August 2008 Archives

Tulsa At Last

I arrived in Tulsa, Oklahoma late on the evening of Tuesday, August 19th. Msgr. Patrick Brankin met me at the airport and drove me to Bishop Slattery's home. I remained as His Excellency's house guest for a week, while readying the little house provided for me in a quiet neighbourhood in mid-town Tulsa. I cannot say enough about my Bishop's warm and gracious hospitality. He presented me with a beautiful icon of the Mother of God; she now keeps watch at the door of the house, blessing those who enter and leave.

Wednesday, August 20th, the feast of Saint Bernard: my dear friend, Msgr. A.B. Calkins arrived from Pittsburgh in the morning. At noon, Msgr. Brankin, Msgr. Calkins, and I concelebrated Holy Mass with Bishop Slattery in the chapel of the Chancery. Msgr. Calkins, known to many as a world class Mariologist, also proved to be a valiant helper in unpacking things and in shelving what seemed like a thousand books.

Tour of the House

Msgr. Brankin took me to see my little house, the temporary "Cenacle of the Eucharistic Face of Jesus." One enters the house through a very nice screened porch. The parlour is the first room; it will have the icon of the Virgin Mother, Adorer of the Eucharistic Face of Christ, over the mantlepiece. My desk and computer are now in the corner. To the left is my room, and straight ahead is the refectory/library. Its hardwood floor goes nicely with the heirloom wooden table that once belonged to my County Cavan great-grandmother Mary Ann Smyth Gilbride. The table is over a hundred years old. The walls are lined with bookcases. It is comforting to be surrounded by familiar books, many of them read more than once.

To the left is doorway leading into a hall where a beautiful old German clock marks the time and rings the hour and the half-hour. At the end of the little hall is the oratory, where His Excellency has given me permission to reserve the Blessed Sacrament. My Bishop graciously provided both the altar and the tabernacle. The altar bears a telling inscription on the front: Quid retribuam Domino? (What shall I render to the Lord, for all the things he hath rendered unto me? Psalm 115, 12). The tabernacle has an image of the Lamb of God on the door. The icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, which I carried all the way from the Church of Sant'Alfonso on the Via Merulana in Rome, occupies a place of honour. There is a double-sided antique choir stand with the books necessary for the Divine Office in one corner. A spacious closet makes a fine little sacristy.

The kitchen and utility room (equipped with a new washer and dryer) are in the back of the house. Bishop Slattery gave me a very useful counter-top grill which I have already used with great success for salmon (with Katie's delicious yogurt dill sauce) and chicken breasts. I have some pots and pans dating from the 1940s: family heirlooms from the Italian side. And yes, I do enjoy cooking!

Thursday, August 21st

Readers of Vultus Christi know the mystical significance of Thursdays in my life: it is the day of the Eucharist and of the Priesthood, the commemoration of the natalis calicis, the "birthday of the chalice," and the entry into the weekly rememoration of the Paschal Mystery. August 21st beside being the feast of Pope Saint Pius X, is also the feast of Our Lady of Knock in County Mayo, Ireland. The Mother of God appeared there in 1879, accompanied by Saint Joseph and Saint John, all three bearing silent witness to the Immolated Lamb. For these reasons, Thursday, August 21st was chosen for the formal inauguration of my new life as a priest adorer of the Eucharistic Face of Jesus in the Diocese of Tulsa.

At 5:00 in the evening, His Excellency, Bishop Slattery offered Holy Mass in the private chapel of his residence, where a stained glass depiction of Christ the Priest overlooks the altar and tabernacle. Monsignors Brankin and Calkins, and I concelebrated with him. After the Gospel (John 21, 15-17), I knelt before the Bishop and, with my hands held in his, renewed my monastic profession according to the Rule of Saint Benedict, promising him "obedience and filial respect in all things." The Bishop replied, "May God who has begun this good work in you, bring it to fulfillment." Then, standing before the altar, I pronounced the formula by which I dedicated myself to the mandate received from Bishop Slattery, saying:

Most Reverend Father,
desiring to respond to the mandate you have given me
and to the invitation of Our Lord Jesus Christ,
while relying always upon his grace
I promise that for the next two years
I will live each day
in adoration before the Most Blessed Sacrament,
in a spirit of thanksgiving and intercession,
that I might make reparation before the Eucharistic Face of Jesus
for all my brothers in Holy Orders,
but especially for those who do not adore,
for those who are most wounded in their souls,
and for those who are exposed to the attacks of the powers of darkness.

For them and in their place,
I promise to abide before the Eucharistic Face of Jesus
drawing near to His Open Heart,
that in the ever-flowing streams of Blood and Water
all souls might be purified, healed, and sanctified,
but first of all the souls of His priests.

I ask you, Most Reverend Father,
to sustain me in this calling,
and by your prayers
present me to Our Lord Jesus Christ,
the eternal Priest and Lamb of Sacrifice,
that, by the action of his Holy Spirit,
I might live more closely united to Him as priest and victim.

I make these promises conscious of my weakness,
and resolved to live this grace
in total dependence on the Blessed Virgin Mary,
Advocate of Priests and Mediatrix of All Graces,
and in communion with Saint Joseph, her most chaste spouse,
and Saint John, the Beloved Disciple who, in obedience to the word of Jesus
Crucified, took Our Lady into his keeping.

So I promise, so help me God
and those holy martyrs and saints
whose relics are here present.
Amen.

To be continued.

For my first entry from the little "provisional" Cenacle of the Eucharistic Face of Jesus in Tulsa, Oklahoma: a piece from the archives for the feast of Saint Augustine. Details on the move and on my new life here to follow!

This is a most unusual depiction of Saint Augustine washing the feet of Christ. A Capuchin friar named Strozzi painted it in 1629. Augustine, wearing an apron over his black monastic habit, is assisted by an angel. A tonsured monk looks on from a distance. With his right hand Augustine clasps the foot of Our Lord. His gaze is wholly turned towards the Face of Christ, who appears to be instructing him on what he is doing.

1 John 4:7-16
Psalm 118: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
Matthew 23; 8-12

The Doctor of Charity

The words of Saint John in today's First Lesson are the perfect expression of Saint Augustine's own experience. Augustine is called the "Doctor of Charity," and with good reason. Saint John speaks of the discovery of charity that grounds every Christian life:

"Dearly beloved, let us love one another, for charity is of God. And every one that loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God: for God is charity. By this hath the charity of God appeared towards us, because God hath sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we may live by Him. In this is charity: not as though we had loved God, but because He hath first loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins" (1 Jn 4:7-10).

He Hath First Loved Me

For Saint Augustine, however, the words of the Beloved Disciple became intensely personal: "By this hath the charity of God appeared towards me, Augustine, because God hath sent His only begotten Son into the world, that I may live by Him. In this is charity: not as though I had loved God, but because He hath first loved me, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for my sins."

The discovery of the love of God came late in Augustine's life. It is always late. One cannot discover the love of God too soon. And so, the Doctor of Charity laments his tardy discovery of the One Thing Necessary:

Late have I loved Thee, O Beauty so ancient and so new!
Too late have I loved Thee.
And lo, Thou wert inside me and I outside,
and I sought for Thee there, and in all my unsightliness
I flung myself on those beautiful things which Thou hast made.
Thou wert with me and I was not with Thee.
Those beauties kept me away from Thee,
though if they had not been in Thee, they would not have been at all.
Thou didst call and cry to me and break down my deafness.
Thou didst flash and shine on me and put my blindness to flight.
Thou didst blow fragrance upon me and I drew breath,
and now I pant after Thee.
I tasted of Thee and now I hunger and thirst for Thee.
Thou didst touch me and I am aflame for Thy peace....
(Confessions, Book X:38)

I preached this homily several years ago. Allow me to share it with you again.

A lovely icon for Marymas or Lady-Day-in-Harvest

Luke 1:39-56
1 Corinthians 15:20-26
Psalm 44:10-12.16
Apocalypse 11:19; 12:1-6.10

The Pascha of Summer

Today's festival, the Pascha of summer, signals the beginning of the final phase of the liturgical year. The Church enters into the splendours of her harvest time. With the feasts of late summer and autumn, the Church turns the shimmering pages of the book of the Apocalypse and draws us into their mystery. "Blessed is he who reads aloud the words of the prophecy, writes the Apostle, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written therein; for the time is near" (Ap 1:3).

