April 2007 Archives

I find this painting of Saint Joseph and the Most Holy Trinity (Antoni Guerra, 1699) extraordinary. The Eternal Father is pointing to Saint Joseph, indicating that Joseph is His mystical shadow, the icon of His paternity on earth. Joseph has eyes only for the Infant Jesus. The Word Made Flesh smiles and tugs at Saint Joseph's beard. The Holy Spirit hovers over Saint Joseph's head. Joseph too, I think, had his "overshadowing" by the Holy Spirit to prepare and sustain him for his role in the plan of salvation. The little angel, expressing wonder and delight, is taking in the whole scene. There are two other little details in the painting. Note that there are two feet: one belonging to the Eternal Father, and one to Saint Joseph. Think about that! And in the lower left hand corner is the lily, the symbol of Saint Joseph's purity.

Prayer to Saint Joseph for Priests

O glorious Saint Joseph,
who, on the word of the angel
speaking to you in the night,
put fear aside to take your Virgin Bride into your home,
show yourself today the advocate and protector of priests.
Protector of the Infant Christ,
defend them against every attack of the enemy,
preserve them from the dangers that surround them
on every side.
Remember Herod's threats against the Child,
the anguish of the flight into Egypt by night,
and the hardships of your exile.
Stand by the accused;
stretch out your hand to those who have fallen;
comfort the fearful;
forsake not the weak;
and visit the lonely.
Let all priests know that in you
God has given them a model
of faith in the night, obedience in adversity,
chastity in tenderness, and hope in uncertainty.
You are the terror of demons
and the healer of those wounded in spiritual combat.
Come to the defence of every priest in need;
overcome evil with good.
Where there are curses, put blessings,
where harm has been done, do good.
Let there be joy for the priests of the Church,
and peace for all under your gracious protection.
Amen.

Saint Joseph the Worker

Colossians 3:14–15, 17, 23–24
Psalm 89:2, 3–4, 12–13, 14 and 16 (R. 17c)
Matthew 13:54–58

Saint Joseph in May

The month of May begins with a feast of Saint Joseph. It is significant that the commemoration of Saint Joseph both precedes and follows the heart of the whole liturgical year: the glorious Pasch of the Lord. We celebrated Saint Joseph on March 19th; he returns to us again today.

Saint Joseph is never far from the Blessed Virgin Mary, his immaculate spouse and, yes, his best friend, the friend of his heart, the love of his life, the unfailing cause of his joy in the midst of anxieties, hardship, and sorrow. Saint Joseph participated intimately in all those sorrows of hers that announced and prefigured the mysteries of Christ’s passion, death, and burial: the prophecy of Simeon, the flight into Egypt, the disappearance of the boy Jesus in Jerusalem. If you would empathize with the Heart of Mary, go to Joseph.

Last year, in a Regina Caeli address, Pope Benedict XVI explained the link between Paschaltide and the popular dedication of the month of May to the Blessed Virgin. The Holy Father said this:

In the days which followed the Lord's resurrection, the Apostles remained amongst themselves, comforted by the presence of Mary, and after the Ascension they persevered together with her in prayer awaiting Pentecost. Our Lady was for them mother and teacher, a role she continues to develop for the Christians of every age. Each year in Paschaltide, we relive most intensely this experience and maybe for this reason the popular tradition has consecrated to Mary the month of May, which normally falls between Easter and Pentecost. This month . . . is useful for us to rediscover the maternal function which she develops in our lives, that we may always be docile disciples and courageous witnesses of the risen Lord.

Saint Joseph and the Mystical Body of Christ

Similarly, Paschaltide discloses for us the ongoing role of Saint Joseph in the economy of salvation. During Paschaltide we read the Acts of the Apostles, the continuation of the life of Jesus Christ in His Mystical Body, the Church. In the life of the infant Church, as in the life of the Infant Christ, Saint Joseph is present: vigilant, interceding, protecting the poor, the vulnerable, and the weak. This hidden but very real role of Saint Joseph continues through history.

Joseph, having held in his arms the Body of the Infant Christ, having nourished and protected Him, cannot forsake His Mystical Body, the Church. Even the Protestant theologian Karl Barth was compelled to write: “If I were a Roman Catholic theologian, I would lift Saint Joseph up. He took care of the Child; he takes care of the Church.” Saint Joseph watches over each member of the Mystical Body with the same devotion, the same tenderness, and the same strength with which he watched over the precious members of Our Lord’s Sacred Humanity.

I walked to Santa Maria Maggiore this afternoon to pray before the tomb of Pope Saint Pius V. Around the tomb were burning candles and flowers in honour of his feast. Near the tomb I saw a young man totally absorbed in prayer while all around him pilgrims jostled tourists, most of whom had no idea that today was the Dominican Pope's feast.

There were so many intentions to recommend to the intercession of Saint Pius V. He was the Pope of the 1568 edition of the Roman Breviary and of the 1570 edition of the Roman Missal. The Collect of his feast recalls that God raised him up "to provide for a liturgy more worthy" of Him.

Pius V was the Pope of the Rosary; after the victory of Lepanto he instituted the Feast of the Most Holy Rosary under the title of Our Lady of Victory on October 7th. He approved a revision of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary and added the invocation, "Help of Christians" to the Litany of Loreto.

One last thing: Saint Pius VI excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I on April 27, 1570, calling her "a heretic and a favourer of heretics." Not one to mince words, Pius V! Surely, today, from his place in heaven, he will help with his prayers all who seek to repair the broken Body of Christ.

Then again, there is also May 5th . . .

O God, who raised up Pope Saint Pius V within Thy Church
to uphold the faith
and to provide for a liturgy more worthy of Thee,
grant that, through his intercession,
we may participate in Thy mysteries
with a lively faith and a fruitful charity.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

O God, who for the confusion of the enemies of thy Church,
and for the restoring of the honour of thy worship,
didst appoint thy blessed Saint Pius to be supreme Pontiff:
grant that we, being defended by his intercession,
may so steadfastly follow after thy commandments,
that we may overcome all the devices of our enemies,
and rejoice in perpetual peace and security.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Today, being the feast of Saint Catherine of Siena, the destination of our weekly passeggiata was the Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva where the body of the saint is enshrined beneath the altar. Folks of all sorts were queued up to pray at the tomb from behind the altar. We took our places and each of us had a moment of prayer resting our heads on the effigy of Saint Catherine. I remembered all my Dominican friends there and even placed my rosary on the tomb while I prayed.

