Monthly Archives: July 2020

Letters by the Holy Spirit

Colossians 1:9-11

Through perfect wisdom and spiritual understanding, may you reach the fullest knowledge of God’s will. So you will be able to lead the kind of life which the Lord expects of you, a life acceptable to him in all its aspects; showing the results in all the good actions you do and increasing your knowledge of God. You will have in you the strength, based on his own glorious power, never to give in, but to bear anything joyfully.

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Your are Letters written by the Holy Spirit

Thanks be to God who, wherever he goes, makes us, in Christ, partners of his triumph, and through us is spreading the knowledge of himself, like a sweet smell, everywhere. We are Christ’s incense to God for those who are being saved .. the sweet smell of life that leads to life. And who could be qualified for work like this? We do not go round offering the word of God for sale, as many other people do. In Christ, we speak as men of sincerity, as envoys of God and in God’s presence.

Does this sound like a new attempt to commend ourselves to you? Unlike other people, we need no letters of recommendation either to you or from you, because you are yourselves our letter, written in our hearts, that anybody can see and read, and it is plain that you are a letter from Christ, drawn up by us, and written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on the tablets of your living hearts.

St Paul the Apostle

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from a Letter by St Ignatius of Antioch

Let us not fail to be moved by his goodness, for if he were ever to imitate the way we behave ourselves, we would be truly lost. Now that we are his disciples let us learn to lead Christian lives. Whoever does not take the name of Christian does not belong to God. Put aside the old worn-out leaven which has grown old and sour, and turn to the new leaven, which is Jesus Christ.

Do your utmost to stand firm in the precepts of the Lord and the Apostles, so that you may prosper in all that you do in the flesh and in the spirit, in faith and love, in the Son and the Father and the Spirit, at the beginning and at the end.

I am writing this from Smyrna and the Ephesians here send you their greeting. They, like you, are here for the glory of God and have in all things given me comfort, as has Polycarp, the bishop of the Smyrnaeans. The other Churches also greet you in honour of Jesus Christ.

Farewell. See that there is a godly unity among you
and an unhesitating spirit; for this is Jesus Christ.

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from a Sermon by Saint Augustine

Our Lord’s words teach us that though we labour among the many distractions of this world, we should have but one goal. For we are but travellers on a journey without as yet a fixed abode; we are on our way, not yet in our native land; we are in a state of longing, not yet of enjoyment. But let us continue on our way, and continue without sloth or respite, so that we may ultimately arrive at our destination.

Martha and Mary were sisters, related not only by blood but also by religious aspirations. They stayed close to our Lord and both served him harmoniously when he was among them. Martha welcomed him as travellers are welcomed. But in her case, the maidservant received her Lord, the invalid her Saviour, the creature her Creator, to serve him bodily food while she was to be fed by the Spirit. For the Lord willed to put on the form of a slave, and under this form to be fed by his own servants, out of condescension and not out of need.

But you, Martha, if I may say so, are blessed for your good service, and for your labours you seek the reward of peace. Now you are much occupied in nourishing the body, admittedly a holy one. But when you come to the heavenly homeland will you find a traveller to welcome, someone hungry to feed, or thirsty to whom you may give drink, someone ill whom you could visit, or quarrelling whom you could reconcile, or dead whom you could bury?

No, there will be none of these tasks there. What you will find there is what Mary chose. There we shall not feed others, we ourselves shall be fed. Thus what Mary chose in this life will be realised there in all its fullness; she was gathering fragments from that rich banquet, the Word of God. Do you wish to know what we will have there? The Lord himself tells us when he says of his servants, Amen, I say to you, he will make them recline and passing he will serve them.

GK Chesterton

The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him
but because he loves what is behind him.

Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity.

There is the great lesson of ‘Beauty and the Beast
that a thing must be loved before it is lovable.

If there were no God, there would be no atheists.

There are two ways to get enough.
One is to continue to accumulate more and more.
The other is to desire less and less.

G K Chesterton

the Light of Truth

Basilica of San Marco, Venice Italy

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On the Feast Day of St Mary Magdalene

When Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and did not find the Lord’s body, she thought it had been taken away and so informed the disciples. After they came and saw the tomb, they too believed what Mary had told them. The text then says: The disciples went back home, and it adds: but Mary wept and remained standing outside the tomb.

