Communio – Page 253 – …bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Saint Clement of Rome

Almighty ever-living God, who are wonderful in the virtue of all your Saints, grant us joy in the yearly commemoration of Saint Clement, who, as a Martyr and High Priest of your Son, bore out by his witness what he celebrated in mystery and confirmed by example what he preached with his lips.

After Peter as the chosen head of the Church, the next crucial leader of the Church is the 1st century Saint Clement of Rome. In the development of what a “pope” is for the Church, Clement is often claimed to be such. His immediate predecessors Linus and Cletus were certainly bishops of Rome, but it seems as though Clement is concerned for Christians beyond the City walls.

He was a Jewish-Roman by birth and is reported to accepted Christian faith at the hands of either Saints Peter or Paul. Called to be a missionary, Clement assisted these great apostles as well as Jerome and a companion of Barnabas, Luke and Timothy. It is the testimony of Tertullian that we learn that Clement was ordained a bishop by Saint Peter. Clement, is known in papal history for being the 4th bishop of Rome; his papal service followed Peter, Linus and Cletus. Pope Clement served the Church for 9 years, 11 months and 20 days.

Circa 96 Clement wrote to the people of the Church in Corinth defending the faith against their peoples’ abandonment of Christian faith seen in their acceptance of prostitution at the Temple of Aphrodite. But the Corinthians also were accused of being impious, envious, and angry among other issues. Clement laid for us a spiritual path that says that we are to abandon all things of this world to more perfectly follow Jesus. Clement was an ardent worker for unity among Christians. We can’t be friends with Caesar and at the same time with the Lord. Purity of heart and body were essential.

Happy Thanksgiving 2012

Saint Cecilia

O God, who gladden us each year with the feast day of your handmaid Saint Cecilia, grant we pray, that what has been devoutly handed concerning her may offer us examples to imitate and proclaim the wonders worked in his servants by Christ your Son.

The feast of Saint Cecilia is most known for being the patroness of church musicians. But what ought to bring us closer to reality is that her fame and veneration across the world is because of her joy in facing death because of her intense love for her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The dates of her existence are difficult to pinpoint but history tells us that her body was discovered in AD 822. Liturgical legend places her death along that with her husband Saint Valerian and her brother-in-law Saint Tiburtius during the reign of Pope Urban I (r. 222-230). Therefore, Emperor Alexander Severus would responsible for her death.

Cecilia, though married, remained a virgin, that is, singularly focussed on Christ’s love as opposed to human love. At the time of her marriage her husband was not a Christian, but due to an act of the Spirit, Valerian accepted Christ in baptism.

Two saints arrived

Two saints arrived today. Actually, their relics arrived and with their papers. A friend sent me the relics of Saint Casimir and Saint Pius X.

What is a relic? The word “relic” comes from the Latin “relinquo” meaning “I leave” or “I abandon.” Typically a relic of a saint is a bone or piece of hair if it is a first class relic. Something owned by the saint, like clothing or a piece of a desk, is a second class relic and something touched by the relic is a third class relic.

We only adore Jesus Christ. We honor, that is, venerate, the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints. There is a difference. The distinction is shown in the fact that we don’t pray to a crucifix or a statue or a relic. Our prayer is directed to the one whom the crucifix, statue or relic indicates. The power to do miracles rests with God alone, Mary and the saints intercede on our behalf.

Continue reading Two saints arrived

St Mary’s Monastery, Petersham celebrates 25 years

Today is the 25th anniversary of the founding of Saint Mary’s Monastery, Petersham, MA.

In 1987, Saint Mary’s became a dependent house on Pluscarden Abbey, Scotland. Some might say that 3 men started the monastery in 1985, and they’re right to a degree. But in 1987 it was aggregated to Pluscarden in a formal way and to the Subiaco Congregation.

Saint Mary’s Monastery is a small colony of Benedictine monks whose central work is the praying of the traditional Divine Office (in Latin) with a small guest house welcomes visitors.

A delightful place to visit, pray and just spend time with the Lord.

Benedictine Oblate promises renewal

Today is the day on which the Oblates of St Benedict of St Meinrad Archabbey renew their oblation at Mass. It is not a public gesture but it is one of significance because it keeps in front of us our offering to God through our attention to the Scriptures, Tradition and the Rule of Benedict.

Today is also the day that the Pope has asked the Church to support in friendship and with finances the contemplative life. Please consider making an offering of prayer and money to a local monastery. They need our prayer and financial support.

The text of the renewal of Oblate promises is noted here.

Mary, mother of Benedictines, pray for us.

Saints Benedict and Scholastica, pray for us.

Saint Henry, pray for us.

Saint Frances of Rome, pray for us.

