Mary, Mother of the Church

The title given to Mary –Mother of the Church (Mater Ecclesiae)– has its roots in the 4th century with Saint Ambrose. In later centuries various theologians and saints gave this title new currency. Most recently Pope Francis (in 2018) made the Monday after Pentecost the feast of Mary, Mother of the Church. The hope of His Holiness is to “encourage the growth of the maternal sense of the Church in the pastors, religious and faithful, as well as a growth of genuine Marian piety.”

The perennial teaching of the Church indicates that just as Eve was “the mother of all the living” (Gen. 3:20), Mary is mother of all those living in Jesus Christ.

Francis echoes St. Paul VI, in Credo of the People of God, who explained, “Joined by a close and indissoluble bond to the Mysteries of the Incarnation and Redemption, the Blessed Virgin, the Immaculate, was at the end of her earthly life raised body and soul to heavenly glory and likened to her risen Son in anticipation of the future lot of all the just; and we believe that the Blessed Mother of God, the New Eve, Mother of the Church, continues in heaven her maternal role with regard to Christ’s members, cooperating with the birth and growth of divine life in the souls of the redeemed.”

In 1964, St. Paul VI “declared the Blessed Virgin Mary as ‘Mother of the Church, that is to say of all Christian people, the faithful as well as the pastors, who call her the most loving Mother’ and established that ‘the Mother of God should be further honored and invoked by the entire Christian people by this tenderest of titles.’”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church of St. John Paul II teaches us that Mary’s role in the Church is inseparable from her union with Christ and flows directly from it. The Catechism (487) makes it clear –once again, that anything said of Mary is first said of Her Son and Our Savior, Jesus: “What the Catholic faith believes about Mary is based on what it believes about Christ, and what it teaches about Mary illumines in turn its faith in Christ.”

Going more deeply into The Catechism (964-965) we read: “This union of the mother with the Son in the work of salvation is made manifest from the time of Christ’s virginal conception up to his death”; it is made manifest above all at the hour of His Passion: Thus the Blessed Virgin advanced in her pilgrimage of faith, and faithfully persevered in her union with her Son unto the cross.

Ultimately, the what the Church believes, teaches and honors about Mary is found in the liturgical prayers of the Mass:

O God, Father of mercies,
whose Only Begotten Son, as He hung upon the Cross,
chose the Blessed Virgin Mary, His Mother,
to be our Mother also,
grant, we pray, that with her loving help
your Church may be more fruitful day by day
and, exulting in the holiness of her children,
may draw to her embrace all the families of the peoples.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.

– Collect for the Feast of Mary, Mother of the Church

Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us.

St Joseph the Worker

Pope Benedict XVI once commemorated the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker, he spoke of the fruitful tension (the generativity) that emerges for the Christian meaning of work:

“Work is of fundamental importance to the fulfillment of the human being and to the development of society. Thus, it must always be organized and carried out with full respect for human dignity and must always serve the common good.

At the same time, it is indispensable that people not allow themselves to been slaved by work or idolize it, claiming to find in it the ultimate and definitive meaning of life…”

The Pope continues:

“Work must serve the true good of humanity, permitting “men as individuals and as members of society to pursue and fulfill their total vocation” (Gaudium et Spes, n. 35). For this to happen, technical and professional qualifications, although necessary, do not suffice; nor does the creation of a just social order, attentive to the common good.

It is necessary to live a spirituality that helps believers to sanctify themselves through their work, imitating St Joseph, who had to provide with his own hands for the daily needs of the Holy Family and whom, consequently, the Church holds up as Patron of workers.”

Thus, as Catholics we don’t see meaningful work as trivial, a drudgery, a four lettered word –something to be avoided. We understand work as contributing to our sanctification and it demonstrates our ability to collaborate with God in building up the Kingdom of God. Following the example of St. Benedict who points to Joseph quietly, as one example, our goal is to integrate work and prayer, by pursuing the model of holiness as a beautiful work.

