November 2015 – Communio

Advent 2015

“How is it we are saved by you, O Lord, from whom salvation comes and whose blessing is upon your people, if it is not in receiving from you the gift of loving you and being loved by you? That, Lord, is why you willed that the Son of your right hand, the Man whom you made strong for your own self, should be called Jesus, that is, Savior, for he will save his people from their sins. There is no other in whom is salvation except him who taught us to love himself when he first loved us, even to death on the cross. By loving us and holding us so dear he stirred us up to love himself, who first had loved us to the end.”

―William of Saint-Thierry

Happy Thanksgiving

The act of gratitude is the first step of holiness. This is the teaching of great saints: Augustine, Aquinas, Benedict, Mom. Loyola spoke of the sin of ingratitude in strong terms. Why is gratitude especially important? For one, it reminds us that we don’t make ourselves. It reminds us that God is in-charge and that He loves us. As one commentator said, “The habitual practice of this first step [of Loyola’s teaching on the Examen that you start with gratitude for all that God has given,] opposes “spiritual amnesia” that the enemy tries to cause with desolation.” Jesuit Fr. John Navone writes, “Tell me what you remember, and I’ll tell you what you are (, S.J.). Another Jesuit, Fr. John Hardon, used to say “the human memory is like a sieve.”

Our asceticism is to create the space to consciously remember good things — the blessings thus becomes a first step; acknowledging them moves into thanksgiving. Blessings on Thanksgiving Day 2015!

Blessed James Alberione

We all know the Daughters of St Paul and appreciate their gift for sharing the Catholic faith through the media, print and electronic. In the US, the Daughters have been well placed to live the new evangelization all because Blessed James Alberione.

James Alberione, known with enthusiasm as the Apostle of Communications Media, was a man of great talent and deep friendship. Don Alberione (1884-1971), as the Italians would have called him, was very charismatic person. He served during the Second Vatican Council as a peritus (theological expert), participating in the private sessions during which the decrees of the Council were formed and shaped, for the approval of the Council Fathers in full session. What would he have done today had he lived in slightly different era of the 20th and 21st centuries! Nevertheless, God gave him terrific graces for the proclamation of the Gospel until he died in 1971. He founded 10 religious congregations and lay groups:

After founding the Society of St. Paul, he gathered a group of women in 1915 with Venerable Mother Tecla Merlo, the Daughters of St. Paul.

1918: The Association of Pauline Cooperators1924: The Pious Disciples of the Divine Master (PDDM), with Servant of God Mother Maria Scolastica Rivata, the contemplative members of the Pauline Family whose members would be especially dedicated to Eucharistic Adoration, Liturgical Preparations, and Priestly Services.
1938: The Sisters of Jesus the Good Shepherd (also known as: “Pastorelle”) works in schools and parishes by providing religious instruction
1957: The Sisters of Mary Queen of Apostles works and pray for vocations for the Pauline Family and to the Religious Life
1958: The Institute of St. Gabriel the Archangel (lay consecrated men whose apostolate is also that of the Society of St. Paul)
1958: The Institute of Mary of the Annunciation (lay consecrated women whose apostolate is also that of the Society of St. Paul)
1959: The Institute of Jesus the Priest (for diocesan clergy who would like to adopt the Pauline Spirituality to their ministry),
1960: The Institute of the Holy Family (for married couples) and

At Mass when Pope Saint John Paul II beatified Father James, he delivered this homily:

Fr. James Alberione, Founder of the Pauline Family, was one of the most creative apostles of the 20th century. He was born in San Lorenzo di Fossano (Cuneo), Italy, on 4 April 1884 and baptized the following day. The profoundly Christian and hard-working Alberione family, made up of Michael and Teresa Allocco and their six children, were farmers.

Little James, the fourth child of the family, felt the call of God early in life. When questioned by his first-grade teacher as to what he wanted to be when he grew up, he replied, “I want to be a priest!”. His childhood years were directed to this goal.

