Communio – Page 232 – …bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

The Burning Bush reveals the living God: a foreshadowing the new Pentecost

Moses encountered the living God. What was once hidden is now made known. Light and Love is experienced. Biblical revelation teaches that he flame Moses saw was in fact God’s uncreated energies/glory. This glory of God was manifested as light, thus a reasonable theological explanation as to why the bush was not consumed. The Church doesn’t typically speak of the burning bush as a miracle inasmuch as it speaks of it as an event, a theophany, an epiphany, which lasts but a short time. What is taught by the Church Fathers is that Moses was permitted to see God’s uncreated energies/glory. That is, he had encountered the Infinite, a promise of eternal things to come. Moses is for us the note that we are made for the Infinite, that our heart is made for love, that we are to be in communion with the Divine Majesty.

This same light is linked to the experience of the children at Fatima.

Catholic theology speaks of the burning bush as an Old Testament type for Mary, the Theotokos. She, as the Spouse of the Holy Spirit “is the burning bush of the definitive theophany” (CCC 724). The burning bush which Moses experienced is spoken of by the Church Fathers as the type of Jesus, an experience that is “pre-incarnation.” That is to say, the bush is the encounter with the presence of the Son in the form of an Angel. Mary, therefore, is the Theotokos, the bearer of the Incarnate Son by the action of the Holy Spirit.

We welcome this Light into our lives through the sacraments of initiation, the frequent reception of the sacraments of Confession and Communion; we welcome this Light in our begging the Holy Spirit to guide our way to God the Father as a new Pentecost in our Christian experience. Our response is nothing other than adoration of God.

As a way to know more about the Holy Spirit and the Divine action in history I would recommend studying the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 717-730.

Church completes Benedictine merger: Subiaco Cassinese Benedictine Congregation

On Tuesday, 26 February 2013, João Cardinal Bráz de Aviz, Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, received in audience the Abbots of Subiaco, Montecassino, Noci, and Cava dei Tirreni, along with the Procurator General of the Subiaco Congregation and gave them the Decree of the Incorporation of the Cassinese Congregation into the Subiaco Congregation.

The decree is dated 7 February 2013, the Memorial of Blessed Pius IX, proponent of the Subiaco Congregation. The new official name of the Congregation is the Subiaco Cassinese Benedictine Congregation.

This is a re-integrtion of a group of monasteries that were once in the same fold and broke away. Necessity has reunited them.

Novena for the election of a new pope

O Lord, with suppliant humility, we entreat You, that in Your boundless mercy You would grant the most Holy Roman Church a pontiff, who by his zeal for us, may be pleasing to You, and by his good government may be ever honored by Your people for the glory of Your name. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son who with You lives and reigns world without end. Amen.

V. Most Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary.

R. Pray for us who have recourse to you!

Saint Peter, pray for us.

Saint Linus, pray for us.

Saint Anacletus, pray for us.

Saint Clement, pray for us.

Saint Evaristus, pray for us.

Saint Celestine V, pray for us.

Saint Pius V, pray for us.

Saint Pius X, pray for us.

Blessed Pius IX, pray for us.

Blessed John XXIII, pray for us.

Blessed John Paul II, pray for us.

Collect for the Election of the Supreme Pontiff (Votive Mass Pro Eligendo Summo Pontifice)

Cardinal Sodano’s Letter Calling the Cardinals to work

This is the letter the cardinals received from the Dean of the College of Cardinals, Angelo Cardinal Sodano, calling them to the General Congregation. The meetings begin on Monday, March 4, at 9:30am.

Teaching Beauty: A Reflection on the Legacy of Benedict’ XVI’s Pontificate

On Monday, 18 March, Christopher Candela will be a speaker at Saint Thomas More Church (NYC) at 7pm on “Teaching Beauty: A Reflection on the Legacy of Benedict XVI’s Pontificate.” This lecture is part of the MORE Hot Topics series.

Pope Benedict XVI, who finished his pontificate yesterday (28 February 2013), is
considered to be one of the most brilliant minds in a century.

