February 2008 Archives

O my beloved Jesus,
I give and consecrate to Thee this Thursday and all the Thursdays of my life,
in praise of the adorable Mystery of Thy Body and Blood,
and in thanksgiving for that of the Priesthood.

Moved by Thy Holy Spirit,
and full of confidence in the help of Thy Most Holy Mother, the Virgin Mary,
Mother of Priests,
I resolve to live each Thursday for the rest of my days here below
in adoration and in reparation for priests
and, especially, for those who do not adore Thee,
for those who are most wounded in their souls,
and for those who are exposed to the attacks of the powers of darkness.
I want to remain before Thy Eucharistic Face for them and in their place;
I want to draw near, in their name, to Thy open Heart,
ever-flowing with the Blood and the Water that purify,
heal, and sanctify all souls,
but, first of all, those of Thy priests.

Let each Thursday find me close to the Sacrament of Thy Body and Blood,
in adoration and reparation for the sake of all Thy priests.
Make me an entirely Eucharistic soul,
according to the desires of Thy Sacred Heart
and the designs of Thy merciful goodness upon my life.
I desire nothing else.
I want to love Thee more each day;
I want to be the faithful adorer of Thy Eucharistic Face
and the consoling friend of Thy Sacred Heart
hidden in the tabernacles of the world,
where it beats, wounded by love, forgotten, forsaken,
and waiting for the adoration and for the love of even one priest.
Amen.

February 27 is also the feast of the young Passionist Saint Gabriel of the Sorrowful Virgin, known in the world as Francesco Possenti. He is known in Italy as il santo dei giovani, il santo dei miracoli, il santo del sorriso: the saint of youth, the saint of miracles, the saint of the smile. I first heard of Saint Gabriel when I was lad in grammar school. Boys were encouraged to read a biography of the youthful saint. I think it was called "Boy in a Hurry." (Monsignor ABC, or Father Gregory O., or Father Martin F., or Terry N. would know. We seem to have read all the same books as boys!)

Last November when I preached a retreat to the Benedettine Riparatrici del Santo Volto at Carsoli in Italy, I was delighted to discover in their church a side altar dedicated to Saint Gabriel. This is the photo I took of the painting above the altar.

Introit

The Proper Mass for Saint Gabriel is one of those that, in my youth, I used to love to meditate — and still do. The Introit, for example:

The eye of God hath looked upon him for good
and hath lifted him up from his low estate,
and hath exalted his head;
and many have wondered at him,
and have glorified God (Ecclus 11:13).
V. How good God is to Israel,
to them that are of a right heart. (Ps 72:1)

Read the whole of Psalm 72 to get a very good portrait of Saint Gabriel's soul.

Collect

The Collect is addressed to Our Lord Jesus Christ, as many modern Collects are, and alludes to the miracles worked by Saint Gabriel. He is a veritable thaumaturge.

O God, who didst teach the blessed Gabriel
diligently to ponder the sorrows of Thy most sweet Mother,
and who hast exalted him to the glory of sanctity and the working of miracles;
grant us, through his intercession and example,
so to share in thy Mother's weeping,
that we may be saved through her maternal care.

Blessed Marie de Jésus Deluil Martiny was the "First Zelatrice", or promoter, of the Guard of Honour of the Sacred Heart. The Work was founded at the Visitation Monastery of Bourg-en-Bresse in 1863. The above photo shows Daughters of the Heart of Jesus at adoration in their chapel in Rome.

The Guard of Honour of the Sacred Heart
or Association of Presence to the Heart of Jesus

The Aim of the Guard of Honour

"I look round for one that would console Me, and I found none" (Psalm 68:21)

The Guard of Honour was established to respond to this sorrowful complaint of Our Lord. Its members seek, by the conscious dedication of their activities, to offer love and reparation to the Heart of Jesus, outraged by the ingratitude and the sins of men. The wounded Heart of Jesus is, therefore, the Object of the Guard of Honour. Love and reparation are its aim. The practices of the Work are the means.

Anyone may belong to the Association of Presence to the Heart of Jesus (the Guard of Honour) because it imposes no obligation incompatible with one's own state in life. It helps one to live one's own vocation with greater fidelity.

Conditions for Membership:

1) Be enrolled at one of the Association's approved Centres. (See the Enrollment Form given below.)
2) Choose an hour out of each day or night, and offer it to the Heart of Jesus, without changing one's ordinary activities. Unite the offering of one's daily life with the offering of the Blood and Water that flowed from the Wound in the Heart of Jesus.

Offering of the Hour of Presence

O Lord Jesus, present in the Tabernacle,
I offer Thee this Hour
to glorify Thy Heart with my love and reparation.
Accept to this end my thoughts, my words, my actions,
my joys and my sorrows.
Receive, above all, my heart.
I give it to Thee without reserve,
and beg Thee to consume it in the fire of Thy pure love.

Most Precious Offering of the Blood and of the Water

Eternal Father, receive as a sacrifice of propitiation
for the needs of the Church
and in reparation for the sins of the world,
the precious Blood and Water that flowed from the Heart of Jesus,
and have mercy upon us.

