Low Sunday Divine Mercy Sunday. Canonisations

Canonisations

Looking Down: Pope Francis leads the canonisation Mass
in which John Paul II and John XXIII are declared Saints

Sunday, 27 April 2014

Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday) - Year A

Feast of the Church : Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday) - Year C

Sunday, 27 April 2014 Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday) - Year C

**********  Divine Mercy Sunday  Homily of His Holiness John Paul II   Mass in St Peter's Square for the canonization  of Sr Mary Faustina Kowalska Sunday, 30 April 2000 1. "Confitemini Domino quoniam bonus, quoniam in saeculum misericordia eius"; "Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his steadfast love endures for ever" (Ps 118: 1). So the Church sings on the Octave of Easter, as if receiving from Christ's lips these words of the Psalm; from the lips of the risen Christ, who bears the great message of divine mercy and entrusts its ministry to the Apostles in the Upper Room:  "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.... Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained" (Jn 20: 21-23).  Crowds gather in God's Mercy sanctuary in Krakow, Poland, to view the ceremony of canonisation. Vatican 27 April 2014 Before speaking these words, Jesus shows his hands and his side. He points, that is, to the wounds of the Passion, especially the wound in his heart, the source from which flows the great wave of mercy poured out on humanity. From that heart Sr Faustina Kowalska, the blessed whom from now on we will call a saint, will see two rays of light shining from that heart and illuminating the world:  "The two rays", Jesus himself explained to her one day, "represent blood and water" (Diary, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, p. 132). 2. Blood and water! We immediately think of the testimony given by the Evangelist John, who, when a solider on Calvary pierced Christ's side with his spear, sees blood and water flowing from it (cf. Jn 19: 34). Moreover, if the blood recalls the sacrifice of the Cross and the gift of the Eucharist, the water, in Johannine symbolism, represents not only Baptism but also the gift of the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn 3: 5; 4: 14; 7: 37-39). Divine Mercy reaches human beings through the heart of Christ crucified:  "My daughter, say that I am love and mercy personified", Jesus will ask Sr Faustina (Diary, p. 374). Christ pours out this mercy on humanity though the sending of the Spirit who, in the Trinity, is the Person-Love. And is not mercy love's "second name" (cf. Dives in misericordia, n. 7), understood in its deepest and most tender aspect, in its ability to take upon itself the burden of any need and, especially, in its immense capacity for forgiveness? Today my joy is truly great in presenting the life and witness of Sr Faustina Kowalska to the whole Church as a gift of God for our time. By divine Providence, the life of this humble daughter of Poland was completely linked with the history of the 20th century, the century we have just left behind. In fact, it was between the First and Second World Wars that Christ entrusted his message of mercy to her. Those who remember, who were witnesses and participants in the events of those years and the horrible sufferings they caused for millions of people, know well how necessary was the message of mercy.   Canonisation: A woman holds up a a picture of Pope John Paul II Jesus told Sr Faustina:  "Humanity will not find peace until it turns trustfully to divine mercy" (Diary, p. 132). Through the work of the Polish religious, this message has become linked for ever to the 20th century, the last of the second millennium and the bridge to the third. It is not a new message but can be considered a gift of special enlightenment that helps us to relive the Gospel of Easter more intensely, to offer it as a ray of light to the men and women of our time. 3. What will the years ahead bring us? What will man's future on earth be like? We are not given to know. However, it is certain that in addition to new progress there will unfortunately be no lack of painful experiences. But the light of divine mercy, which the Lord in a way wished to return to the world through Sr Faustina's charism, will illumine the way for the men and women of the third millennium. However, as the Apostles once did, today too humanity must welcome into the upper room of history the risen Christ, who shows the wounds of his Crucifixion and repeats:  Peace be with you! Humanity must let itself be touched and pervaded by the Spirit given to it by the risen Christ. It is the Spirit who heals the wounds of the heart, pulls down the barriers that separate us from God and divide us from one another, and at the same time, restores the joy of the Father's love and of fraternal unity. Pope Francis touches the statue of Virgin Mary as he arrives for the canonisation ceremony of Popes John XXIII and John Paul II Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2614241/One-million-people-Vatican-Francis-Benedict-XVI-canonise-John-XXIII-John-Paul-II.html#ixzz305YQLAgx Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook   4. It is important then that we accept the whole message that comes to us from the word of God on this Second Sunday of Easter, which