Visitation - Ein Karem 2 - Ratisbonne Sisters

Tuesday, 16 April 2013

Ein Karem - Visitation, Ratisbonne Convent of Sisters of Sion

Courtyard of the Church of the Visitation, with the Magnificat in many languages.

Church of the Visitation, Jerusalem

The Church of the Visitation on Ein Karem.  Photo  Nir Nussbaum.

Said to be built over the home of John the Baptist's parents, the Church of the Visitation stands high up on the hillside of Ein Kerem in Jerusalem. From here there is a wonderful view of the valley and the surrounding wooded hills.          http://www.sacred-destinations.com/israel/jerusalem-church-of-visitation.htm        

----- Forwarded Message -----From: Jo McG. . . .
To: Donald . . . . .
Sent: Saturday, 13 April 2013, 21:25
Subject: Fw: Ein Karem
 

Dear .. . . ., Tues. 26March....Our morning was occupied with three more interesting lectures on the Gospel of JOHN. In the afternoon, we caught our bus to  EIN  KAREM, a village on the outskirts of Jerusalem. We went first to the SION CONVENT on the summit of a hill overlooking surprisingly green valleys and bare mts. I thought how difficult it must have been for Mary to travel all the way from Nazareth to visit her cousin Elizabeth - no tarmac roads as today! The Srs.of Sion welcomed us and then explained the various buildings and their apostolate There are three communities here all living the same charism - the apostolic cty.,the small contemplative cty. and the Brothers of Sion.They have a large guesthouse as their ministry is mainly one of Welcome. We then had some free time to pray in the contemplative Chapel or wander in the well-kept,spacious garden - an oasis of peace,ideal for prayer. From there,we walked down the steep hill into the village centre, a hub of activity,and walked up an even steeper hill to the CHURCH OF THE VISITATION. On a long,fairly high wall in front of it are many "Magnificats"in the various languages.We then entered the Lower Church, fairly small with some colourful paintings - Zechariah in the Temple, Mary meeting Elizabeth,etc. The larger Upper Church was much more impressive, beautifully decorated with several murals. I was very happy to be in this holy place and, in union with Mary, we all joyfully sang the "Magnificat". At 8pm, we had a very meaningful and prayerful Reconciliation Service in the ideal place, the LITHOSTROTOS. DEO GRATIAS for another memorable day! Yours . . .  Jo.  + + +

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Donald . . .
To: Jo McG . . .
Sent: Monday, 15 April 2013, 21:01
Subject: Fw: Ein Karem and pictures

My dear Josephine,

Many thanks for the Ein Karem on the 'Journal'.

It is lovely, and sets all the memories of the places, Visitation, Sion Convent, St. John Baptist, John in the Desert.

Google map opens up every nook and cranny. The technology is astonishing.

Hopefully I will insert some of the pictures to your Email but for the moment I am  diverted by simply viewing the abundance, not least the hospitality we do enjoyed with the Sisters Ein Karem convent.
Yours  . . .

Donald.

https://plus.google.com/103439693104000894172/about?hl=en  

  

  

Ein Karem (Visitation and Othodox Churchs) viewed from Sion Convent

  

Les Soeurs de Notre-Dame de Sion   http://sion-ein-karem.org/   

Ratisbonne tomb,
Ein Karem

The monastery of Les Soeurs de Notre-Dame de Sion (Sisters of Our Lady of Zion)   founded by two brothers from France, Theodore and Marie Alphonse Ratisbonne, who were born Jewish and converted to Christianity.^[15] They established an orphanage here. Alphonse himself lived in the monastery and is buried in its garden. 

Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie-Alphonse_Ratisbonne

In 1858 Ratisbonne established the Convent of Ecce Homo in the Old City of Jerusalem for the Sisters of Sion. In 1860, he built the Convent of St. John on a ...

Mary's Spring  

Traditional site of Mary's Spring

According to Christian tradition, this village fresh-water spring is the location where Mary and Elizabeth met. The spring waters are considered holy by some Catholic and Orthodox Christian pilgrims who visit the site and fill bottles with its waters. The spring was repaired and renovated by Baron Edmond de Rothschild. Arab inhabitants also built a mosque on the site, of which the maqam (shrine) still remains.

