October 2008 Archives

Here (once again) is the homily I preached in French last November 1st at the Monastère Saint-Benoît in Nans-sous-Sainte-Anne, France. Richard Chonak's fine translation follows. Thank you, Richard.

« Voici le peuple immense de ceux qui t'ont cherché ».

Oui, Seigneur Jésus, tous ils ont cherché ton Visage.
Tous, ils ont pris à cœur cette parole
que ton Esprit Saint a fait chanter le roi prophète :
« Mon cœur t'a déclaré : je cherche le Seigneur. . .
c'est ta Face, Seigneur, que je rechercherai.
Ne détourne pas de moi ton Visage » (Ps 26, 8-9).

Tous, ils sont devenus miroirs vivants de ta Sainte Face,
selon ce que dit ton Apôtre :
« Et nous tous qui, le visage découvert,
réfléchissons comme en un miroir la gloire du Seigneur,
nous sommes transformés en cette même image,
toujours plus glorieuse,
comme il convient à l'action du Seigneur, qui est l'Esprit » (2 Cor 3, 18).

Seigneur Jésus, la beauté de la gloire de tes saints nous ravit
parce qu'elle est le reflet sur leurs visages de la beauté de la gloire de ta Face !
Aujourd'hui tu nous révèles,
aujourd'hui tu nous redis le secret de toute sainteté :
la recherche de ta Face.

À quiconque cherche ta Face, Seigneur Jésus, tu la révèles,
et celui à qui tu révèles ta Face ne peut que l'adorer.
Cette adoration de ta Sainte Face est transformante,
C'est toujours le roi prophète qui nous donne de chanter chaque nuit :
« Sur nous s'est imprimé, Seigneur, la lumière de ta Face » (Ps 4, 7).

Parmi tous ces visages illuminés par la beauté de ta Face,
il y a un visage qui rayonne d'une splendeur qui fait pâlir le soleil.
C'est le visage de ta Mère, la toute belle, la toute pure.
Tu es toute belle, ô Marie, car sur ton visage nous voyons
le reflet éblouissant de Celui
qui est « le resplendissement de la gloire du Père
et l'effigie de sa substance » (Hb 1, 3).

Toi, la reine de tous les saints,
tu es le signe grandiose qui apparaît dans le ciel :
la Femme revêtue du soleil,
ayant la lune sous ses pieds,
et portant une couronne sertie de douze étoiles.

Je dois vous avouer, chères sœurs,
que dès que nous avons chanté l'antienne du Magnificat aux premières vêpres,
j'ai compris que la foi d'Abraham restait, en quelque sorte, inachevée,
tant qu'elle n'a pas trouvé en Marie sa plénitude.
Les fils et les filles d'Abraham, plus nombreux que les étoiles du ciel,
sont tous sans exception aucune, fils et filles de Marie,
de celle qui a cru « en l'accomplissement de ce qui lui fut dit
de la part du Seigneur » (Lc 1, 45).

C'est Marie qui entraîne tous les saints dans le chant qui, un jour,
déborda de son Cœur immaculé :
« Le Puissant a fait pour moi des merveilles » (Lc 1, 49).
Voici le chant de tous les saints.
Chacun le reçoit des lèvres de Marie pour le reprendre à son tour »
chacun avec sa voix, chacun avec son accent,
chacun avec la mélodie que lui inspire le Saint-Esprit.
C'est cela ce grand bruit qui remplit le ciel ;
c'est le chant de Marie repris par le chœur des saints.

Et qui sont ces saints, tous enfants de Marie ?
Ils sont les bienheureux de l'évangile que vous venez d'entendre.
À chacun des béatitudes correspond cette parole de Jésus crucifié,
ce testament d'amour confié au disciple bien-aimé : « Voici ta Mère » (Jn 19, 27).

Il me faut donc dire :
Vous, les pauvres de cœur, voici votre Mère,
la Vierge des pauvres telle qu'elle s'est manifestée à Banneux,
la Reine des anawim, de ceux qui attendent tout de Dieu.

Vous, les doux, voici votre Mère,
Marie, la bonne agnelle,
celle dont la mansuétude dépasse celle du roi David,
celle dont a douceur apaise tous nos conflits et calme toutes nos tempêtes.

Vous qui pleurez, voici votre Mère,
celle que l'Église, riche de l'expérience de deux millénaires,
appelle Consolatrix Afflictorum, la Consolatrice des Affligés.

Vous qui avez faim et soif de la justice, voici votre Mère,
la Mère de l'Eucharistie,
celle qui a donné de son corps et de son sang
pour que, de son sein virginal, fécondé par la puissance du Saint Esprit,
soient offerts au monde entier le Corps et le Sang du Christ
pour vous rassasier.

Vous les miséricordieux, voici votre Mère,
celle que l'Église, dans ce chant sublime qui s'élève des monastères de par le monde entier tous les soirs, appelle Mater misericordiae.
Marie ne s'effraie point à la vue de vos misères.
Elle les prend toutes dans son Cœur pour les tremper
dans l'huile et dans le vin du Saint Esprit.

Vous les cœurs purs, voici votre Mère,
l'Immaculée, la toute belle, celle qui opère dans le cœur dans pécheurs
des merveilles de pureté et de candeur.

Vous les artisans de paix, voici votre Mère, Regina pacis,
celle qui n'a jamais oublié le chant angélique qui a fait tressaillir les étoiles
en la nuit où elle a mis au monde le Prince de la Paix :
« Gloire à Dieu au plus haut des cieux, et paix sur la terre
aux hommes qu'il aime » (Lc 2, 14).

Vous les persécutés pour la justice, voici votre Mère,
la Regina Martyrum, celle dont l'âme fut transpercée d'un glaive de douleur.
Elle s'est tenue debout près de la croix de son Fils.
Elle a sondé toutes les amertumes et,
avec son Enfant crucifié, a bu le calice que le Père leur avait présenté.

Vous les insultés et les calomniés, voici votre Mère,
celle qui, rayonnante d'amour et de vérité, éclairera tous vos chemins.
C'est elle qui soutient les martyrs.
Rien de ce que vous souffrez ne lui est étranger.

Vous qui êtes dans la joie,
vous qui jubilez d'allégresse, voici votre Mère,
la Causa nostrae laetitiae.
Votre joie est la sienne, et sa joie à elle,
elle la déverse à flots dans les cœurs de tous les saints
jusque dans les siècles des siècles.

Sainte Marie, Mère et Reine de tous les saints,
nous voulons, comme l'apôtre Jean,
te prendre dès maintenant chez nous,
pour que tu nous apprennes les béatitudes
dont tu es l'icône parfaite.
Fais nous goûter au bonheur de tous les saints.
Et maintenant, accompagne-nous à l'autel du Saint Sacrifice.
Un jour, nous l'espérons fermement,
tu seras là pour nous accueillir au banquet qui déjà nous est préparé au ciel,
celui des Noces de l'Agneau.
Amen.

I rejoice to celebrate the Votive Office and Mass of the Most Blessed Sacrament on Thursday whenever the rubrics permit it. At Matins I read Saint Ambrose (De Sacramentis 4:4); he is astonishing in his simplicity and clarity. How I love this text!

And yes, dear readers, that is a beehive resting on the book next to Saint Ambrose! So gifted was he at extracting spiritual honey from the Scriptures, and so sweet was his preaching to the palate of souls, that, in his iconography, he came to be depicted with bees and beehives.

The same symbolism is associated with Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, the Doctor Mellifluus (Honey-flowing Doctor) and "the last of the Fathers."

"Ergo non otiose, cum accipis,
tu dicis: Amen;
jam in spiritu confitens,
quod accipias corpus Christi.
Dicit tibi sacerdos: Corpus Christi:
et tu dicis: Amen.
Hoc est, verum.
Quod confitetur lingua,
teneat affectus."

"Therefore it is not idly that,
when thou art a-receiving, thou sayest: "Amen";
testifying in thine heart that
That which thou art taking is the Body of Christ.
The priest saith unto thee: "The Body of Christ!" and thou answerest: "Amen"
That is to say: "It is true." What then thy tongue confesseth, let thine heart hold to."