from now on throughout the Church will be called "Divine Mercy Sunday". In the various readings, the liturgy seems to indicate the path of mercy which, while re-establishing the relationship of each person with God, also creates new relations of fraternal solidarity among human beings. Christ has taught us that "man not only receives and experiences the mercy of God, but is also called "to practise mercy' towards others:  "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy' (Mt 5: 7)" (Dives et misericordia, n. 14). He also showed us the many paths of mercy, which not only forgives sins but reaches out to all human needs. Jesus bent over every kind of human poverty, material and spiritual. His message of mercy continues to reach us through his hands held out to suffering man. This is how Sr Faustina saw him and proclaimed him to people on all the continents when, hidden in her convent at £agiewniki in Kraków, she made her life a hymn to mercy:  Misericordias Domini in aeternum cantabo. 5. Sr Faustina's canonization has a particular eloquence:  by this act I intend today to pass this message on to the new millennium. I pass it on to all people, so that they will learn to know ever better the true face of God and the true face of their brethren. In fact, love of God and love of one's brothers and sisters are inseparable, as the First Letter of John has reminded us:  "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments" (5: 2). Here the Apostle reminds us of the truth of love, showing us its measure and criterion in the observance of the commandments. It is not easy to love with a deep love, which lies in the authentic gift of self. This love can only be learned by penetrating the mystery of God's love. Looking at him, being one with his fatherly heart, we are able to look with new eyes at our brothers and sisters, with an attitude of unselfishness and solidarity, of generosity and forgiveness. All this is mercy! To the extent that humanity penetrates the mystery of this merciful gaze, it will seem possible to fulfil the ideal we heard in today's first reading:  "The community of believers were of one heart and one mind. None of them ever claimed anything as his own; rather everything was held in common" (Acts 4: 32). Here mercy gave form to human relations and community life; it constituted the basis for the sharing of goods. This led to the spiritual and corporal "works of mercy". Here mercy became a concrete way of being "neighbour" to one's neediest brothers and sisters. 6. Sr Faustina Kowalska wrote in her Diary:  "I feel tremendous pain when I see the sufferings of my neighbours. All my neighbours' sufferings reverberate in my own heart; I carry their anguish in my heart in such a way that it even physically destroys me. I would like all their sorrows to fall upon me, in order to relieve my neighbour" (Diary, p. 365). This is the degree of compassion to which love leads, when it takes the love of God as its measure! It is this love which must inspire humanity today, if it is to face the crisis of the meaning of life, the challenges of the most diverse needs and, especially, the duty to defend the dignity of every human person. Thus the message of divine mercy is also implicitly a message about the value of every human being. Each person is precious in God's eyes; Christ gave his life for each one; to everyone the Father gives his Spirit and offers intimacy. 7. This consoling message is addressed above all to those who, afflicted by a particularly harsh trial or crushed by the weight of the sins they committed, have lost all confidence in life and are tempted to give in to despair. To them the gentle face of Christ is offered; those rays from his heart touch them and shine upon them, warm them, show them the way and fill them with hope. How many souls have been consoled by the prayer "Jesus, I trust in you", which Providence intimated through Sr Faustina! This simple act of abandonment to Jesus dispels the thickest clouds and lets a ray of light penetrate every life. Jezu, ufam tobie.   Divine Mercy Saint  Faustina.  http://www.divinemercysunday.com/ f 8. Misericordias Domini in aeternum cantabo (Ps 88 [89]: 2). Let us too, the pilgrim Church, join our voice to the voice of Mary most holy, "Mother of Mercy", to the voice of this new saint who sings of mercy with all God's friends in the heavenly Jerusalem. And you, Faustina, a gift of God to our time, a gift from the land of Poland to the whole Church, obtain for us an awareness of the depth of divine mercy; help us to have a living experience of it and to bear witness to it among our brothers and sisters. May your message of light and hope spread throughout the world, spurring sinners to conversion, calming rivalries and hatred and opening individuals and nations to the practice of brotherhood. Today, fixing our gaze with you on the face of the risen Christ, let us make our own your prayer of trusting abandonment and say with firm hope:    Christ Jesus, I trust in you! Jezu, ufam tobie! - Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana Blessed John Paul II – the Pope of Divine Mercy Posted on April 30, 2011 by mmvc As we celebrate the Feast of Divine Mercy and the Beatification of Pope John Paul II, let us consider how these important events in the life of the Church are so closely and beautifully linked.

