Saint Teresa of Jesus, Poem, Benini

Thank you, Fr. Edward, 

to celebrate St. Teresa's 'arrow of burning charity'. (Bernini).

I join in the wonder of the still point of the Iceland horizons.  |

domdonald.org.uk 

The Ecstasy of Saint Teresaby Bernini, Basilica of Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome.

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: edward ...
To: Donald ....
Subject: Your blog and some lines

Dear Father Donald,

Thank you for the Email and the account of Jubilees st Nunraw..I hope
that the year of faith will bring you new subjects prepared to
penetrate into the Unknown, which is near to all of us.

I offer you a poem on Saint Teresa which I wrote last night, having
firstly in mind the Sclerder Carmelites, and also the Quidenham
Carmelites who have agreed to a consecrated hermit from here
(originally Lithuanian) going to live with them..
I also include the poem which I thought you would not like - inspired
by the rapid movement of the sun at the horizons here.

....

Blessings in Domino,

fr Edward O.P.

[Our Lady of Light
Carmelite Monastery   SclerderLooe Cornwall PL13 2JD

www.sclerder-abbey.org] 

The arrow-launch and some of its effects

At the Escorial they showed

a bound manuscript propped up in a perspex box,

opened out to display

her scratchy busy writing.

They were the letters she wrote to King Philip;

they contained projects described like arrow-shots,

seeking help to finance convents:

the foundations which her discalced Sisters

chose to make their way with speed directly

within the spiritual structure of the Church

creating austere and joyous houses.

Teresa stressed the long preparation before the Lord awoke her

to tumultuous thinking.

Bernini fashioned an arrow of burning charity poised for despatch

into her deepest heart:

a reward for zeal-driven unwaveringness

in labour unlimited.

Practical there must be

but secured in contemplation:

running after the ointments

which the now undying Christ

disposes of to draw with power

his intensest still and wide open-eyed aspirants

finding among themselves Mothers begetting grace in spiritual daughters,

exploring the Castle's protected rooms,

finding their pace,

whether in common or uncommon graces -

who can here judge?

Alertness and awareness,

connatural, arrow-swift desires,

unwasted efforts.

All articulated

in a new-minted style supported only

by depths untold,

having the dispositions at their deepest

to catch the All of their desires.

Stykkishólmur

14 October 2012

Iceland Skies Tonight

Map showing the dates of midnight sun
at various latitudes (left) and the
total number of nights.

    

Subduing planetary geometrics

The heavens do not sink

nor the orbits of our planets rise.

The heaven of the sun from its brief sinking below the horizon

of polar north to antipodean south

may suffer a slight deviation from its elliptical course,

yet its course can be supposed as deviating from a geometrical

and predictable inner planetary transit

We see ourselves at the still point of a turning world;

the motions outside us,

biological variations in colour are normed against

an axial deviation of the earth itself

as in the local features of weather:

cloud-gathering, snow, hail and rain precipitation,

local and thereby passing,

micro-climactic.
Parallax in an assertion made against geometry

by personal and evident exclusion.

Yet the patterned geometrical tucks into the surface geography

supported by a geometry assumed but delusive,

holding beauty captive,

macroscopically and microscopic.

And all is contained in the inner multiple in unity

Spirit of power and of truth.

Stykkishólmur

12 October

Pope Saint Gregory the Great, Doctor

Third September  

2 Corinthians 4:1-2, 5-7

Psalm 95:1-2a, 2b-3, 7-8, 10
Luke 22:24-30

Your Servants Through Jesus

We celebrate today the feast of Saint Gregory the Great, a joy for the whole Church and, in a special way, for the Benedictine Order. Like Saint Paul speaking in today’s first reading, Saint Gregory had a passion for preaching “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (2 Cor 4:4). “For we preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ our Lord; and ourselves your servants through Jesus” (2 Cor 4:5).  

Father and Doctor
We count Saint Gregory the Great among the Fathers of the Church. He takes his place alongside of Saint Ambrose, Saint Augustine and Saint Leo the Great. His fatherhood in the Spirit is an ongoing reality. Saint Gregory continues to be a “father” in the Spirit, sowing the seeds of contemplation even today by means of his writings. The writings of Saint Gregory allow us to hear his voice and to thrive on his teaching. Thus does he continue to help us grow up to maturity in Christ. Saint Gregory the Great is the Doctor of Lectio Divina, the Doctor of Compunction, and the Doctor of Contemplation.

MAGNIFICAT monthly

MEDITATION OF THE DAY

SAINT GREGORY THE GREAT

The Mercy Jesus Proclaimed

What tongue can describe the heart of the divine mercy? What mind is not amazed by the riches of such great love? The psalmist was thinking of these riches of divine love when he said: My helper, I will sing a psalm to you. It is you, 0 God, who are my protector, my God, my mercy. Carefully weighing the labours surrounding our humanity, he called God his helper. He calls his "protector" the one who protects us in the midst of our present distress until we come to eternal rest. But bearing in mind that God sees our evil deeds and bears with them, that he puts up with our sins and still preserves us for his rewards because of repentance, he could not just speak of God as being merciful but called him mercy itself, saying: My God, my mercy.