When the Alberione family moved to Cherasco, in the Alba diocese, the parish priest of St. Martin’s Church, Fr. Montersino, helped young James to reflect on God’s call and respond to it. At the age of 16, James entered the seminary of Alba and immediately met Canon Francesco Chiesa, who would be his father, guide, friend and advisor over the next 46 years.

At the end of the Holy Year of 1900, James, who had read and reflected deeply on Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical, Tametsi Futura, underwent an experience that would give direction to the rest of his life. On the night of 31 December 1900, the night that divided the 19th and 20th centuries, he prayed for four hours before the Blessed Sacrament and contemplated the future in the light of God. A “particular light” seemed to come from the Host and roused in him a sense of obligation “to do something for the Lord and for the people of the new century”: he felt “obliged to serve the Church” with the new instruments provided by human ingenuity.

James continued his intensive study of philosophy and theology and on 29 June 1907 he was ordained a priest. His time as assistant pastor in Narzole (Cuneo) was brief but decisive from the perspective of pastoral experience. In Narzole he met little Giuseppe Giaccardo, who would be to him as Timothy was to the Apostle Paul. It was also in Narzole that Fr. Alberione came to a clearer understanding of what women could do in the apostolate.

Fr. Alberione served as spiritual director to both the major and minor seminarians in the Seminary of Alba, where he also taught various subjects. He helped out with preaching, catechesis and giving conferences in the various parishes of the diocese. In addition to this, he devoted much time to studying the civil-ecclesial situation and the newly-emerging needs of society.

He came to understand that the Lord was guiding him toward a new mission: to preach the Gospel to all peoples, in the spirit of the Apostle Paul, using the modern instruments of communication. This is confirmed by two books he wrote: Notes on Pastoral Theology (1912) and Woman Associated to Priestly Zeal (1911-1915).

For the sake of charism and continuity, such a mission needed to be carried out by consecrated persons because “the works of God are performed by men and women of God.” Thus, on 20 August 1914, while Pope Pius X lay dying in Rome, Fr. Alberione initiated the Pauline Family in Alba by founding the Pious Society of St. Paul. The Institute was born in utter poverty, according to the divine pedagogy: “always begin from Bethlehem.”

The human family—to which Fr. Alberione turned for inspiration—is made up of brothers and sisters. The first woman to follow Fr. Alberione was 21-year-old Teresa Merlo from Castagnito (Cuneo). With her help, Fr. Alberione began a second Congregation in 1915: the Daughters of St. Paul. Slowly the “Family” grew, both masculine and feminine vocations increased, and the apostolate began to take shape.

In December 1918, his first “daughters” left for Susa, where the work they initiated forms part of the courageous story of faith and enterprise that gave rise to what came to be called the “Pauline” lifestyle. But progress came to an abrupt halt in 1923 when Fr. Alberione fell gravely ill and the doctors despaired of his recovery. However the Founder was able to miraculously resume his journey, later saying, “St. Paul healed me.” During that period, the words Fr. Alberione had received in a dream or revelation from the Divine Master were first inscribed on the walls of the Family’s chapels: “Do not be afraid. I am with you. From here I want to enlighten. Be sorry for sin.”

The following year, a second feminine Congregation came into being: the Pious Disciples of the Divine Master, whose members would carry out the Eucharistic, priestly and liturgical apostolate. To guide this Institute, Fr. Alberione chose the young Sr. M. Scholastica Rivata, who died at the age of 90 in a state of holiness.

On the apostolic level, Fr. Alberione promoted the printing of popular editions of the Bible and used the swiftest instrument of the time—periodicals—to help the message of Christ reach even those furthest away. He had already begun the magazine Vita Pastorale (The Pastoral Life) in 1912 for parish priests. In 1931 he launched Famiglia Cristiana, (Christian Home) a weekly magazine to nourish the Christian life of families. Other periodicals followed: (Madre di Dio) Mother of God (1933), “to reveal the beauty and greatness of Mary to people”; Pastor Bonus (Good Shepherd) (1937), a monthly magazine in Latin; Via, Verità e Vita (Way, Truth, Life) (1952), a monthly dedicated to the teaching of Christian doctrine; (Vita in Cristo nella Chiesa) Life in Christ and in the Church (1952), to help people “get to know the treasures of the Liturgy, disseminate the things that serve it, and live it according to the mind of the Church.” Turning his attention to young people, Fr. Alberione began the weekly children’s magazine, Il Giornalino (The Little Newspaper).

