

Dear brothers and sisters: Let us thank the Lord, who in his providence, has willed that there be cloistered communities, masculine and feminine. May they not lack our spiritual and also material support so that they will be able to fulfill their mission of keeping alive in the Church the ardent expectation of Christ's return. Let us invoke, for this reason, the intercession of Mary, whom, in the memorial of the Presentation in the Temple, we will contemplate as mother and model of the Church, who unites in herself both vocations: to virginity and to marriage, to the contemplative and to the active life.

Today is the anniversary of the death of Mother Clelia Merloni (1861–1930), the foundress of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart. Mother Clelia’s life was marked by the betrayal of her confidence, by financial ruin, calumny, plotting, and the loss of her good name. In 1911 the Holy See removed Mother Clelia from the office of superior of the institute she had founded. She accepted the humiliation with quiet courage, never losing her confidence in the Heart of Jesus.

In 1916, after an agonizing struggle, she requested and obtained a dispensation from her vows, preferring to withdraw from her community rather than be an obstacle to its growth. In 1928, two years before her death, she was readmitted into the congregation she had founded and welcomed back at the house in Rome. She spent the time that remained in solitary prayer, in reparation, adoration, and silence. As a very young woman she had desired the cloistered life; in the end it was given her, not in a monastery, but in a simple “upper room” on the Via Germano Sommeiller in Rome. There Mother Clelia became a flame of love burning itself out for the love of Christ, the mystery of his Sacred Heart, the Eucharist, the priesthood, and the institute to which she gave birth. Mother Clelia died on Friday, November 21, 1930. The cause for her canonization was opened in 1989.

Mother Clelia is close to those who suffer rejection and apparent failure. She understands the plight of those who are misunderstood and judged. She has a maternal sympathy for those who make false starts in life and for those who, in spite of obstacles and hardships, persevere in searching for the will of God. She is a faithful friend of priests. Pray to her.

For some years now, from the feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary on November 21st until that of the Immaculate Conception on December 8th, I have prayed my rosary while dwelling on five mysteries of the first part of Our Lady's life. These five mysteries of the Blessed Virgin are:

— the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the womb of her mother, Saint Anne;
— the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary;
— the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Temple;
— the Betrothal of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Saint Joseph;
— the Annunciation of the Lord to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

There is a particular sweetness in dwelling on these mysteries of Maria Bambina, the Infant Mary, the Child Mary. They distill graces of purity, of childlike simplicity, and of littleness.

All five mysteries are commemorated in the Sacred Liturgy. The liturgical books are rich in texts to nourish the meditation of each one. It is enough to take an antiphon, a verse, a single phrase, and to hold it in the heart while telling one's beads.

The Rosary corresponds to the meditatio and the oratio of monastic prayer; it begins necessarily in lectio divina, the hearing of the Word and then, gently, almost imperceptibly, draws the soul into contemplatio.

The Rosary is, I am convinced, the surest and easiest school of contemplative prayer. The Rosary decapitates pride, the single greatest obstacle to union with God. The repetition of the Aves, like a stream of pure water, cleanses the heart.

Go to Be an Offering and a Fragrant Incense

Today’s feast is Eastern in origin, Eastern in sensibility. To taste its mystery one has to hear and meditate the poetry with which the Byzantine tradition celebrates it. In one of the texts prescribed for Great Vespers, the Church sings: “When Anne, which means grace, was graced with the pure and ever-virgin Mary, she presented her into the temple of God. She called maidens to carry candles and walk before her as she said: ‘O child, go to be an offering and a fragrant incense for the One who sent you to me. Enter into the veiled places and learn the mysteries of God. Prepare yourself to be a delightful dwelling-place for Jesus who will give great mercy to the world.’”

The First Presentation

The presentation of Mary in the Temple prefigures the presentation of Mary in the Temple of the heavenly Jerusalem, the mystery of her Assumption. In the first presentation, the child Mary, fulfilling the psalmist’s prophecy, is “led to the king with her maiden companions” (Ps 44:15). Sacred legend recounts that the child Mary entered the courtyard of the Temple dancing for joy, continued into the Holy Place, climbed the fifteen steps of the staircase leading to the Holy of Holies and, to the amazement of Zechariah and the other priests, penetrated beyond the veil. No one dared to stop her. All were overcome with a holy fear. Even the Angels looked on with astonishment.

The Second Presentation

In the second presentation, that of her Assumption, Mary enters heaven itself escorted by angels. She penetrates beyond the veil to take her place with Christ “in the sanctuary and the true tent which is set up not by man but by the Lord” (Heb 8:2). Mary’s second presentation in the Temple fulfills what was foreshadowed in the first. Mary is the mother of “the hope set before us” (Heb 6:18). She is given us as “a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters in even within the veil, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchisedech” (Heb 6:19-20).

I borrowed the logo from my brother Terence's dog training business for this entry because I don't have a photo of Dulcie (named for a Barbara Pym character). Dulcie, my parents' 8 year old American Pit Bull Terrier spent the past four days with me while my folks were in Baltimore. She is the gentlest, sweetest dog I have ever known. Dulcie greets me with an affectionate lick as soon as I wake up. She sits quietly under my desk while I work at the computer and rests at my side while I say my prayers. While I am at the monastery celebrating Holy Mass she waits patiently for me in the car. Dulcie also expresses joy (or some comparable doggy emotion) with a great glorious howl of glee. More priests should have dogs. They keep one human and grounded. N.B. Santa Croce in Gerusalemme has two dogs: Morris and . . . Bernardo, of course.

Thirty–Third Sunday of the Year B

Daniel 12:1–13
Psalm 15:5, 8–11 (R. v.1)
Hebrews 10:11–14, 18
Mark 13:24–32

Michael, the Great Prince

“At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time; but at that time your people shall be delivered, every one whose name shall be found written in the book” (Dan 12:1). The prophet Daniel reveals the role of Saint Michael the Archangel in the great final conflict of history. Saint Michael is the guardian angel and champion of the Jewish people and of the Church of Christ.

Spiritual Combat

The Apocalypse of Saint John also describes Saint Michael’s glorious defeat of the powers of darkness: “Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven” (Ap 12:7). The Church, with Saint Michael as her defender, is at war. Saint Paul tells us that the Church is locked in combat, contending “not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12).

Pope Leo XIII and Saint Michael

At the end of the nineteenth century, Pope Leo XIII had a vision while assisting at Holy Mass: it concerned a great diabolical assault upon the Church. A priest in attendance related that the Pope began to look upwards; his face grew pale. Visibly shaken he withdrew to his private office, and a short time later, having called for the Secretary of the Congregation of Rites, he handed him a document. The document contained Pope Leo’s prayer to Saint Michael. The Pontiff ordered that the prayer be disseminated to the Catholic bishops of the whole world for recitation after every Low Mass.

