Father Faber

Frederick William Faber

Library collection of Fr. Faber. In 1946 at the foundation of Nunraw, the Mother-House of Roscrea sent a consigment of library books containing the hardbacks of Fr. Faber’s. All for Jesus The Precious Blood Bethlehem The Blessed Sacrament The Creator and the Creature Growth of Holiness Spiritual Conferences The Foot of the Cross (8 vols., London, 1853-1860). Some of the old volumes are now the worse of wear, and are in need of by better reprints. From the old print I found this riveting reading from: All for Jesus, Frederick FABER pp. 97-79 "ALL FOR JESUS CHAPTER IV. INTERCESSORY PRAYER. What goes to the saving of a soul ―-what is involved in a soul being saved the mystery of prayer―So Gertrude's vision of the Ave Maria―the three instincts applied to tile practice of intercessory prayer―for whom we should intercede―1. for those in mortal sin―2. for the Iukewarrn―3. for the saints on earth―4. for those in tribulation―5. for our benefactors―6. for those aiming at perfection―7. for (he increase of the accidental glory of the blessed―8. for the rich and noble―the time, place, and method of intercession―joy and freedom from vain―glory the fruits of intercessory prayer. SECTION 1. THE SAVlNG OF A SOUL. LET. us see what goes to the saving of a soul, and what is involved in its being saved. In the first place, it was absolutely necessary that God should become man, in order that that soul should be saved, according to the dispensation of God. It was absolutely necessary that Jesus should be born, teach, act, pray, merit, satisfy, suffer, bleed, die, for the saving of that single soul. It was necessary that there should be a Catholic church, faith, sacraments, saints, the Pope, and the sacrifice of the Mass, for that one soul. It was necessary that there should be a supernatural gift, a marvellous participation of the Divine Nature, called sanctifying grace, and that on this should be accumulated loving acts and impulses of the Divine Will, in the shape of manifold actual graces, preventing, accompanying,· following, and efficacious, else that soul cannot be saved. Martyrs must die, doctors must write, Popes and councils must expose and condemn heresy, missionaries travel, priests be ordained, for the safety of that single soul. When all these preparations are completed, and by an act of merciful omnipotence that soul is created out of nothing, then there must be a guardian angel appointed over it; all through its life Jesus must be occupied about it; Mary must have a great deal to do with it; all the angels and saints must pray and interest themselves about it. To every good thought, pious word, and devout action, and, of course, they soon come to be innumerable, a participation of the Divine nature, grace, must concur. Unseen evil spirits have to be warded off from it, and foiled in their attempts upon it. Hourly temptations have to cause more or less emotion among its advocates in heaven. Every attribute of God vouchsafes to legislate for its advantage, so that it plays upon them all like one who fingers the keys of a musical instrument. The Precious Blood has to be communicated to it through extraordi­nary sacraments, which are full of mystery, and were invented both as to form and matter by our Lord Himself. All sorts of things, water, oil, candles, ashes, beads, medals, scapulars, have to be filled with a strange undefinable power by ecclesiastical benedictions in its behalf. The Body, Soul, and Divinity of the Incarnate Word have to be communicated to it over and· over again till it becomes quite a common occurrence, though each time it is in reality a more stupendous action than the creation of the world. It can speak up to heaven, and be heard and obeyed there. It can spend the satisfactions of Jesus as if they were its own, and can undo bolts and bars in Purga­tory, and choose by its own determinate will whom it will liberate, and whom it will pass over. And all the time it is so near to God, and its heart is a place so sacred and so privileged, that none but God Himself can communicate grace to it, not even the angels, nor the Mother of God herself, blessed throughout all ages. . . ."

"Saving of a Soul". These last words, " none but God Himself can communicate grace to it , not even the angels, nor the Mother of God herself, blessed throughout all ages.", are so obvious but, at the same time, I am surprised by illumination in this basic of faith.
Maybe Faber radiates, from his Italian and Oratorian tradtion, his immersion of spirituality and devotion, while, on the other hand, Newman reflects the very distinctive apologia for sincere searching.

On the Heralic Shield of the Diocese of Paisley has the motto "FOR THE GOOD OF SOULS". The Bishop Emeritus, John Mone, used to speak on the theme of the intercession for souls.