Let us then recall before our eyes the evil deeds we have done, let us consider with how much goodness God puts up with us, let us bear in mind the depth of his love. He is not only lenient toward our sins, but he

even promises the heavenly kingdom to those who repent after sinning. Let each of us say from the very depths of our hearts, let us all say, My God, my mercy.

Saint Gregory the Great (t 604) was one of the most important popes and influential writers of the Middle Ages.

From Forty Gospel Homilies, David Hurst OSB. Tr. 1990, Cistercian Publications Inc, Published by Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN. 

COMMENT; Saint Alphonus Ligouri 1st August Visit Blessed Sacrament

Motto	Copiosa apud eum redemptio (With him is Plentiful Redemption)

Copiosa apud eum redemptio (With him is Plentiful Redemption)

COMMENT

The Night Office Second Reading was an attractive presentation of Saint Alphonsus C.Ss.R, Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer,

SAINT OF THE DAY Leonard Foley, OFM.

Unfortunately, for the first time, we have encountered detection of malware.
No doubt, Franciscan Media Website will restore the excellent service. 

AUGUST 1 Alphonsus Liguori

Bishop and Doctor (1696-1787)

MEMORIAL

Moral theology, Vatican Il said, should be more thoroughly nourished by Scripture, and show the nobility of the Christian vocation of the faithful and their obligation to bring forth fruit in charity for the life of the world. Alphonsus, declared patron of moral theologians by Pius XII in 1950, would rejoice in that statement. In his day, he fought for the liberation of moral theology from the rigidity of Jansenism. His moral theology, which went through 60 editions in the century following him, concentrated on the practical and concrete problems of pastors and confessors. If a certain legalism and minimalism crept into moral theology, it should not be attributed to this model of moderation and gentleness.

At the University of Naples he received, at the age of 16, a doctorate in both canon and civil law by acclamation, but soon gave up the practice of law for apostolic activity. He was ordained priest and concentrated his pastoral efforts on popular (parish) missions, hearing confessions, forming Christian groups.

He founded the Redemptorist congregation in 1732. It was an association of priests and brothers living a common life, dedicated to the imitation of Christ, and working mainly in popular missions for peasants in rural areas. Almost as an omen of what was to come later, he found himself deserted, after a while, by all his original companions except one lay brother. But the congregation managed to survive and was formally approved 17 years later, though its troubles were not over.

Alphonsus' great pastoral reforms were in the pulpit and confessional-replacing the pompous oratory of the time with simplicity, and the rigourism of Jansenism with kindness. His great fame as a writer has somewhat eclipsed the fact that for 26 years he travelled up and down the kingdom of Naples preaching popular missions.

He was made bishop (after trying to reject the honour) at 66 and at once instituted a thorough reform of the diocese.

His greatest sorrow came at the end of his life. The Redernptorists, precariously continuing after the suppression of the Jesuits, had difficulty in getting their rule approved by the Kingdom of Naples. Alphonsus acceded to the condition that they possess no property in common, but a royal official, with the connivance of a high Redemptorist official, changed the rule substantially. Alphonsus, old, crippled and with very bad sight, signed the document, unaware that he had been betrayed. The Redemptorists in the Papal States then put themselves under the pope, who withdrew those in Naples from the jurisdiction of Alphonsus. It was only after his death that the branches were united.

At 71 he was afflicted with rheumatic pains which left incurable bending of his neck; until it was straightened a little, the pressure of his chin caused a raw wound on his chest. He suffered a final 18 months of "dark night" scruples, fears, temptations against every article of faith and every virtue, interspersed with intervals of light and relief, when ecstasies were frequent.

Alphonsus is best known for his moral theology, but he also wrote well in the field of spiritual and dogmatic theology. His Glories of Mary is one of the great works on that subject, and his book Visits to the Blessed Sacrament went through 40 editions in his lifetime, greatly influencing the practice of this devotion in

the Church.

QUOTE:

Someone once remarked, after a sermon by Alphonsus, “It is a pleasure to listen to your sermons; you forget yourself and preach Jesus Christ.”

SAINT OF THE DAY

Leonard Foley, OFM.

Peter and Paul Solemnity Homily

Cistercian Breviary

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Raymond . . .
Sent: Friday, 29 June 2012, 9:47
Subject: 

Ss Peter and Paul

Saints Peter and Paul were both called to be Apostles and both shed their blood for Christ.   But another thing they had in common was that both of them had their self confidence deeply shaken in their encounters with Jesus.  Peter was shaken by his triple denial of Jesus at the trial and Paul by his Damascus experience.  But there the similarity ends.  In fact the contrast between these two great Saints could hardly be greater. 

