Our Lady of Perpetual Succour. Poem by Fr. Edward O.P.

Dear Fr. Edward,

Thank you, with the poem glorious reflection on the imagery of
OL of Perpetual Succour and contemplative 'attention given to the eternal
living perichoresis of the whole Triad
with its total cosmic enfolding and timeless upholding'.

Prayer has to rest in these verses.

I am happy that you are restored back to your 'sanctuary'.

Yours,

Donald

Our Lady of Perpetual Succour+Pray for us
Small Icon made by Whitland Cistercian Sisters, Wales.

Email to Donald

Fw: Poem; Our Lady of Perpetual Succour.  

From Fr. Edward O.P.  

On Saturday, 28 June 2014, Edward ...> wrote:

Dear Father Donald,

I took a chance on sending the poem in a way direct from Google Drive. 

Thank you for telling me. The poem is copied below.

Please make a copy for H...

Blessings from

fr Edward O.P.

Our Lady of Perpetual Succour 2014

The repainting proposed the painting’s integrity,

but the old state with its traces of numerous incidents through history

showed her, with her Child, emerging from conquered vicissitudes

with only the surface much disturbed;

yet emerging so strongly from beneath and through

the wound-scars on the ill-treated patena.

The call for restoration was world-wide.

Blessed Pio Nono remembered praying before the ikon

over many years from his youth:

from him came its promotion to universal worthiness and its final naming.

The type is Byzantine hodegetria: a theotokos of the Passion,

yet evidently prophetic with two Archangels:

on the left Michael holding the reed-stuck sponge

and soldier’s rough wine as thirst-slaker.

Matching on the right, Gabriel carrries a three-bar Cross, then used by Popes.

Scaled small because both prophetic

and with Mary painted as greater, by destiny

she and her Son to be eternally triumphant.

She cloak-clad, blue for perpetual Virginity,

over a tunic of martyral red.

She steadily supports by her throne-arms her Child, his left-shoe

dropping off with picture-stilled animation,

and caught within the ikon’s lower framing.

So near to divinity she has left her heavenly plane,

communicating by sight and presence alone

with all those who call on or walk up to her for Succour.

This shadow of the heavenly reality will have found and caught up

all of her clients for her Child through those all-seeing eyes!

Those prophetic Archangels salute her and her Child

as Coredemptrix with the Crucified Divine Redeemer himself.

Her eyes turned to her clients: not speaking.

After succouring her Son with most sensitive love and virginal milk

she has turned herself to the “them” in which  we ourselves are included,

to extend her Succouring to us, overflowing our pleading as her Son   

is re-begotten in each one of us, surrounding us as air invisible,

life-giving and -sustaining: as total well-being of body and soul.

But his eyes are differently converged: not on her clients,

his whole attention given to the eternal living perichoresis of the whole Triad

with its total cosmic enfolding and timeless upholding.

So is the divine resolving all into the transcendental simplicity of Itself.

And the Mother participates this in her Son

in an action single-in-manifold.

He as Man-Child has drawn long on her succouring breasts

and is thoroughly refreshed;

now in the Divinity of his single Self He looks at what will follow

and what has preceded, seeing the linkages as simplicities-in-unity.

She passes from him to his all-oned Mystical Body.

We are in this Body the clients of her Succouring

in an act in itself eternal, no longer finishing or waiting.

But terrestrial-wise always some are waiting with a pious wish

to be taken into her Virginal-Mother remaining-place (v.Jn 14,2: ‘mansion’).

She refills breasts, with heart and mind, ready for total succouring,

to give of her purest, long-standing, perpetual helpfulness.

Her Christ-succouring like all heavenly mysteries becomes eternalised in act.

We wait our turn as others wait their turn,

to be timelessly, repeatedly succoured with love and power,

that we may also succour others from its over-plus:

all-restoring as Mediatricial from her inexhaustible totality.

She waits on us as her Son, his body being filled with the single Divinity,

in constant generation terrestrial-wise.

Yet still as Person participating and participated by Father

as Generator of his Divinity,

and Holy Spirit as generator of his Humanity through Virginal Mary.