Wednesday Within the Third Week of Lent

Commemoration of Blessed Marie de Jésus Deluil Martiny, Virgin

Deuteronomy 4:1–9
Matthew 5:17–19

Adoration, Reparation, and Spiritual Motherhood

Among the models of holiness proposed in the Congregation for the Clergy's remarkable Letter of 8 December 2007, Adoration, Reparation, and Spiritual Mother for Priests, is Blessed Marie de Jésus Deluil Martiny (1841–1884). Today is the liturgical commemoration of Blessed Marie de Jésus, marking her martyrdom at the hands of a French anarchist, on 27 February 1884.

Our God Draws Near to Us

When I meditated these words of Moses in today's First Reading — "No other nation has gods that draw near to it, as our God draws near to us whenever we pray to Him" (Dt 4:7) — I immediately related them to the mission of Blessed Marie de Jésus in the Church. She was graced with a burning awareness of the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Eucharist, in the Sacrament of His Love. So ardent was her zeal to draw souls close to the Heart of Him who draws near to us in the Blessed Sacrament, that she became known, while yet a young woman living in the world, as the Zelatrice of the Sacred Heart.

The Guard of Honour of the Sacred Heart

Even before founding the Congregation of the Daughters of the Heart of Jesus, Marie Deluil Martiny spent herself promoting a movement known as the Guard of Honour of the Sacred Heart. The movement still exists today with its international headquarters at the Visitation Monastery in Paray-le-Monial, France.

The Divine Wound

Marie de Jésus explained the movement in these words:

"The Guard [of Honour of the Sacred Heart], the Work in itself, was placed by the Infinite Love of our Master at the entrance of the Wound of His Divine Heart. There, it calls souls, unites them, calls them together, preaches to them, if one may say so, pushes them, and draws them into the interior of the Divine Wound . . . it leads them there, and introduces them therein, after having, so to speak, opened to them the door of this sacred refuge . . . Souls, entering this safe abode are sprinkled, washed, whitened, purified, healed, and supernaturalized by a most efficacious application of the Blood and Water that came forth from the Divine Wound.

But Jesus wants even more: this is the new step that Our Lord desires to make the souls He has chosen to this end take: they must enter by the gate of the City of God, that is into the Heart of Jesus by the Divine Wound; therein will be their world, their dwelling, their place of rest."

Tuesday Within the Third Week of Lent

Daniel 3:25–43
Matthew 18:21–35

Azarias Found Utterance

Look for a moment at the context of today's First Reading: the magnificent prayer of Azarias "as he stood in the heart of the fire" (Dan 3:23). If you opened the Book of Daniel in your lectio divina this morning, you will have remarked that the prayer of Azarias comes just before the Canticle of the Three Young Men. It is the first of three movements in a glorious symphony of prayer: Daniel 3:26–45; Daniel 3:52–56; and Daniel 3:58–88.

The Benedicite

The Benedicite or Canticle of the Three Young Men is familiar to all who pray the Divine Office. The Church places its lyrical verses on our lips every Sunday, Solemnity, and Feast at Lauds. In addition, the Roman Missal proposes that the priest say the Canticle of the Three Young Men daily after Mass. It is part of the official liturgical Thanksgiving After Mass. Blessed Abbot Columba Marmion was faithful to saying the Benedicite after Mass all his life. In Christ, the Life of the Soul, he writes:

The Church, the Bride of Christ, who knows better than anyone the secrets of her Divine Bridegroom, makes the priest sing in the sanctuary of his soul where the Word dwells, the inward canticle of thanksgiving. The soul leads all creation to the feet of its God and its Lord, that he may receive homage from every creature . . . . What a wonderful song is that all creation sung thus by the priest at the moment when he is united to the Eternal High-Priest, the one Mediator, the Divine Word by whom all was created!

The Flames of Vice

The Missal provides an incisive little Collect after the Canticle. The Roman Rite never minces words when it comes to sin . . . and grace. I so appreciate the realism of this prayer that the Church would have her ministers say daily after Mass.

"O God who didst allay the flames of the furnace
for the three young men,
in thy mercy, grant that we thy servants,
may not be consumed by the flames of vice."

Monday Within the Third Week of Lent

2 Kings 5:1-15a
Luke 4:24-30

Water

What is the link between yesterday’s liturgy and today’s? It is water. Yesterday: the water of Jacob’s well: a sign of “the spring of water welling up to eternal life” (Jn 4:14. Today: the water of the Jordan by which Naaman was cleansed of his leprosy, the water of Jesus’ own Baptism.

Psalm 50

In the Holy Rule, Saint Benedict places Psalm 50 at the beginning of Lauds seven days a week. Why? Because he understood it as a daily renewal of Baptism, as the psalm of resurrection to new life with the joy of a heart made clean. What makes every day so exhilarating is the possibility of a fresh start, of a clean slate, of a new beginning. Each morning we can say, “Today, I begin” (Ps 77:11). Try saying that every time you take Holy Water: “Today, I begin, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

In Psalm 50 we repeatedly and persistently ask God to cleanse us. “Blot out my iniquity” (Ps 50:3). “Wash me clean from my guilt” (Ps 50:4). “Purge me of my sin” (Ps 50:4). “Sprinkle me with a branch of hyssop, and I shall be clean” (Ps 50:9). “Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow” (Ps 50:9). We cannot cleanse ourselves because we do not see where we are soiled. We are as blind to our own sins as we are quick to notice the sins of others. The stain of sin has seeped deep into the very crevices of our souls. God alone can reach into those hidden places and make them clean.

