January 2008 Archives

The Glory of the Ladies of Rome

January 31st is not only the feast of Saint John Bosco, the gentle spiritual father of countless children and young people, it is also the feast of Saint Marcella of Rome. Saint Jerome called Marcella “the glory of the ladies of Rome.”

Fascinated by Monks

As a small girl Marcella heard Saint Athanasius speak; his stories of the Desert Fathers of Egypt enthralled her, planting deep in her heart the seeds of a future marked by asceticism and devoted to the Word of God. Marcella married but was widowed after only seven months. She resisted the social pressure to remarry. When an elderly Roman consul proposed to leave her all his money if she would marry him, Marcella replied, “If I wished to marry, I should look for a husband, not an inheritance.”

A School of Prayer

The young widow’s home became an academy for the study of Sacred Scripture and a school of prayer. Saint Paula and other Roman ladies, eager for the pursuit of holiness, joined her. Marcella frequently visited the shrines of the Roman martyrs, seeking their intercession. She distributed her considerable wealth, “preferring to store her money in the stomachs of the needy rather than hide it in a purse.”

A Mind of Her Own

Marcella was a woman of no mean intellectual prowess. While she respected her spiritual father Saint Jerome, the crusty ascetic did not intimidate her. More than once she challenged him with difficult and subtle questions concerning the Scriptures. It was for Marcella that Saint Jerome wrote his explanation of the Hebrew words Amen and Alleluia.

Week of Sexagesima
Third Wednesday of the Year II

Mark 4:1-20

Behold, the Sower Went Out to Sow

Our Lord presents four situations to those who would hear His teaching: (1) the seed that falls on the path, (2) the seed that falls on rocky ground, (3) the seed that falls among thorns, and (4) the seed that falls into good soil.

The Vice of Routine

The seed of the Word falls on the path when it is received superficially. It lies on the surface; the earth does not open to take it in. Satan, like a great noisy flock of birds, swoops down to carry away the seed before it can sprout and take root. The defect here is in the superficial hearing of the Word, in a lack of intentional listening. Routine, that perennial vice of the devout, is the most common cause of this. Routine sets in where there is a lack of vigilance and a certain unwillingness to be surprised by the Word in its newness.

Hear What God Has to Say

The remedy is a lectio that is intentional and intelligent, humble and watchful. “I will hear what the Lord God has to say” (Ps 84: 9), says the psalmist. Listen to the reading of the text, ready to be surprised by the Word. Say, “O God, suffer not that Thy Word should strike my ears without piercing my heart. Open my mind and heart to receive whatever seed falls from the hand of the Sower.”

Fits of Fervour

The seed of the Word falls on rocky ground when it is received in fast-fading fits of fervour. Yes, fits of fervour fade fast. Instability in the face of temptations, contradictions, and failures, prevents the Word from taking root. One must be steady in hearing the Word. Paul’s words to Timothy apply as much to the practice of lectio divina as they do to the ministry of preaching: “in season and out of season” (2 Tim 4:2). The remedy is in meditatio: in the persevering repetition of the Word “day and night” (Ps 1:2). The regular psalmody of the Divine Office is immensely helpful in this regard. Falling steadily, the Word can pulverize even the stoniest of hearts.

Week of Sexagesima
Tuesday of the Third Week of the Year I

2 Samuel 6:12–19
Mark 3:31–25

The Ark of the Covenant

The Ark of the Covenant that figures so prominently in the First Reading is, according to Saint Maximus of Turin, a type of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Saint Maximus explains that King David’s rapturous dance before the Ark was a prophetic gesture: “In high rejoicing he broke into dancing, for in the Spirit he foresaw Mary, born of his own line, brought into Christ’s chamber. . . . The Ark carried within it the tables of the covenant, while Mary bore the master of the same covenant.”

The Blessed Virgin Mary

The Ark of the Covenant contained the Law; the Virgin Mary contained the Word made Flesh, the living Gospel, the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. The Ark was resplendent both within and without with pure gold; Mary was resplendent both within and without with the dazzling radiance of her virginity. The Ark was adorned with earthly gold; Mary was begraced with an imperishable holiness.

True Devotion to Mary

Every authentic expression of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary is a way of “dancing before the Ark of the Covenant.” The Litany of Loreto calls upon Our Lady by means of this very expression: Foederis arca, ora pro nobis! Ark of the Covenant, pray for us.

David was not self-conscious in his dance. He was humble, spontaneous, and single-hearted: figuratively and literally moved by grace. Every encounter with the Mother of God — in the liturgy of the Church, in her images, and in the secret manifestations of her presence that comfort us in this valley of tears — should move us to a similar expression of devotion: humble, spontaneous, and single-hearted.

"If Saint Thomas had not been victorious when his chastity was in peril, it is very probable that the Church would never have had her Angelic Doctor."
Pope Pius XI

The Confraternity of the Angelic Warfare

How many readers of Vultus Christi know about the Confraternity of the Angelic Warfare? I first read of it when I was a lad in a booklet my Dad brought home from a parish mission preached by Dominicans. I was happy to discover that the Confraternity is not defunct. In fact it has become a thriving youth movement in Nigeria. Do visit their attractive Angelic Warfare Confraternity website. They present chastity in a wonderfully appealing way. Their motto is, “Purity in the heart produces power in life.” Bravo!

A Program for Chaste Living

What are the advantages of the Confraternity of the Angelic Warfare? First, one realizes that one needn't engage in spiritual combat alone. There are others — in heaven and on earth — who are ready and willing to fight the good fight with us and on our behalf. In some places the Confraternity holds regular meetings: a Catholic support group for chaste living. Second, members of the Confraternity make use of blessed sacramentals, the cincture and the medal, in conjunction with a life of prayer (notably the Rosary), mortification, and the Sacraments. Third, the Confraternity has a tradition of linking holy continence with intellectual development and with the study of the mysteries of the faith. "Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God" (Mt 5:8).

The obligations of the members of the Confraternity are: 1) to guard holy purity; 2) seek the truth; 3) honor Our Lady of the Rosary under the patronage of St. Thomas; 4) have one’s name enrolled on the official register; 5) wear the cord or medal of the confraternity.

Information

New Hope Publications offers several pamphlets on the Confraternity of the Angelic Warfare. For more information about it, contact Theo Stearns at Saint. Martin de Porres Lay Dominicans, New Hope, KY 40052, or call 270-325-3061. Say that Vultus Christi sent you!

Yearning, I adore you, wondrous hidden God,
Bread of Life by bread concealed, speaking heart to heart.
Give me now the faith that sees darkly through the veil,
Let your presence draw me in where my senses fail.