The Transfiguration and the Cross

On August 6th, precisely forty days before the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, we celebrated the Transfiguration of the Lord, a mystery of heavenly glory, a foretaste of the apocalyptic brightness of the Kingdom. "I saw one like a son of man, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength (Ap 1:16). Having contemplated the glory of the Father shining on the face of the transfigured Christ (2 Cor 4:6), in another month we will celebrate His Glorious Cross, the Tree of Life with leaves "for the healing of the nations" (Ap 22:2).

All Saints

On November 1st, the immense mosaic of all the saints will be unveiled before our wondering eyes in a liturgy scintillating with images from the book of the Apocalypse and echoing with "the voice of a great multitude like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunderpeals, crying, 'Alleluia'" (Ap 19:6).

Saint John Lateran

On November 9th, the liturgy of the feast of the Dedication of Saint John Lateran will point to "the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband" (Ap 21:2). As Mother Church approaches holy Advent, the end of her yearly cycle, the sacred liturgy seems to increase its momentum. Soon the last cry of the book of the Apocalypse will be ceaselessly in our hearts and on our lips, "'Surely. I am coming soon.' Amen. Come, Lord Jesus" (Ap 22:20).

Those Who Belong to Christ

Today, on this solemnity of the Assumption of the All-Holy Mother of God and Blessed Virgin Mary, we enter into the phase described by Saint Paul in the second reading, "As in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at His coming those who belong to Christ" (1 Cor 15:22).

I don't have time this year to write something new for the Assumption; allow me to offer once again this piece from my archives.

A Commentary on the Mass of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

There is no better way to enter into the mystery of any feast than by passing through the portals opened for us by the Church herself in the texts and signs she has chosen for it. Nothing of what the Church says and does in the liturgy is without significance. Every word, every gesture, is, as Psalm 118 puts it, "a door opening onto the light, giving intelligence to the simple" (Ps 118:130).

Introit

Gaudeamus! The Mass today opens on a note of irrepressible joy: Let us all rejoice in the Lord, celebrating a festival in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, at whose Assumption the angels rejoice and all together praise the Son of God. This is no mere earthly joy; it is the joy of heaven spilling over, cascading down through the choirs of angels until, having reached us here below, it again takes flight heavenward, leaving us surprised by joy.

The joy of today's festival descends from heaven and returns to heaven. It leaves us caught up in a mystery bigger than ourselves, obliges us to set our sights "on the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God" (Col 3:1). It is as if the Virgin Mother herself, borrowing the words of the Apostle, speaks to us out of that glory in which she is "hidden with Christ in God" (Col 3:3), and says, "Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth" (Col 3:2). The Assumption of the Mother of God is a jubilant "Sursum corda!"

Collect

Almighty and ever-living God,
by whom Mary, the immaculate Virgin Mother of your Son,
was taken up, body and soul into the glory of heaven:
grant, we beseech you,
that, ever intent on the things that are above,
we may become worthy
of sharing in the glory that is hers.

The Collect of the day flows directly out of the Introit. What the Introit proclaims in song, the Collect turns into prayer. We address the Almighty and ever-living God, the God for whom, as the Angel said to Mary, "nothing is impossible" (Lk 1:37). We confess the Church's firm belief that Mary, at the term of her mortal life, was taken up, body and soul, into the glory of heaven. An astonishing thing! That Mary should be in heaven spiritually, is something easily conceded. That her very body should be mysteriously "hid with Christ in God" (Col 3:3) is quite another thing.

The dogma of the Assumption declares that the human body, being constitutive of who we are, is not expendable, not a mere wrapping to be discarded. Our bodies have a glorious destiny: the liturgy of the heavenly Jerusalem, described in the book of Revelation, will engage our bodies as well as our spiritual souls. The Mother of God is already engaged body and soul in that heavenly liturgy where the priests of Sion "are clothed with salvation and her saints rejoice with exceeding great joy" (Ps 131:9). This is why the Preface will call Mary, "the beginning and likeness of the Church in her fullness."

The petition of the Collect asks that, "ever intent on the things that are above, we may become worthy of sharing in the glory that is hers." The language of this petition is lifted directly from Colossians 3:1: "Seek the things that are above." Everything today moves upward. Everything is caught up in that movement of return to the Father inaugurated by resurrection and ascension of Christ our high priest, a grand entrance procession wonderfully continued in the assumption of his Mother.

Prayer Over the Offerings

May the offering of ourselves
rise up into your presence, Lord;
and may the all-blessed Virgin Mary,
taken up to heaven by you,
so help us by her intercession,
that our hearts, set ablaze with the fire of love,
may ever yearn for you.

The Prayer Over the Offerings intensifies the upward movement into the presence of God, but here, the upward movement becomes one of offering. Ascendat ad te are the opening words of the prayer. The images are those of Psalm 140, the song of the evening sacrifice: "Let my prayer arise before you like incense, the raising of my hands like an evening oblation" (Ps 140:2). This is the prayer of the Virgin Mary at the hour of her passing-over. Mary herself is the incense rising at the evening hour of her earthly life. "Who is she coming up from the wilderness, like a column of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense?" (Ct 3:6). And so we pray, "May the offering of ourselves rise up into your presence, Lord, and may the all-blessed Virgin Mary, taken up into heaven by you, so help us by her intercession, that our hearts, ablaze with the fire of charity, may ever yearn for you."

The image of incense rising is coupled with that of hearts set ablaze with the fire of charity. In the ancient form of the Mass, the priest, after incensing the altar, returns the thurible to the deacon, saying, "May the Lord kindle within us the fire of his love, and the flame of undying charity." There is something of that prayer in today's Prayer Over the Offerings. It invites us to cast our lives, our very selves, like grains of incense onto the glowing embers of a charity fanned by the Spirit. Thus do we ascend heavenward with Mary's evening sacrifice as an offering made to God.

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.

Today the Virgin Mother of Christ
was taken up into the heavens,
to be the beginning and likeness
of your Church in her fullness
and an assurance of hope and consolation
for your people on their pilgrim way.
You would not let her see corruption in the grave
for she had given birth to your Son, the author of all life,
in the wonder of his Incarnation.

United therefore with all the choirs of angels,
we praise you, and in gladness proclaim:

The Preface of today's Mass sees in the Virgin Mother of Christ an icon of what the whole Church will be in her fullness. From her place in heaven, Mary shines as "an assurance of hope and consolation" for us as we make our pilgrim way through this valley of tears. The Preface borrows its imagery from Chapter Eight of Lumen Gentium: "The Mother of Jesus in the glory which she possesses in body and soul in heaven is the image and beginning of the Church, as it is to be perfected in the world to come. Likewise she shines forth on earth, until the day of the Lord shall come (cf. 2 P 3:10), a sign of certain hope and comfort to the Pilgrim People of God" (LG, art. 68).

In Mary's shining forth from heaven, one detects also something of Saint Bernard's marvelous sermon on Mary, the radiant Star set by God in the heavens. Listen to the Abbot of Clairvaux: "Mary is that star I say, uplifted over the ocean of this world, shining by her merit and shedding light on us by her example. O you who struggle in this stormy sea, do not turn your eyes from this star, if you would escape shipwreck! When the winds of temptation arise and you run on the rocks of tribulation, look at that star, think of Mary, call on her by name. If you follow her, you will not go off course; if you cry to her, you will not give up hope; if you think of her, you will not go astray" (Sermon IV, Super Missus Est).

The last part of the Preface draws upon Psalm 15, the prophecy that, from the time of Saint Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost, spoke to Christians of the resurrection of Christ. What David prophesied about Christ concerns also those who belong to Him and, in the first place, His holy Mother. The Preface sings, "You would not let her see corruption in the grave for she had given birth to your Son, the author of all life, in the wonder of his Incarnation." The Psalm -- and today we hear it from the lips of the Virgin Mother -- says, "My heart rejoices, my soul is glad; even my body shall rest in safety. For you will not leave my soul among the dead, nor let your beloved know decay. You will show me the path of life, the fullness of joy in your presence, at your right hand happiness forever" (Ps 15:9-11).

