Communio – Page 387 – …bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Saint Vladimir’s relics visit the USA

The privilege of having the relics of one’s patron coming to your home is a singular experience. Friends who are seminarians at Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary welcomed their patron’s relics in solemn ceremony this past weekend.

An 11th century saint, Saint Vladimir is known in the Orthodox Church as the Holy and Great Prince Vladimir, Equal-to-the-Apostles who first experienced a dramatic conversion to Christ. He is credited with bringing Christianity to various places in Russia.

Saint Vladimir’s feast is commemorated in both the Orthodox and Latin Churches on July 15.

The press release of the veneration is here with yet another here.

Thanks to Deacon Dustin Lyon for the photos.

Solemn Vigil for All Nascent Human Life, 27 November 2010

Marking the beginning of Advent for the Roman Church,
the Holy Father invited the world’s dioceses (parishes & religious
institutions) religious communities, ecclesial movements and associations
throughout the world to join him in a Solemn Vigil for All Nascent Human Life (resources here).

On November 27^th, First Vespers for the First Sunday of Advent, the
Church will gather together with her pastor in prayer to thank God for the
Incarnation of His Son and for the gift of Life, and to ask for the Lord’s
protection over every human being called into existence.

Archbishop Timothy Dolan is new USCCB President; other new officers elected

The new president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, the Archbishop of New York.

The office of president of the USCCB is a three year term of service.

The new vice president of the USCCB is Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville.

The new treasurer of the USCCB is Bishop Michael J. Bransfield.

The new chairman of the Office of Canonical Affairs and Church Governance is Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese of Military Services.

The new chairman of Catholic Education is Bishop Joseph P. McFadden of Harrisburg.

The new chairman of the Committee on Ecumenical and Inter-religious Affairs is Bishop Denis J. Madden auxiliary bishop of Baltimore.

The new chairman of the Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis is Bishop David L. Ricken of Green Bay.

The new chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace is Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien of Baltimore.

The new chairman of the Committee on Child and Youth Protection is Bishop R. Daniel Conlon of Steubenville.

The important point about the place of a conference of bishops in life of the Church is that they serve rather than replace the authority given to an individual bishop in exercising his office by teaching, serving (governing) and sanctifying the faithful of his diocese. But as Pope Benedict has said on any number of occasions, and which was also reiterated by Francis Cardinal George on Monday in his final presidential address, local churches are not national churches. Hence, priests are ordained bishops for the entire Church and not merely for thus-and-such diocese. Speaking to the Brazilian bishops on their recent ad limina visit (a visit to the Pope, various offices at the Holy See and for prayer at the tombs of Saints Peter and Paul) Benedict said: “… the counselors and structures of the episcopal conference exist to serve the bishops, not to replace them.”

For a full theological treatment on bishops’ conferences you ought to read Pope John Paul II’s 1998 Apostolic Letter, Apostolos Suos: On the Theological and Juridical Nature of Episcopal Conferences.

Saint Gertrude the Great

A pivotal figure in our theology of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is Saint Gertrude the Great (1256-1302). She was a nun of the Abbey of Helfta. Saint Gertrude is the only woman on the liturgical calendar to hold the title “the Great.”

Gertrude was an extraordinary student, she learned everything that can be learned of the sciences of the trivium and quadrivium, the education of that time; she was fascinated by knowledge and threw herself into profane studies with zeal and tenacity, achieving scholastic successes beyond every expectation. If we know nothing of her origins, she herself tells us about her youthful passions: literature, music and song and the art of miniature painting captivated her. She had a strong, determined, ready and impulsive temperament. She often says that she was negligent; she recognizes her shortcomings and humbly asks forgiveness for them. She also humbly asks for advice and prayers for her conversion. Some features of her temperament and faults were to accompany her to the end of her life, so as to amaze certain people who wondered why the Lord had favoured her with such a special love.

Gertrude was an extraordinary student, she learned everything that can be learned of the sciences of the trivium and quadrivium, the education of that time; she was fascinated by knowledge and threw herself into profane studies with zeal and tenacity, achieving scholastic successes beyond every expectation. If we know nothing of her origins, she herself tells us about her youthful passions literature, music and song and the art of miniature painting captivated her. She had a strong, determined, ready and impulsive temperament. She often says that she was negligent; she recognizes her shortcomings and humbly asks forgiveness for them. She also humbly asks for advice and prayers for her conversion. Some features of her temperament and faults were to accompany her to the end of her life, so as to amaze certain people who wondered why the Lord had favoured her with such a special love.

She had a vision of a young man who, in order to guide her through the tangle of thorns that surrounded her soul, took her by the hand. In that hand Gertrude recognized “the precious traces of the wounds that abrogated all the acts of accusation of our enemies” (ibid., II, 1, p. 89), and thus recognized the One who saved us with his Blood on the Cross: Jesus.

From that moment her life of intimate communion with the Lord was intensified, especially in the most important liturgical seasons Advent-Christmas, Lent-Easter, the feasts of Our Lady even when illness prevented her from going to the choir. This was the same liturgical humus as that of Matilda, her teacher; but Gertrude describes it with simpler, more linear images, symbols and terms that are more realistic and her references to the Bible, to the Fathers and to the Benedictine world are more direct.

Read the whole of the Pope’s October 6, 2010 address on saint Gertrude the Great.

Life at St Michael’s Abbey

The Norbertine canons of St Michael’s Abbey (Silverado, CA) produced a terrifically inspiring vocation video. As an order, the Order of Prémontré (Norbertines) were founded in 1121 by Saint Norbert who adopted as the order’s motto, prepared for every good work, known essentially the charism of praying the Divine Office and the Sacrifice of the Mass. The ministry of a Norbertine is to make to the world the fruits of his contemplation. St Michael’s Abbey was founded in 1961 and the community has 70 members whose median age is about 43 years.