I cannot think of Saint Catherine without recalling her burning love for the Precious Blood of Christ. One’s dying words are not improvised. They are the expression of a lifetime. Saint Catherine, having lived immersed in Blood of Christ, died with the Blood of Christ on her lips. On the January 30th before her death, she prayed for the Church, the Bride of Christ: “O Eternal God, accept the sacrifice of my life within this Mystic Body of holy Church. I have nothing to give but what you have given me. Take my heart, then, and squeeze it out over this Bride’s face.” For the Blood of Jesus' Heart, Catherine gave her own heart’s blood and, like her Bridegroom and Lord, she gave it for the Church. Her last recorded prayer, uttered three months later, is this:

Lord,
you are calling me to come to you,
and I am coming to you —
not with any merits of my own
but only with your mercy.
I am begging you for this mercy
in virtue of your Son’s most sweet Blood.
Blood!
Blood!
Father,
into your hands I surrender my soul
and my spirit.

It was April 29th, 1380. Catherine was thirty-three years old. Her identification with the Blood of the Paschal Lamb was complete. Today, with my forehead resting against Saint Catherine's tomb, I prayed through her intercession: "Blood of Christ, purify my mind, flood my soul, inflame my heart."

Also in Santa Maria Sopra Minerva is Michelangelo's breathtakingly beautiful "Christ the Redeemer." See it above. The sacristy contains wonderful frescoes by Fra Angelico. The side chapel dedicated to Saint Dominic is dark and recollected. There too I offered a prayer for Father Jacob and my other Dominican friends.

Father Abbot sent me to offer Holy Mass this morning in our lovely little chapel of La Madonna di Bon Aiuto (Our Lady of Good Help). There were about fifty faithful present.

The chapel was built in 1476 by order of Pope Sixtus IV (1471–1484) into the ancient Roman Castrense amphitheatre that forms the wall surrounding the monastery gardens. The chapel enshrines an ancient fresco of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

At one time the image was in a kind of wayside shrine with no more than a roof to protect it. A written account in the archives of our monastery relates that one day when Pope Sixtus IV was taking a walk from Saint John Lateran, he chanced upon a group of monks from Santa Croce and stopped to chat with them. All of a sudden a terrible thunderstorm with flashes of lightning came crashing down upon them. The little group sought refuge beneath the roof constructed over the image of the Madonna. The Pope invoked the bon aiuto (kindly help) and protection of the Mother of God.

Following this incident, the Pope gave orders that the image be removed from the wayside shrine and that a chapel be built on the spot in honour of the Blessed Virgin under the title of Bon Aiuto.

The Cistercian Monks of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme were charged with the care of the chapel and were also given the adjoining prairies, which property they held until the invasion of the French in 1849.

The chapel remains a place of supplication to the Mother of God to the present day. It is opened during the month of May for daily Mass. The postulants and novices of Santa Croce also gather there daily during the month of May for the recitation of the Holy Rosary in common. The feast of the Madonna di Buon Aiuto is celebrated on the last Sunday of May with a Solemn Mass and a procession with the sacred image through the streets of the neighbourhood.

There is a beautiful reproduction of the Madonna di Buon Aiuto in the Basilica of Santa Croce. People often linger before the image in prayer, light candles, and bring flowers to the Mother of God. Apart from the Rosary, the prayer most commonly associated with the image of the Madonna di Buon Aiuto is the Memorare, attributed to Saint Bernard of Clairvaux.

Fourth Sunday of Paschaltide

Good Shepherd Sunday

The Voice of the Shepherd

On this “Good Shepherd Sunday,” the Lord Jesus says, “My sheep will hear my voice” (Jn 10:16). For the sheep of His flock, the voice of Jesus the Good Shepherd has a uniquely penetrating quality, an unmistakable accent of tenderness, a note of divine authority that goes straight to the heart. The believing heart leaps with recognition at the sound of Jesus’ voice. “The sheep hear His voice, and He calls His own sheep by name, and leads them out” (Jn 10:3).

Say Only the Word

The word of Christ accomplishes what it expresses. Just before approaching the altar for Holy Communion, we will pray in the words of the centurion, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof; but say only the word, and my soul shall be healed” (Lk 7:6-7). Our hearts may be frozen in an icy indifference. They may be shriveled up in the desert wastes of sin, or numbed by a secret pain. Even so, the psalmist sings, “He sends forth His word and it melts them; at the breath of His mouth the waters flow” (Ps 147:18).

Listen with the Ear of the Heart

To listen to the voice of Jesus with the ear of the heart is the first step in any relationship with Him. In the book of Revelation He says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (Rev 3:20-21). Intimacy with Christ the Good Shepherd requires a listening heart. A listening heart will be a vulnerable heart. To listen with the ear of the heart is to open oneself to the other; it is to risk relationship. When the heart stops listening to the other, relationship — communion with the other — begins to disintegrate. This is true of friendship. It is true of marriage. It is true of our relationship with Jesus Christ.

The Good Portion

Recall that in Saint Luke’s gospel, Mary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus and of Martha, seated herself at the Lord’s feet and stayed there listening to His words (Lk 10:39). Mary of Bethany was like a lamb resting at her shepherd’s feet, and Jesus praised her listening heart. “Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her (Lk 10:42). The Song of Songs interprets her experience, “With great delight I sat in His shadow, and His fruit was sweet to my taste (Ct 2:3), and again, “His speech is most sweet, He is altogether desirable (Ct 5:16). This is the experience of all who, down through the ages, have stilled and quieted their hearts to listen to the voice of the Shepherd Christ. Our relationship with Christ necessarily expresses itself in action — and in words — but it begins in listening. This listening in adoring silence is, to borrow Dom Chautard’s expression, “the soul of the apostolate.”