Let full believers be assured that the power of Mary can

cancel out the quattrocento failure at Florence to remake the Church as one,

and the cinquecento novelties of the reformation

whose wounds remain as a restraint on the deployment of its full energies.

Even the deeper and older alienation of Judaism from its destined fulfilment.

Fr. Edward O.P.

27-28 June 2014

Stykkisholmur

Iceland

The Immaculate Heart of Mary. Sat 28 June 2014

Our Lady, Night Office.

For the Memorial of 

the Immaculate Heart of Mary:

 

The Immaculate Heart of Mary — Fotopedia

This beautiful stained glass window (detail) of The Immaculate Heart of Mary can be seen inside Our Lady of the Mount Chapel. The Catholic church is located on Mount Bethel Rd, Warren, NJ.

Photograph Copyright 2011 Loci B. Lenar

www.christian-miracles.com

Commentary of the day : 

Benedict XVI, pope from 2005 to 2013 
Speech for 30/05/2009 (trans. © copyright Libreria Editrice Vaticana) 
"His mother kept all these things in her heart"

In the New Testament we see that Mary's faith, so to speak, "attracts" the gift of the Holy Spirit. First of all in the conception of the Son of God, a mystery that the Archangel Gabriel himself explains in this way: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you" (Lk 1:35)... Mary's heart, in perfect unison with the divine Son, is a temple of the Spirit of truth in which every word and every event are preserved in faith, hope and charity (cf. Lk 2:19, 51).

We may therefore be certain that the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, in the whole of his hidden life in Nazareth always found in his Mother's Immaculate Heart, a "hearth" ever alight with prayer and with constant attention to the voice of the Spirit. The events at the Wedding at Cana (Jn 2,1f.) are an attestation of this unique harmony between the Mother and the Son in seeking God's will. In a situation laden with symbols of the Covenant, such as the wedding feast, the Virgin Mother intercedes and provokes, so to speak, a sign of superabundant grace: the "good wine" that refers to the mystery of Christ's Blood. This leads us directly to Calvary, where Mary stands beneath the Cross together with the other women and with the Apostle John. The Mother and the disciple receive spiritually the testament of Jesus: his last words and his last breath, in which he begins to pour out the Spirit; and they receive the silent cry of his Blood, poured out entirely for us (cf. Jn 19:25-34). Mary knew where that Blood came from: it had been formed within her by the power of the Holy Spirit and she knew that this same creative "power" was to raise Jesus, as he had promised.

Thus Mary's faith sustained that of the disciples until their encounter with the Risen Lord and continued to accompany them also after his Ascension into Heaven, as they waited for "[Baptism] in the Holy Spirit" (cf. Acts 1:5)... This is why, for all the generations, Mary is an image and model of the Church which together with the Spirit journeys through time, invoking Jesus' glorious return: "Come, Lord Jesus" (cf. Rv 22:17, 20).

SECOND READING

From a sermon by Saint Laurence Justinian, bishop
(Sermo 8, in festo Purificationis B.M.V.: Opera, 2, Venetiis 1751, 38-39)
Mary stored up all these things in her heart
While Mary contemplated all she had come to know through reading, listening and observing, she grew in faith, increased in merits, and was more illuminated by wisdom and more consumed by the fire of charity. The heavenly mysteries were opened to her, and she was filled with joy; she became fruitful by the Spirit, was being directed toward God, and watched over protectively while on earth.
So remarkable are the divine graces that they elevate one from the lowest depths to the highest summit, and transform one to a greater holiness. How entirely blessed was the mind of the Virgin which, through the indwelling and guidance of the Spirit, was always and in every way open to the power of the Word of God. She was not led by her own senses, nor by her own will; thus she accomplished outwardly through her body what wisdom from within gave to her faith.
It was fitting for divine Wisdom, which created itself a home in the Church, to use the intervention of the most blessed Mary in guarding the law, purifying the mind, giving an example of humility and providing a spiritual sacrifice.
Imitate her, O faithful soul. Enter into the deep recesses of your heart so that you may be purified spiritually and cleansed from your sins. God places more value on good will in all we do than on the works themselves.
Therefore, whether we give ourselves to God in the work of contemplation or whether we serve the needs of our neighbor by good works, we accomplish these things because the love of Christ urges us on. The acceptable offering of the spiritual purification is accomplished not in a man-made temple but in the recesses of the heart where the Lord Jesus freely enters.