The Vineyard of Light vocation video of St Michael’s Abbey

Saint Albert the Great

The learned will shine like the brilliance of the firmament, and those who train many in the ways of justice will sparkle like the stars for all eternity. (ent. ant.)

God of truth, You endowed our brother Albert with the gift of combining human wisdom with divine faith. May the pursuit of all human knowledge lead to a greater knowledge and love of You.

History is a Catholic “thing”: the Middle Ages weren’t so intellectually dark as some people say. Proof of this thesis is the presence of the Dominican priest, bishop, natural scientist and philosopher Albert the Great (1200-80). He was a known authority on the sciences and he posited that the earth was a sphere 200 years before Columbus “discovered” America. He also theorized that weather is determined by a person’s latitude. All of this information is taken for granted today but in the 13th century this was truly new information, revolutionary, in fact.

He abandoned his family’s station in life, studied at the University of Padua, joined the brand new Order of Friars Preachers, studied at Paris, and was an interested party promoting Aristotle. Albert was the superior of one of the houses of studies where the young Thomas Aquinas lived and is credited for setting Thomas on his way to be an intellectual giant. In 1254, Albert was elected the Prior Provincial of the German Province of Dominicans and in 1260 Pope Alexander IV nominated Albert the Bishop of Regensburg. He was prodigious author (at least 40 volumes of thought) to the point that Albert’s contemporaries called him the universal doctor and the Church bestowed the title of Doctor of the Church.

Albert was canonized in 1931.

Blessed Lucy Brocadelli of Narni

God of holiness, You wonderfully adorned Blessed Lucy with the marks of the passion of Your and with the gifts of virginity and patience. With the help of her prayers may we never be conquered by adversity or the allurements of the world.

The collect for the Mass noted above speaks of volumes of this beautiful woman. Blessed Lucy was born in 1476, died in 1544 and beatified in 1710. She was a stigmatist, that is, she bore the wounds of Christ’s in her body. A review of Blessed Lucy’s life is noted here and more can be found here.

Writing letters of solidarity with the Christians in Iraq

As a way of
showing solidarity with our Christian brothers and sisters in Iraq who faced
such horrible circumstances because of their faith Jesus Christ, I am extendiing
an invitation to all of us: writing letter(s) of fraternal solidarity with our
brothers and sisters through the Chaldean Catholic Patriarch, His Beatitude, Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly. He’s the head of the Conference of Catholic Bishops in Iraq.

An initiative of solidarity is proposed by members of Communion and Liberation

Our many friends
in the lay Catholic movement, Communion and Liberation have also moved by the
plight of Iraqi Christians has organized a gesture of solidarity with the Iraqi
Christians in the form of a letter campaign. One of our friends spoke with the Apostolic
Nuncio (the Pope’s ambassador) at the UN, Archbishop Francis Assisi Chullikatt who
said he’d be very happy for our initiative and offered his diplomatic pouch
(direct mail) to reach the Nunciature in Iraq.

So, if you are inclined to write an email in solidarity, you
may send it to tonuncio@gmail.com
and the email will be printed and hand-delivered to Archbishop
Chullikatt on Tuesday, November 16.

Messages ought to be addressed to His Beatitude, Patriarch Emmanuel
III Delly, Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans.

Iraqi Christians pray Mass in assaulted Church for victims and the attackers

The pain and suffering endured but not consumed by some people is an extraordinary testimony to Grace. The AP news stories about the Mass prayed in the church assaulted by the slayings of Syrian Christians on October 31 brings tears to my eyes especially when I read that the walls retained the blood and flesh of the victims. No doubt poignant relics of the witnesses of humanity and Christ. I bet you no one entered Our Lady of Salvation Church expecting to lay down their life in such a dramatic manner.

Our Lady of Salvation Church has become the School of the Cross and Resurrection in which new life is being formed and born. The Christian response is exactly what Jesus taught his followers: pray for your enemies and those persecute you for love of Me. The priest who celebrated the Divine Liturgy the other day told his congregants that “We will perform a strange kind of prayer because Christ tells us: ‘Love your enemies.'” Father Mukhlis also said that “We will pray for those who assaulted our church and shed the blood of our martyrs.”

Father Mukhlis recalled for his people that one of the murdered priests, Father Thair, said to his attackers: “Kill me, not the families and children.”

Have the Syrian Catholics become 21st century icons of love? How have we changed since hearing of these brutal deaths? What does Christ want us to learn from these events?

Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, a great American saint

O Lord and Bridegroom of your Church,

We praise you for this virgin wise

Who, lighted lamp in hand, went forth

To preach her Groom and win his prize!

From early youth she heard your voice

And longed to work in Asian lands;

But “in the west you’ll find your east,”

The pope said, firm in his commands.

So from her home, Francesca came

That she might care for those who left

Italian homes to seek for work,

But in the New World were bereft.

She founded schools and hospitals

And orphan homes, and traveled wide;

Despite ill health and stature small

Her works became our Church’s pride.

She labored long with sisters brave,

And soon her congregation spread

From North to Southern hemisphere,

Although she sailed the seas with dread.

In labors long and hard, she worked

That Christ her Lord might be well served

In poor and sick and ignorant,

That they might feel God’s love deserved.

O Trinity of love most great,

O Father, Son, and Spirit blest,

With Frances and with all your saints

Bring us, at length, to heaven’s rest.

J. Michael Thompson

LM; DUKE STREET, ROCKINGHAM NEW, HAMBURG