Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, Archangels

“Because you have made the Lord your refuge, the Most High your habitation, no evil shall befall you, no scourge come near your tent. For he will give his angels charge of you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.” [1]
 
Today is the feast day of Sts Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, Archangels. They are mentioned by name in Sacred Scripture in the books of Tobit, Daniel, Luke, 1 Thessalonians, Jude, and Revelation.
 
The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us, “…the whole life of the Church benefits from the mysterious and powerful help of angels.” John Paul II, in a General Audience, reminds us that the name of each Archangel reflects a facet of the nature of God. St. Michael’s name means ‘Who is like God?,’ St. Gabriel’s ‘power of God,’ and St. Raphael’s ‘God heals.’ To angels, God has entrusted a special mission with human beings at the center. [2][3][4]
 
(Sarah Ciott and Fr. Hugh Feiss, OSB, STD)
 
[1] Revised Standard Version, s.v., “The Psalms.” Ed. Psalm 91:9-12
[2] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed., 328-336.
[3] Benedict XVI, Homily, September 29, 2007.
[4] John Paul II, Angels Participate in the History of Salvation, August 6, 1986.

St Vincent de Paul

St Vincent de Paul gave the mission he was given by God: “to preach the Gospel to the poor.”

When sending forth his first missionaries, St. Vincent de Paul said “our vocation is to go, not just to one parish, not just to one diocese, but to all over the world, and to do what?  To set people’s hearts on fire, to do what the Son of God did.  He came to set the world on fire in order to inflame it with his love.”

The spiritual sons and daughters of Vincent … “set America “on fire” with Christ ‘s love; and the flame is still burning, burning for for the poor and abandoned; burning for those in formation for priestly ministry; burning for those in countless churches longing to hear God’s Word; burning in their confessionals, for those aching for God’s mercy; burning for those in schools and universities seeking knowledge and wisdom; burning in hospitals and prisons; burning for and with the Daughters of Charity and the wider Vincentian family; burning at home and in mission lands; burning for justice and peace and inclusion and wholeness and Christ’s love.”

Bishop David O’Connell, CM
excerpts of a homily, 24 September 2016

St Vincent de Paul

Vincent de Paul, Spanish icon

Today is the liturgical memorial of Saint Vincent de Paul and the 400th anniversary of the Congregation of the Mission (the Vincentians). My prayer today is focussed on the Vincentian gift I received as a school boy at St. Stanislaus Church, New Haven, CT.  Thanks be to God for Vincent and his Family!

In his letter to the Vincentian Family today, the Holy Father wrote:

He was always progressing, open to seeking God and himself. Grace worked to supplement this constant quest: as a shepherd, he encountered Jesus the Good Shepherd in a striking way in the person of the poor. This occurred in a very special way when he allowed himself to be touched by the eyes of a man thirsting for mercy and by the situation of family lacking everything. At that moment, he was deeply moved by Jesus looking at him, inviting him to no longer live for himself, but to serve Jesus wholeheartedly in persons who are poor, whom Vincent de Paul would later call “our lords and masters” (Correspondence, Conferences, Documents XI, 349). His life then became steadfast service, up to his last breath. A verse from Scripture showed him the meaning of his mission: “The Lord has sent me to bring the Good News to the poor” (cf. Lk 4:18).

In the glorious wounds of Jesus, may you find the strength of charity, the happiness of the grain that gives life by dying, the fecundity of the rock from which water gushes forth, the joy of coming out of yourself in order to go out into the world, free from nostalgia for the past, confident in God and creative regarding the challenges of today and tomorrow because, as Saint Vincent said, “love is inventive to infinity”.

Blessed Herman the Crippled

Today is the feast day of Blessed Herman the Cripple (also known as Hermannus Contractus, or Herman of Reichenau, 1013-1054), monk, 11th century scholar, composer, musical theorist, mathematician, and astronomer.

Blessed Herman composed the Marian prayers Alma Redemptoris Mater, and the Salve Regina (also known as the “Hail Holy Queen”) which we pray each time we pray the Holy Rosary. Despite significant physical limitations and suffering, the bright and contemplative mind of Blessed Herman advanced not only our understanding of the physical world, but furthered our devotion to Our Blessed Mother. His contributions to both science and faith remind us that regardless of appearance or apparent physical abilities, we each possess immense God-given gifts and talents! He was called “The Wonder of His Age.”

A hundred years after Blessed Herman died, Saint Bernard added the O Clemens, O Pia, O Dulcis Virgo Maria to the Salve Regina, genuflecting three times as he processed to the altar in the cathedral of Speyers in 1146 on a mission from Pope Eugene III as his legate to Emperor Conrad III in Germany.

(DG sourced)

St. Gerard Sagredo

O God, who were pleased to give light to your Church by adorning blessed Gerard with the victory of martyrdom, graciously grant that, as he imitated the Lord’s Passion, so we may, by following in his footsteps, be worthy to attain eternal joys. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

St. Gerard Sagredo was an 11th century Italian Benedictine monk and abbot of the Abbey of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice. On pilgrimage in Holy Land, he met St. Stephen, the king of Hungary, who inited him to stay in that country as tutor to his son.

The king appointed Gerard as bishop –likely under pressure– of the newly formed diocese of Csanad. Bishop Gerard evangelized the remote areas of his diocese: he lived Matthew 25. Ora, labora et lectio was the paradigm of his ministry. Gerard was a scholar of sacred Scripture and wrote several treatises, now lost. He was known for his devotion to the Mother of God and one his homilies is the first recorded text of a Marian devotion in Hungary.