From its humble beginning to its historic conclusion, Benedict’s pontificate will be remembered
for its prolific teaching. Benedict reminds us that logos precedes ethos, and that discerning
beauty is essential in the pursuit of truth. Through the Holy Father’s teachings, Mr. Candela will
explore the practical reforms that gave voice to Catholic musicians and artists who in previous
decades had been relegated to “the rearguard of culture.”

Support my friend in this very worthy endeavor.

The flyer: Teaching Beauty.pdf

Being a mature Christian in the face of difficulty from within

Benedict’s abdication has opened the door for lots of interesting thinking these days. Some are taking the opportunity to complain about how bad they think the Church is, some taking the time to pause, evaluate, and to pray for the Pilgrim People of God. The Catholic Church is the Church of Christ, warts and all, it is beautiful, but it can be ugly at times due to the immature Christian faith of some people. Paul Elie’s article in the Times causes to me think many things; I neither disagree with him completely, nor do I agree. He raises interesting things to consider but there are parts of the article that annoy me. But that’s not to be discussed here. But I have to ask: To whom do we belong, Jesus Christ or an ideology? Is the Church leading you to salvation in Christ? Do we assess the needs, pray and work for change where needed and where possible with prudence? Or, do we whine and walk away like teenagers? How mature is our Christian following?

The Provost of the Brooklyn Oratory, The Very Reverend Father Dennis Corrado, CO, writes in response to Elie’s article in the Times. The Oratorians are good shepherds to their people.

I read Paul Elie’s NY Times piece “Give up your Pew for Lent” in Friday’s Op. Ed. page early this morning. To say it is thought provoking is an understatement .

I am hopeful most people reading his words can appreciate how we priests serving this wounded Church feel while reading it.

I am grateful that the Brooklyn Oratory [Church of Saint Boniface] is described so positively.

This weekend, I will begin to preach a parish retreat in what Fr. Anthony of the Brooklyn Oratory tells me is one of the largest parishes in the Archdiocese of New York.

I’ll preach at 5 Masses and then have sessions each day for three days. The theme is forgiveness…forgiving each other and forgiving ourselves…asking God to forgive us for the stupid, sinful things we do.. as the path to wellness and joy.

During that time I will quote Carlo Carretto’s now famous reflection which begins :How much I must criticize you, my Church.

My favorite line being: Countless times I have felt like slamming the door of my soul in your face, (my Church) and yet each night I pray I might die in your sure, safe arms

Carretto’s list of anger and regret and pain about the Church members’ duplicity and hypocrisy ends with the conviction that those failures are all our failures and that we are one with them as we are one with the holiness we practice.

I will remind myself and my retreat attendees that our faith is in the Person of the Church who is Jesus Christ and not in the personnel who are not…pews and pulpit alike.

And I will once again remind myself and them that my experience of four decades of public ministry has taught me that nobody changes the Church from without… only from within.

Not a single one of my priest friends who have left the Church have helped change the institution they so wanted to be better and truthful and modern and humane.

Perhaps that is why we feel the Oratory makes a difference . And it is certainly why I can never separate myself from the Eucharistic Body of Christ as some kind of protest against our Church’s failures… no matter how often they occur.

Did Theresa of Avila or Francis of Assisi or Catherine of Siena or Philip Neri vacate the corrupted Church of their ages?

As a son of Vatican II I have never stopped preaching that the Church is the People of God,: flawed, foolish, sinful, brilliant, graced. holy and even saintly that is, all of us …. not just the Chanceries nor the Curias.

We do make a difference and I am reminded of Woody Allen’s remark that 80 percent of success is showing up.

I know wherever each of us will find ourselves this weekend, in whatever equally flawed and holy place as ours, we will still be one with each other, baptized as we are into the eternal Body of Christ.

And while I feel the painful reality of each of our diasporas, I pray any kind of suggested Lenten “abstinence” brings us back to our sede vacante.