Peter was always one of the twelve,  – a bunch mostly of fishermen-friends who all knew each other.  Some of them were even related to each other.  Paul’s call, on the other hand, was a very solitary one, a call that left him alone; isolated from all his previous acquaintances.

Peter was simple and relatively uneducated; Paul was about as highly educated as one could be in Jewish society.

Peter was headstrong, and impulsive. When Jesus called him to walk on the water, he immediately leapt over the side. When he was faced with the mob in Gethsemani he drew his sword and struck out with it.  At the trial, when he cursed and swore that he knew not the man, it was an impulsive reaction of fear that spoke.  But the real deep Peter was the one who went out and wept bitterly over it.  

Paul, on the other hand, met crisis by withdrawing into himself in deep thought and careful analysis of the situation. For example, after his Damascus experience, he withdrew into three days of fasting and prayer.  Again, in typical fashion, when he found that his doctrine regarding freedom from the old law was being undermined by Peter and James, he didn’t just explode in self assurance of the correctness of his teaching and go off on his own way; that is how most divisions in the Church begin; no he went up to meet and consult with the other apostles and have the whole matter thrashed out among them.

Thus the two great pillars of the Church stand in marked contrast to each other and yet at the same time with a complementarity that was surely providential for the solid foundation of Christ’s Church.  

Cyril - Defender of the divine motherhood of the Virgin Mary

COMMENT: The Google search on, 'Defender of the divine motherhood of the Virgin Mary'
   About 3,610,000 results (0.60 seconds).
Begins amazing Links - - -
_______________________________________________________
Wednesday 27 June 2012   

Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Bishop, Doctor

Theotokos

Night Office and Mass – The Word (Lectio Divine) today seemed to in neutral gear until the prayer of the COLLECT opened up ‘the daylight.’

“Almighty God and Father, you gave Saint Cyril of Alexandria the grace to defend vigorously the divine motherhood of the Virgin Mary.”

The Commentary of St. Cyril speaks of his life, of his love Mary, Mother of God and in faith of Emmanuel, Christ, the one true Son, both God and man. 

About Universalis Website     

  “The purpose of the Divine Office is to sanctify the day and all human activity.”  Apostolic Constitution,Canticum Laudis  

  http://www.universalis.com/20120627/readings.1.htm

Universalis Wednesday 27 June 2012    Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Bishop, Doctor  or Wednesday of week 12 of the year About today

Reading

From a letter by Saint Cyril of Alexandria, bishop

Defender of the divine motherhood of the Virgin Mary

That anyone could doubt the right of the holy Virgin to be called the Mother of God fills me with astonishment. Surely she must be the Mother of God of our Lord Jesus Christ is God, and she gave birth to him! Our Lord’s disciples may not have used those exact words, but they delivered to us the belief those words enshrine, and this has also been taught us by the holy fathers.

In the third book of his work on the holy and consubstantial Trinity, our father Athanasius, of glorious memory, several times refers to the holy Virgin as “Mother of God.” I cannot resist quoting his own words: “As I have often told you, the distinctive mark of holy Scripture is that it was written to make a twofold declaration concerning our Saviour; namely, that he is and has always been God, since he is the Word, Radiance and Wisdom of the Father; and that for our sake in these latter days he took flesh from the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and became man.”

  Again further on he says: “There have been many holy men, free from all sin. Jeremiah was sanctified in his mother’s womb, and John while still in the womb leaped for joy at the voice of Mary, the Mother of God.” Athanasius is a man we can trust, one who deserves our complete confidence, for he taught nothing contrary to the sacred books.

The divinely inspired Scriptures affirm that the Word of God was made flesh, that is to say, he was united to a human body endowed with a rational soul. He undertook to help the descendants of Abraham, fashioning a body for himself from a woman and sharing our flesh and blood, to enable us to see in him not only God, but also, by reason of this union, a man like ourselves.

It is held, therefore, that there are in Emmanuel two entities, divinity and humanity. Yet our Lord Jesus Christ is nonetheless one, the one true Son, both God and man; not a deified man on the same footing as those who share the divine nature by grace, but true God who for our sake appeared in human form. We are assured of this by Saint Paul’s declaration: When the fullness of time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law and to enable us to be adopted as sons.

---

Let us pray.

Almighty God and Father, you gave Saint Cyril of Alexandria the grace to defend vigorously the divine motherhood of the Virgin Mary.

  We believe she is truly the Mother of God; grant that we may be saved by Christ your Son, made man,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

  God for ever and ever.

Amen.

 QUOTE:

Cyril's theme: "Only if it is one and the same Christ who is consubstantial with the Father and with men can he save us, for the meeting ground between God and man is the flesh of Christ. Only if this is God's own flesh can man come into contact with Christ's divinity through his humanity. Because of our kinship with the Word made flesh we are sons of God. The Eucharist consummates our kinship with the word, our communion with the Father, our sharing in the divine nature—there is very real contact between our body and that of the Word" (New Catholic Encyclopedia).