Author: Paul Zalonski

What is the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem?

We are “…missionaries of the Gospel of Christ in today’s society…”.

Periodically I ask myself what is this order to whom I belong? What’s the point? Why is it important to the Church, too society, to me? Having to ask the question is not entertaining frivolous doubt or wasting time and words. Knowing one’s mission, living one’s vocation and working one’s conversion –all graces that are God-given– is a daily personal work and a daily prayer generated by the Holy Spirit. After all, we do pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit with His seven gifts, do we not?

This last point was reinforced with me by attending the Mass with the Rite of Confirmation for the Latin Arab community at the Good Shepherd Community in Yonkers, NY. Hearing the questions and the prelate’s prayer invoking the Holy Spirit. Hence the image of the EOHSJ-NY gathering with His Beatitude Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM (20 Nov 2022).

The question this post resources is an essential a question for those discerning membership but also for those who have been in the Order for any length of time. It is a question posed by a member of the Mexican Lieutenancy to the Cardinal Filoni who serves as the Grand Master. The answer Cardinal Filoni gives is brief and worthy of serious reflection.

I would hope that all of us who claim membership a noble ideal in the EOHSJ would not only ask for understanding (i.e., what is the meaning of this question of what type of group to which we belong) but also ask the question of our particular Lieutenancies. Are we missionaries of the Gospel? Are we bearing witness to the Word of God and sacramentality of God’s presence in the world? Are we faithful members of the Mystical Body of Christ in concrete ways (cf. Matthew 25)?

Blessed Bartolo Longo, pray for us.

At the Arabic Catholic Community, Yonkers

Knights and Ladies with His Beatitude, Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM, following Holy Mass at the Good Shepherd Community, Yonkers, 20 November 2022.

Earlier today I was with members of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre (Eohsj Eastern Lieutenancy) as we joined with Good Shepherd Parish (Yonkers, NY) and His Beatitude, Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM. It the occasion for a pastoral visit to the Arab Latin Catholic Community at which time a group of the children of the parish received the sacraments of Confirmation and Holy Communion.

It was an exceptional afternoon to be with our Lieutenant, Her Excellency Vicki Downey. Our work as members of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre is to support the work of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem البطريركية اللاتينية في القدس , and by extension the communities here.
EOHSJ with some members of the Good Shepherd Community following Mass on 20 November 2022.

Nice to have met Father Davide Meli and Abouna Fares Hattar.

The Good Shepherd Community is one of two communities of Arab Catholics in Yonkers, NY. The other being the Christ The Savior Melkite Church (FrMusil Shihadeh). Too many think of the Arab community being Muslim but in reality there are Christian faith communities dating back to the time of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Cause of Canonization of Michelle Duppong opened

We may have a new saint from the Church of the USA. On December 29, 2014, Michelle Christine Duppong was unexpectedly diagnosed with cancer while serving as the Director of Adult Faith Formation for the Diocese of Bismarck. She died at the age of 31.

Since Michelle was part of the FOCUS missionaries they have have established a page on their website profiling her. Give a look.

If you are unfamiliar with the process of how one is declared a saint in the Catholic Church, The National Catholic Register has an article on Michelle Duppong.

Here’s a recent communication from the Diocese of Bismarck, North Dakota.

On November 1, 2022, All Saints Day, Bishop David Kagan celebrated the Opening Mass for the Cause for Canonization of Michelle Duppong.

PUBLICATION OF THE POSTULATOR’S PETITION

Dearly Beloved in Christ,

In the name of the ‘Fellowship of Catholic University Students’ (FOCUS), Father Thomas J. Grafsgaard, appointed as postulator and approved by myself as postulator, requested me to initiate the Cause of Beatification and Canonization of Michelle Duppong, former FOCUS Missionary and Director of Adult Faith Formation for the Diocese of Bismarck who died on December 25th, 2015, at Haymarsh in this diocese.