The Founder also built the magnificent Church of St. Paul in Alba, followed by two Churches to the Divine Master (in Alba and Rome) and the Sanctuary of the Queen of Apostles (Rome). Above all, he strove to reach beyond local and national borders. In 1926, he established a branch house in Rome, followed over the years by many foundations in Italy and abroad.

Meanwhile, Fr. Alberione’s spiritual “edifice” was growing. He inculcated in his followers a spirit of dedication by means of deeply apostolic devotions: to Jesus Master and Shepherd “Way, Truth and Life,” to Mary Mother, Teacher and Queen of Apostles, and to St. Paul the Apostle. In fact, it was this reference to the Apostle that gave his new institutes their identity as the “Pauline Family.” The goal that Fr. Alberione wanted his sons and daughters to pursue above all was complete conformation to Christ: to embrace the whole Christ Way, Truth and Life with one’s entire being: mind, will, heart and physical energies. This orientation was codified in his small book, Donec Formetur Christus in Vobis (That Christ Be Formed in You) (1932).

In October 1938, Fr. Alberione founded a third feminine Congregation: the Sisters of Jesus the Good Shepherd or “Pastorelle Sisters,” to assist parish priests in their work.

During the enforced “break” of World War II (1940-1945), Fr. Alberione did not suspend his spiritual itinerary but continued to embrace the light of God more and more, in a climate of adoration and contemplation. Witness to this can be found in the Founder’s spiritual notebooks, in which he jotted down his inspirations and the means he adopted to correspond to the plan of God. This spiritual milieu nurtured the meditations he guided every morning for his sons and daughters, as well as his directives for the apostolate and the numerous retreats and courses of spiritual exercises he preached (the conferences of which were collected together into various volumes). Fr. Alberione’s primary focus remained unswerving: to help everyone understand that “the first concern of the Pauline Family should be holiness of life; the second, holiness of doctrine.” It is in this light that he forged ahead with his Project for an Encyclopedia on Jesus Master (1959).

In 1954, to celebrate the 40 anniversary of foundation of the Pauline Family, Fr. Alberione for the first time allowed something about himself to be written down (the material appears in the book Mi protendo in avanti – “I Strain Ahead”), and he also complied with the request to jot down some thoughts concerning the beginnings of his foundations. Thus came into being the small book, Abundantes divitiae gratiae suae, “a charismatic history of the Pauline Family.” This Family was completed between 1957-1960 with the foundation of a fourth feminine Congregation, the Queen of Apostles Institute for vocations (Apostoline Sisters), and several secular institutes for the consecrated life: St. Gabriel the Archangel, Our Lady of the Annunciation, Jesus Priest, and the Holy Family. Ten institutes (including the Pauline Cooperators), united by the same ideal of holiness and apostolate: to bring Jesus Christ Way, Truth and Life to the world through the instruments of social communication.

From 1962-1965, Fr. Alberione was a silent but attentive protagonist in Vatican Council II, attending its sessions daily. But at the same time troubles and sufferings were not lacking: the premature deaths of his first collaborators, Timothy Giaccardo and Thecla Merlo; worry for the Pauline communities abroad that were going through difficulties and, on the personal level, an excruciatingly painful condition of scoliosis that tormented him day and night.