We should reflect on Mary’s attitude and the great love she felt for Christ; for though the disciples had left the tomb, she remained. She was still seeking the one she had not found, and while she sought she wept; burning with the fire of love, she longed for him who she thought had been taken away. And so it happened that the woman who stayed behind to seek Christ was the only one to see him. For perseverance is essential to any good deed, as the voice of truth tells us: Whoever perseveres to the end will be saved.

When our desires are not satisfied, they grow stronger, and becoming stronger they take hold of their object. Holy desires likewise grow with anticipation. As David says: My soul has thirsted for the living God; when shall I come and appear before the face of God?

Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek? She is asked why she is sorrowing so that her desire might be strengthened; for when she mentions whom she is seeking, her love is kindled all the more ardently.

from a homily Gregory the Great

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All things have an end, and two things, life and death, are side by side set before us, and each one will go to his own place. Just as there are two coinages, one of God and the other of the world, each with its own image, so unbelievers bear the image of this world, and those who have faith with love bear the image of God the Father through Jesus Christ our Lord.

St Ignatius of Antioch

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God and Father,

To those who go astray you reveal the light of your truth
and enable them to return to the right path.
Grant that all who have received the light of grace
may strive to do good and avoid evil

Be gracious, to us Lord who love and serve you
and in your kindness increase your gifts of grace within us:
so that, fervent in faith, hope and love,
we may be ever on the watch
and persevere in doing what you command.

This we ask through Christ our Lord.

Amen

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Art by Dino Carbetta

our Lady of Mount Carmel

“Truth suffers, but never dies.”

“Accustom yourself continually to make many acts of love
for they enkindle and melt the soul.”

“May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith”

“The closer one approaches to God, the simpler one becomes.”

“Trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.”

St Teresa of Avila

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Pope St. John Paul II on the Feast of Saint Benedict

Excerpts from a message of Pope St. John Paul II
on the Feast of Saint Benedict

My revered Predecessor, St Gregory the Great, a Benedictine monk and celebrated biographer of St Benedict, invited us to discern the basis of a life wholly dedicated to “seeking and serving Christ, the one true Saviour” (Preface of the Mass of St Benedict), in the atmosphere of great faith in God and intense love for his law which motivated the original family of the saint from Norcia. This spiritual striving, which grew and developed as he faced the challenges of life, soon led the young man to foresake the illusions of worldy knowledge and possessions to devote himself to learning the wisdom of the Cross and to being conformed to Christ alone. From Norcia to Rome, from Affile to Subiaco, Benedict’s spiritual journey was guided by the one desire to please Christ. This longing was strengthened and increased during the three years he lived in the grotto of the Sacro Speco ..

His prolonged and intimate union with Christ prompted him to gather other brothers around him in order to carry out “those great designs and goals to which he had been called by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit” (ibid.). Illumined by divine light, Benedict became a beacon and guide for poor shepherds in search of faith and for devout people who needed direction in the way of the Lord. After a further period of solitude and difficult trials, 1,500 years ago, when he was barely 20 years old, he founded the first Benedictine monastery at Subiaco, not far from the Sacro Speco. In this way the grain of wheat that had chosen to hide itself in the soil of Subiaco and to waste away in penance for love of Christ, gave rise to a new model of consecrated life, becoming a fruitful ear of wheat.

The small, obscure grotto of Subiaco thus became the cradle of the Benedictine Order. From it a bright beacon of faith and civilization shone out which, through the example and work of the holy Patriarch’s spiritual sons, flooded the West and East of Europe and the other continents, as the marble plaque there records.

The fame of his holiness attracted scores of young men in search of God, whom he organized with practical genius into 12 monasteries. Here Sts Placid and Maurus were formed in an atmosphere of Gospel simplicity, living faith and active charity. The first splendid jewels of the monastic family of Subiaco, they were taught the “service of the Almighty” by Benedict himself.

The example of St Benedict and the Rule itself offer significant direction for fully accepting the gift of these anniversaries. First and foremost they invite a witness of tenacious fidelity to the Word of God, meditated on and received through “lectio divina”. This involves maintaining silence and an attitude of humble adoration before God, for the divine word reveals its depths to those who, through silence and mortification, are attentive to the Spirit’s mysterious action.

