Snnday February 8th

Abbot Raymond returned from the Foundation of Our Lady of the Angels,
Nsugbe Nigeria.
In February 2009 the first Titular Superior was elected by the community.
Prior Dom Rafael Ndubuezi received the Blessing from the Father Immediate, Dom Raymond

Abbot Raymond. Sunday February 8th

Mass 5^th Sunday Ordinary Time

A Reading from the Book of JOB (7:1-4)

“Job began to speak”

The book of Job is pure poetry. It is composed in the style of the great Shakespearian soliloquies such as: “To be, or not to be! That is the question”. The soliloquies of Job are dramatic meditations on the sufferings and tragedies of life. As such, we are bound to find a bit of exaggeration and poetic licence in them. Nevertheless the Jerusalem Bile’s translators have taken quite a liberty in putting into Job’s mouth a phrase which no other translation does. The Jerusalem Bible translators have Job say that life on earth is nothing more than pressed service. We know, of course, that there is so much more to life than its sufferings and sorrows. Life abounds with joys and pleasures beyond description. Nevertheless, the phrase “nothing more than pressed service” would pass as a reasonable exaggeration, a reasonable figure of speech, on the lips of one who is so overwhelmed with life’s tragedies and miseries as Job was. But the fact is that Job said no such thing. Then why put it in at all if it is not in the original text? Nor can we find any other translations that does insert this phrase.

But, to get back to Job! Job, in all his lamentations, is voicing for us all, the inner sentiments of everyman who finds himself simply overwhelmed by life’s burdens and sorrows. And surely, no one goes very far through life before finding himself in such a situation.

By giving us the Book of Job, God is assuring us that he is well aware of the greatness of the burdens and sorrows of life. Life, as he calls us to it, is an undertaking of tremendous magnitude. We might reasonably complain indeed that it is really something quite beyond our strength as mere human beings. It’s burdens too great for us; it’s pains unbearable for us; its problems insoluble by us. Who can reasonably be expected to cope with it all? In all its oppressive cruelty, life makes the same demands on all: the weak, the strong, the young, the old, the innocent, the guilty. No one is spared its cruelty. No one is spared its burdens.

In this book of Job, God assures us that he is with us in it all and that, through it all, he holds us in his hands until we come to realise, as Job did, that: “We know our Redeemer lives and that we shall at last look upon him with our very own eyes”.

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Meditation by St. Therese Lisieux

Our Lectionary “Word in Season” (Augustinian Press) Tues. 3^rd Week had a striking Meditation by St. Therese Lisieux.
The First Nocturn Readings are mainly from Romans.
St. Therese among other weighty Readings was beautiful. I was keen to find the correct reference.
After much consultation and research I was amazed to discover that the source is exactly Chapter 1 of the AUTOGRAPHY.
The Meditation to the right has a modern revision. On the left the passage from the “Story of a Soul” by N.T. Taylor still is classic.

Story of a Soul Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux. Chapter 1 January1895 First English translation T.N.T. Taylor 1926

Lectionary Meditation by Saint Therese of Lisieux No references, revised version

Then opening the Gospels, my eyes fell on these words: "Jesus, going up into a mountain, called unto Him whom He would Himself."[Mk. III:13] They threw a clear light upon the mystery of my vocation and of my entire life, and above all upon the favours which Our Lord has granted to my soul. He does not call those who are worthy, but those whom He will. As St. Paul says: "God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy. So then it is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that showing mercy."[Rm. IX:15] I often asked myself why God had preferences, why all souls did not receive an equal measure of grace. I was filled with wonder when I saw extraordinary favours showered on great sinners like St. Paul, St. Augustine, St. Mary Magdalen, and many others, whom He forced, so to speak, to receive His grace. In reading the lives of the Saints I was surprised to see that there were certain privileged souls, whom Our Lord favoured from the cradle to the grave, allowing no obstacle in their path which might keep them from mounting towards Him, permitting no sin to soil the spotless brightness of their baptismal robe. And again it puzzled me why so many poor savages should die without having even heard the name of God. Our Lord has deigned to explain this mystery to me. He showed me the book of nature, and I understood that every flower created by Him is beautiful, that the brilliance of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not lessen the perfume of the violet or the sweet simplicity of the daisy. I understood that if all the lowly flowers wished to be roses, nature would lose its springtide beauty, and the fields would no longer be enameled with lovely hues. And so it is in the world of souls, Our Lord's living garden. He has been pleased to create great Saints who may be compared to the lily and the rose, but He has also created lesser ones, who must be content to be daisies or simple violets flowering at His Feet, and whose mission it is to gladden His Divine Eyes when He deigns to look down on them. And the more gladly they do His Will the greater is their perfection. I understood this also, that God's Love is made manifest as well in a simple soul which does not resist His grace as in one more highly endowed. In fact, the characteristic of love being self-abasement, if all souls resembled the holy Doctors who have illuminated the Church, it seems that God in coming to them would not stoop low enough. But He has created the little child, who knows nothing and can but utter feeble cries, and the poor savage who has only the natural law to guide him, and it is to their hearts that He deigns to stoop. These are the field flowers whose simplicity charms Him; and by His condescension to them Our Saviour shows His infinite greatness. As the sun shines both on the cedar and on the floweret, so the Divine Sun illumines every soul, great and small, and all correspond to His care--just as in nature the seasons are so disposed that on the appointed day the humblest daisy shall unfold its petals.