Communion Antiphon

The Communion Antiphon rightly repeats a line from the Gospel of the Mass. Mary's bold prophecy at the time of her Visitation to Elizabeth is fulfilled in the mystery of her Assumption: "All ages will call me blessed, for the Almighty has done great things for me" (Lk 1:48-49). The Eucharist is the beginning in time of our eternal blessedness. It is the "beatifying" sacrament because it makes us truly happiness with a foretaste of the bliss of the blessed in heaven. The Eucharist is first among the magnalia Dei, the great things done for us by the Almighty.

Prayer After Communion

Grant, we entreat you, Lord,
to us who have partaken of this healing sacrament,
that the merits and intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary
whom you have taken up to heaven
may bring us in our turn
to the glory of the resurrection.

The Prayer After Communion refers to the Eucharist as a health-bringing sacrament. Our Eucharistic healing will be complete only when we, like Mary, are taken up to heaven in the glory of the resurrection. One hears beneath the Prayer After Communion the words of Jesus in the discourse on the Bread of Life: 'He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day" (Jn 6:54). The last phrase of the prayer is ad resurrectionis gloriam perducamur, "that we may be brought to the glory of the resurrection." Thus does the Prayer After Communion resume and complete the whole upward movement of today's Mass.

Ours it is to allow the prayer of the Church, her lex orandi, to penetrate us so completely that it is, not only what we believe objectively, her lex credendi, but also how we live today, tomorrow, and the next day, our lex vivendi. Evelyn Underhill, at the beginning of her marvelous little book on the Mass, expresses it in a piece of poetry:

We rise, but but by the symbol charioted,
Through loved things rising up to Love's own ways:
By these the soul unto the vast has wings
And sets the seal celestial on all mortal things.

Dear readers, please pray for me during these last days of preparation for my move to Oklahoma. A blessing upon each of you!

In te speravi, Domine:
dixi: Tu es Deus meus,
in manibus tuis tempora mea.

The Offertory Antiphon for the Mass of the Nineteenth Sunday Per Annum is, to my mind, one of the most beautiful of the year. The text, Psalm 30, 15-16, is a familiar one; in this particular context -- the Offertory of the Mass -- it becomes extraordinarily poignant. It is an act of self-offering, of surrender, of what Dom Léhodey calls "holy abandonment."

Monsignor Knox translates it: "And still, Lord, my trust in thee is not shaken; still I cry, Thou art my God, my fate is in thy hand." I would be more inclined to render it thus: "In thee, O Lord, have I put my hope, saying, Thou art my God. In thy hands are the seasons and the days of my life."

The melody begins (like that other magnificent 2nd Mode Offertory, De Profundis) in the depths, on la, and then, over spe-ra-vi ascends to the fa and, without a breath, comes to rest in Domine. An energetic profession of faith, climbing to the summit of the melody, follows: "I have said, Thou art my God." Then, there is an act of abandonment into the hands of God; the melody lingers over the tem of tempora. "In thy hands are the seasons of my life, my days and my nights, my closures, and my new beginnings."

Nineteenth Sunday of the Year A

1 Kings 19:9a, 11-13a
Psalm 84, 9, 10, 11-12, 13-14
Romans 9:1-5
Matthew 14:23-33

Christ in Solitude

Today's Gospel begins with the absence of Jesus. It takes place after the miraculous multiplication of the loaves prefiguring the gift of the Most Holy Eucharist. Jesus has withdrawn into solitude on the mountain. It is night. There, hidden from the eyes of His apostles, He prays to His "Father who sees what is done in secret" (Mt 6:6). "He went up by Himself on to the hill-side, to pray there; twilight had come, and He remained there alone" (Mt 14:23). In two brief sentences, Saint Matthew twice emphasizes the aloneness of Jesus. This would indicate that we are to attend to the solitude of Our Lord. It is, in some way, an invitation to enter into the prayer of Christ in solitude.

A Stormy Night

Mysteriously, Jesus is away from His apostles and, at the same time, present to them. Not only is it night; it is a stormy night. "The ship was already half-way across the sea, hard put to it by the waves, for the wind was against them" (Mt 14:24). Jesus is present to His apostles in the storm-tossed boat because He is present to His Father, who "probes us and knows us, who knows when we sit and when we stand, who discerns all our thoughts from afar" (cf. Ps 138: 1-2). Jesus is present to the Father for whom "the night shines clear as the day itself; light and dark are one" (Ps 138:12).

Linger over the mystery of Jesus' absence: an absence that is presence; a presence that, in the dark night of faith, we experience as absence. Jesus' presence to the Father renders Him wholly present to us. Yielding Himself to the Father in a movement of adoring love, Jesus yields Himself to us in a movement of compassion. There is no artificial separation here between contemplation and action, between presence to the Father and presence to Peter's fragile bark tossed on stormy seas.

The Hidden God

The Christ of today's Gospel is hidden on the mountain with the Father; the Ascended Christ is hidden with the Father in glory; the Eucharistic Christ (Gesù sacramentato, in Italian) is hidden beneath the sacramental veils. Christ is the Deus absconditus: "Verily thou art a hidden God, the God of Israel the Saviour" (Is 45:15).

With Us As He Promised

Jesus comes to the apostles in the fourth watch of the night; their boat, by this time, is many furlongs from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind is against them. In just the same way, Our Lord comes to us in our stormy nights; He comes to us without leaving the Father, just as He goes to the Father without leaving us (cf. Jn 16:28), for He is with us as He promised, even to the end of time (Mt 28:20).

The Word proceeding from above,
Yet leaving not the Father's side,
Went forth upon His work of love,
And reached at length life's eventide.

(Verbum supernum prodiens, Lauds of Corpus Christi)

The Voice of the Lord

The passage of the Lord, His "visitation" of the Church and of our souls is characterized not by a great and strong wind, nor by an earthquake, nor by a fire, but by "a still small voice" (1 K 19:12). This is the voice that says, "Take heart, it is I; have no fear" (Mt 14:27). And again, this is the voice that says, "Why didst thou hesitate, man of little faith?" (Mt 14:31).

He Is With Me

Saint Bernard says: "When the Bridegroom comes to me, as He sometimes does, He never signals His presence by any token, neither by voice nor by vision nor by the sound of His step. By no such movement do I become aware of Him, nor does He penetrate my being through the senses. Only, by the movement of the heart, as I have said, do I come to realize that He is with me" (Sermons on the Song of Songs, 74).

Peace

What is that movement of the heart, by which we detect the passage of the Lord and become aware of His presence? It is, first of all, interior peace, the effect of the voice of Jesus saying: "Take courage, it is I myself; do not be afraid" (Mt 14:27). It is a pull of the heart that compels us to draw near to Christ in spite of the dark night, which obscures our vision, and in spite of the rolling waves, which threaten to pull us back and drag us down.

Collect

God of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
who led your martyr Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
to the knowledge of your crucified Son
in her imitation of him even unto death,
grant, by her intercession,
that all people may know the Saviour Christ
and, through him, come to the vision of you in eternity.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God forever and ever.

or

Lord God of our fathers,
who brought Saint Teresa Benedicta
to the fullness of the science of the Cross
at the hour of her martyrdom,
fill us with that same knowledge
and, through her intercession,
allow us always to seek after you, the Supreme Truth,
and to remain faithful until death
to the covenant of love, ratified in the Blood of your Son
for the salvation of all men and women.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God forever and ever.

"Whatever did not fit in with my plan
did lie within the plan of God.
I have an ever deeper and firmer belief
that nothing is merely an accident
when seen in the light of God,
that my whole life down to the smallest details
has been marked out for me
in the plan of Divine Providence
and has a completely coherent meaning
in God's all seeing eyes.

To be a child of God,
that means to be led by the Hand of God,
to do the Will of God, not one's own will,
to place every care and every Hope in the Hand of God
and not to worry about one's future.
On this rests the freedom and the joy of the child of God.
But how few of even the truly pious,
even of those ready for heroic sacrifices, possess this freedom.

When night comes, and you look back over the day
and see how fragmentary everything has been,
and how much you planned that has gone undone,
and all the reasons you have to be embarrassed and ashamed:
just take everything exactly as it is,
put it in God's hands and leave it with Him.
Then you will be able to rest in Him --really rest --
and start the next day as a new life."

Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, O.C.D.
October 12, 1891 -- August 9, 1942

The Mercy of God

Saint Dominic would spend whole nights weeping and groaning in prayer before the altar. Over and over again he would say, "What will become of sinners? What will become of sinners?" Saint Dominic's great passion was to reconcile sinners by preaching the mercy of God.

The Power of Preaching

Dominic understood that the power of preaching comes from ceaseless prayer. His prayer had three characteristics:
-humble adoration,
-heartfelt pity for sinners,
-and exultation in the Divine Mercy.

Saint Dominic prayed constantly; he prayed at home and on the road, in church and in his cell. For Saint Dominic there was no place or time foreign to prayer. He loved to pray at night. He engaged his whole body in prayer by standing with outstretched arms, by bowing, prostrating, genuflecting, and kissing the sacred page. If you are not familiar with the extraordinary little booklet entitled The Nine Ways of Prayer of Saint Dominic, today would be a good day to find it and read it.

The Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Saint Dominic had a tenth way of prayer too: the Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary that today we call the rosary. The use of beads was widespread and the repetition of the Hail Mary were both widespread before the time of Saint Dominic. The Hail Mary prayed 150 times in reference to the 150 psalms was practiced in Carthusian and Cistercian cloisters before the time of Saint Dominic.

Irrigated by Grace

Saint Dominic understood that preaching alone was not enough. Preaching has to be irrigated by grace, and grace is obtained by prayer. Inspired by the Mother of God, Saint Dominic interspersed his sermons with the Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He exhorted his hearers to continue praying the Psalter of 150 Aves as a way of prolonging the benefits of holy preaching. The rosary allows the seed of the Word sown by holy preaching to germinate in the soul and bear fruit.

Simple Means

Divine Wisdom has so ordered things that the simplest material means -- humble and adapted to our weakness -- produce the greatest spiritual effects. Father Raphael Simon, the saintly Trappist psychiatrist, said that, "five decades of the rosary or even three Hail Marys daily may mean the difference between eternal life and death." The effect of the rosary is entirely disproportionate to its simplicity. The fruits of the rosary are well known: among them are detachment from sin and from the occasions of sin, peace of heart, humility, chastity, and joy. The rosary, and all authentic prayer, is always realistic -- that is to say, honest about human weakness and sin -- and, at the same, full of hope -- that is to say, open to the glorious plan of God's mercy.

The Supplication of the Rosary

If Saint Dominic preached the rosary and prayed it, it was because he knew it to be a prayer capable of winning every grace. The rosary is a prayer of repetition. It is a prayer of confidence. It helps one to persevere in supplication, bead by bead, and decade by decade. Our Lord finds the rosary irresistible because His own Mother "subsidizes" it. She stands behind it. The rosary is the voice of the poor, the needy, the downtrodden, and the weak. Persevere in praying the rosary and one day you will hear Our Lord say to you what He said to the woman of the Gospel: "Great is thy faith! Be it done for thee as thou wilt" (Mt 15:28). Saint Dominic shows us that, with the rosary in hand, we will experience the triumph of grace.

Our friends at WorldPriest offer the following reflection on this prayer dear to Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face:

Saint Thérèse's devotion to the Priesthood is to be found in all its fullness in a prayer which she used to say daily and which she learnt off by heart; this is all the more remarkable in view of her known distaste for lengthy set forms of prayer.

O Holy Father,
may the torrents of love
flowing from the sacred wounds of Thy Divine Son
bring forth priests like unto the beloved disciple John
who stood at the foot of the Cross;
priests: who as a pledge of Thine own most tender love
will lovingly give Thy Divine Son to the souls of men.

May Thy priests be faithful guardians of Thy Church,
as John was of Mary, whom he received into his house.
Taught by this loving Mother who suffered so much on Calvary,
may they display a mother's care and thoughtfulness
towards Thy children.
May they teach souls to enter into close union with Thee
through Mary who, as the Gate of Heaven,
is specially the guardian of the treasures of Thy Divine Heart.

Give us priests who are on fire, and who are true children of Mary,
priests who will give Jesus to souls
with the same tenderness and care
with which Mary carried the Little Child of Bethlehem.

Mother of sorrows and of love,
out of compassion for Thy beloved Son,
open in our hearts deep wells of love,
so that we may console Him
and give Him a generation of priests formed in thy school
and having all the tender thoughtfulness of thine own spotless love.
Amen.

An American Bishop and the Holy Face

Bishop Edward J. Slattery, of the American home mission Diocese of Tulsa, Oklahoma, intends to build the Cenacle of the Eucharistic Face of Jesus on land belonging to the Diocesan Shrine of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face. This is no mere coincidence; it is a wise and loving disposition of Divine Providence.

Prayer for Priests

Saint Thérèse, who in Carmel added to her name the title, "of the Holy Face," said upon entering the cloister, "I have come to pray for priests." It is fitting then that she should be among the heavenly patrons of the Cenacle.

The Suffering Face of Christ

Bishop Slattery's devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus has far-reaching implications. His zeal for the holiness of the clergy is matched by his compassion for those members of his flock in whom he sees the Suffering Face of Christ. Download and read His Excellency's Pastoral Letter here.

Gazing on the Holy Face

It was August 5th, 1897, the eve of the feast of the Transfiguration: a young Carmelite stricken with tuberculosis had a very special desire. She wanted an image of the Holy Face of Christ placed close to her bed. The image was brought from the choir and attached to her bed curtains. On the following September 30th, she died. Her name? Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face. Saint Thérèse, a Doctor of the Church, fixed her gaze on the Face of Christ disfigured by suffering, and found the transfiguration of her own suffering in its radiance.

Preparation for the Mystery of the Cross

The Holy Face of Christ was a mystery familiar to Thérèse. As a result of the good works of the Venerable Léon Dupont, the "Holy Man of Tours," devotion to the Holy Face had spread throughout France. The Carmel of Lisieux honoured the Holy Face every August 6th, forty days before the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on September 14th. Every August 6th, the Carmelites exposed the image of the Holy Face in their choir and prayed before it.

Hidden in the Secret of His Face

A year before her death on August 6, 1896, Thérèse and two of the novices entrusted to her consecrated themselves to the Holy Face of Jesus. They understood the mystery of the Transfiguration just as the liturgy presents it to us today: as a preparation for the Mystery of the Cross.

The three young Carmelites asked Our Lord to hide them "in the secret of His Face." They were drawn by the Holy Spirit into the abjection of Christ, the Suffering Servant described in chapters 52 and 53 of the prophet Isaiah. They desired to be Veronicas, consoling Jesus in His Passion, and offering Him souls. Their prayer concluded: "O beloved Face of Jesus! As we await the everlasting day when we will contemplate your infinite Glory, our one desire is to charm your Divine Eyes by hiding our faces too so that here on earth no one can recognize us. O Jesus! Your Veiled Gaze is our Heaven!"

Lectio Divina and Eucharistic Adoration

The Transfiguration is the Human Face of God, shining more brightly than the sun. Tradition gives us two privileged ways of seeking, of finding, and of contemplating the transfigured and transfiguring Face of Christ: the first is lectio divina. One who seeks the Face of Christ in the Scriptures -- the Face of the Beloved peering through the lattice of the text -- will be changed by the experience. The second way is Eucharistic adoration. One who remains silent and adoring before the Divine Host will be transfigured and healed in its radiance.

To Seek God

The Cenacle in the Diocese of Tulsa will be a place wherein priests and deacons may go apart for one thing only: to seek God. And where is God to be found except in Christ? "The knowledge of the glory of God," says Saint Paul, "is given to us in the Face of His Christ" (2 Cor 4:6). Today's Introit is the liturgical expression of this spirituality of the Holy Face. "Thou hast said, 'Seek ye my Face.' My heart says to thee, 'Thy Face, Lord, do I seek.' Hide not thy Face from me" (Ps 27:8-9a). The Holy Spirit works in lectio divina and Eucharistic adoration to reproduce in us the traits of the Holy Face of Christ. Pope Benedict XVI has recommended that both forms of seeking the Holy Face -- lectio divina and Eucharistic adoration -- be part of one's daily rhythm of prayer. Many find a good balance in having lectio divina in the morning and Eucharistic adoration in the evening every day.