Fr. Alberione lived to the age of 87. Having completed the work God had entrusted to him, he left this earth on 26 November 1971 to take his place in the house of the Father. In his last hours, he was comforted by the visit and blessing of Pope Paul VI, who had never hidden his admiration and veneration for the Founder. In fact, in an audience with the Pauline Family on 28 June 1969, the Pope spoke these moving words about Fr. Alberione, who was then 85 years old:

“There he is: humble, silent, tireless, always vigilant, recollected in his thoughts, which run from prayer to action; always intent on scrutinizing the ‘signs of the times,’ that is, the most creative ways to reach souls. Our Fr. Alberione has given the Church new instruments with which to express herself, new means to give vigor and breadth to her apostolate, new capacities and a new awareness of the validity and possibilities of his mission in the modern world with modern means. Dear Fr. Alberione, allow the Pope to rejoice in your long, faithful and tireless work and in the fruits it has produced for the glory of God and the good of the Church.”

On 25 June 1996, Pope John Paul II signed the decree recognizing the heroic virtues of the future Blessed.

Blesseds Luigi and Maria Quattrocchi

With the recent canonization of the parents of Saint Thérèse, Zelie and Louis Martin, more light has been shed on models of sanctity who lived their vocations in the married state. Historically, it seems, (at least in the modern period) that the first married couple to be beatified together are Luigi and Maria Quattrocchi in 2001. Beatified together or not, the heroic sanctity of the Quattrocchis and the Martins serve as great models for us today.

Since they died at different times the liturgical memorial is located on the calendar for today, the day on which Luigi and Maria were married in 1905 in the Basilica of St Mary Major in Rome.

Luigi was a lawyer and a civil servant; he died in 1951 at the age of 71; Maria, dedicated herself to her family and to several charitable and social Catholic movements; she died in 1965 at the age of 81. José Cardinal Saraiva Martins, the former Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, said at the time, Luigi and Maria Quattrocchi “made a true domestic church of their family, which was open to life, to prayer, to the social apostolate, to solidarity with the poor and to friendship.”

Their lives were lived in the purity of heart extroverted in acts of charity, frequent praying of the holy rosary and the family consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, monthly holy hour first Friday and weekend retreats organized by the monks of the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Paul-outside-the-Walls. They respected the life of the mind, too.

On 25 November 1994, the cause for Beatification for Maria and Luigi Beltrame Quattrocchi was opened and, on 21 October 2001, John Paul II beatified them. He had a special concern for providing contemporary saints for the Church today (read the Pope’s homily linked above). On 28 October 2001, the relics of Luigi and Maria were transferred to their crypt in the Shrine of Divino Amore (Divine Love) at Rome.

Saint Clement of Rome

Clement was brought to belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior either by Saint Peter or by Saint Paul. It is tradition that he was consecrated a bishop by Saint Peter the Apostle, known to be the fourth Bishop of Rome and as an Apostolic Father. The Roman Canon recalls his apostolic witness. The Basilica of Saint Clement in Rome, Italy, one of the earliest parish churches in the city. Saint Paul mentions Clement in his letter to the Philippians (4:3).

From a letter to the Corinthians by Saint Clement I, pope and martyr

Beloved, how blessed and wonderful are God’s gifts! There is life everlasting, joy in righteousness, truth in freedom, faith, confidence, and self-control in holiness. And these are the gifts that we can comprehend; what of all the others that are being prepared for those who look to him. Only the Creator, the Father of the ages, the all-holy, knows their grandeur and their loveliness. And so we should strive to be found among those who wait for him so that we may share in these promised gifts. And how is this to be, beloved brothers? It will come about if by our faith our minds remain fixed on God; if we aim at what is pleasing and acceptable to him, if we accomplish what is in harmony with his faultless will and follow the path of truth, rejecting all injustice, viciousness, covetousness, quarrels, malice and deceit.

This is the path, beloved, by which we find our salvation, Jesus Christ, the high priest of our sacrifices, the defender and ally in our helplessness. It is through him that we gaze on the highest heaven, through him we can see the reflection of God’s pure and sublime countenance, through him the eyes of our hearts have been opened, through him our foolish and darkened understanding opens toward the light, and through him the Lord has willed that we should taste everlasting knowledge. He reflects God’s majesty and is as much superior to angels as the name he has obtained is more excellent than theirs.

