Communio – Page 402 – …bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

A Reflection on Cardinal Newman’s Beatification

A remarkable event in the Church will happen in less than a week’s time: the beatification of the Venerable Servant of God Cardinal John Henry Newman, easily the best known cardinal and thinker we have.

Father Thomas Rosica, CSB, head of Canada’s Salt and Light Television invests us with an excellent sense of who John Henry Cardinal Newman was as a person and as a priest in a video presentation. Watch Father Rosica’s fine introduction to Newman or read the transcript here.

In the days before the Cardinal’s beatification on September 19th, perhaps we can get to know the value of friendship with Christ and with others through the life and work.

Is following Christ worth it?

That’s an odd question for Christian, no? Well, no, it is not. The other day my friend Henry and I were talking about this question and why so many Catholics, or at least those who claim to be Catholic, and therefore, Christian, don’t adhere more closely to Christ, the Scripture, Tradition and the Church. Our conclusion is that the poor nature of catechesis, preaching, sacramental preparation, faith formation and pastoral guidance has done a dis-service to the Church for a VERY long time. I am not willing to say “since Vatican II” because while I think that Christian life since V2 has disintegrated a lot and Catholics have become somewhat Protestant, we can’t blame everything on Pope John’s Council.

Stories surface –and you may have heard them too– that some priests, nuns and other lay pastoral associates in the parishes have acted irresponsibly and incredibly when a Protestant comes to them saying, “Father, I’m a baptized Lutheran and I want to be Catholic.” And Father says, “Why bother ‘converting to Catholicism,’ Lutherans and Catholics are the same, our churches just nuance things differently. I wouldn’t bother, you already have a good church. Besides, Lutherans do a lot of things better than we Catholics.” Really? I thought following Christ closely meant living in and with the Church He gave us. Is Christ worth following, or not? Upon this rock….

Is it just about a nuance? Since when can a Catholic say (i.e., hold to be true) that faith in the Triune God, salvation [heaven, hell, or purgatory], sacraments, the Sacrifice of the Mass, ecclesiology, Christology, etc. is just about nuancing “theological opinions” differently from those who live as Protestants? Do these things not truly, substantially matter? Is there no consequence in believing the wrong datum of Christ’s teaching? What about the teaching of the Scriptures on Christ as the Way, the Truth, and Life, that upon Peter, the rock, Christ built the Church, what about the Emmaus and Pentecost experiences, what about the Eucharist, what about the forgiveness of sins, what about the priesthood, etc? What about the clear teachings of the Church Fathers down through the ages on the necessity of the Church as Christ’s foundation for salvation? Do these things not matter? Are there no differences but only nuances? Are we insane in allowing those who seek the face of God according to the sacrament of the Church as Christ established to find their own way, in their own time and according to their own method? Is there no objectivity of faith & reason in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, the one founded by Christ in 33 AD? Is there any value in following Christ authentically? It is my hope that Catholics will begin again to seriously take the Catholic way seeing/knowing reality as coherent and life-affirming.

I was surprised just this morning in reading one of the Q&As in

Rabbi Marc A. Gellman’s

“God Squad” column (New Haven Register, September 11, 2010) where a 62 year old Catholic says she believes in reincarnation. What???!!!??? Rabbi Gellman’s answer to this person is insufficient on many levels but since space is limited in the Register, and deep theological intercourse is impossible, he reduced the issue to the idea that the Bible is not trying teach us anything about reincarnation or the 4 last things, etc, but “is lovingly scolding us to retain an appropriate level of spiritual humility when we pretend to know the will and workings of God.” Well, OK, but this answer is not enough and is leaning toward spiritual malpractice from both the Jewish and the Catholic point of view. No practicing Jew or Catholic I know of would be so squishy on this topic but reducing the Scriptures to mere spiritual practice. I have a feeling there’s more in that 72 book volume than mere spiritual humility.

< span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium; line-height: 16px; ">Reflecting on recent experience, I remembered that in my Christian Anthropology class this past year Sister Sarah said that belief in reincarnation is on the rise among mainline Christians, including “practicing” Catholics. I said to myself that can’t be true. Evidently, it is true that many Catholics have some sort of belief in reincarnation and see no problem in doing so. Shirley MacLlain’s teachings seem persuasive for some than the 2000 years of orthodox teachings on life after death, heaven, hell, Messiah, etc. A little research shows that the question of coherence of Catholicism and reincarnation is a very old question. Many of the Church Fathers addressed the incoherence of saying you believe in Christ and hence the Church as Christ’s visible manifestation on earth, and the possibility of holding reincarnation as a certain path to the destiny God has in mind for us. You can do a search on the web, read the Catechism or read the International Theological Commission’s work on the subject if you are interested.