Infinite Beauty

The Face of Christ is "the splendor before which every other light pales, and the infinite beauty which alone can fully satisfy the human heart" (Vita Consecrata, art. 16). How fitting that, in the Greek text of today's gospel, Saint Peter's cry can, in fact, be translated, "Lord, it is beautiful for us to be here" (Mk 9:5)! In the transfigured Face of Christ we discover, in the words of Saint Clare of Assisi, "Him who gave Himself totally for our love, whose beauty the sun and moon admire, whose rewards and their preciousness and greatness are without end” (Letter III to Agnes of Prague).

Become What You Contemplate

Like Moses, to whom "the Lord used to speak face to face, as a man speaks to his friend" (Ex 33:11), and whose "face shone because he had been talking with God" (Ex 34:29), a soul faithful to lectio divina and to Eucharistic adoration will be transformed into the image that she contemplates. We become what we contemplate. One who contemplates disfigured things becomes inwardly disfigured. One who contemplates transfigured things becomes inwardly transfigured.

The Prophet Daniel

Today's lesson from the prophet Daniel shows him awestruck in the presence of the Son of Man. Like Peter, James, and John on the holy mountain, Daniel is dazzled by the raiment of the Son of Man, white as snow (Dan 7:9). Again, like Peter, James, and John who were "heavy with sleep" (Lk 9:32), Daniel falls on his face, "in a deep sleep with his face to the ground" (Dan 10:9). This is no ordinary sleep; it is rather a mysterious sleep induced by the awesome proximity of the Divine, not unlike the sleep of Adam described in Genesis. "So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man” (Gen 2:21).

Fear Not, Daniel

Daniel describes what happened then. "And behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees" (Dan 10:10). The touch of the hand of the Son of Man raises Daniel from his complete prostration. "And he said to me, 'O Daniel, man greatly beloved, give heed to the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for now I have been sent to you.' While he was speaking this word to me, says Daniel, I stood up trembling. Then he said to me, 'Fear not, Daniel'" (Dan 10:11-12).

The experience of Daniel ends with him being told to stand upright. It is a kind of resurrection. This too, the call to stand upright, to take our place with the risen Son, facing the Father, in the Holy Spirit, is part of our own transfiguration into the Victimal Priesthood of Christ. The soul transfigured stands before the Father, joyful and free, certain of being greatly beloved, and invested with the noble beauty of Christ's royal priesthood.

Holy Mass

In every celebration of Holy Mass, priest, deacon, and people together ascend the mountain with Christ. In the reading of the Scriptures, Our Lord reveals His Face; and in the hearing of the Word we go, as the Vulgate puts it, "from clarity to clarity." Today, Moses and Elijah attest to Christ, the fulfillment of the Law and of the Prophets, and point to the mystery of His Exodus by way of the Cross and tomb, from the regions of darkness and of death into the very light and life of the Father.

Passing from the Liturgy of the Word to the Liturgy of the Holy Sacrifice, we, like Peter, James, and John, see his glory, not with eyes of flesh, but with the eyes of faith and by the light of the Holy Spirit. We know Him really present in the bread become His Body and in the wine become His Blood and, like Peter, cry out, "Master, it is beautiful to be here" (Lk 9:33).

The altar of the Holy Sacrifice is our Mount Tabor. Over the altar resounds the voice of the Father, "This is my Son, the Chosen One; listen to him" (Lk 10:35). Invisibly yet truly; mystically yet really, the altar -- and all of us who from it partake of the Body and Blood of Christ -- are enveloped in the cloud of the Holy Spirit and assumed into the grand priestly prayer of Christ to the Father.

Eucharistic Transfiguration

The grace of today's festival is our own Eucharistic transfiguration. Our Lord would take each of us and all of us into His hands today, to become with Him, in the Holy Spirit, one single oblation to the Father. Without fear, give yourselves over as victims into the wounded hands of our glorious Priest. He will consecrate you with Himself in the Holy Sacrifice. Then the Father, looking down from heaven, will recognize in each of us the Holy Face of His Son, the Beloved, for by the mystery of the Eucharist we are "being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another" (2 Cor 3:18).

Please send your contributions toward building the Eucharistic Cenacle to:

The Most Reverend Edward J. Slattery
Bishop of Tulsa
P. O. Box 690240, Tulsa, OK 74169-0240

Kindly indicate that your contribution is for the Cenacle of Eucharistic Adoration. Thank you for your generosity. May Our Lord Jesus Christ through the intercession of Saint Thérèse, make the light of His Eucharistic Face shine upon you.

Twenty-nine years ago today, a few young men prayed this Act of Consecration together in the crypt of the Basilica of Montmartre in Paris. I was among them. Our Lord is faithful, faithful even in the face of all our weaknesses, and infidelities, and betrayals. In the end, if we persevere in believing in His fidelity, His merciful love will triumph in our lives, and He will do in us and for us all that we, of and by ourselves, were unable to do.

Lord Jesus, we come to this holy place, to this Mount of Martyrs,
as so many saints have done,
to adore Thee, to thank Thee for the wonders of Thy love,
to implore Thy mercy and, above all,
to offer ourselves to Thy Heart. . . .

Lord Jesus, we seek Thy Face;
we consecrate ourselves to Thy Sacred Heart,
praying Thee so to unite us to Thyself
that Thou wilt live, and suffer, and pray
in us and through us
for the glory of the Father and the salvation of the world.

Lord Jesus, unite us to Thy faithful and perfect "Yes" to the Father,
that was consummated upon the Cross.
Thus wilt Thou unite us to the Holy Sacrifice offered throughout the world,
and give us to discover anew the hidden fecundity of the Cross.

Lord Jesus, we are certain of being heard
because we come to Thy Sacred Heart through the Heart of Mary
whom Thou didst give us from the Cross to be our Mother.
Mary is the faithful Virgin, Our Lady of Compassion,
standing with Thy Beloved Disciple at the foot of the Cross.
Let us know how close to us she is, and how present in our life.

L'abbaye aux puces

Twenty-nine summers ago, my dear friend Père Jacob, O.P. (not yet a Friar Preacher) and I were on a kind of back-packing pilgrimage in France that allowed us to discover all sorts of holy people, places, and things. At one point we stayed in the "hôtellerie" of a certain famous monastery only to discover that the beds were inhabited by . . . fleas! I should have guessed as much when I noticed that there were cats lolling about on most of the beds and freely roaming the hallways.

One of the goals of our pilgrimage was to seek the intercession of Saint Jean-Marie Vianney at Ars. For both of us, the priesthood we so desired seemed an almost unattainable dream. We wanted Saint Jean-Marie Vianney on our side.

The Baron with the Purple Hair

We hitchhiked (in the rain) from "l'abbaye aux puces" (the Abbey of the Fleas) to Ars. At one point a shiny black sedan stopped for us; the youngish driver, being frightfully avant-garde, had a bright purple streak of hair. He was very "sympathique," and drove us right to the door of the basilica of Ars. As I extended my hand to thank him for the lift, he gave me his card. He was the Baron de R., a scion of one of Europe's most famous banking dynasties. Who would have known?

Guitars at Ars

We washed our clothes in Ars and, once liberated from the fleas, were able to make our devotions to Saint Jean-Marie Vianney. Oh, one more thing -- there was a "rock" Mass going on in the basilica. Very upsetting. I looked at the Curé of Ars reclining in his glass reliquary, fully expecting him to turn over at any moment. But he didn't.

The Preacher Belongs to the Word

The Word does not belong to the preacher; the preacher belongs to the Word. This was true of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, it was true of Saint Peter Julian Eymard, and it is true of today's saint, the holy parish priest Jean-Marie Vianney. The Curé of Ars stands in a long line of preachers possessed by the Word, and compelled to speak it without compromise.

Incendiary Preaching

Jean-Marie Vianney was not particularly eloquent; he preached in a cracked and broken voice, but his words communicated the fire of the Holy Spirit. Even the greatest preacher of the nineteenth century, the Dominican Père Lacordaire, fell silent before the charism of holy preaching in Jean Marie Vianney.