Joseph-Marie Cassant

June 16, 2009 Blessed Joseph-Marie Cassant This morning on this Memorial Fr. Thomas introduced the Mass by the amazing catalogues of Blessed Fr. Joseph-Maria’s record of successes of intercession of prayer for healings and favours. Thomas made the striking contrast between the abundance of attributed favours by the concealed monk and the dearth of miracles to promote the Cause of John Henry Newman of such renown. Later, after saying it would be ironical if a miracle occurred in favour of Fr. Faber, Thomas said it may not because the popular Faber was better showing off himself. I had to admit my likeness of Frederick Faber’s at least eight substantial spiritual works, ‘All for Jesus’ etc. In the booklet “Blessed Joseph Cassant” the writer Jean Christophe-Christophe comes to this surprising peak in: “Beyond Death Three months after his death, the unexpected recovery of a pregnant woman who was operated on for cancer, was already attributed to Brother's intercession. Other favours followed and in 1926, a small book entitled "Two Flowers of the Desert" made him more widely known. From 1903 to 2001, there were recorded four hundred and eighteen interventions on his part: conversions, reconciliations, cures or notable improvements in health, success in studies, material favours. From 1936 to 2001 one thousand eight hundred fifty messages were received, coming from thirty countries, all of which testify to admiration and confidence towards "the dear little Father." The accumulation of these signs caused official inquiries to be made at Toulouse, Agen and Rome. They concluded on June 9th 1984 by granting a decree recognising the heroicity of the virtues of Brother Marie Joseph and on October 3rd 2004 he was beatified by Pope John Paul 11.” The Booklet, Blessed Joseph Cassant, is one of the ‘Nine Biographical Profiles of Servants of God, Cistercian Witnesses of Our Time’, published by the Sisters, Trappiste, Vitorchiano, Italy. Dec 2008. The essential spirituality, ‘First of all Jesus’ is that of both Spiritual Father, Andre Malet, and disciple, Joseph-Maria, (from the cup two doves, symbolizing Father Andre and his disciple, quench their thirst). I think of the Novice Master, Fr. Andrew Hart, at Nunraw. Andrew would lend the Novices the manuscripts of one Andre Malet’s writings. Fr. Andrew has succeeded keeping awake after the Night Office by translating Malet’s La Vie Surnaturelle 1933. Hopefully I will find the whole of the lost copy. “The message of his Life: First of all Jesus Brother Marie Joseph goes straight to the essential: personal relationship with Jesus. He understands intuitively, that God searches for us and saves us in the celebration of the Eucharist. His life is an offering of self to the Father and everything then becomes intercession. In his suffering, he looks at the cross of Jesus, each morning he desires the Bread of Jesus, at every moment he can count on the Heart of Jesus. How many times in his correspondence does he not allude to this Heart of Jesus to which he confides himself without restric­tion, himself and all those he loves! A holy card modified by himself manifests his attachment to the Eucharist and to the Heart of Jesus. On the top there is a cross planted in a burning and radiating heart, encircled with thorns; from this heart fall drops of blood that are gathered in a chalice reminiscent of the Eucharist; from the cup two doves, symbolizing Father Andre and his disciple, quench their thirst. “The spiritual father (or mother) Brother Marie Joseph reminds us also of the indispensable presence of a guide or spiritual companion. Without Father Andre Malet, the young monk would not have attained the stature and the balance of a human and Christian life. Father Andrew knew how to enlighten and channel Brother's generosity, to free him little by little from his anxieties and a sort of "inferiority complex" arising from his difficulty with studies. But right away one must underli­ne the complete confidence and frankness of the young monk towards his counsellor. He could be helped because he practiced in an exceptional way "openness of heart".

Corpus Christi

CORPUS CHRISTI 2009

When God threw the planets into space and set the universe turning we can imagine the angels being filled with wonder and praise, especially so when the jewel of this earth evolved - the waters, the dry land; the mountains and hills; the plants and animals; and finally man himself. The whole story is wonderfully told for us, of course, in the first chapters of Genesis. Then, as the history of mankind progressed, the Angels observed hints of another new creation that must have whetted their appetite for something even more wonderful.