This brings me back to my conversation with Henry. He’s doing a parish program in adult faith formation at his Brooklyn parish this year and he’s opening the first session with this question about following Christ. I believe it is a useful question for all church-going Catholics, especially since we read in Scripture that we need to given reasons for our hope and testimony that the Risen One is in fact real.

So, how would you answer the following question?

Is it worth it to follow Christ? Think about that for a minute – Is it worth it to follow Christ? Imagine I was sincere “seeker” asking you that question, how would you respond in concrete ways? (If your answer is yes, why? If your answer is no, why?)

By the way, Henry is hosting a blog. He’s not as neurotic in updating as I am when it comes to this blog, but I think he’s contributing to a deepening and furthering of friendship with Christ and, therefore, I’d recommend visiting Henry over at Bumping Elbows with Christ.

Communion and Liberation on “Islamophobia and Mother Teresa”

The following flyer is being distributed by the lay ecclesial movement Communion and Liberation this weekend as a humble attempt to understand, in a serious way, what the Ground Zero-Mosque building proposal means in light of our saying we believe that Jesus Christ makes a difference in the way we live and see reality around us, and how He is truly present among us. If we really believe that Christ abides with us, then how do you (we) evaluate value of the current Christian-Muslim-unbeliever tensions? Do we, as believers, assess reality according to the way everyone else does, or do we Christians assess reality in a new way, in the way Christ sees reality?

The proposed construction of an Islamic center and mosque at
Ground Zero has resulted in the outrage of many Americans and the recent public
discussion about “Islamophobia” in America. These events provoke us to affirm
the following:

1. We notice a growing tendency to manipulate circumstances to
serve as a pretext to create a public furor that demands people make a choice
between one of two pre -packaged, ideological positions. We refuse to engage in
a debate about whether or not to build a mosque at Ground Zero. The reality of
Islam in America brings up questions that go much deeper than that of the
construction of one mosque.
Indeed, one critical and open question is how contemporary American
culture comes to grips with the human person’s religious sense.

2. Many of
those among the cultural elite, as well as many who hold the levers of power in
our nation, have abandoned the religious tradition that informed the lives of
the vast majority of their ancestors: Christianity. They have reduced it to a
moral code or a vague myth, linked to a man dead for more than 2,000 years. Instead,
they have embraced a “scientific” outlook on human life. But science provides
no answer to those questions that continuously gnaw at the human heart, such as
the problem of justice, the meaning of human life, or the problems of suffering
and evil. In fact, science tends to stifle them. Hence, contemporary American culture finds itself weak and
tremendously uncertain about any response to universal human inquiries and
longings.

3. Just over two weeks ago, we marked the 100th anniversary of Mother
Teresa of Calcutta’s birth. One who looks at her sees a resplendent human
person, overflowing with love for everyone, especially strangers of different
religions. Her humanity touched all: religious and atheist; Muslim and Hindu;
rich and poor. Mother Teresa’s life invites anyone who seeks truth to open his
or her heart and mind and take a fresh look at Christianity.

4. For serious
Christians, the challenge of Islam, the large-scale abandonment of
Christianity, the emptiness of the dominant culture, and the witness of Mother
Teresa signal the urgent need for conversion. Pope Benedict XVI recently said
that “conversion…is not a mere moral decision that rectifies our conduct
in life, but rather a choice of faith that wholly involves us in close
communion with Jesus as a real and living Person.” The Pope brings us face to face with the defining difference
between Christianity and Islam: one religion bases its response to the human
person’s religious sense upon a message delivered 1,400 years ago, while the
other offers the experience of a Man who died but is alive and present with us
today. As Fr. Juliàn Carròn,
President of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation, recently affirmed:
Jesus’ message and even all the miracles He performed were not enough to
overcome the sadness of His disciples on the road to Emmaus –only His risen
presence could ignite their hearts once again.

5. We are not Islamophobic, nor
do we fear our post-modern world.
On the contrary, we invite all to look at Mother Teresa and at the Man
to whom she gave her life. In His
Person, present with us today, all can find the Truth that alone will deliver
the freedom America promises.

Communion and Liberation

September 11, 2010

Notes

Benedict XVI, General Audience,
Paul VI Audience Hall, Wednesday, February 17, 2010 (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20100217_en.html)

cfr. Luke 24: 13-35

Here’s the text for easy printing: CL Sept 11, 2010 Flyer.pdf

Holy Apostles Seminary Chapel dedicated

Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for today I must abide at thy house. And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully into his house. This day is salvation come to this house from the Lord, alleluia.

These words echo throughout the Church in Connecticut, indeed throughout the nation, as the state’s major seminary chapel is acknowledged as a place where God abides and salvation manifested.

The Bishop of Norwich, CT, Michael R. Cote, dedicated the Queen of the Apostles Chapel at the Holy Apostles Seminary (Cromwell, CT) Wednesday, the feast of the Nativity of Mary by solemn rites and prayers, the placing of relics, and praying the Mass. The 10,000 square foot Dominicum was fittingly dedicated on beautiful day giving glory to God.