Thirty–Third Sunday of the Year B

Daniel 12:1–13
Psalm 15:5, 8–11 (R. v.1)
Hebrews 10:11–14, 18
Mark 13:24–32

Know That He Is Near

Next Sunday will be the last of this liturgical year, the end of another year of grace. In the hourglass of the liturgy, the sand of time has nearly run out. In two weeks time, Mother Church will turn it over, and the cycle of holy time will begin again. Already, on this next-to-the-last Sunday of the Church year, we find ourselves in a mysterious climate of “already” and “not yet.” The Word of God today draws us out of ourselves into a kind of expectant tension. “Know that He is near, at the very gates” (Mk 13:29). We are magnetized by the promises of Christ. Today’s Mass lifts us out of ourselves and projects us into the certainty of the glorious advent of the Son of Man.

Ever In My Sight

In the Responsorial Psalm, we heard the verse: “I keep the Lord ever in my sight” (Ps 15:8). This is the voice of the Church speaking of Christ; it is the voice of the Bride speaking of her Bridegroom. “I keep the Lord ever in my sight” (Ps 15:8). How does the Church keep the Lord ever in her sight? By means of the sacred liturgy. “Do this in remembrance of me” (1 Cor 11:24). Today’s Postcommunion refers specifically to “these things your Son has commanded us do in remembrance of Him.”

The Grand Plan of Salvation

The liturgy is the means by which we, wide-eyed and full of wonder, are present to the whole mystery of Christ: present to His Passion and His Death, present to His descent into hell, present to His Resurrection and to His glorious Ascension, present to His enthronement at the right hand of the Father, present to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in violent winds and tongues of fire on the day of Pentecost. This is the marvelous plan of the Father, designed and willed from all eternity, an economy of mercy and of love, a grand plan conceived in the inscrutable depths of eternal wisdom! The liturgy is the Father offering us Christ, and Christ offering us to the Father in the Holy Spirit.

ENTRANCE ANTIPHON

GR
The Lord saith: I think thoughts of peace, and not of affliction:
you shall call upon me, and I will hear you;
and I will bring back your captivity
from all places (Jer 29:11–12, 14).
V. Lord, Thou hast blessed thy land:
Thou hast turned away the captivity of Jacob (Ps 84:2).

COLLECT

Grant us, we beseech you, Lord, our God,
abiding joy in devotion to you
for perfect and lasting happiness
is found in serving you, the author of all good.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.

The days between the solemnity of All Saints and the First Sunday of Advent are rich in images of the heavenly Jerusalem. The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica on November 9th opened our eyes to the glorious mystery of the Body of Christ, our true and abiding Temple. Today, we celebrate the Dedication festival of two other Roman churches: the Vatican basilica of Saint Peter, and the Basilica of Saint Paul-Outside-the-Walls, entrusted to the sons of Saint Benedict. The dedication of a fourth Roman basilica, that of Saint Mary Major, is celebrated on August 5th. Every feast of Dedication is an invitation to cross the threshold of “the house of God and the gate of heaven” (Gen 28:17), an opportunity to say again with Jacob, “Indeed, the Lord is in this place” (Gen 28:16)

I happen to have a friend who — quite apart from the fact that she is of Hungarian descent — reminds me of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary. She is not a queen. She is a wife, the mother of two teen–agers, and a nurse. She offers friendship, comfort, help in need, and good counsel. She accompanies insecure, inept, and frightened people to the doctor's office, visits the sick at home, runs to the assistance of families in distress, and occasionally looks after injured animals in her neighbourhood. On Thanksgiving she opens her home to those without family. For all of that, she finds time to pray, often slipping into church for a time of Eucharistic adoration or a rosary. She goes to Mass during the week. Like Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, she practices the Seven Corporal and Seven Spiritual Works of Mercy.

I mused in my homily this morning that an artist should paint a series of fourteen panels showing Saint Elizabeth of Hungary practicing the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. Adé Béthune did her own series for The Catholic Worker many years ago. At Santa Croce in Gerusalemme we have enormous canvases depicting them all over the abbey; I wish I had photos of them to post here.

Exceptionally, on the occasion of the anniversary of his ordination, the Church allows a priest to pray at Holy Mass a set of orations in the first person singular. Whereas on all other days the priest says, we, us, and our, on this one day of the year he says, I, me, and my.

While some would sniff at the orations for the anniversary of ordination as being late medieval compositions, the Church has seen fit to retain them in the latest edition of the Roman Missal, the editio typica tertia of 2002. I, for one, find them humbling and comforting. I used them today. Here they are:

Collect

Holy Father, who through no merits of my own,
chose me for communion in the eternal priesthood of your Christ,
and for the service of your Church,
grant that, living as an energetic and gentle preacher of the Gospel,
I may be found a faithful dispenser of your mysteries.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.

November 16th
Saint Gertrude the Great, Virgin

Ephesians 3:14-19
Psalm 22
John 19:31-37

Her Heart Overflows With a Goodly Theme

It is right and just that today we should sit at the feet of Saint Gertrude, that we should take time out to listen to her song, for “her heart overflows with a goodly theme as she sings her ode to the King” (cf. Ps 44:1). This humble Cistercian of the 13th century is the only woman in the Church calendar to be honoured with the title “the Great.” Saint Gertrude the Great is a medieval woman with an astonishingly contemporary message.

O Taste and See

Saint Gertrude is a theologian in the patristic sense of the word: she is one who has tasted God and who communicates the taste of God and the taste for God to others. In this she is model for every priest, for the priest is called to be one who has tasted God and who communicates the taste of God and the taste for God to others. Gertrude’s soul was shaped by Sacred Scripture, by the Fathers of the Church and, more than anything else, by the daily experience of the monastic liturgy celebrated in choir. From the time of her arrival at the monastery of Helfta at the age of five, her life revolved around the Sacred Liturgy, the Church’s hourly, daily, weekly and yearly rhythm of prayer and praise.

Bride of the Word

Saint Gertrude was permeated with the Word of God. The Scriptures were her daily bread. The psalms were ever on her lips and in her heart. The Church’s sung prayer, expressed in the ancient chant, was like a deep-flowing river, irrigating her life and causing the seed of the Word to spring up, producing both flowers and fruit. Saint Gertrude developed an amazing theology touching on the sacraments of initiation, on eschatology, on the mysteries of the Incarnation and Redemption, on the Heart of Jesus, on the action of the Holy Spirit in the Church and in souls, on Our Lady and the saints, on the mystical ways of prayer and the contemplative experience of God.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus

Saint Gertrude’s theology is rooted in experience. This is the beauty of her contribution to our Catholic theological and mystical heritage. The focus of her contemplation was the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the pierced Heart out of which flowed blood and water (cf. Jn 19:34). Saint Gertrude was drawn to the Sacred Heart by the secret action of the Father, working in her soul through the Holy Spirit. “No one comes to me,” says the Lord Jesus, “unless the Father who sent me draws him” (Jn 6:44).