Let us then serve in his army, brothers, following his blameless commands with all our might. The great cannot exist without the small nor the small without the great; they blend together to their mutual advantage. Take the body, for example. The head is nothing without the feet, just as the feet are nothing without the head. The smallest parts of our body are necessary and valuable to the whole. All work together and are mutually subject for the preservation of the whole body.

Our entire body, then will be preserved in Christ Jesus, and each of us should be subject to his neighbor in accordance with the grace given to each. The stronger should care for the weak, and the weak should respect the stronger. The wealthy should give to the poor, and the poor man should thank God that he has sent him someone to supply his needs. The wise should manifest their wisdom not in words but in good deeds, and the humble should not talk about their own humility, but allow others to bear witness to it. Since, therefore, we have all this from him, we ought to thank him for it all. Glory to him for ever. Amen.

Purgatory shows that no man is an island

In these last days of November the month of the Holy Souls, I think it is worth thinking about the doctrine of Purgatory. Several years ago Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical on hope “Spe Salvi” was published where he wrote some most beautiful lines ever written on purgatory. Here are paragraphs 45-48:

This early Jewish idea of an intermediate state includes the view that these souls are not simply in a sort of temporary custody but, as the parable of the rich man illustrates, are already being punished or are experiencing a provisional form of bliss. There is also the idea that this state can involve purification and healing which mature the soul for communion with God. The early Church took up these concepts, and in the Western Church they gradually developed into the doctrine of Purgatory. We do not need to examine here the complex historical paths of this development; it is enough to ask what it actually means. With death, our life-choice becomes definitive—our life stands before the judge. Our choice, which in the course of an entire life takes on a certain shape, can have a variety of forms. There can be people who have totally destroyed their desire for truth and readiness to love, people for whom everything has become a lie, people who have lived for hatred and have suppressed all love within themselves. This is a terrifying thought, but alarming profiles of this type can be seen in certain figures of our own history. In such people all would be beyond remedy and the destruction of good would be irrevocable: this is what we mean by the word Hell. On the other hand there can be people who are utterly pure, completely permeated by God, and thus fully open to their neighbours—people for whom communion with God even now gives direction to their entire being and whose journey towards God only brings to fulfilment what they already are.

Yet we know from experience that neither case is normal in human life. For the great majority of people—we may suppose—there remains in the depths of their being an ultimate interior openness to truth, to love, to God. In the concrete choices of life, however, it is covered over by ever new compromises with evil—much filth covers purity, but the thirst for purity remains and it still constantly re-emerges from all that is base and remains present in the soul. What happens to such individuals when they appear before the Judge? Will all the impurity they have amassed through life suddenly cease to matter? What else might occur? Saint Paul, in his First Letter to the Corinthians, gives us an idea of the differing impact of God’s judgement according to each person’s particular circumstances. He does this using images which in some way try to express the invisible, without it being possible for us to conceptualize these images—simply because we can neither see into the world beyond death nor do we have any experience of it. Paul begins by saying that Christian life is built upon a common foundation: Jesus Christ. This foundation endures. If we have stood firm on this foundation and built our life upon it, we know that it cannot be taken away from us even in death. Then Paul continues: “Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each man’s work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire” (1 Cor 3:12-15). In this text, it is in any case evident that our salvation can take different forms, that some of what is built may be burned down, that in order to be saved we personally have to pass through “fire” so as to become fully open to receiving God and able to take our place at the table of the eternal marriage-feast.