And God abides with us. Based on the belief that God appointed places to be set aside for His worship, the Church through two millennia constructed places of worship taking inspiration from the Old Testament Temple so that the Sacrifice –that is, the Eucharist– could be offered, new members washed of sin and given the grace of salvation, sinners forgiven, the sick anointed, and the gospel heard and preached. Through the Paschal Mystery of Jesus Christ the New Covenant is made real and known to all. The church is where Christians are born and reborn in the Holy Trinity.

The abiding presence of God. As the Church Fathers have taught, and we have believed, God is everywhere with His glory particularly in heaven, the Trinity does not leave us orphan but “honors the church with His special presence, being there in a particular manner ready to receive our public homages, listen to our petitions, and bestow on us his choicest graces.” Catholics know that the church building is a sacramental, a special sign of Christ’s pilgrim church on earth journeying together to see God face to face.

What a happy day for Holy Apostles Seminary! They got a beautiful chapel establishing themselves as a serious place of prayer, study and ministry in order that God may be glorified. The Queen of Apostles chapel is designated solely for sacred purposes; it is permanent, dignified and is an image of the heavenly Liturgy. Their old chapel, a former tool shed, was meant to be temporary but lasted a long space of time that ultimately showed signs of tiredness for a growing seminary population.

The diocesan ordinaries of the Connecticut dioceses were present (Archbishop had a special place of honor given that he’s the metropolitan archbishop) as was Hartford’s auxiliary bishop, Christie A. Macaluso and the emeritus archbishop, Daniel A. Cronin. Nearly a hundred priests attended, including a delegation of Friars of the Renewal (Fathers Benedict, Andrew, Mariusz, Bernard, Isaac Mary).

Pictures of the Sacrifice of the Mass and the Rite of Dedication of a Church and an Altar can be seen at the above link.

The Middletown Press story can be read here.

The house of God is well established on a firm rock!

Religious life 2010: Profession of vows, entrances and ordinations

Spring and summer great times in abbeys and great orders because of the ordinations, profession of vows, entrances to the novitiate and the anticipation of such things. God, indeed, provides…God hears our prayers for humble workers in the vineyards. We seek the face of God together, in faith, hope and charity.

For last two years I’ve been compiling a selective list of orders that have received new members and noting which ones had professions of vows because I was awe struck by the fact that some people are still being called to do such. That is to say, I am not struck by the fact that God still calls men and women to accept the gift of religious life but that they actually say ‘yes’ to the Divine Invitation to follow Him.

I was also curious to know which groups, randomly surveyed, got new members. Leading others to Christ is serious business, so I wanted to know how the Church in America might fare in the future with fewer vocations. For example, the tri-provinces of the Eastern Jesuits (the Provinces of Maryland, New England & New York) admitted only 8 for themselves for 2010. To compare numbers, in the New England Province in 1990, 6 men entered the Jesuit society (only 1 remains today) and in 2010 they admitted only 2 men. Dismal numbers given the beauty of the vocation. What would Saint Ignatius of Loyola say?????

Let us note well: Some religious orders or monasteries don’t want anyone to know the facts of professions, entrants or ordinations too readily. This is frustrating because the info should be readily available if a group has a website. There is good reason to believe that many religious are embarrassed by the fact that no one is entering or that with all the money being spent on vocation promotion no one is interested in their way of life as it is lived in that group’s context. Moreover, some orders are not aware of the value of internet technology in today’s era, or are just incapable of find the “right way” to use technology to assist in getting the word out there that life exists in their order or that the charism they’re living is worth living and may be attractive to others.

We should acknowledge the fact that some orders are dying (or are already dead and the membership is refusing to admit that their group is dead) but if God has given the grace to come into existence, to abort the charism/vocation too readily and without taking stock in the factors that have contributed to diminishment and the factors of correctives, is perplexing.

Nothing beats being faithful to some simple facts which encourages a faithful living of the vowed life and makes it attractive to others:

a common prayer life and personal prayer which includes Mass, the Divine Office, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Lectio Divina, the rosary; a daily hour could be optional but there ought to be a good reason why a religious is not making a holy hour more often than not;
a common vision for living and serving the gospel in the Catholic Church as it is today, not as the Church “was in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s” or what the Church “should be”; the work done together, whether serving the poor, teaching school, being chaplains needs to cohere to the founding charism, be done together, and with joy in the Risen Lord; serving the gospel and the Church means being faithful to the Church’s teaching authority, which means pastoral authority of the Pope and the bishops;
a caring fraternal life
the wearing of a religious habit not only in the house but in public; if you won’t wear the habit in a restaurant or movie theater or any other place, including the airport, then you shouldn’t be there; the wearing of the roman collar for religious orders should be done by exception if there is a legitimate habit available and the lapel pin just doesn’t cut it.