As I was teaching my weekly liturgy class to the nuns of the monastery and their friends this morning, I glanced out the window and saw a tall, bearded gentleman making his way into the church. Holy Mass began — the feast of Saint Gertrude the Great and my 20th anniversary of priesthood — and I sensed a certain connection with the gentleman in question. After Holy Mass, various folks lingered to greet me. When the mystery visitor approached, I said, "And you are?" The answer came with broad smile: "Your webmaster!" He added in French, Les belles âmes se retrouvent!

Richard Chonak, the gracious architect of this blog made the trip down from Boston to join me at Holy Mass today. I was thrilled to meet Richard at last. After Mass we went to one of my favourite New Haven restaurants, Caffè Bravo on Orange Street, for lunch. What a perfect way to celebrate this 20th anniversary. Thank you, Richard, for adding the joy of your company to the other joys of this day!

My brother Terence, his wife Sandy, and their two children Michael Colin (3 years old) and Mary Elizabeth (20 months) just returned from a family holiday in Costa Rica. Terence rang me to let me know that they had arrived home safely after a thirteen hour trip. Little Michael was eager to give me details of his adventures. Part of our conversation went like this:

Michael Colin — I wish you had come to Costa Rica on the airplane with us, Uncle Mark.
Uncle Mark — Oh, thank you, Michael. What a nice thought!
Michael Colin — Butcha didn't, Uncle Mark.

From what I understand, one of the highlights of the trip was swinging through the trees of the jungle on a cable. There was also lots of time to play in the water. I look forward to seeing Terence, Sandy, and the children at Thanksgiving time. And I want to hear Michael Colin tell me more about his experiences.

Commemoration of All the Departed
Who Militated Under the Rule of Saint Benedict

Romans 8:14–23
Psalm 63, 1, 2–3, 4–5, 7–8 (R. 1b
Gospel: John 12:23–28

Members of the Family Even in Death

We saw yesterday that each of the great Orders of the Church has its own festival of All Saints; the same is true of the Commemoration of the Departed. The Augustinians remember all their dead on November 14th, the Dominicans on November 8th, the Franciscans on November 24th, the Carmelites on November 15th, the Jesuits on November 6th, and the Benedictines and Cistercians on November 14th.

The departed remain members of the monastic family in which they were consecrated to God. Those who are still in the purifying fire of God’s just and merciful love rely on our help. They cannot pray for themselves because their time of being able to merit has forever passed, but they are not without gratitude towards those who pray for them.

In ages past one of the principal motives for entering a monastery or for becoming an Oblate was to learn the art of dying well and to secure the suffrages of the community after death: Masses, psalms, and almsgiving. In the Middle Ages it was not uncommon for married men or women to ask for the holy habit and make profession on their deathbed. Monastic profession was deemed a second baptism; moreover, it assured one of a lasting remembrance in the prayers of the community after death.

The chronicles of monasteries and the lives of the saints recount many instances of souls in purgatory returning to beg for Masses and other prayers; there are also accounts of souls returning to thank those who prayed for them and to give them a fleeting glimpse of heaven’s radiance shining on their faces.

The Eclipse of the Requiem Mass

Prayer for the dead went into a marked decline in the period of theological confusion that swept through the Church in the late 1960s and 1970s. A number of factors contributed to this weakening of charity towards the faithful departed. The Mass of Christian Burial came to be called quite inaccurately the Mass of the Resurrection, a term never authorized by the Church and found in no official liturgical book. Whereas the traditional black or violet vestments reminded us that we die as poor sinners in need of God’s purifying mercy and of the supplications of the Church, the use of white vestments was misinterpreted by many, not as a sign of hope in the mercy of God, but rather as a sign of assurance that the deceased had already been welcomed into eternal glory. Funerals turned into something resembling local beatifications or canonizations.

It is a cherished monastic tradition to pray for the dead. Cistercians, in particular, have the custom of praying an entire Psalter (all 150 Psalms) for the dead, concluding each psalm with the verse, "Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them."

November 13
All Saints Who Militated under
the Rule of Saint Benedict

Isaiah 61:9–11
Psalm 102: 1–2, 3–4, 8–9, 13–14, 17–18a (R. 1a)
John 15:1–8

So Great a Cloud of Witnesses

“Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith” (Heb 12:1–2). Each of the great Orders in the Church celebrates, in addition to All Saints on November 1st and All Souls on November 2nd, special days in honour of their own “great cloud of witnesses” (Heb 12:1) and in commemoration of all their beloved dead.
— The Augustinians remember all saints of the Order of Saint Augustine on November 13th and all their departed on November 14th.
— The Dominicans remember all saints of the Order of Preachers on November 7th and all their departed on November 8th.
—The Franciscans remember all saints of the Seraphic Order on November 29th and all their departed on November 24th.
— The Carmelites remember all saints of the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel on November 14th and all their departed on November 15th.
— The Jesuits remember all saints of the Society of Jesus on November 5th and all their departed on November 6th.
— The Benedictines and Cistercians remember all saints who militated under the Rule of Saint Benedict on November 13th and all their departed on November 14th.

I and My Childen Whom the Lord Hath Given Me

The proper Benedictine Office for today’s festival is taken in great part from that of All Saints Day on November 1st with a few significant adaptations. At Vespers we read from Isaiah, placing the prophets’s words in Saint Benedict’s mouth: “Behold, I and my children whom the Lord hath given me for a sign, and for a wonder in Israel from the Lord of Hosts who dwelleth in Mount Sion” (Is 8:18). Saint Benedict appears as the paterfamilias of a great household. He stands together with his supernatural offspring in the presence of God, illustrating the grace of spiritual fecundity for all the Church.

Cedars Tall of Lebanon

Today’s Vespers hymn calls our holy forefathers and foremothers “cedars of Lebanon.” The Lebanon cedar is mentioned seventy–five times in the Bible; its bark has medicinal properties and its timber was highly prized for the construction of noble houses, temples, and ships.

Today we celebrated the feast of All Saints Who Militated Under the Rule of Saint Benedict. One might also translate the name of the feast as "All Saints Who Soldiered Under the Rule of Saint Benedict." It's enough to make a Jesuit envious!

What can be done when a "heavy devil" fastened itself to a brother or sister in order to impede the building of the community? Prayer and fasting, and recourse to the power of the Cross and the intercession of Saint Benedict are efficacious means by which the devil can be detached from the poor soul on whom he crouches. Once rid of the "heavy devil," the building up of community can resume.

The painting by Bernardo Strozzi (1581–1644), a fugitive from the Capuchin Order, depicts the Prophet Elijah with the Widow of Sarepta and her son.

ENTRANCE ANTIPHON

GR
Let my prayer enter into your presence; incline your ear to my supplication, O Lord.
V. O Lord, God of my salvation,
day and night have I cried before you (Ps 87:3, 2).

COLLECT

Almighty and merciful God,
graciously keep us, we pray,
from all things that may hurt us,
that we, being unimpeded both in mind and body,
may accomplish with free minds
those things which belong to your purpose.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.