John Paul and Jean-Marie

When the Curé of Ars spoke of the Sacrament of the Altar, he glowed. He communicated to his hearers the Eucharistic fire that burned in his own heart. Twenty-two years ago, Pope John Paul II devoted his Holy Thursday Letter to Priests to Saint Jean-Marie Vianney. I think that today we can read that letter as one saint talking about another. This is what Pope John Paul II said:

The Eucharist was at the very center of Saint Jean Vianney's spiritual life and pastoral work. He said: "All good works put together are not equivalent to the Sacrifice of the Mass, because they are the works of men and the Holy Mass is the work of God." It is in the Mass that the sacrifice of Calvary is made present for the Redemption of the world. Clearly, the priest must unite the daily gift of himself to the offering of the Mass: "How well a priest does, therefore, to offer himself to God in sacrifice every morning!" "Holy Communion and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass are the two most efficacious actions for obtaining the conversion of hearts."

Recollection and Adoration

Thus the Mass was for John Mary Vianney the great joy and comfort of his priestly life. He took great care, despite the crowds of penitents, to spend more than a quarter of an hour in silent preparation. He celebrated with recollection, clearly expressing his adoration at the consecration and communion. He accurately remarked: "The cause of priestly laxity is not paying attention to the Mass!"

Pope Saint Pius X wrote this Apostolic Exhortation entirely in his own hand, and addressed it to all the clergy of the Catholic Church on the occasion of his own Golden Jubilee of ordination to the priesthood. In it he set forth his own vision of priestly holiness; he revealed the paternal anguish of his heart over the crisis that, at the time of the Modernist crisis, affected so many priests. This Apostolic Exhortation is, in many ways, as relevant today as it was 100 years ago. Pope Saint Pius X recommended it to his brother bishops, saying: "We opened our heart to all sacred ministers in this document; make it your business to recall it and explain it for the benefit of the clerics for whom you are responsible."[2] The priest readers of Vultus Christi will, I think, find this Apostolic Exhortation inspiring and comforting.

He Opens His Heart to Priests

Deeply imprinted upon our mind are those dread words which the Apostle of the gentiles wrote to the Hebrews to remind them of the obedience which they owed to their superiors: They keep watch as having to render an account of your souls.[3]

These grave words apply, no doubt, to all who have authority in the Church, but they apply in a special way to us who, despite our unworthiness, by the grace of God exercise supreme power within the Church. Therefore, with unceasing solicitude, our thoughts and endeavors are constantly directed to the promotion of the well-being and growth of the flock of the Lord.

Our first and chief concern is that all who are invested with the priestly ministry should be in every way fitted for the discharge of their responsibilities. For we are fully convinced that it is here that hope lies for the welfare and progress of religious life.

Hence it is that, ever since our elevation to the office of supreme Pontiff, we have felt it a duty, notwithstanding the manifest and numerous proofs of the high quality of the clergy as a whole, to urge with all earnestness our venerable brethren the bishops of the whole catholic world, to devote themselves unceasingly and efficaciously to the formation of Christ in those who, by their calling, have the responsibility of forming Christ in others.[4]

We are well aware of the eagerness with which the episcopate have carried out this task. We know the watchful care and unwearied energy with which they seek to form the clergy in the ways of virtue, and for this we wish not so much to praise them as to render them public thanks.

Erring and Lukewarm Priests

But though it is a matter for congratulation that, as a result of the diligence of the bishops, so many priests are animated by heavenly fervor to rekindle or strengthen in their souls the flame of divine grace which they received by the imposition of hands, we must deplore the fact that there are others in different countries who do not show themselves worthy to be taken as models by the christian people who rightly look to them for a genuine model of christian virtue.[5]

It is to these priests that we wish to open our heart in this Letter; it is a father's loving heart which beats anxiously as he looks upon an ailing child. Our love for them inspires us to add our own appeal to the appeals of their own bishops. And while our appeal is intended above all to recall the erring to the right path and to spur the lukewarm to fresh endeavor, we would wish it to serve as an encouragement to others also. We point out the path which each one must strive to follow with constantly growing fervor, so that he may become truly a man of God,[6] as the Apostle so concisely expresses it, and fulfill the legitimate expectations of the Church.

We have nothing to say which you have not already heard, no doctrine to propound that is new to anyone; but we treat of matters which it is necessary for everyone to bear in mind, and God inspires us with the hope that our message will not fail to bear abundant fruit.

Put on the New Man

Our earnest appeal to you is this: Be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and sanctity of truth;[7] that will be the most excellent and most acceptable gift which you could offer to us on this fiftieth anniversary of our ordination.

For our own part, when we review before God with a contrite heart and in a spirit of humility[8] the years passed in the priesthood, we will feel that we are making reparation in some measure for the human frailties which we have cause to regret, by thus admonishing and exhorting you to walk worthily of God, in all things pleasing.[9]

In this exhortation, it is not your personal welfare alone that we are striving to secure, but the common welfare of catholic peoples; the one cannot be separated from the other. For the priest cannot be good or bad for himself alone; his conduct and way of life have far-reaching consequences for the people. A truly good priest is an immense gift wherever he may be.

I. THE OBLIGATION OF PRIESTLY SANCTITY

Therefore, beloved sons, we will begin this exhortation by stimulating you to that sanctity of life which the dignity of your office demands.

Anyone who exercises the priestly ministry exercises it not for himself alone, but for others. For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in the things that pertain to God.[10] Christ himself taught that lesson when he compared the priest to salt and to light, in order to show the nature of the priestly ministry. The priest then is the light of the world and the salt of the earth. Everyone knows that he fulfills this function chiefly by the teaching of christian truth; and who can be unaware that this ministry of teaching is practically useless if the priest fails to confirm by the example of his life the truths which he teaches? Those who hear him might say, insultingly it is true, but not without justification: They profess that they know God but in their works they deny him;[11] they will refuse to accept his teaching and will derive no benefit from the light of the priest.

The Model of Priests

Christ himself, the model of priests, taught first by the example of his deeds and then by his words: Jesus began to do and then to teach.[12]

Likewise, a priest who neglects his own sanctification can never be the salt of the earth; what is corrupt and contaminated is utterly incapable of preserving from corruption; where sanctity is lacking, there corruption will inevitably find its way. Hence Christ, continuing this comparison, calls such priests salt that has lost its savor, which is good for nothing any more, but to be cast out and to be trodden on by men.[13]

These truths are all the more evident inasmuch as we exercise the priestly ministry not in our own name, but in the name of Jesus Christ. The Apostle said: Let man so consider us as the ministers of Christ and the dispensers of the mysteries of God;[14] for Christ, therefore, we are ambassadors.[15] This is the reason that Christ has numbered us not among his servants but as his friends. I will not now call you servants; . . . but I have called you friends, because all things whatsoever I have heard from my Father I have made known to you; . . . I have chosen you and appointed you that you should go and bring forth fruit.[16]

Friends and Envoys of Jesus Christ

We have, therefore, to take the place of Christ: the mission which he has given to us we must fulfill with that same purpose that he intended. True friendship consists in unity of mind and will, identity of likes and dislikes; therefore, as friends of Jesus Christ, we are bound to have that mind in us which was in Jesus Christ who is holy, innocent, undefiled.[17] As his envoys, we must win the minds of men for his doctrine and his law by first observing them ourselves; sharing as we do in his power to deliver souls from the bondage of sin, we must strive by every means to avoid becoming entangled in these toils of sin.

The Hand, Mouth, and Tongue of the Priest

But it is particularly as the ministers of Jesus Christ in the great sacrifice which is constantly renewed with abiding power for the salvation of the world, that we have the duty of conforming our minds to that spirit in which he offered himself as an unspotted victim to God on the altar of the Cross. In the Old Law, though victims were only shadowy figures and symbols, sanctity of a high degree was demanded of the priest; what then of us, now that the victim is Christ himself? "How pure should not he be who shares in this sacrifice! More resplendent than the sun must be the hand that divides this Flesh, the mouth that is filled with spiritual fire, the tongue that is reddened by this Blood!"[18]

He Has Placed Heaven in My Hand

Saint Charles Borromeo gave apt expression to this thought when, in his discourses to the clergy, he declared: "If we would only bear in mind, dearly beloved brethren, the exalted character of the things that the Lord God has placed in our hands, what unbounded influence would not this have in impelling us to lead lives worthy of ecclesiastics! Has not the Lord placed everything in my hand, when he put there his only-begotten Son, coeternal and coequal with himself? In my hand he has placed all his treasures, his sacraments, his graces; he has placed there souls, than whom nothing can be dearer to him; in his love he has preferred them to himself, and redeemed them by his Blood; he has placed heaven in my hand, and it is in my power to open and close it to others . . . How, then, can I be so ungrateful for such condescension and love as to sin against him, to offend his honor, to pollute this body which is his? How can I come to defile this high dignity, this life consecrated to his service?"