Holy Water

I don’t know why, but a lot of folks, even among practicing Catholics, seem to pooh-pooh the use of Holy Water just the way Naaman, in his pride, pooh-poohed the water of the Jordan River. They find it hard to believe that God would make use of something so simple. Do you remember what Saint Teresa of Avila, Doctor of the Church, wrote about Holy Water?

“From long experience I have learned that there is nothing like Holy Water to put devils to flight and prevent them from coming back again. They also flee from the Cross, but return; so Holy Water must have great value. For my own part, whenever I take it, my soul feels a particular and most notable consolation. In fact, it is quite usual for me to be conscious of a refreshment which I cannot possibly describe, resembling an inward joy which comforts my whole soul. This is not fancy, or something which has happened to me only once. It has happened again and again, and I have observed it most attentively. It is, let us say, as if someone very hot and thirsty were to drink from a jug of cold water: he would feel the refreshment throughout his body. I often reflect on the great importance of everything ordained by the Church and it makes me very happy to find that those words of the Church are so powerful that they impart their power to the water and make it so very different from water which has not been blessed.”

Paul VI on the Rosary and the Liturgy

"The Rosary is a practice of piety which easily harmonizes with the liturgy. In fact, like the liturgy, it is of a community nature, draws its inspiration from Sacred Scripture and is oriented towards the mystery of Christ. The commemoration in the liturgy and the contemplative remembrance proper to the Rosary, although existing on essentially different planes of reality, have as their object the same salvific events wrought by Christ. The former presents new, under the veil of signs and operative in a hidden way, the great mysteries of our Redemption. The latter, by means of devout contemplation, recalls these same mysteries to the mind of the person praying and stimulates the will to draw from them the norms of living. Once this substantial difference has been established, it is not difficult to understand that the Rosary is an exercise of piety that draws its motivating force from the liturgy and leads naturally back to it, if practiced in conformity with its original inspiration." Pope Paul VI, Marialis Cultus, 2 February 1974

The Rosary and Lectio Divina

For some years now on the Sundays of Lent, when praying part of my daily Rosary, I have prolonged my lectio divina by taking the successive Sunday Gospels (Year A) as "Lenten Mysteries of the Rosary."

The 1st Lenten Mystery: The Temptation of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Desert

And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the desert, for the space of forty days; and was tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing in those days; and when they were ended, he was hungry. (Luke 4:1-2)

The 2nd Lenten Mystery: The Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ

And after six days Jesus taketh unto him Peter and James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart: And he was transfigured before them. And his face did shine as the sun: and his garments became white as snow. (Matthew 17:1-2)

The 3rd Lenten Mystery: The Promise of Living Water to the Woman at the Well

Jesus answered, and said to her: If thou didst know the gift of God, and who he is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou perhaps wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. (John 4:10)

The 4th Lenten Mystery: The Healing of the Man Born Blind

He answered: That man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me: Go to the pool of Siloe, and wash. And I went, I washed, and I see. (John 9:11)

The 5th Lenten Mystery: The Resurrection of Lazarus

Jesus said to her: I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, although he be dead, shall live: And every one that liveth, and believeth in me, shall not die for ever. (John 11: 27)

Saturday With the Second Week of Lent

Micah 7:14-15, 18-20
Psalm 102:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12
Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

Draw Near to Hear

The first line of today’s Holy Gospel is perhaps the key to all the rest: “The tax collectors and the sinners were all drawing near to hear Jesus” (Lk 15:1). Draw near to hear. This is the listening that changes life. One cannot hear rightly while remaining at a distance.

God Seeking Man

Our Lord says, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (Jn 6:44). The Father seeks us to draw us close to the Son. What did we sing in this morning’s Canticle from Deuteronomy? “He sought them out in the wilderness, there in the fearful desert spaces, gave them the guidance, taught them the lessons they needed, guarded them as if they had been the apple of His eye” (Dt 32:10). When we consent to God finding us, a flame of desire begins to flicker within: a yearning to be enfolded in His protecting love and sheltered in the “shadow of His wings” (Ps 16:8).

Repentance

Turning one’s life around begins with the painful awareness of one’s need for God. Look at the prodigal son. “Then he came to himself and said, How many hired servants there are in my father’s house, who have more bread than they can eat, and here am I perishing with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee’ I am not worthy now to be called thy son; treat me as one of thy hired servants” (Lk 15: 17-18).

Feeling the Pain

We experience this painful awareness of the need for God in different ways. Loneliness, for example, can be an immense grace if it orients the heart towards God alone. Failure can serve the designs of God’s mercy when it obliges us to seek Him, to call to Him out of the depths of brokenness. Illness can become a gift; the awareness of our weakness can be for us the discovery of His unfailing strength. Disappointments in human love can lead to drive one to the one Love that never deceives nor disappoints. God alone can satisfy the deepest longings of the heart.

Upon my Bed by Night

The bride of the Song of Songs describes the experience of every human heart tormented by the desire for God: “Upon my bed by night, I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him, but found him not; I called him but he gave no answer. I will rise now and go about the city, in the streets and in the squares; I will seek him whom my soul loves” (Ct 3:1-2). Her nocturnal disquiet is the image of our restlessness of our souls. Within each of us there is an appetite more relentlessly gnawing than the appetites of the senses: the appetite for intimacy with God.

The Word of God Himself has come down into the streets and squares of the city in search of all who search for him, just as in the first pages of Genesis, the Father walked in paradise in the evening breeze (Gn 3:8) and called to Adam, saying, “Where art thou?”