Friday in the Octave of Easter

DUCCIO_di_Buoninsegna_
Appearance_on_Lake_Tiberias

Fw; It is the Lord.    

            

On Thursday, 24 April 2014, 

Fr. Nivard ...> wrote:

Readings & Med. Adapted 

1 Easter Friday , Jn: 20: 1-14  

   Skeptics say the disciples only saw a vision of Jesus. The Gospels, however, give us a vivid picture of the reality of the resurrection.

 Jesus offered his disciples various proofs of his resurrection. He is real and true flesh, not just a spirit or ghost.

   Jesus prepared breakfast and ate with them. Peter's prompt, “It is the Lord!”,  stands in sharp contrast to his previous denial of his Master.

   The Lord Jesus reveals himself to each of us as we open our hearts to hear his word.

Father, Increase our faith in the power of your Son’s resurrection and in the truth that Jesus is truly alive, through Christ our Lord.

The Risen Jesus and His Mother- Posted on: 29 Dec 2011 | Author: Jack Mahoney SJ

COMMENT: 
Access to the article of Fr. Jack Mahoney was rather elusive in the Websites.
Even the Footnote references add to the trail ... 

... IN the Fairford window, the forefront shows the risen Christ with his wounds and, traditionally, holding a tiny cross, to show that he had overcome it, with his hand raised to indicate he is speaking. Looking at him in wonder is his mother, an elderly, frail figure robed in traditional blue and joining her hands in awe. Behind her one can identify what appear to be the entrance to a bedroom with a glimpse of the bed, and a space which could be an oratory with a lectern and book facing the window.

What I find fascinating in the window is the scroll which comes from the mouth of the risen Christ containing the salutation, Salve, Sancta parens – ‘Hail, holy mother’. These words, which open the traditional Introit verse of the Common Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary, put beyond any possible doubt the fact that Jesus is here appearing to his mother, despite the silence on this in the gospels (and Ignatius tells us to use our common sense here[17]). In addition, the greeting of the risen Jesus in Fairford, ‘Salve, sancta parens’, actually repeats the one in the Jerusalem church as recorded by the chaplain to Sir Richard Guylforde, mentioned above. Is it fanciful to conjecture that our wealthy Cotswold wool merchant who endowed the splendid Fairford church brought back the scene and this detail from his own pilgrimage to Jerusalem, even a pilgrimage possibly imposed as part of his penance for the remission of his sins? 

The Risen Jesus and His Mother

Posted on: 29 Dec 2011 at 00:00  |

Author: Jack Mahoney SJ

Stained glass window in the parish church of Saint Mary, Fairford, Gloucestershire

The Risen Jesus Stained glass window in the parish church of Saint Mary Fairford, Gloucestershire

The Church’s celebration of Christmas continues with the Feast of the Holy Family, which this year falls on 30 December. Jack Mahoney marks the occasion by contemplating the relationship between Jesus and his mother as it is expressed in an intriguing yet non-biblical tradition, a tradition which also has an important place in the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius. Might Our Lady have been the first person to see Christ after his resurrection? 

Some weeks ago I was in the Cotswolds attending the funeral of an old friend and as I was driving back to London I decided to call in at Fairford, a lovely village in Gloucestershire which has a famous fifteenth-century church. As well as being a fine, late Perpendicular specimen of the ‘wool’ church, one built by a wealthy wool merchant to ensure his eternal salvation, the Fairford church of Saint Mary contains the finest set of original stained glass windows in England, dating from the late Middle Ages.

I had last visited it some fifty years ago as a Jesuit student and an enthusiast of pre-reformation churches, when I had been delighted to find in a heavenly orchestra which was spread across the tops of several windows the figure of an angel playing the bagpipes. As a Scot, I was so taken with this celestial sign of good taste that I wrote a letter to Fr James Moffat SJ, editor of the now defunct, Edinburgh-based Mercat Cross, drawing his readers’ attention to the heavenly piper at Fairford, although I could not refrain from adding as a comment on his music, with Keats, that, ‘heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter’!