First of all they observed the mysterious “Tree of Life” in the midst of the Garden of Paradise, a tree that gave the gift of immortality to whoever partook of its fruit. Then there was that prophetic sacrifice of bread and wine offered by the shadowy figure of Melchizedech. Then there was the unleavened bread of the Exodus, a bread that become a central part of Israel’s liturgical life. Then there came, of course, the wonderful bread from heaven in the desert.

By this time we can imagine the angelic intelligences realising that this is all leading up to some great work of the Lord to come in the future. But what on earth could it be? Were these images of “Bread” foreshadowing ‘Someone ‘or ‘Something’? Are angels given to guessing? I wonder. They couldn’t realise yet that the Eucharist itself was part of this great evolving plan; part of that Great Secret of the Incarnation of the Son of God, hidden from all ages.

But, to continue our journey through the history of revelation; after this there was the “Bread of the Presence” which had to be placed before the ark of the covenant at all times, then, in the time of Gideon there was the mysterious dream of a great round of bread rolling down on the camp of the enemies of Israel and utterly destroying it. Surely all these stories revolving round bread have some Eucharistic significance!

Next comes one of the most beautiful and powerful images of the Eucharist in the whole of the old Testament: the scene where the prophet Elijah, fleeing for his life and collapsing into a sleep of exhaustion in the shade of a desert bush, is wakened by an angel to find bread and water by his side and the angel telling him to rise and eat or the journey will be too much for him.

But what we can be very sure of is that no matter how great the intellects of the Angels, no matter how high in the order of being the Cherubim and Seraphim, they could never have dreamed of the wonder that this was actually leading up to, and how, even they must have been astonished and filled with wonder and praise at Miracle of the Body and Blood of God Incarnate becoming Bread and Wine to nourish the children of God on their journey to their heavenly homeland. Are there any limits to the Loving Omnipotence of our God.

Community Sermon in Chapter

by Dom Raymond Sunday 14 June 2009

Saint Lutgard

It is the Memorial day of Saint Lutgard.

We remember St. Lutgard for her blindness in sight and her mysticism in light of inner sight. We enjoy hearing of her mystical life. In the Gospel this morning (Mt. 5:43) seems in great, contrast “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”.

Whether we hear words of poetry, mysticism or Scripture we are guided and enriched in the liturgical unfolding.

In the Night Office the Response and Verse to the 1st Nocturne of Office of Virgins so well present the sense of Lutgard,

“The Kind has desired the beauty which he himself has made; He is your King and your Spouse.

V. You are wedded to your God and King by whom you are endowed, adorned, redeemed and made holy”.

We enter into the Eucharist in the love to ‘wed to God’

Thomas Merton had thoughts of revising this book.

Previous Post 16 June 08. Add COMMENTS

Newcastle History Group

Saturday 13 June 2009. The Northern East Catholic History Society Summer Excursion The Guest House was full of weekend residents. Charles guided the History Group through to the historic Chapel. His talk of the Painted Ceiling which is full of Heraldry of the Holy Roman Empire and Animals and Flowers, I took the photos of everyone looking to the ceiling heights. What I love the better are the Liturgical Symbols. Once, during Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, I looked up to the painting and for the first time I discerned the Pelican feeding its chicks in one panel, and on the next panel the figure of the Gazelle, the beautiful Scriptural expression of swift and leaping in spirit, Both symbols are replete with reflection in this little Oratory. From that signature key the panoply of Heraldry of States of Europe seems make the Communion of the Saints present. I promised to forward photos in Attachments by email, or in a Blog. Since it was the Eve of Corpus Christi some walked, others b y the coach, through the drive. And Dom Raymond celebrated the Mass i n the more spacious Abbey Church. From: Grace of History Group. Date: Sunday, June 14, 2009, 2:44 PM Dear Father Donald Many thanks for your email. The photos you have so kindly sent are great souvenirs of a fascinating building and a wonderful community. To hear Corpus Christ Vigil Mass in such a setting was a rare privilege. I also enjoyed the Nunraw blog and will show that and the photos to Fran k, my husband, who enjoyed Nunraw as much as I did. With a ll best wishes to you and to all at Nunraw God bless you and all your work Grace

Balmerino Abbey

Welcome Publication

CITEAUX Commentarii cistercienses

2008, t. 59

Life on the Edge
The Cistercian Abbey of
Balmerino, Fife (Scotland)

A monastery is not just the cluster of buildings enclosed within the monastic precinct. It is also the community - religious and lay - who inhabited it, the complex of lands, rights and privileges assembled to sustain that community, and the interaction with notables and neighbours whose influence helped shape its history.