Original Latin text: Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
English translation: Father Mark Daniel Kirby, O.Cist., 2004

Fond of Asking Questions

Saint Thomas Aquinas was very fond of asking questions. And he laboured mightily at finding answers. The questions of Thomas proceeded not from a vain curiosity, but from thirst for the truth. Thomas asked the great questions, the questions about the meaning of life and death, sin and grace, time and eternity.

Saint Thomas is the friend of all who ask questions. He is the friend of all who thirst for life-giving knowledge. The Invitatory Antiphon of the Common of Doctors is: “The Lord is the wellspring of wisdom; come, let us adore.” Behind the text of the Invitatory are the words of the prophet Isaiah (Is 55:1), placed in the mouth of Our Lord Himself: “Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and you who have no money, come, drink with joy.” Must certain conditions be met in order to drink of the waters of wisdom? Must one be naturally gifted with a probing and incisive intellect? Must one have made great strides in moral perfection, acquired virtue, and rooted out vice?

Yes, today was Mom's 80th birthday. The local contingent of the family gathered for dinner and then for birthday cake. Those of you who have met Emma Rose know what a wonderful woman she is, a real gift of God to my Dad, to her children, her grandchildren, and her friends.

Sexagesima Sunday
Third Sunday of the Year A

Isaiah 9:1-4
Psalm 26: 1, 4, 13-14
1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17
Matthew 4:12-23

Zebulun and Nephtali

The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali (Is 9:1). The day of Midian (Is 9:4). Names of places that are familiar to us, and yet strange. We know them not only from today’s First Reading, but also from Psalm 82: “They plot against your people, conspire against those you love. . . . Treat them like Midian. . . . Make their captains like Oreb and Zeeb, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunnah” (Ps 82:4, 10, 12).

The Day of Midian

The most obvious connection between today’s First Reading and Gospel is geographical. Our Lord inaugurates His preaching of the kingdom in the very territory signaled by Isaiah’s prophecy. The “land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the land beyond the Jordan” is a half-Jewish half-Gentile region. It is a foreshadowing and type of the Church wherein both Jews and Gentiles will emerge from “deep darkness” (Is 9:2) to contemplate “a great light” (Is 9:2). The cryptic allusion to the “day of Midian” remains. What does it mean?

Gideon

The day of Midian is linked to the vocation and ministry of Gideon; the vocation and ministry of Gideon prefigure the vocation and ministry of Jesus. The seventh chapter of the book of Judges relates that, “the Spirit of the Lord took possession of Gideon; and he sounded the trumpet, and the Abiezirites were called out to follow him. And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, and they too were called out to follow him. And he sent messengers to Asher, Zebulon, and Naphtali; and they went up to meet them” (Jg 6:34-35). Three things are worthy of note: 1) the role of the Spirit of the Lord, 2) the sounding of the trumpet, and 3) the repetition of the formula, “called out to follow him” (Jg 6:34-35).

San Bernardo alle Terme

One of my favourite churches in Rome is San Bernardo alle Terme. It is a luminous round church, built in 1598 on the site of the hot steam baths of Diocletian. Immense paintings by an artist named Odazj dominate the two side altars: the one on the right is dedicated to Saint Bernard, the one on the left to Saint Robert of Molesmes, the first abbot of Cîteaux. The first time I visited the church of San Bernardo I was so taken by the magnificent painting of Saint Bernard in the embrace of Jesus Crucified that I failed to understand the significance of the one depicting Saint Robert. It was on a later visit that I discovered it. It has, with the passing of time, become rich in meaning for me.

Saint Robert of Molesmes and the Virgin Mother

Saint Robert, whom we celebrate today with his two immediate successors, Saints Alberic and Stephen, was the founding abbot of the “New Monastery” at Cîteaux in 1098. The painting in the church of San Bernardo alle Terme shows Saint Robert clothed in his white cowl. Abbot Robert’s face is entirely recollected; his head is bowed, illustrating the twelfth step of humility in Chapter Seven of the Holy Rule. At the center of the painting we see the Virgin Mother of God in all her beauty. Her face is radiant. She wears a rose coloured dress with a blue mantle and pale brown veil. The Infant Jesus, leaning on her knee, is in conversation with an angel. Angels surround the Queen of Heaven on all sides, fascinated and thrilled by what she is doing.

Mystical Espousal to the Virgin Mary

Our Lady is placing a wedding ring on Saint Robert’s finger. Robert, overwhelmed by so tender a love, offers her his right hand. The painting depicts the Mystical Espousal of Saint Robert to the Virgin Mary, a theme not often represented in art. Even in the annals of holiness, mystical espousal with the Virgin Mary is not encountered very frequently. We hear of it in the lives of Saint Edmund of Canterbury, of the Premonstratensian Saint Hermann–Joseph of Steinfeld, and of the Dominican Alain de la Roche. In the seventeenth century, Saint John Eudes wrote of Our Lady as the spouse of priests, and bound himself to her by means of marriage contract. Does not the liturgy attribute to Our Lady the words of Wisdom in the Book of Proverbs: “I love them that love me” (Prov 8:17)?

Saint Joseph

In the painting I am describing it is clear that the initiative is Our Lady’s. She appears to have drawn Saint Robert upward to herself to receive this ineffable grace binding him to her. Now, the most extraordinary detail, to my mind is this: just above Saint Robert and a little to his right, none other than Saint Joseph is looking on! He is pointing to his staff, the top of which has flowered into a pure white lily. What does this mean? Saint Joseph is saying that intimacy with the Virgin Mary is the secret of holy purity. He is pointing to his flowering staff to say that one bound to Mary, as if by a marriage bond, will be pure. She is the virginizing Bride. One who obeys the injunction of the angel to Joseph — “Joseph, son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her, is of the Holy Ghost” (Mt 1:15) — will find that she communicates the grace of a fruitful purity to those who bind themselves to her in a permanent and exclusive way.

Collect

Almighty and ever-living God,
who are Yourself the reward exceeding great
of those who leave all things for the sake of Christ Your Son,
grant, we beseech You,
that by the example and prayers
of the holy abbots Robert, Alberic, and Stephen,
we too may hasten with all fervour and zeal
to the fullness of eternal life.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.

Preface

Truly it is right and just, our duty and our salvation,
always and everywhere to give you thanks,
Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God,
through Christ our Lord.

Knit together in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
the blessed abbots Robert, Alberic, and Stephen
chose to be poor with the poor Christ,
and so went forth to a desert wilderness
to abide in the place you had prepared for them.

Schooled in all things by the Rule of Saint Benedict, their father,
they sought only to live in peace
according to the truth of the Gospel.

Setting nothing before the love of Christ,
and zealous for the praise of your Majesty,
their example drew many
to take up the strong and glorious weapons of obedience.