A Neighbourhood Pilgrimage

This afternoon I made my little pilgrimage to the Church of Sant'Alfonso on the Via Merulana, the Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. It was something I have wanted to do since the feast of Saint Mark, last Wednesday. Two little signs were given me this week, suggesting that Our Mother of Perpetual Help wanted me to pay her a visit in her sanctuary. The first was a namesday message from Father J. Scott Bailey, C.SS.R. "May Our Mother of Perpetual Help," he wrote, "hold you always in her heart." Thank you, Father Scott. The second was a post by my friend Terry Nelson at Abbey–Roads2.

Her Eyes

I left Santa Croce on foot at about 4:30 and twenty minutes later I was in the Church of Sant'Alfonso. A reproduction of the holy and wonder–working icon is exposed on a stand to the right of the altar for the veneration of the faithful. I kissed the icon and then, lifting my face from the icon, I was surprised by the gaze of the Blessed Virgin. She was looking right into my eyes. Her eyes seemed so lifelike, so full of tenderness and sorrow and sweetness and truth. I knelt in the first bench and prayed a decade of the rosary.

Kneeling Before the Icon

As other pilgrims were going right into the sanctuary to kneel at the foot of the altar before the original icon, I followed suit. I entered the sanctuary and knelt next to another priest at the foot of the altar. There I presented all my intentions to Our Mother of Perpetual Help. I didn't know until later in the evening that at that very moment my cousin Kevin Kirby in North Carolina was suffering a grave health crisis. Mother of Perpetual Help, help him in his hour of need and show him the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus!

I Want to Go Back

Many saints have visited this church and prayed before the miraculous icon; among them were Blessed Pius IX and Blessed Charles de Jésus. Before leaving the church and hurrying home to Vespers I was able to purchase a few postcard size reproductions of the miraculous icon. I am still pondering the mysterious gaze of the Mother of God. There was something indescribable in her eyes. I will return to Sant'Alfonso. Our Mother of Perpetual Help is present there in a unique way. Her eyes of mercy are turned toward us.

From the lineamenta for the forthcoming Synod on the Word of God:

Mary, Every Believer’s Model of How to Welcome the Word

11. In penetrating the mystery of the Word of God, Mary of Nazareth, from the moment of the Annunciation, remains the Teacher and Mother of the Church and the exemplar of every encounter with the Word by individuals or entire communities. She welcomes the Word in faith, mediates upon it, interiorizes it and lives it (cf. Lk 1:38; 2:19,51; Acts 17:11). Indeed, Mary listened to and meditated upon the Scriptures; she associated them with Jesus’ words and the events which she discovered were related to his life. Isaac of Stella says: “In the inspired Scriptures, what is said in a universal sense of the virgin mother, the Church, is understood in an individual sense of the Virgin Mary.... The Lord’s inheritance is, in a general sense, the Church; in a special sense, Mary; and in an individual sense, the Christian. Christ dwelt for nine months in the tabernacle of Mary’s womb, he dwells until the end of the ages in the tabernacle of the Church’s faith. He will dwell for ever in the knowledge and love of each faithful soul."

The Virgin Mary knows how to take into account what is happening around her and live the necessities of daily life, fully aware that what she receives as a gift from her Son is a gift for everyone. She teaches us not to stand by as idle spectators before the Word of Life, but to become participants, allowing ourselves to be led by the Holy Spirit, who abides in believers. She “magnifies” the Lord, discovering in her life the mercy of God, who makes her “blessed,” because “she believed that there would be a fulfilment of what had been spoken to her from the Lord” (Lk 1:45). She invites every believer to put Jesus’ words into practice: “Blessed are those who have not seen yet believe” (Jn 20:29). Mary is the paradigm of the person who truly prays the Word and knows how to keep the lamp of faith burning in daily life. St. Ambrose observes that every Christian believer conceives and begets the Word of God. According to the flesh, Christ has only one mother; but, according to the faith, everyone gives him birth.

Lectio Divina

Ron, a reader of Vultus Christi, asked about the discipline of adhering to the liturgical Lectionary in one's personal lectio divina. He wonders if one might not also read other passages from Sacred Scripture chosen more subjectively. I will attempt to answer Ron's questions based on my own experience.

Obedience to the Lectionary

The liturgical Lectionary given us by the Church is the most effective means of exposing oneself objectively, consistently, and fruitfully to the Word of God. The Bible is like an immense botanical garden with an amazing variety of plantings, trees, shrubs, herbs, flowers, and fruits; by means of the Lectionary, Mother Church takes us by the hand and, in the course of the liturgical year, guides us along its paths and byways. She invites to contemplate the sights set before us, to inhale the vast variety of its fragrances, and to taste its fruits.

The Word in the Midst of the Church

Obedience to the discipline of the liturgical Lectionary assures a Catholic hearing/reading of the Scriptures. The fullest and richest resonances of the Word of God are heard only when that Word is proclaimed and received in medio ecclesiae, in the midst of the Church and in the company of her Fathers, Doctors, saints, and mystics. One who make a subjective choice of texts for lectio divina risks reading only those passages that appeal to his sensibility, while avoiding those that challenge him and those that reveal their meaning only after a sustained effort of the mind and heart.

Sunday Lectionary

The Sunday Lectionary revolves over a three year (A, B, C) cycle. The semi–continuous reading of the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Year A; Mark, Year B; Luke, Year C) commands the choice of the First Reading and the Responsorial Psalm. The Gospel of Saint John is read during Lent and Paschaltide. The sixth chapter of Saint John, the discourse on the Bread of Life is inserted into Year B, immediately following Saint Mark's account of the multiplication of the loaves . The Second Reading is an independent, semi–continuous reading of the Epistles of Saint Paul and the other books of the New Testament.

Weekday Lectionary

The Weekday Lectionary in the Time Throughout the Year revolves over a two year cycle. The synoptic Gospels are read in a semi–continuous fashion over a one year cycle; the First Reading is also read in a semi–continuous fashion over a two year cycle with a corresponding Responsorial Psalm chosen for each day. During the privileged seasons of Advent, Christmastide, Lent, and Paschaltide, the same readings and psalms appropriate to the season are repeated each year. Solemnities and feasts have their own proper readings. Memorials may celebrated with the occurring ferial readings or with proper readings as suggested by the Ordo Celebrationis or by pastoral need.