In the 1927 biography of "Holy Ann" Preston of Thornhill, a poor Irish Methodist known for her intimacy with God the Father, I found this bit:

Communion is the highest form of intercourse; it implies that not only do we talk to God, but that He also speaks to us. When the Lord would destroy the cities of the plain, as described in Genesis 18: 17-33, He said, 'Shall I hide from Abraham that which I do?' Then there begins a conversation between the Lord and Abraham, and after earnest pleading on the part of Abraham that the city should be spared, if if only ten righteous men were found in it, the Lord replied, 'I will not destroy it for the ten's sake.' Then follows the significant statement, 'And the Lord went His way as soon as He had left communing with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.' Communion consisted this in the Lord talking to Abraham and Abraham talking to God. Our beloved sister Ann knew what it was thus to hold converse. Is not that what is meant when the Lord Jesus says, 'My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow Me'? Ours is the privilege to speak to the Master and to have the Master speaks to us. Solomon prayed for a hearing heart, a heart to hear God's voice.

Holy Ann Preston reminds me of what Our Lord said to my old friend, Soeur Marie de la Trinité, the Poor Clare of Jerusalem:

I speak to each soul. I attract all souls to Myself. I invite them . . . . Many do not hear; many do not listen. . . . Make all souls know that I am in them, so close, speaking to them. I, the friend, the consoler, the guide, the source, the God of their destiny. . . . It is sufficient for them to be very silent to discover the voice of Jesus.

The desire to hear the Word of God and adhere to it is the fundamental attitude of the interior life, the life of intimacy with God. "If any man shall hear my voice, and open to me the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me" (Apoc 3:20).

In the Archdeacon's Room

On the evening of February 5, 2008, I was privileged to pray in the room where The Venerable Archdeacon Bartholomew Cavanagh, Parish Priest of Knock at the time of the apparition, died on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8, 1897. The room is now used as the Oratory for the community of Daughters of Charity who conduct Saint Mary's Hostel for pilgrims. The Sister in charge of Saint Mary's Hostel told me that, according to tradition, it was in that room that Our Lady came and conversed with the Archdeacon before his death.

A Priest Who Loved Mary

It was believed in the parish of Knock that the Archdeacon was frequently graced with visits of Our Blessed Lady. When questioned about this, the Archdeacon replied that "there were a great many other manifestations of which he would not care to speak." Archdeacon Cavanagh had a consuming desire to promote Our Lady's Cause; he habitually referred to the Blessed Virgin Mary as "The ever Immaculate Mother of God."

Charity Toward the Poor Souls

It is not generally known that the apparition at Knock took place on the evening of the very day when Archdeacon Cavanagh had completed offering one hundred Masses for the Holy Souls in Purgatory, without receiving any stipend from the people. Preaching at Knock in 1882, he said, "We leave all our actions at the disposal of the Blessed Virgin Mary for those holy souls who, when released from purgatory, will never forget us. They will pray constantly for us at the throne of God."

Saint Joseph and Saint John

There are particular graces reserved for priests at Knock. In Saint Joseph and Saint John who appeared there together with the Blessed Virgin, one discovers the models of a priestly holiness that is at once paternal and virginal. These are the two men destined by God from all eternity to live in a sacred intimacy with the Virgin Mary. I have the distinct impression that, at the present time, Our Lady is offering to all her priest sons the special grace of a sacred intimacy with herself.

Intimacy With Mary

Could this not be the means by which Mary desires to purify, sanctify, and renew the priesthood in this age of the Church's life? In the intimacy with Our Blessed Lady represented by Saint Joseph and Saint John there is healing even for the most broken among her priest sons. For those most defiled by sin, in Mary's presence there is purity and the recovery of a spotless innocence. For those who have grown weary and lost the fervour of their youth, in Mary's company there is zeal for souls and apostolic boldness. For those who are depressed, close to Mary there is comfort, and to those who are despondent and anxious, she gives hope and peace. Finally, in the intimacy of Mary there is joy for those who fallen prey to the sadness that weakens the soul and opens it to sin.

Made Pure in the Blood of the Lamb

The Immaculate Virgin Mary presents herself to priests today as she presented herself to Saint Joseph and to Saint John. To Saint Joseph, her chaste spouse, she was the Virgin Bride, and to Saint John, the Beloved Disciple of her Son, she was a Mother. In the acceptance of this grace lies the remedy for the weaknesses and inclinations to sin that have soiled the priesthood and brought it low in the eyes of so many in recent years. The desire of Mary's Immaculate Heart is to purify the priesthood and lift it out of the infamy into which it has fallen, so as to make it shine with a wonderful holiness, and with the purity that comes from the Precious Blood of the Lamb. It is the Lamb in the apparition of Knock that casts the whole event in the light of the mysteries revealed to Saint John on Patmos.

Priests at Knock

It seems to me that Our Lady desires that Knock should become a place of pilgrimage for priests. A dimension of Knock, not yet fully developed, is that it must become a place of healing for priests, a place where Mary can restore them to purity and to holiness of life by drawing them into her company. Knock invites all priests to share their lives with Mary by opening their homes and their hearts to her, and by living every moment in her presence.

