St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

Benedicta of the Cross“Tell my Sisters, I am en route to the East.”

These last recorded words of Saint Teresa Benedicta on 6 August 1942. One of Edith Stein’s former students recognized her at the train station in Schifferstadt, as she stood at the window of a locked compartment.

The Discalced Carmelite Father General shared these words with the Order as he concluded his circular letter:

“Ad orientem. Yes, the last phase of her sacrificial ascent, toward the light, had begun. We do not know when, where, and how she reached her destination. Many rumors, including that of her murder by gas in Auschwitz, have reached us, but not one confirmed reliable report.

“We no longer seek her in this world, but with God, who has accepted her sacrifice and who gives its fruit to the people for whom he prayed, suffered, and died, in the fullest sense of the word.

Saint Dominic

The 8Dominic on the horseth day of August finds us honoring the person of Saint Dominic de Guzman, the Spanish founder of the Order of Preachers of the 13th century. We are at 800 years since the founding of the Order. One of the most intriguing stories of Dominic is his commitment to teaching the truth to a man in need of knowing the Truth. The Church rejoices in this great son whose only desire was to sharing the fruits of his contemplation.

Here in Connecticut there are several Dominican locations: Saint Mary’s Priory & Church (New Haven), Our Lady of Grace Monastery (N. Guilford), the Sisters of Peace (New Haven), Dominican Sisters of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary of Fatima (Hartford) and the Vietnamese Dominican Sisters (Hartford). AND the Fraternity of Saint Dominic (the Laity)! May Dominic lead all to Christ.

Benedict XVI tells us:

St Dominic reminds us that prayer, personal contact with God is at the root of the witness to faith which every Christian must bear at home, at work, in social commitments and even in moments of relaxation; only this real relationship with God gives us the strength to live through every event with intensity, especially the moments of greatest anguish. This Saint also reminds us of the importance of physical positions in our prayer. Kneeling, standing before the Lord, fixing our gaze on the Crucifix, silent recollection — these are not of secondary importance but help us to put our whole selves inwardly in touch with God. I would like to recall once again the need, for our spiritual life, to find time everyday for quiet prayer; we must make this time for ourselves, especially during the holidays, to have a little time to talk with God. It will also be a way to help those who are close to us enter into the radiant light of God’s presence which brings the peace and love we all need.

Saint Dominic

St Dominic and the DevilIn case you are wondering, this is “St. Dominic and the Devil” (c. 1630) by Pietro della Vecchia, from the collection at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. In relates one of my favorite stories of St. Dominic (not least because it involves a monkey!): “The story of the Devil’s appearance to St. Dominic in the form of a monkey derives from a medieval legend, according to which the saint seized his tormentor and forced him to hold a lighted candle while he studied. St. Dominic released him only after the candle burned down and singed his fingers.” (http://www.imamuseum.org/…/st-dominic-and-devil-pietro…)

Father Paul Wattson’s sainthood cause moves ahead

TheFr Wattson causes of US saints is a key part of this blog. Not long ago, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints granted the Archdiocese of New York the nihil obstat regarding the Cause of the Servant of God, Father Paul of Graymoor.

Receiving the nihil obstat means that there’s nothing in the Vatican archives to prevent the Cause from moving ahead. Next is for Timothy Cardinal Dolan to officially open the diocesan investigation into the life, virtue and work of Father Paul. This phase is expected to happen later in the year. In June 2014, Wattson was given the title of Servant of God and in November 2014 the US Bishops voted to advance the cause.

The Friars have known Father Paul as the Apostle of Christian unity and charity.

The Friars are in the process of developing Guild to support the Canonization of Father Paul Wattson. The address: PO Box 300, Garrison NY 10524.

At the conclusion of the lengthy diocesan study of the life and holiness of Father Paul will produce the positio, a formal argument for a Servant of God’s canonization. The positio includes a systematic biography of the Servant of God, a summary of testimony and an essay on Father Paul’s spirituality.

Becoming a saint is not a quick and easy process.

