Saints and Angels: March 2009 Archives

March 21
The Transitus of Our Holy Father Saint Benedict

Genesis 12:1-4a
John 17:20-26

Transitus

We celebrate today the Transitus of our Holy Father Saint Benedict. Transitus means passing over, passage, or change, and is used, in the Christian tradition to refer to the mystery of death. You all know the beautiful line from the Preface for the Dead that sings, “The life of those who are faithful to you, O Lord, is but changed, not ended; and when their earthly dwelling-place decays, an everlasting mansion stands prepared for them in heaven.” A change, not an end: such is the Christian perspective of death.

Change

Every change in our life here below, even the smallest, most insignificant changes are, in some way, a preparation for death. This is perhaps one of the reasons why we are so resistant to change, even to little changes. Every change, every detachment, is a portent of death. We respond to change -- not always consciously -- with fear, because we fear death. In the Christian perspective, change is the price of life.

Saint Joseph

There is a striking connection between today’s feast and the Solemnity of Saint Joseph that we celebrated on Thursday. In Saint Joseph we saw a man called to changes that uprooted his life, changes that obliged him to obey Angels, to journey by night; changes that involved insecurity and risk, changes that called him to the triumph of faith over fear.

Uprootings

Today, in celebrating Saint Benedict, we see a man marked, as was Saint Joseph, by a succession of uprootings and changes: from the life of a student in Rome to that of a solitary in the Sacro Speco at Subiaco; from solitude to life in community; and from his dear monastery of Subiaco to Monte Cassino. At Monte Cassino came the final change, the final pass-over, the transitus. Our Holy Father Saint Benedict prepared all his life for death by a radical openness to change in obedience to the Holy Spirit.

Detachment

In the Rule, Holy Father Benedict enjoins us to “keep death daily before our eyes” (RB 4:47). The measure of our preparedness for death is the measure of our openness to change or, if you prefer, our degree of detachment. Detachment is secured through obedience. For Saint Benedict obedience to tradition is the highest form of wisdom, and this because tradition -- often incarnated in anachronistic signs and inherited customs and counter-cultural daily practices -- distills for us the wisdom of the Cross. “The word of the Cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor 1:18).

One of my favourite poems for the feast of Saint Joseph: I am happy to share it with the readers of Vultus Christi. It is, of course, best read aloud.

Limbo

The ancient greyness shifted
Suddenly and thinned
Like mist upon the moors
Before a wind.
An old, old prophet lifted
A shining face and said:
"He will be coming soon.
The Son of God is dead;
He died this afternoon."

A murmurous excitement stirred all souls.
they wondered if they dreamed-
Save one old man who seemed
Not even to have heard.

And Moses standing,
Hushed them all to ask
If any had a welcome song prepared.
If not, would David take the task?
And if they cared
Could not the three young children sing
The Benedicite, the canticle of praise
They made when God kept them from perishing
In the fiery blaze?

A breath of spring surprised them,
Stilling Moses' words.
No one could speak, remembering
The first fresh flowers,
The little singing birds.
Still others thought of fields new ploughed

Or apple trees
All blossom-boughed.
Or some, the way a dried bed fills
With water
Laughing down green hills.
The fisherfolk dreamed of the foam
On bright blue seas.
The one old man who had not stirred
Remembered home.
And there He was
Splendid as the morning sun and fair
As only God is fair.
And they, confused with joy,
Knelt to adore
Seeing that He wore
Five crimson stars
He never had before.

No canticle at all was sung.
None toned a psalm, or raising a greeting song,
A silent man alone
Of all that throng
Found tongue-
Not any other.
Close to His heart
When embrace was done,
Old Joseph said,
"How is your Mother,
How is your Mother, Son?"

Sister Mary Ada, C.S.J.