In sum, I’d say that a religious ought to live the virtues we observe in God’s Trinitarian life: be familial/communal with to regard to living, faithfully accepting of another’s differences (the gifts the other brings), maintaining a personal dependence on another realizing that we humans didn’t make ourselves and we really only know ourselves in light the other person, having an attitude for the sharing of resources and the practice of hospitality remembering that we receive guests as though it was Christ Himself knocking on our door.

The fruit of prayer and witness to Christ is seen in the admission of candidates to religious life as postulants, novices, simply and solemnly professed members as well as ordinations. Let me give you a sampling of what I am talking about –this is not a comprehensive list:

The Monastic Life:

Monastero di Bose (Italy) solemnly professed three, 1 monk and 2 nuns.

Saint Walburga Abbey (Virginia Dale, CO) have 3 novices, 1 sister professed simple vows and there are 5 sisters in temporary vows. The abbey has a blog.

Saint Emma Monastery (Greensburg, PA) has 1 novice.

Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles (Kansas City-St Joseph, MO) have regular vocations but as to numbers, that is unknown. You would have to wait for their newsletter or call them.

Abbey of St Paul outside the Walls (Rome) simply professed 1 and there are 2 novices.

St Louis Abbey solemnly professed 2 monks, will simply profess 1 and admitted 1 to the postulancy and ordained another to the priesthood in June. Father Bede reports that in the past 13 months there have been a total of 5 solemn professions and D.V. there will be 1 simple profession in November and a solemn profession in January 2011.

St Anselm’s Abbey (Washington, DC) simply professed 1 monk.

Marmion Abbey solemnly professed 1 monk and admitted 2 to the novitiate.

St John’s Abbey 2 monks made solemn vows and 4 simply professed vows; their stories are here; 2 were admitted to the community.

St Mary’s Abbey (Morristown, NJ) simply professed 2 monks on May 1. Four entered the novitiate.

St Vincent’s Archabbey ordained 1 to the priesthood, 5 became novices and 4 professed simple vows. The juniorate has 13 monks.

St Meinrad Archabbey ordained 1 priest and 2 professed solemn vows.

St Benedict’s Abbey (in Kansas) ordained 2 monks, 1 to the order of deacon and another to the priesthood.

St Benedict’s Abbey (in Wisconsin) simply professed 1.

Conception Abbey simply professed 1, solemnly professed 1 and 4 entered the novitiate.

The Monastery of San Benedetto (Norcia, Italy) had 2 monks profess simple vows and 1 profess solemn vows this summer. The community was founded in 1998 in Rome and in 2000 moved Norcia, Italy. The community grows.

Benedictine monasteries worth knowing about, who live the life but don’t publish the numbers of their monasteries with accuracy:

Monastery of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Westfield, VT)

Abbey of Our Lady of the Annunciation of Clear Creek (Hulbert, OK)

The Dominican nuns of Summit, NJ, the Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary, will simple profess 1 and 1 entered the postulancy. Watch their slide show.

The Carmelite Monks (Cody, WY) had 4 postulants enter, 2 enter the novitiate and a perpetual profession. 2 were ordained to the diaconate.

The Norbertine Canons of the Abbey of Saint Norbert (DePere, WI) admitted 3 the novitiate (2 for St Norbert’s & 1 for the daughter house Santa Maria de la Vid in New Mexico); there is 1 novice in the 2nd year novitiate.

The Norbertine Canons of Daylesford Abbey (Paoli, PA) admitted 1 to the novitiate, there is 1 2nd year novice, 2 others in formation for priesthood.

The Norbertine Canons of the Abbey of Saint Michael (Silverado, CA) 2 professed solemn vows; new postulants were accepted; 1 was ordained a priest and 1 a deacon.

Apostolic Orders:

The Missionary Fraternity of St Charles Borromeo educates 40 seminarians in Rome and who ordained 3 as priests on June 26; plus there are houses of formation in Mexico and Chile.

The Conventual Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception Province simply professed 1 friar; 1 made solemn vows.

The Conventual Franciscans of the Province of Our Lady of Consolation received 2 postulants and 1 novice; there was 1 simple profession of vows.

The Capuchin Friars of Saint Mary’s Province simply professed 2 friars, and ordained 1; seven student friars renewed vows; 1 friar ordained deacon; 2 novices received the habit.

The Capuchin Friars of the Province of Our Lady of the Angels admitted 5 to the postulancy.

The Capuchin Friars of the Province of Saint Conrad simply professed 1 friar, 1 novice, 3 postulants and 1 friar ordained deacon.

The Capuchin Province of Saint Joseph 2 novices received the habit.

The Capuchin Friars of the Saint Augustine Province simply professed 1 friar; 7 novices received the habit

The Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal had 3 sisters profess final vows and 5 take the habit.