Sapiential Knowledge of the Scriptures

One who remains faithful in his lectio divina to the discipline of obeying the liturgical Lectionary will, over time, become familiar with the mystery of Christ that unifies the Scriptures from the first page to the last, and begin to acquire a sapiential knowledge of the Bible. On days of retreat or whenever one disposes of more time the liturgical lectio divina may be supplemented by lectio divina in particular book of the Bible, or by searching out a particular thematic.

Doing More

Cistercians have the tradition of praying the entire Psalter, beginning with Psalm 1 and proceeding numerically through Psalm 150 at least once a year in suffrage for the faithful departed. During retreats I often return to the Canticle of Canticles, to the Gospel of Saint John, or to the Epistles of Saint Paul. This kind of lectio divina is, nonetheless, subordinate to that determined by the liturgical Lectionary.

The Four Movements

I further recommend that one follow the rhythm in our movements described by Guigo the Carthusian:

1. lectio, i.e. reading the Word in order to hear it. It is helpful always to read the text aloud or, at least, to murmur it audibly.

2. meditatio, i.e. repeating the word heard so that by dint of repetition it descends from the mind into the storehouse of the memory and into the heart.

3. oratio, i.e. reformulating as a Word directed to God, that is as prayer, the word heard in lectio and repeated in meditatio.

4. contemplatio, i.e. the Word heard, repeated, and prayed becomes the indwelling Word uniting the soul to the Blessed Trinity in the silence of love and of adoration.

Beginning and Ending

I have always found it helpful to follow our traditional monastic practice of beginning lectio divina on my knees, imploring the Holy Spirit to show me the adorable Face of Christ concealed and revealed on the sacred page. I then kiss the open Bible and pursue the rest of my lectio. At the end I pray a Gloria Patri and entrust to the Blessed Virgin Mary the Word that I have heard, repeated, and prayed, that I may keep it in my heart as she kept it in hers.

Third Saturday of Paschaltide

Acts 9:31-42
Psalm 115: 12-13, 14-15, 16-17
John 6: 60-69

A Eucharistic Lectio Divina

If in your lectio divina this past week, you submitted to the guidance of the Church (as Terry does) and opened yourself to the brightness shining from the sixth chapter of Saint John, the Eucharist has been at the heart of your reading, your repeating, your prayer, and your contemplation. This Third Week of Paschaltide was a kind of Eucharistic retreat. How well did we live it? It is not too late to claim today the Eucharistic graces reserved for us by our Lord for this week of listening to His discourse on the Bread of Life.

Peter Confessing the Mystery

In his Encyclical on the Eucharist, the Servant of God Pope John Paul II gave us a commentary on today’s Gospel. This is what he said: “Here is the Church’s treasure, the heart of the world, the pledge of the fulfillment for which each man and woman, even unconsciously, yearns. A great and transcendent mystery, indeed, and one that taxes our mind’s ability to pass beyond appearances. Here our senses fail us: visus, tactus, gustus in te fallitur, in the words of the hymn Adoro Te Devote; yet faith alone, rooted in the word of Christ handed down to us by the Apostles, is sufficient for us. Allow me, like Peter at the end of the Eucharistic discourse in John’s Gospel, to say once more to Christ, in the name of the whole Church and in the name of each of you: ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life’ (Jn 6:68).”

Peter Addressing Christ

Christ spoke, revealing the astonishing mystery of the Eucharist. Peter responded. It is Peter’s response addressed to Christ that is the first manifestation of his place in the plan of God for the Church. Peter addressing Christ necessarily precedes Peter addressing the world, and this in all times and places. In the Mass, the Church does something similar. After the words of consecration, the priest intones “Mystery of Faith.” Mysterium fidei: a seal placed on all that has been said and done up to this point. The response of the praying Church is a confession of the mystery addressed directly to Christ really present: “We proclaim your death, O Lord, and profess your resurrection until you come.”

The 2002 editio typica of the Missale Romanum contains the following Collect for the memorial of Saint Louis–Marie Grignion de Montfort, Priest. The Collect is an admirable synthesis of the charism of Saint Louis–Marie. Every line of the text alludes to an element characteristic of his spirituality. The English translation is my own.

O God, who willed to guide the steps
of your priest, saint Louis-Marie,
into the way of salvation and of delight in Christ
in the company of the Blessed Virgin,
grant that we, by following his example,
may meditate the mysteries of your love
and devote ourselves tirelessly to the upbuilding of your Church.

Tomorrow is the liturgical memorial of Saint Louis–Marie Grignion de Montfort. His writings have been a lamp unto my feet and a fire in my heart for many years. If you are unfamiliar with Saint Louis–Marie, get to know him. If you once knew him and have put his writings on a shelf to gather dust, become reacquainted with him and discover his teaching anew. If having once attempted to read him, you were put off by him, it may have been because you were not yet ready to receive "the secret of Mary" that he, having received freely, offers freely to all who seek God.

Happy, indeed sublimely happy,
is the person to whom the Holy Spirit reveals the secret of Mary,
thus imparting to him true knowledge of her.
Happy the person to whom the Holy Spirit opens this enclosed garden for him to enter,
and to whom the Holy Spirit gives access to this sealed fountain
where he can draw water and drink deep draughts of the living waters of grace.
That person will find only grace and no creature in the most lovable Virgin Mary.
But he will find that the infinitely holy and exalted God is at the same time
infinitely solicitous for him and understands his weaknesses.
Since God is everywhere, He can be found everywhere, even in hell.
But there is no place where God can be more present to His creature
and more sympathetic to human weakness than in Mary.
It was indeed for this very purpose that He came down from heaven.
Everywhere else He is the Bread of the strong and the Bread of angels,
but living in Mary He is the Bread of children.

Saint Louis–Marie Grignion de Montfort

For my flesh is food indeed,
and my blood is drink indeed.
He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood
abides in me, and I in him.
As the living Father sent me,
and I live because of the Father,
so he who eats me
will live because of me (John 6:55–57).

Two years ago, on the occasion of one of nine Requiem Masses offered after the death of Pope John Paul II, Msgr. Leonardo Sandri spoke of the Servant of God's lifelong devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. This week's Gospels — taken each day from the sixth chapter of Saint John — are an invitation to seek the Face of Christ and His Sacred Heart in the adorable mystery of the Eucharist. It seems to me that this invitation is addressed first of all to priests.