The small Cistercian abbey of Balmerino, on the southern shore of the Firth of Tay in north Fife, has long languished in relative obscurity, consigned to a supporting role in Scottish monastic studies with dismissive comments based on the fragmentary nature of its physical and documentary history. Current research is demonstrating how wrong that interpretation is. These chapters will present a diametrically opposed view of the significance of the surviving record and its value as a source of evidence for the social, economic and environmental history of Balmerino Abbey specifically and the wider region more generally.

_____________________
See also

Posted: Tuesday, 9 June 2009
At Balmerino Abbey, Fife. 9th. June 1997.

Recalling - THE FOURTEENTH CENTENARY of St Columba

REVIEW Christian Muslim Obama

19 Martyrs pictures below.
and more detail in post TUESDAY, 19 MAY 2009

REVIEW

Christian Martyrs for a Muslim People

by Martin McGee

At the anniversary of the Seven Atlas Martyrs I was fortunate to catch up with the “forthcoming” book of Martin McGee. At weekend it was a joy to read it from cover to cover. The space for an Amazon review has the stamp of brevity but it does note the importance of the significance of Mgr. Henri Teissier. The

Archbishop’s teaching on inter-faith recently adds strength from a surprising source.

The headlines in June 2009 were, “Obama reaches out to Muslim world”, “President Obama calls for greater inter-faith harmony”. The now famous address in Cairo must warm the heart of Teissier. Obama emphasized that “the people of the world can live together in peace. We know that is God's vision. Now, that must be our work here on Earth.” He made revisions to the speech up until the last minute.

Martin’s book does not carry a sub-title of “19 Martyrs of Algeria”. Its unambiguous title is, “Christian Martyrs for a Muslim People”, and has a much wider range of the Christian-Muslim relations of closer mutual respect, service, friendship, and prayer.

In April 2005 Martin first visited Algeria following a strange attraction and love for the people of Algeria. This book is not some mere travelogue. After his first visit, he described his experience to Mgr Henri Teissier, Archbishop of Algiers, as the la plus belle semaine de ma vie - the best week of my life. Several visits followed and he wrote articles which now feature in this volume.

"The Algerian Church (167).

The key and most powerful influence is that of Mgr Henri Teissier. Much of the significance of this book is essentially the instillation of the thought, comprehension, and spirit of the Archbishop of Algiers, later retired. Between the lines, and more specifically in the Addresses of Mgr Teissier (Appendices), the reader grapples with the vision and the rare insight of this dedication of ‘Christian Martyrs for a Muslim People’. The incisive conclusion to the address, given by Mgrr. Teissier in Italian to a missionary Congress held in Brescia, Italy on May 17, 1997. (155-167), is but a window to his writing).

A hundred years ago the emigration of a European people and of a European population to the south of the Mediterranean brought about the birth of a Church in Algeria. But this Church was, in fact, concerned above all by pastoral work with Christians of European origin. That is why in 1868, when Cardinal Lavigerie founded the White Fathers and the White Sisters, he forbade them to make contact with the European parishes. He sent them into the country regions and to the Muslim districts. Finally, at the end of the colonial period and more particularly with the major crisis in society, all the inhabitants of European origin left. There only remained a few people with a strong evangelical motivation. They are not here to establish a Church in Algeria, but to be the Algerian Church, the Church of Algeria, the Church of a Muslim people. Before the assassinations, the addresses of Archbishop Henri and the talks of Prior Christian of Tibhirine, were purified in the crucible of threat, persecution and long suffering and united in mind and heart and soul."

The blood bath of Algeria1994-96 abated. The current situation of January 2007 is summed up, “The number of active Islamic guerrilla fighters is thought to be approximately eight hundred to one thousand, down from a high of 25,000 at the height of the civil war in the mid-1990s. In January 2007, the GSPC changed its name to the Al-Queda Organization in the Islamic Magreb.” (19).

I take from the 19 brief biographies two vignettes of the brutal terrorism on the people, - the assassinations of four of the White Fathers, Dec 27, 1994, and the assassinations of two of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Apostles, Sept 3. 1995, are examples.