A surprising appearance

On this return to Fairford, as I browsed around the church’s windows I was astonished to come across one showing the risen Christ appearing to his mother. This is a theme with which I am now very familiar from my experience of St Ignatius’s Spiritual Exercises, in which he makes Jesus’s appearance to his mother his first after the resurrection, but it was an event to which I certainly had not expected to find mediaeval testimony.[1] The Fairford church’s windows, like those of many other mediaeval churches, served an unlettered laity as ‘the people’s illustrated bible’, educating them in their faith, from the creation of Adam and Eve through to the threatening west ‘doom’ window of the Last Judgement. This particular window, then, showing Jesus’s appearance to his mother after his resurrection, was evidence of a well-established tradition of the event, even though it does not appear anywhere in the New Testament descriptions of the appearances of the risen Jesus. I was interested to note that this window did not appear in the Lady Chapel on the north side of the chancel, which depicted Our Lady’s life and assumption, but in the southern, Corpus Christi chapel, among the mysteries surrounding the life and death of her son. Perhaps it was given further special significance by being depicted in this church which is specifically dedicated to his mother, Saint Mary. In my usual way, I thereupon started on a quest to find the history of this discovery, which I had found so surprising. There was quite a bit of evidence to unearth, although it took some ferreting out!  

Easter Week April Daffodils "the Seven Weeks of Lent are over, Easter Week has the Seven Days of Rest - awaiting the rest of Heaven."

Dear William,

Many thanks.

Your appreciation of Maria Valtorta's POEM spot lights moments of love of Jesus and Her Mother.

The POEM, seeming long hand of the prose simply halt me to stop.

The flow is just stoppable to to pause, long pause, in the embracing presence.

How do we have to sort out prose, verse, poetry?

I keep puzzling into the mysteries of language. 

While not understanding, the spirit is enriched - inspiring!

Thank you for so entering on this glorious sounding board.

At the moment I should be taking the lesson we had from the Tuesday Night Reading, "the Seven Weeks of Lent are over, Easter Week has the Seven Days of Rest - awaiting the rest of Heaven."

God love.

fr. Donald

+ + +

Fw: Christ's appearance to Mary, and Maria Valtorta       

On Wednesday, 23 April 2014, 

William ...> wrote:

Dear Father Donald,

If I delight in following connected links in thought and in reading, how much joy you will have experienced on this trail from browsing your Chronicle > Latroun > guests > Maria Valtorta > to your own library for 'The Poem of the Man-God'. Superb!

The abiding meditation that remains with me from reading these beautiful words is, "You will never be alone. These past days you have been alone" - which had truly been the suffering of the Passion for Mary - "You will no longer be separated from Your Son". In those words, on their own, rests justification for belief in Christ's appearance to Mary His Mother. How beautifully Maria Valtorta describes their meeting!

And there are passages towards the end that fixed my attention intensely: "as real as when you carried me" on the miracle of the Sacrament; of how Mary's sorrow was 'required for My Redemption' (and of our participation, 'much is continually to be added to Redemption', explaining Col 1:24 where Paul writes of completing Christ's sufferings).

I am enthralled! A little research reveals the cautious hesitation of the Vatican authorities when presented with such mystical visions and  inspirational writings, but I have found encouragement regarding this theme presented so exquisitely by Maria Valtorta, in Pope John Paul II's audience on 'Mary was witness to whole paschal mystery' 

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/audiences/1997/documents/hf_jp-ii_aud_21051997_en.html

There is so much 'out there' to discover! Great explorers of this earth lived for their endeavours but died before they could fulfil their desire: we, on the other hand, whilst we too live for our endeavours, willingly will die in them for the fulfilment that was promised. Thus I console myself as I stand before so great a vista....

Thank you for such a treat!

...  in the Risen Lord,

William

Note:

The Risen Christ appears to His Mother

"Rejoice, my most worthy Lady Virgin Mary, that the very moment thy Son rose from the dead, He wished this to be known to thee, His most blessed Mother, because He at once appeared in person to thee, then showed to others that He was risen from the dead, who underwent death in His living body" – St Bridget of Sweden.

  The Risen Jesus and His Mother

Posted on: 29 Dec 2011 at 00:00  |

Author: Jack Mahoney SJ

http://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/20111229_1.htm#_ednref10   

The Risen Jesus Stained glass window in the parish

church of Saint Mary Fairford, Gloucestershire

Easter Thursday - Enlarging the Heart

Patristic Reading: 

Anastasius of Sinai: Cross, Resurrection and GlorificationThursday, Apr 24 2014 

Anastasius of Sinai and PATRISTIC Christ, Cross, deification, glorified body, glory,incarnation, paschal mystery, redemption, resurrection Mark Armitage 7:55 am

Christ, who has shown by his words and actions that he was truly God and Lord of the universe, said to his disciples as he was about to go up to Jerusalem:

We are going up to Jerusalem now, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the Gentiles and the chief priests and scribes to be scourged and mocked and crucified.