RESPONSORY
O pure and holy virgin,
how can I find words to praise your beauty?
– The highest heavens cannot contain God whom you carried in your womb.
Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
– The highest heavens cannot contain God whom you carried in your womb.

CONCLUDING PRAYER
Let us pray.
Father,
you prepared the heart of the Virgin Mary
to be a fitting home for your Holy Spirit.
By her prayers
may we become a more worthy temple of your glory.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
– Amen.

Dunnottar Castle Stonehaven on the Scottish Trail

Email from Andy

Camera shot from Desktop

Fwd: history 25 Photos That Prove Scotland Is The Most Beautiful Country In The World

On Thursday, 26 June 2014, 10:56, Donald Nunraw <nunrawdonald@yahoo.com> wrote:

Dear Andy,

Wonderful -

25 Photos That Prove Scotland Is The Most Beautiful Country In The World.

And amazing, in my Computer, the Desktop background series has the view I could not identify. Now I know the DUNNOTTAR CASTLE of Stonehaven, even when I missed the site on the by-pass. I imagined it was an island monastery but, in fact, historic stronghold. (Have to look deeper).

 http://stronghold2.heavengames.com/history/cw/cw106 .

ATTACHMENTS ..  

 

Many thanks.

God love.

fr. Donald

PS. The 'history' does not go back before Cromwell and the Vikings. My Desktop background view seemed more invited to an ideal island monastery.

++++++++++++++++++ 

On Thursday, 26 June 2014, 

Andrew ..wrote to Donald

Some amazing photographs

Congratulation on the anniversary of your ordination

Andy

Sent from my iPad

Dunnottar Castle, North East Scotland.

Share

With its castles, soaring mountains, lochs, glens and iconic wildlife, it’s hard to deny that Scotland is the most beautiful country in the world. Share if you agree…or if you simply want to visit these amazing places yourself one day!

Jun 4, 2014

25 Photos That Prove Scotland Is The Most Beautiful Country In The World

Share the post "25 Photos That Prove Scotland Is The Most Beautiful Country In The World"

Scotland is the northernmost country in the British Isles, and the glacier-carved landscape is utterly stunning. Here are 25 photos that prove that Scotland is the most beautiful place in the world. 

The Old Man of Storr, Isle of Skye.

These spectacular, weirdly shaped rock pinnacles on the Isle of Skye are the remnants of ancient landslips.

  http://www.epicdash.com/25-photos-that-prove-scotland-is-the-most-beautiful-country-in-the-world/ 

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Dunnottar Castle Stonehaven

http://stronghold2.heavengames.com/history/cw/cw106

Castle of the Week 106 - Dunnottar Castle, Scotland  

  

Castle of the Week 106 - Dunnottar Castle, Scotland

Short History of the Castle 

Dunnottar Castle is one of the most spectacularly located castles ever built. It lies in northern Scotland, 15 miles south of Aberdeen, majestically positioned on a high plateau on a promontory out in the north sea. If the castle design seems familiar to you, it might be because Dunnottar Castle was the place for the recording of Hamlet with Mel Gibson. But what the castle is most famous for was when a small garrison of 70 men held out against Oliver Cromwell's army for eight months and by that saved the Scottish Crown Jewels, the 'Honours of Scotland', from being captured and destroyed by the English.

Despite what you may think, because of its excellent positioning, Dunnottar was invaded and captured many times. For example, in the 9th century, King Donald II died whilst unsuccessfully trying to defend Dunnottar from a Viking invasion. The Englishmen captured the castle two times, but it was both times recaptured by the Scots.

There isn't very much remaining of the castle nowadays, only eleven half destroyed small buildings including barracks, lodgings, stables and storehouses. All these are from different periods in the castle's history. The prominent building though is the L-shaped 14th century keep. It's a little battered by Cromwell's cannons, but still intact.

