Communio – Page 434 – …bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Benedict reflects on Tomas Spidlik, priest, Jesuit, scholar, cardinal

I don’t typically post the Holy Father’s funeral addresses for cardinals here because they’d be too many. But I think this is one is an exceptional circumstance with the death of His Eminence, Tomas Cardinal Spidlik who was laid to rest today. Emphasis added for important points, obviously.

May Cardinal Spidlik’s memory be eternal!

Among the last words spoken by the mourned Cardinal Spidlik were these: “I have looked for the face of Jesus during my whole life, and now I am happy and at peace because I am about to see it.” This wonderful thought — so simple, almost childlike in its expression, and yet so profound and true — refers us immediately to the prayer of Jesus, which resounded a moment ago in the Gospel: “Father, I desire that they also, whom thou hast given me, may be with me where I am, to behold my glory which thou hast given me in thy love for me before the foundation of the world (John 17:24).

It is beautiful and consoling to meditate on this correspondence between man’s desire, who aspired to see the Lord’s face, and Jesus’ own desire. In reality, that of Christ is much more than an aspiration: It is a will. Jesus says to the Father: “I desire that they also … may be where I am.” And it is precisely here, in this will, where we find the “rock,” the solid foundation to believe and to hope. The will of Jesus in fact coincides with that of God the Father, and with the work of the Holy Spirit it constitutes for man a sort of sure “embrace,” strong and gentle, which leads him to eternal life.

What an immense gift to hear this will of God from his own mouth! I think that the great men of faith live immersed in this grace, they have the gift to perceive this truth with particular force, and so can also go through harsh trials, such as those that Father Tomas Spidlik went through, without losing confidence, and keeping, on the contrary, a lively sense of humor, which is certainly a sign of intelligence but also of interior liberty.

Under this profile, evident was the likeness between our mourned cardinal and the Venerable John Paul II: both were given to ingenious joking and jokes, even though having had as youths difficult personal circumstances, similar in some aspects. Providence made them meet and collaborate for the good of the Church, especially so that she would learn to breathe fully “with her two lungs,” as the Slav Pope liked to say.

This liberty and presence of spirit has its objective foundation in the Resurrection of Christ. I want to underline it because we are in the Easter liturgical season and because it is suggested by the first and second biblical readings of this celebration. In his first preaching, on the day of Pentecost, St. Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, proclaims the realization in Jesus Christ of Psalm 16.

It is wonderful to see how the Holy Spirit reveals to the Apostles all the beauty of those words in the full interior light of the Resurrection: “I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; moreover my flesh will dwell in hope” (Acts 2:25-26; cf Psalm 16/15:8-9). This prayer finds superabundant fulfillment when Christ, the Holy One of God, is not abandoned in hell. He in the first place has known “ways of life” and has been filled with joy with the presence of the Father (cf Acts 2:27-28; Psalm 16/15:11).

The hope and joy of the Risen Jesus are also the hope and joy of his friends, thanks to the action of the Holy Spirit. Father Spidlik demonstrated it habitually with his way of living, and this witness of his was ever more eloquent with the passing of the years because, despite his advanced age and the inevitable infirmities, his spirit remained fresh and youthful. What is this if not friendship with the Risen Lord?

In the second reading, St. Peter blesses God that “by his great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” And he adds: “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer various trials” (1 Peter 1:3.6). Here, too, is seen clearly how hope and joy are theological realities that emanate from the mystery of the Resurrection of Christ and from the gift of his Spirit. We could say that the Holy Spirit takes them from the heart of the Risen Christ and infuses them in the heart of his friends.