Transfiguration of the Lord

TransfigurationFor an instant on the summit of Tabor, Christ unveils the splendor of his divinity, manifesting to his chosen witnesses what he really is: the Son of God, “the radiance of the glory of the Father and the imprint of his substance”; but he also makes visible the transcendent destiny of our human nature, which he took on to save us as something likewise destined, because it is redeemed by his sacrifice of irrevocable love, that we too might participate in fullness of life in the “fellowship of the saints in light.” That body, transfigured before the astonished eyes of the apostles, is the body of Christ our brother, but it’s also that of our body called to glory; the light which floods inside of it is and will be our inheritance and our splendor. We are called to share that glory because we are “partakers of the divine nature.” An incomparable lot awaits us if we have honored our Christian vocation: if we have lived in the logical consequences of word and deed what the responsibilities of our Baptism demand of us.

Blessed Paul VI
Excerpt, Angelus address for 6 August 1978, only to never deliver it –he died that day.

Saint John Vianney

St John VianneyToday we recall as a memorial the feast day of Saint John Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests. We typically pray for our priests in a particular way today. But our prayer for priests raises questions about the nature of priesthood and what we hope for in our priests and their service to the Church.

What is it about the ministry of the secular priest that we need, desire, revere? What is the Catholic priesthood all about? Why do we need the priesthood? What does the Catholic priest do and whom does he follow? Saint Pope John Paul II instructed us in “Pastores dabo vobis” that:

The ministry of the priest is, certainly, to proclaim the word, to celebrate the sacraments, to guide the Christian community in charity “in the name and in the person of Christ,” but all this he does dealing always and only with individual human beings…. In order that his ministry may be humanly as credible and acceptable as possible, it is important that the priest should mold his human personality in such a way that it becomes a bridge and not an obstacle for others in their meeting with Jesus Christ the Redeemer of humanity. It is necessary that, following the example of Jesus who “knew what was in humanity” (Jn. 2:25; cf. 8:3-11), the priest should be able to know the depths of the human heart, to perceive difficulties and problems, to make meeting and dialogue easy, to create trust and cooperation, to express serene and objective judgments” (PDV, 45).

And, in priests need…

“… to be balanced people, strong and free, capable of bearing the weight of pastoral responsibilities. They need to be educated to love the truth, to be loyal, to respect every person, to have a sense of justice, to be true to their word, to be genuinely compassionate, to be men of integrity and, especially, to be balanced in judgment and behavior…. Of special importance is the capacity to relate to others. This is truly fundamental for a person who is called to be responsible for a community and to be a “man of communion.” This demands that the priest not be arrogant, or quarrelsome, but affable, hospitable, sincere in his words and heart, prudent and discreet, generous and ready to serve, capable of opening himself to clear and brotherly relationships and of encouraging the same in others, and quick to understand, forgive and console” (PDV, 45).

Jesus is the Bread of Life

Morgan Bible Give us this dayThe first reading today for the sacred Liturgy of 18th Sunday Through the Church Year, reveals the pouring out from heaven of manna for the people of Israel. The manna, you will recall, is an Old Testament type for what is revealed by Jesus in the feeding narratives and then as the Holy Eucharist. A central image of Jesus in the Gospel of St. John (John 6:24-35) is that He is the Bread of Life; later we speak of this as the heavenly banquet, the spiritual food for eternal life, as a holy sacrament. Christians believe the OT typology is a direct prefiguring of what is revealed in the NT narratives where we read of Christ’s multiplications of bread, signs of Eucharist (Thanksgiving, of heavenly food on earth), of Jesus Christ being the Bread of Life.

Saint Cyril of Alexandria teaches us that “In effect, Jesus is saying ‘I am the bread of life’, not bodily bread, which merely eliminates the physical suffering brought on by hunger, but rather that bread that refashions the entire living being to eternal life. The human being, who had been created for eternal life, is now given power over death.”

The good news here is that God, our Provident Father, provides for us in varied ways: He nourishes us and gives us the medicine of immortality.

The image is a striking one: it is a medieval illumination from the Morgan Bible called “Give Us This Day.” Indeed, may we worthily received the gift of the Bread of Life for our salvation.

Last Catholic priest at South Pole

Fr Dan DoyleThis story is making the rounds: the Catholics at the South Pole won’t have regular contact with a Catholic priest as they have had in the past. The Catholic Church through her priests has been ministering not only to Catholics but others for a long time at US McMurdo Station on Ross Island –at the end of the earth. Very few can say they’ve been to the end of the earth!

