The Wind and Fire of Pentecost by Fr. Edward o.p.

Dear Fr. Edward,

Thank you
for the breathing of this Pentecost.
Sancta Maria Abbey: http://www.nunraw.com.uk (Website)    
Blogspot :http://www.nunraw.blogspot.co.uk |

domdonald.org.uk 

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Fr. Edward
To: Donald
Sent: Saturday, 18 May 2013, 23:13
Subject: More lines

Dear Donald,

A poem for tomorrow and a poem for next Sunday!

Blessings from

fr Edward 

--
Father Edward Booth O.P.

Iceland.

The Wind and Fire of Pentecost

The wind and the fire were more than terrestrial:

they disturbed nothing, burnt nothing.

The wind was mighty but damaged the house not at all;

the fire did not burn those on whose heads it settled.

The fire was more firelike than fire

and the wind more windlike than wind.

For fire is dangerous when not limited

especially when its tongues come to dance in the grate,

and the wind shares more of the power of the Spirit than still air.

The fire's ultimate source was light itself:

it could burn, but here it illuminated powerfully mind and heart,

sealing those in Spirit on whom it appeared.

Wind needs a moveable object to show its power,

but this wind was rushing and powerful,

signifying the great force of its source,

yet it moved nothing.

How it had hovered, bird-like, protectively over creation:

merekapheth: protectingly, shieldingly,

transforming creation to homeliness -

all for its two viewers and their stock.

But they were too impatient, too self-aware  

when the Creator himself said,

"Do not experiment with what you contemplate;

possess it by knowledge and

savour it in your mind¨!

Real fire is warming, nature's wind is cooling:

elemental presences for

elemental people.

The angels had fire and invisible wind within themselves

marking the limits of allowed experience.

The pair wanted the warmth of the fire and the cool of the wind.

They wanted the fire as protection and warmth

for what it suggested of homeliness,

a place of rest and remission from their waking hours.

Their spiritual progeny returned at Pentecost

to make the world homely under the Spirit and found the Earth not too cold:

"See it, regard it; it will always remain with you ... !"

The protection of fire and its ambiance returned with the freshness of Spirit

from deep sources as soul-meant and indifferent.

Oh, keep those eyes sharp!

Put your skin in the wind -

to stimulate the blood vessels without ordering the times

but more to keep mind and senses awake to their Source.

Do not seek to possess them

but savour their presence,

and be savoured yourselves

from the great range of gifts

accompanying the Messiah

both manly-wise and womanly-wise.

Accept those gifts to play on your mind and heart

and ascend to the peak of a new Creation:

the gifts of the Lord are given without repentance! (Rom 11,29)

Fr. Edward O.P.

Stykkishólmur

For the Eve of Pentecost 2013

Ascension Thursday - Sr. Jo. Holy Land Journal

Summit of Mount of Olives.
Tallest belfry of Russian Orthodox Sisters,
to right, Church of PATER NOSTER

Dear Jo,
It is a wonderful experience of the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord being celebrated  at the Mount of Olives in the Imbomon (aidicule)  Chapel or the Mosque. 

As in the pilgrimage in May 2004, I recall neither or Cross or Crescent showing,as the Muslims recognise  Jesus' Ascension but not His Crucifixion.

Maybe there are more of the pictures from the countless Pilgrim/Tourist Websites. 

You obviously had exciting negotiating  access to Mount of Olives.
ICN, Independent Cathilc News had the worrying report, "

Holy Land: Church leaders denounce violence against Christians at Easter service Church leaders in the Holy Land have issued a statement protesting after Israeli armed forces were deployed at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City last Saturday as Orthodox Christians celebrated Easter. Israeli police set up check points and deployed heavily in the Old City, said Dimitri Diliani, head of the National Christian Coalition in the Holy Land. Diliani said Israeli security forces were also present in the church and on its roof... He said Israel was trying to stop Christians from performing rituals that they have carried out for centuries