To be continued .....  

Google Ein Karem

Resurrection Body 1 Cor. 15;42 St. Catherine of Siena

Ordinary Time: May 29th

 
Wednesday of the Eighth Week of Ordinary Time

Night Office

First Reading      I Corintians 15:35-58

Responsory                                             1 Cor 15:21-22; 2:9

Just as death came through one man, so the resurrection of the dead came through one man. + For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be brought to life.

V. Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor human heart conceived what God has prepared for those who love him. + For as in ...

Alternative Reading

From The Dialogue of Catherine of Siena

It is the desire of the blessed ones to have once again the gift of their bodies. But it is not a troubled desire, because although they do not have them now they are happy in the certainty that their desire will be fulfilled. They are not troubled, for they experience no pain or lack of happiness in not having them. Do not think either that the body's happiness after the resurrection will add anything to the soul's happiness. If this were the case, it would follow that the soul's happiness would be imperfect until the return of the body. But this cannot be, for these souls lack no perfection. It is not the body that brings happiness to the soul. The soul, though, will give happiness to the body: her own fullness will overflow when on the final day of judgment she puts on once more the garment of her own flesh, which she had left behind.

Just as the soul was made immortal and firm in me, so in this reunion the body will become immortal, its heaviness cast off and made fine and light. The glorified body could pass through a wall, and neither fire nor water could hurt it. But know that this is not due to its own power but to the soul's - which is really my own power given her by grace through the unspeakable love with which I created her in my image and likeness.

The good of these souls is beyond what your mind's eye can see or your ear hear or your tongue describe or your heart imagine. What joy they have in seeing me who am all good! What joy they will yet have when their bodies are glorified! But while they do not have this latter good until the general judgment, they do not suffer. They lack no happiness, for the soul is filled, and in this fullness the body will share.

I have told you of the good the glorified body will have in the glorified humanity of my only-begotten Son, and this is the guarantee of your own resurrection. What joy there is in his wounds, forever fresh, the scars remaining in his body and continually crying out for mercy to me the high eternal Father, for you! You will all be made like him in joy and gladness; eye for eye, hand for hand, your whole bodies will be made like the body of the Word my Son. You will live in him as you live in me, for he is one with me. But your bodily eyes, as I have told you, will delight in the glorified humanity of the Word my only-begotten Son. Why? Because those who finish their lives delighting in my love will keep that delight forever. Not that they can do any further good now, but they rejoice in the good that they have brought with them. In other words, they cannot do anything deserving of merit, for it is only in this life, by the choice of free will, that one can either merit or sin.

These souls wait for divine judgment with gladness, not fear.

And the face of my Son will appear to them neither terrifying nor hateful, because they have finished their lives in charity, delighting in me and filled with good will toward their neighbours. The different appearances of his face when he comes in my majesty for judgment will not be in him but in those who are to be judged by him. To the dammed he will appear with just hatred, but to the saved, with mercy and love.

+ + + + + + + + + + 

Catherine of Siena: The Dialogue (The Classics of Western Spirituality)

by St. Catherine of Siena, Suzanne Noffke (Editor)

4.19 of 5 sCatherine of Siena (1347-1380), wrote her crowning spiritual work, for "the instruction and encouragement of all those whose spiritual welfare was her concern."

Google Goodread.
Comment from Steve:  She was 23 when she dictated this, in a state of ecstasy, to the other nuns, having achieved a depth of understanding of the divine that hardly a nonagenarian can claim. She died 10 years later, at the same age at which Our Lord was crucified. St. Caterina, probably starving and living off of only the Eucharist as she was known to do, is able, in this remarkably, remarkably dense work, to grasp concepts that few of us could have drawn out with full stomachs. She, or, I should say, the Lord dictating through her, is not only a first-rate philosopher but a first-rate poet. Dr. Johnson says somewhere that the surest sign of genius is its use and understanding of metaphors; by this standard, St. Caterina is truly honored as a Doctor of the Church.