And so, on their feast day, we join with them to adore you
and with heart and mind in harmony with our voices,
in the sight of the angels
we sing the ageless hymn of your praise:

Pioneers of A Fresh Start

For Cistercians and Benedictines, January 26th is the feast of the Holy Abbots of Cîteaux, Robert, Alberic, and Stephen. They were the pioneers of a new beginning, men “careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph 4:3). Saints Robert, Alberic, and Stephen were indomitable believers in the possibility of beginning again. When they went forth to start afresh at Cîteaux, they were already seasoned monks, “men truly wise” (ExC, I).

A New Beginning in Compunction

The account of their deliberations is given in the Exordium Parvum, a chronicle dating from about the year 1119: “Inspired by the grace of God, these men, while still living in Molesme, often spoke to each other, lamented, and were saddened by the transgression of the Rule of Saint Benedict, the Father of Monks” (ExP, III). Their new beginning was conceived in compunction. Every hope of starting afresh enters through a heart pierced by the Word and brought by the Holy Spirit to a godly sorrow.

They Came to Cîteaux

“They realized that they themselves and the other monks had promised by a solemn vow to observe this Rule, yet they had by no means kept it; and therefore they had knowingly committed the sin of perjury” (ExP, III). “They spoke amongst themselves and asked one another how they were to fulfill the verse: ‘I will fulfill my vows to you, vows which I made with my own lips’ (Ps 65:13-14). . . . After common deliberation together with the father of that monastery, Robert of blessed memory, twenty-one monks went out to try to carry out jointly what they had conceived with one spirit. Eventually . . . they came to Cîteaux, which was then a place of horror, a vast wilderness” (ExP, I).

Exodus and Transitus

The exodus from Molesme to Cîteaux took place on Palm Sunday 1098, coinciding that year with the feast of the Transitus of Holy Father Benedict on March 21st. Every new beginning is at once an exodus a going forth, and a transitus, a passing–over: a reliving of the Paschal Mystery. This is as true of the many secret new beginnings prompted by grace as it is of the more visible ones.. To leave behind what is old — especially old hurts, resentments, and prejudices — is to seek God in poverty of spirit.

In the fall of 2006 the Holy Father gave five General Audiences on Saint Paul the Apostle. These five teachings are a marvelous preparation for the forthcoming Year of Saint Paul: there is one for each of the five months between now and June 29, 2008.

"It was precisely on the road to Damascus at the beginning of the 30s A.D. that, according to his words, "Christ made me his own" (Phil 3: 12). While Luke recounts the fact with abundant detail - like how the light of the Risen One touched him and fundamentally changed his whole life -, in his Letters he goes directly to the essential and speaks not only of a vision (cf. I Cor 9: 1), but of an illumination (cf. II Cor 4: 6), and above all of a revelation and of a vocation in the encounter with the Risen One (cf. Gal 1: 15-16).

In fact, he will explicitly define himself as "apostle by vocation" (cf. Rom 1: 1; I Cor 1: 1) or "apostle by the will of God" (II Cor 1: 1; Eph 1: 1; Col 1: 1), as if to emphasize that his conversion was not the result of a development of thought or reflection, but the fruit of divine intervention, an unforeseeable, divine grace.

Henceforth, all that had constituted for him a value paradoxically became, according to his words, a loss and refuse (cf. Phil 3: 7-10). And from that moment all his energy was placed at the exclusive service of Jesus Christ and his Gospel. His existence would become that of an Apostle who wants to "become all things to all men" (I Cor 9: 22) without reserve.

From here we draw a very important lesson: what counts is to place Jesus Christ at the centre of our lives, so that our identity is marked essentially by the encounter, by communion with Christ and with his Word. In his light every other value is recovered and purified from possible dross."

Pope Benedict XVI
General Audience, 25 October 2006

In the context of yesterday's General Audience, the Holy Father spoke not only of the Vultus Christi, the Face of Christ, but also of turning toward the Lord in the Sacred Liturgy. While in the Mass of the Catechumens or Liturgy of the Word, the Face of Christ is turned toward us, in the Mass of the Faithful or Liturgy of the Eucharist, we follow Him in His contemplation of the Father, and in His priestly service in the heavenly sanctuary "within the veil" (Heb 6:19). "This Jesus who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come, as you have seen him going into heaven" (Acts 1:11). Unity will be the fruit of "turning together toward the Lord" or it will not be at all.

The Face of Christ

The world is suffering from the absence of God, from the inaccessibility of God, it has the desire to know the Face of God. But how can men and women today know the Face of God in the Face of Christ if we Christians are divided, if one teaches against another, if one stands against other? Only in unity can we truly show the Face of God, the Face of Christ, to a world which has such need to see it.

Prayer for Unity

It is also evident that it is not with our own strategies, with dialogue and with all that we do — which, however, is so necessary — that we are able to obtain this unity. That which we are able to obtain is our readiness and capacity to welcome this unity when the Lord gives it to us. This is the meaning of the prayer [for unity]: to open our hearts, to create in us that readiness that opens the way to Christ.

Ad Orientem

In the liturgy of the ancient Church, after the homily, the Bishop or the one presiding the celebration, the principle celebrant, used to say, "Conversi ad Dominum" [Turn toward the Lord]. Thereupon he himself and everyone would rise and face the East. All wanted to to look toward Christ. Only in the conversion of oneself, only in this conversion [turning toward] Christ, in this common looking to Christ, are we able to find the gift of unity.

Pope Benedict XVI
General Audience, 23 January 2008

"Encor que je me sens misérable je ne m'en trouble point, et quelquefois j'en suis joyeux, pensant que je suis une vraie bonne besogne pour la miséricorde de Dieu."

Saint Francis de Sales

The Gentleman Doctor of the Church

He has been called the “gentleman Doctor of the Church.” Saint Francis de Sales was, in the fullest sense of the word, a gentleman — fully human, courtly, well-spoken and, even elegant — he was proud of his well-shaped beard — but he was also — and it is this, I think, that makes him so attractive — a gentle man.

Gentleness. Webster gives a whole series of synonyms for the adjective gentle: kindly, amiable, mild, clement, peaceful, pacific, soothing, tender, humane, lenient, and merciful. Gentle, says Webster, refers to an absence of bad temper or belligerence, a deliberate or voluntary kindness or forbearance in dealing with others, an absence of harshness or severity.

A Battered Heart

Francis de Sales did not come by his gentleness cheaply. When we look at portraits of him dating from his lifetime we see a handsome, dignified man with a smiling, peaceful countenance. One would never guess the storms that had raged within, battering his heart and, driving him at the age of nineteen to the brink of despair and suicide. He was a student in Paris at the time. His depression and debilitating anxiety were probably the result of his sensitivity and scrupulous fervour exacerbated by the intellectual and emotional upheavals of university life.

