Communio – Page 266 – …bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Getting a handle on Benedictine life — Subiaco style

You might ask why I care about the Subiaco Congregation… well, I care about the Congregation because it’s the largest and most diverse of all the groupings of those who follow the Benedictine Rule, and many of the monasteries do interesting things outside the typical works of parochial and educational ministries. And, because I care. Subiaco monks and nuns tend to be more focused on living the monastic life with intensity. One may also say that the English Benedictines have certain intensity in life and ministry which distinguishes them from other groupings.

The other day I mentioned that the Cassinese Congregation (the Italian monasteries of which Monte Cassino is part) was seeking re-union with the Subiaco Congregation, and today the vote was positive. Of course, the Cassinese Congregation is very much in “diminishment mode” with very few new vocations with an outdated way of doing things. The vote for the revised constitutions was also positive.

Abbot Philip of the Abbey of Christ in the Desert writes a weekly notebook. This week he notes some of the “goings on” of the 19th General Chapter.

Saint Benedict and Saint Scholastica, pray for the monks, and for us.

9/11 – eternal memory

Agimus tibi gratias, omnipotens Deus, pro universis beneficiis tuis, qui
vivis et regnas in saecula saeculorum. Fidelium animae, per misericordiam Dei,
requiescant in pace. Amen.

Subiaco Congregation of monks meet

The General Congregation of the Subiaco Congregation of Benedictine monks are meeting this week at one of the monasteries founded by Saint Benedict, Saint Scholastica Monastery, Subiaco, Italy.

There are four monasteries of the Subiaco Congregation in the USA: the Abbey of Christ in the Desert, Saint Mary’s Monastery (Petersham, MA), Holy Cross Monastery (Chicago, IL) and Thien Tam Monastery (Dallas, TX). These monasteries comprise the English Province of the Subiaco Congregation (which the video).

The meeting of the superiors (abbots and priors) is the normal manner of doing business of and for the Congregation which unites the monasteries throughout the world. As a point of comparison, the Subiaco Congregation is the largest grouping of monks and nuns in the world with 1,293 members (a 2010 statistic). Among the tasks for the abbots and priors is to: approve the Constitutions of the Congregation which were newly revised, vote on the request to admit the Cassinese Congregation to the Subiaco Congregation and to elect an Abbot President.

Regarding the vote of the Cassinese Congregation: if the vote is positive the Italian monasteries of this congregation would then belong to the Subiaco Congregation thus re-uniting the two.

Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, pray for the Subiaco Congregation, and for us.

Praying for Charles Chaput and Philadelphia

Every bishop needs prayers. Yesterday was the year anniversary of Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Joseph Chaput’s taking over the work of being the pastor. He’s had a very tough year but not one without the finger of God directing his way. If there is a bishop that we ought to follow on this side of the Atlantic, this is the one. Here’s an insightful story of the Archbishop’s past year…. Read it please, and offer a prayer for both the archbishop and the archdiocese.

Be opened!

The gospel for today has the word, “Be opened” –in other words, listen. It is a word that is most known by Christians in the Rite of Baptism where the priest touches the ears of the person to be christened saying, “Be opened.” Later in history, the word is made more famous for being the first word in the Rule of Benedict, Listen.

Today, the Mother Church recalls for us that Jesus uses mud to open the ears of a deaf man in front of Him; the Lord gives the man what he wants –the capacity to physically hear sounds– but Jesus also gives the man to capacity to hear the Good Word, to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd and thus is indicating a more profound manner of listening. It is our belief that the heart is where our desires, our needs, our total being is transformed by the hearing of the words of Eternal Life. Jesus opens our ears 2000 years later not only as an allegory for the inner life which we all need to attend to, but for some, there is a physical healing that also happens. “Be opened” now takes on the keen sense that without the Word of Life, without the Bread of Life, we can’t really understand who we are, and what we are about.

Speaking of the Saint Benedict’s Holy Rule, I was at the Abbey of Regina Laudis taking in the monastic environment of the Benedictine nuns who make it a point to listen. The Abbey is a special place. The nuns’ listening is not only relegated to Scripture, the Rule, and the Fathers of the Church, but to each other. It is in the Rule that we learn more poignantly that there is such a thing as mutual obedience. This is the way of the Church. That is to say, following another who witnesses and therefore teaches us the way of Christ. I wonder if the Benedictine experience of life is possible not only for women in Connecticut, but also for men. Can it be conceived that a monastic presence of men following the Church’s teaching on Baptism and Saint Benedict’s Holy Rule is possible in the Nutmeg State today?

Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Let us celebrate with joy the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, for from her arose the sun of justice, Christ our God. (antiphon)

Impart to your servants, we pray, O Lord, the gift of heavenly grace, that the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin may bring deeper peace to those for whom the birth of her Son was the dawning of salvation.

Several things to pray for today,

the Most Rev. Edoardo Aldo Cerrrato, CO, on the day of his episcopal ordination in Rome;
the Cistercian Order;
those who professed vows today;
the Benedictines of Saint Mary’s Monastery (Petersham, MA);
Archbishop Charles Chaput, OFM, Cap, on the first anniversary of being the archbishop of Philadelphia;
Michael Maggiore who is healing.

Keeping in mind what Saint Thomas of Villanova reflected upon for today’s feast,

“What joy, what happiness there is in heaven! The shoot for the root of Jesse, sown so long ago in the patriarchs, has today sprung up and began to grow, and will bear a Flower which is destined to heal the world; a Flower whose scent revives the dead, whose taste heals the sick, whose beauty delights the angels; a Flower both white and red, which the angels long to see.”

Father Francis Weiser, S.J., in his The Holyday Book writes about today’s feast thus:

On Our Lady’s birthday the Church celebrates the first dawning of redemption with the appearance in the world of the Saviour’s mother, Mary.

The Blessed Virgin occupies a unique place in the history of salvation, and she has the highest mission ever commended to any creature. We rejoice that the Mother of God is our Mother, too.

Let us often call upon the Blessed Virgin as “Cause of our joy,” one of the most beautiful titles in her litany.

Since September 8 marks the end of summer and beginning of fall, this day has many thanksgiving celebrations and customs attached to it. In the Old Roman Ritual there is a blessing of the summer harvest and fall planting seeds for this day.

The winegrowers in France called this feast “Our Lady of the Grape Harvest”. The best grapes are brought to the local church to be blessed and then some bunches are attached to hands of the statue of Mary. A festive meal which includes the new grapes is part of this day.

In the Alps section of Austria this day is “Drive-Down Day” during which the cattle and sheep are led from their summer pastures in the slopes and brought to their winter quarters in the valleys.

This was usually a large caravan, with all the finery, decorations, and festivity. In some parts of Austria, milk from this day and all the leftover food are given to the poor in honor of Our Lady’s Nativity.

The 2010 post which includes a portion of a homily Saint Andrew of Crete is here.

Entertainment Weekly and the crass cliché of a slutty nun

I am not a subscriber to
Entertainment Weekly but this week when I saw the magazine I had another reason
for not reading this rag. The well-known actress Jessica Lange is on the
cover wearing a religious sister’s habit, a crucifix around her neck, brandishing
a cane and wearing fire-engine red lipstick and painted nails advocating “American Horror Story.” Hmmm, the
artists got the look of many women religious, right? It doesn’t take a
brain surgeon to see the ugliness of this image viz. with conversation the
Church is having with the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR).

While I am not a fan of what the LCWR stands for, or perhaps more accurately, what some members
of the LCWR stand for, there is no need perpetuate the crass cliché through
mocking portrayals of ruler-wielding nuns who are seen as backwards and stupid. The vast
majority of religious sisters and nuns are not this way. One ought to ask, “What about the beautiful work of teaching children
Catechism, their work with the poor and the marginalized, all those women of prayer and
learning in hospitals, and schools?

I think EW has stooped way too low in publishing a cover with anti-Catholic stereotyping. One can’t claim
that some members of the media are not anti-Catholic when a prominent magazine puts silly things on the cover. Really, a terrifying nun to advance a fictional
plot?

What does one say when EW describes Sister Jude (Miss Lange’s
character) as a “scarily stern woman of faith…and a fan of corporal
punishment…who has a penchant for red lingerie and vivid fantasies about her
superior, Monsignor Timothy O’Hara.” Further, EW quotes Joseph Fiennes who
says, “Clearly she’s attracted to the monsignor for his grace and
religiousness.” Fiennes plays O’Hara, “the monsignor might play with that,
manipulate that.” Slutty nun. Manipulative priest.