After having consulted with the Holy See, my brother bishops and the faithful of this diocese; and having verified the existence of a true and widespread reputation of sanctity, enjoyed by her during her life and growing ever stronger after her death, as well as ample evidence of the granting of graces and favors by God through her intercession, I, David D. Kagan, Bishop of Bismarck, do hereby make public the petition of Father Thomas J. Grafsgaard, the postulator of this cause, and thus declare I am initiating the Cause of Beatification and Canonization of the Servant of God Michelle Christine Duppong.

In conformity with “The Norms to be Observed in Inquiries Made by Bishops in the Causes of Saints”, published by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on February 7, 1983, I also call upon any and all who may have useful information regarding the Cause of Beatification and Canonization of Michelle Christine Duppong to bring such documents, materials or information to my attention.

Given at Bismarck, North Dakota, on this 1st day of November in the year of Our Lord 2022.

Bishop David D. Kagan
Bishop of Bismarck

All Saints

 

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,” Hebrews 12:1.

“It is a great good to think that if we try we can become saints with God’s help. And have no fear that He will fail if we don’t fail. Since we have not come here for any other thing, let us put our hands to the task.”

St. Teresa of Avila, Doctor of the Church

Blessed Theodore Romzha

“If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. … No slave is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.” (John 15:18.20)

Bishop Kallistos Ware [+2022] said that today is truly the age of martyrs. More people are giving witness to Christ than ever before.

Today, the Byzantine Catholic Church remembers Blessed Theodore Romzha, who was killed by the Communists as he performed his pastoral duties. In the epistle read today, St. Paul reflects on what Christians have always had to do to follow Christ, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church. (Colossians 1:24)” This, St. Paul, comes from the great mystery of the Church: Christ in us, our hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27) We do not give up our lives for our own purposes, but because we know that our life is in Christ. We die not only for some ideal, but in witness to a person -the Jesus Christ, our Lord, “light from light, true God from true God.” This is why in history Christians have been persecuted by all kinds of organizations and ideologies and economic systems which perceive Jesus, the Giver of Life, as a threat.

Sadly, even in our history, Christians have persecuted other Christians. However, today we proclaim the glory of all those who proclaim Jesus as Lord. Indeed, the feast is ecumenical, celebrating the Byzantine Catholic bishop who died for Christ in 1947, Theodore Romzha, and the Russian Orthodox priest, John Kochurev, who had served as a pastor in Chicago, but was the first Orthodox priest to be martyred by the Communists in Russia in 1917. Both Catholic and Orthodox therefore bear united witness to the one Lord Jesus Christ in the face of his enemies.

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras

Our Lady of Palestine

Today, as Knights and Dames of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, we honor Mary, the Mother of God under the title of Our Lady of Palestine. It’s a daily prayer Our Lady for the people of the Holy Land and for members of the Order.

With Church we pray:

Heavenly Father, we humbly ask you, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Palestine, to help us overcome all the difficulties which face us in this Holy Land, the land which your Son has made Holy for it is in this land where our Savior took flesh and brought the entire world to Redemption. We beseech you Father, strengthen us in faith, service, and perseverance so that we may be witnesses to that unending act of love, you who live and reign forever and ever.

Read about the importance of the Shrine of Our Lady as a spiritual home for the Patriarchate.

http://www.oessh.va/content/ordineequestresantosepolcro/en/dalla-terra-santa/luoghi-e-comunita/luoghi/il-santuario-di-deir-rafat.html

New bishop of the US Melkites

Today, the Melkite Patriarch enthroned Bishop François (Beyrouti), 51, as the new eparchial bishop for the Eparchy of Newton at the Annunciation Cathedral in West Roxbury, MA. His motto is Becoming Disciples, Making Disciples.

Bishop François was ordained bishop last Wednesday, October 12, at the co-cathedral of St Ann in Los Angeles by Patriarch Joseph, Bishop Nicholas and Archbishop Borys Gudziak.

