| Monday 15th. March 2010 MEDITATION OF THE DAY John 4:43-54.
Now I love God with Christ's will, with Christ's heart, with Christ's trust; and because he has taken whole possession of me, in the hour of my death I shall at last love my friends too with his love. Caryll Houselander (+ 1954) was a British mystic, poet, and spiritual teacher.
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Monday, 15 March 2010
Caryll Houselander
Passion of Mary
our morning Communion Hymn is
Francis Thompson's "O Lady Mary".
The Passion of MaryVerses in Passion Tide
O Lady Mary, thy bright crown
Is no mere crown of majesty;
For with the reflex of His own
Resplendent thorns Christ circled thee.
* * *
The red rose of this Passion-tide
Doth take a deeper hue from thee,
In the five wounds of Jesus dyed,
And in thy bleeding thoughts, Mary!
* * *
The soldier struck a triple stroke,
That smote thy Jesus on the tree:
He broke the Heart of Hearts, and broke
The Saint's and Mother's hearts in thee.
* * *
Thy Son went up the angels' ways,
His passion ended; but, ah me!
Thou found'st the road of further days
A longer way of Calvary:
* * *
On the hard cross of hope deferred
Thou hung'st in loving agony,
Until the mortal-dreaded word
Which chills our mirth, spake mirth to thee.
* * *
The angel Death from this cold tomb
Of life did roll the stone away;
And He thou barest in thy womb
Caught thee at last into the day,
Before the living throne of Whom
The Lights of Heaven burning pray.
In February 1887, Wilfrid Meynell, the editor of Merry England a Catholic literary monthly magazine, received some 
untidy manuscripts, accompanied by the following covering letter: "In enclosing the accompanying article for your inspection, I must ask pardon for the soiled state of the manuscript. It is due, not to slovenliness, but to the strange places and circumstances under which it has been written".
Meynell must have wondered what sort of a man wrote the enclosed contents, including the moving poem, "The Passion of Mary". What were the "strange places and circumstances" under which these were written? All attempts to trace the author failed, until Thompson noticed one of his poems had been published in Merry England. Meynell's hope that the author would, in response to the publication, reveal himself, proved successful. One day in the spring of 1888, a man in his early 30s in ragged clothes and broken shoes and looking aged and ill - largely due to his drug addiction - presented himself at Meynell's office and introduced himself as Francis Thompson. (ad2000.com)
Comment Ps 84
| COMMENT - from Andy Hi Donald See:BCP - Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 84 or 84:1-6 Page 707, BCP Quam dilecta! 1 How dear to me is your dwelling, O LORD of hosts! * 2 The sparrow has found her a house |
Saturday, 13 March 2010
"How dear to me your dwelling"
| COMMENT William writes: The posting from Friday's Night Office reading, 3rd week of Lent, has really fascinated me! The translation of Ps 84 (83).. "How dear to me your dwelling" set me examining all my available translations, and none could come near to that exquisite personal phrase. I should love to know from which translation you were quoting! Psalm 84 - Dom Donald's Blog : How dear to me your dwelling place, Lord God of hosts! My soul is yearning for the courts of the Lord. Ps 84 – NAB : How lovely your dwelling, O Lord of hosts! My soul yearns and pines for the courts of the Lord. Ps 84 – AMP : How lovely are Your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul yearns, yes, even pines and is homesick for the courts of the Lord. Ps 84 – NJB : How lovely are your dwelling-places, Yahweh Sabaoth. My whole being yearns and pines for Yahweh’s courts. Ps 84 – NRSV : How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the Lord. Ps 84 – CCB : How lovely are your rooms, O Lord of hosts! My soul yearns, pines, for the courts of the Lord. Ps 84 – TEV : How I love your Ps 84 - NIV : How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD Almighty! My soul yearns , even faints, for the courts of the LORD. Ps 84 – NLT : How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD Almighty. I long, yes, I faint with longing to enter the courts of the Lord. Ps 83 – Knox : Lord of hosts, how I love thy dwelling-place! For the courts of the Lord’s house, my soul faints with longing. Ps 83 – Grail (Divine Office) : How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, God of hosts. My soul is longing and yearning, is yearning for the courts of the Lord. [You can see where the housekeeping has gone... I managed to purchase the OT Knox translation 2 vols for £8, and NT Knox £8, from off the very top shelf in the attic of the local 2nd hand book shop!]. But your posting was of much more than the opening words of the psalm: the filial relation of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The clarity of the explanation by Cyril of Alexandria is wonderful! Placing the words in my own order, starting from the conclusion, this is what I found myself transcribing into my pocket book for further, and lasting reflection: We have been justified...by our faith in Christ, who was delivered up for our sins and raised for our justification... there [is] nothing to hinder us from having access to him and adhering to him in close communion through participation in the Holy Spirit, who restores to us our original righteousness and holiness... Our return to God is not accomplished by Christ our Saviour except through the Spirit in which he causes us to share and by which we are sanctified, for it is the Spirit that binds us to God and in a real way makes us one with him. By receiving the Spirit through the Son we become sharers in the divine nature and, in the Son, we receive the Father also. That really was a treat - thank you! William ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thank you, William.
