Procession of the Holy Cross

According to the Synaxarion, the feast celebrates the veneration of the Holy Cross in Constantinople. The early days of August were dangerous in antiquity. Because of the heat, many diseases became strong, and so the Cross was displayed in various places in the city for fourteen days. This feast was then introduced into Rus in the fifteenth century.

Today it announces the coming of the great feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on September 14, approximately forty days from now. I think in may ways we misunderstand the Cross, we equate it with pain and suffering, as a negative sign that Christians were made to be miserable. That is not what St. Paul says in today’s epistle, “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God …. The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 18:18.23-24).

St. John calls the Cross the glory of Jesus, not because of its ugliness, but because it witnesses to the infinite love of God for his people. Because of love the cross is a “trophy of victory.”

In the Ambon Prayer of the Feast of the Exaltation, we pray, “You are glorified by the exaltation of your venerable Cross and by it accomplish our purification from the pride of demons.” As the people of Constantinople centuries ago looked to the Cross for deliverance from illness, we look at it today as our hope for deliverance from sin and evil.

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras

What the emblem of Order stands for?

The badge of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, formed by a large Greek cross surrounded by four small crosses, symbolically represents the five wounds of Christ which are like the “Gates of Heaven”. This emblem is not a decoration but a mission whose spiritual meaning is illuminated in the light of the teaching of Pope Francis.

Indeed, since his election, the Holy Father urges us to touch the wounds of Christ, like the Apostle Thomas did after the resurrection, to welcome the mercy that radiates from Him as a source of peace. “If we put our hands together into these wounds and confess that Jesus has risen, and if we proclaim Him as our Lord and our God, if recognizing our shortcomings, we dive into His wounds of love, we can find the truth.” Joy of forgiveness and getting a foretaste of the day when, with God’s help, we will be able to celebrate on the same altar the Passover mystery,” he emphasized, especially from an ecumenical perspective, during a pontifical trip.

“A saint was saying that the body of Jesus crucified is like a bag of mercy, reaching us all through his wounds,” he also explained on the occasion of Mercy Sunday.”

“We all need mercy, we know it.” Let us draw closer to Jesus and touch his wounds in our suffering brothers. Jesus’ wounds are a treasure: that’s where mercy flows. Let us be brave and touch the wounds of Jesus. With these wounds, he stands before the Father, he shows them to the Father, as if he were saying, “Father, this is the price, these wounds are what I paid for my brothers.” Through his wounds, Jesus intercedes before the Father. He gives us mercy if we draw near, and intercede for us. Do not forget the wounds of Jesus” (Regina Cæli, April 28, 2019).

Each member of the Order is therefore called to first carry in his heart the symbols of the badge sewn on his mantle and to spread the veneration of the Holy Wounds of Christ, sources of forgiveness and mercy. They cleanse and heal. If we embrace them, they can truly change our lives. (EOHSJ)

Roger Sherman remembered

The Committee of Five presenting their work on the Declaration of Independence in June 1776 and memorialized this painting by John Trumbull (1819). Sherman on the right.

Roger Sherman of Connecticut is remembered on this day in history 23 July 1793. He was one of the members of the Committee of Five to draft the Declaration of Independence. However, we ought to recall that he was the only person to sign all four great state papers of the United States: the Continental Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. It is said that Sherman’s state-craft was influenced by the isolationist politics of the time. That is, Connecticut was not very involved in the politics of the region.

A shoemaker educated in his father’s library became a civic leader. Married twice and father of 15. Sherman died of typhoid in New Haven, CT and is now buried in Grove Street Cemetery. Jonathan Edwards Jr. delivered the funeral sermon on July 25, 1793. Edwards recalled Sherman’s “contributions to his friends, family, town, and country, noting Sherman’s piety and excellence in study.”

St Andrei Rublev, monk and iconographer

Today Byzantine Church recalls the memory of the monk and iconographer St. Andrei Rublev, monk and iconographer. His birth and death dates are not known precisely, but he is known to have lived in the 14th century. His iconography is well-appreciated world—wide; much of his sacred art resides in Russia. Rublev is buried at the Andronikov Monastery.

The troparion for St. Andrei reads:

Shining with the rays of divine light, O venerable Andrew, You knew Christ the wisdom and power of God. By means of the image of the Holy Trinity You preached to all the world the Holy Trinity in unity. And we, with amazement and joy, cry out to you: As you have boldness before the Most Holy Trinity. Pray that the Uncreated Light may illumine our souls!

New bishop for the Malabar Eparchy in the USA

Second Eparch for the Syro-Malabar Eparchy of St. Thomas in Chicago

Pope Francis has appointed Mar Joy Alappat, 66, as the second Bishop of the St. Thomas Eparchy of Chicago, succeeding Mar Jacob Angadiath (who reached retirement age of 75 according to canon law).