Delivered by the Blessed Virgin

Francis was, in fact, contemplating a plunge into the waters of the Seine to end it all when he was inspired to go to the shrine of the famous Black Virgin of Paris, Notre-Dame de Bonne-Délivrance. The lovely old statue is still in Paris, in the chapel of the motherhouse of the Sisters of Saint Thomas of Villanova at Neuilly. Our Lady of Good Deliverance still delivers countless troubled, anxious people from their inner turmoil. I went there in pilgrimage twenty years ago and was privileged to offer Holy Mass at the altar of the Black Virgin.

The Greatest Evil That Can Happen to a Soul

Back to our saint and his crisis. Kneeling before the mysterious medieval image of the Black Virgin, the young Francis de Sales was delivered out of his crisis into a space of inner serenity, into what the nineteenth century Protestant hymn writer Fanny Crosby called “Blessed Assurance.” Later in his life, he was to write in the Introduction to the Devout Life that, “With the single exception of sin, anxiety is the greatest evil that can happen to a soul” (Introduction to the Devout Life, IV:11). The Doctor of the Church is not speculating; he is speaking from experience.

Deus Caritas Est and the Treatise on the Love of God

Two years ago, on January 23, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI addressed the participants of a meeting of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum on the theme “But the Greatest of These is Love” (1 Cor 13:13). “Today,” he said, “the word love is so tarnished, so spoiled, and so abused, that one is almost afraid to pronounce it with one's lips. And yet it is a primordial word, an expression of the primordial reality; we cannot simply abandon it, we must take it up again, purify it and give back to it its original splendor so that it might illuminate our life and lead it on the right path. This awareness led me to choose love as the theme of my first encyclical.” Pope Benedict XVI gave us Deus Caritas Est; Saint Francis de Sales gave us the Treatise on the Love of God.

Attraction, Union, and Fruition

Even as I study the Holy Father’s second encyclical, Spe Salvi, bits and pieces of Deus Caritas Est continue to echo in my heart. It occurs to me that the proper Gospel (John 15:9-17) given us in the lectionary today for the feast of Saint Francis de Sales engages us directly with the core message of Deus Caritas Est: a love that is at once desire (eros) and sacrificial self-gift (agápe), a love that is attraction, union, and fruition.

The Human Face and Heart of God

The Holy Father found some of his inspiration for Deus Caritas Est in Dante’s Divine Comedy. Poetry, and indeed all the arts, are rightly valued and used as the handmaids of theology. Such has always been the Catholic attitude toward the arts. Saint Francis de Sales knew well the distance separating the sensibility of Rome from that of Geneva. The Church of Dante, of Francis de Sales, and of Benedict XVI knows nothing of Calvinism’s cold disdain for the beauty that engages the senses. In the Catholic world-view, that which engages the senses with “the bands of love” (Hos 11:4) and draws the heart “with cords of compassion” (Hos 11:4) leads to the faith-vision of “the God who has assumed a human Face and a human Heart” (Benedict XVI, 23 January 2006).

Love Is Movement Toward the Good

In the Treatise on the Love of God Saint Francis de Sales speaks of the effect of what is loved on the one who loves. He calls it complaisance, meaning the pleasure or delight taken in something or someone. “Delight,” says the gentle bishop, “is the awakener of the heart, but love is its action; delight makes it get up, but love makes it walk. The heart spreads its wings by delight but love is its flight. Love then, to speak distinctly and precisely, is no other thing than the movement, effusion, and advancement of the heart towards good” (Treatise on the Love of God, Chapter XIV).

"One cannot contemplate Mary without being attracted by Christ and one cannot look at Christ without immediately perceiving the presence of Mary."

I am profoundly moved by the Holy Father's message for the 2008 World Day of the Sick. Pope Benedict XVI is showing himself, in every way, as Marian a Pope as the Servant of God, Pope John Paul II. Here is an excerpt of the message; my own comments are in italics.

The Immaculate Conception

The hundred and fifty years since the apparitions of Lourdes invite us to turn our gaze towards the Holy Virgin, whose Immaculate Conception constitutes the sublime and freely-given gift of God to a woman so that she could fully adhere to divine designs with a steady and unshakable faith, despite the tribulations and the sufferings that she would have to face. For this reason, Mary is a model of total self-abandonment to the will of God: she received in her heart the eternal Word and she conceived it in her virginal womb; she trusted to God and, with her soul pierced by a sword (cf. Lk 2:35), she did not hesitate to share the Passion of her Son, renewing on Calvary at the foot of the Cross her 'Yes' of the Annunciation.

Is this not the mystery of Mary invoked and presented as Coredemptrix? "She did not hesitate to share the Passion of her Son." In the next section the Holy Father speaks of the "Yes" which "joined her wonderfully to the mission of Christ, the Redeemer of humanity."

Led by Mary's Hand

To reflect upon the Immaculate Conception of Mary is thus to allow oneself to be attracted by the 'Yes' which joined her wonderfully to the mission of Christ, the Redeemer of humanity; it is to allow oneself to be taken and led by her hand to pronounce in one's turn 'fiat' to the will of God, with all one's existence interwoven with joys and sadness, hopes and disappointments, in the awareness that tribulations, pain and suffering make rich the meaning of our pilgrimage on the earth.

To be taken and led by Mary's hand expresses what we means when we speak of total consecration to her. Consecration to Mary is ongoing and dynamic; for this reason the Holy Father speaks of "our pilgrimage on earth."

An Indissoluble Link Between the Mother and the Son

One cannot contemplate Mary without being attracted by Christ and one cannot look at Christ without immediately perceiving the presence of Mary. There is an indissoluble link between the Mother and the Son, generated in her womb by work of the Holy Spirit, and this link we perceive, in a mysterious way, in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, as the Fathers of the Church and theologians pointed out from the early centuries onwards.

The link between the Mother and the Son is prolonged in the Mystery of the Most Holy Eucharist. One who contemplates Mary will be attracted to Our Lord in the Sacrament of His Love. One who contemplates Our Lord in the Sacrament of His Love will perceive the presence of Mary. This is the experience of Saint Peter Julian Eymard, and of so many other saints.

Mother of the Eucharist

'The Flesh born of Mary, coming from the Holy Spirit, is Bread descended from heaven', observed Saint Hilary of Poitiers. In the ninth century "Bergomensium Sacramentary" we read: 'Her womb made flower a Fruit, a Bread that has filled us with an angelic gift. Mary restored to salvation what Eve had destroyed by her sin'. And Saint Peter Damian observed: 'That Body that the most Blessed Virgin generated, nourished in her womb with maternal care, that Body I say, without doubt and no other, we now receive from the sacred altar, and we drink its Blood as a sacrament of our redemption. This is what the Catholic faith believes, this the holy Church faithfully teaches'.