When he had gone up the hill, Jesus called those he wanted; and they came to him. Jesus does not call those who are worthy to be called, but those he wants, or as Saint Paul says, God takes pity on whomever he wishes, and has mercy on whomever he pleases. So what counts is not what we will or try to do, but the mercy of God. For a long time I wondered why the good God had preferences, why every soul did not receive grace in equal measure. I was amazed to see him lavishing extraordinary favours on saints who had offended him, like Saint Paul and Saint Augustine , and whom he practically forced to accept his graces. Or else, when I read the lives of saints whom our Lord was pleased to cherish from the cradle to the grave, allowing no obstacle to stand in their way that would have prevented them from rising toward him, and visiting them with such graces that it was impossible for them to tarnish the immaculate brightness of their baptismal robe, I wondered why, for instance, poor people were dying in great numbers before they had even heard God's name. Jesus kindly explained this mystery to me. He placed the book of nature before my eyes, and I understood that all the flowers he has created are beautiful, that the splendour of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not rob the little violet of its scent or the daisy of its delightful simplicity. I understood that if all the little flowers wanted to be roses, nature would lose its spring adornment, and the fields would no longer be spangled with flowerets. It is the same in the world of souls which is the garden of Jesus . He wanted to create the great saints who may be compared with lilies and roses; but he also created smaller ones, and these must be content to be daisies or violets destined to gladden the eyes of the good God when he looks down at his feet. Perfection consists in doing his will, in being what he wants us to be. I understood too that the love of our Lord is revealed in the simplest soul who offers no resistance to his grace as well as in the most sublime soul. In fact, since the essence of love is humility, if all souls were like those of the learned saints who have illuminated the Church by the light of their teaching, it would seem as if God would not have very far to descend in coming to their hearts. But he has created the baby who knows nothing and whose only utterance is a feeble cry; he has created people who have only the law of nature to guide them; and it is their hearts that he deigns to come down to, those are his flowers of the field whose simplicity delights him. In coming down in that way the good God proves his infinite greatness. Just as the sun shines at the same time on cedar trees and on each little flower as if it was the only one on earth, so our Lord takes special care of each soul as if it was his only care.

Earl Lauderdale - Pilgrimages

Haddington Pilgrimage

St Mary's Collegiate Church

Lamp o’Lothian

St. Mary’s High Kirk

THE SCOTSMAN 28 Jan 2009

RECOLLECTION by Rev Clifford Hughes

PATRICK MAITLAND, 17th EARL OF LAUDERDALE (Obituary, 9 December), is complete without reference to the Haddington Pilgrimage. Patrick's deeply held Anglo-Catholic - convictions found expression in his commit­ment to the Marian Shrine, at Walsingham, from 1955. When the Lauderdale Aisle in St Mary's Parish Church, Haddington, East Lothian, was restored in the late 1970s, it was consecrated by the then Episcopal Bishop of Edinburgh, Alistair Haggart, and dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the Christ Child, and the Three Kings, creating an intriguing ecclesiastical anomaly, an Episcopal chapel within a Presbyterian church. Patrick sought to attract pilgrims to what he called "the shrine of our Lady of Haddington".