You can read today’s announcement of the Holy See here: https://press.vatican.va/…/2022/07/03/0514/01049.html

As the first Syro Malabar Eparchy to be established outside of India in 2001, the St. Thomas Eparchy serves more than 49 thousand Syro Malabar Catholics in the United States, which includes 80+ parishes and missions. There are two Malabar parishes in Connecticut.

Gratitude for the good work of Mar Jacob Angadiath for his service. And may God bless Bishop-designate Mar Joy!

Some twenty years ago I worked with Father Joy at Georgetown University Hospital. I rejoice in this appointment!

Saints John Fisher and Thomas More

O God, who in martyrdom have brought true faith to its highest expression, graciously grant, that, strengthened through the intercession of Saints John Fisher and Thomas More, we may confirm by the witness of our life, the faith we profess with our lips. 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. Amen.

Fisher and More are key models of holiness for our time of weirdness of politics and civil and ecclesial life. As we all know we are pressured to compromise our faith and virtue even in Church life. All the more that we need these two saints because of their clear witness to Jesus Christ when others pressure us to reject the sovereignty of the Lord in all things. Belief in one’s mind and heart needs to coordinated with one’s lips. Can’t believe one thing and say another, and vice versa.

Corpus Christi

From an 1864 homily by Cardinal Manning:

Cardinal Manning, Archbishop of Westminster

“Corpus Christi is a second Feast of the Nativity; a Christmas festival in the summer-tide, when the snows are gone, and flowers cover the earth. And whence comes all this joy but from the divine fact which St. John declares: “The Word was made Flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory”? Morning by morning, in the holy Mass, the Church recites this great charter of its incorporation and of its existence. Morning by morning it bears witness to the divine, permanent, and immutable presence of Jesus in the fulness of grace and truth. The Blessed Sacrament is the Incarnation perpetually present, manifested to faith, and I may say, under a veil, to sense, and applied to us by the same divine power by which it was accomplished.”

Feast of Christ the High Priest

Today, the Thursday between Pentecost and Trinity Sunday, June 9th, is the Feast of Christ the High Priest. It’s a feast reminding us of the priestly work (office) of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and that every ordained priest in the Catholic Church acts in persona Christi capitis. Read Hebrews 2 and 7.

While approved in several places, sadly the US bishops have not asked for the feast here in the USA.

Let us pray that all priest be faithful servants of Christ and of the Church, the People of God.

I also pray for my friends in the clergy, high and low, and in particular those recently ordained priest.

St Ephrem

That today on the Latin liturgical calendar St Ephrem is commemorated. Many don’t have a clue about St Ephrem and his theological force of influence. Here is selection from a sermon of St Ephrem for our edification. Happy feast.

The divine ordering of the world is an image of the spiritual world

O Lord, drive away the darkness from our minds with the light of your wisdom, so that enlightened in this way we may serve you with renewed purity.

The beginning of the sun’s passage through the sky marks the beginning of the working day for us mortals: we ask you, Lord, to prepare in our minds a place where the day that knows no end may give its light. Grant that we may have within us this light, the life of the resurrection, and that nothing may take away our delight in you. Mark us with the sign of that day that does not begin with the movement and the course of the sun, by keeping our minds fixed on you.In your sacraments we welcome you every day and receive you in our bodies.

Make us worthy to experience within us the resurrection for which we hope. By the grace of baptism we conceal within our bodies the treasure of your divine life. This treasure increases as we eat at the table of your sacraments. Let us rejoice in your grace. We have within us, Lord, a memorial of you, which we receive at your spiritual table; may we possess the full reality in the life to come.

Let us appreciate the great beauty that is ours through the spiritual beauty that your immortal will arouses in our mortal nature.Your crucifixion, Lord, was the end of your bodily life: help us to crucify our will to give birth to the spiritual life. May your resurrection, Jesus, fill our spirits with greatness: may we see in your sacraments a mirror in which we may be able to recognise the resurrection.

Your divine ordering of the world, O Saviour, is the image of the spiritual world: let us live in it as truly spiritual men. Do not take away from our minds, Lord, the signs of your spiritual presence and do not withdraw from our bodies the warmth and delight of your presence. The mortal nature of our bodies is a source of corruption within us: let the outpouring of the spirit of your love wipe away the effect of mortality from our hearts.

Grant, Lord, that we may hasten to our true home, and, like Moses on the mountain-top, let us have a glimpse of it.

Fr Ragheed Ganni

Iraqi priest Fr Ragheed Ganni, and 3 subdeacons, were killed by terrorists on this day in 2007 in Mosul. He was martyred for refusing to close his church. His cause for canonization was introduced in 2018.

Servant of God Fr Ragheed Ganni, pray for us.