The same Holy Spirit who overshadowed the Virgin Mary at the Annunciation, overshadows the altar in every celebration of Holy Mass. The Body of Christ in the Most Holy Eucharist is the very Body of Christ that the Blessed Virgin conceived, carried beneath her heart for nine months, brought into the world, and nourished at her breast. Is this not what the magnificent medieval prose, the "Ave, Verum Corpus," sings? "Hail, true body, / Born of the Virgin Mary, / Truly suffered, sacrificed / On the Cross for mankind, / Whose pierced side / Flowed with water and blood, / Be for us a foretaste / In the trial of death."

Mother of the Sacrificed Lamb

The link of the Holy Virgin with the Son, the sacrificed Lamb who takes away the sins of the world, is extended to the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ. Mary, observes the Servant of God John Paul II, is a 'woman of the Eucharist' in her whole life, as a result of which the Church, seeing Mary as her model, 'is also called to imitate her in her relationship with this most holy mystery' (Encyclical "Ecclesia de Eucharistia," n. 53). In this perspective one understands even further why in Lourdes the cult of the Blessed Virgin Mary is joined to a strong and constant reference to the Eucharist with daily Celebrations of the Eucharist, with adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament, and with the blessing of the sick, which constitutes one of the strongest moments of the visit of pilgrims to the grotto of Massabielle.

Yes, the Holy Virgin is the Mother of the Immolated Lamb. This was illustrated in the apparition at Knock. Our Lady, appearing with Saint Joseph and with Saint John the Evangelist, stood with her hands raised in prayer in the presence of the Immolated Lamb who stood upon an altar with the Cross behind Him. The Holy Father alludes to the three grand Eucharistic moments that mark every experience at Lourdes. These are not of course, limited to Lourdes. I try to make them part of the retreats that I am asked to preach.

Through the Heart of His Most Holy Mother

The presence of many sick pilgrims in Lourdes, and of the volunteers who accompany them, helps us to reflect on the maternal and tender care that the Virgin expresses towards human pain and suffering. Associated with the Sacrifice of Christ, Mary, Mater Dolorosa, who at the foot of the Cross suffers with her divine Son, is felt to be especially near by the Christian community, which gathers around its suffering members, who bear the signs of the Passion of the Lord.

Yes, those who suffer bear the signs of the Passion of the Lord, His wounds. Saint Paul says, "I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus in my body" (Gal 6:17). This is true, not only of the signs of physical suffering, but also of the wounds of the psyche and of the heart.

Mary suffers with those who are in affliction, with them she hopes, and she is their comfort, supporting them with her maternal help. And is it not perhaps true that the spiritual experience of very many sick people leads us to understand increasingly that 'the Divine Redeemer wishes to penetrate the soul of every sufferer through the Heart of his Holy Mother, the first and the most exalted of all the redeemed'? (John Paul II, Apostolic Letter, "Salvifici Doloris," n. 26).

"The Divine Redeemer wishes to penetrate the soul of every sufferer through the Heart of His Holy Mother." Is this not what we mean when we speak of the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary. Mary is the Mother of the Suffering Servant, "despised, and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with infirmity" (Is 53:3), and of all who resemble him.

The Eucharistic Congress

3. If Lourdes leads us to reflect upon the maternal love of the Immaculate Virgin for her sick and suffering children, the next International Eucharistic Congress will be an opportunity to adore Jesus Christ present in the Sacrament of the altar, to entrust ourselves to Him as the Hope that does not disappoint, to receive Him as that Medicine of Immortality which heals the body and the spirit. Jesus Christ redeemed the world through His suffering, His death and His resurrection, and He wanted to remain with us as the 'Bread of Life' on our earthly pilgrimage.

The Holy Father emphasizes the healing virtue of the Most Holy Eucharist, the Medicine of Immortality. He invites us to entrust ourselves to Him as the Hope that does not disappoint. In the Sequence of the Mass of Easter, Mary Magdalene calls Our Lord "Spes mea — my Hope." In the Eucharist He remains our Hope, and the remedy for every despondency.

The Face of the Lord

'The Eucharist, Gift of God for the Life of the World': this is the theme of the Eucharistic Congress and it emphasizes how the Eucharist is the gift that the Father makes to the world of His only Son, incarnated and crucified. It is he who gathers us around the Eucharistic table, provoking in his disciples loving care for the suffering and the sick, in whom the Christian community recognises the Face of her Lord. As I pointed out in the Post-Synodal Exhortation "Sacramentum caritatis," 'Our communities, when they celebrate the Eucharist, must become ever more conscious that the sacrifice of Christ is for all, and that the Eucharist thus compels all who believe in him to become "bread that is broken" for others'. We are thus encouraged to commit ourselves in the first person to helping our brethren, especially those in difficulty, because the vocation of every Christian is truly that of being, together with Jesus, bread that is broken for the life of the world.

Every authentic passion for the adorable Mystery of the Eucharist leads to compassion for the suffering, for the sick, for those in difficulty. Contemplation of the Eucharistic Face of Jesus opens one's eyes to the Face of Jesus in the suffering and broken members of His Mystical Body.

A Living Offering for the Salvation of the World

4. It thus appears clear that it is specifically from the Eucharist that pastoral care in health must draw the necessary spiritual strength to come effectively to man's aid and to help him to understand the salvific value of his own suffering. As the Servant of God John Paul II was to write in the already quoted Apostolic Letter Salvifici Doloris, the Church sees in her suffering brothers and sisters as it were a multiple subject of the supernatural power of Christ (cf. n. 27). Mysteriously united to Christ, the man who suffers with love and meek self-abandonment to the will of God becomes a living offering for the salvation of the world.

The spirituality of victimhood: to suffer with love and meek self-abandonment to the will of God, thus becoming a living offering for the salvation of the world. The Blessed Virgin Mary Coredemptrix was the first to follow her Son, the Immolated Lamb, into the way of victimhood. Since that hour on Calvary she draws other souls after her in the same way of offering and victimhood.

1 Corinthians 1:26-31
Psalm 22: 1b-3a, 4, 5, 6
Matthew 13:44-46

A Winter Constellation

The wintertime liturgy sparkles with a constellation of virgin martyrs and holy women. The Roman Canon enshrines their names: Felicity, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia and Anastasia. In the darkest months of the year, they shine like so many little flames taken from the Paschal Candle in the great and holy night of the Resurrection. Today, we fix our gaze on Agnes.