I introduced on purpose the image of the “heart,” because, as many of you know, Father Spidlik chose it as the motto of his cardinal’s coat of arms: “Ex toto corde,” “with all the heart.” This expression is found in the Book of Deuteronomy, within the first and fundamental commandment of the law, there where Moses says to the people: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). “With all the heart — ex toto corde” refers hence to the way with which Israel must love its God. Jesus confirms the primacy of this commandment, which he combines with that of love of neighbor, affirming that the latter is “similar” to the first and that from both the whole law and the prophets depend (cf Matthew 22:37-39). Choosing this motto, our venerated brother placed, so to speak, his life within the commandment of love, he inscribed it wholly in the primacy of God and of charity.

There is another aspect, a further meaning of the expression “ex toto corde,” that surely Father Spidlik had present and attempted to manifest with his motto. Always starting from the Biblical root, the symbol of the heart represents in Eastern spirituality the seat of prayer, of the meeting between man and God, but also with other men and with the cosmos. And here we must remember that in Cardinal Spidlik’s standard, the heart that the coat of arms shows contains a cross in whose arms intersect the words “phos” and “zoe” — “light” and “life” — which are names of God. Hence, the man who fully receives, “ex toto corde,” the love of God, receives light and life, and becomes in turn light and life in humanity and in the universe.

But who is this man? Who is this “heart” of the world, if not Jesus Christ? He is the Light and life, for in Him “the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Colossians 2:0). And I wish to recall here that our deceased brother was a member of the Society of Jesus, that is, a spiritual son of St. Ignatius who put in the center of faith and spirituality the contemplation of God in the mystery of Christ.

In this symbol of the heart East and West meet, not in a devotional but in a profoundly Christological sense, as other Jesuit theologians of the last century revealed. And Christ, central figure of Revelation, is also the formal principle of Christian art, a realm that had in Father Spidlik a great teacher, inspirer of ideas and of expressive projects, which found an important synthesis in the Redemptoris Mater chapel of the Apostolic Palace.

I would like to conclude returning to the theme of the Resurrection, quoting a text much loved by Cardinal Spidlik, a fragment of the Hymns on the Resurrection of St. Ephrem the Syrian:

From on High He descended as Lord,
From the womb he issued as a slave,
Death knelt before Him in Sheol,
And life adored Him in his resurrection.
“Blessed is his victory!” (No. 1:8).

May the Virgin Mother of God accompany the soul of our venerated brother in the embrace of the Most Holy Trinity, where “with all the heart” he will eternally praise his infinite Love. Amen.

Don’t let your words contradict your actions, St Augustine tells us

I am not sure you read the Office of Readings in the Divine Office, and if you don’t may I suggest that you begin; the readings from the Church Fathers is rich for meditation. The Liturgy, Mass AND the Divine Office is the daily magisterium for our faith. Today, the Church proposes a a sermon by Saint Augustine of Hippo, a portion of larger piece actually, titled “Sing to the Lord a new song.” Augustine says SO much worth chewing on, and so I find it difficult pointing out from the text only one item.

Perhaps one of the following points is worthy of our meditation today: “anyone who has learned to love the new life [new life in Christ] has learned to sing a new song,” or “what is the object of your love?” or that “God loved us first and therefore we are capable of loving,” or “do we know how to sing with our voices, our hearts, our lips and our lives?” or “is Augustine pointing ought the obvious that we can’t comprehend making sure our words don’t contradict our lives?”

Read Saint Augustine’s Semon 34….

Sing to the Lord
a new song; his praise is in the assembly of the saints. We are urged to sing a
new song to the Lord, as new men who have learned a new song. A song is a thing
of joy; more profoundly, it is a thing of love. Anyone, therefore, who has
learned to love the new life has learned to sing a new song, and the new song
reminds us of our new life. The new man, the new song, the new covenant, all
belong to the one kingdom of God, and so the new man will sing a new song and will
belong to the new covenant.

