Pentecost. The Divine Office and The Holy Spirit 8 June 2014

Readings for the Season 

Friday of the seventh week of Easter

The Divine Office and The Holy Spirit

J. D. Crichton

On the assumption that the Divine Office becomes in a future, near or far, the prayer of a great number of ordinary people, it will be seen that this is a kairos, a privileged moment for the reception of the Spirit. St Benedict, who in the sixth century provided the office for all monastic families of the West, was perfectly well aware of this.

Prayer, he says, should be pure and short 'unless it chance to be prolonged by the impulse and inspiration of divine grace', that is by the Holy Spirit. He thought of the calm and orderly celebration of the prayer as a quietening of the mind and the senses so that the monk could hear the voice of God in the psalms and in the readings and the Holy Spirit could make his presence known. That the revised office makes this possible can hardly be doubted.

The antiphon may be followed by a silence or there may be one at the end of the psalm before the psalm-collect, if it is used. Silence is recommended after the readings in morning or evening prayer and, of course, may be prolonged if the community so desires. But perhaps it is the intercessions that offer the most favourable opportunity for unstructured prayer when the official prayers have been said. There is no reason why the prayers of members of the community should not be uttered aloud.

This may not suit all communities but where 'charisrnatics' gather it would seem right that at least the first part of their prayer is structured and room left at this point for unstructured prayer. The community will have prayed the psalms 'in the Spirit', they will have listened to the reading by which the Holy Spirit is communicated to them, and they will be prepared to respond to the move­ment of the Spirit. They will, in the words of St Paul, be praying 'not only with the spirit but with the mind as well' (which he considered necessary) and the final result will be that the two forms of prayer, the liturgical and the charismatic, will be combined.

From; The Glenstall Book of Readings,  The Once and the Future Liturgy,Veritas, Dublin, J977. Used by kind permission of the publisher.   

Mgr James Crichton - Liturgy Institute

liturgyinstitute.org/mgr-james-crichton/  

There is some biographical material published on Mgr Crichton,. “Anamnesis” ... J.D. Crichton's Significance for PastoralLiturgy in England,. was defended by Fr ...

http://liturgyinstitute.org/

St. Robert of Newminster, Morpeth - the Update

NEWS: Instant coverage of the event - 

by kind permission of Fr. Lawrence. 

St Robert of Newminster Feast Day

Posted on June 7, 2014 by Fr Lawrence

The Icon arrives on the afternoon of Friday 6th June. Cath Ferguson, the Iconographer, together with her husband, Chas, is assisted by Jacob Conroy (who made the easel  to hold the icon)  as the Icon is prepared to be lifted into place:                                                                  Pictures from St Robert’s   Day. We were delighted to have Dom Mark Caira OCSO, Abbot of Nunraw Abbey in Scotland to bless the Icon. Nunraw is part of the Cistercian Order to which St Robert belonged. Nunraw is the nearest Cistercian abbey to   Morpeth.               Here we have the Abbot with Fr Jim  Doherty, 

 Fr Lawrence Jones and Deacon Chas Ferguson, the husband of Cath who wrote (painted) the Icon.

Posted in First Communications | Leave a comment

St Robert of Newminster Newsletter 1st June 2014 and the Season of Joy continues..

St. Robert of Newminster, Morpeth

Church Details:

Address
St. Robert of Newminster
Oldgate
Morpeth
Northumberland
NE61 1QF

Telephone 
(01670) 513410

Fr Lawrence Jones

In Residence (Retired): Fr James Doherty( Retired)

ST. ROBERT OF NEWMINSTER, Cistercian

COMMENT:

Abbot Mark ocso

  
Saints Cistercian
Abbot Mark, (Nunraw Abbey), is on his way at the celebration of the St. Robert of Newminster annual pilgrimage.
 The Abbot has been invited by the Parish Priest to participate and bless the painting.
We look forward to the Diocesan Newspaper, Northern Cross, covering the happy event.