While the requirement of regular silence establishes times when human words must be stilled, it points to a style marked by great moderation in verbal communication. If it is perceived and lived in its profound sense, it slowly teaches the interiorization by which the monk opens himself to a genuine knowledge of God and man. In a particular way, the great silence in monasteries has a unique symbolic power of recalling what really counts: Samuel’s absolute availability (cf. 1 Sm 3) and the total, loving gift of self to the Father. None of the rest is eliminated, but is accepted in its profound reality and brought to God in prayer.

Familiarity with the Word, which the Benedictine Rule guarantees by reserving much time for it in the daily schedule, will not fail to instil serene trust, to cast aside false security and to root in the soul a vivid sense of the total lordship of God. The monk is thus protected from convenient or utilitarian interpretations of Scripture and brought to an ever deeper awareness of human weakness, in which God’s power shines brightly.

Along with listening to God’s Word there is the commitment to prayer. The Benedictine monastery is above all a place of prayer, in the sense that everything in it is organized to make the monks attentive and responsive to the voice of the Spirit. This is why the complete celebration of the Divine Office, whose centre is the Eucharist and which structures the monastic day, is the “opus Dei” in which “dum cantamus iter facimus ut ad nostrum cor veniat et sui nos amoris gratia accendat”.

The Word of Sacred Scripture inspires the Benedictine monk’s dialogue with God; in this he is helped by the austere beauty of the Roman liturgy in which this Word, proclaimed with solemnity or sung in plainchant ..
The primacy of the Word is thus affirmed in life .. Once it has been accepted, the Word searches and discerns, imposes clear choices and thus brings the monk, through obedience, into the historia Salutis summed up in the Passover of Christ, who was obedient to the Father (cf. Heb 5:7-10)

It is this prayer, memoria Dei, which makes unity of life possible in practice, despite multiple activities: as Cassian teaches, these are not demeaned but are continually brought back to their centre. By extending liturgical prayer to the whole day through the free and silent personal prayer of the brothers, an atmosphere of recollection is created in the monastery in which the actual times of celebration find their full truth. In this way the monastery becomes a “school of prayer”, that is, a place where the community, by deeply encountering God in the liturgy and at various moments of the day, introduces those who seek the face of the living God to the wonders of Trinitarian life.

May every Benedictine community present itself with a well-defined identity, like a “city on a hill”, distinct from the surrounding world, but open and welcoming to the poor, to pilgrims and to all who are searching for a life of greater fidelity to the Gospel !

Solemnity of Saint Benedict

Tools of Good Works

1 In the first place, to love the Lord God with thy whole heart, thy whole soul, thy whole strength.
2 Then, one’s neighbor as oneself.
3 Then not to murder.
4 Not to commit adultery.
5 Not to steal.
6 Not to covet.
7 Not to bear false witness.
8 To honor all (1 Peter 2:17).
9 And not to do to another what one would not have done to oneself.
10 To deny oneself in order to follow Christ.
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11 To chastise the body.
12 Not to become attached to pleasures.
13 To love fasting.
14 To relieve the poor.
15 To clothe the naked.
16 To visit the sick.
17 To bury the dead.
18 To help the troubled.
19 To console the sorrowing.
20 To become a stranger to the world’s ways.
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21 To prefer nothing to the love of Christ.
22 Not to give way to anger.
23 Not to nurse a grudge.
24 Not to entertain deceit in one’s heart.
25 Not to give a false peace.
26 Not to forsake charity.
27 Not to swear, for fear of perjuring oneself.
28 To utter truth from heart and mouth.
29 Not to return evil for evil.
30 To do no wrong to anyone, and to bear patiently wrongs done to oneself.
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31 To love one’s enemies.
32 Not to curse those who curse us, but rather to bless them.
33 To bear persecution for justice’s sake.
34 Not to be proud.
35 Not addicted to wine.
36 Not a great eater.
37 Not drowsy.
38 Not lazy.
39 Not a grumbler.
40 Not a detractor.
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41 To put one’s hope in God.
42 To attribute to God, and not to self, whatever good one sees in oneself.
43 But to recognize always that the evil is one’s own doing, and to impute it to oneself.
44 To fear the Day of Judgment.
45 To be in dread of hell.
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46 To desire eternal life with all the passion of the spirit.
47 To keep death daily before one’s eyes.
48 To keep constant guard over the actions of one’s life.
49 To know for certain that God sees one everywhere.
50 When evil thoughts come into one’s heart, to dash them against Christ immediately.
51 And to manifest them to one’s spiritual guardian.
52 To guard one’s tongue against evil and depraved speech.
53 Not to love much talking.
54 Not to speak useless words or words that move to laughter.
55 Not to love much or boisterous laughter.
56 To listen willingly to holy reading.
57 To devote oneself frequently to prayer.
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58 Daily in one’s prayers, with tears and sighs, to confess one’s past sins to God,
and to amend them for the future.
59 Not to fulfill the desires of the flesh; to hate one’s own will.
60 To obey in all things the commands of the Abbot even though he (which God forbid) should act otherwise, mindful of the Lord’s precept, “Do what they say, but not what they do.”
61 Not to wish to be called holy before one is holy; but first to be holy, that one may be truly so called.
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62 To fulfill God’s commandments daily in one’s deeds.
163 To love chastity.
64 To hate no one.
65 Not to be jealous, not to harbor envy.
66 Not to love contention.
67 To beware of haughtiness.
68 And to respect the seniors.
69 To love the juniors.
70 To pray for one’s enemies in the love of Christ.
71 To make peace with one’s adversary before the sun sets.
72 And never to despair of God’s mercy.
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These, then, are the tools of the spiritual craft.
If we employ them unceasingly day and night,
and return them on the Day of Judgment, our reward
from the Lord will be that wage He has promised:
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, what God
has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9).