The surprising good coverage  of is from the Malta Franciscan Website  

difficulties of the Franciscans being allowed in and out of the Old City, and had to find a solution.
 Feast of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives

May 13th, 2010 @ 10:04 |

FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT IN THE HOLY LAND

On Thursday 13 May the Franciscans of the Holy Land Custody celebrated the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord on the Mount of Olives. The celebrations were conducted by Fr. Artemio Vítores ofm, Custodial Vicar, at the “Imbomon”, or small dome-like structure in the form of an Aedicula, that marks the spot from where Jesus ascended into heaven. 
Happily you were next to the bus terminal in Nablus Road.  
Your Email is so reassring and all goes well.
Yours... ... Donald.   

http://www.fotosearch.com/photos-images/mount-olives.html 

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Jo McG...
...

Sent: Sunday, 12 May 2013
Subject: Ascension

Dear Sisters and Brothers, We celebrated  THE  ASCENSION  last Thursday and I was delighted to hear that the Franciscans would be celebrating the Eucharist at 9.30am on the site where the Ascension took place. When our group had visited the PATER NOSTER CHURCH high up on the   Mount of Olives, the Sister had told us that the actual site was a little way up the hill but we could not go there as the Moslems have possession and don't allow pilgrims to enter! So Christians today remember the Ascension at the Pater Noster Church. We were all a bit disappointed!   However, there is one day in the year when the Moslems allow the Christians to enter and celebrate which, of course, is Ascension Thursday. What a blessing to be here for this special feast!  So, two of our student Srs. and myself left at 7.45 to catch the local bus up to the summit which today is quite a built-up area. Fortunately, I had read up about it so I didn't get a shock when we entered into a very plain circular courtyard with a simple wall around it. In the centre was a smallish, circular "chapel" with a solid, grey dome on top.  On closer inspection, I saw that the lower half was actually octagonal in shape and had eight beautiful marble columns and arches.  This is all that is left of the beautiful Church of the Ascension built by the Crusaders. They had left the roof open to the skies but the Moslems had built the dome over it.  About ten of us entered at one time Imbomon, Ascension Mass   and the first thing I saw was the Ascension Rock (part of the floor) with a small railing around it. Some kissed it, others touched it with one or both hands while praying and others touched it with holy objects or clothing.  There was no time to reflect inside as many were waiting to come in but we had a good hour, sitting in the courtyard,to reflect on the momentous event which had taken place here when Jesus returned to His Father. Wall around Chapel of the Ascension, Jerusalem The Franciscans had had Sung Vespers here at 4.30pm on the eve and were allowed to have an all-night vigil but none of the Srs. went for that! Twenty priests, mostly OFM's, concelebrated the 9.30am Eucharist inside the "Chapel" while the congregation stood around outside. How they and the various servers managed to fit in is a mystery! It was a Latin Mass with the choir, again many OFM's, so I felt "at home". It was another very memorable and prayerful experience! Deo Gratias! I wonder what the Lord has in store for PENTECOST! May it be a very special feast for all of you! Love, Jo.  fmm

Our Lady of Fatima SISTER LUClA "We believe"

Monday 13^th May 2013

Our Lady of Fatima

MAGNIFICAT com.

Sr. Lucia

MEDITATION OF THE DAY

by SISTER LUClA

"We believe"

To say "pilgrims of Fatima" is the same as saying pil­grims of peace; I am told that there is a language in which the word "Fatirna" means "peace". At all events, we are all pilgrims of peace. We all desire and long for peaceful days, to be able to live in peace. But this peace will not be achieved until we use the Law of God as the norm and guide of our steps ....

The first call which God addresses to us through his Messenger is ... a call to  faith: My God, I believe.

Faith is the basis of the entire spiritual life. It is by faith that we believe in the existence of God, in his power, his wisdom, his mercy, his work of redemption, his pardon and his fatherly love.

It is by faith that we believe in God's Church, founded by Jesus Christ, and in the doctrine the Church trans­mits to us and by which we shall be saved.