The Franciscan Friars of the Renewal had 6 friars profess final vows and 10 remain in the novitiate; 4 friars were ordained deacons.

The Franciscan friars of the Holy Name Province finally professed 4 friars and admitted 4 men as postulants; 2 friars ordained deacons.

The Dominicans of the Western Province ordained 5 men to the priesthood, 3 novices took simple vows.

The Dominican friars in Canada had 5 men enter the novitiate.

The Dominican Province of St Joseph ordained 3 to the priesthood, simply professed 8 with 21 men who entered the novitiate.

The Dominican Province of Saint Albert the Great had 10 men enter the novitiate, 3 make simple vows and 2 make solemn vows; 2 friars ordained priests and 1 friar ordained deacon.

The Dominican Missionaries for the Deaf Apostolate perpetually professed 1; 2 are in theological studies preparing for priesthood; the community has 12 members in 2 priories.

The Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus had 4 sisters renew vows; 1 professed perpetual vows and 3 entered the novitiate and 1 entered the second year of novitiate. There are also 4 new pre-postulants.

The Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma had 7 sisters finish the first year novitiate.

The Sisters of St Francis of the Martyr St George (Alton, IL) 21 junior sisters renewed their vows; 4 professed simple vows, 5 entered the postulant program, 3 entered the 1st year novitiate and 2 moved to the 2nd year novitiate.

The Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist simply professed 1 and received 1 into the novitiate joining 4 other sisters; the FSE also received 1 into the postulancy.

The Congregation of St Cecilia, Dominican Sisters of Nashville perpetually professed 5 and simply professed 9; 20 were invested as novices and 26 new postulants entered.

The Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist (Ann Arbor, MI) had 8 make their simple profession of vows & 5 made perpetual vows. 11 enter the novitiate and 22 enter the aspirancy. Founded in 1997 the congregation has more than 100 sisters.

The Sisters of Life simply professed 10 and finally professed 1; 7 sisters began the novitiate.

Reclaiming a deeper sensitivity to the sacred Liturgy

Today, the Director of the Liturgical Institute at Mundelein Seminary, Father Douglas Martis, gave the following address today. Father Martis is a priest of the Diocese of Joliet and on the faculty of Mundelein Seminary. Some very useful lessons to keep in mind.

I. Sons.

My Dear Sons,

This was the term used by Fr. Fuller on Monday morning, “sons.” It is a beautiful expression. You are sons to us. Our relationship, despite the distance or proximity of age, is one of father and son, or in certain cases, as with our Director of Music, one of motherly concern. No disrespect to your age or your experience is intended.

We have a common project here, to prepare you for ministry to the Church as priests.

And for those of us concerned directly with your liturgical formation, our project is to prepare you in such a way as to manifest an authentic and profound intelligence of and respect for the Church’s public prayer, so as to demonstrate a true love for God’s people.

This responsibility belongs jointly to you and to us. While it is true that in some ways you are brothers, on another day you will be brothers in a deeper sense. For now, you sons, we love you, and care for you, and want genuinely go give to you what parents give to beloved sons.

What we do, that to which we have committed these years of our lives, is for your good for the good of the Church.

My colleagues and I have strong personalities. We do not have an innate need to challenge you or correct you in order to caress on own self-importance. The program we have of liturgical preparation and celebration, of respecting ritual and integrating prayer, of insisting on music and chant is not the imposition of our own puny personal preferences.

Our teaching is derived from the desire of the Church herself: rooted inSacrosanctum concilium, the ritual books that are the fruit of the Council, and the Church’s liturgical theology.

It is neither our interest nor our agenda to promote our opinions as if they carried the authority of the Church. Our desire is to present you with the Church’s teaching, for love of you and love of her.

We want you to follow our example.

II. Change.

Things change. That’s okay.

Get used to it. New classmates, new teachers, new schedules. New prayers, new responsibilities, new living situations. New circumstances, new trends, new conflicts. New joys, new insights, new challenges.

This is the life of a priest in the 21st century.

Learning to navigate change is an essential skill you will need for the rest of your lives.

Let us be clear. God remains the same. Our upset, generally has more to do with what we want,than with the objective reality of the change. This is not about you.

The church of the 1960s saw excitement and enthusiasm, and resistance, too.

In your situation today, learn to appreciate your elders’ excitement, enthusiasm, and resistance. In 2011 you will know the same. Excitement, enthusiasm, and resistance.

Change leads some to heresy or schism.

Avoid the temptation of being captured by the caricatures of the media, whether your news source is FOX or CNN, whether you are a fan of NCReporter or NCRegister whether you get your information from the blogs or from television. Do not allow yourself to get sucked in by the politics of resistance. When change leads to dissemblance, only the devil is served.

As priests, ministers, official representatives of the Church, you have a greater responsibility than settling for, or promoting polemics. Not only that, as a man of prayer, you have–even now!–the responsibility of learning to embrace the beauty, the rich theology, the deep spirituality of the Church’s liturgical prayer.