Today, as in the past, the Church will become resplendent with holiness through the spiritual renewal of the priesthood, and the spiritual renewal of the priesthood is inseparable from the restoration of eucharistic amazement to the Sacred Liturgy. Holiness and beauty are intrinsically related. The priest ties the knot that binds them one to the other: a humble awareness and joyful demonstration of the sacred in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries.

Here is an excerpt from Msgr. Sardi's homily given on 13 April 2005:

In Ecclesia de Eucharistia Pope John Paul II revealed to us the secret of his total dedication to Christ, to the Gospel, and to the Church: “For more than half a century,” wrote the Pope,” each day, since November 2 1946 on which I celebrated my first Mass in the crypt of Saint Leonard in the cathedral of Wawel in Krakow, my eyes have rested on the host and on the chalice. Each day my faith has been able to recognize in the consecrated bread and wine the Divine Wayfarer who one day walked alongside of the two disciples of Emmaus to open their eyes to the light and their hearts to hope.”

Moreover, those who more closely shared the daily activity of the Pope, were witness to his profound love for the Eucharist. Before taking important decisions, he would always remain a long time before the Most Holy Sacrament, take with him into his private chapel the dossiers to be examined and reserving a planned time of reflection and prayer before the Tabernacle. Every choice in this way emerged only from his seeking the will of God for the true good of the Church.

A Gifted Boy

Today is also the memorial of Blessed Rafael Arnáiz Barón (1911– 1938), a Trappist Cistercian Oblate of the Abbey of San Isidoro de Dueñas in Spain. I commemorated him at Mass, using Eucharistic Prayer III. Rafael Arnáiz, — or Brother María Rafael as he was known in his monastery — was born on 9 April 1911 in the city of Burgos, Spain. He was the first of four sons born to an upper class family with profoundly Catholic values. As a boy Rafael went to Jesuit schools. As Rafael's personality emerged and affirmed itself, it became evident that he had a rich sensibility, as well as intellectual, artistic, and spiritual gifts.

Fully Alive

Rafael was not, by any means, a pious curmudgeon nor was he one of those morbidly pious adolescents without social skills. He was handsome. He loved beauty. He was open to the good things the world had to offer. Rafael was joyful. The rich feminine side of his personality was not denied, but rather harmonized with his masculinity, and perfected by grace.

The Monastic Enchantment

In September 1930, after graduating from Secondary School, Rafael spent his summer holiday with relatives near Avila. During that fateful summer he had his first exposure to monastic life at the Trappist Abbey of San Isidoro de Dueñas. The Cistercian silence called to his soul. The chant of the monks enchanted him. The solemn Salve Regina at the end of Compline took hold of his heart. Three years later, after completing studies in architecture, Rafael entered the monastery as a postulant and, shortly thereafter, was clothed in the white habit of the Cistercian novice.

The Cross

Rafael had only four more years to live. A few months after entering the monastery, he was diagnosed with a virulent form of diabetes. The illness brought with it melancholy and perplexity. Three times the novice’s superiors sent him home to rest and recover his strength. Drafted into the Nationalist Army at the very height of the Spanish Civil War, Rafael was declared unfit for active duty. Returning to the monastery for the last time, he was received as a regular oblate, that is, a man living within the cloister without vows and following a personal rule of life approved by the abbot. Regular oblates were, at that time, somewhat marginalized in monastic communities. Their peculiar status — monks living without vows and without the security that comes from having made profession — was not without its own challenges. Rafael entered fully into the vocation of the oblate, understanding that the oblate is destined for the altar, that is, for sacrifice.

Contradictions and Uncertainties

Blessed Rafael, in spite of the brevity and discontinuity of his monastic experience, lived it fully. He remained faithful in the face of bewildering contradictions, uncertainties, and apparent failure. He found the Will of God in weakness, in illness, in war, in the inability to make monastic profession, and in the sufferings inherent in community life.

Maria, Spes Nostra

The Virgin Mary was the love and consolation of Rafael’s life. “It is a pity,” he wrote, “that David [the psalmist] didn’t know the Most Holy Virgin! What marvelous things he would have said about her! A heart as big as his would certainly have been full of love for Mary! Mary! If only I knew how to write!”

Humble Unto Death

Brother Rafael Maria was humble because he accepted one humiliation after another without ever despairing of the mercy of God. He died stripped of everything, without having fulfilled even the legitimate human aspirations that so appealed to him. Configured to the poor and crucified Jesus, he died in the splendour of the resurrection on 26 April 1938 at the age of 27.

A Model For Today's Youth

Pope John Paul II proclaimed Rafael a model for today’s youth and beatified him in 1992. In some ways Blessed Rafael reminds me of the Passionist Saint Gabriel of the Sorrowful Mother; in other ways he reminds me of Saint Benedict Joseph Labre, and also of Blessed Marie–Joseph Cassant. I wonder if his life did not, in some way, inspire that remarkable novel about Cistercian life, Cosmas, or the Love of God by Pierre de Calan.

The whole community is gathered in adoration
to ask the Lord for peace,
to pray for those who are dying and to make reparation for so many sins . . .
But one mustn't spread discouragement. . . .
When we ask for mercy and pardon, we are doing as David did . . .
that is, the Lord will blot out all our sins and those of the whole world,
not by any poor merits of ours,
but by the multitude and the greatness of His mercy.

Blessed Rafael Arnáiz Barón
August 2, 1936

I just came up to my room from the basilica after having celebrated the 6:30 p.m. parish Mass. Today is the liturgical memorial of Our Mother of Good Counsel. I used the Mass of Our Lady of Good Counsel in the Italian Collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary. For the history of the miraculous image at Genazzano, read what Terry wrote at Abbey–Roads2.

Although I used the Mass given in the Collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary, I prefer the texts of the Mass given in the supplement to the 1962 Roman Missal among the Masses By Special Grant In Certain Places.

The petition of the Collect is especially beautiful. We beseech God to grant that we may never depart from the counsels of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and by this means order our lives after His own Heart:

O God, who hast given the Mother of Thy Beloved Son
to be likewise unto us a mother,
and hast made famous this her beauteous image,
by causing it miraculously to appear in our midst:
grant unto us, we beseech Thee, never to depart from her counsels and,
by this means ordering our lives after Thine own Heart,
one day happily to reach our heavenly fatherland.