Holiness of Life

It is well to speak at greater length on this holiness of life, which is the object of the unfailing solicitude of the Church. This is the purpose for which seminaries have been founded; within their walls young men who hope to be priests are trained in letters and other branches of learning, but even more important is the training in piety which they also receive there from their tender years. And then, when the Church gradually and at long intervals promotes candidates to Orders, like a watchful parent she never fails to exhort them to sanctity.

It is a source of joy to recall her words on these occasions.

When we were first enrolled in the army of the Church, she sought from us the formal declaration: The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup: it is thou that wilt restore my inheritance to me.[19] St. Jerome tells us that with these words "the cleric is reminded that one who is the portion of the Lord, or who has the Lord as his portion, must show himself to be such a one as possesses the Lord and is possessed by him."[20]

Exemplary Chastity

How solemnly the Church addresses those who are about to be promoted sub-deacons! "You must consider repeatedly and with all attention the office which of your own volition you seek to-day . . . if you receive this Order, you cannot afterwards revoke your decision, you must remain always in the service of God and, with his help, observe chastity." And finally: "If up to now you have been negligent in relation to the Church, henceforth you must be diligent; if hitherto you have been somnolent, henceforth you must be vigilant . . . if up to now your life has been unseemly, henceforth you must be chaste; . . . Consider the ministry which is entrusted to you!" For those who are about to be raised to the diaconate, the Church prays to God through the mouth of the bishop: "May they have in abundance the pattern of every virtue, authority that is unassuming, constancy in chastity, the purity of innocence, and the observance of spiritual discipline. May thy commands shine forth through their conduct, and may the people find a saintly model in their exemplary chastity."

The Fragrance of Your Life

The admonition addressed to those who are about to be ordained priests is even more moving: "It is with great fear that one must approach this high dignity, and care must be taken that those chosen for it are recommended by heavenly wisdom, blameless life and sustained observance of justice . . . Let the fragrance of your life be a joy to the Church of Christ, so that by your preaching and example you may build up the house, that is, the family of God." Above all the Church stresses the solemn words: Imitate that which you handle, an injunction which fully agrees with the command of St. Paul: That we may present every man perfect in Jesus Christ.[21]

Avoid Even Venial Faults

Since this is the mind of the Church on the life of a priest, one cannot be surprised at the complete unanimity of the Fathers and Doctors on this matter; it might indeed be thought that they are guilty of exaggeration, but a careful examination will lead to the conclusion that they taught nothing that was not entirely true and correct. Their teaching can be summarized thus: there should be as much difference between the priest and any other upright man as there is between heaven and earth; consequently, the priest must see to it that his life is free not merely from grave faults but even from the slightest faults.[22] The Council of Trent made the teaching of these venerable men its own when it warned clerics to avoid" even venial faults which in their case would be very grave."[23] These faults are grave, not in themselves, but in relation to the one who commits them; for to him, even more than to the sacred edifice, are applicable the words: Holiness becometh thy house.[23]a

I am reading for the second or third time a splendid old biography of American Passionist Father Fidelis of the Cross (1840-1921), one of the nineteenth century's most eminent converts to the Catholic faith. Born of blue-blood New England parents, James Kent Stone entered Harvard at sixteen years of age, studied in Germany, scaled the Swiss Alps, and saw action in the Civil War. Ordained a clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal Church, he married Cornelia Fay in 1863. The Reverend Mr. Stone served as the president of Kenyon College in Ohio, and of Hobart College in Geneva, New York.

Stone's dear wife, Cornelia, died after giving birth to their third child in 1869. Shortly thereafter, he was received into the Catholic Church. Entrusting his children to Mother Frances Xavier Warde and her Religious Sisters of Mercy in Manchester, New Hampshire, Stone entered the Paulists in 1873, and was ordained a priest on December 21, 1872. In 1877, drawn to the austerity of Saint Paul of the Cross, he entered the Congregation of the Passion, becoming Father Fidelis of the Cross.

Father Fidelis of the Cross served the Congregation of the Passion in a number of important positions in the United States, in South America, and in Rome. At 81 years of age, he was reunited in San Mateo, California with his two surviving daughters and grandson. On October 14, 1921, he died there in the arms of his daughter Frances, holding his crucifix, with his rosary about his neck.

The following passage is taken from a letter to his Protestant mother, written on January 6, 1871:

The Secret of the Life of a True Catholic

"I have touched upon the secret of the life of a true Catholic. What is this secret? It is the presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. What is which makes this house so ineffably holy to me, and fills its silence with such a meaning? It is the fact that my Lord is here, not merely by that spiritual omnipresence by which He is everywhere, but in His Incarnate Divinity, in His Divine Humanity, in the very Flesh and Blood which He took for us from His Virgin Mother, and which He gave for us on the Wood of the Cross. Under this very roof He abides night and day, in the tabernacle over the high altar, where the little lamp is always shining, and at any hour I can go and visit Him, can fall down on my knees close before Him in the silent Sanctuary, and as often as I wish (Oh, wonder of wonders), He gives Himself to me in Holy Communion, and every morning I see Him offered up--yes! I may one day offer Him up myself -- to God the Father in Holy Sacrifice, in the one, perpetual Sacrifice of the Christian Law.

No doubt this seems to you only a wild delusion. It is a delusion, however, for which thousands upon thousands have joyfully shed their blood, and if you should ever come to realize, even for a moment, what it is to believe this, to believe it as firmly as the existence of God, or heaven, or hell, then you will have understood why the Catholic Church is invincible, and what that strange power is which animates the life and the faith of a Catholic."

So wearied with long journeying,
and never didst thou cry, Enough;
still obstinate, confess thy need thou wouldst not.

Alas, what anxious fears were these,
that to my service made thee false,
of me no memory left thee,
no thought?

And all because I nothing said,
made as if I nothing saw,
till at last thou hast forgotten me!

Yet, thou wouldst have right,
it is I that must declare it;
thy own striving is all in vain . . . .
His the prize, that in me has confidence;
on my holy mountain he shall find a resting place. . . .

A message from the high God, the great God,
whose habitation is eternity, whose name is hallowed!
He, dwelling in that high and holy place,
dwells also amidst chastened and humbled souls,
bidding the humble spirit, the chastened soul, rise and live!

(Isaiah 57, 10-15, translated by Monsignor Knox)

Eighteenth Sunday of the Year A

Isaiah 55:1-3
Psalm 144: 8-9, 15-16, 17-18
Romans 8: 35, 37-39
Matthew 14: 13-21

Yearning for God

Have you ever felt the discomfort of an inner emptiness? Have you experienced a hunger gnawing at the very fibers of your soul, or suffered the stirrings of a desire that nothing earthly seems able to satisfy? If you have experienced these things, you are blessed indeed. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for holiness, for they shall be satisfied" (Mt 5:6). Hunger for holiness is hunger for God himself. Hunger for union with God is what makes us uniquely human. The fulfillment of that hunger makes us divine.

Three Ways of Coping

Deep within each of us is an emptiness that God alone can fill. As long as this capacity for God remains empty, we experience it as a kind of throbbing pain, a hunger that nothing earthly can satisfy. People cope with this inward hunger in one of three ways. The first way is denial; the second, substitution; the third is the way of the saints: flight toward God. Isaiah says, "To the Lord betake you, while He may yet be found" (Is 55:6).

Not Enough

Those who belong to the first category deny that they have a spiritual component. They would limit their human reality to the satisfaction of their animal and rational needs. Comfort and reason circumscribe their notion of happiness. Such persons take pains to stifle any spiritual stirring within. They attempt to live as if a home, a family, food on the table, good health and the means to live comfortably are enough to be happy.

It is possible to have all of the above and yet be profoundly unhappy and incomplete. The visibility of the Church makes such people uncomfortable precisely because it suggests that there is more to human life than what is visible between the womb and the tomb. People who deny their spiritual hunger are never really happy. They are often stalked by depression and various other psychological and emotional ailments. Such complaints can be the soul's way of crying out for attention, of saying, "Feed me, feed me with God." When an individual risks opening his emptiness to God, he begins to experience a wholeness and a happiness that surpasses all that he could have imagined or dreamed.