You can stand aloof as a member of an elite that knows the rich treasure of prayer or having integrated it yourself you can teach, inform, model, and so help others to do the same.

What is needed here is not a so called “pastoral decision” of diluting prayer but a conviction of genuine care, catechesis and formation that raises up the faithful.

This may be the greatest ecclesial moment in your lifetime. Yours is not the only generation to have ever known liturgical change.

“We are not in the same situation as … 1963. One cannot therefore continue to speak of a change as it was spoken of at the time of the Constitution’spublication; rather one has to speak of an ever deeper grasp of the Liturgy of the Church, celebrated according to the current books and lived above all as a reality in the spiritual order.”[i]

…now
the time has come … to publish liturgical books in a form that both testifies to the stability achieved and is worthy of the mysteries celebrated.[ii]”

If the intuition of Pope John Paul II is correct, if the Third Edition of the Roman Missal signals the maturity of liturgical reform, its dignity and stability, then the post-Counciliar church has survived adolescence and provides the opportunity now for a more adult expression of faith. You and I stand on the threshold of this moment!

III. Texts.

The challenge with public prayer has always been to make the words our own. Let us understand then, that the great opportunity afforded us in this moment is not one of changing words. This is about opening a more direct path to the meaning of Catholic worship–a meaning that has always been there and is there even now in the texts we use today.

What, then, are we to do?

Here is the simple prescription:

Take the words,

learn to understand them,

make the connections.

Follow the example of ancient readers:

take the text, do not read it through as if you already understand [this “mystery ever ancient, ever new!”] take the text, dwell there. Abide between the lines.[iii]

“This quality of reading, which enables a reader to acquire a text not simply by perusing the words but by actually making them part of the reader’s self…”[iv] Here is found true blessing.

Know what you are doing. Listen for the biblical narrative. The texts of the Mass were not put there by some malicious committee looking to trip you up. These texts resound with the voice of God’s own Word. Find the origin, search the reference.

I know this is not easy. We live in a culture that does not foster this kind of connection. Contemporary culture thrives on sound bites; idolizes short cuts and Cliffnotes, Sparknotes and books for dummies.

For your part, claim your place in Catholic culture, with its own language and grammar, its own symbols and meaning.

Plunge yourself in a baptism of the Church’s signs. Let the insight of your patristic reading anoint your understanding and illumine your prayer. Open your eyes to what is around, even here on this campus, with its natural beauty, its architectural wonders, its volumes of wisdom, and its varied residents.

A steady diet of this, an habitual practice of attention to everything is an essential preparation for prayer. Collect these insights, engage these people, absorb this environment.

Your responsibility as seminarian, is to learn this, to integrate it; then you must model it for others and teach it to those in your care.

You become a mystagogue.

IV. Now.

This begins now. You do not have to wait. You walk out of this auditorium and cross a threshold.

Let that crossing be the crossing of every threshold.

Let every word of the Mass bring you to a biblical narrative, a theological insight, a pastoral encounter.

Let every sign of the Cross bring you to the mount of the Ascension.[v] Let it be, every time, a wrapping yourself in the Trinity, a conforming yourself to the cross of Christ. May it bring you back to your baptism and forward to your funeral. May it inspire the crosses you may trace some day on the breast of future neophytes, on the foreheads of the anointed, on the palms of priests.

Let every greeting of the Mass resound with the words of the great missionary Paul,[vi] or the salutation of Boaz to harvesters,[vii] or the words of the Risen Christ.[viii]

Let every response, whether it be “And also with you” now or “And with your spirit” at another time, let this reply make us marvel at God’s wisdom in Ordering the Church and in the Spirit’s work of assembling members with different gifts into one holy body.

Let every procession remind us of life’s pilgrimage to heaven; every standing be in implicit imitation of the Great High Priest: “Here I am, Lord. I come to do your will.”[ix] Let every genuflection, every bow be the humble acknowledgement of what God has done for us in Christ Jesus.

Let our stance at the Alleluia be so completely devoted to the praise of Christ present in the Word, that rather than tracking the deacon and registering ritual glitches, our minds, bodies and voices melt into the Eternal.

Let prayers in the preparation of bread and wine, bring us to Daniel’s fiery furnace, so that the words of Azariah become our own: we have nothing else to offer, but with contrite hearts and humble spirits let us be received.[x] And may the dew-laden breeze[xi] that soothed the heat of that inferno, come like dew in the desert,[xii] to provide us with our daily bread.”Priests of the Lord, bless the Lord.” [xiii]

Let every dismissal, GO! bring us back again to Ascension,[xiv] and to every sending of
Christ: “You, too, go to the vineyard!”[xv]

Do you see? At every moment, at every turn, around every corner, the bible is there. A prayer, a doctrine, an insight. And it has been there all along.