I was expecting, in read a work of mysticism, to encounter new ideas, ones I hadn't considered before, in other words, revelation. After all, this is purportedly the Lord speaking to her, and through her to us. And while this is the case, instead, St. Caterina spells out the logical consequences of what has already been revealed long before even her time. Hence there is complete consistency here, despite poetic novelties, and these theological truths can be glimpsed by human reason examining revealed truth. Do not be afraid: this is not nearly as weird a book as one dictated by a woman in ecstasy might sound.

Holy Trinity Sunday 2013 - Homily by Fr. A...

  

 Holy Trinity Sunday 2013, Benediction 

Sunday, 26 May 2013

The Most Holy Trinity – Solemnity – Year C 

Most Holy Trinity   May 2013 26

Prin. Celebrant, Fr. Aelred

Mass Introduction;

‘Most ancient of all mysteries, before your throne we lie; have mercy now most merciful, Most Holy Trinity.’

These words from a hymn for the feast of the Holy Trinity express very well what our sentiments should be for today’s celebration.

Homily

From Christmas to Pentecost the Church’s liturgy takes us through the major events in our Lord’s life His birth and ministry., His passion and crucifixion, His resurrection, ascension and the sending of the Holy Spirit on the apostles During this time, but in a more subtle manner, the nature of the one true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit is also being revealed to us. That is why the Church asks us on this one Sunday of the year to reflect on this central mystery of our faith, rather than a particular incident in the life of Jesus.

In the OT a popular theme with biblical authors was that of Wisdom. At an early stage, wisdom was largely a practical matter, counsels about how to succeeded in this life, or how to cope with suffering and loss. Then Israel realised that such qualities were a gift if God and could only come from him, and that these same qualities are in God to a supreme degree. It became common for wisdom to be personified. Today’s reading from Proverbs looks at the role of Lady Wisdom in creation. This speculation about wisdom can be seen as a groping towards the revelation of the mystery of the Trinity.

In the Gospels, many hints about the Holy Trinity are given us. Jesus is conceived of a Virgin through the Holy Spirit, or out-going love of God the Most High. The birth’s miraculous manner prompts us to call the Child the Son of God.

At the Baptism the Spirit is manifested descending on the Son, and and the Father’s voice is heard. And at the Last Supper in St. John’s gospel, we are given some of the most beautiful and profound chapters in the whole of the NT about the inner life of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

For St Paul Christian life is Trinitarian. Through our relationship with the Son, we have access to the Father, who sends us the Holy Spirit. We are caught up into the life of the Being who is beyond imagination, but whom Scripture tells us is love itself. And in Christ the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given us.

So the Christian revelation gives us a glimpse into the heart of the Godhead itself. It shows us a life of interpersonal relationships spirit in outpouring love. A life of unimaginable richness. And it tells us that our own human fulfilment is found at the deepest level by entering into these loving interpersonal relationships, with God and with one another.

Although Christians share in the indwelling life of the Trinity, we must not think of the omnipresent God constantly watching us like the ubiquitous security camera. Rather, God watches over us, an altogether more lovely feeling. This awareness that the Triune God is watching over us comfort in times of sadness, strength in times of weakness, and hope in times of despair.

Prayers; conclusion;

Heavenly Father’s,

Guide our wayward hearts,

For we know that left to ourselves

we cannot do our will.

We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen

Père Jacques ter STEEGE o.c.s.o. (1929 – 2013)

Pray for Father Jacques, better known at Latroun, friend during Donald’s visit

Kasanza

Friday, 26 April 2013 15:30

April 20, 2013 : Father Jacques ter Steege was born in 1929 in Rotterdam

(The Netherlands). He entered Achel in 1951, made his solemn profession in 1953 and was ordained a priest in 1956. 

He was sent to Kasanza (RDC) in 1959 and made stability there. 

He lived in the Monastery of Latroun (Israël) since 1994. 

Father was 84 years old, had been in monastic vows for 61 years and 56 years a priest when the Lord called him.

Père Jacques ter STEEGE

o.c.s.o.

(1929 – 2013)

Père Jacques ter STEEGE, qui vient de nous quitter à l’âge de 84 ans, a vécu parmi nous à Latroun à peine 19 ans, soit la dernière tranche de sa vie. Il nous arriva le 09.10.1994, croyant trouver un monastère dont le climat soit adapté à sa santé. Il ne se trompait pas. Il s’est intégré facilement à notre communauté, mais il a tenu à garder son appartenance can ………..