Feast of Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles

Ephesians 2: 19-22
Psalm 18: 2-3, 4-5
Luke 6:12-16

Saint Jude at the Mystical Supper

Today's Gospel tells us that Simon was one of the twelve disciples whom Jesus called to Himself and named Apostles; Saint Jude too was among the Twelve. The Apostle Jude has a cameo appearance in Saint John's Gospel at the moment of the Last Supper. Picture Saint Jude listening to Jesus with rapt attention. The question Jude puts to Our Lord is far from superficial. It suggests that he was an intelligent man capable of listening with the ear of the heart and long accustomed to pondering the deep things of the Spirit.

Saint Jude's Question

We, for our part, can be grateful to Saint Jude for the question he asked his Master. Our Lord's answer is full of light. "Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, 'Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?'; Jesus answered him, 'Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them'" (Jn 14:21-23).

The Indwelling Trinity

Thus is the mystery of the indwelling God revealed to the Apostle Jude. What is the mystery of the indwelling God? It is the abiding presence of the Father loving the Son, and of the Son loving the Father in the hearts of those who love Jesus and hold fast to His words. These few verses from the Gospel of Saint John are sufficient to make the Apostle Saint Jude, more than anything else, a patron of the interior life: the life of undivided attention to the words of Jesus, the life of adoring attention to the indwelling Trinity. Imagine what might be the conversations between the Apostle Jude and Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity in heaven.

Economic Crisis and the American Devotion to Saint Jude

Popular devotion to Saint Jude is an American phenomenon that began in Chicago in 1929. The steel mills had begun massive lay-offs. In Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish more than 90% of the faithful were without paychecks, unemployment compensation, and Social Security benefits. The pastor, Father James Tort, saw the ever-growing bread lines, the distress of families, and the desperation in the faces of so many. He had, some time before the crisis, come into possession of a Latin American statue of an Apostle rarely invoked. Saint Jude was depicted clasping an icon of the Face of Christ to his breast, with a flame of Pentecostal fire over his head. Father Tort moved the statue to a place of prominence in the church. He announced a novena to The Forgotten Saint. It drew enormous crowds. People were strangely attracted to this obscure saint, to this saint rarely invoked because often confused with the other Jude, the one by whom Jesus was betrayed.

On the final evening of a solemn novena that ended on October 28, 1929 -- one day before the crash of the Stock Market -- an overflow of more than one thousand people stood outside the church praying and singing. Those asking the intercession of Saint Jude were given relief in unexpected ways and, more than anything else, they found hope again. Saint Jude's reputation as the patron saint of desperate causes spread from Chicago to shrines, churches, and homes all over the country.

The Apostle of the Holy Face of Jesus

Popular images of Saint Jude passed into the collective memory of American Catholic piety. The medallion of the Face of Christ that he holds represents the miraculous icon of Edessa, the Holy Face of Jesus Not Made by Human Hands. The legend is that Abgar, the King of Edessa, stricken with leprosy, wrote the following letter to Jesus:

Abgar Ouchama to Jesus, the Good Physician Who has appeared in the country of Jerusalem, greeting: I have heard of Thee, and of Thy healing; that Thou dost not use medicines or roots, but by Thy word openest (the eyes) of the blind, makest the lame to walk, cleansest the lepers, makest the deaf to hear; how by Thy word (also) Thou healest (sick) spirits and those who are tormented with lunatic demons, and how, again, Thou raisest the dead to life. . . . Wherefore I write to Thee, and pray that thou wilt come to me, who adore Thee, and heal all the ill that I suffer, according to the faith I have in Thee.

Jesus, receiving the letter in Jerusalem, replied:

Blessed art thou who hast believed in Me, not having seen me, for it is written of me that those who shall see me shall not believe in Me, and that those who shall not see Me shall believe in Me. As to that which thou hast written, that I should come to thee, (behold) all that for which I was sent here below is finished, and I ascend again to My Father who sent Me, and when I shall have ascended to Him I will send thee one of My disciples, who shall heal all thy sufferings, and shall give (thee) health again, and shall convert all who are with thee unto life eternal.

The-Holy-Face-Not-Made-By-Human-Hands

The disciple referred to here is none other than Saint Jude. The legend goes on to recount that Abgar, having received Our Lord's answer, wanted nothing so much as an image of His Face. He sent an artist to Jesus with instructions to paint the Divine Countenance. The artist had no success because of what he called "the inexpressible glory" in his Face, which changed in grace. Jesus, moved to pity, asked for a cloth, applied it to his Face, and entrusting it to the Apostle Jude, sent it back to King Abgar. When Abgar opened the cloth, he found himself before a miraculous image of the Holy Face of Jesus. This image, carried by the Apostle Jude to King Abgar, is said to be the model of every other icon of the Face of Christ.

Saint Jude, the Bearer of the Image of the Holy Face

Saint Jude, then, is the Apostle who comes to us bearing the image of the Vultus Christi. Jude, the Patron Saint of Impossible Causes, and Jude, the Apostle of the interior life is also Jude, the Apostle of the missionary life: he carries the Face of Christ to those who, like King Abgar, ask for healing and hope.

A Promise Fulfilled in the Most Holy Eucharist

The promise made by Our Lord in response to Saint Jude's question is sufficient for us: "Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them" (Jn 14:21-23). The Church gives us this very verse from Saint John as today's Communion Antiphon. It is the sacred liturgy's way of saying that the promise announced in these words of Our Lord is fulfilled for us in the adorable mysteries of His Body and Blood. Relying on that promise, we go forth from participation in the Holy Mysteries bearing the Eucharistic Face of Christ in our hearts.

Twenty-Ninth Saturday II
Mass de Beata in Sabbato

Ephesians 4:7-16
Psalm 121: 1-2, 3-4ab, 4cd-5
Luke 13:1-9

In the Light of the Ascension

Today's Epistle and the Gradual Psalm (121) that follows it recall the mystery of Our Lord's glorious Ascension. The King of Glory, ascended into heaven and, having "set foot within the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem" (cf. Ps 121:2), sent forth the Holy Spirit and, in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, bestowed upon us every gift necessary for the life of the Church and for our sanctification.

The Gift of the Holy Spirit

The One Gift of the Holy Spirit shines in seven soul-penetrating rays -- wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord -- and then in a variety of other subsidiary gifts. Every member of the Church, from the smallest to the greatest, from the most obscure to the most in view, has a part to play in her upbuilding. Our Lord Jesus Christ, ascended on high in triumph, distributes His gifts to all.

Grace Builds on Nature

In dispensing His gifts, Our Lord assorts them to each one of us: to our heredity, to our place in history, and to our mental, emotional, and physical capabilities, for grace builds on nature. These gifts of grace, accepted humbly, recognized lucidly, and developed responsibly, perfect the soul in the particular form of holiness intended for her by God.

Holiness

The fruits of the Holy Spirit -- charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, and chastity -- flourish in the soil of a human nature enriched by Christ's gifts of grace. Holiness, then, has to do with becoming, by grace, one's true self, one's best self, "unto Him who died for us and rose again" (2 Cor 5:15).

Imitation of Our Lady's Fiat

The true self, the best self, is not the product of human effort and striving. God, the Creator of our human nature, acting through the sacraments, perfects His human creature by means of the grace of Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. To do this He needs our trusting assent, He waits for our humble cooperation, modeled after the Fiat of the Blessed Virgin Mary; but even these are His gift to us.

The Arms of the Father

Human effort alone has never produced a saint. Human effort is a mere token of our willingness to be transformed by grace. "So you also, when you shall have done all these things that are commanded you, say: We are unprofitable servants; we have done that which we ought to do" (Lk 17:10).

Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face speaks of the small child at the foot of the staircase, lifting her little leg in a pathetic attempt to reach the first step. For God, she says, that is enough. He descends to that small child, lifts her into His mighty, merciful arms and, delighted with her humble, persistent effort, carries her all the way to the top. Only in this way do we attain the "unto the measure of the age of the fulness of Christ" (Ep 4:13).