Easter of the Resurrection –Cardinal Filoni’s message 2023

This is the recurring expression we read in the calendar on the Sunday on which the Church celebrates Jesus, the Risen One. It is an expression we also find in liturgies and theology; in short, it is the language of the Church. But what does ‘Easter of the Resurrection’ mean? Certainly many grasp its meaning perhaps through catechetical reminiscence, but it is also worth seeking its deeper meaning.

In the Catholic liturgy, the two terms – Easter and Resurrection – go hand in hand and refer to two extraordinary events that should be briefly recalled. First of all, Easter finds its origins in the Greek word for ‘Passover’, originally from the Aramaic pashd’ (in Hebrew pesach), is used in the Bible (Ex 12:48) to recall the ‘passing of God’ and the ‘exodus’ of the Jews from Egypt; it is a feast of great importance, full of familial and sacred rites. Jesus and his natural family devoutly celebrated it every year as was and is traditional in observant Jewish families. The celebration became a memory, a story, a prayer of gratitude and praise to the Eternal for the intervention in favor of ‘His’ people. It is not an epic, because Passover concretely touches the life of every good Jew, so much so that it binds him to God in an eternal Covenant, and vice versa; but also to the land he will bequeath to his children; Passover is a celebration around the Word of God; it is a perennial journey.
Jesus assumes, but then also transcends, the meaning of that Jewish solemnity; so much so that not only did he not want to ignore it despite being ‘sought after’ by the Sanhedrin, but, he “earnestly desired” (Desiderio desidervi – Lk 22:15) to celebrate it together with the Twelve, his new family, in deference to the style of the so-called chaburot (the gatherings for pilgrims who went to Jerusalem for the occasion); during that Last Supper, Jesus introduces something unexpected with respect to the practice: he gives thanks to the Eternal and offers his ‘Body’ and ‘Blood’ to the Twelve in the concrete matter of bread and wine, as a sign of the new Covenant.

Jesus’ “Gesture” is an important novelty and will allow the Apostolic Community, not only to be formed around the Risen One and to be consecrated for the coming of the Holy Spirit, but also to be constituted, as Ekklesìa, that is, Community of the faithful, and to repeat it; that “Gesture” is also God’s “Gift” for us and this in the friendship of Jesus Christ, of the One who forgives and allows humanity to accept it as an expression of God’s own love and to return it to God; in short: love and sacrifice come together. Benedict XVI wrote all the currents from the Old Covenant are also present that in every celebration of the Eucharist, and in some way also the secret expectation of all religions (Themes of Dogmatic Theology in Che cos’è il cristianesimo).

When we say ‘Resurrection’, the reference is to the body of Christ in which human life was no longer there. Jesus is laid in a tomb. It was approaching the beginning of Shabbat, the Sabbath on which no actions involving work could be performed, corresponding to that seventh day on which, after creation, God ‘rested’. Jesus observes it in the silence of death; it is the day of Sabbath rest, apparently an “idle” time.

For the Catholic liturgy, ‘Holy Saturday’ has become the day of meditation, of intimate sorrow, the day when we recall all of the memories, the words, the many whys that accompany extreme moments, such as death. This until the first day of the week after the Sabbath, which for Christians is Sunday and for Holy Scripture corresponds to the day of the creation of light (cf. Gen 1:5). An analogy that is not accidental!

On that day, the first of the week, the unexpected, the unprecedented, the most shocking event took place: The Resurrection of Christ.

“Whom do you seek?” This was the question put to those, women and men, who had gone to visit a deceased person. The only ones present at the moment of the Resurrection had been the soldiers, but then they had fled in shock, to report back to those who had ordered them to custody the tomb.

Now the Risen Christ becomes the space for the adoration of God, comments Benedict XVI; Christian faith is born and our inclusion in the new ‘Body’ is realized, which definitively unites every baptized person to the Risen One. This is the Easter of Resurrection. In the Christian faith, Jesus’ death is the most radical act of love in which the reconciliation between God and a world marked by sin is truly accomplished, and the Resurrection is the most sublime event of God’s work.