All we have, are, do, everything we love… is here.

Learning this. Integrating this. Modeling this. Teaching it is our project.

Will you make it your project too?

Notes

[i] Vicesimus quintus annus, 1988, 14.

[ii] VQA, 20.

[iii] Alberto Manguel: A History of Reading. “You did not read books through; you dwelt, abided between their lines and, reopening them after an interval, surprised yourself at the spot where you had halted.”, 12.

[iv] Manguel, 58.

[v] Mt 28:19.

[vi] 2 Cor 13:13 et al.

[vii] Ruth 2:4.

[viii] Jn 20:19.

[ix] Heb 10:9.

[x] Dan 3:39-40.

[xi] Dan 3:50.

[xii] Ex 16:13-17.

[xiii] Dan 3:84.

[xiv] Mt 28:19.

[xv] Mt 20.D

The fate of Eastern Christianity to be discussed in October; but what about now?

The hard work of collaborating and witnessing to Jesus Christ for 14 million Eastern Christians is indeed a difficult task, but one that is only sustained by prayer, mutuality and study.

During his trip to Cyprus Pope Benedict released what he things is a reasonable agenda for the forthcoming Synod of Bishops for Christians in the Middle East. But don’t be fooled in thinking that this Synod is merely for those in funny hats doing the Liturgy in a different manner. On the contrary, this Synod, as all Synods, have a direct impact on our Christian lives here in the USA for those living outside of the Middle East. What happens to our brothers and sisters in the East impacts the life of the Church across the world whether we realize it or not. So often, we neglect our Christian brothers and sisters in other parts of the world because there seems to be little identifiable connections between what and how they live there, and what and how we live here. Remember, Christ our Lord and Savior lived, died and resurrected in the Middle East. Why wouldn’t we be concerned with the Christians in the Holy Land and neighboring countries? You and I don’t have to be Melkite, Maronite, Coptic, Syriac or Hebrew Catholics to care for the other. Let’s not wait to later to do this caring, let’s do it now.

The Lineamenta (the agenda for the Synod of Bishops) is built under the title of “The Catholic Church in the Middle East: Communion and Witness.” Acts 4:32 sets the framework: “Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul.”

The heads (and assistants) of Eastern Churches in the Middle East have been preparing for the Synod of Bishops to be held in Rome 10-24 October 2010.

An H2O News interview explores some themes.

The Holy Father in consultation with the bishops and many experts speaks of the point of the Synod in this manner, which sets the bar pretty high in my opinion:

1. to confirm and strengthen Christians in their identity through the Word of God and the sacraments;

2. to deepen ecclesial communion among the particular Churches, so that they can bear witness to the Christian life in an authentic, joyful and winsome manner.

In the Pope’s mind these 2 goals are only possible through an ecumenical approach “if Christian witness is to be genuine and credible.” For Pope Benedict, and I pray for all the bishops and religious orders and secular institutes in the Middle East, and for this blog dedicated to communion theology, that communion among Christians will lead to a unified Christian mind and heart which will in turn revitalize Christian life together. That is, that one day full, visible communion among the Churches and ecclesial communities will be a fact.

I urge you to read the working document (the lineamenta) noted above. Beg the Holy Spirit to guide your reading. Take the questions posed in the document with a degree of seriousness to see what can be done from your context to build a deeper bond of communion with Christians in the Middle East and with those who have immigrated to the West.

Let us all be united in prayer to the Holy Spirit and to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, to assist the bishops and the experts in dealin with the critical issues being faced by Eastern Christians at this time.

Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

On this our liturgical remembrance of Our Lady’s birthday, it is apt to recall what Saint Andrew of Crete, preached:

This is the highest, all-embracing benefit that Christ
has bestowed upon us. This is the revelation of the mystery, this is the emptying-out
of the divine nature, the union of God and man, and the deification of the
manhood that was assumed. This radiant and manifest coming of God to men most
certainly needed a joyful prelude to introduce the great gift of salvation to
us. The present festival –the nativity of the Theotokos– is that prelude, while
the final act is the foreordained union of the Word with flesh. Today the Virgin
is born, tended and formed, and prepared for her role as Mother of God, that
God who is the universal King of all the ages!

With the choirs of saints and angels,

Let the Church be joined as one,

Binding earth to highest heaven,

Praising Jesus, Mary’s Son

Son of God-the Father’s glory

Who took flesh that we might be

Reconciled, reborn, forgiven,

From the pow’r of sin set free!

On this solemn, joyful feast day

Let us sing a song of praise,

Thanking God for Mary’s witness

Faithfully kept all her days.

From her birth to blessed Anna,

Mary listened to God’s word,

And, when summoned by the angel,

Lived in faith what she had heard.