To Live is Christ, To Die is Gain

From a homily at the canonization of Saint Maria Goretti  by Pope Pius XII

It is well known how this young girl had to face a bitter struggle with no way to defend herself. Without warning a vicious stranger burst upon her, bent on raping her and destroying her childlike purity. In that moment of crisis she could have spoken to her Redeemer in the words of that classic, The Imitation of Christ: “Though tested and plagued by a host of misfortunes, I have no fear so long as your grace is with me. It is my strength, stronger than any adversary; it helps me and gives me guidance.” With splendid courage she surrendered herself to God and his grace and so gave her life to protect her virginity.

The life of this simple girl—I shall concern myself only with highlights—we can see as worthy of heaven. Even today people can look upon it with admiration and respect. Parents can learn from her story how to raise their God-given children in virtue, courage, and holiness; they can learn to train them in the Catholic faith so that, when put to the test, God’s grace will support them and they will come through undefeated, unscathed, and untarnished.

From Maria’s story carefree children and young people with their zest for life can learn not to be led astray by attractive pleasures which are not only ephemeral and empty but also sinful. Instead they can fix their sights on achieving Christian moral perfection, however difficult and hazardous that course may prove. With determination and God’s help all of us can attain that goal by persistent effort and prayer.

Not all of us are expected to die a martyr’s death, but we are all called to the pursuit of Christian virtue. This demands strength of character though it may not match that of this innocent girl. Still, a constant, persistent, and relentless effort is asked of us right up to the moment of our death. This may be conceived as a slow, steady martyrdom which Christ urged upon us when he said: The kingdom of heaven is set upon and laid waste by violent forces.

So let us all, with God’s grace, strive to reach the goal that the example of the virgin martyr, Saint Maria Goretti, sets before us. Through her prayers to the Redeemer may all of us, each in his own way, joyfully try to follow the inspiring example of Maria Goretti who now enjoys eternal happiness in heaven.

Be faithful till the death, God will fight for you, alleluia! Do not be afraid of murderers: they kill bodies because they cannot do anything else. The winner is who believes in Me. He will never know a second death.

Trust in God, be faithful, and trust in God!

My God, you are the source of innocence, of purity, and you have given young Maria Goretti the grace of martyrdom; please give us, thanks to her intercession, the courage for respecting your commandments like that girl who received the right reward to have defended her virginity till the death.

Pious XII – Rome, June 24, 1950

There are Battles ahead but we are not alone

St Jerome’s homily on Psalm 41

Like a deer that longs for springs of water, so my soul longs for you, O God. Now just as those deer long for springs of water, so do our deer. Fleeing Egypt – that is, fleeing worldly things – they have killed Pharaoh and drowned all his army in the waters of baptism. Now, after the devil has been killed, they long for the springs of the Church: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Welcomed into the body of Christ and reborn in the springs of life, they confidently say: I will go up to your glorious dwelling-place and into the house of God. The house of God is the Church, the ‘dwelling-place’ where dwells the sound of joy and thanksgiving, the crowds at the festival.