The first pilgrimage in 1970 attracted 13 pilgrims. By-the turn of the century this annual festival, on the second Saturday in May, would bring to St Mary's more than 1,000 pilgrims: Catholics, Episcopalians, Anglicans (for there were busloads from south of the Border ),Presbyterians and others.

In the early years, pilgrims would walk, jog, cycle or motor the ten miles or so from St Mary's Whitekirk to the wonderfully restored medieval Church of St Mary, built to Cathedral proportions, on the banks of the Tyne at Haddington. They would run the gauntlet of Pastor Jack Glass and his banner-waving entourage of anti-Catholic ultra-Protestants, who objected volubly to the noon celebration of the Catholic Mass in a Church of Scotland building.

Over the years, praise bands and liturgical dance were innovations featured in this ecumenical gathering, and although it proved impossible to find a liturgy which would bring Catholics and non-Catholics to the same table/altar, the inspirational climax of every pilgrimage was prayer for healing during the afternoon's Episcopal/ Presbyterian Eucharist. Clergy of all denominations moved through the church to pray for anyone whose hand was raised.

As a seasoned journalist, Patrick recognised the value of a good story and from time to time would issue a press release with details of a dramatic healing, timed to boost pilgrimage numbers.

I worked with Patrick as minister of St Mary's from 1993-2001 and can attest to one miraculous healing - my own. When I was diagnosed with laryn­geal cancer, Pastor Jack promised to pray for me; Archbishop Keith Patrick, now Cardinal O'Brien, sent out a plea in a diocesan letter to elicit prayer for me. A rainbow coalition of prayer, indeed! My wonderful new voice is my testimony.

In the year which has seen the death of Elizabeth, Duchess of Hamilton, who played such a significant part in the restoration of St Mary's, and of Patrick, Earl of Lauderdale, it is sad that the pilgrimage, too, has run its course. But the Haddington Prayer lives on.

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Saint Thomas Aquinas

Saint Day 28 January 2009

Thomas Aquinas died at the Cistercian Abbey of FOSSANOVA.

One of Saint Bernard's Italian visits took place in 1134 - 35, and amongst other places the Benedictine Abbey near Priverno turned itself over to the Cistercians. The first act of the Cistercian monk-engineers was to build a new dyke for swamp drainage - hence "Fossanova". A new abbey church was begun later in the 1100s, pioneering the "Cistercian Italian Gothic" style which became a model for many later abbeys and churches in Italy. It was consecrated by the powerful Pope Innocent III (during a break in his ongoing disputes with Emperor Frederick II) in 1208. The beautiful gothic church and the attached monastery buildings are said to be a close copy of Bernard's own monastery of Clairvaux in Burgundy (nowadays part of a high security prison). They are full of light and lightness, and these days are occupied by Franciscan Friars Minor. Fossanova's most distinguished though short lived visitor was Saint Thomas Aquinas, who fell ill whilst passing by and ended up dying there on 9 March 1274.

Note: macabre at the cost of popularity of the Saint’s remains.
It is said that shortly after his death, miracles began to occur near the place where his body was laid. Monks at the Cistercian abbey at Fossanova, where Thomas was buried, feared that some might steal the body. They exhumed the corpse and cut off its head, placing the latter in a secret corner of the chapel. Mutilations continued for almost fifty years until all that remained were the bones. These were finally moved to the Dominican monastery at Toulouse where they remain to this day.

Joseph Pieper, on SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS,
writes the loveliest account of the end days of Thomas Aquinas.

The last word of St. Thomas is not communication but silence. And it is not death which takes the pen out of his hand. His tongue is stilled by the superabundance of life in the mystery of God. He is silent, not because he has nothing further to say; he is silent because he has been allowed a glimpse into the inexpressible depths of that mystery which is not reached by any human thought or speech.

The acts of the canonization process record: On the feast of St. Nicholas, in the year 1273, as Thomas turned back to his work after Holy Mass, he was strangely altered. He remained steadily silent; he did not write; he dictated nothing. He laid aside the Summa Theologica on which he had been working. Abruptly, in the middle of the treatise on the Sacrament of Penance, he stopped writing.