These words bore out the predictions of the prophets, who had foretold the death he was to die in Jerusalem.

From the beginning holy Scripture had foretold Christ’s death, the sufferings that would precede it, and what would happen to his body afterward.

Scripture also affirmed that these things were going to happen to one who was immortal and incapable of suffering because he was God.

Only by reflecting upon the meaning of the incarnation can we see how it is possible to say with perfect truth both that Christ suffered and that he was incapable of suffering, came to suffer.

In fact, man could have been saved in no other way, as Christ alone knew and those to whom he revealed it.

For he knows all the secrets of the Father, even as the Spirit penetrates the depths of all mysteries.

It was necessary for Christ to suffer: his passion was absolutely unavoidable.

He said so himself when he called his companions dull and slow to believe because they failed to recognise that he had to suffer and so enter into his glory.

Leaving behind him the glory that had been his with the Father before the world was made, he had gone forth to save his people.

This salvation, however, could be achieved only by the suffering of the author of our life, as Paul taught when he said that the author of life himself was made perfect through suffering.

Because of us he was deprived of his glory for a little while, the glory that was his as the Father’s only-begotten Son.

But through the cross this glory is seen to have been restored to him in a certain way in the body that he had assumed.

Explaining what water the Saviour referred to when he said: He that has faith in me shall have rivers of living water flowing from within him, John says in his gospel that he was speaking of the Holy Spirit which those who believed in him were to receive.

For the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

The glorification he meant was his death upon the cross for which the Lord prayed to the Father before undergoing his passion, asking his Father to give him the glory that he had in his presence before the world began.

Anastasius of Sinai (7^th Century): Homily 4:1-2, PG 89. 1347-1349 @Crossroads Initiative.  

http://www.networkedblogs.com/blog/enlarging_the_heart?ahash=165ec1006277c8ef710b78526b478b8b  

Jesus first appears to His Mother, Mary. by Maria Valtorta

William Wardle 22 April Easter Tuesday

Dear Father Donald,

With delight and fascination, I have located the online text of the apocryphal Gospel of Gamaliel:-

http://www.scribd.com/doc/27844349/The-gospel-of-Gamaliel

I will now enjoy studying its scope and learning of its history and place in the traditions of the Church.

The things you uncover...!

In the love of the Lord,

William.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Thank you, William.

It is great that have already found 'The Gospel of Gameliel'.

Your quote is prompting for more insights.

I have been diverted, and came back to the theme, "JESUS APPEARS TO HIS MOTHER". .

 BUT; lo behold, the wheels are churning some connections from the Holy Land Chronicle.

At Latroun Abbey, a couple at the Guesthouse, from Australia, were enthusing about Maria Valtorta. On their pilgrimage they were following faithfully the pathway of Christ, "Te Poem of the Man-God", 5 Vols.

After Vespers, I got to the shelves and without too much searching , found the references. The first paragraph caused me to gasp for the beauty. enough for the moment or to set me to pass to you on the trail. 
Much to amazement, there is the Online narrative "JESUS APPEARS TO HIS MOTHER".   See below.
Yours ...
fr.Donald

P.S.                             THE POEM OF THE MAN-GOD

(consisting of seven parts in five volumes)