The Enlightener of Ireland

“Remember the marvels the Lord has done” (Ps 104:5). The psalmist invites us to remember, among other marvels, the wonderful works done by God through Saint Patrick, the Enlightener of Ireland. Sent to Ireland by Pope Celestine in 432, Saint Patrick delivered the true, Catholic and Apostolic faith to the Irish people. He announced, in the language of his own poetry, “the strong name of the Trinity, Christ’s incarnation, His baptism in the Jordan River, his death on the Cross for our salvation, His bursting from the spicèd tomb, His riding up the heavenly way, and His coming at the day of doom” (Saint Patrick’s Breastplate). Patrick, bound fast to the mystery of Christ, enlightened the minds and warmed the hearts of a people “dwelling in darkness and in the shadow of death” (Lk 1:7) with faith in the Son of Mary.

When Every Staff of Bread Was Broken

This is the faith for which the Irish risked home and possessions and life during years of cruel persecution. This is the faith kept alive in the humble telling of the beads, in hospitality heroically given to fugitive priests, and in the preparation of secret altars for the Holy Sacrifice, for nothing mattered to them more than Holy Mass. This is the faith that sustained the Irish even when, as the psalm says, they “were wandering from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another” (Ps 104:13), when “famine fell upon the land, and when every staff of bread was broken” (Ps 104:16). This is the Catholic faith passed on, at great cost, from one generation to the next.

The Transmission of the Faith

A faith that is not passed on grows dim and, like a dying flame, becomes no more than a flicker offering little in the way of light and warmth. The transmission of the faith assures its vitality. Faith is inseparable from tradition, tradition being the transmission of what we ourselves have received from the saints: whole, unchanged, and intact.

Tradition

There is an old saying -- not an Irish one -- a Middle Eastern one that expresses perfectly what we mean by tradition. “With a trail, the best way to keep it alive is to walk on it, because every time you walk on it, you create it again.” So too with the path of tradition: the best way to keep it alive is to walk on it, because every time you walk on it, you create it again.

Things Put Into Our Hands

Every now and then in life things are put into our hands to help us remember the marvels the Lord has done and to help us walk on the path of tradition, creating it again, and discovering it again with a sense of gratitude and wonderment. After the death of my dear grandmother Margaret Mary Gilbride Kirby on March 23rd, 1993, it was necessary to sort through years of accumulated treasures in the house she had lived in.

A Little Irish Prayerbook

Among the things found in that house was a little Irish prayerbook. Its gilded pages are faded now and the once shining stamp of the Sacred Heart on its leather cover is dark with age. It is 146 years old, having been published in Middle Abbey Street, Dublin, in 1860. Blessed Pius IX was Pope. It bears the imprimatur of His Eminence Paul Cardinal Cullen, Archbishop of Dublin, and of the Right Reverend Doctor William Delany, Lord Bishop of Cork.

Prayer to Saint Joseph for Priests

Suitable for March 16, 17, and 18

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

First Saturday of the Month

Today is the First Saturday of March, an opportunity to draw near to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary. Pray to the Mother of the Lamb, the Blessed Virgin Mary, asking her to crush the head of the ancient serpent and to turn the eyes of all peoples to the Pierced Side of her Son.

Don Dolindo

Among the little known figures of holiness of the last century is the Neapolitan priest, Don Dolindo Ruotolo (1882-1970). Don Dolindo -- his unusual name means Sorrow -- suffered cruel persecutions, calumny, and rejection, even from ecclesiastical authorities. Like his contemporary, Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, Don Dolindo endured his trials with confident abandonment to the Father and in union with the Passion of Christ. He referred to himself as the Madonna's little old man; the rosary was at every moment in his hands.

A lover of the Sacred Liturgy, Don Dolindo promoted Gregorian Chant. He was an ardent preacher; he also wrote extensively: commentaries on Sacred Scripture in the spirit of the Fathers of the Church, elevations for priests, meditations, and prayers. Here is my own translation of one of his prayers to the Blessed Virgin. How timely it is!

Come thou, O Mary, reign in the world!
Let new impulses of filial devotion to thee come from the Chair of Peter.
that thy most radiant light may dispel errors.

Come then, and rescue Thy servants, O Blessed One!
Come, and for the new mercy that Thou outpourest upon the world,
be endless glory to the Father,
equal glory to the Son,
and sovereign glory to God the Holy Spirit. Amen.