It is the light of faith that guides our steps, leading us by the narrow way that leads to heaven.

It is by faith that we see Christ in others, loving, serving, and helping them when they are in need of our assistance.

And it is also our faith that assures us that God is present within us, that his eyes are always upon us. They are eyes of Light, almighty and immense, which extends everywhere, sees everything, and penetrates all things with the unique clarity proper to the Divine Sun alone, as compared with which the sun which we see and which warms us is no more than a pale reflec­tion, a fragile spark emanating from the Light of the immense being which is God.

Sister Lucia (+ 2005) was a Carmelite nun and the oldest of the three children to whom Our Lady of Fatima appeared in 1917 .

Holy Land: Church leaders denounce violence against Christians at Easter service

Holy Land: Church leaders denounce violence against Christians at Easter service

Posted: Sunday, May 12, 2013 11:25 am

Email  Print

Church leaders in the Holy Land have issued a statement protesting after Israeli armed forces were deployed at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City last Saturday as Orthodox Christians celebrated Easter. Israeli police set up check points and deployed heavily in the Old City, said Dimitri Diliani, head of the National Christian Coalition in the Holy Land.  He said Israeli security forces were also present in the church and on its roof. Some Israeli press reported that that the forces were deployed in order to stop a riot. Diliani said Israel  was trying to stop Christians from performing rituals that they have carried out for centuries each year on Holy Saturday and of trying to erase the Christian identity in Jerusalem. In a statement, the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem said: We, the Heads of Churches in Jerusalem, watched with sorrowful hearts the horrific scenes of the brutal treatment of our clergy, people, and pilgrims in the Old City of Jerusalem during Holy Saturday last week. A day of joy and celebration was turned to great sorrow and pain for some of our faithful because they were ill-treated by some Israeli policemen who were present around the gates of the Old City and passages that lead to the Holy Sepulchre. We understand the necessity and the importance of the presence of security forces to ensure order and stability, and for organizing the celebration of the Holy Fire at the Church of the Resurrection. Yet, it is not acceptable that under pretext of security and order, our clergy and people are indiscriminately and brutally beaten, and prevented from entering their churches, monasteries and convents. We urge the Israeli authorities especially the Ministry of Interior and the police department in Jerusalem, to seriously consider our complaints, to hold responsibility and to condemn all acts of violence against our faithful and the clergy who were ill-treated by the police. We deplore that every year, the police measures are becoming tougher, and we expect that these accidents will not be repeated and the police should be more sensitive and respectful if they seek to protect and serve. We also denounce all those who are blaming the churches and holding them responsible of the Israeli measures during Holy Week celebrations. On the contrary, the Heads of churches in Jerusalem condemn all of these measures and violations of Christians’ rights to worship in their churches and Holy Sites. Therefore, we condemn all measures of closing the Old City and urge the Israeli authorities to allow full access to the Holy Sites during Holy Week of both Church Calendars. The Heads of Churches of Jerusalem +Patriarch Theophilos III, Greek Orthodox Patriarchate +Patriarch Fouad Twal, Latin Patriarchate +Patriarch Norhan Manougian, Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Patriarchate +Fr Pierbattista Pizzaballa, ofm, Custos of the Holy Land +Archbishop Anba Abraham, Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate, Jerusalem +Archbishop Swerios Malki Murad, Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate +Aba Fissiha Tsion, Locum Tenens of the Ethiopian Orthodox Patriarchate +Archbishop Joseph-Jules Zerey, Greek-Melkite-Catholic Patriarchate +Archbishop Moussa El-Hage, Maronite Patriarchal Exarchate +Bishop Suheil Dawani, Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East +Bishop Munib Younan, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land +Bishop Pierre Melki, Syrian Catholic Patriarchal Exarchate +Mgr Joseph Antoine Kelekian, Armenian Catholic Patriarchal Exarchate

COMMENT: The Ascension is a mirror of Christmas

Thursday, May 10, 2013
Following the previous on Ascension and Christmas we find the headline of Pastor Iuventus from the Catholic Herald, 'The Ascension is a mirror of Christmas'.
Quote: The Catholic Herald. May 10, 2013

PASTOR  IUVENTUS

The Ascension is a mirror of Chritmas.