As they say in Rome: con affetto,

F. Dennis, c.o.

Provost

The Brooklyn Oratory

New patriarch for the Ethiopian Orthodox Church

One head of Church leaves his ministry, another picks up a new call to serve God’s people on the same day. Abune Mathias, 71, was elected to lead Ethiopia’s 50 million Orthodox Christians, majority of the population. He is the sixth patriarch having received 500 of the 806 possible votes. His predecessor, Abune Paulos, was the head of the church since 1992 and died six months ago.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church has had its own patriarch since 1959 when Pope Cyril VI allowed for the Ethiopian Church to move from the Coptic Orthodox Church and be self-ruling. The Ethiopian Church has apostolic origins.

The new patriarch was ordained to the Order of Deacon in 1948, and a priest-monk in 1955. Since 1971 a bishop. Abune Mathias has been serving as archbishop of the Church in Jerusalem and has lived outside of Ethiopia for more than 30 years.

Abune Mathias will be enthroned in Holy Trinity Cathedral, Addis Ababa, on Sunday, 3 March.

Ethiopia has some of the word’s oldest churches, sometimes called “cave churches,” rock-hewn, which are a World Heritage Site, in Lalibella in northern Ethiopia. They’d remind of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Papal apartments, Lateran Basilica sealed

At 8pm Rome time on 28 February 2013, the Chair of Saint Peter went empty. The period of time is called sede vacante, the empty see; that is, the Holy Roman Church has no visible head on earth. There is no pope.

Until the time the cardinal electors gather for the Conclave to elect the next bishop of Rome, the head of the Apostolic Chamber, the Carmerllengo (chamberlain), Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, SDB, will lead a small group of people in closing the papal apartments, and the private elevator.

Prayers were prayed, and tasks identified. Doors were locked and a ribbon with wax seal secured the papal area.

The Camerlengo is the acting head of state and is the Church’s administrator of the material holdings of the Church. This office is in distinction to the Dean of the College of Cardinals, Angelo Cardinal Sodano, who cares for the spiritual well-being of the cardinals and chairs the meetings prior to the conclave.

The Vatican embassies also received communication at 8pm saying that any diplomatic necessity ought to be addressed to Archbishop Giovanni Becciu and to the Dean of the College of Cardinals.

Today, at 12:30pm Rome time, Archbishop PierLuigi Celate, the vice-Camerlengo, sealed off the Basilica of Saint John Lateran. The basilica is the cathedral for the bishop of Rome.

Rome Reports has a good visual on the sealing of the papal apartments.

What Benedict XVI will be reading?

I can’t verify this information personally but Salt and Light TV heard the news bite, and it sounds right, that one of the books Benedict XVI will be reading in his retirement is W.T. Dickens’ Hans Urs von Balthasar’s Theological Aesthetics: A Model for Post-Critical Biblical Interpretation (UND Press, 2003).

Dr. Dickens also published a journal article in The Heythrop Journal, “The Liturgical Shaping of Biblical Interpretation” (March 2012; Vol. 53, Is 2; pp. 191-203).

W.T. Dickens earned his doctorate at Yale, was a visiting professor at Cornell University and is now the Chair of Religious Studies at Siena College.

The Pope’s prayer intentions for March 2013

Even though the Chair of Saint Peter is temporary empty, the ministry of the bishop of Rome, the Roman Pontiff, is not abolished. The work of the Church of Christ continues: the proclamation of the Gospel, the administration of the sacraments and interceding on behalf of other before the Throne of Grace continues. As the Roman Pontiff emeritus said,

“I would like to invite everyone to renew firm trust in the Lord. I would like that we all, entrust ourselves as children to the arms of God, and rest assured that those arms support us and us to walk every day, even in times of struggle. I would like everyone to feel loved by the God who gave His Son for us and showed us His boundless love.”

The general intention

That respect for nature may grow with the awareness that all creation is God’s work entrusted to human responsibility.

The missionary intention

That bishops, priests, and deacons may be tireless messengers of the Gospel to the ends of the earth.