Christ’s voice heard through Cistercian nuns in Syria

The Cistercian nuns of the Monastery of Blessed Mary of Font of Peace (in Arabic, Dier al Adrha Yanbu’a-s-Salam) Azeir, Syria are speaking out:

The people are straining their eyes and ears in front of the television: all they’re waiting for is a word from Obama!

A word from Obama? Will the Nobel Peace Prize winner drop his sentence of war onto us? Despite all justice, all common sense, all mercy, all humility, all wisdom?

The Pope has spoken up, patriarchs and bishops have spoken up, numberless witnesses have spoken up, analysts and people of experience have spoken up, even the opponents of the regime have spoken up…. Yet here we all are, waiting for just one word from the great Obama? And if it weren’t him, it would be someone else. It isn’t he who is “the great one,” it is the Evil One who these days is really acting up.

(excerpt from 29 August 2013 letter, the full text is here)

This is a matter of faith and the public order. These voices need to be heard and prudent action needs to be taken up. Killing more people to save face is not the Christian way.

Typically, you don’t hear from Cistercians in this way. They are now speaking up for justice and peace at a time when another World War is possible. Following the 6th century Rule of Benedict and the Constitutions of the venerable order of Citeaux. You may say, the small group of nuns of Blessed Mary of Font of Peace have as their key work to pray for peace and to work on their conversion.

The monastery is located in Syria, on the boarder with Lebanon in a village of Maronite Catholic. Historians will note that the intuition of the Cistercian nuns coheres well with the context in which they find themselves: at the crossroads with East and West, where Christianity began, and where culture flourished.  From where the nuns are located, you can see the Good News sent abroad to Asia Minor, Greece, France, Rome, Armenia, India, China. The nuns, too, rely on the intercession of saints like Afraate, Ephraim, Cyrus, Simeon the Protostilite, Maron, John Maron, Isaac of Niniveh, John Chrysostom, John of Damascus, Rafka, and countless others who followed Jesus Christ.

Our Lady of Peace, and all Syrian and Cistercian saints, pray for us.

Pope calls for a day of fasting and prayer for peace in Syria, Sept 7

September 7 prayer for SyriaOn Sunday, the Pope’s weekly Angelus prayer and address included an invitation to prayer, fasting and awareness for the situation of peace in Syria. On the vigil of the Nativity of Mary, Pope Francis –with all local churches around the world, will meet in supplication. The portion of the Pope’s invitation from the Angelus address is here:

May the plea for peace rise up and touch the heart of everyone so that they may lay down their weapons and let themselves be led by the desire for peace.

To this end, brothers and sisters, I have decided to proclaim for the whole Church on 7 September next, the vigil of the birth of Mary, Queen of Peace, a day of fasting and prayer for peace in Syria, the Middle East, and throughout the world, and I also invite each person, including our fellow Christians, followers of other religions and all men of good will, to participate, in whatever way they can, in this initiative.

On 7 September, in Saint Peter’s Square, here, from 19:00 until 24:00, we will gather in prayer and in a spirit of penance, invoking God’s great gift of peace upon the beloved nation of Syria and upon each situation of conflict and violence around the world. Humanity needs to see these gestures of peace and to hear words of hope and peace! I ask all the local churches, in addition to fasting, that they gather to pray for this intention.

Labor Day 2013

truck-thumb-250x162-13063The Christian finds in human work a small part of the cross of Christ and accepts it in the same spirit of redemption in which Christ accepted the cross for us. In work, thanks to the light that penetrates us from the resurrection of Christ, we always find a glimmer of new life, of the new good, as if it were an announcement of “the new heavens and the new earth” in which man and the world participate precisely through the toil that goes with work.

Blessed John Paul II
Laborem exercens, 27

Pope Francis prayer intentions for September 2013

Francis prays rosarySaint John of Kronstadt said, “When you pray, try to let the prayer reach your heart; in other words, it is necessary that your heart should feel what you are talking about in your prayer, that it should wish for the blessing which you are asking… Observe, during prayer, whether, your heart is in accord with that which you are saying.”

We are asked to remember these two intentions for the month of September in union with the Pope.

The general intention

That people today, often overwhelmed by noise, may rediscover the value of silence and listen to the voice of God and their brothers and sisters.

The missionary intention

That Christians suffering persecution in many parts of the world may by their witness be prophets of Christ’s love.

Pietro Parolin new Vatican Secretary of State

The Holy Father has appointed Archbishop Pietro Parolin, 58, his Secretary of State, replacing Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, SDB. He will turn 79 on December 2.

The Secretary of State functions as the Prime Minister.

Until now, and since 2009, Archbishop Parolin has been the Nuncio in Venezuela. He was the Undersecretary of State for Relations with States between 2002-2009. The transition happens on 15 October 2013.

He will follow what Pope Francis asked the world to do at his first Mass as the bishop of Rome: to walk, to build and to confess.

He’s been a bishop for 4 years. He will be made a cardinal in the next round of new cardinals.

Here is Archbishop Parolin’s statement.

May the Holy Spirit guide the Archbishop’s work.

Late summer reading

Just in case you’re looking for something to read this summer (what’s left of it) …

Francesca Ambrogetti and Sergio Rubin, Pope Francis: His Life in His Own Words

Father Robert Barron The Strangest Way: Walking the Christian Path

Pope Benedict XVI, What It Means to Be A Christian

Father Peter John Cameron, O.P., Praying with Saint Mark’s Gospel: Daily Reflections on the Gospel of St. Mark

Mary Eberstadt, Adam and Eve After the Pill: Paradoxes of the Sexual Revolution (Ignatius Press, 2013).