The targets of the four White Fathers died in the multiple motivation. It is possible that the fundamentalists were hoping to kidnap the four priests as a reprisal for the killing of four Islamists who had hijacked an Air France plane at Algiers airport a few days earlier on December 24.(59). The reaction this time was a mass response to the killing terrorists.

The White Fathers of Tizi-Ouzou.

“An elderly White father said after the funeral of his assassinated brothers, “I turned towards the Father, giving thanks during the burial of my brothers, the four victims of Tizi-Ouzou. I recall the closed shops along the route of the funeral cortege, and the silent crowd who joined it as far as the cemetery. Imagine ... four Christian missionaries led to their resting place by a crowd of [about 4,000] Muslims; and even more, on entering the cemetery, this crowd emitting youyous and applauding as if for their own martyrs.

Msgr. Teissier, present to the concourse of sympathetic Muslims, was able to find the words which expressed fully the meaning of this demonstration by affirming: "The Mission of the Church is to find and raise up brothers." That's exactly, it seems to me, what this gathering expressed, a witness to a love which had been recognized and shared. This moment will remain the summit of my missionary life, a luminous memory until the end of my existence.” (58).

Sisters Angele-Marie and Bibiane.

The Sisters, on their quiet walk from the Eucharist, were slain beyond any humanity. As they lay in the street dying gunned down no one dared to go to their aid. That is the depth of terror by which people were reduced by the Islamic extremism.

Fear Reigned (Pere Lafitte). “At the time of the killing of the Sisters, Islamic violence was at its height and fear reigned … Despite the fact that the Sisters were universally loved and admired in Belcourt, people were too frightened to show their support after their deaths. Pere Lafitte had to move their belongings with only the help of two religious, one of them elderly. There was only one elderly woman from the area who had the courage to help them. At their funeral there weren't even ten Algerians. Everyone was terrified of the consequences of being seen to oppose the Islamists. . ."You had to leave people to die”. (53-54)

(As I recall the occasion, in October 1996, at the Cistercian General Chapter at Tre Fontane, Rome, Henri Teissier preached the Homily in the remembrance of the Seven Atlas Martyrs. Among introductory comments he said, “I think there is no other monastery in the world which has such a general relationship with the members of the local Church. In this very small Church all had a personal bond with the monastery”).

The venture of Martin McGee in “unexpected places” gives us, in thought, access to the places of Muslim life. “At the very least my short visits to North Africa have given me the ability to see Muslims as fellow believers and as brothers and sisters made in the image and likeness of the one God. A monastic vocation can lead you to the most unexpected places!”

In September 2008 a new publication brings to English readers fuller information and deeper insight in the book, “Christian Martyrs for a Muslim People” by Martin McGee OSB. Books about the assassinations are mostly from the Francophone writers. Martin McGee, in spite of the forbidding aspect, has been attracted in a special way to Algeria and his various trips lead him to a deeper love of the people in Algeria.

Response: REVIEW Christian Muslim
Dear Donald,
That is such an important piece of writing at this time. I love the honour paid to the Atlas Community.
It is a most fascinating, and essential, step towards the "wider range of the Christian-Muslim relations of closer mutual respect, service, friendship, and prayer". How greatly Fr. Christian and his Brothers would welcome this publication, and these new initiatives, which extend the mission of their lives. . . . William.

Date: Sunday, June 14, 2009, 8:11 AM
Dear Donald,
I have enjoyed reading the Article you posted: Christian Martyrs for a Muslim people. Thank you. . . .invited me to visit Nunraw, so maybe in the next few weeks I will get to read the book upon which the article is based. . . .Peter

Trinity

Solemnity Holy Trinity -
Community Chapter Sermon by Br. Celestine

The One and Triune God

At the heart of the Trinitarian controversies of the fourth century is the underlying difficulty inherent in the Christian adaptation and appropriation of the Hellenistic idea of divinity and also its essential Christological constituent – the question of the full deity of the Son. Though there are a significant number of biblical texts bearing on the Trinitarian faith, the scriptures do not present any unequivocal and explicit doctrine concerning the triadic mystery of God. Though they speak of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, they do not give us any systematic formulation or proffer terminologies like “person,” ‘nature’ or ‘substance’ to explain the concept.