The true affirmation of our human dignity is not that every human aspiration is equal ... assurance that he is with is still, that this love is more real than ever and closer than ever by virtue of being deep within us not through the perception of our sense but through the gift of his eternal Spirit dwelling deep within us.

Somewhat bizarrely then, we can say that the Ascension is closely related to the joy of Christmas. It is a kind of mirror image of that feast. At Christmas we wonder at the miraculous gift of the Son of God who, divesting himself of his glory, is sent to dwell within human nature. On the Ascension we wonder at the miracle of that human nature, which is to be drawn back into the glory of God, losing nothing of all that it has become. We who can identify so strongly with a God who is a baby in a manger, need to understand that today is the same kind of celebration; not of departure, but of arrival- of completion of the admirable .commercium - the wonderful exchange of which the Fathers of the Church speak. God has become man be sharing in our life, not so that man might simply be affirmed and allowed to carry on as hitherto, but so that man might achieve the full­ness of what God's gift and closeness offers, to become a sharer in God's own life.

The Incarnation and the Ascension are not mythological, a God who lives high in the clouds and who in Greek god fashion comes among us only to leave us again to return Olympian heights. No, the real journey, the "Way" Jesus refers to it is the one of almighty love. He who is high, infinitely far above us, has come to be where we are, so that we might be where He is, if we aspire to a value which is greater than that which is below, than that which is naturally ours, a value made present in him and his way of being.

The true affirmation of our human dignity is' not that every human aspiration and behaviour is equal, not that every authority must give way to what any individual sees as his right, the real affirmation of human dignity is in that God who is high, beyond its  reach, has come down but in coming down has not ceased to be high, mighty, holy, full of love. Even in his lowest descent, even as the grain of wheat which dies, which lies hidden in the earth, he remains truly God, he reveals his glory. This descent of

God is not something to which are entitled as the natural beneficiaries, but is made possible by his Spirit of Love, the same spirit of Love which accomplished Jesus's descent and Incarnation can make his glory dwell in me.

Another headline follows below.

Sunday, May 16, 2010  Fr Ray Blake's Blog

Under-Celebrating the Ascension

I think we under-celebrate the Ascension, I think it should be as great feast as Christmas.
At Christmas True God enters the world in a human body, at the Ascension True Man enters heaven in a human body. It is not simply "that God goes up with shouts of joy" but that Jesus Christ, the God-Man, goes "up".
In this feast we celebrate Man's entry into Heaven, the corollary to this feast is the Assumption: where Christ our Head has gone, there the Body, Mary the type of the Church, follows.
Today we celebrate flesh and blood in Heaven, sitting at the right hand of God. Quite what this "flesh and blood" is, we do not know, as we don't know what our own glorified bodies will be like.
At the Incarnation the All-Knowing emptied himself and took on human Not-Knowing, the Divine who knew but was incapable of experiencing death, pain and suffering today takes on that experience and ascends to Heaven with it.
In the icon, 9th cent Sinai, note thee relationship with the figure of Christ and his mother her out-stretched praying hands reach up trying to follow.

Two kinds of life St. Augustine Blogspot

Saturday 11th May Sixth of Easter

Two Kinds of Life

Catholic Radio Dramas » Sermons of the Saints » A – Aug » Augustine » Two Kinds of Life

http://catholicradiodramas.com/saints/a-augustine/augustine/two-kinds-of-life/

From a Treatise on John by Saint Augustine, Bishop (354-430)

Two Kinds of Life

0.6474334627855569

Narrated by Frank Dugan, Huntington Beach, California

The Church recognizes two kinds of life as having been commended to her by God. One is a life of faith, the other a life of vision; one is a life passed on pilgrimage in time, the other in a dwelling place in eternity; one is a life of toil, the other of repose; one is spent on the road, the other in our homeland; one is active, involving labor, the other contemplative, the reward of labor.