In the 17th century Dunnottar Castle was serving as a home for the Scottish Earl Marischals. The Marischals were at that time one of the most powerful families in the land. They oversaw all ceremonial activities in the country, including the coronations. They were also responsible for the guarding of the Scottish Crown Jewels, known as the 'Honours of Scotland'. The story of how a small garrison in Dunnottar saved the crown, sceptre and sword from certain destruction is one of the most captivating in Scottish history.

COMMENT: Mt. 7:3 The Parable of the Mote and the Beam

COMMENT:    

 Domenico_Fetti_-_The_Parable_

of_the_Mote_and_the_Beam  

It is interesting to compare the translations of the Verse Mt. 7:3.

The Jerusalem Bible variant speaks  better  of Jesus language of his foster-father, Joseph’s carpenter work shop, ‘splinter' and 'plank'. 
Greek Strong Numbers to English added synonyms  'a dry twig or straw:- mote', 'a stick of timber:- beam'.

Matthew 7:3

(AMP)  Why do you stare from without at the very small particle that is in your brother's eye but do not become aware of and consider the beam of timber that is in your own eye?

(ASV)  And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

(Darby)  But why lookest thou on the mote that is in the eye of thy brother, but observest not the beam that is in thine eye?

(DRB)  And why seest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye; and seest not the beam that is in thy own eye?

(GNB)  Why, then, do you look at the speck in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the log in your own eye?

(GNT)  τί δὲ βλέπεις τὸ κάρφος τὸ ἐν τῷ ὀφθαλμῷ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου, τὴν δὲ ἐν τῷ σῷ ὀφθαλμῷ δοκὸν οὐ κατανοεῖς;

(KJV)  And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

(KJV+)  And^G1161 why^G5101 beholdest^G991 thou the^G3588 mote^G2595 that^G3588 is in^G1722 thy^G4675 brother's^G80 eye,^G3788 but^G1161 considerest^G2657 not^G3756 the^G3588 beam^G1385 that is in^G1722 thine own^G4674 eye?^G3788

(NAS77)  "And why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

 Mote in eye

Safer in XML

It is interesting to compare the translations of the Verse Mt. 7:3.

The Jerusalem Bible variant speaks  better  of Jesus language of his foster-foster, Joseph’s carpenter work shop, ‘splinter and plank.

Matthew 7:3

(AMP)  Why do you stare from without at the very small particle that is in your brother's eye but do not become aware of and consider the beam of timber that is in your own eye?

(ASV)  And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

(Darby)  But why lookest thou on the mote that is in the eye of thy brother, but observest not the beam that is in thine eye?

(DRB)  And why seest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye; and seest not the beam that is in thy own eye?

(GNB)  Why, then, do you look at the speck in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the log in your own eye?

(GNT)  τί δὲ βλέπεις τὸ κάρφος τὸ ἐν τῷ ὀφθαλμῷ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου, τὴν δὲ ἐν τῷ σῷ ὀφθαλμῷ δοκὸν οὐ κατανοεῖς;

(KJV)  And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

(KJV+)  And^G1161 why^G5101 beholdest^G991 thou the^G3588 mote^G2595 that^G3588 is in^G1722 thy^G4675 brother's^G80 eye,^G3788 but^G1161 considerest^G2657 not^G3756 the^G3588 beam^G1385 that is in^G1722 thine own^G4674 eye?^G3788

(NAS77)  "And why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

... do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Mt. 7:3. Sermon on the Mount

Domenico_Fetti_-_The_Parable_
of_the_Mote_and_the_Beam

 COMMENT:

The Gospel of the Mass of Monday was ringing the verse from Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, especially Mt. 7:3.  

  

RSV

Matthew 7:1-5

Revised Standard Version (RSV)

Judging Others

7 “Judge not, that you be not judged. ² For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. ³ Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? ⁴ Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? ⁵ You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

Matthew 7:3 
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_7:3
A c. 1619 painting byDomenico Fetti entitled The Parable of the Mote and the Beam.