In 1046, Gerard was martyr by infidels who wanted his body destroyed by throwing it into the Danube River. The people of Hungary revered Gerard as a martyr and entombed his relics with those of King Stephen and his son, Prince Emeric, in the cathedral in Buda. Canonized in 1083, Gerard was raised to the altar along with St. Stephen and St. Emeric. By 1313, the majority of his relics were transferred to Venice, where they are honored in the church of Our Lady of Murano. St. Gerard Sagredo is celebrated as the proto-martyr of Venice and the Apostle of Hungary and is remembered as the patron saint of tutors.

Sts. Andrew Kim Tae-gon, Paul Chong Ha-sang and Companions

It seems to me that we need the intercession these days: Sts. Andrew Kim Tae-gon, Paul Chong Ha-sang & Companions of Korea, pray for us!

The crisis on the Korean peninsula is quite something to comprehend with the radical potential of human tragedy in the hands of government leaders in various sectors. All the more that we need help from Divine Providence.

Adrienne von Speyr

A women not really known in the US is the Mystic and Theologian, Physician, Writer: Adrienne von Speyr (20 September 1902 – 17 September 1967); she is known in theological circles as being a close associate to the Swiss theologian and priest, Hans Urs von Balthasar.

On this date, the feast of Saint Hildegard von Bingen, von Speyr died. Some will say that Speyr’s devotion to Hildegard provided her with a fitting intercessor at the Throne of Grace at this key time in her mission. Both shared a similar vocation.

Among the interesting things about Adrienne’s theological work is her 4 volume commentary on the Gospel of St John which she claimed St John dictated to her. Likewise, her volume, Book of All Saints, is quite interesting. A book I have not read but that is recommended to me is Matthew Sutton’s Heaven Opens: The Trinitarian Mysticism of Adrienne von Speyr.

Balthasar once wrote of his friend,

“In fact, on one occasion very soon after her conversion, she was driving home from her office, she suddenly saw a great light in front of her car (a pedestrian also jumped aside in fear, and Adrienne stopped) and heard a voice close by which gave the key to all that was to follow: Tu vivras au ciel et sur la terre  (You shall live in heaven and on earth).”

Hans Urs von Balthasar, First Glance At Adrienne von Speyr

What is interesting about Balthasar’s comment is a similar experience Saint Benedict had shortly before he died where, according to Saint Gregory the Great Benedict saw the whole world in a ray of light. Saints beget saints.

St. Hildegard of Bingen

St. Hildegard’s Prayer to the Holy Spirit

Fire of the Spirit, life of the lives of creatures,
spiral of sanctity, bond of all natures,
glow of charity, lights of clarity, taste
of sweetness to sinners, be with us and hear us.

Composer of all things, light of all the risen,
key of salvation, release from the dark prison,
hope of all unions, scope of chastities, joy
in the glory, strong honour, be with us and hear us.
Amen.

Famous Benedictine Oblates

The question surfaced recently about who are some famous Benedictine Oblates. Here is a brief list thus far:

Saints, blesseds and Servants of God

Saints Thomas Aquinas, Thomas Becket, Cunegundes, Ida of Boulogne, Thomas More, Oliver Plunkett, Frances of Rome, Henry II, Ranieri Scacceri, Blessed Mark Barkworth, Blessed Itala Mela, and the Servant of God Dorothy Day

Artists, Authors, Clerics and Theologians

Carolyn Attneave, Elena Cornaro Piscopia, Eric Dean, Rumer Godden, Edith Gurian, Romano Guardini, Emerson Hynes, Joris-Karl Huysmans, Dwight Longenecker, Jacques and Raissa Maritain, Kathleen Norris, Elizabeth Scalia, Walker Percy, Denys Prideaux, Norvene Vest and Pope Benedict XVI.

Is your name among those listed here???

Our Lady of Sorrows

Today we honor Our Lady under the title of Our Lady of Sorrows. This feast is so intimately connected with yesterday’s feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. You know the image of the Mother of God, the mother of a son, at the foot of the cross in great pain, sorrow, yet hope that all is not lost. Personally, I also recall the fact of Our Lady of Sorrows when I pray for a family who is grieving the loss of a loved one; and in a more extended way for me, OL of Sorrows is the prime patroness of the Congregation of Holy Cross (who educated me in high school and in university). In this latter fact, I hope and pray Mary is watching over the the CSC and Notre Dame in a keen way especially these days of spiritual combat. Nevertheless, Mary’s real, concrete experience the Life-Saving Cross is crucial to my understanding the mysteries of life and death.

The great Cistercian abbot and author of many works on the Holy Virgin, St. Bernard of Clairvaux has this to say to us:

Truly, O blessed Mother, a sword has pierced your heart. For only by passing through your heart could the sword enter the flesh of your Son. Indeed, after your Jesus—who belongs to everyone, but is especially yours—gave up his life, the cruel spear, which was not withheld from his lifeless body, tore open his side. Clearly it did not touch his soul and could not harm him, but it did pierce your heart. For surely his soul was no longer there, but yours could not be torn away. Thus the violence of sorrow has cut through your heart, and we rightly call you more than martyr, since the effect of compassion in you has gone beyond the endurance of physical suffering.

~(Sermo in dom. infra oct. Assumptionis, 14-15: Opera omnia, Edit. Cisterc. 5 [1968}, 273-274) is used in the Roman Office of Readings for the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows on September 15.
~(The image was written by Connecticut iconographer Marek Czarnecki.)