Into Heaven Itself

The liturgy places today's Gradual Psalm in the mouth of the risen and ascended Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ who addresses us, saying, "Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord" (Ps 121:1). It is Christ, our Eternal High Priest, who, having gone before us into the heavenly Jerusalem, calls us to follow after Him. "For Christ has entered, not into a sanctuary made with hands, a copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf" (Heb 9:24).

Peace and Good Things

The "tribes that go up, the tribes of the Lord" (Ps 121:4) represent the diversity of the Church: a Body of many members called into unity by Christ. In the same psalm, Our Lord Himself reveals the mystery of His intercession for us: "For the sake of my brethren, and of my neighbours, I spoke peace of thee. Because of the house of the Lord our God, I have sought good things for thee" (Ps 121:8). It pleases Our Lord to distribute the peace and good things won for us by His passion and death, through the pure hands of His most holy Mother, the Queen assumed into heaven, who stands at His right hand, arrayed in gold (cf. Ps 44:10).

A Fruitful, Holy People

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass gives us the ceaseless prayer of our Eternal High Priest, risen and ascended into heaven. The Mass gives us, not only the grace of Christ, but Christ himself, the Giver of every grace. Participation in the adorables Mysteries of Christ's Body and Blood is, then, the way to become the fruitful, holy people - the saints - that the Father wants us to be.

Wilingness to Be Changed

We have only to bring to the Holy Sacrifice each day the humble tokens of our willingness to be changed, the persevering effort, the little leg raised in an attempt to reach the first step. That is the drop of water added to the chalice of wine by the hand of Christ the Priest. The final effect is divinely disproportionate to our effort, and that is reason enough for ceaseless thanksgiving.

This morning at Matins for the feast of Saint Raphael the Archangel, I read Saint Bonaventure's mystical exegesis of the Book of Tobit. The Seraphic Doctor presents the Archangel Raphael's three remedies for the soul made sick by sin: tears of repentance, the burning Heart of Christ, and greater earnestness in prayer. The following section treats of the burning Heart of ΙΧΘΥΣ, that is, Jesus Christ, God's Son, the Saviour.

The Heart of the Fish

Raphael would deliver us from the devil's bondage by putting us in remembrance of the Passion of Christ. This is set forth in Chapter six of the Book of Tobit under a figure of the heart of the fish which, when it is burning, driveth away all kinds of evil spirits.

The Heart on Fire

And again in Chapter eight, where we are told that Tobias placed the heart on live coals and the evil spirit fled into the utmost parts of Egypt, and the Angel bound him. What is this? Could Raphael bind an evil spirit only when the heart of a fish is set on fire? Did the Angel need a fish to enhearten him with great strength? Not at all. There is nothing worthwhile here except we take it mystically.

The Heart of Christ Burning With Love

Now the fish is a long-used symbol of Christ, because its letters in Greek are the initials of these words: Jesus Christ, God's Son, the Saviour. And so we may understand by the heart of the fish that there is nothing today to free us from the bondage of the devil except the passion of Christ, which same proceedeth from the depth of Himself, namely His Heart burning with love. For the heart is the fervent fountain of all life.

Place the Heart of Christ Within Thee

The Heart of Christ, whence His passion proceeded, is the source of a charity which burneth with love, and so is the cause of devotion in us. But thy memory is often to thee coals of fire. If therefore thou will place the Heart of Christ within thee, upon the dead coals of thy memories, and let them burn with the flames of that Heart, at once the devil will leave thee. Yea, he will be rendered harmless, as though he were bound.

Saint Bonaventure, De Sanctis Angelis, Sermo V

There have been more than 40 million abortions in the United States since 1973.

HEART OF JESUS,
formed by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary,
have mercy on this nation soaked in the blood of the innocent.

May that vast army of infants slaughtered mercilessly in their mothers' wombs
raise their voices and plead before Thy throne in glory
for an end to the crime of abortion
that has so rightly merited Thy Father's wrath
and caused our nation to become an abomination in His sight.

Do what Thou must, O merciful Heart of Jesus,
to reveal to all the horror of this sin
and to bring us to repentance.

Immaculate Virgin Mary,
thou who didst bear Thy Son for nine months
in the inviolate sanctuary of Thy womb,
intercede for the United States of America,
which claim thy maternal protection.
Amen.

The two Collects given us by the liturgy this week -- the first in the Extraordinary Form, and the second in the Ordinary Form -- merit close attention.

On the Twenty-Third Sunday After Pentecost and the ferial days following it, we pray:

Absolve, quaesumus Domine, tuorum delicta populorum: ut a peccatorum nexibus, quae pro nostra fragilitate contraximus, tua benignitate liberemur.

Absolve, thy people from their transgressions,
we beseech Thee, O Lord,
so that through Thy goodness,
we may be set free from the entanglements of those sins
which in our weakness we have committed.

The verb, absolvo, can mean to loosen. The verb, contraho, can mean, among other things, to draw together tightly. Understood in this way, the Collect presents an astute psychology of sin. Sin is a knotty business, leading to hopelessly complex entanglements. One better understands the old German devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Looser of Knots (Maria Knotenlöserin) in the light of the Church's prayer. There are, I think, in every life, sinful entanglements that only the patient and gentle hands of the Immaculate Virgin Mary can loosen.

Loosen, thy people from their transgressions, we beseech Thee O Lord, so that through Thy goodness working through the hands of the Virgin Mary, we may be set free from the knotty entanglements of those sins which in our weakness we have pulled together.

On the Twenty-Ninth Sunday Per Annum and the ferial days following it, we pray:

Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, fac nos tibi semper et devotam gerere voluntatem, et maiestati tui sincero corde servire.

Concise and elegant. The twofold petition follows immediately upon the address with no intermediate clause. I translated it, rather freely, this way:

Almighty and ever-living God, make us ever bring Thee the devotion of our wills, and wait upon Thy majesty with singleness of heart.

The sense of the prayer is, it seems to me, that "adoration in spirit and truth" (Jn 4:23) requires the homage of the will ready to do God's bidding. True devotion lies in obedience to the will of the Father. "Not every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doth the will of my Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 7:21).

I was almost tempted to render the last line of the prayer, "and wait upon Thy majesty with guileless hearts," for that, I would argue, is the meaning of sincero corde. Worship is most pleasing to God when we offer it on His terms, not on our own; when we go to it with no mental reservations and with childlike candour. "Then said I: Behold I come: in the head of the book it is written of me: that I should do thy will, O God" (Heb 10:7).

One of Barbara Pym's characters -- I don't remember which one -- sometimes exclaims, "Too much richness!" Exactly my sentiments concerning this past weekend! There was altogether too much going on: the Synod in Rome with the Ecumenical Patriarch's extraordinary address, the Holy Father's visit to the Sanctuary of the Madonna del Rosario at Pompei, the beatification of Louis and Zélie Martin at Lisieux, and the feasts of Saint Philip Howard, of the Jesuit Martyrs of North America, of Blessed Agnès de Langeac, and of Saint Paul of the Cross. Finally, I decided to translate the Holy Father's address at Pompei for the dear readers of Vultus Christi. Here it is:

A Gift from the Heart of Our Lady

Before entering the Sanctuary to recite the Holy Rosary together with you, I paused briefly before the tomb of Blessed Bartolo Longo and, praying, I asked myself: "Whence did this great apostle of Mary draw the energy and constancy necessary to bring to completion so imposing a work, now known in all the world? Is it not from the Rosary that he received as a true gift from the heart of Our Lady?"

The School of the Virgin

Yes, it was really so! The experience of the saints witnesses to this: this popular Marian prayer is a precious spiritual means to grow in intimacy with Jesus and learn, at the school of the Holy Virgin, to carry out always the Divine Will.

The Rosary is contemplation of the mysteries of Christ in spiritual union with Mary, as the Servant of God Paul VI emphasized in the Apostolic Exhortation Marialis Cultus, and then, as my venerated predecessor John Paul II amply illustrated in the Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae, which, ideally, I give again to the community of Pompei and to each one of you.