OBITUARY in Latroun Chronique 

Sr. Mary Anthony Levi R.I.P. Hyning

With sympathy and prayer with the Sisters at Hyning, after the real shock, as no one was expecting the death of Sister Mary Anthony.
In her great spirit, she is now ushering her sisters and brother to the faith in the glory if the eternal Trinity - (in our hearts on Holy Trinity Sunday).

Monastery of Our Lady of Hyning
http://www.bernardine.org/news.html

They say a week is a long time in politics and at the moment we can certainly sympathise with that view at Hyning this week. In the midst of the devastation in Oaklahoma, the shock of the attack in Woolwich, we were shocked by the death of Sr. Mary Anthony. Some of you will know by now that Sr. Mary Anthony died on Wednesday evening at 5:30 p.m. Her funeral will be at 2pm Friday 31st May. She was taken ill suddenly on Thursday evening and died on Wednesday 22nd May. On Monday we were told it would be a question of weeks but by late afternoon on Wed we were told it was very close. So it seems very sudden in the end. She leaves a massive gap in our community and in the wider community of oblates and guests. It's still hard for us to take in but the funeral has been confirmed for 2pm Friday 31st May at Hyning. The reception of the body is at 4:30 pm on Thursday 30th combined with evening prayer. There will be a special Vigils at 8pm focussing on her life. If you can't attend the funeral you are very welcome to attend the other services. It would be really helpful if people can let us know if they are attending so we can know for seating and catering purposes. If you need accommodation (limited places) please contact Sr. Mary Bernard at hyningbookings@yahoo.co.uk.

Sr. Mary Anthony Levi R.I.P.

The community count very much on your prayers at this time. She was very peaceful and full of faith right to the end. Once she realised that the Lord was calling her to Him, she said yes very simply and kept faithful right to the end. As headteacher and Superior at Slough, as a foundress in Africa and as Guest Mistress at Hyning for many years her impact has been immense and it has been a privilege for all of us to hear some of the stories people have been remembering about her. We count very much on your prayers at this time. People are welcome to sedn flowers or to make a donation to our community in the Congo, where Sr. Mary Anthony lived for several years.

You can also find our group on facebook, Bernardine Cistercians. We have 326 members! (4 joined this week so please add more!) Don't forget to join our group if you are on Facebook!

Light, radiance and grace are in the Trinity and from the Trinity ...its resplendent grace.

Breviary

http://www.ibreviary.com/m/breviario.php

Sunday, 26 May 2013

http://revprs.blogspot.co.uk/2008/05/alleluia-sing-to-jesus-17.html 

The Most Holy Trinity

READINGS

FIRST READING

From the first letter of the apostle Paul to the Corinthians
2:1-16

The great mystery of God’s will

As for myself, brothers, when I came to you I did not come proclaiming God’s testimony with any particular eloquence or “wisdom.” No, I determined that while I was with you I would speak of nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified. When I came among you it was in weakness and fear, and with much trepidation. My message and my preaching had none of the persuasive force of “wise” argumentation, but the convincing power of the Spirit. As a consequence, your faith rests not on the wisdom of men but on the power of God.

There is, to be sure, a certain wisdom which we express among the spiritually mature. It is not a wisdom of this age, however, nor of the rulers of this age, who are men headed for destruction. No, what we utter is God’s wisdom: a mysterious, a hidden wisdom. God planned it before all ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age knew the mystery; if they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory. Of this wisdom it is written:

   “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard,
   nor has it so much as dawned on man
   what God has prepared for those who love him.”

Yet God has revealed this wisdom to us through the Spirit. The Spirit scrutinizes all matters, even the deep things of God. Who, for example, knows a man’s innermost self but the man’s own spirit within him? Similarly, no one knows what lies at the depths of God but the Spirit of God.

The Spirit we have received is not the world’s spirit but God’s Spirit, helping us to recognize the gifts he has given us. We speak of these, not in words of human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, thus interpreting spiritual things in spiritual terms.