Some recent theologians are of the opinion that the fire which both burns and saves is Christ himself, the Judge and Saviour. The encounter with him is the decisive act of judgement. Before his gaze all falsehood melts away. This encounter with him, as it burns us, transforms and frees us, allowing us to become truly ourselves. All that we build during our lives can prove to be mere straw, pure bluster, and it collapses. Yet in the pain of this encounter, when the impurity and sickness of our lives become evident to us, there lies salvation. His gaze, the touch of his heart heals us through an undeniably painful transformation “as through fire”. But it is a blessed pain, in which the holy power of his love sears through us like a flame, enabling us to become totally ourselves and thus totally of God. In this way the inter-relation between justice and grace also becomes clear: the way we live our lives is not immaterial, but our defilement does not stain us for ever if we have at least continued to reach out towards Christ, towards truth and towards love. Indeed, it has already been burned away through Christ’s Passion. At the moment of judgement we experience and we absorb the overwhelming power of his love over all the evil in the world and in ourselves. The pain of love becomes our salvation and our joy. It is clear that we cannot calculate the “duration” of this transforming burning in terms of the chronological measurements of this world. The transforming “moment” of this encounter eludes earthly time-reckoning—it is the heart’s time, it is the time of “passage” to communion with God in the Body of Christ. The judgement of God is hope, both because it is justice and because it is grace. If it were merely grace, making all earthly things cease to matter, God would still owe us an answer to the question about justice—the crucial question that we ask of history and of God. If it were merely justice, in the end it could bring only fear to us all. The incarnation of God in Christ has so closely linked the two together—judgement and grace—that justice is firmly established: we all work out our salvation “with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12). Nevertheless grace allows us all to hope, and to go trustfully to meet the Judge whom we know as our “advocate”, or parakletos (cf. 1 Jn 2:1).

A further point must be mentioned here, because it is important for the practice of Christian hope. Early Jewish thought includes the idea that one can help the deceased in their intermediate state through prayer (see for example 2 Macc 12:38-45; first century BC). The equivalent practice was readily adopted by Christians and is common to the Eastern and Western Church. The East does not recognize the purifying and expiatory suffering of souls in the afterlife, but it does acknowledge various levels of beatitude and of suffering in the intermediate state. The souls of the departed can, however, receive “solace and refreshment” through the Eucharist, prayer and almsgiving. The belief that love can reach into the afterlife, that reciprocal giving and receiving is possible, in which our affection for one another continues beyond the limits of death—this has been a fundamental conviction of Christianity throughout the ages and it remains a source of comfort today. Who would not feel the need to convey to their departed loved ones a sign of kindness, a gesture of gratitude or even a request for pardon? Now a further question arises: if “Purgatory” is simply purification through fire in the encounter with the Lord, Judge and Saviour, how can a third person intervene, even if he or she is particularly close to the other? When we ask such a question, we should recall that no man is an island, entire of itself. Our lives are involved with one another, through innumerable interactions they are linked together. No one lives alone. No one sins alone. No one is saved alone. The lives of others continually spill over into mine: in what I think, say, do and achieve. And conversely, my life spills over into that of others: for better and for worse. So my prayer for another is not something extraneous to that person, something external, not even after death. In the interconnectedness of Being, my gratitude to the other—my prayer for him—can play a small part in his purification. And for that there is no need to convert earthly time into God’s time: in the communion of souls simple terrestrial time is superseded. It is never too late to touch the heart of another, nor is it ever in vain. In this way we further clarify an important element of the Christian concept of hope. Our hope is always essentially also hope for others; only thus is it truly hope for me too. As Christians we should never limit ourselves to asking: how can I save myself? We should also ask: what can I do in order that others may be saved and that for them too the star of hope may rise? Then I will have done my utmost for my own personal salvation as well.

The makes purgatory something to look forward to!

Martyrs of England, Scotland, and Wales

They liturgical calendar has the Church recognizes the 16th and 17th century Martyrs of England, Scotland, and Wales. The 85 are commemorated together in their historic English, Scottish and Welsh Catholic milieu who were martyred during the persecutions by Protestants. The martyrs were Beatified on this date in 1987 by Pope John Paul II. The names need to be read and remembered:

Blessed Alexander Blake
Blessed Alexander Crow
Blessed Antony Page
Blessed Arthur Bell
Blessed Charles Meehan
Blessed Christopher Robinson
Blessed Christopher Wharton
Blessed Edmund Duke
Blessed Edmund Sykes
Blessed Edward Bamber
Blessed Edward Burden
Blessed Edward Osbaldeston
Blessed Edward Thwing
Blessed Francis Ingleby
Blessed George Beesley
Blessed George Douglas
Blessed George Errington
Blessed George Haydock
Blessed George Nichols
Blessed Henry Heath
Blessed Henry Webley
Blessed Hugh Taylor
Blessed Humphrey Pritchard
Blessed John Adams
Blessed John Bretton
Blessed John Fingley
Blessed John Hambley
Blessed John Hogg
Blessed John Lowe
Blessed John Norton
Blessed John Sandys
Blessed John Sugar
Blessed John Talbot
Blessed John Thules
Blessed John Woodcock
Blessed Joseph Lambton
Blessed Marmaduke Bowes
Blessed Matthew Flathers
Blessed Montfort Scott
Blessed Nicholas Garlick
Blessed Nicholas Horner
Blessed Nicholas Postgate
Blessed Nicholas Woodfen
Blessed Peter Snow
Blessed Ralph Grimston
Blessed Richard Flower
Blessed Richard Hill
Blessed Richard Holiday
Blessed Richard Sergeant
Blessed Richard Simpson
Blessed Richard Yaxley
Blessed Robert Bickerdike
Blessed Robert Dibdale
Blessed Robert Drury
Blessed Robert Grissold
Blessed Robert Hardesty
Blessed Robert Ludlam
Blessed Robert Middleton
Blessed Robert Nutter
Blessed Robert Sutton
Blessed Robert Sutton
Blessed Robert Thorpe
Blessed Roger Cadwallador
Blessed Roger Filcock
Blessed Roger Wrenno
Blessed Stephen Rowsham
Blessed Thomas Atkinson
Blessed Thomas Belson
Blessed Thomas Bullaker
Blessed Thomas Hunt
Blessed Thomas Palaser
Blessed Thomas Pilcher
Blessed Thomas Pormort
Blessed Thomas Sprott
Blessed Thomas Watkinson
Blessed Thomas Whitaker
Blessed Thurstan Hunt
Blessed William Carter
Blessed William Davies
Blessed William Gibson
Blessed William Knight
Blessed William Lampley
Blessed William Pike
Blessed William Southerne
Blessed William Spenser
Blessed William Thomson.

Solemnity Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

The 34th Sunday through the Church Year is known in the Ordinary Form of the Mass as the Solemnity Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe (today); the communities who use the Extraordinary Form of the Mass celebrated this feast on the last Sunday of October.

Pope Pius XI, in 1925, instituted this feast as a response to the rise of modern totalitarian states and growing secularism. We feel the effects of the ideology today. In the Pope’s mind, Christians were to keep their eyes focused on the goal of creation – the fullness of the Kingdom of God in a complete way through Jesus Christ. Consider what Saint Paul wrote to the Colossians: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him.”

“The Son of Man ‘came not to be served but to serve’…that King whom to serve is to reign” Thus, the “‘state of royal freedom’ proper to Christ’s disciples: to serve means to reign!”

In Jesus of Nazareth, Holy Week, Pope Benedict wrote:

“Jesus performs for his disciples the service of a slave, he ’emptied himself’ (Phil 2:7).

“What the letter to the Phillipians says in it great Chrisotological hymn –namely, that unlike Adam who had tried to grasp divinity for himself, Christ moves in the opposite direction, coming down from his divinity into humanity, taking the form of a servant and becoming obedient even to death on a cross (cf. 2:7-8) — all that is rendered in a single gesture. Jesus represents THE WHOLE OF HIS SAVING MINISTRY IN ONE SYMBOLIC ACT. He divests himself of his divine splendor; he, as it were, kneels down before us; he washes and dries our soiled feet…” (p,56-7)

The image for today’s feast is Jesus washing the feet of Peter which demonstrates in a most profound way Jesus’ kenotic essence (kenosis means Jesus taking on human nature in a total way without sin and decay; you can think of the Lord’s Infancy narratives) thus representing his kingship in a new way rather with a crown (as is ofttimes the representation). Jesus could have easily come with earthly symbols of power and honor but according to his loving, merciful, kenotic reality he chose the very opposite.