Don Carlo's feast was November 4th, Saint Charles Borromeo. Don Carlo is Romanian; he made solemn profession at Santa Croce and was ordained a priest in 2004. Currently he is studying Canon Law. If you are ever in Rome you may see him in the piazza in front of Santa Croce where he has a very effective ministero del sorriso.

Don Martino, wearing the black beret, hails from Milano. He is among our venerable and cherished seniors. More than anything else he gives good example to his younger brethren by his exemplary fidelity to the common life.

Cistercian life at Santa Croce in Gerusalemme is never dull. There is always someone or something to celebrate!

November 11
Feast of Saint Martin of Tours, Bishop

Isaiah 61:1-3abcd
Psalm 88:2-3, 4-5, 21-22, 25, 27
Matthew 25: 31-40

Today’s gospel, focusing on judgment and on the arrival of the Bridegroom-King in glory with all his angels, is perfectly adapted to the eschatological impetus given to the liturgy between November 1st and the First Sunday of Advent. In other parts of the Catholic world, a six-week Advent begins on the Sunday following the feast of Saint Martin. This is the tradition of the Church of Milan, for example. The arrival of Martin the soldier announces the arrival of Christ, the true King, the Lord of glory.

Saint Martin of Tours was the first non-martyr to be honoured with a liturgical cult, the first of a long line of “confessors” to make their way into the Church’s calendar. “Though he did not die a martyr’s death, sings the Magnificat Antiphon, this holy confessor won the martyr’s palm.” The hymn Iste Confessor was composed for the feast of Saint Martin. Holy Father Benedict himself dedicated a chapel to Saint Martin at Monte Cassino. Franciscan liturgists of the Middle Ages borrowed from the Office of Saint Martin in composing the liturgy for the feast of Saint Francis, in many cases simply changing Martinus to Franciscus.

Saint Martin was guided by the Holy Spirit through a whole succession of states of life. There is Martin the soldier, Martin the catechumen, Martin the monk, and finally, Martin the bishop. In North America, Saint Martin is often forgotten; in France, over five hundred villages and over four thousand parishes bear his name and witness to the enthusiastic piety stirred up by his memory.

In the reading from the prophet Isaiah, Martin is remembered as one filled with the Holy Spirit, as one anointed, as one sent to bring good news to the poor. He binds up broken hearts, comforts those who mourn, and puts praise in the mouths and hearts of the despondent. The Life of Saint Martin by Sulpicius Severus recounts Martin’s miracles of compassion, of conversion, of generosity, of healing. Together with Saint Athanasius’ Life of Saint Antony, the Life of Saint Martin became the standard reference for the biographers of holy men.

I do love this painting of Saint Martin's Mass. It is the work of an unknown Hungarian master and dates from 1490. Saint Martin's acolyte, clothed in a flowing sleeveless surplice, holds a lighted taper in one hand and lifts the bishop's chasuble with the other. Saint Martin is totally absorbed in his priestly service. Notice his pontifical vestments: the alb, green dalmatic, and red chasuble bearing the image of the Crucified. His amice is adorned with a green apparel and the maniple is clearly visible on his left arm.

Angels assist at the elevation of the Sacred Host, spreading a kind of "sacring cloth" beneath it: an exquisite expression of reverence that serves, at the same time, to cover Saint Martin's arms. His sleeves have fallen almost to his elbows. Looking closely at the Host, one sees that it too bears the imprint of the Crucified. Both Saint Martin and his acolyte are gazing intently at the Body of Christ.

The altar is covered with fair linens and with a corporal. Two candles are burning. The missal and mitre rest on the left side of the altar. The precious chalice is covered with a white linen pall; behind it, at the foot of the crucifix, there is a covered ciborium. The altarpiece depicts the Crucified Jesus with the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint John. In all, there are three representations of the Crucified: on the back of the chasuble, on the Host, and on the altarpiece. Clearly, this is the sacramental actualization of the Sacrifice of the Cross.

The kneeling man dressed in black appears to be a cleric; he folds his hands in an attitude of devotion and lifts his eyes to the Body of Christ. Just behind him one barely sees the head of another worshiper. A lady coiffed in white looks on from a distance; behind here there is another woman. The door of the church is open and, just outside, is a young layman come to see the elevation. Perhaps he was drawn there by the sound of the church bells ringing the Sanctus. He is kneeling in adoration and his hands are folded.

The whole painting breathes a climate of adoration and wonder. Every person in it is fully, consciously, and actually engaged in the Mysterium Fidei. I think of it as an image of authentic liturgical renewal.

ENTRANCE ANTIPHON

MR
I will raise up for myself a faithful priest,
who shall do according to my heart and my soul,
says the Lord (1 Sam 2:35).

GR 445
The Lord made to him a covenant of peace
to be the prince of his people
that the dignity of priesthood should be to him forever (Sir 45:30).
V. O Lord, remember David,
and all his meekness (Ps 131:1).

COLLECT

O God,
who were magnified in the life of Saint Martin as in his death,
renew the wonders of your grace in our hearts,
so that neither death nor life may separate us from your love.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.

Father Tim Finigan over at The Hermeneutic of Continuity offers three compelling reflections on the question. His suggestions give some substance to what is generally called "the reform of the reform." Can the so–called Novus Ordo be salvaged? I don't pretend to have the answer, but Father Tim makes some excellent observations.

One can at least begin by doing what the current GIRM allows, such as:

1. the unified position ad apsidem of priest and people during the Liturgy of the Eucharist;
2. on the part of the priest: abstinence from all extraneous, subjective, and casual remarks;
3. respect for the Proper texts of the Mass as given in the Graduale Romanum and in the Missale Romanum;
4. the cantillation of the priest's and deacon's parts according to the traditional tones of the Roman Rite;
5. the fitting use of incense and bells.

Celebrating in the vernacular, there remains still the problem of the frightfully flawed translations in the 1974 Sacramentary. I try to post here my own translations of the Mass texts each day — for lectio divina and comparative study if for nothing else — as well as General Intercessions based on the lectionary, feast, or mystery being celebrated.

Saint Leo is a model of holiness for all of us. While all are not called to preach, and very few indeed are chosen to teach from Peter’s Chair, all, without exception, are called to hear the Word of God, to repeat it and to turn it to prayer. All are called to the priestly service of God, each member according to his rank in the Body of Christ that is the Church. In today’s Office reading Saint Leo reminds us of this very thing: “In baptism the sign of the cross makes kings of all who are reborn in Christ, and the anointing of the Holy Spirit consecrates them priests.”

Each of us lives out the baptismal priesthood by making of all of life a procession to the altar, by making of every action a holy oblation, by entering into the victimhood of Christ. Is not this the teaching of the Apostle: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercy of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy , pleasing unto God, your reasonable sacrifice” (Rom 12:1).

We also remember today our dear friend Adé Béthune, greatly devoted to Saint Leo — not in any conventionally pious way, but with unswerving integrity and zeal. Adé lived toward the altar. Everything in her work and in her life had a Eucharistic finality. I cannot forget the reverence and awe with which she always spoke of Holy Mass — never simply Mass, always Holy Mass.

