The general intention
That international efforts to help poorer nations bring
prompt, concrete results to relieve the crushing burden of foreign debt.
The mission intention
That local Church communities serving areas torn by violence may be supported through the love and help offered by Catholics around the world.
Have you thought much about the terrific connection between the Blessed Mother and the Holy Spirit? There is an ever stronger interest in my heart that is building in me to experience more fully this intimacy, this desire of the Lord that is known in the heart of Mary. I mentioned it the other day by suggesting using some of the mysteries of the rosary to allow us to consider that intimacy between the Divine and the human. The Pope gave the follow meditation yesterday evening, the Vigil of Pentecost:
I greet all of you with affection at the end of the
traditional Marian vigil that concludes the month of May in the Vatican. This
year it has acquired a very special value since it falls on the eve of
Pentecost. Gathering together, spiritually recollected before the Virgin Mary,
contemplating the mysteries of the Holy Rosary, you have relived the experience
of the first disciples, gathered together in the room of the Last Supper with
“the Mother of Jesus,” “persevering and united in prayer”
awaiting the coming of the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 1:14). We too, in this
penultimate evening of May, from the Vatican hill, ask for the pouring out of
the Spirit Paraclete upon us, upon the Church that is in Rome and upon the
whole Christian people.
The great Feast of Pentecost invites us to meditate upon the
relationship between the Holy Spirit and Mary, a very close, privileged,
indissoluble relationship. The Virgin of Nazareth was chosen beforehand to
become the Mother of the Redeemer by the working of the Holy Spirit: in her
humility, she found grace in God’s eyes (cf. Luke 1:30). In effect, in the New
Testament we see that Mary’s faith “draws,” so to speak, the Holy
Spirit. First of all in the conception of the Son of God, which the archangel
Gabriel explains in this way: “The Holy Spirit will descend upon you and
the power of the Most High will overshadow you” (Luke 1:35). Immediately
afterward Mary went to help Elizabeth, and when her greeting reached
Elizabeth’s ears, the Holy Spirit made the child jump in the womb of her
elderly cousin (cf. Luke 1:44); and the whole dialogue between the two mothers
is inspired by the Spirit of God, above all the “Magnificat,” the
canticle of praise with which Mary expresses her sentiments. The whole event of
Jesus’ birth and his early childhood is guided in an almost palpable manner by
the Holy Spirit, even if he is not always mentioned. Mary’s heart, in perfect
consonance with the divine Son, is the temple of the Spirit of truth, where
every word and every event are kept in faith, hope and charity (cf. Luke 2:19,
51).
We can thus be certain that the most Sacred Heart of Jesus,
in his whole hidden life in Nazareth, always found a “hearth” that
was always burning with prayer and constant attention to the Holy Spirit in
Mary’s Immaculate Heart. The wedding feast at Cana is a witness to this
singular harmony between Mother and Son in seeking God’s will. In a situation
like the wedding feast, charged with symbols of the covenant, the Virgin Mary
intercedes and, in a certain sense, provokes, a sign of superabundant divine
grace: the “good wine” that points to mystery of the Blood of Christ.
This leads us directly to Calvary, where Mary stands under the cross with the
other women and the Apostle John. Together the Mother and the disciple
spiritually taken in Jesus’ testament: his last words and his last breath, in
which he begins to send out the Spirit; and they take in the silent crying out
of his Blood, poured out completely for us (cf. John 19:25-34). Mary knew where
the blood came from: it was formed in her by the work of the Holy Spirit, and
she knew that this same creative “power” would raise Jesus up, as he
promised.
In this way Mary’s faith sustains the faith of the disciples
until the meeting with the risen Lord, and will continue to accompany them even
after his ascension into heaven, as they await the “baptism of the Holy
Spirit” (cf. Acts 1:5). At Pentecost, the Virgin Mary appears again as
Bride of the Spirit, having a universal maternity with respect to those who are
born from God through faith in Christ. This is why Mary is for all generations
the image and model of the Church, who together with the Holy Spirit journeys
through time invoking Christ’s glorious return: “Come, Lord Jesus”
(cf. Revelation 22:17, 20).
Dear friends, in Mary’s school we too learn to recognize the Holy Spirit’s presence in our life, to listen to his inspirations and to follow them with docility. He makes us grown in the fullness of Christ, in those good fruits that the apostle Paul lists in the Letter to the Galatians: “Love, joy, peace, magnanimity, benevolence, goodness, fidelity, meekness, self-control (5:22). I hope that you will be filled with these gifts and will always walk with Mary according to the Spirit and, as I express my praise for your participation in this evening celebration, I impart my Apostolic Benediction to all of you from my heart.