There is not one who does not love something, but
the question is, what to love. The psalms do not tell us not to love, but to
choose the object of our love. But how can we choose unless we are first
chosen? We cannot love unless someone has loved us first. Listen to the apostle
John: We love him, because he first loved us. The source of man’s love for God
can only be found in the fact that God loved him first. He has given us himself
as the object of our love, and he has also given us its source. What this source
is you may learn more clearly from the apostle Paul who tells us: The love of
God has been poured into our hearts. This love is not something we generate
ourselves; it comes to us through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Since
we have such an assurance, then, let us love God with the love he has given us.
As John tells us more fully: God is love, and whoever dwells in love dwells in
God, and God in him. It is not enough to say: Love is from God. Which of us
would dare to pronounce the words of Scripture: God is love? He alone could say
it who knew what it was to have God dwelling within him. God offers us a short
route to the possession of himself. He cries out: Love me and you will have me
for you would be unable to love me if you did not possess me already.

My dear
brothers and sons, fruit of the true faith and holy seed of heaven, all you who
have been born again in Christ and whose life is from above, listen to me; or
rather, listen to the Holy Spirit saying through me: Sing to the Lord a new
song. Look, you tell me, I am singing. Yes indeed, you are singing; you are
singing clearly, I can hear you. But make sure that your life does not
contradict your words. Sing with your voices, your hearts, your lips and your
lives: Sing to the Lord a new song.

Now it is your unquestioned desire to sing
of him whom you love, but you ask me how to sing his praises. You have heard
the words: Sing to the Lord a new song, and you wish to know what praises to
sing. The answer is: His praise is in the assembly of the saints; it is in the
singers themselves. If you desire to praise him, then live what you express.
Live good lives, and you yourselves will be his praise.

Sermo 34, 1-3. 5-6:
CCL 42, 424-426)

Saint Agnes of Montepulciano

Let hearts rejoice who search for the Lord. Seek the Lord and you will be strengthened, seek always the face of the Lord.

With the Church, let us pray:

Merciful God, you adorned Agnes, your bride, with a marvelous fervor in prayer. By imitating her example, may we always hold fast to you in spirit and so come to enjoy the abundant fruits of holiness.

Saint Agnes was born in the Italian city of Gracciano in 1268 and entered a monastery at Montepulciano at the age of 9. Who says the young don’t have vocation awareness early in life. By 15 the Holy See allowed Agnes to be a superior of nuns at Viterbo. The laity made strong pleas for Agnes’ return to Montepulciano to be the superior of an Augustinian monastery of nuns; in time Agnes adopted the Constitution written by Saint Dominic thus changing the monastic life from an exclusive Augustinian orientation to a Dominican one. Her work among the laity was to work for civil peace; she was a model of charity. Saint Catherine of Siena called Agnes her “glorious mother.” We pray for the Dominican monastic life and for peace in our cities with Saint Agnes’ help before God.

Bishop William E. Lori observes 15 years as bishop

God, eternal shepherd, You tend Your Church in many ways, and rule us with love. Help Your chosen servant William as pastor for Christ, to watch over Your flock. Help him to be a faithful teacher, a wise administrator, and a holy priest.

Bishop William Edward Lori, the 4th bishop of Bridgeport, observes his 15th anniversary of consecration as bishop today.

In 1995, James Aloysius Cardinal Hickey with William Wakefield Cardinal Baum and Bishop William George Curlin, consecrated Father William Lori to the order of bishop. He served the Archdiocese of Washington as auxiliary bishop and titular bishop of Bulla.

In 2001, Bishop Lori was translated to the Bridgeport Diocese succeeding Archbishop Egan.

Lori serves not only the local Church but the Church in the USA by being a member of several committees on the US Catholic Conference of Bishops, as Supreme Chaplain to the Knights of Columbus and various civic boards.

On May 14 Bishop Lori will celebrate 33 years a priest.

We grateful to God for the person of Bishop Lori. May God grant him many years!

The 5 year pontifical lunch: Benedict celebrates with cardinals

Pope Benedict’s 5th anniversary as Supreme Pontiff

Today is a wonderful day to celebrate: the 5th anniversary of the election of Pope Benedict XVI as the Supreme Pontiff of the Holy Roman Church.