If I Love Him

The Office of Saint Agnes is one of the most beautiful in the Roman Liturgy. Meditate it. Take it to heart today. It expresses all the sentiments of the little virgin martyr’s pure and passionate heart. “Christ is my Lover,” she sings in the Third Responsory at Matins, “and I am entering with Him into the marriage-chamber. . . . The instruments of His music sound sweetly in my ears. If I love Him I shall be chaste, if I touch Him I shall be clean, if I embrace Him I shall be a virgin indeed.”

A Christian Child

Agnes was a mere child, a little girl of twelve. The year was 304, during the persecution of Diocletian. According to Roman law, a child of twelve was not held responsible for her choices and could not therefore be subject to trial and judgment. But Christians fell outside the pale of Roman law, and Agnes was a Christian.

What are we to make of these child saints and of others like them? Our Lord places them before us, saying, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 18:2). “To the boastful, I say: ‘Do not boast,’ to the wicked: ‘Do not flaunt your strength, do not flaunt your strength on high. Do not speak with insolent pride’” (Ps 74:5-6).

The Triumph of Truth

Yesterday, over two hundred thousand young people thronged Saint Peter’s Square to demonstrate their support for the Holy Father. It was the triumph of the truth of Christ and of His Church over the machinations of those confused by the tiresome falsehoods of the godless. It was, in some way, the spirit of Saint Agnes and of all the martyrs of Christian Rome defying the spirit of the age

"I cannot explain it. All I know is, that I entered the church knowing nothing, and I left it seeing clearly." (Marie–Alphonse Ratisbonne)

Today, January 20th, the Feast of Our Lady of Sion, is the 166th anniversary of the miraculous conversion of the 28 year old French Jew, Alphonse Ratisbonne . The Immaculate Virgin Mary appeared to him in the Roman Church of Sant'Andrea delle Fratte on January 20, 1842. Ratisbonne was baptized, and confirmed, and received his First Holy Communion, eleven days later on January 31st. He was ordained a priest in 1847 and later assisted his brother Theodore, also a priest, in founding the Congregation of Our Lady of Sion.

To read full accounts of the apparition of the Mother of God and of Ratisbonne's conversion, see Roy Schoeman's remarkable books, Salvation Is From the Jews, and Honey From the Rock.

Today is Septuagesima Sunday. This means that we are approximately seventy days away from the Pasch of the Lord. The Church measures all time in reference to the Immolation and Glorification of the Lamb. Take heed, then, lest the beginning of Lent catch you unawares. Already, the Church looks forward to singing "Ad coenam Agni providi — At the Lamb's High Feast." Already, she lives for that joy. The photo shows the sculpture of the Lamb of God in the sanctuary of the Gable Church at the Shrine of Knock.

Septuagesima Sunday
(Second Sunday of the Year A)

Isaiah 49:3, 5-6
Psalm 39: 1 & 3ab, 6-7a, 7b-8, 9
1 Corinthians 1:1-3
John 1:29-34

Jesus Comes to John

“Behold, John saw Jesus coming to him” (Jn 1:29). John the Baptist lifts his eyes and sees Jesus coming toward him. Can it be any other way? Is not Jesus, then and now and always, the One who comes toward us “full of grace and truth” (Jn 1:14), “revealing the Father” (Jn 1:18), “the dayspring dawning upon us from on high to give light to those in darkness and in the shadow of death” (Lk 1:79)? Any movement toward Jesus on our part is, at one and the same time, a free response to His movement toward us and a pure gift of the Father in the Spirit. “No man can come to me,” says Our Lord, “except the Father, who hath sent me, draw him” (Jn 6:44) and again, “Every one that hath heard of the Father, and hath learned, cometh to me” (Jn 6:45).

Benedictus Qui Venit

Prayer begins, not with any movement of ours toward God, but rather with God’s movement toward us in Christ. No matter how early we rise, no matter how long we spend in prayer, Christ Jesus is there before us. His coming is not the response to our prayer; His coming anticipates our prayer and causes it to well up. His coming is not the fulfillment of our desire; His coming is its source. The coming of Christ causes praise to spring up. We sing it in the Benedictus of every Mass: “Blessed is He Who comes in the Name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest” (Mt 21:9; Ps 117:26).

The Lamb

Our Lord Jesus Christ comes to us as the Lamb. This, Saint John the Baptist knew with the immediacy of sudden recognition, with a certitude born not of reasoning, but of the spiritual intuition that strangely stirs the heart and bends the mind to truth. In a flash of spiritual intuition John looks at Jesus and recognizes the Lamb of the Passover, the spotless Victim whose Precious Blood marks the lintels of the houses of the saved (Ex 12:5). He recognizes the Suffering Servant, the Silent Lamb of Isaiah, “led to the slaughter” (Is 53:7).

Saturday of the 1st Week of the Year II

1 Samuel 9: 1-4. 17-19; 10, 1a
Psalm 20: 2-3, 4-5, 6-7 (R. 2a)
Mark 2: 13-17

Spiritual Resurrection

We began reading the Gospel according to Saint Mark on Tuesday. Since then, in four days we have seen four signs of spiritual resurrection. The first was the deliverance of the man with the unclean spirit in the synagogue at Capernaum (Mk 1:21-28); the second the raising of Simon’s mother-in-law from her sick bed (Mk 1:29-39); the third, the cleansing of the leper (Mk 1:40-45); the fourth, the raising of the paralytic (Mk 2:1-12). Today’s Gospel continues that sequence. Today too, we witness a spiritual resurrection. Levi, the son of Alphaeus, passes from death to life, from bondage to freedom, from sin to mercy.

Grace and Mercy Granted

Saint Mark, in his account of the call of Levi, employs the very verb used to refer to the resurrection of Christ: kai anastàs. “And rising up, he followed Him” (Mk 2:14). This is more than a mere change of posture; it is change of heart, a resurrection to new life. Levi is given a new name to signify his new life: he becomes Matthew which, according to the Venerable Bede, means “granted,” a name to suited to one to whom Christ has granted heavenly grace and mercy.

Holy Mary, Mother of Unity

Tomorrow I will be celebrating the Mass of Holy Mary, Mother of Unity, formulary 38 in the Collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It occurred to me that this will be the perfect opportunity to recall Pope Leo XIII's desire that the Rosary be prayed specifically for the intention of reconciliation and reunion. Here is the relevant section from his Encyclical of September 20 1896, Fidentem Piumque Animum:

The Power of Prayer

That earnest desire, which We have learnt from the Divine Heart of Jesus, of fostering the work of reconciliation among those who are separated from Us daily urges Us more pressingly to action; and we are convinced that this most excellent Re-union cannot be better prepared and strengthened than by the power of prayer. The example of Christ is before us, for in order that His disciples might be one in faith and charity, he poured forth prayer and supplication to His Father.