One who seeks counsel of the Mother of God is never disappointed and never without hope. She is the most compassionate and effective of all counselors. The liturgy takes a wonderful promise from the book of Proverbs, and places it in Our Lady's mouth: "He that shall find me shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord" (Prov 8:35).

The verse that follows is also significant: "But he that shall sin against me, shall hurt his own soul. All that hate me love death" (Prov 8:36). One who sins against Mary, hurts his own soul. One who hates Mary loves death. The place given — or not given — to the Virgin Mother of God is a fundamental criterion in the discernment of spirits. The love of Mary is a wellspring of healing and of life. Love Mary, then, and all the rest will be given you besides.

Saint Mark, Evangelist

1 Peter 5: 5b-14
Psalm 88: 2-3, 6-7, 16-17
Mark 16: 15-20

Mark and Peter

Tradition calls Saint Mark the interpreter of Saint Peter; clearly the relationship between Peter and Mark was both strong and tender. In today’s first reading, Saint Peter calls Mark “his son” (1 P 5:13), suggesting the gift and mystery of the Fisherman’s spiritual fatherhood in Christ. Mark was a son to Peter. Personally, I find in this a compelling reason to look confidently to Peter and his successors, and to remain attached to Peter and to his successor, today Pope Benedict XVI, as a son to his spiritual father. Mark laboured at Peter’s side, preaching the Gospel in Rome before carrying it to Venice and then to Alexandria where he gave his life for Christ. To this day the Churches of Rome, Venice, and Alexandria rejoice in the protection of Saint Mark and seek his intercession.

Be Not in Doubt for I am with Thee

Some of you may remember the coat of arms of Blessed John XXIII as Patriarch of Venice. It bore the inscription: Pax tibi, Marce, evangelista meus, “Peace to you, Mark, my evangelist!” I have always taken comfort in these words. They are personal, a kind of message to the heart. My great-great-grandmother was Venetian and would have known this motto well; to this day it is displayed with Saint Mark’s lion on the coat of arms and flag of Venice, La Serenissima. The text is not found in Sacred Scripture; it comes rather from the ancient “passion” of Saint Mark, the account of his martyrdom. The story goes that on the day of Pascha, after singing Mass, Saint Mark was seized, a rope was attached to his neck, and he was dragged through the city of Alexandria until his blood ran upon the stones. After this, he was imprisoned. An angel came to comfort him, and after the angel, the Lord Jesus himself came to visit and comfort Mark, saying, “Peace be to thee, Mark, my evangelist! Be not in doubt for I am with thee and shall deliver thee.” The following day Mark was put to death, thanking God, and repeating the words of the Crucified: “Into thy hands, Lord, I commend my spirit” (cf, Lk 23:46).

Saint Mark the Preacher

The word “preaching” occurs in each of the three Proper prayers, the Collect, the Prayer Over the Offerings, and the Postcommunion. Mark was an Evangelist, not only as a writer of the second Gospel, but also as a preacher, spending himself, pouring himself out for Christ. In the Collect we beg for the grace to “deepen his teaching.” The Latin text says proficere which means to gain ground or to advance. This is what lectio divina is all about: gaining ground in the Gospel, penetrating ever more deeply the inexhaustible riches of the Word.

Perseverance

In the Prayer Over the Gifts we ask that the Church may “ever persevere in preaching the Gospel.” The Church, like Saint Mark in his passion, needs the comforting presence of Christ who says, “Be not in doubt for I am with thee,” and she has that comforting presence always in the mystery of the Eucharist. The words of Christ to Saint Mark echo those given us in today’s Communion Antiphon: “Behold, I am with you always, even to the close of the age” (Mt 28:20).

The Eucharist: Christ in Us

In the Postcommunion, we ask that what we have received from the altar may “sanctify us, and make us strong in the faith of the Gospel preached by Saint Mark.” This prayer instructs us on the dynamic relationship between the altar and the ambo or, if you will, between the Eucharist and the Gospel. We ordinarily think of the preaching of the Gospel as sending us to the altar, and preparing our hearts for the Holy Sacrifice, and rightly so. But today’s Postcommunion suggests something else as well. The Eucharist fulfills what the Gospel announces: the mystery of holiness, that is, “Christ in us, the hope of glory (Col 1:27).

The Eucharist makes us strong in the faith of the Gospel; it is our viaticum, food for the journey of faith, a remedy for every infirmity. The seed sown by holy preaching is made fruitful by the mysteries of Christ’s Body and Blood. Take away the altar, and the ambo stands in a void. The altar is the guarantee of that abiding presence of the comforting Christ who says to each of us today, as to Saint Mark, “Peace be to thee. . . . Be not in doubt, for I am with thee and shall deliver thee.”

A Holy Abbess

The Benedictine–Cistercian calendar commemorates today Saint Franca of Piacenza, virgin (1173–1218). Franca was an intrepid monastic reformer. After enduring sufferings and persecutions as abbess of the Benedictines of San Siro, she became abbess of the Cistercian monastery of Plectoli, ruling her monastic family with maternal love. Franca was accustomed to spending entire nights in prayer to God in the oratory of the monastery. She died on the feast of Saint Mark the Evangelist, 25 April 1218.

The Collect of the Day

Only recently did I discover the beauty of the Collect given for the feast of Saint Franca. I don't how it escaped my notice until now.

Tua nos, omnipotens Deus, protectione custodi,
et castimoniae pacem mentibus nostris atque corporibus,
intercedente beata Francha virgine tua, propitiatus indulge,
ut veniente sponso Filio tuo Unigenito,
accensis lampadibus, eius digne praestolemur occursum.

Here is my translation:

Keep us safe, almighty God, by thy protection
and through the intercession of Saint Franca, virgin,
grant to our minds and to our bodies
the peace of a life that is chaste,
so that at the advent of the Bridegroom,
thine only–begotten Son,
we may hasten forth to meet Him
with lighted lamps.