Saturday, 07 June 2014

ST. ROBERT OF NEWMINSTER(12th century)          In 1132 Robert was a monk at Whitby, England, when news arrived that thirteen religious had been violently expelled from the Abbey of St. Mary, in York, for having proposed to restore the strict Benedictine rule. He at once set out to join them and found them on the banks of the Skeld, near Ripon, living in the midst of winter in a hut made of hurdles and roofed with turf. In the spring they affiliated themselves to St. Bernard's reform at Clairvaux, and for two years struggled on in extreme poverty. At length the fame of their sanctity brought another novice, Hugh, Dean of York, who endowed the community with all his wealth, and thus laid the foundation of Fountains Abbey. In 1137 Raynulph, Baron of Morpeth, was so edified by the example of the monks at Fountains that he built them a monastery in Northumberland, called Newminster, of which St. Robert became abbot.         The holiness of his lif e, even more than his words, guided his brethren to perfection and within the next ten years, three new communities went forth from this one house to become centers of holiness in other parts. The abstinence of St. Robert in refectory alone sufficed to maintain the mortified spirit of the community. One Easter Day, his stomach, weakened by the fast of Lent, could take no food, and he at last consented to try to eat some bread sweetened with honey. Before it was brought, he felt this relaxation would be a dangerous example for his subjects, and sent the food untouched to the poor at the gate. The plate was received by a young man of shining countenance, who straightway disappeared. At the next meal the plate descended empty, and by itself, to the abbot's place in the refectory, proving that what the Saint sacrificed for his brethren had been accepted by Christ.         At the moment of Robert's death, in 1159, St. Godric, the hermit of Finchale, saw his soul, like a globe of fire, borne up by the angels in a pathway of light; and as the gates of heaven opened before them, a voice repeated twice, "Enter now, my friends." Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]

May the Martyr Saint Boniface be our advocate 5th June 2014

Monk Saint Mass

Memorial of St. Boniface, bishop and martyr

Daily Readings for:June 05, 2014
(Readings on USCCB website)

Collect: May the Martyr Saint Boniface be our advocate, O Lord, that we may firmly hold the faith he taught with his lips and sealed in his blood and confidently profess it by our deeds. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

PRAYERS

• June Devotion: The Sacred Heart
• Litany of Saint Boniface

LIBRARY

• Ecclesiae Fastos (On St. Boniface) | Pope Pius XII
• In Hac Tanta (On St. Boniface) | Pope Benedict XV
• Saint Boniface, the Apostle of the Germans | Pope Benedict XVI

St. Boniface, a monk of Exeter in England, is one of the great figures of the Benedictine Order and of the monastic apostolate in the Middle Ages. Gregory II sent him to preach the Gospel in Germany. He evangelized Hesse, Saxony and Thuringia and became Archbishop of Mainz. He well earned the title of Apostle of Germany, and Catholic Germany in our own times still venerates him as its father in the faith. He was put to death by the Frisians at Dokkum in 754 during the last of his missionary journeys. The famous abbey of Fulda, where his body lies, has remained the national shrine of Catholic Germany.

Nunraw - White Castle Iron Age Hill Fort

COMMENT: 

Lammermuir Views Google reveals the delightful motorcycling in the county, '

keeping the dream alive', of the miles from Garvald to Whiteadder.

For many years we have brought guests from Nunraw Abbey to visit the hill-fort, White Castle, and going on to the smithy caravan camp and tea room. The children enjoyed at the stream of the reservoir compensation to river, and played skipping pebbles on calm water.

The pictures from the Coastkid Blogspot (friday, 27 november 2009) illustrate the gazetteer of the trip. In fact it will be be great ranging over the Lammermuir View. 

For: Nunraw Archive

We appreciate the 'keeping the dream alive. Thank you!

Lammermuir Views

friday, 27 november 2009

keeping the dream alive!

thats what my friends who i used to ride motorcycles with who dont own a motorbike this now say im doing...today i went out for a spin instead of going cycling,the roads are salt free after all the rain a few days ago,i didnt bother about winter riding and salt damage and used to kill bikes,brand new bikes ridden into the ground after 4-5 years hard use on and offroad,i cant afford a new motorbike every few years anymore so this one has to last (why i bought a bike with a yamaha XT600 motor)..
today i went a ride and filmed up the road from garvald village into the lammermuir hills to the whiteadder reservoir,the biggest reservoir that supplys east lothian,proberly my favourite road on the motorbike and ideal on a trailbike,
the road climbs and dips passing the old and new monastries,you used to see the monks driving there farm tractors in there robes!,guess health and saftey wont allow that now...
past the iron age hillfort at white castle with an outstanding view north across the county including traprain law,north berwick law and the bass rock,my camera dosnt do the view justice...

a layby with information sign gives access to the hill fort...


also to the west is a good view of the pentland hills south of edinburgh...

the climb from garvald village up to here and over the top of is a test for any cyclist...,ive climed it on the pugsley!,and was well out of puff at the top...
over the top of the side of an unnamed hill but marked at 1131ft the road starts to descend above the whiteadder water,this bit of road is great to cycle as the dips give you momentum to ride up the otherside...the film i made dosnt show angles very well but hopefully this pic explains...
looking north from garvald...