Each of the three Divine Persons is holy, and each is a
spirit, and we give the name “Holy Spirit” to the Third Person precisely
because He is all that the Father and the Son have
common -their divinity,
their charity, their blessedness, their delight in each other, their holiness
and their spiritual nature. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father and the
Son, proceeding from both, and He is the unity and charity of them both. The
Holy Spirit is so completely, so truly, God’s gift that unless someone has the
Holy Spirit, he has none of God’s gift, and whoever has any of them, has them
only in the Holy Spirit. Many things are given to us through the Holy Spirit,
but they are valueless if the chief gift of charity is lacking. And the reason
why the Holy Spirit is called “Gift of God” is because “the charity of God is
poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us.”
Nothing is more excellent than this gift, which ultimately
differentiates between the children of the kingdom and the children of
darkness. Even if all the other gifts are lacking, charity will take us to the
kingdom of God. Although faith can exist without charity, only the faith that
works through love can have any value. The Holy Spirit is the charity of the
Father and the Son, by means of which they love each other. He is the unity in
virtue of which they are one. When he is given to us, he enkindles in our
hearts the love of God and of one another. This same love, living in our
hearts, is the love by which God is love.
This is “the Spirit of the Lord which fills the whole world”
with his all-powerful goodness, appointing a perfect harmony among all
creatures, and filling them all with the vast riches of his grace, according to
the capacity of each. It is he who teaches us to pray as we ought, making us
cleave to God, rendering us pleasing to God and not unworthy to have our
prayers answered. He enlightens our minds and forms love in our hearts. All
this is the work of the Holy Spirit. We may even call it his own special work,
if we remember that he is sufficient for this task only because he can never be
separated from the Father and the Son.
William of Saint Thierry
Every year on the Solemnity of Pentecost there’s a shower of red roses during the singing of the Veni Sanctae Spiritus at the Pantheon, the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Martrys.
Come, Holy Ghost, send down those beams,
which sweetly flow in silent streams
from Thy bright throne above.
O come, Thou Father of the poor;
O come, Thou source of all our store,
come, fill our hearts with love.
O Thou, of comforters the best,
O Thou, the soul’s delightful guest,
the pilgrim’s sweet relief.
Rest art Thou in our toil, most sweet
refreshment in the noonday heat;
and solace in our grief.
O blessed Light of life Thou art;
fill with Thy light the inmost heart
of those who hope in Thee.
Without Thy Godhead nothing can,
have any price or worth in man,
nothing can harmless be.
Lord, wash our sinful stains away,
refresh from heaven our barren clay,
our wounds and bruises heal.
To Thy sweet yoke our stiff necks bow,
warm with Thy fire our hearts of snow,
our wandering feet recall.
Grant to Thy faithful, dearest Lord,
whose only hope is Thy sure word,
the sevenfold gifts of grace.
Grant us in life Thy grace that we,
in peace may die and ever be,
in joy before Thy face. Amen. Alleluia.
This hymn, Veni, Sancte Spiritus, also known as the Golden
Sequence, is the poetic text (a sequence) for the Mass for Pentecost. It is
sung after the Epistle and before the Alleluia antiphon. It is regarded as one
of the greatest masterpieces of sacred Latin poetry. The hymn has been
attributed to three different authors, King Robert II-the Pious of France
(970-1031), Pope Innocent III (1161-1216), and Stephen Langton (d. 1228),
Archbishop of Canterbury. Archbishop Stephen is most likely the author. The
inclusion of this hymn in the sacred Liturgy is noted in the mid-12th century
or so and sung from Pentecost through the Octave. When the renewal of the
Liturgy happened following the Second Vatican Council the Octave of Pentecost
was suspended and the sequence limited to Pentecost Sunday.
…[freedom] is so powerful that as long as a man wills to use it nothing is able to remove from him the … uprightness (i.e., justice) which he has. By contrast, justice is not a natural possession.
Benedict XVI highlighted the most important points in
the life of a priest: “Your faithfulness in the exercise of the ministry
and the life of prayer, your search for holiness, your total self-giving to God
at the service of your brothers and sisters, as you expend your lives and
energy in order to promote justice, fraternity, solidarity and sharing.” (Discourse
to Priests in the Sanctuary of Aparecida, Brasil, 12 May 2007)
Today is the sixth anniversary of death of my paternal grandmother, Helen Kawa Zalonski. He died on the afternoon of Ascension Thursday in 2003. She is very much missed. May her memory be eternal and may the Good Shepherd keep her in His presence.
For the most part, the time for priestly and diaconal ordinations have come and gone. Where I am for the summer, a newly ordained priest is due to arrive in a few days. Having heard plenty of ordination homilies over the years none are as insightful as Benedict XVI’s especially when he proposes a plan to be spiritually fit. Of course, all what is said is not restricted to priests but applicable to the laity as well. All of us reading this post are familiar with all the points made about developing a prayer life and seeing them together constitutes a serious plan. Father Mark draws our attention to one item that is near-and-dear to many of us: lectio divina. I am re-posting a portion of my friend Father Mark’s recent May blog entry because I think it’s helpful.