At Home With Mary

As Virgin Bride, Mary is the image of the Church. Just as Saint Joseph took his Virgin Bride into his home, so too must every priest welcome Mary and discover in her intimacy the nuptial quality of his dedication to the Church. Just as Saint John, obeying the word of Jesus from the Cross, took Mary into his home, so too must every priest shelter her in the space that is most personal to him. The gift of sacred intimacy with the Blessed Virgin Mary, suggested by the apparition at Knock, may well be among the heavenly secrets reserved by her for this time of trial for the Church.

She will impart this gift to every priest who desires it. She will make herself known as the Virgin Bride who brought joy to Saint Joseph, and as the Mother entrusted to Saint John and to those priests in whom the Johannine grace is renewed in every age.

A Pilgrimage for Priests

It is time, I think, for priests and their bishops to go — as priests together — in pilgrimage to Knock. Our Lady's Merciful and Immaculate Heart waits for them there. She is ready to open a wellspring of purity, holiness, and renewal for all priests, beginning with those of Ireland. Our Lady of Knock beckons to all priests. She would have her priest sons wash themselves in the Blood of the Lamb, and unite themselves to her Son, Priest and Victim, in the mystery of His Sacrifice. Yes, Knock is for all people, but I believe that it was, from the beginning, destined to be a place of healing and of abundant graces for priests.

A Radiant Priestly Holiness

As I prayed in Archdeacon Cavanagh's room, I understood that Mary longs to show herself to all priests as Virgin Bride and Mother. In Mary's intimacy we priests will find the holiness desired by Christ for each one of us: a radiant holiness, a holiness to illumine the Church in these last days with the brightness of the Lamb. Knock invites priests to remain in adoration before Mary's Son, the Lamb Who was slain. Knock invites priests to wash themselves in His Precious Blood by seeking absolution from all their sins. Knock invites priests to follow Saint Joseph and Saint John by consecrating themselves to Mary as Virgin Bride and Mother.

No Need to Remain Alone

Our Lady of Knock, praying with uplifted hands, is the Mediatrix of All Graces. She is the New Eve given to Christ the New Adam, and given by Him, from the Cross, to all His priests, those whom He has called to continue His mission of salvation in the world. There is no need for any priest to remain alone. The Virgin Mary's Heart is open to all her priest sons, and she will not refuse, to those who ask for it, a participation in the unique grace given Saint Joseph and Saint John in the beginning.

Wednesday Within the Second Week of Lent

Jeremiah 18: 18–20
Matthew 20: 17–28

Beata Passio

On Sunday last we celebrated the Transfiguration of the Lord. Today, three days later, the liturgy sets before us the mystery of His beata Passio, as the Roman Canon calls it, His blessed Passion. The Passion of Our Lord is as blessed as it was bitter; its bitterness contains the source of all blessedness, that is, of all our bliss, of eternal beatitude.

The Prayer of Jeremiah

The prophet Jeremiah threatened, hated, and rejected by his enemies, is a figure of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The First Reading gives us Jeremiah's prayer in great anguish:

Give heed to me, O Lord,
and listen to my plea . . .
Remember how I stood before Thee to speak good for them,
to turn away Thy wrath from them.

The Prayer of Jesus

Jeremiah's prayer announces the prayer of Jesus in His Passion. The Letter to the Hebrews tells us that, "In the days of His flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to Him who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard for His godly fear" (Heb 5:7). From the Cross, Jesus interceded for those who hated Him, and for those who nailed Him to the awful Tree: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Lk 23:34). Down through the ages, the Holy Spirit has moved the Church to enter into the prayer of Christ: to pray as He prayed.

The Prayer of Mary

So deeply did today's text from Jeremiah penetrate the heart of the Church that it became the Offertory Antiphon of the Mass of September 15th, the feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary:

Recordare, Virgo Mater Dei . . .
Be mindful, O Virgin Mother of God,
when thou standest in the sight of the Lord,
to speak good things for us,
and to turn away His anger from us.

The Church recognizes in the Mother of Sorrows the New Eve, the Woman in whom the whole mystery of the Church is contained and revealed. The prayer of Christ becomes her prayer. Mary, the spotless image of the Church, stands with her Son in ceaseless intercession, "since He always lives to make intercession for those who draw near to God through Him" (cf. Heb 7:25). The prayer of Mary passes entirely into the prayer of Jesus, and His prayer passes entirely into hers.

Beginning Lent in Knock

My pilgrimage the Shrine of Our Lady of Knock a fortnight ago renewed my longstanding devotion to the Rosary of the Seven Dolours. On Ash Wedneday I concelebrated with Father Thomas Lane, C.M., and assisted with the distribution of ashes in the old parish church. The church was filled to capacity, mostly with local people, for the 3:00 p.m. Mass. The priests who staff the shrine at Knock are great men. One of them, Father William O'Donovan, O.M.I. is about to celebrate his seventieth anniversary of priesthood; he is still a dynamic preacher.

Saint Joseph and Saint John

Those already familiar with the Rosary of the Seven Dolours know that the first three of Our Lady’s Sorrows were shared with Saint Joseph and the last four with Saint John, the Beloved Disciple of Jesus. Saint Joseph and Saint John, the two men chosen by God to live in the intimacy of the Virgin Mother and to enter deeply into the mystery of her sorrows, appeared with her at Knock on the night of August 21, 1879.