and south towards the whiteadder reservoir...

the only hillfarm on the road is johnscleugh (cleugh means summer pasture)
along from the farm acess road is an old railway goods wagon minus its undercarrage once used for a feed store for sheep...

below the wagon the view up the vally to johnscleugh farm...

joining the main road from gifford to duns you roll over a cattlegrid and down over the resevoir on either side on a armco railed causeway...


the resevoir is stocked with trout and theres boat hire too so you can fish on the shore or on the water...

theres loads more to see and do around here,lots of biking with the herring road-a 20 mile fish cadgers route from dunbar on the coast over the lammermuirs to lauder in the borders,then theres all the shooting tracks,sheperds quad tracks etc...,just have to watch at times of year where you go,sheep and grouse moors being the biggest income on the hills i stay off april,may,august,sept,october,
gets a bit wet in winter but ideal on the pugsley,ive ridden all day up here and hardly seen a soul..,saw no cars today on the hillroad!!,busier sundays,
heading home i went the main (gifford) road to see across to the expanding windfarm over to the east of the lammermuirs at crystal rig,theres still turbines going up,need to get up there soon and have a look around...

heres the film i made now on youtube...      missing

   We need to look further from Garvald Mains Fort, Star Wood, Snawdon ...

Fr.Louis (Thomas Merton)

COMMENTS:

Dear William,

Thank you.

Your "many notes" from days of Retreat give me a useful synthesis of the bundle of recent Blogs

In fact from our exchange of Icons, liturgy quotations, remembrances,  I feel replete in reflections, the stirring of sharing. 

Yours......

fr. Donald

Fw: Retreat

On Sunday, 1 June 2014, 

William ...> wrote:  
                           

Dear Father Donald,

. . . . 

I delighted in opening your Blog email of this morning - what better ... than the very photo and the writing of Thomas Merton! I have many notes [from time spent with you!] of planned projects, delighting in the beautiful edition you gave me of Marmion's 'Christ in His Mysteries', using your photocard USB stick to save the attached photos for printing at Boots, and looking out for Nouwen's book (your icon Christ Pantocrator is quite magnificent!), and see what I can find on the Song of Songs (CCEL online looks promising, but I feel a visit to the 2nd hand bookshop coming on!), and of reading about the Merton Society! and seeing what I can find on Charles Dumont and those golden years you experienced. With St Ambrose's commentary on Ps 118 still very much in my mind, last night I located the passage in St Augustine's Confessions, a reference I noted down, where he describes his meeting with St Ambrose in Milan [V.xiii -23].These projects will quietly distract and engross me, and help to settle me.                    
                                                                                                     Thank you so very much for personally making my retreat, . . .

..... in Our Lord,

William

      

Fr. Louis (Thomas Merton) Life in Christ.
see: http://nunraw.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/seventh-sunday-of-easter-thomas-merton.html

Virgin of Vladimir

Nouwen's book

 





 
 

SEVENTH SUNDAY OF EASTER Thomas Merton

Monastic Office of Vigils.  

Year II      SEVENTH SUNDAY  OF EASTER

Fr. Thomas Merton, ocso

  

First Reading      1 Corinthians 12:1-27

          Responsory          1 Cor 12:9-10; 7:4

The Spirit gives one the gift of wise speech, another the gift of healing, the power to work miracles, or the gift of prophecy. + In each one the Spirit is manifested in a particular way for the good of all, al­leluia.

V. There is a variety of gifts, but they come from the same Spirit. + In each one ...

Second Reading

From the writings of Thomas Merton, O.C.S.O.   (The NewMass, 117-119)

Life in Christ

When we speak of "life in Christ," according to the phrase of Saint Paul, It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, we are speaking not of self-alienation but of our discovery of our true selves in Christ. In this discovery we participate spiritually in the mystery of his resurrection. And this sharing of the death and resurrection of Christ is the very heart of the Christian faith and of Christian mysticism.

I came, said Jesus, that they may have life. The life he came to bring us is his own life as Son of God. And because of his resur­rection he received the power to communicate to us all his Spirit as the principle of our own life and the life of our own spirit. The uncreated image, buried and concealed by sin in the depths of our souls, rises from death when, sending forth his Spirit into our spirit, he manifests his presence within us and becomes for us the source of a new life, a new identity, and a new mode of action.