When, back in the 1940s, Adé began her workshop in Newport for the service of the praying Church, she placed it under the protection of Saint Leo. When she began her association for the promotion of good craftsmanship and art in the service of the sacred liturgy, she called it the Saint Leo League. She had one of her apprentices make a blue & white tile icon of Saint Leo in the traditional Portuguese style to adorn the outside of her shop on Washington Street. As a little girl, Adé’s nickname was “Lion” — lion. When she began taking in apprentices in her Newport studio, she dubbed them her “cubs.” Adé’s name as a Benedictine Oblate was Sister Leo.

I had the privilege of being apprenticed to Adé Béthune in the early 1970s. We remained good friends until her death. Adé was a person of total integrity, a Catholic steeped in the grand liturgical and spiritual traditions of the old world, a sage with the heart of a child, a friend of the poor, an organic gardener, a master artist, a Benedictine Oblate of Portsmouth Abbey.

In the 1940s Adé founded the Saint Leo League in Newport, Rhode Island to educate clergy and layfolk by making good liturgical art available to them. The monthly meetings of the Saint Leo League continued to draw friends of Adé and friends of the liturgy from all over New England well into the 1980s. Father Giles Dimock, O.P. often celebrated Holy Mass for the group. Adé was editor of the review Sacred Signs; its articles are as timely today as when they were written more than thirty years ago.

Adé did a lot for me. She helped me grow up. She introduced me to the beauty and rightness of compost heaps and of the conical chasuble! She corrected my calligraphy and encouraged by attempts at "making good pictures." She shared my passion for Gregorian chant, calling it "plainchant for plain folk." She defended the traditional square notation on a four line staff, explaining that its "pictographic" quality made it easier to read than modern notation. At my First Solemn Mass twenty year ago, Adé served as lector.

One of the best impressions of Adé is this one, written by her friend Dorothy Day, foundress of The Catholic Worker:

Whenever I visited Ade I came away with a renewed zest for life. She has such a sense of the sacramentality of life, the goodness of things, a sense that is translated in all her works whether it was illustrating a missal, making stained-glass windows or sewing, cooking or gardening. To do things perfectly was always her aim. Another first principle she always taught was to aim high. "If you are going to put a cross bar on an H," she said, "you have to aim higher than your sense of sight tells you."

Dorothy Day. The Long Loneliness . New York: Harper & Brothers, 1952. p.190-1.

ENTRANCE ANTIPHON

MR
The Lord made to him a covenant of peace
to be the prince of his people
that the dignity of priesthood should be to him forever (Sir 45:30).

COLLECT

O God,
who never permit the gates of hell to prevail against your Church,
founded on the rock of the Apostles,
grant, we beseech you,
through the intercession of Pope Saint Leo,
that, standing upright in your truth,
she may be strengthened by a lasting peace.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.

On November 16th, I will celebrate the 20th anniversary of my ordination to the holy priesthood. I was ordained on the feast of Saint Gertrude the Great, the Cistercian–Benedictine mystic of the sacred liturgy and of the Heart of Jesus. In 1986 I prepared for my ordination by reading Blessed Abbot Marmion's Christ, the Ideal of the Priest, a classic that continues to inspire me.

These twenty years of priesthood appear to me related to the twenty Mysteries of the Holy Rosary: joyful, luminous, sorrowful, and glorious. There have been joys, lights, and sorrows in my priesthood, but all in anticipation of the glory promised by Christ and given already in the sacramental foretaste of the Eucharist!

I will be celebrating Holy Mass in thanksgiving for the graces of these twenty years on Sunday, November 26th, the Solemnity of Christ, King of the Universe, at 11:00 a.m. in the church of the Monastery of the Glorious Cross where I serve as chaplain.

November 10th, the feast of Pope Saint Leo the Great is the onomastico of my dear confrère and friend Fra Leone Maria. Fra Giuseppe Benedetto and I affectionately call him "The Lion." Fra Leone is one of the three founding fathers of our monastery of Santa Cruz in Guadalajara, Mexico.

At Santa Croce in Rome Fra Leone was charged for several years with building the presepio in the narthex of the basilica. Now, in Guadalajara, he is in charge of coordinating the construction of the new monastery. Not quite the same dimensions! Fra Leone shares my passion for Gregorian Chant. He plays the zither and enjoys listening to music too, especially Mexican Baroque. Pray for him!

November 9

The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica

Today’s festival invites us, in some way, to cross the threshold of the Lateran Basilica and enter the nave, to stand in the midst of it and, with eyes wide open to things visible, begin to contemplate the invisible: the mystery of the Church, Bride of Christ and Mother of Christ’s faithful. To do this, we need not take ourselves off to Rome. It is enough, and more than enough, to enter into the wealth of antiphons, responsories, readings, hymns, and prayers that make up the splendour of today’s liturgy.

The liturgy summons us today us to make a pilgrimage of the heart. It is full of mysterious archetypes: thresholds and doors, stones and ladders, pillars and gates, fires and storms, trumpet blasts and mountains, water and blood. All of these resonate to the great central affirmation of the liturgy of the Dedication of a Church: “God is in his holy place” (Ps 67:6).

When we cross the threshold of a dedicated church, we pass into a mystic enclosure containing the uncontainable. We pass over into the space and time of God: a space filled by Him whom the heavens themselves cannot encompass, a time transcending the mean measurements of clocks and calendars. Our God, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of David and of Solomon, the God of Jesus Christ is not the remote and distant God of “there and then,” but the God of “here and now.” This is the wondrous realization that, dawning upon Jacob in the first reading, causes him to cry out, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven” (Gen 28:17).

Dedication of the Lateran Basilica

Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12
Ps 45: 2-3, 5-6, 8-9
1 Corinthians 3: 9c-11, 16-17
John 2:13-22

God Is In Her Midst

“I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Rev 21:2). One cannot go out the front door of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme without seeing the Lateran Basilica. One never tires of the sight. The cathedral of Rome has a quiet pearly radiance in the morning light. Today’s responsorial psalm expresses it perfectly: “God is in her midst; she shall not be disturbed; God will help her at the break of dawn” (Ps 45: 6).

The Bride Made Lovely

In the evening the cathedral of Rome turns to gold in the fires of the setting sun. “I have chosen and consecrated this house, says the Lord, that my name may be there forever” (2 Chr 7:16). Saint John Lateran looks very much like a great vessel come down from heaven, like the bride made lovely for her spouse.

The Emperor Become the Doorkeeper

The Lateran was the palace of the Emperor Constantine; Santa Croce was the palace of his mother, Saint Helena. They would have been able to give each other an imperial wave from their windows. Under the great portico of the Lateran, to the left, is an immense statue of Constantine — “Saint Constantine” as he is often called — regal, self-confident, strong. Constantine guards the entrance of the basilica. The mighty Emperor has become the doorkeeper of the cathedral. It is all in the logic of the Gospel.