Every Knight and Dame must embrace within themselves this mystery that qualifies them in a special way for a very high spiritual mission. The event of the Resurrection reminds us that Christ transcends in Himself human nature and history, and in the newness of His being the Living One, our conversion to the Lord holds incomparable glory (cf. Heb 3:10, 16).

It is in the Easter Resurrection that the Risen One offers us, the Order of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, who have visited him on our pilgrimages like the pious women and disciples, an “inheritance” with the “Title” of the place of his deposition, and to enter into his friendship and be destined for a mission of faith and high charity. That Sepulchre in which the Son of God had laid the burden of our sinful and sorrowful humanity, becomes the place of the beginning of new life in Him, of hope for all the multitudes.

As the Son of God, says the Letter to the Hebrews, “Christ (… ) as a Son over His house—whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end” (Heb 3:6).

Happy Easter of the Resurrection!

Fernando Cardinal Filoni
April 2023

The Savior and the honey bees

Great and Holy Friday seems like a day to post this intriguing picture of the crucified Lord, St Bernard and honey bees. Surely you can connect the dots. The Passion of the Lord –a supreme act of love, is called to mind and hence by the Cross we are saved. Particular thanks to Aurelius Belz, a researcher in the cultural history of musical instruments, for publishing this “find” on his blog.

From the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great we are educated: “… He [Jesus] surrendered himself as a ransom to death by which we were held captive, sold into slavery under sin. Descending by the cross into Hades to fulfill all things in himself, he freed us from Death’s despair, and rose on the third day, preparing the way for the resurrection of all flesh from the dead…”

Honey bees ascend to the side wound of Jesus.

Mr. Belz writes: “It should be noted here in relation to the medal that the encounter of a bee colony with the Savior has a significant precursor. Both on an altar sheet (private property, Germany) and in Josef Meglinger’s Cistercineser Year, published in 1700 in print, we see Bernard of Clairvaux –who received the epithet doctor mellifluus due to his honey-flowing sermons– with a beehive in front of an altar with the crucified. The bees ascend to the side wound of Jesus and on a banner we find the text. “Nil cogitatur dulcius quam JESUS Dei Filius”, nothing sweeter can be thought of than Jesus, the Son of God. The flowers on the altar are symbolic bearers of meaning, so the lily stands for innocence, the rose for love and the sunflower, which always turns to the light, for permanence in faith. (Josef Meglinger, Cistercienser Year, 1700)

St. Bernard is the famous abbot of the Cistercian Benedictine reform. He’s the patron saint of beekeepers as well as the patron saint of bees and candlemakers. The image connected with this post is Bernard of Clairvaux, circa 1090 – 20.8.1153, French monk, saint, full length, copper engraving, Germany, circa 1700, Marienthal Abbey library.

On a personal note, St. Bernard has been invoked as one of the patron saints of my apiary.

Our Focus on the Heart

A key point of Luigi Giussani’s on the spiritual life is the heart. In several places Giussani calls us to focus on our singularity of heart’s focus, the intention of the heart, or as traditional spiritual theology calls purity of heart. Having just finished what the Eastern Church calls Pure Week at the start of Great Lent (the Fast) we ought to continue to go deeper into the heart. The goal of the lenten Fast is to develop a transcendence of egocentrism closes down the heart from reality. The Church as teacher and mother shows us that the period of fasting we engage in at this time of the year is seen as a time of “showering of mercy,” with prayer, good deeds and philanthropy. This perspective of mercy evidences the surpassing self-love.