The Hidden Life

The first year of the Public Life

The Second year of the Public Life

Thethird year of th Public Life

Preparation for the Passion

The Glorification

Jesus first appears to His Mother, Mary.    Excerpted from POEM OF THE MAN-GOD, Volume 5, pages 701-704.
Mary is prostrated with Her face on the floor.  She looks like a poor wretch.  She looks like that withered flower of which She has spoken.       The closed window is opened with a violent banging of the heavy shutters, and with the first ray of the sun, Jesus enters.      Mary, Who has been shaken by the noise and has raised Her head to see which wind has opened the shutters, sees Her radiant Son: handsome, infinitely more handsome than He was before suffering, smiling, lively, brighter than the sun, dressed in a white garment that seems woven light, and Who is advancing towards Her.      She straightens Herself up on Her knees and crossing Her hands on Her breast, she says with a sob that is joy and grief: "Lord, My God."  And She remains thus, enraptured in contemplating Him, with Her face all washed by tears, but made serene, pacified by His smile and by the ecstasy.      But He does not want to see His Mother on Her knees, like a servant.  And He calls Her, stretching out His hands, from the wounds of which emanate rays that make His glorious Flesh even brighter: "Mother!"  But it is not the sorrowful word of the conversations and the farewells before His Passion, or the heart-rending lament of the meeting on Calvary and of the agony.  It is a cry of triumph, of joy, of freedom, of rejoicing, of love, of gratitude.  And He bends over His Mother, Who dare not touch Him, and He places His hands under Her bent elbows, and He lifts Her up, He presses her to His Heart and kisses Her.      Oh! Mary realises then that it is not a vision, that it is Her Son Who has really risen, that it is Her Jesus, the Son Who still loves Her as a Son.  And with a cry, She flings Her arms round His neck, and She embraces and kisses Him, laughing in Her weeping.  She kisses His Forehead, where there are no longer any wounds, His Head no longer unkempt and bloody, His shining Eyes, His healed Cheeks, His Mouth no longer swollen.  She then takes His Hands and kisses their backs and palms, their radiant wounds, and She suddenly bends down to His Feet and uncovers them from under His bright garment and kisses them.  Then She stands up, looks at Him, but dare not.      But He smiles and understands.  He uncovers His chest a little and says: "And this one, Mother, are You not kissing it, this one that grieved You so much and that You alone are worthy to kiss?   Kiss My Heart, Mother.  Your kiss will cancel the last remembrance of what is sorrowful and will give Me that joy, which My Joy of having risen from the dead still lacks."   And He takes the face of His Mother in His Hands and He lays Her lips on the lips of the wound of His Chest, from which streams of a very bright light are flowing.       Mary's face is haloed by that light, flooded as it is with its beams.  She kisses and kisses, while Jesus caresses Her.  She never tires kissing.  She looks like a thirsty woman whose mouth is attached to a fountain and who drinks from it the life that was escaping her.      Jesus speaks now.
"It is all over, Mother.  You no longer have to weep over Your Son.  The trial is over.  Redemption has taken place.       Mother, thanks for conceiving Me, for bringing Me up, for helping Me in life and in death.      I heard Your prayers come to Me.  They have been My strength in My grief, My companions in My journey on the Earth and beyond the Earth.  They came with Me on the Cross and to Limbo.  They were the incense that preceded the Pontiff, Who was going to call His servants and take them to the temple that does not die: to My Heaven.  They have come with Me to Paradise, preceding, like an angelical voice, the procession of the redeemed led by the Redeemer, so that the angels should be ready to greet the Conqueror, Who was returning to His Kingdom.  They have been seen and heard by the Father and the Spirit, Who smiled at them, as if they were the most beautiful flower and the sweetest song born in Paradise.  They have been recognised by the Patriarchs and by the new Saints. by the new, first, citizens of My Jerusalem, and I bring You their thanks, Mother, together with the kisses of their relatives, with their blessings and with that of Joseph, the spouse of Your soul.      The whole of Heaven sings it hosanna to You, Mother, Holy Mother!  A hosanna that does not die, that is not a false one like the one given to Me a few days ago.      I will now go to the Father in My human appearance.  Paradise must see the Conqueror in His appearance of Man, by means of which He defeated the Sin of Man.  But I will come again.  I must confirm in the Faith those who do not yet believe and are in need to believe to lead the others to believe, I must fortify the pusillanimous ones who will need so much strength to resist the world.      Then I will ascend to Heaven.  But I will not leave You alone.  Mother, can You see that veil?  In My annihilation, I still exhaled the power of miracle on Your behalf, to give You that comfort.  But for You I will work another miracle.  You will have Me, in the Sacrament, as real as when You carried Me.      You will never be alone.  But these past days You have been alone.  But also that sorrow of Yours was required for My Redemption.  Much is continously to be added to Redemption, because much will be continously created in the way of Sin.  I will call all My servants to this redeeming participation.  You are the one who by Yourself will do more than all the others together.  But also this long abandonment was required.      Now no longer so.  I am no longer separated from the Father.  You will no longer be separated from Your Son.  And, by having Your Son, You have our Trinity.  A living Heaven, You will bring the Trinity to men on the Earth, and You will sanctify the Church, Queen of the Priesthood and Mother of the Christians.      Then I will come to get You.  And no longer shall I be in You, but You will be in Me, in My Kingdom, to make Paradise more beautiful.      I am going now, Mother, I am going to make the other Mary happy.  Then I will ascend to the Father.  Thence I will come to those who do not believe.  Mother, Your kiss as a blessing.  And My Peace to You as a companion.  Goodbye."      And Jesus disappears in the sunshine that streams down from the clear early morning sky. The Risen Christ Appears to His Mother Mary                   Guercino Written by Maria Valtorta, February 21, 1944. http://valtorta.org/ Copyright 1990 by Centro Editoriale Valtortiano, srl, Isola del Liri, Italy.  All rights reserved in all countries.