Sister Elma's Mission Shop

Sister Elma, the kind and holy Daughter of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, who operates the Mission Shop at Knock has very nice Seven Dolours Beads in stock. I had left my own Seven Dolours Beads at home (What was I thinking?) and Sister Elma was quick to remedy the situation. The Rosary of the Seven Dolours is a fitting form of prayer at Knock: a contemplation of the Mystery of the Lamb through the eyes of Our Lady with Saint Joseph and Saint John.

Mary's Tears

The Rosary of the Seven Dolours of the Blessed Virgin Mary is, in effect, a way of holding in one's heart certain events in the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Compassion of His Virgin Mother. The fruits of this particular prayer are compunction of heart, detachment from the occasions of sin, chastity, humility, reparation, compassion, intimacy with the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, and desire to contemplate the Face of Christ. The power of this prayer — something that many have experienced — comes from allowing one's own heart to be irrigated and purified by the tears of the Mother of God. The tears of the Sorrowful Mother bring purity and healing wherever they fall.

Here is a method I prepared for saying the Rosary of the Seven Dolours:

Tuesday Within the Second Week of Lent

Isaiah 1:10, 16–20
Matthew 23:1–12

Come back, says the Lord,
and make trial of me.
Crimson-dyed be your guilt,
it shall turn snow-white;
like wool new-washed yonder scarlet stain (Is 1:18).

Innocence Restored

Were more comforting words than these ever spoken to souls besmirched by sin? Such is the hope held out to each one of us: a snow-white purity and an innocence like wool new-washed. God Himself longs to restore us to the innocence lost by sin. For this did the Lamb of God pour out His Blood in all the sufferings of His bitter Passion. Saint John said it: "The Blood of the Son of God Jesus Christ washes us clean from all sin" (1 Jn 1:8).

The Blood of the Lamb

The Blood of the Lamb makes saints out of sinners. The Blood of the Lamb cleanses hearts defiled by the world, the flesh, and the devil. The Blood of the Lamb heals the soul's deepest wounds and cures the festering malignancies of sin.

Only one thing can come between the sinner and the Precious Blood of the Lamb, and that one thing is pride: the pride of self-righteousness. If you can save yourself, you have no need of Jesus whose very Name means "God saves." If you can heal yourself, you have no need of the Divine Physican. If you can cleanse your own conscience, you have no need of the Precious Blood. But the truth is that we can do none of these things. We need to be saved. We need to be healed. We need to be washed in the Blood of the Lamb.

The Power of the Blood

The Lord asks, "Will you think better of it, and listen? Or will you refuse and defy me?" (Is 1:19). Woe to the recalcitrant and the obstinate. Woe to those who seek to justify themselves. Woe to those who resist the grace of God and rebel against His plan. Blessed are the humble. Blessed are those who abandon themselves to grace. Blessed are those who trust in power of the Precious Blood.

Her Feast

Before the close of the day, I want to recall that February 18th is the feast of Saint Bernadette. Given that we are in the Jubilee Year of Lourdes, I cannot let the occasion pass unnoticed. Every Lent I choose one or more saints to be my companions and intercessors on the way to Holy Pascha. This year Saint Bernadette is among them. I have long cherished the Collect for her feast:

O God, protector and friend of the humble,
Who filled Thy servant, Mary Bernard, with joy
by the apparition and conversation of the Immaculate Virgin Mary:
grant, we pray, that by the simple way of faith
we may be counted worthy to see Thee face to face in heaven.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son,
Who, with Thee, liveth and reigneth in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God forever and ever.

When Saints Are Lovers

My book on the flight to Ireland a little over a fortnight ago was "When Saints Are Lovers, The Spirituality of Maryknoll Co–Founder, Thomas F. Price" by John T. Seddon III. Father Price was very taken with Saint Bernadette. The little Saint of Lourdes and Nevers became his confidante and intimate companion. His relationship to Jesus and Mary was inextricably bound up with his love for Bernadette.

Father Price "met" Saint Bernadette on the occasion of his first visit to Lourdes in July 1911. He passed through various stages in his relationship with Saint Bernadette; these might be compared to what a man and woman experience in friendship, courtship, betrothal, and marriage. Father Price went so far as to wear a wedding band inscribed with his name and that of Bernadette. The culmination of this mystical relationship was in the marriage of Father Price and Bernadette together to the Divine Bridegroom, Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Death in China

In 1918, Father Thomas Price left the United States with the first three Maryknoll missionaries to China. A year later Father Price died there. His body was laid to rest in China but his heart was, as he requested, removed from his body to be placed close to his dear Bernadette in Nevers, France.

Mary's Priest

Father Price's life was profoundly marked by devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. He attributed his survival from a shipwreck off the coast of North Carolina in 1876 to a miraculous intervention of Our Lady. In 1908, Father Price adopted the practice of writing a daily "letter" to the Mother of God. It became a kind of written conversation with her, a complement to the daily Rosary and Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary to which he remained faithful all his life.

The Journey of a Heart

In 1923, Father Price's heart was carried from China to Nevers by a French missionary and placed next to the body of Saint Bernadette. His body was exhumed in 1936 and returned to Maryknoll in Ossining, New York.

Monday Within the Second Week of Lent

Daniel 9:4–10
Luke 6: 36–38

I Set My Face to the Lord

I don't know why the editors of the Lectionary did not begin today's First Reading with Daniel 9, verse 3. In few words it sets the tone and describes the context for the magnificent act of contrition that follows. The missing verse is this "And I set my face to the Lord my God to pray and make supplication with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes" (Dn 9:3). Only then does the prophet Daniel give us the fruit of his compunction: a prayer of confession and an act of contrition.