Authentic Apostles of the Rosary

You who live and work here at Pompei, especially you, dear priests, religious, and layfolk engaged in this singular portion of the Church, are called -- all of you -- to make the charism of Blessed Bartolo Longo your own and to become, in the measure and in the ways granted by God to each one, authentic apostles of the Holy Rosary.

Contemplate the Face of Christ

But, in order to be apostles of the Rosary, it is necessary to experience first hand the beauty and depth of this prayer that is simple and accessible to all. It is, above all, necessary to allow oneself to be led by the hand of the Holy Virgin to contemplate the Face of Christ: His joyful, luminous, sorrowful, and glorious Face.

One who, like Mary and together with her, assiduously keeps and meditates the mysteries of Jesus, assimilates His sentiments more and more, and is conformed to Him. It pleases me, in this regard, to quote a beautiful consideration of Blessed Bartolo Longo.

Familiarity with Jesus and Mary

"Just as two friends," he writes, "going about frequently together, are wont to conform themselves to each other in their manners, so too do we, conversing familiarly with Jesus and the Virgin in the meditation of the Mysteries of the Rosary, and forming together one and the same life by means of communion with them, become like them, whatever be our lowliness, and learn from these consummate examples how to live humbly, in poverty, in hiddenness, patience, and perfection."

Contemplation and Silence

The Rosary is a school of contemplation and of silence. At a first glance, it may seem like a prayer that accumulates words, one that it is difficult to reconcile with the silence rightly required for meditation and contemplation. In reality, the cadenced repetition of the Ave Maria does not disturb interior silence; on the contrary it calls it forth and sustains it.

Akin to the Divine Office

It is analogous to what happens with the psalms when one prays the Liturgy of the Hours. Silence flowers through the words and the phrases, not as a void, but as a presence of their ultimate meaning, which goes beyond the words themselves and, together with them, speaks to the heart.

Like the Whisper of a Gentle Breeze

Thus, in reciting the Ave Marias, one must pay attention in such wise that our voices do not "cover" the voice of God, which always speaks through silence, like "the whisper of a gentle breeze" (1 K 19:12).

Interior Silence in the Recitation of the Rosary

How important it is, then, to foster this silence full of God, be it in personal or communal recitation [of the Rosary]. Even when it happens that the Rosary is prayed in great assemblies, as we did, and as is done each day in this Sanctuary, it is necessary that the Rosary be perceived as a contemplative prayer, and this cannot happen if a climate of interior silence is lacking.

The Rosary: Response to the Word of God

I should like to add another reflection relative to the Word of God in the Rosary. This is particularly opportune at this period in which the Synod of Bishops on the theme "The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church" is taking place in the Vatican. If Christian contemplation cannot prescind from the Word of God, so too must the Rosary, if it is to be a contemplative prayer, emerge always from the silence of the heart as a response to the Word, modeled after the prayer of Mary.

Woven of Sacred Scripture

Considered well, one sees that the Rosary is entirely woven of Sacred Scripture. There is, first of all, the enunciation of the mystery, preferably done with words drawn from the Bible. Then follows the Our Father: by impressing upon our prayer its vertical orientation, it opens the mind of one reciting the Rosary to the correct filial attitude: "When you pray, say Father . . ." (Lk 11:2). The first part of the Hail Mary, also drawn from the Gospel, makes us each time hear anew the words with which God addressed the Virgin through the Angel, and the blessing of her cousin, Elizabeth. The second part of the Hail Mary resounds as the response of children who, in addressing petitions to their Mother, do nothing other than express their own adhesion to the saving plan revealed by God. In this way, the thought of the one praying remains always anchored to Scripture and to the mysteries presented therein.

Charity and Peace

Finally, remembering that today we are celebrating the World Day of Missions, I am pleased to recall the apostolic dimension of the Rosary, a dimension that Blessed Bartolo Longo lived intensely, drawing from it inspiration to undertake here in this place so many works of charity and of human and social promotion. Moreover, he wished that this Sanctuary should be open to the entire world, as a centre of irradiation of the prayer of the Rosary and a place of intercession for peace among peoples. Dear friends, I desire to confirm both of these aims -- the apostolate of charity and prayer for peace-- and I entrust them to your spiritual and pastoral labours. Following the example, and with the support of your venerated Founder, do not grow weary of working with passion in this part of the vineyard of the Lord for which the Madonna has shown a special love.

Farewell

Dear brothers and sisters, the moment has come for me to take leave of you and of this beautiful Sanctuary. I thank you for the warm welcome and, above all, for your prayers. I thank the Archbishop Prelate and Pontifical Delegate and his collaborators, and those who worked to prepare my visit so well. I must leave you, but my heart remains close to this place and to this community. I entrust you all to the Blessed Virgin of the Holy Rosary, and to each one, from the heart, I impart my Apostolic Blessing.

Bienheureux Monsieur et Madame

This morning, for the first time in the history of the Church: a married couple, the parents of a daughter who is a saint and a Doctor of the Church, were beatified in Lisieux, France. 15000 faithful attended the celebration. Louis and Zélie Martin were not beatified because of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face. They were beatified in recognition of the virtue and holiness displayed, by the grace of Christ, in their own life. Two months before her death, Saint Thérèse wrote to the Abbé Bellière: "God gave me a father and a mother more worthy of heaven than of earth; they asked the Lord to give them many children and to let them all be consecrated to Him." (July 26th, 1897).

The Challenges of Life

The Martins had nine children, four of whom died in infancy. Of their five daughters, one of them -- Léonie -- was a very difficult child, furrowed by the emotional complexities that would follow her even into adulthood.

Louis, a watch and clock maker and Zélie, an expert artisan of lace, operated their own businesses. They were familiar with the challenges inherent in dealing justly and patiently with employees and with customers. In the Martin household the needs of the poor were never forgotten.

Suffering

Both Louis and Zélie were stricken by disease. Zélie died of breast cancer on August 28, 1877. Louis, a widower with five dependent children, was afflicted with a humiliating brain disease and confined in a psychiatric hospital. During occasional periods of remission, he devoted himself to his fellow patients. He died at home in 1894 at the age of 71.

Holiness

Les Bienheureux Monsieur et Madame Martin prove to married couples that a great holiness is possible, even in the midst of a family life marked by difficulties and sorrows.

Telling One's Beads Over Saint Luke's Gospel

I have always thought the Rosary a particularly Lukan prayer. So many of the mysteries are drawn from Saint Luke's Gospel. It is Saint Luke who gives us the Gospel of the Holy Spirit; the Gospel of the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary; the Gospel of the liturgical canticles sung by the Church at sunrise, eventide, and nightfall; the Gospel of the Angels; the Gospel of mercy.

The Face of Christ

But there is more. According to tradition, Saint Luke was an iconographer. I very much like this painting of Luke painting! He seems to have just completed his image of the Virgin Mother with the Infant Christ. An Angel looks on approvingly. Could it be Saint Gabriel, the Archangel who figures so prominently in the first chapters of Saint Luke's Gospel? The Evangelist is showing us his painting and inviting us to contemplate the Mother and the Child. The Rosary is just that: a contemplation of the Face of Christ and of the Mother who presents Him to the eyes of the soul.

Veni, veni de Libano

The Rosary, like the Psalter it parallels, grows with the one who prays it. It is like the manna in the desert that accommodated itself to the taste of each one. There are seasons in each man's life with God, and the garden of the Rosary changes with these seasons. The Rosary is especially valuable in times of dryness; it becomes a way of inviting Our Blessed Lady into one's desert. When Mary comes into the dry and weary land of our soulscapes, she irrigates it with the grace of her presence, causing it to blossom like the rose.

Saint Luke, Evangelist

2 Timothy 4: 10-17a
Psalm 144: 10-11, 12-13ab, 17-18 (R: cf. 12)
Luke 10:1-9

The Evangelist

Saint Luke comes to us today as the evangelist of the Holy Spirit, as the evangelist of the little and of the poor, the evangelist of the Virgin Mary, and of the holy angels. He comes to us as the iconographer of the healing Christ, the Divine Physician of our souls and bodies. Saint Luke comes to us as the advocate and friend of the women disciples of the Lord, and as the witness of the Acts of the Apostles and of the life of the infant Church. He comes to us as the poet of the Magnificat, the Benedictus, and the Nunc Dimittis, as the evangelist of the sacred liturgy, the one who closes his Gospel with the radiant image of a joyful Church semper in templo benedicentes Deum, “continually in the temple blessing God” (Lk 24:52).