Peter by Pierre Puget, 1659

John at Pathmos by Cano, 1650

The first kind of life is symbolized by the apostle Peter, the second by John. All of the first life is lived in this world, and it will come to an end with this world. The second life will be imperfect till the end of this world, but it will have no end in the next world. And so Christ says to Peter: Follow me; but of John he says: If I wish him to remain until I come, what is that to you? Your duty is to follow me.

You are to follow me by imitating my endurance of transient evils; John is to remain until my coming, when I will bring eternal blessings. A way of saying this more clearly might be: Your active life will be perfect if you follow the example of my passion, but to attain its full perfection John’s life of contemplation must wait until I come.

Perfect patience is to follow Christ faithfully, even to death, but for perfect knowledge we must await his coming. Here, in the land of the dying, the sufferings of the world must be endured; there, in the land of the living, shall be seen the good things of the Lord.

Christ’s words, I wish him to remain until I come, should not be taken to imply that John was to remain on earth until Christ’s coming, but rather that he was to wait because it is not now but only when Christ comes that the life he symbolizes will find fulfillment. On the other hand, Christ says to Peter: Your duty is to follow me, because the life Peter symbolizes can attain its goal only by action here and now.

Yet we should make no mental separation between these great apostles. Both lived the life symbolized by Peter; both were to attain the life symbolized by John. Symbolically, one followed, the other remained, but living by faith they both endured the sufferings of this present life of sorrow and they both longed for the joys of the future life of happiness.

Nor were they alone in this. They were one with the whole Church, the bride of Christ, which will in time be delivered from the trials of this life and live for ever in the joy of the next. These two kinds of life were represented respectively by Peter and John, yet both apostles lived by faith in this present, passing life and in eternal life both have the joy of vision.

Last Supper - Ghirlandaio, 1480

And so for the sake of all the saints inseparably united to the body of Christ, to guide them through the storms of this life, Peter, the chief of the apostles, received the keys of the kingdom of heaven with the power to bind and loose sins; and for the sake of those same saints, to plumb the depths of that other, hidden life, John the evangelist reclined on the breast of Christ.

For it is not only Peter but the whole Church that binds and looses from sin; and as for the sublime teaching of John about the Word, who in the beginning was God with God, and everything else he told us about Christ’s divinity, and about the trinity and unity of the Godhead, which now, until the Lord comes, is all like a faint reflection in a mirror, but which will be seen face to face in the kingdom of heaven – it was not only John who drank in this teaching that came forth from the Lord’s breast as from a fountain. All who belong to the Lord are to drink it in, each according to his capacity, and this is why the Lord himself has spread John’s gospel throughout the world.

Source: The Liturgy of the Hours – Office of Readings:

That Mary reigns from Heaven intimately linked with the Earth. Fr. Edward OP's Marian Lines

----- Forwarded Message -----

From: Fr. Edward

The Lady Cloister - Nunraw Abbey ...

To: Donald ....

Sent: Sunday, 5 May 2013, 1:10
Subject: Some more Marian Lines

Dear Father Donald,

You might have some interest in these lines, which I managed to write straight into the computer in a day filled with computer problems, though I think I avoided the devil who can expand   trivialities into a cause for what they call "computer rage". It is actually a shortened version of something much longer which I could not drive to a conclusion. Perhaps a copy for H...?

Blessings in Domino,

fr Edward O.P.

Dear Fr. Edward,

Thank you.

It is the Month of May for Mary.  

Foot on serpent
(Genesis 3:15).  

The title of your inspiring poem sets some wheels spinning for reflection.

The lines of “That Mary reigns from Heaven intimately linked with the Earth” are impelling me to read between the lines and find the impressions you describe as ‘her visits in all their modalities’.