Matthew 7:3 is the third verse of the seventh chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament and is part of the Sermon on the Mount. This verse continues the discussion of judgmentalism.

In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads:

And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye,

but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

The World English Bible translates the passage as:

Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye,

but don’t consider the beam that is in your own eye?

For a collection of other versions see BibRef Matthew 7:3

The meaning of this verse is fairly clear, it is an attack on the hypocrites who attack others for their small flaws, while ignoring their own massive ones. Those who judge others, but do not evaluate themselves. It has a dual meaning, first attacking the hypocrisy of those who criticize others while ignoring their own much larger flaws, and since the flaw is in the eye it is a metaphor for how such flaws can blind one.

The metaphor is a rather extreme one. The word translated as mote or speck can refer to a tiny splinter or piece of sawdust, or colloquially to any minute object. The word translated as beam refers to a log or a rafter such as would hold up the roof of a house. A rafter is a difficult thing to get in one's eye, but it functions as a humorous and hyperbolic metaphor for an extreme flaw. The metaphor comes from woodworking, and is often seen as rooted in Jesus' traditional employment as a carpenter.

Nativity of Saint John the Baptist - 55th anniversary of priest

Tuesday 24th. The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

William sends greeting for the 55th anniversary of Ordination of Priesthood.

His gift is the beautiful message and the amazing illuminated painting;

“Here, on a special day for you, is one of life’s strange antiquarian encounters, to illuminate with the brightness and joy of inquiry, Blog reflections as you celebrate the occasion of your 55^th anniversary of your Ordination” ...

It is a lovely gift, and exciting to view the aspects of the painting. See below..

Thank you.

      

THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS (Lk. 16,19-31)

St Luke's parable is in its choice of word and in its vividness a challenge to the artist to take up his brush and depict the scene - Luke the painter! This illumination is indeed worthy of the precious and beautifully illustrated Gospel-book from which it is taken. A deep-set yet elegant Romanesque doorway is used as a frame. Lightly fluted, slender columns on fragile bases, crowned with Corinthian double-capitals bear the weight of the arch, which resembles more a garland of flowers than a work in stone. To the left and right of the arch there shine two red-gold medallions with human faces, held in position by gracefully twining tendrils. Inside the ornamental arch with its pillars one can see the simpler parts of the portal: first a broad border in blue, followed by a thin green one, then a white one. These are intended as a contrast to the gold which then appears and which symbolizes eternity. On this gold field the artist has placed three scenes which one should read beginning with the lowest. There are two circles, like magic globes, between them an elongated ellipse and they represent three kingdoms, Earth, Hell and Heaven.  

Lazarus Lk 16:19-31

  The first circle shows the rich man's festive table, rather in the manner of an early Christian Eucharistic celebration, where, however, the words of St. Paul in 1 Cor. 11,21 are not heeded: "Each corner hastens to eat the supper he has brought for himself, so that one man goes hungry, while another drinks deep". Lazarus, sick and poor, can be seen to the left excluded from the gold-green circle, where the feast is in progress. Three dogs bound in from the other side and run towards him in order to lick his sores.

The three scenes here depicted relate what happened in order of time. In the dark oval- the abyss, the pit, the underworld we perceive the rich man who has meanwhile died and is now suffering the agonies of thirst. From here he cries out for pity to Abraham in the upper region, seated upon a golden throne in a golden circle. Lazarus is now in Abraham's bosom, where the angels have carried him, a reference to late Jewish representations of Paradise and its joys.  

       Abraham's rejection of the rich man's pleadings is clearly seen in the gesture of his right hand and in his stern unpitying eyes. We can almost hear the words: "There is a great gulf fixed between us", and, "if they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will be unbelieving still, though one should rise from the dead".

Abraham's words are not painted here, but they are in our ears, and make this picture into a cryptic Easter message, in which the admonition to love one's neighbour is irrevocably bound with the hope of rising to everlasting life.   

Der reiche Prasser und arme Lazarus – Evangeliar Otto III, Aachen.

 Beuroner Kunstkalender Fur Jahr 1983

http://www.erzabtei-beuron.de/fix/pano/

Virtual Tour of Beuron Abbey