Father Michael Gaitley, MIC, The ‘One Thing’ Is Three

Father Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Conversions in the Christian Life

Father John Hugo, Weapons of the Spirit (Dorothy Day retreat master)

Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire

Barnabas Senecal, OSB, Beauty in Faces & Places (NP, 2012).

Girgis Shrif, Ryan T. Anderson, and Robert P. George, What is Marriage?: Man and Woman: A Defense (Encounter Books 2012).

The NEW Blackfriars Films … Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life

Blackfriars filmsThe New York Province of Dominicans have brought together several media initiatives and created for themselves a new media division under the sponsorship of the Province of Saint Joseph with the debut of Blackfriar Films. They are off and running…

Here we have a treat with Father Austin Dominic Litke, OP, Father Robert Koopman, OSB and Leah Sedlacek performing a new arrangement of the beautiful 17th century hymn, “Come, My Way, My Truth, My Life.” The beautiful scenery of New York City is the God-given canvas for preaching Gospel and sharing the Christian faith with the world.

Father Austin is a campus minister at NYC and Father Robert is a monk of Saint John’s Abbey (MN) where he’s a music educator and artist.

In case you want to meditate on the beautiful words Father Austin is singing, here they are:

Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life:
such a way as gives us breath,
such a truth as ends all strife,
such a life as killeth death.

Come, my Light, my Feast, my Strength:
such a light as shows a feast,
such a feast as mends in length,
such a strength as makes his guest.

Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart:
such a joy as none can move,
such a love as none can part,
such a heart as joys in love.

The Garima Gospels witness to a living Christian faith

Gramina GospelsIn 2010, there was an interesting “find” for the biblical world of our era. This article is three years old but it ought to raise our interests in the biblical narrative not merely for literary and artistic considerations, but for matters pertaining to divine revelation. We have a lot more work to do if we are to say we “know it all” when it comes to the bible.

I say this because while news reports reveal what can be viewed as a testimony to the attractiveness to the biblical tradition of the Christian Church. The attractiveness of a dynamic faith in Jesus as Savior and Messiah. The realization that our Christian faith is based on meeting God and that we just don’t make things up as we go along.

What is now considered to be among the oldest surviving works of Christianity, the Garima Gospels date perhaps to the early fourth century first came to light in the 1950s; scholars and philanthropists in England are helping to preserve the treasure today.

The Monastery of Abba Garima in northern Ethiopia is one of many places where Christians have conserved their ancient texts relating to the Good News preached by Jesus Christ. That we have a fourth century manuscript with some very early extant Christian illustrations is stunning. The images have Coptic similarities. One more reason we need to have concern for Christians who live in Egypt, Ethiopian and Eritrea. According to reports, the Garima Gospels contain portraits of the Evangelists. A literary and cultural find for some, another piece for biblical archeology for scholars, these Gospel pages are relics of a living faith.

Getting to the heart of what St Augustine teaches us today

The Church put on the lips of the priest, and also on our own lips, yesterday this prayer at Mass:

Renew in your Church, we pray, O Lord, that spirit with which you endowed your Bishop Saint Augustine that, filled with the same spirit, we may thirst for you, the sole fount of true wisdom, and seek you, the author of heavenly love.

I am stimulated by what we ask the Lord: to be filled with the same spirit as Augustine, thirsting for Him and seeking divine love.

Shortly into the papacy of Benedict XVI he went to pray before the relics of Saint Augustine in Pavia, Italy. When I saw this picture yesterday I immediately got to wondering why is Augustine so important to some, and irrelevant to others. Why does Augustine have such an crucial influence on us 1600 years after his death? The answer is still being formed but I think part of an answer is his capacity for friendship, and to relentlessly seek God.

The Augustinians are meeting for their 184th General Chapter and Pope Francis opened the Chapter with Mass. Here is a report on the gathering of the Augustinians with His Holiness.

BUT let me offer you an opportunity to hear what Saint Augustine’s spirituality is and how it is relevant to us today. I found a 2009 presentation on Augustinian spirituality given by Father Theodore E. Tack, OSA, who, at the time of his death in February (’13) been a professed member of the Augustinian friars for more than 60 years; he was the 93rd Prior General of the Augustinians, a headmaster, and until his death a high school teacher in Tulsa, OK. Tack gives a great overview of Christian life through the eyes of Saint Augustine.

Father Tack’s presentation, “The Relevance of Augustine for Young Adults Today,”  is a very good introduction to the person and perduring influence of Augustine of Hippo. Like the Pope visiting the relics, we need to visit a man who has a profound influence on the Church. Don’t be fooled by the title; his presentation is really for all. He offered this work as the opening presentation for the Society of St Augustine at Villanova University.

The Passion of Saint John the Baptist

As forerunner of our Lord’s birth, preaching and death, the blessed John showed in his struggle a goodness worthy of the sight of heaven. In the words of Scripture: Though in the sight of men he suffered torments, his hope is full of immortality. We justly commemorate the day of his birth with a joyful celebration, a day which he himself made festive for us through his suffering and which he adorned with the crimson splendor of his own blood. We do rightly revere his memory with joyful hearts, for he stamped with the seal of martyrdom the testimony which he delivered on behalf of our Lord.

Saint Bede the Venerable
Office of Readings

In an era where nihilism is prevalent, hearing that someone is full of hope for immortality is striking. What does Saint Bede mean? We know from experience that the life we live is full of contradictions and divisions in mind and heart. But we have today a man who knows his humanity and the truth of a promise that only Someone else can make good. Losing one’s head in this world allows for the soul to truly live in the next.