The Church Is Alive

Visiting Saint John Lateran one sees the living, breathing Catholic Church in all her diversity. Confessionals line the left side of the basilica; each one bears a sign indicating the languages spoken by the confessor on duty: Italian, French, Spanish, German, Polish, Portuguese, Tagalog, and even English. The confessors themselves come from a variety of nations and belong to diverse religious Orders. Even more impressive is the great numbers of penitents, even on a weekday morning. At several confessionals stand lines of people waiting to be shriven: young people, elderly men and women, people in business suits, university students, bishops, priests, seminarians, and religious in all sorts of habits. Some are pilgrims in the Eternal City; others are true Romans completely at home in their cathedral church. Where mercy flows, where sin is confessed and forgiven, where broken hearts are healed, the Church is alive!

Adoring Silence at the Heart of the Church

To the left of the great nave is the chapel of the Most Blessed Sacrament, a place of silence and adoration. There the Blessed Sacrament is exposed in the monstrance all day long. People come and go continuously. Young people stop in to adore, some laden with backpacks of books, others in T-shirts and jeans, still others in Armani suits. There are, of course, the little old ladies like sparrows whose secret prayers spread a balm over the wounds of many. Priests, religious, seminarians, pilgrims from north and south, east and west: all are magnetized by the presence of the Eucharistic Christ. And there is such a silence: an adoring silence, a silence that remains inviolate at the heart of the city and of the Church. The Basilica of Saint John Lateran is a hearth of Eucharistic adoration, a model for every other cathedral in the world.

Mother and Head of All Churches of the City and the World

For Catholics who have not had the opportunity to go to Rome, today’s festival may seem remote and almost unreal. Saint Peter’s Basilica holds a more prominent place in the Catholic imagination. News commentators often mistake Saint Peter’s for the cathedral of the bishop of the Rome. Saint Peter’s gets all the media coverage. The dome of Saint Peter’s is, for many, the icon of Catholicism; to the eyes of the world Bernini’s colonnade is the embrace of the Church, great arms flung open in an embrace that defies the ages.

For all of this, Saint John Lateran remains the Mother Church of the Eternal City and of the world, the church wherein every Catholic can be at home. The inscription on the façade of the Lateran reads: Omnium urbis et orbis ecclesiarium mater et caput, mother and head of all churches of the city and of world. One cannot visit the Lateran Basilica without coming away with a clearer impression of what it means to be a Roman Catholic.

A Pilgrimage of the Heart

The liturgy summons us today us to make a pilgrimage of the heart. Today’s Mass and Divine Office are full of mysterious archetypes: thresholds and doors, stones and ladders, pillars and gates, fires and storms, trumpet blasts and mountains, water and blood. All of these resonate to the great central affirmation of the liturgy of the Dedication of a Church: “God is in his holy place” (Ps 67:6).

Rome is Home

The distance separating Rome and every other place is swallowed up in the mystery of the Holy Sacrifice. Our mystical pilgrimage to the heart of the Church leads us always to the altar. In a very real sense, for all of us, Rome is home. Transposed into the realm of the faith, the ancient adages hold true: to be Roman is be to be free, to be Roman is to be a citizen of the world.

In the Sweet Obedience of Communion With Peter

Being Roman Catholic means being Catholic at the crossroads of the world, Catholic in the sweet obedience of communion with Peter, Catholic in adhering to the truth taught from Peter’s Chair, a truth resplendent with the blood of the Church’s martyrs and all ablaze with the fire of her mystics. The festival of the Dedication of the Lateran says to those who have ears to hear, “Come to the heart of the Church, live in the heart of the Church. Let zeal for the house of God consume you.”

ENTRANCE ANTIPHON

MR
I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband (Rev 21:2).

Or:

Behold the tabernacle of God among men!
He will dwell with them,
and they shall be his people,
and God himself with them shall be their God (Rev 21:3).

COLLECT

O God, who out of chosen and living stones
prepare an eternal dwelling for your majesty;
increase within your Church
the spirit of grace which you have given,
so that your faithful people may assemble in ever greater numbers
for the building up of the heavenly Jerusalem.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.

NOVEMBER 8
BLESSED ELIZABETH OF THE TRINITY, VIRGIN
Wednesday of the Thirty–First Week of the Year II

Philippians 2:12–18
Psalm 26:1, 4, 13–14 (R. 2a)
Luke 14:25–33

In the Catechism

Opening the Catechism of the Catholic Church this morning, I discovered that among the ecclesiastical writers cited in the text, there are fifty–nine men and eight women. Three of the eight women cited are Carmelites, and one of the three is Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity: an outstanding honour for a young nun who died, hidden in her Carmel at Dijon, at twenty–six years of age on November 9, 1906.

To Light, to Love, to Life

One hundred years have passed since, faced with death, Blessed Elizabeth said, “Je vais à la Lumière, à l’Amour à la Vie — I am going to Light, to Love, to Life.” The influence of the young Carmelite has grown prodigiously all over the world. Her Prayer to the Holy Trinity has been translated into thirty–four languages.

God Is At Work In You

In today’s First Reading, Saint Paul says this: “God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil 2:13). Blessed Elizabeth’s secret of holiness was total surrender to God at work in her for his good pleasure, transforming her into the Praise of His Glory (cf. Eph 1:6). Believing this, one dares to pray, “I trust, O God, that you are at work in me, even now, both to will and to work for the praise of your glory.”

For the Praise of His Glory

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that, “even now we are called to be a dwelling for the Most Holy Trinity: ‘If a man loves me,” says the Lord, ‘he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him’” (Jn 14:23). And as a kind of commentary on the mystery of the indwelling Trinity, the Catechism gives us Blessed Elizabeth’s magnificent prayer. I know souls who by dint of repeating that prayer day after day have learned it by heart; God alone knows what changes it has wrought in them . . . for the praise of His glory.

At the end of the homily today I prayed Blessed Elizabeth's prayer; her text has a way of establishing the soul in silence. After Mass the faithful came forward to venerate the relic of Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity. I am always moved by the tenderness and faith that people bring to the veneration of holy relics. One senses the nearness of the saint in the most remarkable way.

ENTRANCE ANTIPHON

MR
This is a wise virgin, and one of the number of the prudent
who went out with lighted lamp
to meet Christ on the way.

COLLECT

God of bountiful mercy,
who revealed to Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity
the mystery of your secret presence
in the hearts of those who love you,
and chose her to adore you in spirit and in truth;
grant through her intercession,
that we also may abide in the love of Christ,
and merit to be transformed
into temples of your life-giving Spirit,
to the praise of your glory.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.

Elizabeth of the Trinity's words are not unlike those of her sister in Carmel, Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face, who promised to spend her heaven doing good on earth. Elizabeth envisaged that she too would have a mission in heaven:

"I think, that in Heaven my mission will be to draw souls by helping them go out of themselves to cling to God by a wholly simple and loving movement, and to keep them in this great silence within that will allow God to communicate Himself to them and transform them into Himself."

Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity
+ 9 November 1906

The centenary of the death of Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity (1906–2006) is a moment of grace for all who love her and for the whole Church. Her "Elevation to the Most Holy Trinity" has touched thousands of souls. For many it is has opened the door of an interior life of adoration and of love.

O my God, Trinity whom I adore;
help me to forget myself entirely that I may be established in You
as still and as peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity.
May nothing trouble my peace or make me leave You,
O my Unchanging One,
but may each minute carry me further into the depths of Your mystery.
Give peace to my soul; make it Your heaven,
Your beloved dwelling and Your resting place.
May I never leave You there alone
but be wholly present, my faith wholly vigilant,
wholly adoring, and wholly surrendered to Your creative Action.

O my Three, my All,
my Beatitude, infinite Solitude, Immensity in which I lose myself,
I surrender myself to You as Your prey.
Bury Yourself in me that I may bury myself in You
until I depart to contemplate in Your light
the abyss of Your greatness.

-Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity, 21 November 1904

TUESDAY OF THE THIRTY–FIRST WEEK OF THE YEAR II

Philippians 2:5-11
Psalm 21: 26b-27, 28-30a, 31-32 (R. v. 26a)
Luke 14:15-24

Christ Obedient Unto Death

Nothing is more perilous than an excessive familiarity with the sublime: the juxtaposition of the Holy with the “ho-hum.” Well-known texts like today’s passage from Philippians present just such a danger. “Oh, that again! I know it. I’ve heard it hundreds of times. Onto the next thing.” Saint Paul’s canticle of the self-emptying and glorified Christ — the Christus factus est — is so familiar to us that we risk not hearing it or, at best, giving it no more than a nod of acknowledgement.

Sing the Mystery

Of course, one of the most adequate treatments of the text is its chant melody; there, melody functions as exegesis and as homily. Neum after neum, the meaning of the text is revealed in a way that preaching and commentaries cannot even begin to approach. I wonder how many of you were moved to sing softly the Christus factus est during your lectio divina this morning. I was.

Through the Lens of Psalm 21

The Lectionary offers us another approach. It invites us to read the text through the lens of the Responsorial Psalm. Of course, Psalm 21 — the very prayer intoned by Jesus from the cross — is well known to us. We sing it on Friday in the Divine Office. What is original and new is the way the liturgy puts the triumphant conclusion of Psalm 21 together with the canticle from Philippians. It is this that can save us from the pitfall of an excessive familiarity with both texts.

Energetic in Everything He Undertook for God

Saint Willibrord is the patron saint of Holland. He was also a Benedictine, one of the companions of Saint Boniface and Saint Lioba in the English evangelization of Northern Europe. Alcuin, in his Life of Willibrord, describes him as “comely of face, cheerful in spirit, wise in counsel, pleasing in speech, grave in character and energetic in everything he undertook for God.” Willibrord’s ministry was one of zealous preaching shaped by the psalmody of the Hours and by the practice of lectio divina.

Willibrord Changes Water Into Wine

Alcuin relates a number of miracles performed by Saint Willibrord. I especially like one having to do with wine. It shows a fully human and compassionate Willibrord. On one occasion, Willibrord came with his companions to the house of a friend of his and wished to break the fatigue of the long journey by taking a meal there, but it came to his ears that the head of the house had no wine. He gave orders that four small flasks — all that his companions carried with them for their needs on the journey — should be brought to him. He blessed them in the name of Christ who at the marriage feast of Cana changed water into wine. After Willibrord’s gracious blessing about forty people drank their fill from the small bottles. With great thanksgiving and joyful hearts, they said one to another: " The Lord Jesus has in truth fulfilled His promise in the Gospel: 'He who believes in me will do the deeds I do, and greater than these shall he do.'"

Plant the Cross and Build A Monastery Around It

Saint Willibrord illustrates for us, in this time of the “new evangelization,” the enduring value of the monastic mission. To plant the Cross and to build a monastery around it remains, even today, an act of evangelization, an effective way of preaching the gospel. Monasteries open and monasteries close but wherever men and women truly seek God and prefer nothing to the love of Christ the seed of the Gospel is planted in the earth to bear a fruit that will abide (Jn 15:16).

I remember today Sister Marie–Willibrorda, O.S.B. of the Monastère Saint–Joseph in France and my friends, the Poor Clare nuns of Eindhoven in the Netherlands.

ENTRANCE ANTIPHON

GR
Let your priests, O Lord, be clothed with justice,
and let your saints rejoice:
for your servant David’s sake,
turn not away the face of your Christ (Ps 131:9-10).
Ps. O Lord, remember David, and all his meekness (Ps 131:1).

COLLECT

O God, the Saviour of all,
who sent your bishop Willibrord as a pilgrim for Christ
to proclaim the good news to many peoples
and confirm them in their faith,
help us also, we beseech you,
to witness to your steadfast love by word and deed
so that your Church may increase and grow strong in holiness.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.

Yesterday I had the joy of baptizing Michael Mario Guidone, son of Michael and Kerry Guidone, Oblates of the Benedictine Monastery of the Glorious Cross in Branford, Connecticut. It is very unusual to celebrate the sacrament of Holy Baptism in a monastery. The baptism was recorded in the registers of the neighbouring parish church. Michael and Kerry, being Oblates, belong to the "extended monastic family" ; having the Baptism during the Sunday Conventual Mass allowed the nuns of the monastery and other Oblates and friends of the monastery to participate.

Before the Ite, missa est, we went together to the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary to entrust Michael Mario to her loving protection. We ended with the Salve Regina.

Today's Introit is the same one sung on Ash Wednesday, making it very suitable for this November Sunday after All Souls Day. Its first mode melody is tender and full of confidence. The verse from Psalm 56 is the cry of every soul in purgatory.

The Collect intensifies the eschatological impetus of today's Mass by asking that we may run without stumbling toward the promises of God.

ENTRANCE ANTIPHON

You have mercy upon all, O Lord,
and hate none of the things which you have made,
you overlook the sins of men for the sake of repentance,
and spare them because you are the Lord our God (Wis 11: 24-25, 27).
V. Have mercy on me, God, have mercy,
for in you my soul has taken refuge (Ps 55:1).

COLLECT

Almighty and merciful God,
by whose gift your faithful offer you
due and laudable service,
grant, we beseech you,
that we may run without stumbling
towards the good things you have promised.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.

The Collect for today's memorial of Saint Charles Borromeo contains an extraordinary phrase. We ask that the Church, being ceaselessly renewed, and thus conformed to the image of Christ, may show forth His Face to the world: Christi se imagini conformans, ipsius vultum mundo valeat ostendere.

ENTRANCE ANTIPHON

MR
I will visit my sheep,
and I will set up one shepherd over them
and he shall feed them,
and I the Lord will be their God (cf. Ez 34:11, 23-24).