After 11 years of service as bishop of the Eparchy of Newton, Bishop Nicholas retires. He’s served the eparchy with great interest, prayer, pastoral insight and a pastor’s heart.

Prayers for Bishop Francois and the eparchy!

St Teresa of Avila on contemplative prayer

The Church gives us Teresa of Avila to lead us into the arms of Jesus. Fr. Matthew MacDonald expounds on some of the ideas given by Saint Teresa. He states,

“…we celebrate the feast of Saint Teresa of Avila, founder of the Discalced Carmelite Reform, mystic, and Doctor of the Church. Teresa’s life and spirituality are at the heart of the call that the Lord has placed upon our hearts – to live, light, and lead the way of contemplation for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. Teresa of Avila, in her life and her teaching on prayer and contemplation, reminds me of the importance of allowing my entire life to abide in the true vine, Jesus Christ.

“Teresa lived during a time of great chaos in the Church and the world not unlike our own. The Protestant reformation was raging in Europe. Evangelization and colonization efforts were being launched by the Portuguese and the Spanish Empires in the Americas. Souls were falling left and right from the faith. Ignorance and corruption were in abundance. The joys and trials of her age and her own life offered Teresa motives for prayer, love, and sacrifice. It was in this desire for intimacy with Jesus that she became a branch of He who is the true vine (Cf. Jn 15:1). Teresa’s life and teachings would become an inexhaustible fountain of joy, intimacy, and salvation through the contemplative life that would become a bedrock in the mystical tradition of the life of the Church. How then did Teresa seek to bring souls to Christ? Through the spousal union of prayer and the sanctification of her soul. This divine intimacy and union with Christ was the desire of Teresa’s heart above all else and was the fuel behind the Discalced Carmelite reform:

Anyone who has not begun to pray, I beg, for the love of the Lord, not to miss so great a blessing. There is no place here for fear, but only desire. For even if a person fails to make progress, or to strive after perfection, so that he may merit the consolations and favors given to the perfect by God, yet he will gradually gain a knowledge of the road to Heaven. And if he perseveres, I hope in the mercy of God, whom no one has ever taken for a Friend without being rewarded; and mental prayer, in my view, is nothing but a friendly way of dealing, in which we often find ourselves talking in private with Him whom we know loves us. (Vol. I of Life of the Holy Mother Teresa of Jesus, trans. E. Allison Peers (Sheed & Ward, London, 1950) ch. 8, p. 50.)

“For Teresa, prayer begins and is fruitful by abiding in Jesus. It starts with vocal prayer and passes through the heart and our way of living our faith by means of meditation and contemplative recollection until it attains perfect loving union with Christ and with the Holy Trinity (Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, “St. Teresa of Avila,” February 2, 2011).

“This call to prayer is at the heart of being a disciple of Jesus and is meant for everyone.  Teresa then goes on to describe how prayer grows in the normal life of faith:

Oh Lord of heaven and earth, how is it possible that even while in this mortal life one can enjoy you with so special a friendship?… May you be blessed, Lord, because we do not lose anything through your fault. Along how many paths, and how many ways, by how many methods you show us love! With trials, with a death so harsh, with torments, suffering offenses every day and then pardoning; and not only with these deeds do you show this love, but with words so capable of wounding the soul in love with you that you say to them in this Song of Songs and teach the soul what to say to you…My Lord, I do not ask you for anything else in life but that ‘you kiss me with the kiss of your mouth,’ and that you do so in such a way that although I may want withdraw from this friendship and union, my will may always, Lord my life, be subject to your will and not depart from it ( Meditations on the Song of Songs 3:14-15. Taken from Drink of the Stream: Prayers of Carmelites. Translated by Penny Hickey, OCDS (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 2002) 73-74.).

~Fr. Matthew C. MacDonald, homily for a Mass for the Feast of Saint Teresa of Avila for the Apostoli Viae Connecticut Chapter at Saint Mary’s Church, New Haven, Connecticut, October 15, 2021.