Compunction

What is compunction? It is the cutting awareness of our sins. Compunction is not something that we can produce in ourselves and of ourselves. Compunction is a grace: it is a fruit of the combined action of the Word of God and of the Holy Ghost within the soul.

Sword and Fire

What do we read in the Letter to the Hebrews? "The Word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any two edged sword" (Hb 4:12), and in another place, "Our God is a consuming fire" (Hb 12:29). It is a perilous thing to expose oneself to the Word of God because one risks being pierced through and purified by fire. This is why so many people turn a deaf ear to the Word, or hide from it, or say, "Ah, this is not meant for me, but it perfectly suits so and so. It is just what he (or she) needs to hear."

I arrived home from Ireland last evening and returned to my post this morning. The "mission" in Ireland was in every way blessed. Even the weather was lovely! I made many new friends in Ireland and saw old ones with joy. After three days at Knock in County Mayo, I went on to Drumshanbo in County Leitrim to preach a retreat to the Poor Clares of the Perpetual Adoration Convent. People from the surrounding towns were present at daily Mass in the morning and at Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament in the evening. Thanks to John Flynn who drove me from one place to another, I had the opportunity to visit two families of Irish "Travellers" to pray with them and bless their sick. I was humbled and blessed by their faith.

The Second Sunday of Lent

Genesis 12: 1-4
2 Timothy 1: 8-10
Matthew 17: 1-9

Vultus Christi

My heart hath said to Thee:
I have sought Thy Face.
Thy Face, O Lord, will I still seek:
turn not away Thy Face from me.
V. The Lord is my light and my salvation:
whom shall I fear?
Psalm 26: 8-9, 1.

Today's sublime Introit (Tibi dixit cor meum) summons us to lift our eyes to the transfigured Christ and to fix our gaze on His Holy Face. One who seeks the Face of Christ will find the strength to do whatever God asks of him.

To seek the Face of Christ is to place all one's trust in Him. It is to await from Him all that one needs. The contemplation of the Holy Face of Jesus
— exorcises the fears that paralyze us spiritually;
— frees us from anxiety and fills the soul with peace;
— purifies us of our sins and opens us to an infusion of grace;
— glorifies Our Lord because He desires that we should discover on His Face the glory of the Father (2 Cor 4:6), and the secrets of His Heart.

The Example of Abram

Abram trusted God with his life, his family, his possessions, his past, his present, and his future. It was Abram's faith expressed in an unconditional trust in God that enabled him to leave "his country, his kindred, and his father's house" (Gen 12:1). Abram consented to such a radical uprooting because he was deeply rooted in the faith that places no limits on God's faithfulness to what He has promised.

One who seeks the Face of Jesus is saying, albeit wordlessly, what Abram demonstrated by setting out as the Lord commanded him: "I trust Thee, Lord, with my life. I trust Thee with my family, my loved ones, my possessions, my past, present, my future . . . and even with my sins." There is no better place to do this than in the presence of the Eucharistic Face of Christ.

Several years ago, the Reverend Mother of the Perpetual Adoration Convent in Drumshanbo, County Leitrim, invited me to preach a retreat to her community. This past autumn, His Lordship, the Most Reverend Colm O'Reilly, Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnois, asked my Father Abbot at Santa Croce in Gerusalemme if I might accept the invitation. Father Abbot acquiesced, and so on Sunday evening I will be flying to the Isle of Saints and Scholars. The eight day retreat will end on Friday, February 15. I will return to Connecticut the following day. Will I have internet access in Ireland? I don't know. Is there wireless in Leitrim? I'll soon find out.

Before going to lovely Leitrim I plan on spending a few quiet days close to Our Lady of Knock, the Queen of Ireland. Our Lady's apparition on August 21, 1879, together with Saint Joseph and Saint John, in the presence of the Immolated Lamb standing upon the Altar of His Sacrifice, is one of the most significant Marian events of modern times.

I ask the kind readers of Vultus Christi to accompany me and to sustain my preaching with their prayers. Thank you, friends. Blessed Lent to all.

As I am preparing to depart for Ireland on Sunday, I take the liberty of offering two previously posted texts for the the feast of the Presentation of the Lord.

Malachy 3:1-4
Psalm 23: 7, 8, 9, 10
Hebrews 2: 14-18
Luke 2: 22-40

Susception Day

“We receive, O God, Your mercy, in the midst of Your temple” (Ps 47:10). This is the word from Psalm 47 that the liturgy places on our lips and in our hearts today. In the Middle Ages today’s feast was sometimes called Susception Day, from “suscepimus,” the first word of the entrance antiphon. Often translated as, “we receive,” or “we accept,” “suscepimus” has yet another meaning. This other meaning, while crucial to understanding the mystery we celebrate today, is often overlooked. “Suscipere” means to take up a new born child, and so acknowledge it. In ancient Rome a father acknowledged a child as belonging to him by taking the little one into his arms in the presence of witnesses. Knowing this, the entrance antiphon becomes transparent for us, illumined as it is by the word of the Gospel: “Simeon took him into his arms” (Lk 2:28). “We take up into our arms, O God, Your Mercy, in the midst of Your temple.”