Your COMMENT raises even livelier hares. After the snow prolonging into March I have been looking for the proverbial March Hare. And I have only seen one so far. But about your “hare”, I have been stumped by your noticing of the Ps 84(83) “exquisite personal phrase”, "How dear to me your dwelling"
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Friday, 12 March 2010
St Cyril of Alexandria
THIRD WEEK OF LENT - Year II - Friday
| Night Office It makes me want to share more of Cyril’s love in expounding the filial relation of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Responsory Psalm 84:2-3; 132:7 How dear to me your dwelling place, Lord God of hosts! My soul is yearning for the courts of the Lord. - My heart and my flesh exult in the living God. Let us go to the place where he dwells; let us worship at his footstool - My heart and ...
Second From the commentary on In this work, written before the outbreak of the Nestorian controversy in 429, Cyril seeks to bring out the dogmatic meaning of the gospel and to refute heresy. He teaches in this passage that by offering himself as a sacrificial victim, Christ reconciled the world with the Father and so made it possible for us to receive the Holy Spirit, through whom we are sanctified and given a share in the divine nature.
Christ said: For their sake I sanctify myself. In terms of the law, any offering made to God was said to be sanctified. Such for example was the offering the Israelites made of all their firstborn children. Sanctify to me all the firstborn, God commanded his saintly Moses. In other words, consecrate and offer them, set them apart as sacred. Since sanctification, then. was regarded as the equivalent of consecration and setting apart, we may say that in this sense the Son of God sanctified himself for our sake; for he offered himself as a victim, a holy sacrifice to God the Father, and by so doing he reconciled the world with the Father and restored the fallen human race to his friendship. For he, Scripture says, is our peace.
If sin separates us from God, righteousness will surely be a bond of union with him and a means of setting us at his side with no division between us. We have been justified, Scripture declares, by our faith in Christ, who was delivered up for our sins and raised for our justification. In him, as the first fruits of the human race, our whole nature was restored to newness of life, and returning as it were to its beginning, was formed anew in order to be sanctified. Responsory 1 Corinihians 3: 17; 6:19-20 Do you not know that you are God's temple, and that God's spirit lives in you? - God's temple is holy, and you are that temple. You do not belong to yourselves; you were brought for a price. So use your body for the glory of God. - God's temple is holy, and you are that temple. |
Thursday, 11 March 2010
Roscrea Abbey Region Meeting
| REGIONAL MEETING OF THE REGION OF THE ISLES 1-8 March, 2010 Participants Monastery Whitland M Christine Wood Sr Jean Byrne Mount Melleray Dom Michael Ahern Fr Denis Luke O’Hanlon Mount St Bernard Dom Joseph Delargy Br David Howells Mount Caldey Dom Daniel Van Santvoort Br Luca Cestaro Glencairn M Marie Fahy Sr Michelle Miller Mellifont Dom Augustine McGregor Br Joseph Ryan Nunraw Dom Mark Caira Br Philip Bell Bolton Dom Peter Garvey Br Brian O’Dowd Tautra M Rosemary Durcan Sr Hanne-Maria Berentzen Invited Guests Diepenveen Dom Alberic Bruschke Munkeby Fr Joël Regnard Generalate M. Regina Nebo Bernardines d’Esquermes Hyning Sr Josephine-Mary Miller Brownshill Sr Elizabeth Mary Mann Secretary Sr Sheryl Frances Chen (Tautra) |
COMMENTFrom: William J . . .
To: Fr Donald . . .
Sent: Wed, March 10, 2010 7:05:41 PM
Subject: Re: [Blog] homily / photos / petition 21,500+ !
Goodness, Fr. Nivard and yourself do look cold in that photo, and I can see the snow still lying. Whit Castle is very bleak!
The turret staircase (I wonder if your room was in the old tower?) recalls for me my silent tread as I rose for Vigils and tiptoed down to the hall, before setting out into the darkness for the Night Office.
Snowdrops - the spirit of Lent, white, pure, strong - a lovely corner to greet one on the drive!
What a long winter you are experiencing.
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
Photo COMMENT
----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Anne Marie
To: Donald
Sent: Tue, March 9, 2010 11:50:35 PM
Subject: RE: 20,000 signatures
Very interesting angles on the architecture?
The family photo shows rather a mottley crew.
All in all I think your photos are taking on a much more artistic flavour.
I am going to an Outward Bound Centre in Loch Eil with the pupils for 3 days.
There is the opportunity for some fantastic photos- so no doubt I will bombard you
with some water, mountains and a few sunsets...........Happy Days.
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Moses NT 80 mentions
Homily by F. Aelred
Moses was a key figure in the history of Salvation, mentioned over 80 times in the New Testament. His entire life was shaped by and given over to God who, through the Burning Bush, called him to liberate his people from slavery and to bring them to the Promised Land.