Iconographer of the Holy Mother of God

According to an old tradition, Saint Luke, in addition to being a physician (Col 4:14), was a painter. It is recounted that Saint Luke depicted the Virgin Mother with the Infant Christ in three icons. He showed them to her. The Mother of God looked at them with joy and then blessed them, saying, “May the grace of Him to Whom I gave birth be within them.” The iconography of Saint Luke himself makes for a fascinating study; he is nearly always portrayed painting the Blessed Virgin and her Son. Paintings of a saint painting!

Saint Luke at the Cross

I know also of one painting of Saint Luke, different from all others and profoundly moving. It is by the Spanish artist Francisco Zurbaràn and dates from 1660. Zurbaràn shows Saint Luke standing on Calvary; he is holding one of his paintings in his hands and contemplating Jesus Crucified with rapt attention. Saint Luke is memorizing the scene so as to depict it in a painting, just as he depicts it in his Gospel.

A Rosary of Icons

Open the Gospel of Saint Luke and what do you see? Icons of the Virgin Mother and the Child Christ, of the healing Christ, of Christ in prayer, of the suffering Christ, of the Crucified Christ, and of the mysterious risen Christ appearing on the road to Emmaus. These Gospel icons, written by Saint Luke with an extraordinary spiritual sensitivity, invite us to the contemplation of the Face of Christ in much the same way, as do the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary.

The Lectio Divina of the Icon

Irish Benedictine Dom Gregory Collins has written an extraordinary little book on icons: “The Icons and Lectio Divina: Ancient and Post Modern Insights.” Dom Gregory applies the four moments of lectio divina to the practice of prayer before an icon. Lectio becomes a reading of the imagery, an attempt to “receive” the message it expresses through colour and form.

Meditatio takes the images received and turns them over in the mind; it can also mean focusing on a single detail of the icon: the face, the eyes, a hand, a gesture. Meditatio before an icon allows one to linger for a long time in the transforming presence of the light of God. “We all,” says Saint Paul, “with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another” (2 Cor 3:18).

Oratio is the prayer that, like a flame, shoots up in the heart. Gazing upon the icon, like repeating the sacred text, feeds the flame of oratio. Finally, one is surprised by a holy stillness. The “fiery darts of prayer” are absorbed into something more obscure: contemplatio. “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face” (1 Cor 13:12).

Dom Gregory’s insights may help us to read the Gospel of Saint Luke more deeply, searching on each page for the icon that slowly emerges from between the lines and behind the words, becoming visible to the eyes of faith. “It is your face, O Lord, that I seek; hide not your face from me” (Ps 26:8-9).

We Become What We Contemplate

Philosophers, psychologists and saints agree that we become what we contemplate. Look at goodness and you will become good. Look at beauty and you will become beautiful. Look at truth and you will become true. Look at purity and you will become pure. Saint Clare of Assisi, herself so marked by Gospel of Saint Luke, wrote to Agnes of Prague: “Gaze upon Him, consider Him, contemplate Him, as you desire to imitate Him” (Second Letter to Agnes of Prague).

Contemplating the Mysteries With Saint Luke

Understood in this way, the contemplation of the “icons” of Saint Luke’s Gospel, especially through the prayer of the Rosary, is transforming. The Rosary is, I have always believed, a uniquely Lukan prayer. Consider Saint Luke’s icon of the Annunciation (Lk 1:26 38) and, with Mary, become “Yes” to the Word. Look at the Visitation (Lk 1:39 56) and learn the language of Mary’s praise. Look at the Child lying in the manger (Lk 2:16) and become little and poor.

Look at the merciful Christ (Lk 4:40 - 5:26) and become merciful; at the healing Christ (Lk 7:1-10) and become an instrument of healing; at the solitary Christ in prayer (Lk 11:1), and learn to converse with the Father.

Look at the icon of Christ in Gethsemane (Lk 22:39-46), agonizing and comforted by an angel, and enter into his submission to the Father’s will. Look at the crucified Jesus (Lk 23:33-47) and learn from him to forgive and to show mercy, even in the hour of darkness. Look at the risen Christ on the road to Emmaus (Lk 24:13-32) and know that he walks with you always, opening the Scriptures, breaking the Bread, causing your hearts to burn with a mysterious fire. Finally, look at the icon of the Church in the last sentence of Saint Luke’s Gospel -- “They were continually in the temple blessing God” (Lk 24:53) -- and learn to bless God always and everywhere, learn to give the last word to praise.

To the Altar

The Benedictine vocation is that of the Church in the temple at Jerusalem: to bless. The transformation that begins in the contemplation of Saint Luke’s Rosary of Gospel icons is perfected, by the power of the Holy Spirit, in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Pope Benedict XVI preaches like a monk! By this I mean that his preaching, like that of Saint Gregory the Great and others of the Fathers, is manifestly the fruit of 1) lectio, 2) meditatio, 3) oratio, and 4) contemplatio. It reveals an intimate familiarity with the Word of God, and notably with the Psalter, that can come only from a quotidian fidelity to the Opus Dei, the Divine Office.

In this homily/meditation delivered on the morning of October 6th, readers of Vultus Christi will rejoice to discover Pope Benedict XVI's allusions to the Face and Heart of the Word.

The Holy Father Meditates Psalm 118

Dear brothers in the episcopacy, dear brothers and sisters, at the beginning of our Synod the Liturgy of the Hours presents a passage from Psalm 118 on the Word of God: a praise of his Word, an expression of the joy of Israel in learning it and, in it, to recognize his will and his Face. I would like to meditate on some verses of this Psalm with you.

The Power of the Word

It begins like this: "In aeternum, Domine, verbum tuum constitutum est in caelo... firmasti terram, et permanet". This refers to the solidity of the Word. It is solid, it is the true reality on which one must base one's life. Let us remember the words of Jesus who continues the words of this Psalm: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away". Humanly speaking, the word, my human word, is almost nothing in reality, a breath. As soon as it is pronounced it disappears. It seems to be nothing. But already the human word has incredible power. Words create history, words form thoughts, the thoughts that create the word. It is the word that forms history, reality.

Building on Sand

Furthermore, the Word of God is the foundation of everything, it is the true reality. And to be realistic, we must rely upon this reality. We must change our idea that matter, solid things, things we can touch, are the more solid, the more certain reality. At the end of the Sermon on the Mount the Lord speaks to us about the two possible foundations for building the house of one's life: sand and rock. The one who builds on sand builds only on visible and tangible things, on success, on career, on money. Apparently these are the true realities. But all this one day will pass away. We can see this now with the fall of large banks: this money disappears, it is nothing. And thus all things, which seem to be the true realities we can count on, are only realities of a secondary order.

The Foundation of Our Life

The one who builds his life on these realities, on matter, on success, on appearances, builds upon sand. Only the Word of God is the foundation of all reality, it is as stable as the heavens and more than the heavens, it is reality. Therefore, we must change our concept of realism. The realist is the one who recognizes the Word of God, in this apparently weak reality, as the foundation of all things. The realist is the one who builds his life on this foundation, which is permanent. Thus the first verses of the Psalm invite us to discover what reality is and how to find the foundation of our life, how to build life.