Glencairn Abbey - RTE player

Cistercians,

A year in the life of the inhabitants of St Mary's Abbey, Glencairn, Co Waterford, which is Ireland's only women's Cistercian Monastery.

http://www.rte.ie/player/gb/show/10275320/ 

 

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Would You Believe? Special: ... 

Fw: St. Mary's Abbey Glencairn News         

On Saturday, 12 April 2014, 

Andy ...> wrote:

Hi Donald,...

I presume that you get a copy of this newsletter sent to you - but in case you don't I thought I should copy it to you.

I have managed to download the RTE in player and will be able to view this programme. 

 Hope you can.

God bless

Andy

On Friday, 11 April 2014, 

St Mary's Abbey Glencairn - News <www.frequency.ie@gmail.com> wrote:

St Mary's Abbey Glencairn News

Would You Believe? Documentary Special on Glencairn Abbey Posted: 10 Apr 2014 07:12 AM PDT This Easter Sunday RTÉ’s Would You Believe? School of Love goes behind the scenes into Ireland’s only women’s Cistercian Monastery.  For the past year, RTE’s Would You Believe? team have been given special access to monastic life at Glencairn in order to produce this one hour special documentary to be broadcast on Easter Sunday.  With unique footage of the early steps and special moments in the monastic journey of Dublin woman Angela Finegan and other members, together with interviews with some of the professed sisters of the community against the backdrop of the seasonal changes of the Abbey’s beautiful natural surroundings, School of Love gives unprecedented television coverage of contemporary Cistercian life for women at St Mary’s Abbey, Glencairn. We hope that viewers will enjoy this opportunity to gain insights into a life that brings us such joy and challenge, as we Cistercians endeavour to learn, in this School of Love, the paths of the Lord together as a monastic community.  RTE Press Release: On Easter Sunday, in School of Love, RTÉ’s Would You Believe? spends a year behind the scenes in Ireland’s only women’s Cistercian Monastery. Nestled in the lush valley of the Blackwater, in Co Waterford, the nuns of St Mary’s Abbey, Glencairn, dedicate themselves to a way of life first laid down by St Benedict in the 6th Century. It is a life of silence, solitude and prayer. Each day of their monastic life, they rise at 3.45am and gather to sing the Lord’s praises and to keep vigil with all those who wake during the night in fear, or sadness or pain. It is the first of seven prayer ceremonies which end after sunset and Sr Fiachra, a former horticulturalist, says of the early start, ‘it is in the darkest hour of the night, at 4am, that people wake and worry about their troubles. So, that’s why I’m on my feet praying for all the people that are suffering, whatever it is that they are suffering, so that they will feel God s presence and comfort in that trauma.’ Sr Sarah, Director of Vocations, is in charge of promoting vocations. She also runs the Abbey’s website and organises regular ‘Monastic Experience Weekends.’ They are well attended and have led to a number of new postulants. One Dublin woman, Angela, an IT specialist with qualifications in science and social work, came for a weekend, stayed and is now thinking of taking her vows and joining the order. The film follows her journey throughout the year as she faces a life-changing decision. It would be a unique television experience to witness a postulant receiving the veil in a ‘Monastic Initiation Ceremony,’ but that is the choice that Angela will make during the course of the documentary. St Mary’s Abbey is a busy and happy place. The nuns work as a community, surviving by their own labour and running a number of businesses: Communion host production, greetings card printing, farming and cleaning, maintaining and restoring their large and demanding collection of buildings. They possess a wide range of skills and are hugely self-sufficient. Most of all, though, they are a happy and caring community. They live a monastic life in a monastery which, in St Bernard’s phrase, is a ‘school of love’. The women, who include a former Central Banker, an IT specialist, a radio producer, a farmer and a midwife, are committed to a way of life that is counter-cultural in the contemporary world. And yet, they believe their chosen life is the best contribution they can make to that world. Join us for a unique insight into their challenging, but uplifting, way of life. You can watch this programme on RTE 1 on Easter Sunday, 20th April 2014 at 10:30pm.  You can also watch Would You Believe?  School of Love online at: http://www.rte.ie/player/ie/ Photo: RTE’s Would You Believe? Camera-woman Úna Farrelly filming the sisters in choir