The papacy of Benedict will be marked in history as one that attended to the recovery of the sacred and the beautiful. Recall some of the words he spoke at his inaugural Mass as Pontiff:

“It is really true: as we follow Christ in this mission to be fishers of men, we must bring men and women out of the sea that is salted with so many forms of alienation and onto the land of life, into the light of God. It is really so: the purpose of our lives is to reveal God to men. And only where God is seen does life truly begin. Only when we meet the living God in Christ do we know what life is. We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary. There is nothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel, by the encounter with Christ. There is nothing more beautiful than to know Him and to speak to others of our friendship with Him. The task of the shepherd, the task of the fisher of men, can often seem wearisome. But it is beautiful and wonderful, because it is truly a service to joy, to God’s joy which longs to break into the world.”

Pope Benedict XVI

Homily at the Mass for the Inauguration of the Pontificate, 2005

The Pope meets 8 victims of sexual abuse in Malta: a profound experience

The prominent Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sera, published a beautiful quote of Lawrence Grech, a victim of sexual abuse, who met with Pope Benedict during his pastoral visit to Malta Saturday and Sunday and had a profound experience. Mr. Grech said that he felt liberated, that a great stone lifted after speaking with Benedict. Grech went on to say that after this encounter he was a more convinced Catholic and that this was “the greatest gift after the birth of my daughter.”

Italy’s other news agency, La Stampa, reported the story.

Will this quote show up in the American press?

Bernardo de Hoyos beatified

Today, in Valladolid, Spain, Father Bernardo de Hoyos (1711-1735) was beatified. I previously mentioned Father de Hoyos on this blog. Here is a précis of Father Adolfo Nicolás’ letter to the Jesuits. The full text of the letter can be read here Bernard de Hoyos letter.pdf

“He is considered the first apostle of the Sacred Heart in Spain. To recapture who he was and what he contributed, I offer some biographical information that should be understood in the religious and cultural context of the 18th century.” Thus begins Nicolás’ for this occasion. More than a century ago, in 1895, the cause for Father De Hoyos was introduced; due to many ecclesiastical vicissitudes and the political history of Spain, it was repeatedly postponed. Father Nicolás, in his letter, traces the major events in the very short life of the newly beatified who died on the 29th of November 1735 at the age of 24. Near to the time of his death, de Hoyos was ordained a priest and in Tertianship.

“His reputation for holiness,” the letter continues. “spread immediately after his death. However, because of the difficult situation in which the Society found itself opposed by the Jansenists, the cause for beatification was not introduced at that time. Later the suppression of the Society would leave many projects unfinished. When the Society was restored in 1814 by Pope Pius VII, a strong devotion to the Sacred Heart emerged in the whole Church. In accord with the religious sensibilities of the time, the reborn Society dedicated itself to the spread and propagation of this devotion with significant results.” The letter outlines the steps of this recovery of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, beginning with Jesuits’ General Congregation 31st in 1965, through the generalate of Father Pedro Arrupe and then with generalate of Father Peter Hans Kolvenbach.

Then Father Nicolás goes on: “Bernardo de Hoyos’s passion for the Heart of Jesus faithfully corresponds to the devotion that Saint Ignatius felt for Jesus poor and humble, before whom he asks that our affections be moved in order to accompany Him in each step of His life: As companions with him on mission, his way is our way (GC35, D.2, nº 14), so that in what we do in the world there must always be a transparency to God (GC35, D. 2, nº 10). On the occasion of this beatification, I invite the whole Society, together with our collaborators, to renew our personal love of Jesus Christ and to open ourselves to the grace of identifying ourselves with Him, so that in Nadal’s words, we might understand with His understanding; will with His will; remember with His memory; and that our entire being, living, and doing be not centered in us, but in Christ (MHSI vol 90. p.122; GC35, D. 2, nº14), as the cornerstone of the particular vocation to which each of us has been called.”

