Today, December 12, the feast of the Theotokos of Guadalupe, Mother of the Americas
No longer shall the New World lie wounded in useless blood sacrifice, for she who is clothed with the sun has revealed the Son to us. O Mother of the Americas, imprint His Name upon our hearts, just as you wove your image into the cactus cloth. Teach your children to cry out: O Christ God, our hope, glory to You!
(Kontakion, The Theotokos of Guadalupe)
On this date in 2011, the former Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem made his transitus to the Lord of Life.
In charity, let us pray for the peaceful repose of the soul of Cardinal Foley.
May the memory of Cardinal Foley be eternal.
Our Lady of Palestine, pray for him.
Blessed Bartolo Longo, pray for him.
Today we –two of Connecticut’s Schools of Community– tried something different: we had an Advent Day of Recollection in Connecticut!
The Nutmeg State has two Schools of Community that until recently had not too much to do with one another for no other reason that we just didn’t do much with each other. There are other excuses of distance, flavor, time, place, etc. However, what is not disputable has been the desire of several of us find a way for us to share in friendship, prayer, and a quest for unity in Christ!
A few people feeling convinced by the Holy Spirit to propose a Fraternal Day (which we had on October 30th) and the Advent Day of Recollection. It is fair to say that we attribute our desires for true communio to the Holy Spirit. Two moments of grace in 2022 have opened to us a vision of living the charism of Communion and Liberation more intently and with a deeper of purpose together. Nineteen people from the New Haven, Newtown and NY communities gathered for the Advent lesson, Holy Mass, the sacrament of Confession, lovely conversation and good food.
Lots of beautiful things happen through a convivium on several levels! As a gastropod I experience the convivial through good nutritious food because it is an experience of truth, beauty, goodness AND love; it is supreme only after being nourished by the Holy Eucharist. The emphasis may be on virtue of love. I recall that St Augustine taught a two table theology: the Holy Table and the dinner table –we are first “gathered at the banquet of the saints, … [and] we shall partake of the table of God’s mysteries” and “eat as is fitting.” Augustine also reminds us that we can eat well but digest poorly if we hear God’s word without putting it into practice (a paraphrase). Hence, I perceive the act of convivium as a real Catholic virtue! It is full of love and it is sacrificial.
And virtue needs to be extroverted: our friends in two different schools of community and a few others, lived this conviviality with a desire born out of the Eucharist.
Father Luis Hernandez, a priest of the Fraternity of St. Charles Borromeo working in the Boston area made the trip to be with us. He spoke with us, journeyed with us, laughed with us, loved us in a beautiful way. He reflected back to us that “It was also good for me to live the retreat of the Fraternity in a new and special way. It’s great to see how the Movement is different in its external aspects, but the same in its essence.”
The gift of place was made possible by my experience and relationship with the Promisek community in Bridgewater, CT. Promisek is a large piece of property in Litchfield County, Connecticut, held in stewardship as place of retreat, conversation, culture, and learning. People of diverse experience and history relate to the land of Promisek because it is a healing place, a place of deep personal and communal education, and a place of conversion rooted in the spirituality of the Rule of St. Benedict. A fitting connection of CL with Promisek exists because each are deeply informed and formed by the experience of Benedictine community: prayer, work, reading (study) and service. I always recognize that CL is truly a profound reality — an experience– of being sons and daughters of St. Benedict of Nursia. We may not say it that way on a corporate level, but we are this type of community. We are not monks or nuns or sisters, but we all relate to the charism of Luigi Giussani that depends on the recognition of the Lord’s Presence (the Incarnation) and the truth, beauty and goodness of creation.
More at another time on the content of the lesson.
Earlier today the Southeast CT area section of the Order of Malta met for its annual Advent Day meeting, Holy Mass and lunch. A delightful time with these brothers and sisters in faith and service.
I was only able to make the tail end of Mass and lunch due to my attendance at my godmother’s funeral rites. A deep sorrow at Pam’s transitus to the Lord. Please keep my godmother Pam in your prayers; she lived with the tragic disease of ALS.
The photo above shows us with Bishop Peter Rosazza and Fr Thomas Kelly and the Knights and Dames of Malta and the Associates.
Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us.
Blessed Gerard, pray for us.
I was sent this link of a French documentary on the Swiss Guard. Even if you don’t understand French, even a little bit, watching the documentary is rewarding for the images alone. It’s brief, nearly 32 min.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving! Hoping your Thanksgiving is filled with blessings and joy!
“Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.” – Psalm 100
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.
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.
Nice to have met Father Davide Meli and Abouna Fares Hattar.
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
Today is the feast of Saint Gabriel Urgebadze, monk, a Confessor of the Faith and Fool of Christ.
Saint Gabriel is well-known in Georgia, less known in this part of the world.
Read this link to know more about Saint Gabriel.