The present creedal confession is a result of vast theological reflection on God as tripersonal Being. Without adding to the scriptures, the fathers of the Church exegeted divine revelation to provide answers to issues like the ontological distinction in the Father ,Son and the Holy Spirit; the status of the Son of God, the relations of nature and person etc. The post New Testament reflection on faith employed the scriptural insights and philosophical reason to understand the created order, human life and God’s salvific acts in human history. That is why the present creedal confession presents the Trinity in terms of the divine self-communication in creation and salvation history – through the mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit as the true revelation of the inner Trinitarian life of God

The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central and supreme mystery of the Christian Faith and life. It is not just another mystery of the Christian faith. In fact, there are not many mysteries of all kinds, but only a single mystery. This is the mystery present in all mysteries and the light that enlightens them. The Triune mystery is an all inclusive reality which encompasses the entire Christian economy of salvation. The whole universe and salvation history is all about the Trinity unfolding so as to enfold us.

It is the mystery that exists in God Himself and thus it is the ground and foundation of all mystical realities. This mystery is not just a kind of celestial arithmetic pulse to be solved, but a depth of live to be entered into. It is the very life of God which flows into us now (John 14:15-16), and which we hope to share eternally. That is why when we are baptised as Christians we are baptised into the very life of God Himself.

All creation bear the trace of the Trinity and humans are in the image of the Trinity. What is the implication of this statement for us? What is the spiritual and practical importance of the Trinity for our daily living as Christians? If the human person is grafted into the very life of the Trinity; then the way we relate to the persons of the Trinity should be judged by the way we relate to one another.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Clare Melinsky, artist, 1,400th. Commemoration Stamp

Recalling - THE FOURTEENTH CENTENARY of St Columba
At Balmerino Abbey, Fife. 9th. June 1997.

Scotland's Apostolic Age

Abbot Donald McGlynn, Nunraw, East Lothian, gave the following homily during a Mass at Balmerino in Fife, to mark the 1400th Anniversary of the Death of St Columba.

TO MARK THE FOURTEENTH CENTENARY of St Columba, here at Balmerino, we go back much further than the medieval monastery. In fact these celebrations are part of the preparations for the 2nd Millennium which puts it into the wider Christian context. And from that point of view Balmerino gives us an interesting intersection in the historical paths by which Christianity came to this country.

First with regard to St Columba, I have to declare an interest. I have had some kind of a spiritual accompaniment or link with Columba all my days. Historians regard the period as a minefield, but I have wandered down quite unharmed. Not being an historian, I got top marks in secondary school for an essay on Columba.

My first primary school was dedicated to Dallan Forghaill who wrote the great "Elegy of Colum Cille", Amra Choluimb Chille. When I was nine or ten, long before I learned that St Dallan was a chief poet and a classic figure of the bardic class, I had made the pilgrimage to his chapel on the little island of Inniskeel on the Atlantic coast of Donegal. There he had lived until he was martyred by sea raiders.

Dallan's Elegy may have been written before the death of Columba. It is the earliest source and therefore, not surprisingly, my feelings for St Columba respond much more to the image given by St Dallan than to the political figure of the Irish Annals, or to that of the biographer Adamnan upholding the abbatial importance of Iona, or to that of Bede the Venerable writing over 100 years later. The picture of Columba as the man of God living the hidden monastic life, with the occasional missionary foray, rings much more true to his vocation than the high profile semi-political king-maker and nation-builder of the other chronicles.

Dallan's Columba is above all a scholar¹s saint. He emphasised not his miraculous powers but his learning. He also refers specifically to Tayside. "His blessing turned them, the mouth of the fierce ones who lived on the Tay, to the will of the king". I don't know exactly what he means by describing these tribes of the Tay as "fierce mouthed". It is intentionally obscure and difficult because, the story goes, Columba would only agree to Dallan writing about him in that incomprehensible bardic style. The roots of obscure 'Irishism' go a long way back. My guess is that Columba made a notable pastoral visit to Tayside and was welcomed by the Christians already there.

Reputation

I am going to bypass the historical researchers and the literary analysts, who after all have every reason to question the meagre fragments of actual history in contrast to the abundant hagiography. I am going to bypass them or transcend their narrow interest by beginning with a significant question.