And Saint Therese of Lisieux has an interesting way of pointing us: “Here on earth, where everything changes, only one thing doesn’t change: the King of Heaven’s way of acting as regards his friends. Ever since he raised up the standard of the cross, it is in its shadow that all must fight and gain the victory over ourselves.”

Presentation of Mary in the Temple

The feast of the Presentation of Mary is a contemplation on we relate to the Temple following Mary as the Perfect Disciple (the paradigmatic believer), relate to us. This feast asks the question of how we, in our bodies, are meant to live in the Temple of the Lord. Our bodies are meant for the Lord. You ought to read Saint Paul’s First Letter to Corinthians in the 6th chapter: our bodies are members of Christ. So, what is it that we are called by the Lord? What is Mary’s place in the economy of Salvation and how do we relate to the same economy? What has happened to us in Christ?

We the Church we pray:

As we venerate the glorious memory of the most holy Virgin Mary, grant, we pray, O Lord, through her intercession, that we, too, may merit to receive from the fullness of your grace.

We need to appeal to the Byzantine Liturgy which proclaims,

“Today is the prelude to God’s munificence, and the announcement of salvation: in the Temple of God the Virgin is seen openly, foretelling to all the coming of Christ…The most pure temple of the Savior, his most precious bridal chamber, the Virgin, sacred treasury of God’s glory, enters today into the house of the Lord, bringing with her the grace of the divine Spirit. Wherefore the angels of God are singing: “Behold the heavenly tabernacle!…Wherefore let us cry out to her with all our strength: ‘Joy to you fulfillment of the Creator’s plan!'” At the moment when the young girl Mary was presented in the glorious Temple “everything that humans build was already diminished by the praise in her heart” (Rilke)

As a Benedictine Oblate, today is the day we renew our Oblation to our particular monasteries. As Through the intercession of Mary of the Temple may we Oblates recognize our true end in Christ. The hymn verse says it all: “Today, this day, is the day of the Lord. Rejoice, people, for lo, the bridal chamber of the Light, the book of the Word of Life, the Temple of the living God, has come forth from the womb, and the gate facing east, newly born, awaits the entrance of the great High Priest. She alone brings into the world the one and only Christ for the salvation of our souls.” God became flesh through Mary. So we should also be the Temple of the Lord today.

Here is an exposition of this feast by the Orthodox priest Father Thomas Hopko on Ancient Faith Ministries.

Our Lady of Providence

I didn’t know that today was the feast day of Our Lady of Providence or Our Lady of Divine Providence until I saw it noted on a friend’s FB page. This title given to the Mother of God is a reference to Mary as the Mother of Jesus who lives in relationship with Divine Providence.

As my friend noted, “Devotion to Mary, Mother of Divine Providence began in the first house of the Congregation of the Clerics Regular of St. Paul (Barnabites) in Rome at San Carlo ai Catinari church around year 1611. Around 1580, the Italian painter Scipione Pulzone created a work titled “Mater Divinae Providentiae,” which depicted the Blessed Mother cradling the Infant Jesus. This painting was given to the Barnabite religious order in 1663.”

“In 1774, Pope Benedict XIV authorized the Confraternity of Our Lady of Providence, a lay organization created for the purpose of promoting special works of Christian charity or piety. Pope Gregory XVI elevated it to an Archconfraternity in 1839. In 1888, Pope Leo XIII ordered the solemn crowning of the “Miraculous Lady” and approved the Mass and Office of Mary, Mother of Divine Providence.”

On 5 August 1896, Superior General of the Barnabites Father Benedict Nisser decreed that every Barnabite have a copy of the painting in their home.

For a variety of reasons, this new information is a great “find” for me. I entreat you to call upon Our Lady of Providence right now!