The Patroness and Most Excellent Custodian of Unity

And concerning the efficacious prayer of His most holy Mother for the same end, there is a striking testimony in the Acts of the Apostles. Therein is described the first assembly of the Disciples, expecting with earnest hope and prayer the promised fullness of the Holy Spirit. And the presence of Mary united with them in prayer is specially indicated: All these were persevering with one mind in prayer with Mary the Mother of Jesus (Acts 1:14). Wherefore as the nascent church rightly joined itself in prayer with her as the patroness and most excellent custodian of Unity, so in these times is it most opportune to do the same all over the Catholic World.

Nothing More Acceptable to Mary

Let then the zeal for this prayer (of the Rosary) everywhere be re-kindled, particularly for the end of Holy Unity. Nothing will be more agreeable and acceptable to Mary; for, as she is most closely united with Christ she especially wishes and desires that they who have received the same Baptism with Him may be united with Him and with one another in the same faith and perfect charity. So may the sublime mysteries of this same faith by means of the Rosary devotion be more deeply impressed in men's minds, with the happy result that "we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise."

A Centenary

The Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity began today . . . for the one hundreth time. Episcopal Father Paul James Wattson, the founder of the Society of the Atonement, initiated the observance in 1908. In a letter to another Anglican clergyman, The Reverend Spencer Jones, Father Paul proposed dedicating eight days to a fervent prayer of intercession for unity; the Octave opened on the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter at Rome, January 18th, and ended on the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, January 25th.

Already in 1908, over 2000 persons joined their prayer to that of Father Paul and his collaborator, Mother Lurana Mary White. Writing of the experience in his periodical, The Lamp, Father Paul expressed a wish that, "this Church Unity observance so auspiciously begun, may be kept with increasing numbers year after year until Our Lord's prayer, Ut omnes unum sint is completely fulfilled."

In October 1909, Monsignor Joseph Conroy of Ogdensburg, New York, received "The Society of the Atonement" — Father Paul, Mother Lurana, and a few companions — into the Catholic Church.

Father George Ignatius Spencer

Father Paul's Octave for Church Unity was not an isolated initiative. The Holy Ghost had already moved other souls to offer a similar prayer for unity. In 1839, Father Ignatius Spencer, a convert from the Church of England, launched a crusade of prayer on the First Thursday of every month for the conversion of England. Father Ignatius' crusade was grounded in the meditation of the Priestly Prayer of Christ in the seventeenth chapter of Saint John's Gospel. He has been called the "Apostle of Ecumenical Prayer." In 1847 Father Spencer entered the Congregation of the Passion, becoming Father Ignatius of Saint Paul.

The Abbé Couturier

January 1933 saw the French priest Paul Couturier extend the scope of the Octave for Church Unity to include those who, without focusing on a visible reunion with the Church of Rome under the Successor of Saint Peter, desired nonetheless to participate in an effort of spiritual ecumenism. He proposed a week of prayer that would express the adhesion of all Christians to the prayer of Christ, "that all may be one" (Jn 17:21). In 1934, the Abbé Couturier's vision merged with that of Father Ignatius Spencer, Father Paul Watson, and Mother Lurana White to become the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in its present form.

Blessed Maria Gabriella dell'Unità

The Abbé Couturier communicated his zeal for Christian Unity in his personal correspondence with Mother Maria Pia, Abbess of the Monastery of Grottaferrata in Italy. In 1938, Mother Maria Pia shared with her community a letter she had received from the Abbé Couturier. He wrote of Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox Christians who had made the offering of their lives for the unity of the Church. Mother Maria Gabriella, a young nun, recently professed, received an inner calling to make the same gesture. Our Lord accepted her offering. Maria Gabriella died on April 23, 1939. It was Good Shepherd Sunday. After her death, her Sisters discovered that her worn New Testament opened by itself to the seventeenth chapter of Saint John. The pages of Jesus' Priestly Prayer to the Father, so often turned by her feverish fingers, were almost transparent. Pope John Paul II beatified Mother Maria Gabriella on January 25, 1983, the last day of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

For my part, I remain attached to Father Paul's original vision for the Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity, and prefer the prayers that he proposed a century ago.

January 17th is the feast of Our Lady of Pontmain, also called Our Mother of Hope. During my retreat last October at the Benedictine Monastery of Craon near Laval, I was not far from Pontmain. Although I was unable to visit the sanctuary, something of the grace of Pontmain seemed to reach my heart. The faithful of the region are very devoted to the Virgin of Pontmain. Pilgrimages are frequent. Pontmain remains a place of conversions and blessings.

The Day When the Sky Opened

In Pontmain, on January 17, 1871 it was dark and cold, and France was at war. Paris was besieged. The conquering Prussian army was at the gates of Laval. The inhabitants of Pontmain were in anguish for they were without news of their thirty-eight young men who had gone to fight in the war. That evening, Eugène Barbedette was helping his father to crush fodder in the barn. His little brother Joseph was there too. Eugène went out “to see the weather”.

A Beautiful Lady

It was then that Eugène saw above the house opposite a beautiful Lady wearing a star-spangled dress. She was looking at him and smiling. She held her arms stretched out in front of her. Villagers ran towards the barn. Other children saw the vision too. A blue oval with four candles surrounded the beautiful Lady. The Parish Priest and the Sisters from the school began prayers and hymns.

Isn't this a wonderful painting of Saint Antony? Flemish Jan Gossaert painted it in Rome in 1508 as the right panel of a diptych. The left panel (not shown) depicts the Mother of God. What interests me is the relationship between Saint Antony and the donor, one Antonio Siciliano.

The donor, in contrast, appears sincere, but stiff; he is looking toward the Madonna on the other panel. His rigid piety lacks the seasoned humanity of the old abbot, tried by temptation and marked by compassion. Signor Siciliano's dog is wearing a stylish red collar. He is gazing at his master, fascinated by what is going on. Picture yourself in the place of Signor Siciliano. Let the hand of Saint Antony bless and guide you today.

A Certain Primacy Among the Saints

The liturgy today makes it clear that Saint Antony of the Desert holds a certain primacy among the saints. The Missal gives us a complete set of proper texts; the Lectionary gives us proper readings. Antony is a primary reference, a model of how we are to hear the Word of God, an inspiration in spiritual combat, a radiant icon of holiness for the ages.