This new life in us is an extension of Christ's own risen life. It forms an integral part of that new existence which he inaugu­rated when he rose from the tomb. Before he died on the cross, the historical Christ was alone in his human and physical exis­tence. As he himself said, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Rising from the dead, Jesus lived no longer merely in himself. He be­came the vine of which we are the branches. He extends his personality to include each one of us who is united to him by faith. The new existence which is his by virtue of his resurrection is no longer limited by the exigencies of matter. He can now pass through closed doors, appear in many places at once, or exer­cise his action upon the earth while remaining hidden in the depths of the Godhead: yet these are only secondary aspects of his risen life. The primary aspect of his risen life is his life in the souls of his elect. He is now not only the natural Christ, but the mystical Christ, and as such he includes all of us who believe in him.

Christ living in me is at the same time himself and myself.

From the moment that I am united to him in one spirit there is no longer any contradiction implied by the fact that we are different persons. He remains, naturally and physically, the Son of God who was born of the blessed Virgin in Nazareth, who went about doing good, and who died on the cross two thousand years ago. I remain the singular person that I am. But mystically and spiritually Christ lives in me from the moment that I am united to him in his death and resurrection by the sacrament of baptism and by all the moments and incidents of a Christian life. This union is not merely a moral union, or an agreement of wills, nor merely a psychological union which flows from the fact that I keep him in my thoughts. Christ mystically identifies his members with himself by giving them his Holy Spirit.

Responsory          1 Cor 12:6-7.27

There are different ministries but the same God who accomplishes

all of them in everyone. + The manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one in a particular way for the good of all, alleluia.

V, You are the body of Christ; each one of you is a member of it. + The manifestation of ...

June 2014 Month of Sacred Heart. Prayer Intentions of Pope Francis

Month dedicated June to Sacred Heart    

Picture: an image from previous Abbots' room. The Icon is wood cased and hinged to open. This Christ Pantocrator  is beautifully covered of silver and gold. Obviously we'd love to identify the possible Russian made Icon.

Insight on Icons see recent URL; http://nunraw.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/ascension-day-praying-with-glenstal.html  

The Vatican has announced the prayer intentions of Pope Francis for the month of June 2014.

The Pope's general intention is: “That the unemployed may receive support and find the work they need to live in dignity.”

His intention for evangelization is: “That Europe may rediscover its Christian roots through the witness of believers."

Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, alleluia. 31 May 2014

Church of Visitation at Ein Karem - Donald & Nivard  2004

COMMENT: 
Night Office Readings, The Song of Songs, St. Bede "sing Mary’s hymn (Magnificat) at the time of evening prayer.

Previous day, a book in the Library needed the dusk cover to be laminated. The book was St Bernard's Commentary on the Song of Songs.

Next night, 31 May,  to happy surprise, we found the association of the Readings in the Vigil Office and the Hours continue with the weaving of Antiphons on the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
10 years remembering Holy Land  pilgrimage. Donald and Nivard at Ein Karem.

Scheduled for 31 May 2014

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpNCSBjFE88

Pope Francis attends the closing celebration of the Marian month.
Cerimonia di chiusura del mese mariano con la partecipazione di Papa Francesco, nei Giardini Vaticani.

Pictures photos from YouTube screen

Monastic Office of Vigils,    - iBreviary

Ant. Let us sing to the Lord as we celebrate the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, alleluia.   

Statue of the Visitation

Visitation Ein Karem  

FIRST READING

From the Song of Songs
2:8-14; 8:6-7

The coming of the beloved

Hark! my lover—here he comes
springing across the mountains,
leaping across the hills.
My lover is like a gazelle
or a young stag.
Here he stands behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
peering through the lattices.

My lover speaks; he says to me,
“Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one,
and come!
For see, the winter is past,
the rains are over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth,
the time of pruning the vines has come,
and the song of the dove is heard in our land.
The fig tree puts forth its figs,
and the vines, in bloom, give forth fragrance.
Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one,
and come!

“O my dove in the clefts of the rock,
in the secret recesses of the cliff,
Let me see you,
let me hear your voice,
For your voice is sweet,
and you are lovely.”

Set me as a seal on your heart,
as a seal on your arm;
For stern as death is love,
relentless as the nether world is devotion;
its flames are a blazing fire.
Deep waters cannot quench love,
nor floods sweep it away.
Were one to offer all he owns to purchase love,
he would be roundly mocked.