Chastity Produces Serenity

The Collect makes us ask, "for mind and body the peace of a life that is chaste." One might also translate the phrase as "for mind and body the peace that comes from living chastely." Serenity, or peace of mind and body, is one of the benefits of chastity.

That Terrible Itch

Those who have lived in unchastity — I am thinking, in particular, of Saint Augustine these days, but one might also allude to Mary of Egypt, to Charles de Foucauld, and to Julien Green — know the "itch" of restlessness that torments the mind and body. If you would know peace of mind and body, be chaste.

The Chaste Person: An Instrument of Peace

Rarely in our culture is chastity presented as a positive virtue. It is almost always mocked or disdained as the appanage of the inhibited personality when, in fact, the chaste person is wonderfully free and, therefore, at peace in mind and in body. Serenity is a fruit of chastity. The chaste person becomes an instrument of peace at home, in the Church, and in society. The unchaste person sows trouble wherever he goes.

How many readers of Vultus Christi have seen those bumperstickers in the U.S. that read, No peace without justice? Wouldn't it be splendidly subversive to have them read No peace without chastity?

Blessed Maria Gabriella was "a little soul." She has affinities with Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face, Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity, Blessed Charles de Jésus, Saint Thérèse Couderc, and the young Trappist priest, Blessed Marie–Joseph Cassant.

Maria Gabriella's life was marked by two characteristics:

1) Gratefulness to the Mercy of God. She compared herself to the prodigal son of Saint Luke's Gospel. She was full of thanksgiving for her monastic vocation, for her community, and, above all, for the Mercy of God which called her, set her apart, and sustained her. Even in her final agony, Maria Gabriella was full of gratefulness.

2). The desire to respond to the Grace of God with all her strength, offering herself to the perfect fulfillment of His Will in her.

In her grateful confidence in the Mercy of God and surrender to His Will, Blessed Maria Gabriella's holiness participates in and reflects that of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Although she lived first in a remote village of Sardinia, then in a Cistercian cloister, and finally in a hospital room, Maria Gabriella's holiness is universal, because it shines with the light of the Beatitudes and of the Gospel of Saint John.

Blessed Maria Gabriella's body, found intact in 1957, reposes in a chapel at the Trappist Cistercian Abbey of Vitorchiano. Since her beatification the abbey has been blessed with numerous vocations and has founded new monasteries in Italy, Argentina, Chile, Venezuela, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

Her Own Words:

I cannot say but these words:" My God, your Glory."

An Offering to the Father

Blessed Maria Gabriella Sagghedu, a Cistercian nun of Grottaferrata in Italy, died on April 23rd in 1939. Pope John Paul II beatified her in 1983 and in his encyclical on Christian Unity, Ut Unum Sint, presented her again to the whole Church as a model of “the total and unconditional offering of one’s life to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit."

Silence Turned to Praise

Blessed Maria Gabriella is one of those who, like the Blessed Virgin Mary, having heard the Word, held it in silence: in the silence of awe; in the silence that confesses God present; in the silence that allows the Word to sink into the deep and secret places of the heart. For Maria-Gabriella, this silence turned to praise: a praise that she found expressed in the priestly prayer of Christ given in the seventeenth chapter of Saint John’s Gospel. At the end of her life she murmured: “I cannot say but these words, ‘My God, your Glory.’”

A Discerning Abbess

The Trappist Cistercian monastery of Grottaferrata (moved to Vitorchiano in 1957) was governed by Mother Maria Pia Gulini (1892–1959), an intelligent and discerning abbess with a broad vision of all things Catholic. She corresponded with the Abbé Paul Couturier (1881–1953), the Apostle of Christian Unity. The Italian abbess nurtured a passion for Christian Unity and communicated that passion to her community. Maria Gabriella was receptive to Mother Gulini's spiritual teaching. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, she asked permission of her abbess to offer her life for the Unity of Christians. The Father accepted her offering, drawing her into the prayer of Christ and into His sacrifice.

The Priestly Prayer of Christ

Blessed Maria Gabriella’s monastic life was brief; she entered the abbey of Grottaferrata in 1935 and died in 1939. She suffered from tuberculosis for fifteen months. The Bridegroom Christ came for her at the hour of the evening sacrifice on Good Shepherd Sunday. The Gospel of Mass that day had been from Saint John: “There will be one fold, and one shepherd” (Jn 10:16). After her death, her little New Testament, worn from use, opened by itself to the seventeenth chapter of Saint John’s Gospel. The pages of Jesus’ priestly prayer, so often touched by Madre Maria Gabriella’s feverish hands, had become almost transparent.

Unity

Blessed Maria Gabriella’s offering for Christian Unity witnesses to the fundamental thrust of every monastic life. Monastic conversion is a movement from the divided, fragmented self to the whole self, healed and unified in the love of Christ. The restoration of unity is the great monastic work; it is the end and fruit of every Eucharist. Saint Thomas Aquinas teaches that the end proper to the sacrament of the Eucharist is the unity of the Mystical Body. Blessed Maria Gabriella, pray for us that we may go to the altar, letting go of the things that damage the unity of the Body of Christ, and ready to receive the gifts by which unity is repaired.

“See my hands and my feet” (Lk 24:39). Jesus would have us contemplate his holy and glorious wounds. The wounds of the Risen Christ are the glory of the Father and the joy of the Church. The wounds of Christ are the indelible sign of his everlasting priesthood and the remedy for our wounds, fountains of healing for us, springs of salvation.

“Repent, therefore,” says Saint Peter, "and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out” (Ac 3:19). Turn again? Turn whereto? To the holy and glorious wounds of Jesus Christ. There is a very simple form of contemplative prayer in which the risen Christ applies His wounds to the wounds of the soul. It is an operation of naked faith, a wordless contact in the darkness. It touches the secret unexposed places deep within, concealed well below feelings and concepts.

The wounds of Christ are not only our healing; they are the glorification of the Father as well, and this, throughout all eternity. The risen and ascended Christ presents Himself before the Father’s face. He says to the Father exactly what he says to us: “See my hands and my feet.” The Father, reads the immensity of His love in the depths of His wounds, and in the wounds of the Son the Father is glorified.

Our Lord desires that we should contemplate His glorious wounds, even as the Father contemplates them in the heavenly sanctuary where Christ is living forever to intercede for all who come to God through him (Heb 7:25).