All Things at the Service of the Word

The following verse says: "Omnia serviunt tibi". All things come from the Word, they are products of the Word. "In the beginning was the Word". In the beginning the heavens spoke. And thus reality was born of the Word, it is "creatura Verbi". All is created from the Word and all is called to serve the Word. This means that all of creation, in the end, is conceived of to create the place of encounter between God and his creature, a place where the history of love between God and his creature can develop. "Omnia serviunt tibi". The history of salvation is not a small event, on a poor planet, in the immensity of the universe. It is not a minimal thing which happens by chance on a lost planet. It is the motive for everything, the motive for creation. Everything is created so that this story can exist, the encounter between God and his creature. In this sense, salvation history, the Covenant, precedes creation

All Creation is Ordered to Christ

During the Hellenistic period, Judaism developed the idea that the Torah would have preceded the creation of the material world. This material world seems to have been created solely to make room for the Torah, for this Word of God that creates the answer and becomes the history of love. The mystery of Christ already is mysteriously revealed here. This is what we are told in the Letter to the Ephesians and to the Colossians: Christ is the "protòtypos", the first-born of creation, the idea for which the universe was conceived. He welcomes all. We enter in the movement of the universe by uniting with Christ. One can say that, while material creation is the condition for the history of salvation, the history of the Covenant is the true cause of the cosmos. We reach the roots of being by reaching the mystery of Christ, his living word that is the aim of all creation.

Seeking the Word in the Words

"Omnia serviunt tibi". In serving the Lord we achieve the purpose of being, the purpose of our own existence. Let us take a leap forward: "Mandata tua exquisivi". We are always searching for the Word of God. It is not merely present in us. Just reading it does not mean necessarily that we have truly understood the Word of God. The danger is that we only see the human words and do not find the true actor within, the Holy Spirit. We do not find the Word in the words.

In this context St Augustine recalls the scribes and pharisees who were consulted by Herod when the Magi arrived. Herod wants to know where the Saviour of the world would be born. They know it, they give the correct answer: in Bethlehem. They are great specialists who know everything. However they do not see reality, they do not know the Saviour. St Augustine says: they are signs on the road for others, but they themselves do not move. This is a great danger as well in our reading of Scripture: we stop at the human words, words form the past, history of the past, and we do not discover the present in the past, the Holy Spirit who speaks to us today in the words from the past. In this way we do not enter the interior movement of the Word, which in human words conceals and which opens the divine words. Therefore, there is always a need for "exquisivi". We must always search for the Word within the words.

Communion with the Word

Therefore, exegesis, the true reading of Holy Scripture, is not only a literary phenomenon, not only reading a text. It is the movement of my existence. It is moving towards the Word of God in the human words. Only by conforming ourselves to the Mystery of God, to the Lord who is the Word, can we enter within the Word, can we truly find the Word of God in human words. Let us pray to the Lord that he may help us search the word, not only with our intellect but also with our entire existence.

Word, Church, and Mission

At the end: "Omni consummationi vidi finem, latum praeceptum tuum nimis". All human things, all the things we can invent, create, are finite. Even all human religious experiences are finite, showing an aspect of reality, because our being is finite and can only understand a part, some elements: "latum praeceptum tuum nimis". Only God is infinite. And therefore His Word too is universal and knows no boundaries. Therefore by entering into the Word of God we really enter into the divine universe. We escape the limits of our experience and we enter into the reality that is truly universal. Entering into communion with the Word of God, we enter a communion of the Church that lives the Word of God. We do not enter into a small group, with the rules of a small group, but we go beyond our limitations. We go towards the depths, in the true grandeur of the only truth, the great truth of God. We are truly a part of what is universal. And thus we go out into the communion of all our brothers and sisters, of all humanity, because the desire for the Word of God, which is one, is hidden in our heart.

Therefore even evangelization, the proclamation of the Gospel, the mission are not a type of ecclesial colonialism, where we wish to insert others into our group. It means going beyond the individual culture into the universality that connects all, unites all, makes us all brothers. Let us pray once again that the Lord may help us to truly enter the "breadth" of His Word and thus to open ourselves to the universal horizon that unites us with all our differences.

I am Yours

At the end, we return to a preceding verse: "Tuus sum ego: salvum me fac". The text translates as: "I am yours". The Word of God is like a stairway that we can climb and, with Christ, even descend into the depths of his love. It is a stairway to reach the Word in the words. "I am yours". The word has a Face, it is a person, Christ. Before we can say "I am yours", he has already told us "I am yours". The Letter to the Hebrews, quoting Psalm 39, says: "You gave me a body.... Then I said, "Here I am, I am coming'". The Lord prepared a body to come. With his Incarnation he said: I am yours. And in Baptism he said to me: I am yours. In the Holy Eucharist, He says ever anew: I am yours, so that we may respond: Lord, I am yours. In the way of the Word, entering the mystery of his Incarnation, of His being among us, we want to appropriate His being, we want expropriate our existence, giving ourselves to Him who gave Himself to us.

In the Heart of the Word

"I am yours". Let us pray the Lord that we may learn to say this word with our whole being. Thus we will be in the heart of the Word. Thus we will be saved.

Today is the first anniversary of my pilgrimage to Paray-le-Monial, la cité du Sacre-Coeur in the company of dear friends. Ma joie demeure.

The Mystical Invasion

Saint Teresa of Jesus died in 1582. Sixty-five years later, in 1647, Saint Margaret Mary was born. The spiritual climate in Europe, following the Council of Trent, was one of extraordinary effervescence. Henri Brémond in his monumental Histoire littéraire du sentiment religieux en France speaks of a "mystical invasion." Saint Teresa's Carmel had crossed the Pyrenees, introducing men and women of all states of life to the way of interior prayer. The Jesuits had launched their missions to North America or, as they called it, "New France." Men and women of God, too many to be counted, undertook great things for His glory. It was the golden age of great friendships in God. In 1610, the young widow, Jeanne-Françoise de Chantal, together with Francis de Sales, established at Annecy the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary, declaring "that no great severity shall prevent the feeble and the weak from joining it."

The Choice of God

When Margaret Mary Alacoque entered the Visitation Monastery of Paray-le-Monial, it was assumed that she, like so many other women, would disappear into the cloister, leaving behind no more than the sweet lingering fragrance of another life given to Christ. But, as always, "God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God" (1 Cor 1:27-29).

Contemplating the Pierced Side

The icy wind of Jansenism was blowing through the chinks in more than one cloister. It chilled the heart with the fear of a distant and vindictive God, eclipsing the mission of Jesus sent by the Father, in the power of the Holy Spirit, "to proclaim release to the captives . . . to set at liberty those who are oppressed" (Lk 4:18). While the hearts of many around her grew cold, Saint Margaret Mary fixed her gaze upon the wounds of Jesus Crucified. Like Saint John the Apostle, like Saints Bernard, Lutgarde, Gertrude, Mechthilde, and countless others before and after her, the humble Visitandine of Pary-le-Monial was compelled by the Holy Spirit to look upon Jesus' pierced Side. "They shall look on Him whom they have pierced" (Zech 12:10, Jn 19:37).

A Priest, A Friend

In the Jesuit priest, Saint Claude La Colombière, Margaret Mary found a friend, one capable of standing with her at the Cross, of listening with her to the murmurings of the Holy Spirit, of gazing with her at the pierced Side of Jesus, and of entering with her to dwell in his Heart. The words of the apostle Paul seem to be those of Saint Claude to Margaret Mary: "It is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has commissioned us; He has put his seal upon us and given us His Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee" (2 Cor 1:22)

The Eucharistic Heart of Jesus

In contemplating the pierced Side of the Crucified, Saint Margaret Mary discovered what many had forgotten: "the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Christ" (Eph 3:18). It was given her to "know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge" and fills "with all the completion God has to give" (Eph 3:19). She discovered, moreover, that the open Side of Jesus beckons to all from the adorable Sacrament of the Altar, and that His Eucharistic is, at every moment, ablaze with love.

"Behold this Heart," He said, "which, not withstanding the burning love for man with which it is consumed and exhausted, meets with no other return from the generality of Christians than sacrilege, contempt, indifference, and ingratitude, even in the Sacrament of my Love. But what pierces my Heart most deeply is, that I am subjected to those insults by persons specially consecrated to my service."

Reparation

Reparation, Saint Margaret Mary understood, is an imperative of love. The Side of Jesus remains open in the Most Blessed Sacrament, and men pass it by -- some with a cold indifference, others with a merely formalistic token of acknowledgement, and still others without the slightest indication of grateful adoration -- and among these, alas, are priests and consecrated souls.