Glory now to God the Father,

Who has made us for his own;

Glory now to Christ our Savior,

Who has raised us to his throne;

Glory now to God the Spirit,

Who renews us in his grace:

Laud and honor, never ceasing,

Be to God from all our race!

J. Michael Thompson

87 87 D; PLEADING SAVIOR, or IN BABILONE

Blessed Frédéric Ozanam

Prayer for the Canonization of Blessed Frederic Ozanam

God, our Father, You alone have the power to bestow those precious gifts of yours which we rightly call miracles. If it be Your will, be pleased to grant such a gift on behalf of [mention a person’s name here]. We humbly ask that You grant this favor so that Blessed Frederic Ozanam may be canonized by our Holy Mother the Church. We make this prayer through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son. Amen.

The name “Frederic Ozanam” may not be well-known to many in the USA, but those who know of or work with the Saint Vincent de Paul Society know well their father in the faith and their founder. Ozanam followed in the foot steps of Saint Vincent de Paul and is a terrific model for all people, particularly the laity because he puts the gospel and the Liturgy into action.

The Saint Vincent de Paul Society has a membership of more than three-quarters of a million people in 47, 000 conferences in 131 countries on 5 continents.

Frederic Ozanam was a married man, a father, well educated, a person who travelled in high society, a man of faith and action. Many people today consider Blessed Frederic to be a precursor to the Second Vatican Council’s vision of the laity in the Church.

Ozanam’s vision of the Church can be seen in an address he gave on the 4 marks of the Church (one, holy, catholic and apostolic). Here is an excerpt of a talk he gave:

One

One only
means of salvation remains to us, that is, that Christians, in the name of
love, interpose between the two camps (of rich and poor) passing like
beneficent deserters from one to the other … communicating mutual charity to
all, until this charity, paralyzing and stifling the egotism of both parties,
and every day lessening their antipathies, shall bid the two camps arise and
break down the barriers of prejudice, and cast aside their weapons of anger and
march forth to meet each other, not to fight but to mingle together in one
embrace, so that they may form but one fold under one pastor.

Holy

Will we be
satisfied to lament the barrenness of the present time, when each bears in his
heart a germ of holiness, which a simple desire would be sufficient to develop?
It we do not know how to love God as the saints did, it is because we see God
with the eyes of faith alone, and faith is so weak. But the poor we see with
the eyes of flesh. They are present. We can put our fingers and our hands into
their wounds, the marks of the crown of thorns are plainly visible on their
heads. There is no place for unbelief here … You poor are the visible image
of the God whom we do not see, but whom we love in loving you.

Catholic

A
Catholic university (Louvain) should be a cause of rejoicing to the Church, to
see raised within her yet another monument to the immortal alliance of Science
and Faith.

Apostolic

You have felt the emptiness of material pleasures, you
have felt the hunger for truth crying out within you; you have gone for light
and comfort to the barren philosophy of modern apostles. You have not found
food for your souls there. The religion of your forefathers appears before you
today with full hands; do not turn away, for it is generous. It also, like you,
is young. It does not grow old with the world. Ever renewing itself, it keeps
pace with progress, and it alone leads to perfection.

More about Blessed Frederic Ozanam can be read here, his chronology, and a brief biography.

Mauro-Giuseppe Lepori –new Abbot General of the Cistercian Order

The General Chapter of the Order of Cistercians elected Dom Mauro-Giuseppe Lepori, 52, as their new Abbot General, succeeding Abbot Mauro Estevez. It is reported that Lepori received 109 of 134 votes. His work as abbot general will last for the next 10 years with about 1700 monks and nuns of the Order of Cistercians throughout the world.

Abbot Mauro-Giuseppi, until now has been a monk and the abbot of the Abbey of Hauterive. He entered the abbey in 1984 and was elected abbot on May 16, 1994 when he was 35 years old. The Cistercian of Hauterive is outside of Fribourg, Switzerland. Abbot Mauro earned a licentiate in philosophy and theology from the Catholic University of Fribourg. The new abbot general is a Swiss-Italian born (from Lugano) monk who, before his entrance into the cloister was an active follower of the ecclesial movement of Communion and Liberation (but entrance into the monastery only meant that he didn’t attend all the meetings of CL but he kept up with work of the Movement!).

Abbot Mauro-Giuseppi is the author of Simon, Called Peter: In the Company of a Man in Search of God. The Forward to the book was written by Angelo Cardinal Scola, Patriarch of Venice, a close friend of the late Monsignor Luigi Giussani and who continues to be active in following Communion and Liberation.

A 2003 interview with Abbot Mauro at the CL Rimini Meeting can be read here and a brief article in Traces by the abbot can be read here.

Saints Robert, Alberic, & Stephen, pray for us.

Saint Bernard, pray for us.
Saint Aelred, pray for us.
Saint Alice, pray for us.
Saint Jeanne de Lestonnac, pray for us.
The English Cistercian Martyrs, pray for us.