RESPONSORY
Luke 1:41b-43, 44

Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit
and cried out:
Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
– And who am I
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

For when your greeting sounded in my ears,
the baby in my womb leaped for joy.
– And who am I
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

SECOND READING

From a homily by Saint Bede the Venerable, priest
(Lib. 1, 4: CCL 122, 25-26. 30)

Mary proclaims the greatness of the Lord working in her

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my savior. With these words Mary first acknowledges the special gifts she has been given. Then she recalls God’s universal favors, bestowed unceasingly on the human race.

When a man devotes all his thoughts to the praise and service of the Lord, he proclaims God’s greatness. His observance of God’s commands, moreover, shows that he has God’s power and greatness always at heart. His spirit rejoices in God his savior and delights in the mere recollection of his creator who gives him hope for eternal salvation.

These words are often for all God’s creations, but especially for the Mother of God. She alone was chosen, and she burned with spiritual love for the son she so joyously conceived. Above all other saints, she alone could truly rejoice in Jesus, her savior, for she knew that he who was the source of eternal salvation would be born in time in her body, in one person both her own son and her Lord.

For the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. Mary attributes nothing to her own merits. She refers all her greatness to the gift of the one whose essence is power and whose nature is greatness, for he fills with greatness and strength the small and the weak who believe in him.

She did well to add: and holy is his name, to warn those who heard, and indeed all who would receive his words, that they must believe and call upon his name. For they too could share in everlasting holiness and true salvation according to the words of the prophet: and it will come to pass, that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. This is the name she spoke of earlier: and my spirit rejoices in God my savior.

Therefore it is an excellent and fruitful custom of holy Church that we should sing Mary’s hymn at the time of evening prayer. By meditating upon the incarnation, our devotion is kindled, and by remembering the example of God’s Mother, we are encouraged to lead a life of virtue. Such virtues are best achieved in the evening. We are weary after the day’s work and worn out by our distractions. The time for rest is near, and our minds are ready for contemplation.

RESPONSORY
Luke 1:45, 46; Psalm 66:16

Happy are you who have believed,
because the Lord’s promises will be accomplished in you.
And Mary said:
– My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord.

Come, and listen,
and I will tell what great things God has accomplished for me.
– My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord.

Medugorje Chaplain Postcard

Fr. Raymond was invited to Medugorje as Chaplain to Pilgrims.
His Postcard followed him back home later.
He reported to the community. His word was the strongest message, "Our Lady loves each one".
And Raymond's own gift is that after his first Mass at Medugorje found himself freed of his lame condition.

ASCENSION 2014 Homily of Fr. Raymond

Flowers for Ascension

Ascension, Mass Homily, 

ASCENSION 2014

Among all the mysteries of our faith the importance of the Mystery of the Lord’s bodily ascension into heaven is underlined for us in several ways.  First, it is mentioned in the earliest of the Christian Creeds, from the very beginning of the development of Dogma.  These early Creeds were meant to summarise the essential elements of the Church’s teaching for us.  The Ascension is also mentioned in one breath along with the Passion, death &  Resurrection of the Lord in the Canon of the Mass.  And, very significantly, in our own day it has been retained as one of the few remaining Holidays of Obligation where so many of the other more “popular” feasts have been passed over.

So, there can be no doubting the centrality of the mystery of the Ascension for our understanding of the whole of the Paschal Mystery.

Let’s approach this understanding today by p rescinding from all of God’s other revelations to us.  Let’s go back to the dawn of creation itself, before any revelation from God at all. The Psalmist helps us to do this by so many beautiful expressions of wonder at God’s creation:  “How great is you name O Lord our God through all the earth!  Praise him sun and moon!  Praise him shining stars!  Praise God from the earth; sea creatures and all the oceans!  Fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy winds that obey his word!  This sense of wonder at God’s marvellous creation is at the  foundation of our appreciation of the mystery of Our Lord’s bodily ascension into heaven.  This comes about because when we have first praised him for the wonders of all creation we then praise him even more for the wonder of our own being.  Men and angels alone, the very peak of God’s creation, can understand and appreciate the gift of existence and life and offer thanks for it.

But then, from the wonder of the created world, and from the wonder of our own being, we are drawn by the mystery of the bodily ascension of Christ to see in it a pledge and promise that that this world of time, and we with it, are to be lifted up and fused into the very heaven of heavens.  The world we live in is so beautiful in so many ways!  What then will it be like as the new heaven and new earth that God promises to make it for us.  And what will we ourselves be as we too are lifted up by the resurrection of the dead.  Life is to be changed, not ended.  And if we would get a glimpse of it’s ultimate destiny we need only look up with the apostles and see “Christ, the head and first fruits of our human race, ascending bodily into the heavens”.