In this age of locked churches, of tabernacles forsaken from one Sunday to the next, of the Sacred Species so often handled casually and without reverence, and in the wake of public sacrileges perpetrated against the Blessed Sacrament, reparation to the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus is, more than ever, necessary.

The Cenacle, the Cross, the Altar

Saint Margaret Mary invites us to re-discover the Heart of Jesus ablaze with love in the Most Holy Eucharist. The Eucharistic Christ, the Christus Passus, abides in our midst as Priest and Victim. There He perpetuates the oblation made first in the Cenacle, and then from the altar of the Cross.

In every age souls, like Saint Margaret Mary, have been polarized by the mysteries of the Cenacle and of the Cross actualized in the Most Holy Eucharist. In some way, the Holy Spirit continually reproduces Saint John's icon of the Church contemplating the pierced Side of Jesus on Calvary: "Standing by the Cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. . . . and the disciple whom He loved" (Jn 19:25-26).

I Look Round for Pity

The Sacred Heart is at the center of the Most Holy Eucharist both as sacrifice and as sacrament. The sacred action of the Mass perpetuates the Sacrifice of Calvary by which Christ, obedient unto death, hands Himself over to His Father and to those who partake of His Body and Blood. The priestly Heart of Jesus that beats with love in the Sacrifice of the Mass where He offers Himself as Victim, lives and burns with the same fire of love in the Sacrament of the Altar. From the tabernacle, as once from the Cross, He seeks souls to console Him, saying in the psalmist's words: "I look round for pity, where pity is none, for comfort where there is no comfort to be found" (Ps 68:21).

The Burning Furnace of Love

One cannot look long at Jesus Crucified without "the eyes of the heart" (Eph 1:18) being drawn to His pierced Side, and without entering, drawn on by the Holy Spirit, through the door of His pierced Side, into what men and women of every age have experienced as a "burning furnace of love." The "unsearchable riches" (Eph 3:8) of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, contemplated "for now, as in a mirror darkly" (1 Cor 13:12), are given us, until the return of the Lord in glory, in the adorable mystery of the Eucharist. And so, we go to the altar and to the tabernacle again and again to taste "with all the saints" (Eph 3:18), the "perfect love that casts out fear" (1 Jn 4:18).

A Family Story

My Irish grandmother's Christian name was Margaret Mary. As one might expect, a framed picture of the Sacred Heart figured prominently in her kitchen. She, like so many Irish Catholics of her generation had an unshakeable faith in the promises of the Sacred Heart to Saint Margaret Mary. In my "Treasury of the Sacred Heart" published in Dublin by Charles Eason, Middle Abbey Street, in 1860, I read the promise in which my grandmother invested her hope: "I shall bless the houses where the representation of my Sacred Heart shall be exposed."

Precious Inheritance

Shortly before her death at the age of 93, Grandma asked me if I wanted anything belonging to her. "Only your picture of the Sacred Heart," I said. She had me write my name on the back of it. The day after she died I took the picture to be reframed; it was placed on her coffin in church. After the funeral, I took the picture home and it stayed with me for about a year.

Give It Away

Some time later, on the eve of my cousin Patrick's wedding, my grandmother came to me in a dream and said, "I want you to give my picture of the Sacred Heart to Patrick as a wedding present." And so, I wrapped it carefully and presented Patrick and Cheryl with it on their wedding day. Patrick took one look at the wrapped package and said, "I know what it is. It's Grandma's picture of the Sacred Heart."

I really do love praying Matins in the pre-dawn darkness while, in their own way, the crickets, and cicadas, and birds sing their Nocturns outside. This morning, as I read the First Lesson from Philippians 3:7-12, the words were Paul's but the voice I heard was Teresa's:

Mastered by Christ

Not that I have already won the prize,
already reached fulfilment.
I only press on, in hope of winning the mastery,
as Christ Jesus has won the mastery over me.

With the Goal in View

No, brethren, I do not claim to have the mastery already,
but this at least I do;
forgetting what I have left behind,
intent on what lies before me,
I press on with the goal in view,
eager for the prize, God's heavenly summons in Christ Jesus.

The Same Mind, the Same Rule

All of us who are fully grounded must be of this mind,
and God will make it known to you,
if you are of a different mind at present.
Meanwhile, let us all be of the same mind,
all follow the same rule, according to the progress we have made.

Follow My Example

Be content, brethren, to follow my example,
and mark well those who live by the pattern we have given them;
I have told you often, and now I tell you again with tears,
that there are many whose lives make them enemies of Christ's cross.
Perdition is the end that awaits them,
their own hungry bellies are the gods they worship,
their own shameful doings are their pride;
their minds are set on the things of earth;
whereas we find our true home in heaven.

Effective is His Power

It is to heaven that we look expectantly
for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to save us;
he will form this humbled body of ours anew,
moulding it into the image of his glorified body,
so effective is his power to make all things obey him.

As if that were not enough, the Second Nocturn gave me the splendid Psalm 72. There again, the words were King David's, but the voice was that of "La Madre."

The Companionship of Christ

Thou art at my side, ever holdest me by my right hand.
Thine to lead me in a way of thy own choosing,
thine to take me up to thyself in glory.

What else does heaven hold for me, but thyself?
What crave I on earth but thy companionship?

This frame, this earthly being of mine must come to an end;
still God will be my heart's stronghold, eternally my inheritance.

Lost those others may be, who desert thy cause,
lost are all those who break their troth with thee;

I know no other content but clinging to God,
putting my trust in the Lord, my Master.

Thank you to Fray Javier de Santa Teresa, O.C.D. for the beautiful photo.

One of the things I most love about the prayers of the Roman Rite is their compassionate realism. Today's succinct Collect (in the traditional liturgical books) illustrates this perfectly. There is no masking of human weakness, no pretense of virtue, and no want of confidence in Divine Mercy.

Deus, qui nos conspicis ex nostra infirmitate deficere:
ad amorem tuum nos misericorditer per Sanctorum tuorum exempla restaura.

Monsignor Knox translates it thus:

O God, who seest how we fail by reason of our weakness,
have mercy, and through the examples of thy saints,
renew our love of thee.

The Marquess of Bute gives this translation:

O God, Who seest that in our own weakness we do continually fall,
make, in Thy mercy, the ensamples of Thy holy children
a mean whereby to renew in us the love of Thyself.

Finally, the Anglican Monastic Diurnal has:

O God, who seest that we fall by reason of our infirmity:
mercifully restore us to thy love by the example of thy Saints.

Dealing with Sinners

There were some contemporaries of Pope Callistus I who found him lax and overly generous in dealing with public sinners, notably with clergy who had fallen into sin. Hippolytus, for example, groused that Callistus was unwilling to depose a bishop who had sinned grievously and then done penance for his sin.

Copious Redemption

Callistus, however, was personally acquainted with penitence of heart, and had suffered much at the hands of rigorists. If Mother Church has made the compassion of Christ the Good Shepherd the measure of her own pastoral practise in dealing with sinners, it is perhaps due, in some way, to the merciful magnanimity of Pope Saint Callistus I.

The Mercy That Restores to Love

From this one sees that today's Collect is perfectly adapted to the feast. The Church cannot but imitate the mercy of God, Who, while He sees us fail in our infirmities and fall in our weakness, sets before us the example of those forgiven sinners who are the saints, and desires only to restore us to His love.

On the feast of Corpus Christi, la Fête-Dieu, 1931, Mother Marie des Douleurs (1902-1983) wrote a meditation in the form of a dialogue with Jesus, the Divine Host, for her daughters. It is evident from the vocabulary she used that a strong call to Eucharistic reparation marked her life at that time: Host, High Priest, Victim, sacrileges, profanations. One detects the influence of Mother Mechtilde de Bar with whose writings she was certainly familiar.

You will remark that Mother Marie des Douleurs relates the agony of Jesus in Gethsemani to the institution of the Most Holy Eucharist that preceded it in the Cenacle. She sees the "Holy Hour" practiced on Thursday evenings as an act of Eucharistic reparation for sins of indifference, for the lack of response to the Gift of His Body and Blood, and for sacrileges and profanations.