Reginald, his friend, asks him, troubled: "Father, how can you want to stop such a great work?" Thomas answers only, "I can write no more." Reginald of Pipemo seriously believed that his master and friend might have become mentally ill through his overwhelming burden of work. After a long while, he asks and urges once again. Thomas gives the answer: "Reginald, I can write no more. All that I have hitherto written seems to me nothing but straw."

Reginald is stunned by this reply. Some time later, as he had often done before, Thomas visits his younger sister, the Countess of San Severino, near Salerno. It is the same sister who had aided Thomas in his escape from the castle of San Giovanni, nearly thirty years ago. Shortly after his arrival, his sister turns to his traveling companion, Reginald, with a startled question: what has happened to her brother? He is like one struck dumb and has scarcely spoken a word to her. Reginald once more appeals to Thomas: Would he tell him why he has ceased writing and what it is that could have disturbed him so deeply? For a long time, Thomas remains silent. Then he repeats: "All that I have written seems to me nothing but straw... compared to what I have seen and what has been revealed to me."

This silence lasted throughout a whole winter. The great teacher of the West had become dumb. Whatever may have imbued him with a deep happiness, with an inkling of the beginning of eternal life, must have aroused in the men in his company the disturbing feeling caused by the uncanny.

At the end of this time, spent completely in his own depths, Thomas began the journey to the General Council at Lyons. His attention continued to be directed inward. The acts of the canonization report a conversation which took place on this journey between Thomas and Reginald. It seems to have arisen out of a long silence and to have receded immediately into a long silence. This brief exchange clearly reveals to what degree the two friends already live in two different worlds. Reginald, encouragingly: "Now you are on your way to the Council, and there many good things will happen; for the whole Church, for our order, and for the Kingdom of Sicily." And Thomas: "Yes, God grant that good things may happen there! "

The prayer of St. Thomas that his life should not outlast his teaching career was answered. On the way to Lyons he met his end.

The mind of the dying man found its voice once more, in an explanation of the Canticle of Canticles for the monks of Fossanova. The last teaching of St. Thomas concerns, therefore, that mystical book of nuptial love for God, of which the Fathers of the Church say: the meaning of its figurative speech is that God exceeds all our capabilities of possessing Him, that all our knowledge can only be the cause of new questions, and every finding only the start of a new search.

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To glimpse something of the heart and soul of Saint Thomas here is just one example of his great eucharistic hymns, composed for the Feast of Corpus Christi. Perhaps even more than his great theological treatises -- works of art as well -- we see the fervent and simple faith that filled every fiber of his being! Alongside the ultimately untranslatable Latin of Saint Thomas I give the incomparable attempt at such a translation -- by the priest-poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins.

ADORO TE DEVOTE by Thomas Aquinas

LOST, ALL LOST IN WONDER Translation by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Adoro te devote, latens Deitas Quae sub his figuris vere latitas. Tibi se cor meum totum subiicit, Quia te contemplans totum deficit. Visus, tactus, gustus in te fallitur, Sed auditu solo tuto creditur: Credo quidquid dixit Dei Filius: Nil hoc verbo veritatis verius. In Cruce latebat sola Deitas, At hic latet simul et humanitas: Ambo tamen credens atque confitens Peto quod petivit latro poenitens. Plagas, sicut Thomas, non intueor; Deum tamen meum te confiteor; Fac me tibi semper magis credere In te spem habere, te diligere. ¡O memoriale, mortis Domini! Panis vivus, vitam praestans homini: Praesta meae menti de te vivere, Et te illi semper dulce sapere. Pie pellicane, Iesu Domine, Me inmundum munda tuo Sanguine: Cuius una stilla salvum facere Totum mundum quit ab omni scelere. Iesu, quem velatum nunc aspicio, Oro fiat istud quod tans sitio: Ut te revelata cernens facie, Visu sim beatus tuae gloriae. Amen

Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore, Masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more, See, Lord, at thy service low lies here a heart Lost, all lost in wonder at the God thou art. Seeing, touching, tasting are in thee deceived: How says trusty hearing? that shall be believed; What God's Son has told me, take for truth I do; Truth himself speaks truly or there's nothing true. On the cross thy godhead made no sign to men, Here thy very manhood steals from human ken: Both are my confession, both are my belief, And I pray the prayer of the dying thief. I am not like Thomas, wounds I cannot see, But can plainly call thee Lord and God as he; Let me to a deeper faith daily nearer move, Daily make me harder hope and dearer love. O thou our reminder of Christ crucified, Living Bread, the life of us for whom he died, Lend this life to me then: feed and feast my mind, There be thou the sweetness man was meant to find. Bring the tender tale true of the Pelican; Bathe me, Jesu Lord, in what thy bosom ran--- Blood whereof a single drop has power to win All the world forgiveness of its world of sin. Jesu, whom I look at shrouded here below, I beseech thee send me what I thirst for so, Some day to gaze on thee face to face in light And be blest for ever with thy glory's sight. Amen.