A military priest will visit from time-to-time. I happen to think the decision to cut funding is short-sided –“Where 2 or 3 are gathered there I am” comes to mind. Here is the BBC story about Fr Dan Doyle in the South Pole.

Saint Alphonsus Liguori

Alphonsus LiguoriToday, the Church honors the memory of Saint Alphonsus Liguori. The particular clarity of our Pontiff emeritus Benedict XVI gives a brief primer on the saint; he draws us to the essential. Let’s consider what he says.

In his day, there was a very strict and widespread interpretation of moral life because of the Jansenist mentality which, instead of fostering trust and hope in God’s mercy, fomented fear and presented a grim and severe face of God, very remote from the face revealed to us by Jesus. Especially in his main work entitled Moral Theology, St Alphonsus proposed a balanced and convincing synthesis of the requirements of God’s law, engraved on our hearts, fully revealed by Christ and interpreted authoritatively by the Church, and of the dynamics of the conscience and of human freedom, which precisely in adherence to truth and goodness permit the person’s development and fulfilment.

Alphonsus recommended to pastors of souls and confessors that they be faithful to the Catholic moral doctrine, assuming at the same time a charitable, understanding and gentle attitude so that penitents might feel accompanied, supported and encouraged on their journey of faith and of Christian life.

St Alphonsus never tired of repeating that priests are a visible sign of the infinite mercy of God who forgives and enlightens the mind and heart of the sinner so that he may convert and change his life. In our epoch, in which there are clear signs of the loss of the moral conscience and — it must be recognized — of a certain lack of esteem for the sacrament of Confession, St Alphonsus’ teaching is still very timely.

Together with theological works, St Alphonsus wrote many other works, destined for the religious formation of the people. His style is simple and pleasing. Read and translated into many languages, the works of St Alphonsus have contributed to molding the popular spirituality of the last two centuries. Some of the texts can be read with profit today too, such as The Eternal Maxims, the Glories of Mary, The Practice of Loving Jesus Christ, which latter work is the synthesis of his thought and his masterpiece.

He stressed the need for prayer, which enables one to open oneself to divine Grace in order to do God’s will every day and to obtain one’s own sanctification. With regard to prayer he writes: “God does not deny anyone the grace of prayer, with which one obtains help to overcome every form of concupiscence and every temptation. And I say, and I will always repeat as long as I live, that the whole of our salvation lies in prayer”. Hence his famous axiom: “He who prays is saved” (Del gran mezzo della preghiera e opuscoli affini. Opere ascetiche II, Rome 1962, p. 171).

In this regard, an exhortation of my Predecessor, the Venerable Servant of God John Paul II comes to mind. “our Christian communities must become genuine ‘schools’ of prayer…. It is therefore essential that education in prayer should become in some way a key-point of all pastoral planning” (Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, nn. 33, 34).

Among the forms of prayer fervently recommended by St Alphonsus, stands out the visit to the Blessed Sacrament, or as we would call it today, “adoration”, brief or extended, personal or as a community, before the Eucharist. “Certainly”, St Alphonsus writes, “amongst all devotions, after that of receiving the sacraments, that of adoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament takes the first place, is the most pleasing to God, and the most useful to ourselves…. Oh, what a beautiful delight to be before an altar with faith… to represent our wants to him, as a friend does to a friend in whom he places all his trust” (Visits to the Most Blessed Sacrament and to the Blessed Virgin Mary for Each Day of the Month. Introduction).

Alphonsian spirituality is in fact eminently Christological, centred on Christ and on his Gospel. Meditation on the mystery of the Incarnation and on the Lord’s Passion were often the subject of St Alphonsus’ preaching. In these events, in fact, Redemption is offered to all human beings “in abundance”. And precisely because it is Christological, Alphonsian piety is also exquisitely Marian. Deeply devoted to Mary he illustrates her role in the history of salvation: an associate in the Redemption and Mediatrix of grace, Mother, Advocate and Queen.

In addition, St Alphonsus states that devotion to Mary will be of great comfort to us at the moment of our death. He was convinced that meditation on our eternal destiny, on our call to participate for ever in the beatitude of God, as well as on the tragic possibility of damnation, contributes to living with serenity and dedication and to facing the reality of death, ever preserving full trust in God’s goodness.