The stay of Moses shed light on his relationship with God and gives us some insight into the mystery of who God is.
In today’s First Reading we are presented with a God who is right in the midst his people’s lives.
Not a remote figure unaware of the cruel reality that afflicts them and certainly not content to let things rest as they are. God says: ‘I have seen’, ‘I have heard’, ‘I am well aware, ‘I have come down’. Through Moses we come to realise that God is a God who acts in the lives of his people and intervenes to help them in their needs.
What was it that God saw in Moses that made him the right man to lead his people from slavery to freedom? Prior to the revelation in the Burning Bush we are given three episodes in his life. He saw an Egyptian attacking an Israelite, and he intervened. He saw an Israelite attacking an Israelite, and he intervened. He saw Midianite shepherds preventing Jethro’s daughters from watering their flocks, and he intervened.
All these incidents show us that Moses was the kind of man who couldn’t stand idly when he saw as injustice or a crime happening. We can understand then why God chose him to lead his people from slavery to freedom.
As Moses approached the Burning Bush he was told: ‘the place on which you stand is holy ground’. What was it that made that particular piece of scrubland holy? It was the presence of God. But let us not forget that God is everywhere, and we could say the holiest ground of all is within us.
First of all the body is holy. Our body is the work of God.
But the holiest ground of all is that of the heart. It’s from the heart all our thoughts, words, and deeds flow like water from a hidden spring.
If the spring is clean, then all that flows from it will be clean. So we must try above all to keep the heart clean and pure. It is especially on this holy ground that we will see and meet God. In the words of Jesus: ‘Blessed are the pure of heart, they will see God’.
Today’s parable, from St. Luke, has been called ‘the parable of the second chance’ because it teaches that God offers people a second chance, as the apostles Peter and Paul could testify. The gardener tells the owner of the vineyard that it is necessary to give the fig tree another chance to bear fruit. With nourishment and care something may come from the life of the tree.
When Jesus tells us to repent he doesn’t mean that we should be walking around beating ourselves in public. In the NT the word translated as repentance is the Greek word metanoia. The word means a change of mind and change on conduct. Lent is an opportunity to new beginnings for ourselves, and perhaps we should take the opportunity to give one a second chance.
Saint John Ogilvie
Saint John Ogilvie
St John Ogilvie, Priest and Martyr, SJ (Memorial)
John Ogilvie, the son of a wealthy laird, Walter Ogilvie, was born into a respected Calvinist family at Drum-na-Keith in Banffshire, Scotland, in 1579. As a youth he studied on the continent at a number of Catholic institutions – under the Benedictines at Regensburg, Germany, and with the Jesuits at Olomouc and Brno (in the present-day Czech Republic). Perhaps under the influence of his teachers, he decided to become a Catholic and was received into the Church at the Scots College in Louvain, Belgium, in 1596 at the age of 17 by Fr Cornelius a Lapide. In 1599 he joined the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and was ordained priest in Paris in 1610.
Following his ordination he begged to be sent back to his native Scotland in order to minister to the small number of remaining Catholics in the Glasgow area. After the Scottish reformation in 1560, it had become illegal to preach or, in any way, support the Catholic faith. In the meantime, John went to work in Rouen, France. Earlier, wholesale massacres of Catholics had taken place in Scotland, but by this time the hunters concentrated more on priests than on those who secretly attended Mass. Among others, the Jesuits were determined to minister to the oppressed Catholic laity. They knew that, when captured, they would be tortured for information, then hanged, drawn, and quartered.
In November 1613 John was able to return secretly to Scotland, disguised as a soldier. He began to preach secretly to the Catholics and celebrate the Eucharist in private homes in Edinburgh and Glasgow. He evaded the priest hunters disguised as a soldier called Watson. But his ministry was only to last 11 months. On 4 October 1614, he was betrayed by a false friend, arrested in Glasgow and imprisoned in Paisley. He was subjected to interrogations and dreadful tortures, including being kept awake for eight consecutive days and nights in an effort to make him reveal the identities of other Catholics. He was brought to trial on 10 March 1615, accused of denying the king’s supremacy in religious matters and convicted on the same day of high treason. He was paraded through the streets of Glasgow and hanged at Glasgow Cross. He was 36 years of age.
His last words were, “If there be here any hidden Catholics, let them pray for me but the prayers of heretics I will not have.” After being pushed from the ladder, he threw his hidden rosary beads into the crowd. It is said that they were caught by someone supporting his execution who, as a result, was converted to the Catholic faith. After his execution, Ogilvie’s followers were rounded up and put in prison. They were given heavy fines but none of them was executed. John was buried in a felon’s grave to the north of Glasgow Cathedral.
John Ogilvie was beatified as a martyr of the Counter-Reformation by Pope Pius XI in 1929 and canonised by Pope Paul VI in 1976.
He is the Church’s only post-Reformation saint and the only officially recorded martyr from Scotland.
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