Spiritual But Not Religious

Those who belong to the second category recognize the inner spiritual hunger but want to fill it on their own terms rather than on God's. One often hears them quote such timeworn old chestnuts as, "I am a religious person, but I do not go to church," or "I am in favor of spirituality, but reject religion." Such people are an easy prey for cults and false spiritual teaching. They dismiss the piety of their immigrant grandparents as superstitious, yet buy into the deceptions of the present age. They read all sorts of books on the way to successful living, on meditation, self-healing, dream interpretation, inner peace and personal fulfillment. In spite of all this, they remain hungry for something more. Their nibbling at the trendy "spiritualities" of contemporary culture leaves them empty and unsatisfied. This is the soul's way of crying out for God, of seeking the nourishment given by the hand of the Lord and by no other.

Hunger for Holiness

Those who belong to the third category, having heard the Gospel, put their faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ. True believers hear the word of the Lord in Isaiah's prophecy and take it to heart: "What, always spending, and no bread to eat, always toiling, and nevera full belly? Do but listen, here you shall find content; here are dainties shall ravish your hearts. To my summons give heed and hearing; so your spirits shall revive" (Is 55:2-3). Holiness begins when one recognizes the hunger within as the soul's cry Godward. Such a hunger can be satisfied only on God's terms.

Eucharistic Fulfillment

God has revealed himself in Jesus Christ. The Eucharistic Heart of Jesus is the wellspring of the love for which we all hunger. The emptiness within is a yearning for a love stronger than death, an unconditional love, a faithful and all-powerful love, a merciful love that cannot fail, nor disappoint, nor deceive. In the Most Holy Eucharist that everlasting love is communicated to us. In every Holy Mass, the Father opens His hand to fill with His blessing all that lives (cf. Ps 144:16).

Mother Church

Our Lord nourishes us and cares for all our needs through his Bride, the Church. Mother Church feeds us with the pure spiritual milk of Gods living Word. She is the servant of the Divine Hospitality, setting before us the adorable Body and Precious Blood of Christ offered in the Holy Sacrifice. Each day she prepares a table laden with the choicest food and drink; it is ours "without money and without price" (Is 55:1).

Only in the Holy Catholic Church are all the spiritual needs of the human person correctly diagnosed and adequately addressed. A man is fully alive only when his spiritual hungers are recognized, and when his inward emptiness is filled by God in Christ, acting through His Church, and in her sacraments.

Converted by the Eucharist

Years ago, while at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., I met a young Presbyterian graduate student. She attended services in her church in Georgetown each Sunday and taught Sunday School there. On weekdays, however, she would slip into the local Catholic Church and attend daily Mass. She was drawn closer and closer to the altar, attracted to the Blessed Sacrament as to a magnet. I had the joy of receiving her into full communion with the Catholic Church.

The Tragedy of Fallen-Away Catholics

In the light of such conversions, it is tragic to see so-called "cradle Catholics" suffering the torments of a hunger that the Most Holy Eucharist can fully satisfy. It is even more tragic to see fallen-away Catholics who have so anesthetized their souls as to no longer feel the hunger pangs that are God's way of letting them know how much they need Him. Once baptized into the Catholic Church one cannot really leave her; one can only disobey her. Those who leave the Catholic Church will suffer from a gnawing deprivation of the true Body and Blood of Christ. The taste of eternity is something the soul cannot forget.

And Monasteries?

What would be the role of a monastery in relation to all of this? A monastery is made up of those who, having left all things, set their hearts on the One Thing Necessary. The essential witness of a monastery is a witness to the Most Holy Eucharist. Today's Alleluia Verse says as much: "Man cannot live by bread only; there is life for him in all the words that proceed from the mouth of God" (Mt 4:4b). A monastery draws life from every word of Christ but, most of all, from the words he pronounced at the Mystical Supper in the Upper Room: "This is my Body which is given for you. . . . This is the chalice of my Blood. . . . Do this in memory of me."

The Instrumentum Laboris that was prepared in view of the Synod on the Eucharist challenged monasteries to be models of Eucharistic faith and practice:

Because of the change of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, the Church always approaches this mystery--the essence of the Liturgy--with fear and trembling, and likewise, with great trust. Reverence towards the mystery of the Eucharist and awareness of its sublime character are much needed today. . . . Much will depend, however, on having places which can serve as models, places where the Eucharist is truly believed and properly celebrated, places where people can personally experience what the Sacrament is--the only authentic response to a person's every need in the search for life's meaning.

There you have the particular vocation of a monastery -- or of a Eucharistic Cenacle.

Approach With the Fear of God

Today, Our Divine Lord looks into our hearts. He sees some who are in denial of their spiritual hunger; He sees other who would attempt to still its pangs with various substitutes; and He sees still others who believe, who recognize their inner emptiness for what it is -- a sign that the human heart was created by God for God, and that God alone can fill what he has created for Himself. Be fed by the hand of the Lord in the Holy and Life-giving Mysteries of the Altar! Approach with the fear of God and with faith to receive the Sacred Body of the Lord and to drink of the Chalice of his Precious Blood. According to the word of today's Gospel: "All ate and had enough" (Mt 14:20).

The Novena Revisited

I thought it might be helpful to "revisit" the Novena Prayer that some of us have been saying for the past nine days for the forthcoming work of the Cenacle of the Eucharistic Face of Jesus in the Diocese of Tulsa, Oklahoma. The antiphon, drawn from the liturgy of the feast of Corpus Christi, refers to the Church's pressing need of priests devoted to fostering holiness in their brother priests and deacons.

Antiphon: The Priests shall be holy;
for the offerings of the Lord made by fire,
and the bread of their God, they do offer,
therefore they shall be holy. (Leviticus 21:6)

From the Altar and For the Altar

If the priests of the Old Covenant were called to holiness, what can be said of the priests of the New Covenant? The so-called reform of the clergy is nothing less than the configuration of every bishop, priest, and deacon to the holiness of Jesus Christ, Son, Servant, Priest, and Victim. This is no human endeavour. It is the work of the Holy Spirit -- working in collaboration with Mary, His Immaculate Spouse -- from the altar, and for the altar.

Adoration

The Collect, by evoking Saint Peter Julian Eymard, effectively describes a vocation or, if you will, a particular charism: that of consecration to the spiritual renewal of the priesthood in a life of Eucharistic adoration. The priest-adorer, as well the brother-adorer called to monastic life in a Cenacle, will prefer nothing whatsoever to keeping watch in adoration before the Eucharistic Face of Jesus. Their adoration, rythmed by the Hours of the Divine Office, nourished by lectio divina, and purified by frequent Confession, will spring from the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and flow back into it.

O God, Who through the preaching and example of Saint Peter Julian Eymard,
didst renew the priesthood of Thy Church in holiness
and inflame many souls with zeal
for the adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar;
we beseech Thee, through his intercession,
to gather priests of one mind and one heart,
from the rising of the sun to the setting thereof,
to keep watch in adoration before the Eucharistic Face
of Thine Only-Begotten Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ
and to abide before His Open Heart,
in reparation for those who forsake Him, hidden in the tabernacles of the world,
and in thanksgiving for the mercies that ever stream
from the Sacred Mysteries of His Body and Blood.
Who liveth and reigneth with Thee
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, world without end. Amen.

Reparation

They will abide before the Open Heart of Jesus in the Sacrament of the Altar, first of all, in reparation for those priests who forsake His company and flee from His presence. They will adore, too, in reparation for the outrages, irreverence, coldness, and indifference that is the response of so many to the Sacramentum Caritatis.

Thanksgiving and Supplication

Their adoration will be more than reparation; it will be thanksgiving for the mercies that ever stream from the Sacred Mysteries of our Lord's Body and Blood, and persevering supplication for the healing and sanctification of the Church's bishops, priests, and deacons.

Cum Maria Contemplemur Christi Vultum

All of this, of course, will unfold in due time and bear fruit only if it is consecrated and entrusted to Mary Most Holy, Mother of the Cenacle and Mediatrix of All Graces. No one better models the life of an adorer than Saint John, the disciple whom Jesus loved and entrusted to His Immaculate Mother. It is in the company of the Blessed Virgin Mary that, as the Servant of God Pope John Paul II said, one learns to contemplate the Face of Christ.