To Cradle Mercy in Our Arms

The one thing that everyone finds irresistible is to hold a baby, even if only for a few moments. Elders are transformed by it. Boys suddenly become tender and girls motherly. Even little children vie for the privilege of holding the newest arrival. As the little one is passed from one person to the next, faces grow bright with awe and delight. A little child has the power to light up a room. The little child we celebrate today has the power to light up the world: “A light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel” (Lk 2:32). The entrance antiphon names the Child “Mercy.” Today, it is given us to cradle Mercy in our arms.

Guided by the Infant

An antiphon from today’s Office sings that, “the ancient carried the Infant, but the Infant guided the steps of the ancient.” Simeon, the image of all that in us has grown old with waiting, carries Mercy in his arms, but Mercy, by the light that shines on his face, guides the old man’s steps. If we would be guided by Mercy, we must first receive Mercy, the Mercy of God that comes to us in the outstretched arms of a little Child seeking to be held.

In the Middle of the Temple

The Introit says that Mercy is given us “in medio templi” — in the middle of the temple. This places the Infant Christ, the human Face of Divine Mercy at the heart of today’s mystery. As in the icon of today’s feast, all of the other figures in the Gospel are seen in relation to the Child. All of the other figures are seen, in fact, in the light of his face. “What can bring us happiness?” they ask. “Lift up the light of your face on us, O Lord” (Ps 4:7). “Look towards him,” they say one to another, “and be radiant” (Ps 33:6). Christ is placed in our arms today that we might gaze upon the human face of Divine Mercy and, in the light of that face, be transformed.

The painting (1488) is by Bartolomeo di Giovanni and was commissioned for the Hospital of the Innocents in Florence. The six-sided altar at the centre of the composition points to the Sixth Day Sacrifice of the Cross. There is fire burning on the altar, a sign of the Holy Spirit. The Blessed Virgin Mary's gesture indicates that she is offering the Infant Christ and participating in His sacrifice. Simeon's gesture is one of acceptance; he is an image of the Eternal Father. Saint Joseph holds the turtle doves in his cloak; Joseph was chosen by God to veil the mystery. Anna, entering the painting at the extreme left, holds the lighted candle of her faith and hope as she witnesses the arrival in the temple of the long–awaited Priest and Victim, the Consolation of Israel.

The Face of a Little Child

In today’s splendid Introit we sing that we have received Mercy “in the midst of the temple” (Ps 47:10). At the heart of today’s mystery shines the face of a little Child, the human face of Divine Mercy. The four other figures in today’s Gospel — Mary, Joseph, Simeon and Anna — are held in His gaze. In his letter for Lent 2006, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of the gaze of Jesus. “The gaze of Jesus,” he said, “embraces individuals and multitudes, and he brings them all before the Father, offering himself as a sacrifice of expiation.”

Today we meet the gaze of the Infant Christ, “made like his brethren in every respect” (Heb 2:17) and, looking into his eyes, we see that he is already our “merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make expiation for the sins of the people” (Heb 2:17).

The Presentation of Christ Our Priest

Today in the midst of the temple the Father presents his Christ, our Priest, to us; today the Father presents us to Christ our Priest. Of ourselves we have nothing to present; we can but receive him and allow ourselves to become offering in his hands. “We have received your Mercy, O God, in the midst of your temple” (Ps 47:10). It is the Infant Christ, presented to us as our Priest, who in turn presents us to the Father. It is fitting that the symbol of the Infant Christ should be the living flame that crowns our candles. This Child has a Heart of fire, and so the prophet says, “But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire . . . and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, till they present right offerings to the Lord” (Mal 3:2-3).

The Infant Priest and Victim

Today’s observance of the World Day for Consecrated Life must not be allowed to degenerate into a celebration of ourselves. Consider the images that the liturgy sets before us: a flame that burns, consuming the wax that holds it aloft; a Child with the all-embracing gaze of the “Ancient of Days” (Dn 7:13); an Infant who is already priest and victim.

Identification with Christ the Victim

One consecrated is a taper offered to the consuming flame of love. One consecrated has eyes only for the gaze that reveals a Heart that is all fire. One consecrated is presented and handed over to Christ the Priest. One consecrated is inescapably destined for the altar of sacrifice, for identification with Christ the Victim. Consecrated life cannot be anything less than this, nor can it be anything more. This is why the Apostle says, “I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Rom 12:1).

The Woman Wrapped in Silence

Each of the four figures surrounding the Infant Christ in the temple is an icon of consecrated life, beginning with his all-holy Virgin Mother. How does today’s Gospel present her? She is a woman wrapped in silence. Even when addressed by Simeon, she remains silent. Her silence is an intensity of listening. She is silent so as to take in Simeon’s song of praise, silent so as to capture his mysterious prophecy of soul-piercing sorrow and hold it in her heart. She is silent because today her eyes say everything, eyes fixed on the face of the Infant Christ, eyes illumined by the brightness of his gaze.

Wordlessly Mary offers herself to the living flame of love. She is the bride of the Canticle of whom it is said, “Behold, you are beautiful, my love, behold you are beautiful! Your eyes are doves behind your veil” (Ct 4:1). Consecrated life in all its forms, and monastic life in particular, begins in the silence of Mary that, already in the temple, consents to the sacrifice of her Lamb and to the place that will be hers beside the altar of the Cross.