Great Lent is always a journey in which the Church calls us to an ever-deepening purity of heart. The external observances that are a part of it have significance only insofar as they help us live a more authentic expression of this. Above all, purity of heart means continually directing our intention to fulfilling the will of God as faithfully as we understand it. This is where true reconciliation with God occurs. (NS)

I was reading a bit of Giussani on the heart and the author/editor of the text placed the reality of the heart (and the heart’s needs) with the Christian idea of friendship.

Charity [says St Bernard] generates friendship, it is like its mother [charity is love for the other as affirmation of his good destiny, as a desire to affirm that his right destiny should be fulfilled, for Christ is the Mystery of which He is a part, and in which He participates]. It is God’s gift, it comes from Him, for we are carnal. He causes our desire and our love to begin from the flesh. In our hearts God inscribes for our friends a love that they cannot read, but that we can show to them. The outcome is an affection, more often an affectus, a profound, inexpressible attachment, which is in the order of experience and which fixes rights and duties for friendship.

Daily we pray, as Giussani directs, the Angelus to keep our hearts focused on the Mystery of the Incarnation. The gift we ask for is “Thy grace into our hearts.” But that grace is only present if the heart is pure –singularly focussed.

St Gregory of Narek

Doubtful that most Catholics will note who the Doctors of the Church are among the saints, but perhaps we ought to attend to the small group much more than we do. Today, St. Gregory of Narek is liturgically remembered by the Church. Gregory is revered as a saint, a man who served as a priest, gifted by the Spirit as a mystic, and shared his talents as a composer, astronomer, theologian and poet; he is honored as the first poet of Armenia and revered by Armenians as a “watchful angel in human form.” He is also the 36th Doctor of the Church and, one of very small group of Eastern Fathers with the title.

Matthew Bunson wrote a good biography of St Gregory of Narek that will give you a wider perspective.

Feast of Candlemas Day

Today is the 40th day since Christmas.

Hail, O full of grace, Virgin and Mother of God, from you has arisen the Sun of Justice, Christ our God, enlightening those who stand in darkness. You, too, O just Elder Simeon, rejoice for you carry in your arms the Redeemer of our souls, who grants us resurrection. (Troparion of the Feast)

As the Church celebrates this feast of encountering of humanity’s meeting of the Lord, Candlemas Day also is important in the lives of farmers. An old English song goes as follows:

“If Candlemas be fair and bright,
Come, Winter, have another flight.
If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,
Go, Winter, and come not again.”

Praying and working for unity among Christians

Today begins the Octave of Prayer for the Unity of Christians. A spiritual work given to us by Father Paul of Graymoor and approved by Pope Saint Pius X. This prayer of Fr Sergius Bulgakov ought to be in our heart.

O Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, thou didst promise to abide with us always. Thou dost call all Christians to draw near and partake of Thy Body and Blood. But our sin has divided us and we have no power to partake of Thy Holy Eucharist together. We confess this our sin and we pray Thee, forgive us and help us to serve the ways of reconciliation, according to Thy Will. Kindle our hearts with the fire of the Holy Spirit. Give us the spirit of Wisdom and faith, of daring and of patience, of humility and firmness, of love and of repentance, through the prayers of the most blessed Mother of God and of all the saints. Amen.

George Pell’s long legacy

Unexpectedly, George Cardinal Pell died in Rome following complications from hip surgery. He was 81.

Phil Lawler’s January 11th’s article, “Cardinal Pell’s long shadow” is an excellent tribute to a man who served the Lord and Church with much grace and sacrifice. Pell’s witness served to build the city of God challenging the crazy ideology of anti-Catholicism which is also antagonistic toward reasonableness. Read what Lawler has to say. There are several other articles on Pell that one ought to read alongside his Prison Journals.

May His Eminence’s memory be eternal.

Benedict XVIs funeral

“The foundation of the world is love.” – Pope Benedict XVI

The coffin of the late Pope Benedict XVI is placed in its final resting place in the grottos of St. Peter’s Basilica. The cypress coffin is placed inside a zinc coffin which is placed inside an oak coffin and then buried.

Eternal memory.