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Luke Fr Golden Jubilee

Sunday, 25 January 2009

Fr Luke Golden Jubilee

Homily for the Conversion of St Paul, 25 January, 2009 11.00m

(Fr Luke’s Golden Jubilee of his Ordination to the Priesthood)

To begin with some facts and figures! St Paul was born two thousand years ago and that is why this year by special permission from Pope Benedict we are allowed to celebrate this feast of his conversion instead of our usual Sunday Mass.

Next, Rabbie Burns was born two hundred and fifty years ago today.

And, more immediate to us at Nunraw, fifty years ago today Fr Luke was ordained priest.

Fr Luke was actually ordained on a Sunday and the Mass, like this year was of the Conversion of St Paul and not as we would expect the Ordination Mass. Perhaps he had reason to identify with St Paul. (I can say that because he’s not here.) Fr Luke is taking his anniversary quietly because his health is frail and he is unable to attend long services like our Community Mass. But there will be an appropriate joint celebration for, and with him, later in the Community refectory. He will certainly need his walking stick after that! This Mass is being offered for him and his intentions.

When talking about his ordination day, Fr Luke, true Scot that he is, reminded me that it was Rabbie Burns’ birthday too. He hoped that Burns might have said of him, “A man’s a man and a monk for a’ that”.

But now to that other man, St Paul. Last year, on the feast Sts Peter and Paul when the Pope proclaimed a special Jubilee Year in honour of St Paul’s birth, he expressed a hope that we would reflect on Paul’s life, his writings, and on his message for the church in our own world today.

An initial examination of Paul’s personality and letters show that he was both a source of unity and of division among believers. He was a bold theologian with a deep understanding of the mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection. In the Second Letter of Peter we are told that Paul had written according to the wisdom given him but warned that there were some things hard to understand in them

Reflection on Paul became the soul of Christian theology both in the East and the West. In the sixteenth century a new understanding of Paul, influenced by various historical factors, abuses in the church, and so on, helped to give rise to the Reformation, the effects of which are still with us. Over the past hundred years, however, matters have improved in the understanding of Paul and of the bible generally through the better study and understanding of the Word of God. The ecumenical movement came to birth during that time and has helped us understand past divisions. There have been agreed statements between Catholics, Anglicans and the Reformed churches as to what Paul meant in his own day. They have looked at how Paul’s teaching can give us an appreciation of the Christian message and also how to work towards the unity which Paul himself strove for within the early church. It cannot be accidental that the feast of the Conversion of St Paul occurs within the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

Paul was fearless in preaching the death and resurrection of Christ for the salvation of the human race. He stood firm in his defence of what he understood as God’s will. He fought his battle at times single-handed. And he could break with friends and colleagues on the matter, as with Barnabas and Mark. He was warm-hearted, but could be blunt and frank, as he was with the Galatians. But Paul was nothing if not an honest-to-goodness human being who wanted the best for his fellow Christians and his hearers.

At the end of Paul’s life he was imprisoned. He was made to suffer for the gospel he preached. Yet his message still remains good for us today that the word of God is not chained. It is our lifeblood. It is a spur to greater freedom and fulfilment, whatever the suffering we may have to endure. For Paul, we see the love of God for each and every one of us ‘in Christ’ and ‘through Christ’. That is Paul’s message, one that remains true for us in our own world today.

Cf. The Legacy of the Apostle Paul: Reflections on the Bi-Millennial Jubilee of His Birth by Martin McNamara MSC (Scripture in Church #153, Jan-Mar 2009, 113-4,124-5.)

Homily by Abbot Mark.

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1 comments:

Maureen said...

Donald
Thank you for the Blog on Fr. Luke. I was with him yesterday and he let me see it. He was very chuffed!

Maureen CP.