So then, you who have followed our lead and robed yourselves in Christ, let the words of God lift you out of this turbulent age as a net lifts the little fishes out of the water. In us the laws of nature are turned upside down – for fish, taken out of the water, die; but the Apostles have fished us out of the sea that is this world not to kill us but to bring us from death to life. As long as we were in the world, our eyes were peering into the depths and we led our lives in the mud. Now we have been torn from the waves, we begin to see the true light. Moved by overwhelming joy, we say to our souls: Put your hope in the Lord, I will praise him still, my saviour and my God.

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From a sermon by Saint Augustine

This is our glory: the witness of our conscience. There are men who rashly judge, who slander, whisper and murmur, who are eager to suspect what they do not see, and eager to spread abroad things they have not even a suspicion of. Against men of this sort, what defence is there save the witness of our own conscience?

Beloved, we do not seek, nor should we seek, our own glory even among those whose approval we desire. What we should seek is their salvation, so that if we walk as we should they will not go astray in following us. They should imitate us if we are imitators of Christ; and if we are not, they should still imitate him. He cares for his flock, and he alone is to be found with those who care for their flocks, because they are all in him.

You have listened to our Lord Jesus Christ as he taught his apostles: Let your actions shine before men so that they may see your good deeds, and give glory to your Father who is in heaven, for it is the Father who made you thus. We are the people of his pasture, the sheep of his hands. If then you are good, praise is due to him who made you so.

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St Teresa of Ávila – Thy Kingdom Come

Eternal Wisdom ! Between you and your Father this was quite sufficient. This is how you made your request of him in the garden of Gethsemane. You showed him what you wished for and what you feared, but left it all in his hands. But you know us, my Lord, and you know that we have not given ourselves up to the will of your Father as completely as you did. For us, it is best to pray for specific things, so that as each of them comes to mind we can pause to consider whether it is something good that we are asking for; so that if it is not, we should refrain from asking for it. Otherwise ( being what we are, free will and all ) we will not accept what God chooses to give us even if it is far better than what we asked for, simply because it is not exactly what we asked for. We are the sort of people who cannot feel rich unless we feel the weight of the actual coins in our hand.

Now the good Jesus bids us say these words, in which we pray that the Kingdom may come in us: Hallowed be thy name, thy Kingdom come. See how great our Master’s wisdom is!

Now, then. The greatest joy in the kingdom of heaven (the greatest among many) seems to me to be that we will no longer be tied up with earthly concerns but will have rest and glory within us – rejoicing that gives joy to everyone, peace that lasts for ever – satisfaction in ourselves, a satisfaction that comes from seeing how everyone is praising the Lord and blessing and hallowing his name, while no-one offends him. Everyone loves him. Each soul has no wish other than to love him: it cannot stop loving him because it knows him truly. If only we knew him like that even here on earth, we would love him in the same way.

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The Explanation of Psalm 118 by Saint Ambrose

Blessed is he, therefore, at whose door Christ comes knocking. Faith is the door of the soul, and if it is strong then it fortifies the whole house. Through this door Christ enters.

You see that when the Word of God knocks hardest on your door, it is when his hair is wet with the dew of the night. In fact he chooses to visit those who are in tribulation and trial, lest one of them be overwhelmed by distress. So his head is covered with dew, with drops, when his body is labouring hard. It is important to keep watch so that when the Bridegroom comes, he is not shut out. If you are asleep and your heart is not keeping watch, he will go away without knocking; but if your heart is alert for his coming, he knocks and asks for the door to be opened to him.

Thus you see that our soul has a door, but we have gates too, as the psalm says: Gates, raise your heads. Stand up, eternal doors, and let the king of glory enter. If you choose to raise your gates, the King of glory will come to you, celebrating the triumph of his own Passion. For righteousness has gates, as we see it written when the Lord Jesus speaks through his prophets: Open to me the gates of righteousness.

It is the soul that has its door, it is the soul that has its gates. To that door Christ comes and knocks, he knocks at the door. Open to him, therefore: he wishes to come in, the Bridegroom wishes to find you keeping watch.