If some one had so many miracles and wonders attributed to them as Columba, how did he get this reputation? If some one had so much sanctity and scholarship credited to them as Columba, how did he get this fame?

If someone had his relics carried into battle to guarantee victory as often as Columba, how did he get this influence? If one can find all this and more attributed to St Columba in the hagiography, then one can ask the question what was the spiritual stature of the man? This must have been a mighty man to be placed in the light of so many great deeds and associated with almost every step of progress of evangelisation in Scotland, whether or not he was directly involved! And that surely is the clue.

Spiritually he could well have had a part in the building up of the Body of Christ because of the power of his prayer, because of the merit of his holiness. Because of that inner prowess of soul, which is open to every Christian, his life could go on bearing fruit beyond his death.

Think of another centenary marked this year. The first 100 years of a very different example of that fruits of the inner life, St Theresa of Liseaux, who died in 1897, said she would spend her heaven doing good on earth.

Pre-History

Balmerino's prehistory demonstrates in a special way this inner aspect of things and gives us the opportunity to celebrate this fourteenth centenary of St Columba as being also a time to honour all those named and unnamed saints who implanted the Gospel, bit by bit in the various parts of this land.

It is strange that in Adamnan's 'life' the close colleagues of Columba and his relatives do not get mention; St Catan, St Moluag, St Blane, St Machar, St Donnan. Independent operators, so to speak, are named as friends, St Kenneth and St Cormac and others include St Kessog in the Trossachs with Monk's Island on Loch Lomond, St Serf in the Ochils with his island retreat on Loch Leven. St Ternan probably worked out of Abernethy, St Kenneth at St Andrews, St Adrian on May Island and his Firth of Forth neighbour St Baldred of the Bass Rock. St Regulus, St Fillan, St Mucolinus and so on.

These are only names to most of us, which may be as well in view of the countless anonymous monks, nuns, hermits and servants of God who all shared in the building up of the Body of Christ in these parts. Balmerino is interesting in this regard because the evangelisation of these parts cannot be claimed by either St Columba or St Ninian. Balmerino has always been linked with Abernethy just six miles to the west and the significance of Abernethy is that it became the centre and key to the story of the conversion of the Pictish people of this eastern and northern part of Scotland.

Beginnings

The beginnings of the work of evangelisation from Abernethy are no less obscure than those of Iona or Whithorn, from both of which it was quite independent. But its importance is confirmed by the fact that the King of the Pictish Kingdom moved his capital from near Inverness to Abernethy. Only at later stage was the royal seat and the ecclesiastical centre moved to Dunkeld, and to that place they brought the relics of Columba to reinforce its standing and precedence over Iona.

The whole point of recalling all this is to appreciate the fact that there were a great number of unsung evangelists who had already brought the light Christ into the lives of the people in many places in the east of Scotland. At least eighty men and women have been identified as being actively evangelising the country before Columba left Ireland.

These Christian pioneers literally covered the land with hundreds of churches and chapels before the Iona mission began.

Divisions

In fact, in the debate as to whether Columba or Ninian rightly deserve the accolade of the apostle of Scotland, a very strong case has been made out for a third alternative. It is possible that it is Abernethy, rather than Iona or Whithorn, which is the true cradle of Christianity in Scotland.

At a certain level there were rivalries between the different groups. At an important point of change in the Church, as we in the post-Vatican II era can understand, these rivalries became more dramatic, as at the Synod of Whitby in 664AD. Loyalty to St Columba, a virtue in its time and place, became obstinacy against the new ways and the acceptance of Roman adaptations of the old Celtic customs.

Later centuries were to see an even greater exaggeration of these rivalries in sectarian prejudice and the rewriting of the story of our Saints and scholars to support a favoured position. Apart from all this very human context, what should inspire us today is the vision of this extraordinary communion of saints working away quietly under the inspiration of God, according to the special grace and charism of each one, and not as part of any great bandwagon or powerful institution, even as worthy as that attributed to Columba.

The edifying stories of St Columba are no exaggeration when seen as the affirmation of those qualities and gifts given by God to all these hidden saints and on offer to each one of us who believe. All the feats of sanctity, all the heroic dedication to prayer, all the spiritual power of inner life of these Saints are gifts of the Holy Spirit in every age of the Church.