COLLECT

Preserve in your people, we beseech you, Lord,
the spirit with which you filled the bishop Saint Charles;
that the Church may be ceaselessly renewed,
and in conforming herself to the image of Christ,
be able to show his face to the world.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.

Laus Crucis introduces us to yet another holy young Passionist: Blessed Pio (Campidelli) of Saint Aloysius. In many ways, Blessed Pio reminds me of Blessed Marie–Joseph Cassant, the young Trappist of Sainte–Marie–du Désert. Pio Campidelli was born at Poggio Berni (Forli) in Italy on April 29, 1868. He entered the Passionists in his fourteenth year. The young Pio was drawn to the Mother of God, to the mystery of the Eucharist, and to Jesus Crucified. His way of holiness was fidelity to ordinary things with an extraordinary love. Pio received the Minor Orders and, after offering his life for his beloved native region of Romagna, died on November 2, 1889. He was twenty–one years old.

Pope John Paul II beatified Pio on November 17, 1985. The Passionists celebrate his liturgical memorial on November 3rd. Here is the Collect for the Mass and Office of Blessed Pio:

O God,
who reveal yourself in a marvelous way
to the little ones and to the pure of heart,
manifest yourself to us, we beseech you,
as you did to Blessed Pius,
and grant that we may follow you unceasingly,
our one and true God, in purity and sincerity of life,
loving you above all things and loving others with your love.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God forever and ever.

The medallion of Saint Martin de Porres is the work of the Dominican priest and sculptor, Father Thomas McGlynn (1906–1977). Father McGlynn's strong images of Saint Martin contributed in no small measure to the rise of devotion to him which led to his canonization in 1962.

ENTRANCE ANTIPHON

MR
Lavishly he gives to the poor,
his justice stands firm forever.
His head will be raised in glory (Ps 111:9).

COLLECT

O God who, by the path of humility,
led Saint Martin de Porres
to the glory of heaven,
grant that we may so follow his splendid example now
as to be found worthy of a place with him on high in heaven.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.

NOVEMBER 2
ALL SOULS DAY

Isaiah 25:6, 7-9
2 Corinthians 5:1, 6-10
Luke 23: 44-46, 52-53; 24:1-6a

Perpetual Light

The Church’s prayer for the dead has, for centuries, been crystallized in a single verse drawn from second chapter of the little known Fourth Book of Esdras. Even non-believers know at least the first word of the introit of the Mass of the Dead: Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine: et lux perpetua luceat eis. “Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them” (cf. 4 Es 2:35). The word “requiem” has passed from sacred usage into the secular realm, becoming part of the vocabulary of poets and novelists, of dramatists and journalists.

The Requiem Mass has inspired some of the greatest music of Western civilization, beginning with the incomparable Gregorian Requiem and flowering into hundreds of other settings: Berlioz, Brahms, Britten, Duruflé, Fauré, Mozart, Verdi and, in our own day, John Rutter. Each year, during the month of November, I try to listen again to the various settings of the Requiem Mass, allowing their beauty to sink into my memory and, in some way, to nourish my prayer for the dead.

Fourth Esdras

The Fourth Book of Esdras is an attempt to sort out life’s huge questions: the goodness of God and the evil ever present in the world; the hope of immortality and the harsh reality of death; the meaning of suffering and faith in God’s mercy. It is a pity that, apart from the single verse taken up by the Liturgy of the Dead, most Catholics are unfamiliar with the Fourth Book of Esdras. The month of November is the perfect time to read it. You can find it in the RSV listed among the apocryphal books and in the supplement to the Vulgate.

A Vision of My Splendour

Esdras speaks to Israel in the name of God, saying, “Care for the injured and the weak, do not ridicule the lame, protect the maimed, and let the blind have a vision of my splendour. Protect the old and the young within your walls. When you find any who are dead, commit them to the grave and mark it, and I will give you the first place in my resurrection. Pause and be quiet, my people, because your rest will come” (2 Es 2:20-24). It is this promise of rest — refreshment, light, peace, and wholeness — that is echoed today, again and again, in the prayer of the Church for the dead.

ENTRANCE ANTIPHON

GR
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,
and let the radiance of your light shine forever upon them (cf. 2 Es 2:35).
V. To you our praise is due in Zion, O God.
To you we pay our vows, you who hear our prayer;
to you all flesh will come (Ps 64:2-3).

COLLECT

O God, glory of the faithful and life of the just,
by whose Son’s death and resurrection we are redeemed,
show forgiving mercy to your departed servants,
that, as they came to know the mystery of our resurrection,
they may be found worthy of receiving
the joys of eternal blessedness.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.

Abramo, a native of Guadalajara in Mexico, began his novitiate on October 31, 2006 in the Abbey of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme in Rome.

Reverend Father Abbot Don Simone clothed Abramo in the white habit of the Cistercian novice and chose for him the illustrious name of Bernardo. Fra Bernardo is a gifted musician.

I will be for him both a mother and a father, both a brother and a sister. I will make the crooked path straight for him and the rough places smooth. I will temper and arrange all things that his soul may advance and his body not suffer. He will serve the Lord with joy and gladness. He will sing of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord.

Saint Bernard, To the Parents of a Novice

Patrick sent this text of Carlo Carretto as a comment. It merits being shared here.

"It was in the desert that I came to realize that those who debate the rosary have not understood the soul of this prayer. The rosary is a point of arrival, not of departure.

The rosary is an incomprehensible prayer for the 'common sense' person, just as it is incomprehensible to repeat "I love you" a thousand times to a God one canot see. But for the pure in heart it is understandable; the person rooted in the Kingdom and living the Beatitudes understands the rosary."

SOLEMNITY OF ALL SAINTS

Apocalypse 7:2-4, 9-14
Psalm 23: 1-2, 3-4, 5-6
1 John 3:1-3
Matthew 5:1-12a

Called to the Splendour of Holiness

The message of All Saints Day, or All Hallowmas as it was once called, is that all people — men, women, and children; the healthy and the sick; the rich and the poor; the married and the widowed; the single, the separated, and the divorced; the “very put together” and those not quite right in the head; the handsome and the homely; the clever and the simple — all, without exception, are called to the splendour of holiness.

No Excuses

Blessed Abbot Marmion says that, “When we celebrate the Feast of All Saints, we ought to repeat to ourselves the words that Saint Augustine heard: Cur non poteris quod isti, quod istae? What reasons have we for not tending to holiness? Oh, I know well what each one is tempted to say: ‘I have such or such a difficulty, I have such or such a trial to contend with, I cannot become a saint.’” “But be sure,” says the Irish Abbot, “that all the saints have met with such difficulties, such trials, and much greater ones than yours. Thus then none can say: ‘Holiness is not for me’” (Christ in His Mysteries, p. 399).

The Heavenly Liturgy

Today’s reading from the Apocalypse shows us the saints engaged in the glorious liturgy of heaven. Saint John gazes at “a great multitude which no man could number, from every nation, from all tribes, and peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb’” (Ap 7:9–10).