No Rest From Spiritual Combat

The feast of Saint Antony, falling between the Christmas festivities and the beginning of Lent, is an invitation to shake off the sluggishness that comes with winter, a bracing reminder that there is no rest from spiritual combat, and that “the monk’s life ought at all seasons to bear a Lenten character” (RB 49:1). It is the custom in some monasteries on the feast of Saint Antony to go out to the barn to bless the animals. He is the patron of horses, pigs, cattle, and other domestic animals. Icons of Saint Antony often show his little pet pig nestled in the folds of his tunic.

Ice on the Holy Water

It occurs to me that the point of making a trip to the barn in the mid-January cold may be as much of a blessing for the monks as for the animals. It is a wake-up call. One has to use the aspergillum to break the ice that forms on the Holy Water. One sees the animals shudder when the cold water hits them. These are very physical reminders of a spiritual truth. We cannot afford to become cozy and comfortable in a spirituality of feather comforters for the soul. From time to time we, like the barn animals, need the salutary shock of cold Holy Water splashed in our face!

The Life of Antony

Forty years ago Trappist Father Marius Granato of Spencer introduced me to the Life of Antony by Saint Athanasius. Heady reading for a fifteen year old boy! Shortly thereafter a wise Father told me that one should read the Life of Antony once a year. These seasoned monks knew exactly what they were doing: they were proposing a model of holiness perfectly adapted to the ideals of a youth starting out on the spiritual journey. After all, the Life of Antony begins with an account of his boyhood. He was about “eighteen, or even twenty” when going into church one day, he heard the Gospel being chanted — the very Gospel we just heard — and understood that it was Christ speaking to him. “If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come follow me” (Mt 19:21).

On this first Wednesday after the Octave of the Epiphany, I will celebrate a Votive Mass of Saint Joseph. (Votive Masses are celebrations in honour of a particular mystery of Our Lord or in honour of Our Lady or the saints. They are not linked to a particular date in the calendar and may be celebrated on any ferial day.) Votive Masses of Saint Joseph began to appear in various missals as early as the thirteenth century. In the nineteenth century the Votive Mass of Saint Joseph was assigned to Wednesday.

Apart from the Votive Mass of Saint Joseph, the Roman Missal provides priests with two daily prayers to Saint Joseph, one as part of the preparation for Mass, and the other as part of the thanksgiving after Mass:

O Felicem Virum

O blessed Joseph, happy man whose privilege it was,
not only to see and hear that God
whom many a king has longed to see, yet saw not,
longed to hear, but heard not:
but also to carry Him in thy arms and kiss Him,
to clothe Him and watch over Him!

V. Pray for us, blessed Joseph.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray.

God, who hast conferred upon us a royal priesthood,
we pray thee give us grace to minister at Thy holy altars
with hearts as clean and lives as blameless as that blessed Joseph
who was found worthy to hold in his arms
and with all reverence to carry Thy Only-Begotten Son, born of the Virgin Mary.
Enable us this day to receive worthily the sacred Body and Blood of Thy Son,
and fit us to win an everlasting reward in the world to come:
through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Virginum Custos et Pater

Saint Joseph, father and guardian of virgins,
to whose faithful keeping Christ Jesus, innocence itself,
and Mary, the virgin of virgins, were entrusted,
I pray and beseech thee by that twofold and most precious charge,
by Jesus and Mary,
to save me from all uncleanness,
to keep my mind untainted, my heart pure, and my body chaste;
and to help me always to serve Jesus and Mary in perfect chastity. Amen.

Wednesday of the 1st Week of the Year II

1 Samuel 3: 1-10, 19-20
Psalm 39: 2 and 5, 7-8a, 8b-9, 10 (R. 8a and 9a)
Mark 1:29-39

Hastening to the Cross

Saint Mark’s Gospel is a series of flashes in quick succession. Saint Mark writes in the style of a news broadcast: one image follows quickly upon another. Each image leaves, nonetheless, a vivid impression on the mind. One of Saint Mark’s favourite expressions is “forthwith,” or “immediately.” Reading Saint Mark’s Gospel just as it is written — and it can be read easily in less than an hour — can leave one breathless. In a sense, from the very first page of his Gospel, Saint Mark depicts Our Lord hastening to the Cross. Everything in the Gospel of Saint Mark is ordered to the mystery of the Cross.

Hospitality

Today’s Gospel contains four episodes. No sooner does Jesus leave the synagogue in Capernaum than we see Him entering the house of Simon and Andrew. “And immediately going out of the synagogue they came into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. And Simon's wife's mother lay in a fit of a fever: and forthwith they tell Him of her” (Mk 1:29-30). Our Lord lifts her up by the hand — a kind of resurrection — and she goes straight from the sick bed to the kitchen to wait on her son-in-law’s Divine Guest and his disciples. Hospitality.

Healing and Deliverance

Change of scene. The sun has set. There is a crowd at the door. Saint Mark says that, “all the city was gathered together at the door” (Mk 1:33). Just imagine the noise, the anticipation, the pleading. Jesus then heals the sick and casts out many devils. Healing and deliverance.

Contemplation

Change of scene again. A very dramatic one. Saint Mark passes from all the city being gathered at the door of Simon’s house to a setting of solitude in the pre-dawn darkness. “And rising very early, going out, He went into a desert place: and there He prayed” (Mk 1:35). We see Our Lord in prayer. Most of us, I think, would want to linger here with Jesus in this desert place. We would want to hear Him in conversation with His Father and gaze upon His Holy Face. Contemplation.

The Other Marian Jubilee in 2008

2008 is the Jubilee Year of Lourdes: 150 years since the apparitions to Saint Bernadette. 2008 also marks the 75th anniversary of the first apparition of the Holy Mother of God, the Virgin of the Poor, at Banneux in Belgium on January 15th, 1933. From January 15th to March 2nd, 1933, Our Lady appeared eight times to eleven year old Mariette Béco. On August 22nd, 1949 Monseigneur L. K. Kerkhofs, Bishop of Liège, declared the apparitions and the message authentic and worthy of belief. After the apparitions, Mariette Béco married and raised a family, never seeking to draw attention to herself.

Virgin of the Poor

At Banneux, the Blessed Virgin revealed herself under two names. On January 19th, 1933, she said to little Mariette Béco, "I am the Virgin of the Poor." On the following March 2nd, she added, "I am the Mother of the Saviour, the Mother of God." Three times in the course of the apparitions, the Blessed Virgin asked Mariette to pray much. On Saturday, February 11th, she said, "I come to relieve suffering."

Priez beaucoup

Our Lady's invitation to pray much is at the heart of her message at Banneux. The Rosary remains the simplest and most effective way to pray much, to "pray always and not lose heart" (Lk 18:1). The Rosary, being the form of prayer most suited to the little, the weak, and the