Dedication

These are all the qualities of soul, more often hidden and anonymous, without which there can be no Church of any kind. Here is a spiritual dynamism in the Church which calls each one of us to recognise our indebtedness to God in an absolute manner. There is no other explanation of the course of life of St Columba and those early servants of God. Unless, like them, we feel brought to our knees, at least in mind and heart, several times each day we may wonder if we have any soul, any humanity, any of that sensitivity which is the special character of these saints.

Therefore we are not concerned to romanticise Columba or our Scottish Saints but to venerate their following of Christ, their intensity of prayer, their perseverance in living in God's presence, their practical penance and example of charity. It was because of this genuine hidden dedication of their lives that God blessed their work of evangelisation with such fruitfulness.

Or was it the other way round, that God blessed their lives with an evangelisation which they themselves would never have conceived? We have been inundated with documents and instructions on 'evangelisation' for the second millennium. The early pioneers may never have heard the word.

As for the glory, as for the external applause of Columba that seems to been cultivated by his over-zealous followers. These clerics were not much unlike their present day successors in "not letting the facts get in the way of a good story".

Well we should not let the stories get in the way of the good facts in the case of Columba himself, and go on from there to recognise the potential of the more ordinary, normal experience of the saints and of the faithful. That is the hidden life which is lived so simply and so totally in the presence of God that it begins to be literally, "life hidden with Christ in God".

Challenge

The fruitfulness of the Saints is directly related to their purity of heart, their hunger and thirst for the true, the good and the beautiful, their union with God.

It is the great challenge of evangelisation in today's world. The Church can only bear fruit; can only bring the gifts of God; to all those who desire them if there are souls, convinced of the power of prayer and filled with the love of God and of each person. The challenge today more than ever is like the struggle of "rowing through the infinite storm", to use the graphic imagery which Columba derived from the surrounding sea of Iona.

The hymn "Adjutor Laborantium", (help of those who labour) may well have come from his pen. "I beg that, trembling and most wretched, rowing through the infinite storm of this age, Christ may draw me, a little man, after Him to the lofty most beautiful haven of life".

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Note:
BALMERINO – an historical study of the ancient Scottish Cistercian Abbey has just been published.
Life on the Edge: The Cistercian Abbey of Balmerino, Fife (Scotland) (Citeaux - Commentarii Cistercienses) (Paperback). by Piers J. Dixon (Author), Richard Fawcett (Author), Matthew H. Hammond (Author) Paperback: 150 pages. Publisher: Citeaux (30 Jun 2009)

Clare Melinsky, artist, 1,400th. Commemoration Stamp, used by Royal Mail 1997.

Colum Cille

Feastday of Saint Columba

9 June St. Colmcille

In the Introduction of the Community Mass, I mentioned that the Pope has appointed someone as Special Envoy to Derry, Cardinal K.P. O’Brien.

(Papal Envoy named for Long Tower celebration
VATICAN, April 24, 2009-- Benedict XVI is sending Cardinal Michael Patrick O'Brien as his special envoy to the centenary celebration of the foundation of Long Tower Church in Derry, Northern Ireland. The archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, Scotland, will preside at the event June 9. Dedicated to St. Columba, the Church is built on the site where Mass has been said since the 12th century. The current structure was first built in 1783, and then remodeled in 1810. Additional changes were made in 1909, including the addition of new stained glass windows, a baptismal font and a new sacristy. The centenary marks 100 years of the present building. (Zenit))

From the Lectern looking towards the Altar Rails, there are 4 Crosses.
The teak wood furnishing originated from the Church of the Royal Naval Base, Rosyth Dock.
Three Crosses are of Andrew, George and David.
The 4th one is the Cross of St. Columba, a Celtic Cross. Andrew, George and David donate to the British & NI flag, the Union Jack.

Columba is the man-out.
Columba was sent to exile and lived on his island.
As a powerful and charismatic character he was better off in Iona.
The source of his amazing reputation was not from politics but from the hidden life of the monastery.
The mighty influence flowed from his prayer, his spiritual and inner life which radiate to the people.

Today as we share in that life of monastic life, we turn to the mystery of Eucharistic adoration and sacrifice.





On the eve of the Feast of St. Columba, I found the Homily, of Monday 9th June 1997. It is interesting to recall and Attach a copy on the next.

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