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 RTE News 

Fw: from Anne Marie    

On Monday, 21 April 2014, 8

Anne Marie ...> wrote:

This is the link to the programme about Glencairn.

http://www.rte.ie/player/gb/live/7/

We were able to watch this on the IPad with an app for watching the Irish television.
I presume someone would have recorded it for you but if you know someone nearby with an IPad asked them to come and visit so that you can watch it.
They need to download the RTE app they would find it on the App Store or just google it.
and they would find it.
Without the App you cannot see it.
It is a lovely programme.

Anne Marie

Easter Tuesday Saint John 20:11-18. Mary Magdalene stayed outside the tomb...

COMMENT:  

Easter Tuesday 2014. 

The ‘Daily Gospel’, for this day, happens to introduce again with St. Gregory Palamas.

This Reference is also very useful.

A question remains about the Apocryphal Gospel of Gamaliel ... ?

Saint John 20:11-18.

Mary Magdalene stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb...

Commentary of the day : 

Saint Gregory Palamas (1296-1359), monk, Bishop and theologian 

Homily 20, on the eight morning gospels according to Saint John ; PG 151, 265 

"Go to my brothers"

Outside darkness still reigned; it was not yet day; yet that cave was full of the light of the resurrection. Mary saw this light through God's grace: her love for Christ had been quickened and she had the strength to see the angels... Then they said to her: “Woman, why are you weeping? What you are seeing in this cave is heaven, or rather a heavenly temple in place of a tomb dug out to be a prison... Why are you weeping?”... 

Outside, day is still unclear and the Lord does not make that divine brightness appear which would have made him known at the heart of suffering. So Mary did not recognize him... When he spoke and allowed himself to be recognized..., even then, as she saw him alive, she had no idea of his divine greatness but addressed him as a mere man of God... In the upsurge of her heart she now wants to throw her arms round his knees, to touch his feet. But he said to her: “Do not touch me... for the body with which I am now clothed is lighter and more mobile than fire; it is able to rise up to heaven and even to my Father's side in the heights of heaven. I have not yet risen to my Father because I have not as yet shown myself to my disciples. Go and find them; they are my brothers for we are all children of one Father” (cf. Gal 3,26)... 

The church in which we stand is the symbol of that cave. Indeed, it is more than a symbol: it is, as it were, another Sepulchre. It is there we find the place where the Lord's body has been laid, the holy table. So whoever runs with all their heart towards this divine tomb, God's true dwelling... will there learn the words of the inspired writings that will instruct him, like the angels, about the divinity and humanity of the Word of God incarnate. And thus he will see the Lord himself, without any possibility of error... For whoever looks with faith on the mystic table and the bread of life laid on it will see in its reality the Word of God who was made flesh for us and made his dwelling amongst us (Jn 1,14). And if he proves himself worthy of receiving it, he will not only see but will share in its being; he will take it into himself that he may remain there.

Easter Monday. Office Sext 11.45 a.m.

COMMENTS: 

Sr. Mary, 
in Poland, is talking of the MEDITATION of St. Gregory Palamas 
from her copy of the MAGNIFICAT.com.

Fw: from Anne Marie    

On Monday, 21 April 2014, 

Anne Marie ...> wrote:

Happy Easter.  

The photos are great.  

You are building up a great photographic record of the life of the Abbey.

Anne Marie.
sent by iPad

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Fw: [Blog The Easter Proclamation.

On Monday, 21 April 2014, William ...> wrote:

Dear Father Donald,

What a delight to share across the miles in your Easter Proclamation, wonderfully atmospheric photographs, so symbolic, bringing the Light of Life into the dead of night.

How perfect the cloisters for the candlelit procession!

Thank you Father.

... in the Risen Lord,

William