Where can the weak find a place of firm security and peace, except in the wounds of the Savior? Indeed, the more secure is my place there the more he can do to help me. The world rages, the flesh is heavy, and the devil lays his snares, but I do not fall, for my feet are planted on firm rock. I may have sinned gravely. My conscience would be distressed, but it would not be in turmoil, for I would recall the wounds of the the Lord: He was wounded for our iniquities. What sin is there so deadly that it cannot be pardoned by the death of Christ? And so if I bear in mind this strong, effective remedy, I can never again be terrified by the malignancy of sin.

Surely the man who said: My sin is too great to merit pardon, was wrong. He was speaking as though he were not a member of Christ and had no share in his merits, so that he could claim them as his own, as a member of the body can claim what belongs to the head. As for me, what can I appropriate that I lack from the heart of the Lord who abounds in mercy? They pierced his hands and feet and opened his side with a spear. Through the openings of these wounds I may drink honey from the rock and oil from the hardest stone: that is, I may taste and see that the Lord is sweet.

Saint Bernard, Sermons on the Canticle

Christ's Holy and Glorious Wounds

I was present in Saint Peter's Square last Sunday when, in the course of Holy Mass, Pope Benedict XVI preached the mystery of the Wounds of Christ. "He is a wounded God," said the Holy Father,"He let Himself be wounded through His love for us."

The Paschal Candle

All through Paschaltide the liturgy invites us to contemplate the Holy and Glorious Wounds of the Lord symbolized by the "wounds" in the "flesh" of the Paschal Candle. The Paschal Candle is an image of the Risen Christ who stands before His Father in the heavenly sanctuary and in the midst of His Church on earth, displaying His glorious wounds.

Benedict XVI Echoes the Experience of the Saints

The saints — from Saint Bernard in the twelfth century and Saint Francis in the thirteenth to the Servant of God Marie–Marthe Chambon in the nineteenth and Saint Pio of Pietrelcina in the twentieth centuries — teach us to fix our gaze on the wounds of Christ, Priest and Victim. The Holy Father's homily was in mystic continuity with the experience of the saints:

The Lord took His wounds with Him to eternity.
He is a wounded God; He let Himself be wounded through His love for us.
His wounds are a sign for us that He understands
and allows Himself to be wounded out of love for us.

And what a duty they are for us,
the duty to allow ourselves in turn to be wounded for Him!
God's mercy accompanies us daily.
To be able to perceive His mercy it suffices to have a vigilant heart.

The high point of my pilgrimage to Assisi with Leonard and Mark was the privilege of celebrating Holy Mass at the tomb of Saint Francis on Tuesday morning. On Monday afternoon I inquired if it might be possible to celebrate Holy Mass at the tomb the following morning. The gentleman in charge of scheduling Masses told me that he doubted there would be an opening; priests come from all over the world to celebrate Mass at the tomb of Saint Francis, some reserving a time months in advance. Then he checked his register and said, "There is an opening tomorrow morning at 8:00."

Tuesday morning I arrived at the tomb at about 7:40. A few minutes later a kind friar opened the sacristy and prepared everything for Mass. He even helped me to vest. The Mass celebrated at the tomb is always that of Saint Francis. I celebrated in Latin from the Seraphic Missal with the readings in Italian. Besides Leonard and Mark, there were a few other pilgrims in attendance. Among them were two religious brothers dressed in what appeared to be the habit of the Hieronymites.

Before and during Holy Mass I prayed for all the Franciscans who have touched my life in one way or another, and especially for my beloved Poor Clares of Barhamsville. I asked for graces of reconciliation and healing where they are most needed. I fully expect to experience the fruits of Saint Francis' intercession.

Yesterday morning, together with Leonard and Mark, my friends from the U.S., I visited the Carceri or hermitages hidden on the wooded slopes of Mount Subasio above Assisi. In a chapel that is part of the small monastic complex built there by Saint Bernardino of Siena in 1400, I discovered this beautiful fresco of the Precious Blood flowing from the pierced side of Jesus Crucified into a chalice held by an angel. I am always spellbound by depictions of the Holy Face of Jesus and of His Open Side. Here in Italy I find them everywhere.

Note that in this image Jesus is living. His eyes are open; He offers His Blood consciously, willingly, and with infinite love. The fresco is situated just above and behind a stone altar where Holy Mass would have been celebrated; it represents the very mystery that is actualized so often as the Eucharistic commandment of the Lord is carried out: "Do ye this in remembrance of me" (1 Cor 11:24).

I took this photo after attending Vespers and Adoration with my friends Leonard and Mark at San Damiano in Assisi on Monday evening. The friars ended their evening adoration by saying the prayer of Saint Francis: " We adore Thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, in this Church and all the Churches of the world, and we bless Thee, because, by Thy Holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world."

"I have forsaken my home, I have cast off mine inheritance: I am poor and needy, but the Lord hath taken me up" (Jer 12:7).

Saint Benedict–Joseph Labre (1748–1783) was a frequent visitor to our Basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, spending long hours in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament and the Sacred Relics of the Cross and Passion. He died in Rome on April 16, 1783.

A pilgrim, living in poverty and ceaseless prayer, he loved above all places Rome, Assisi, and Loreto. Ask Saint Benedict Joseph to obtain for all seekers of the Face of Christ the grace of Eucharistic adoration and of ceaseless prayer. By providential coincidence I am going to Assisi today in the company of my guests from the United States, Leonard and Mark.

Here at Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, I have the privilege of living just a few steps away from the Chapel of the Sacred Relics where one can venerate the finger of Saint Thomas the Apostle, that very finger that probed the pierced side of Our Lord. Today's Gospel takes on a special meaning when one lives under the same roof as so sacred a relic.

The finger of Saint Thomas came to be enshrined here through a revelation to Saint Birgitta of Sweden; it was by means of an intervention of Saint Birgitta that the relic was found and brought to Santa Croce in Gerusalemme. The relic has been venerated by numerous other saints, blesseds, and servants of God; among them, Saint Philip Neri, Saint Benedict Joseph Labre, Saint Vincent Pallotti, Saint Gaspar del Bufalo, Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, and Cardinal Newman.