Echoing the messages of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to Saint Margaret Mary at Paray-le-Monial, she hears Our Lord lament the superficiality of so many Christians, even of consecrated souls, It grieves Our Lord that so few priests offer Holy Mass without realizing that, in so doing, they hand themselves over to be immolated for souls with Himself, the Victim. Mother Marie des Douleurs alludes to the role of Saint Veronica, and hears Our Lord ask that a veil of heartfelt compassion be placed upon His Holy Face.

The last line of this brief meditation is extraordinary. The young foundress is compelled to want to place her own heart between the Heart of Jesus and sin. In effect, she prays to absorb, insofar as possible, the coldness, ugliness, indifference, and violence directed toward that Eucharistic Heart that so loves men. The translation is my own.

High Priest and Victim

O Hostie rayonnante, notre Pontife et notre Victime, nous aurions voulu savoir vous louer, nous aurions voulu vous faire un chemin bien plus triumphal que ce chemin de fleurs. Que faut-il donc et que pouvez vous demander à nous, si petites parmi les creatures?

O radiant Host, our High Priest and our Victim, we would have wanted to know how to praise You, we would have wanted to make You a much more triumphal path than this path of flowers. What do You need, and what can You ask of us, so little among Your creatures?

I Thirst for the Love of Souls

Je demande, à chacune d'entre vous, de se livrer à moi, sans retour, sans restriction, jusqu'à vouloir continellement vous anéantir, parce que j'ai soif de l'amour des âmes et que je veux, lorsque vous serez vraiment miennes, faire de vous, de chacune de vous, des étincelles qui iront dans le monde des âmes propager l'incendie. Ne vous refusez plus à mon désir, j'ai besoin de vous, j'ai besoin de votre amour pour compenser l'indifférence. J'ai besoin de vous souffrances pour ceux qui me haïssent.

I ask that each one amongst you surrender herself to me, without having second thoughts, without restriction, until you arrive at wanting to nullify yourselves continually, because I thirst for the love of souls, and because, when you will be truly mine, I want to make you -- each one of you -- sparks that will go forth into the world of souls to set them all ablaze. Refuse my desire no longer. I need you. I need your love to make up for indifference. I need your sufferings for those who hate me.

Sins Against the Most Holy Eucharist

J'ai besoin de vous, il faut que vous soyez là près de moi pendant l'agonie où je vois distinctement quel est le petit nombre des âmes qui viendront à l'Eucharistie, où je vois chacun des sacrileges, chacune des profanations, et où mon Coeur se brise.

I need you. You must be there, close to me during the agony in which I see distinctly how few souls will come to the Eucharist, in which I see the sacrileges, and each profanation, and in which my Heart breaks.

Priests at the Altar

De quelle tristesse suis-je étreint lorsque je vois qu'au don total que je fais de moi-meme la plupart des hommes , la plupart aussi des âmes consacrées ne répondent que par des actes superficiels. Où sont les âmes eucharistiques? celles qui ne vivent que par l'Hostie, celles qui s'identifient avec mon état de Victime? Il y a si peu de prêtres qui, chaque matin, lorsqu'ils montent à l'autel, pensent qu'ils vont à l'immolation de tout leur être pour les âmes.

What sorrow holds me in its grip when I see that even the greater number of men, the greater number also of consecrated souls respond with nothing more than superficial acts to the total gift I make of myself. Where are the Eucharistic souls? Where are those who will live only by the Host, those who will identify themselves with my victimal state? There are so few priests who, each morning, when they ascend the altar, consider that they are going to be entirely immolated for souls. I ask you to suffer all of that with me; the tender compassion of your hearts will be for mine like the veil of Veronica upon my Face covered with sweat, with dust, and with blood.

Hearts Set Between the Heart of Jesus and Sin

O mon Dieu, vous êtes adorablement bon, vous nous traîtez comme vos épouses. Vous nous donnez ainsi un peu de votre souffrance. Mon Dieu, nous la recevons humblement et avec action de grIaces: c'est la part que nous avons choisie et nous ne savons plus comment nous pourrions supporter l'exil si nous ne pouvions pas, tant que nous vivrons, mettre nos coeurs entre le vôtre et le péché.

O my God, You are adorably good, You treat us as Your spouses. Thus do You give us a little of Your own suffering. My God, we receive it humbly and with thanksgiving; it is the part that we have chosen. We know not how we shall ever bear this exile, so long as we shall live, if we cannot set our hearts between Yours and sin.

From the Lesson at Matins:

He Began With the Things of Religion

Edward greatly loved God, and was gentle-hearted, and free from any lust for power. He took the kingdom in the year 1042, being then about forty years old. Thereupon he set himself to repair the breaches which wars had made, and began with the things of God, being desirous that religion should rise from the low estate whereinto it had fallen.

Father of Orphans

Because of the abundance of his charity he was styled everywhere The Father of Orphans and Parent of the Poor, and he was never happier than when he had spent upon the needy the whole of his kingly treasures.

The Friendship of Saint John

He had a wonderful love toward John the Evangelist, so that he was used never to refuse anything for the which he was asked in that Saint's name. Concerning this a marvelous tale is wont to be told. It is said that the Evangelist appeared to him once while in tattered raiment, and in his own name asked him for an alms. It befell that the King had no money, wherefore he took a ring from off his finger and gifted him therewith.

Repose in the Lord

Not long afterward the Evangelist sent the same ring back to him by a pilgrim, with a message concerning his death, which was then at hand. The King therefore commanded that prayers should be made for him, and then fell blessedly asleep in the Lord, upon the very day which had been foretold to him by the Evangelist, that is to say, on January 5th, in 1066.

Westminster Abbey

In 1161 he was canonized, and on October 13th, two years later, his body, which was said to have been found incorrupt, was by Saint Thomas Becket translated to Westminster Abbey, where it is still enshrined behind the high altar.

Our Bishop's Namesday

Today, the feast of Saint Edward the Confessor, is the namesday of His Excellency, The Most Reverend Edward J. Slattery, Bishop of Tulsa. And so, we pray for him, using the traditional Roman supplication for a bishop, sometimes sung at Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament. The chant melody for it may be found in the Liber Usualis or in any number of collections of chants for Benediction.

Oremus pro Antistite nostro Eduardo.
R. Stet et pascat in fortitudine tua, Domine, in sublimitate nominis tui.

Let us pray for our Bishop Edward.
R. May he stand and shepherd in Thy strength, O Lord, in the sublimity of Thy name

V. Salvum fac servum tuum.
R. Deus meus sperantem in te.

V. Save thy servant.
R. Who hopeth in Thee, O my God.

Oremus.

Deus, omnium fidelium pastor et rector,
famulum tuum Eduardum, quem pastorem Ecclesiae Tulsensis praesse voluisti,
propitus respice:
da ei, quaesumus, verbo et exemplo, quibus preest proficere;
ut ad vitam una cum grege sibi credito perveniat sempiternam.
Per Christum Dominum nostrum.
R. Amen.

Let us pray.

O God, Shepherd and Ruler of all Thy faithful people,
look mercifully upon Thy servant Edward,
whom Thou hast chosen as shepherd to preside over Thy Church in Tulsa;
grant him, we beseech Thee, that by his word and example,
he may edify those over whom he hath charge,
so that together with the flock committed to him,
he may he attain everlasting life.
Through Christ our Lord.
R. Amen.

Our diocesan webpage published a news article about the evening of recollection I gave in the Cathedral of the Holy Family in Tulsa on the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. In the photo, Sheila Michie, at center, joins in praying the Rosary with other women who are discerning whether to become spiritual mothers to the priests of the Diocese of Tulsa

10/10/2008 - EOC Staff Nearly three dozen women of all ages will spend the next three months discerning whether God might be calling them to the vocation of spiritual motherhood to the priests of the Diocese of Tulsa. If they believe He has given them this vocation, they will spend the month of January in spiritual formation, deepening their prayer lives in preparation for their blessing by Bishop Edward J. Slattery on Sunday, Feb. 1.