The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The liturgical memorial celebrated today is an odd feast for some in the West: The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary; in the Byzantine East it’s sometimes referred to as the Entrance of the Virgin in the Temple. A slight difference with no real distinction.

Liturgical history tells us that the feast was observed in Jerusalem in the 6th century. A church was built to Mary’s honor. In the West the feast was introduced in the 11th century but it has disappeared for a time from the Church’s calendar and then in the 16th century it was given to the Church to be observed universally.

The tradition of the Church –that is, it is only spoken of in apocryphal literature– is that the parents of Mary, Saints Joachim and Anna, praying for the miracle of a child received from God a baby they longed to have: Mary. Their prayer and vow to God was dedicate the child to Him, and His service. One slight possible problem. Jews at this time in history only brought to the Temple their baby sons, not their baby daughters. At least that’s what some scholars of the Law taught. This unhistorical account of Mary’s presentation known to us from the Protoevangelium of James gives the churches a liturgical observance. Nevertheless, little did Mary’s parents realize what it meant to fulfill their promise of dedicating their daughter in the Temple to God’s service. Salvation history would never be the same.

Psalms connected with the Presentation in the Temple: with lighted candles: Ps. 44/45: 14-15; 119/120 to 133/134.

A previous post.

Christian faith through lens of the Creed presented at the Monastery of the Glorious Cross, Branford, CT

In the Year
of Faith please join Father David Borino and Benedictine Sister Zita Wenker for
a discussion “Christian faith through lens of the Creed” on Saturday, December
1, 10:30 to 2:00pm.

The discussion will be held at the Monastery of the
Glorious Cross, 61 Burban Drive, Branford, CT 06405.

The day includes Mid-day prayer and Mass in the
Monastery Chapel, the presentations and time for Q&A. Please bring a brown
bag lunch.

Father David Borino is a priest of the Archdiocese of Hartford and
Sister M. Zita Wenker, OSB is a Benedictine nun of Jesus Crucified residing at the Monastery of the
Glorious Cross (61 Burban Drive, Branford, CT 06405). Both presenters bring pastoral and theological expertise to the
exploration of what we believe Catholic faith to be through what we profess
Sunday after Sunday in the Creed.

The day is free, open to the public with a
good will offering taken.

The Infancy Narratives by Joseph Ratzinger

The third and final volume of Joseph Ratzinger’s bestselling idea on Jesus of Nazareth was generally released today. In the USA it will be released on December 4. The Infancy Narrative (Random House, 2012) is available on Amazon with real good pre-order discount.

The four chapter plus epilogue book (256 pages) will be first available in 9 languages with another 20 translations planned. According to the press release The Infancy Narratives analyze the gospel narratives from the Annunciation of John and the Nativity of the Lord up to age 12.

The trilogy is deemed as an exceptional trilogy of Benedict XVI.

Saint Mechtilde of Hackeborn

The Church celebrates two Benedictine friends in several days: Saints Mechtilde and Gertrude. By today’s standards of canonizations, neither were formally canonized by the Church; until recently Hildegard enjoyed a canonization status only observed in Benedictine communities. Her liturgical observance is recognized more universally today. Pope Benedict XVI spoke eloquently of Saint Mechtilde of Hackeborn at a 2010 Wednesday Office. The Pope gives a superb insight into the person of Saint Mechtilde that is extraordinarily helpful.

Saint Mechtilde (1240-1298), the sister of Gertrude of Hackeborn (not Gertrude the Great [celebrated on Nov. 16], thought there is great confusion about this relation) attended the monastery school where her sister was a nun and after graduation she entered monastic life. Like Gertrude the Great Saint Mechtilde was known as a serious and gifted student and teacher. Someone described her having a “voice of a songbird.” Her wonderful personality was an asset for her Benedictine community and it likely led to her being a 40 year abbess. As it turns out, Gertrude the Great was a student of Mechtilde’s. Both of whom had a profound love for the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Privacy issues today weren’t known in the 13th century. Mechtilde’s spiritual experiences were recorded by Gertrude. Though unnerved by the perceived violation of boundaries, the Lord assured her that it was OK. In time Gertrude’s work was the basis of Mechtilde’s “Book of Special Grace” or later known as “Revelations of Saint Mechtilde,” a book that is oriented to the liturgical year and focussed on Christology and Trinitarian theology. The Pope tells us that Mechtilde’s starting point is the sacred Liturgy and her mystical experiences relate us back to the liturgical experience through the lens of the biblical narrative. Saint Mechtilde ought to be one of the heavenly patrons of liturgical studies.

In several places you’ll read that Dante used Saint Mechtilde for his Donna Matelda of his volume of the Purgatorio, Canto XXVII. Whether is true is not yet known. That Dante’s Donna Matelda and Saint Mechtilde are mystics, one wonders if the saint is fictionalized.