So far in my life, I was not tempted to compose poetry but, after your lines, Mary thoughts in the cloister came to mind. I am the door-keeper. First in the morning I switch on the light on the Lady-Cloister. 

At the shrine, in passing I touch the foot of Mary upon the serpent, to be reminded of her care of all souls. 

Of late, I change the view and move higher, and touch hand to hand of Mary – and that becomes a live open-sesame contemplative moment.

It must be the makings of a poem. At least, the pictures may serve the purpose! (Photos)

 ...touch hand to hand
of Mary

At Nunraw 1946, the statue of the Blessed Virgin of Mary, Our Lady Immaculate was given by the abbey of Roscrea. It became the Salve Regina  statue in the wood hut first Chapel of the community in the foundation. After the construction of the abbey, one of the cloisters designated the Lady Cloister.

In Dno.

Donald

That Mary reigns from Heaven intimately linked with the Earth

Our Lord shares with his Mother a special access to the Earth.

John, as the disciple of praedilection wrote up at the end of his gospel

an account of those appearances in Galilee.

Despite the wounds on his feet and side, no doubt protected by a clean scab,

his familiarity with them was complete, and

over the series of scenes by the lakeside

a heavenly reality has descended

protectively,

and for the future

hopefully.

From the moment when Jesus as stranger raised his voice

in instruction of where to fish, the apostles were at ease.

Relations were re-established in a heavenly mode.

But where he existed humanly invisible

before and after the encounters

one could only assert that he moved to and fro'

between there beyond and here below.

The reality was undeniable, the heavenly haven sure but not then reached;

only after the intervention of death.

Mary, his mother most dear, passed into the same mode after her death

as a quasi "Dormition".

So the allegorised Apocalypse encounter

would have encountered Mary as assumed into heavenlyness,

though allegorising the pastness:

the Son being more the Body Mystical

in closest union with the real Body reigning in heaven.

Like an angel sent across the border between time and space

and their transcendental, God-contained causes.

She spoke the languages, even the dialects of her contacts:

indigenous Mexican to Juanito, French Basque patois to Bernadette,

even Saxon to the Hwiccian swine-pastor, Eoves, at Evesham.

The clothes sought to be familiar yet with higher dignity.

So she passed that same border to be welcomed,

any initial fear being swiftly despatched.

As an Angel and more (their Queen!),

her visits in all their modalaties have an extended significance

overflowing with purest hope:

she brings heaven with her, and its presence arouses the purest of desires.

No negativity in the presence of terrestriality

for one reigning in celestiality.

Where Christmas is celebrated in Australasian mid-summer,

or in the coldest blizzards of Artica and Antarctica

and their high-mountain equivalents - Kilimanjaro in Kenya!

Bringing the consolation of fraternity and sorority

to those Canadian oblates of hers, "Oblates of Mary Immaculate",

with a punishing winter rigour reaching out to an ice-melt probably precedented.

She is not more touched in her essentialies than those who enjoy

a homeland Christmas feast meant for a passing cooling.

John was given a vision of the heavenly reality of Jerusalem

descendiong on the earth.

A structure diamond-walled, with pearl-gated entrances

opened with permanence, with its non-seasonal unchangingness,

moonless and sunless,

but lit - Oh marvel! - by the Glory of God and the Torchlight of the Lamb,

with no night, with medicinal trees meant as a cure-help to the pagans.

There were signs of human presence, but celestialized into beings of praise.

No descriptions in detail because they had been transformed

into sublime participations of God.

Mary is not located there, but appears as begetting the Church,

menaced by a dragon seeking to drown her Son with his water-filled belly.

She was transferred to a desert place before the end.

Her non-presence coincides with the inhabitants of those hardly filled streets.

They are by choice all given over to self-emptying praise:

filled completely with God and his over-shining Lamb.

Mary remains the watcher over the earth where she reigns;

waiting for her sendings.

Fr. Edward OP
Stykkishólmur