Father Nicolás concludes his letter: “May the Father who has hidden these things from the wise and the learned and has revealed them to the childlike (Mt 11, 25) through the intercession of Blessed Bernardo de Hoyos, grant the Society the grace of accomplishing its mission of being in the Church a loving response to Him who was pierced by the pain and the aggressive injustice of a world in need of forgiveness and reconciliation.”

May Blessed Bernardo de Hoyos show us the way to the Heart of Jesus!

John Paul II and the Development of a “New Feminism”

The April 2010 issue of Inside the Vatican (18:4) published a special commemorative issue observing the papal death of John Paul II and the papal election of Benedict XVI. The editor asked various people to write their memories of one of the popes. Sister Sara Butler, MSBT, a professor of dogmatic theology at St Joseph’s Seminary -Dunwoodie, New York, offered her thoughts on Pope John Paul’s contribution to feminist thinking. Sister Sara is a published author and a member of the Anglican-Roman Catholic Dialogue and the International Theological Commission. Sister remembers:

Looking back over the papacy of the Servant of God John Paul II, I find myself especially grateful for the initiative he took in addressing the feminist critique. The Pope did this in his Letter to Women (1995), his apostolic letter On the Dignity and Vocation of Women (Mulieris dignitatem, 1988), and his ground-breaking catecheses on the “theology of the body.” He not only acknowledged the positive contributions of feminist scholarship and offered needed clarifications and correctives in response to their objections; he also spelled out his own appreciation of the “genius” of women and took steps to promote their increased participation in the Church and in the social order. Since the Pope’s death, we are already beginning to see the fruits of his recommendation that Catholic women undertake to develop a “new feminism,” consistent with Catholic doctrine (Evangelium vitae, par 99). In my opinion , it is hard to overestimate the contribution Pope John Paul II made to meeting this contemporary challenge.

Tomáš Cardinal Špidlík dead at 91

The staff of the Centro Aletti with faith in the life-giving power of the Lord’s Resurrection announced the death of Tomáš Cardinal Špidlík Friday, 16 April 2010 at 9 pm.

The In making their announcement the staff of the Centro Aletti expressed their gratitude to God for the Cardinal’s many years through his gift of paternity and wisdom. They ask that all of us to be united in prayer to accompany the Cardinal’s soul to his ultimate and definitive passage to eternal life.

The Cardinal’s wake will be at the Centro Aletti until Monday, April 19. On Tuesday, April 20 the Mass of Christian Burial will take place at the Vatican Basilica at 11:30 am celebrated by Angelo Cardinal Sodano with the Holy Father concluding the Liturgy with a homily and the prayers of final commendation.

Let us pray.

By Thy resurrection from the dead, O Christ, death no longer has dominion over those who die in holiness. So, we beseech Thee, give rest to Thy servant Tomáš in Thy sanctuary and in Abraham’s bosom. Grant it to those, who from Adam until now have adored Thee with purity, to our fathers and mothers, to our kinsmen and friends, to all men who have lived by faith and passed on their road to Thee, by a thousand ways, and in all conditions, and make them worthy of the heavenly kingdom.

The Holy Father’s telegram to the superior general of the Society Jesus, Father Adolfo Nicolas Pachon, reads:

“The pious demise of Cardinal Tomas Spidlik, distinguished Jesuit and zealous servant of the Gospel, has aroused deep commotion in my heart. It is with profound gratitude that I recall his solid faith, his paternal affability and his intense cultural and ecclesial labours, especially as an authoritative expert on Eastern Christian spirituality. I raise fervent prayers to the Lord that, by the intercession of the Most Holy Virgin and St. Ignatius of Loyola, He may give the deceased cardinal the eternal prize promised to His faithful disciples. And to you, to the Society of Jesus, and to everyone who knew him and appreciated his gifts of mind and heart, I send a heartfelt and comforting apostolic blessing.

We give thanks to the Lord for blessing us with this wise and holy priest and cardinal!