What is Father Everypriest’s daily Rule of Prayer according to Pope Benedict XVI? Let’s consider the elements of the Rule in the order in which the Holy Father presents them.
1) Daily Holy Mass. Daily. Not 6 days week, not 5, or 4 days a week, but daily. The liturgical cycle in its hourly, daily, weekly, and yearly rhythms is given us precisely to facilitate our “abiding” in Christ hour by hour, day by day, week by week, and year after year. Integral to the liturgical cycle is daily Holy Mass. The Eucharistic Sacrifice sends the divine lifeblood coursing through one’s spiritual organism. Without daily Mass, the priest will succumb to spiritual anemia.
2) The Liturgy of the Hours. The Hours give rhythm and grace to daily life. They are a school of discipline (discipleship), a supernatural system of irrigation channeling grace into every moment of the day, a privileged way of offering thanks in communion with all who, “in heaven, on earth, and under the earth,” confess the Name of Jesus and bend the knee before Him. A priest who loves the Divine Office will enjoy an interior life that is sane, and sound, and wholly ecclesial. Fidelity to the Divine Office refines the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, sharpens one’s discernment, and imparts to everything the priest does a certain Eucharistic and doxological quality.
3) Eucharistic Adoration. Are you surprised? Eucharistic adoration has known a kind of springtime since The Year of the Eucharist (2004-2005) that was also the year of the death of Pope John Paul II and of the election of Pope Benedict XVI. Two Americans known for loving their brother priests and ministering to them tirelessly –Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen and Father Gerald Fitzgerald of the Holy Spirit– insisted on a daily hour before the Blessed Sacrament as a sine qua non of priestly spirituality. The priest who adores the Blessed Sacrament exposes his weaknesses and wounds to the healing radiance of the Eucharistic Face of Jesus. Moreover, he abides before the Eucharistic Face of Jesus as the representative of his people: of the sick, the poor, the bereaved, and of those locked in spiritual combat. The priest who looks to the Eucharistic Face of Jesus, and draws near to His Open Heart in the Sacrament of the Altar, will, just as the psalm says, be radiant, and he will not be put to shame.
4) Lectio Divina. Again — a monastic thing? No, a Catholic thing. The quality of a priest’s preaching is directly proportionate to his commitment to lectio divina. Neglect of lectio divina leads to mediocre preaching. Opening the Scriptures is like opening the tabernacle: therein the priest finds the “hidden manna” his soul craves. The four steps of lectio divina can be accommodated to any length of time: 1) lectio, i.e. the Word heard; 2) meditatio, i.e. the Word repeated; 3) oratio, i.e. the Word prayed;
4) Contemplatio; i.e. the indwelling Word. Lectio divina cannot be occasional;
it is not a random pursuit. Learn to say, “I am not available.” Get over feeling guilty about taking time for God!
5) Holy Rosary. Yes, the daily Rosary. It’s a spiritual lifeline that has saved many a priest from spiritual shipwreck. The brilliant and holy exegete and founder of the École biblique in Jerusalem, Father Marie-Joseph Lagrange, was observed praying fifteen mysteries of the Rosary each day, and asked, “Why, Father, do you, a great exegete, need to pray the Rosary?” “Because, ” he answered, “it decapitates
pride.” I would add that not only does the Rosary decapitate pride; it decapitates each of the seven capital sins: pride, greed, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth. With the passing of the years I have come to appreciate the profound wisdom of an old Dominican priest to whom I used to make my confession years ago. Invariably, after confessing my miseries, Father would ask, “Do you say the Rosary, son?” And invariably I would reply, “Yes, Father.” And then he would say, “Aye, then you’ll be alright.” A priest who prays the Rosary daily will be alright and, almost imperceptibly, will grow in purity and humility.
6) Meditation. Meditation can mean many things, even within our Catholic tradition. It is integral to the prayerful celebration of Holy Mass and the Hours. “it nourishes Eucharistic adoration. It is the second “moment” of lectio divina. It is the soul of the Rosary. In my own experience, meditation is related to “remembering the things the Lord has done.” Saint Gertrude the Great, a model of the mystical life grounded in the liturgy, used to say, “A grace remembered is a grace renewed.” Understood in this sense, meditation, by recalling the mercies of the Lord in the past, infuses the present with hope, and allows the priest to go forward with a holy boldness.
Is it necessary to set a period of time apart for meditation as such? That depends on whom you ask. The Carmelite, Jesuit and Sulpician traditions would hold fast to some form of meditation as a daily exercise. The monastic tradition has, on the whole, taken a more supple approach to meditation. It is a daily practice, but one diffused in every form of prayer, including the liturgy itself. One learns to pace one’s prayer, to pause, to breathe, to linger over a phrase, a word, or an image. Whether one espouses the Ignatian way or the monastic approach, meditation is an integral to every priest’s daily Rule of Prayer.