The show’s
co-creator, Ryan Murphy says, “I’m scared of aliens and I’m scared of Nazis and
I’m scared of nuns.”

To posit that there is no anti-Catholicism, I would think you might want to revise your opinion given the presence of fact: anti-Catholicism has a history, it’s alive and well. Some Catholics are not bothered by dysfunctional nuns priests. Art, in this case, is claimed to be in the realm of opinion,
that is, subjective. It is said that what is one person’s
good-natured ribbing is another person’s offensive stereotype. Do we
really think it is appropriate to hold this idea at all, never mind if we apply the whole issue to
those who hold Judiasm or Islam as their faith? Would the media think that
making fun of a rabbi, an iman or a Buddhist monk is a good thing? That doing so is good natured? Why do it
to Catholics?

EW’s incredibly sad portrayal of a Catholic sister as the
centerpiece of fictional show on TV is wrong, disrespectful, especially when
the reality is very different. The concept is ill-conceived.

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

The most well-known face of 20th century Catholicism and care for the human person after Pope John Paul is Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Her life and work is incomparable as well as her relationship with God even if there was distance between the two. Nothing is more beautiful in the spiritual life than an honest relationship, especially with God. Mother Teresa died on this date in 1997. Soon after her death, the Church waived the waiting period before a cause for canonization could be submitted to the Holy See. She was beatified on October 19, 2003.

The Church prays

O God, who
called blessed Teresa, Virgin, to respond to the love of your Son thirsting on
the cross with outstanding charity to the poorest of the poor, grant us, we
beseech you, by her intercession, to minister to Christ in his suffering
brothers.

You may want to listen to Veronica Scarisbrick’s interview with Monsignor Leo Maasburg, a close friend of Mother, posted at Vatican Radio. He recently published a book, Mother Teresa of Calcutta: A Personal Portrait, 50 Inspiring Stories Never before Told (Ignatius, 2011).

A prior post on Blessed Teresa and Divine Mercy

Saint Moses

The Kontakian of the Byzantine Liturgy the Church prays,

With the divine and righteous Moses and Aaron, the Prophets’ choir today rejoices with gladness, seeing their prophecy fulfilled now in our midst; for Your Cross, O Christ our God, whereby You have redeemed us,, shine in the sight of all as the end and fulfillment of that which they foretold in ancient times. By their entreaties, have mercy upon all of us.

The Church honors Old Testament figures liturgically, and today we recall Moses, a Holy Forefather. However, these Old Testament people do not appear on the Roman Calendar but they do in the Eastern Calendar. In the Roman Martyrology (an official liturgical book that catalogues the cult of saints, including the ecclesial acts of beatification and canonization) we find Saint Moses.

It is to Moses, whom we call a holy prophet and lawgiver. He was chosen by God to lead the oppressed people out of Egypt to the Promised Land. To Moses we learn that God has revealed Himself through the burning but unconsumed bush and it is on Mount Sinai through Moses that we learn God’s name, “I Am Who I Am.” It is through Moses that we receive the Law and “at a ripe old age” Moses died before entering the Promised Land and designed by God.

According to Catholic theology, Moses is an Old Testament type of Jesus, who in the Gospel of Matthew, is known as the “new Moses” and and is said to be Elias on Tabor at the Lord’s Transfiguration.

Moses is a particular appropriate saint for Benedictines to know, follow, and imitate. His life and vocation to be a prophet –that is, a witness, to the encounter with God, ought to motivate us to a deeper call to seek the face of God. The Benedictine vocation to be present to the Divine Mystery in front of us.

So, yes, Catholics call Moses “saint.”

Saint Gregory the Great

Blessed Gregory, raised upon the throne of Peter, sought always the beauty of the Lord and lived in celebration of that love.

O God, who care for the your people with gentleness and rule them in love, though the intercession of Pope Saint Gregory, endow, we pray, with a spirit of wisdom those to whom you have given authority to govern, that the flourishing of a holy flock may become the eternal joy of the shepherds.

Let us pray for the Pope, Benedict XVI and his ministry as pastor. Likewise, I would like to remember in prayer the monks of Portsmouth Abbey who live under the patronage of Saint Gregory the Great.