The natural man does not accept what is taught by the Spirit of God. For him, that is absurdity. He cannot come to know such teaching because it must be appraised in a spiritual way. The spiritual man, on the other hand, can appraise everything, though he himself can be appraised by no one. For, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.


SECOND READING

From the first letter to Serapion by Saint Athanasius, bishop
(Ep. 1 ad Serapionem 28-30: PG 26, 594-95. 599)

Light, radiance and grace are in the Trinity and from the Trinity

It will not be out of place to consider the ancient tradition, teaching and faith of the Catholic Church, which was revealed by the Lord, proclaimed by the apostles and guarded by the fathers. For upon this faith the Church is built, and if anyone were to lapse from it, he would no longer be a Christian either in fact or in name.

We acknowledge the Trinity, holy and perfect, to consist of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In this Trinity there is no intrusion of any alien element or of anything from outside, nor is the Trinity a blend of creative and created being. It is a wholly creative and energizing reality, self-consistent and undivided in its active power, for the Father makes all things through the Word and in the Holy Spirit, and in this way the unity of the holy Trinity is preserved. Accordingly, in the Church, one God is preached, one God who is above all things and through all things and in all things. God is above all things as Father, for he is principle and source; he is through all things through the Word; and he is in all things in the Holy Spirit.

Writing to the Corinthians about spiritual matters, Paul traces all reality back to one God, the Father, saying: Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in everyone.

Even the gifts that the Spirit dispenses to individuals are given by the Father through the Word. For all that belongs to the Father belongs also to the Son, and so the graces given by the Son in the Spirit are true gifts of the Father. Similarly, when the Spirit dwells in us, the Word who bestows the Spirit is in us too, and the Father is present in the Word. This is the meaning of the text:My Father and I will come to him and make our home with him. For where the light is, there also is the radiance; and where the radiance is, there too are its power and its resplendent grace.

This is also Paul’s teaching in his second letter to the Corinthians: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. For grace and the gift of the Trinity are given by the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. Just as grace is given from the Father through the Son, so there could be no communication of the gift to us except in the Holy Spirit. But when we share in the Spirit, we possess the love of the Father, the grace of the Son and the fellowship of the Spirit himself.

THE HOLY GOSPEL

+ A reading from the holy Gospel according to John
16:12-15

Everything that the Father has is mine; the Spirit will take from what is mine and declare it to you.

Jesus said to his disciples:
“I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.
But when he comes, the Spirit of truth,
   he will guide you to all truth.
He will not speak on his own,
   but he will speak what he hears,
   and will declare to you the things that are coming.
He will glorify me,
   because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
Everything that the Father has is mine;
   for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine
   and declare it to you.”

A homily on the Gospel may be given.

The Rose of the Trinity by William

The Rose of the Trinity

Trinity Day Greetings.

Thank you, William,

The words go with the Red Roses at the altar.

....Donald.

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: William W...
To: Donald ...  
Sent: Saturday, 25 May 2013, 20:01
Subject: The Rose of the Trinity

Dear Father Donald,

 

If I may...

 

There is one form in nature that always speaks to me of the Trinity  - the Rose, which grows strongly from hidden depths to flower in the life of mankind: in form it represents to me the Presence of the Godhead.

 

Its scent is the pervading presence of the Holy Spirit which lingers to draw our senses to its beauty; its short lived petals which fall at our feet in exquisite gentleness and draw our personal attention and attraction, petals that describe the rose to us and through which we praise and most remember it - its beauty, the human life of Our Lord, the Son of God: and then the stem, revealing its source of life, its very substance, proceeding from the root of the hidden ground of love, that is, the Father.

 

In the Eucharist a fallen petal is held in our hand - the very life of the Godhead Whom we adore in this exquisite flower before us.

 

O Heart of God hidden in the Rose!

 

... in Our Lord,

William

The Threeness of the Trinity. Fr. Edward O.P.

That the Threeness in the Divine Nature is not an abstract threeness

The Threeness of the Trinity is best remembered in John's reminiscence

of the Lord's Last Supper discourse:

that Father and Son are not two in divinity but One

to which the Spirit-Paraclete is added as Proceeding therefrom.

Look we, think we, them around ourselves

though we see them not,

only their vestiges,

whose images we unite with our revealed and instructed faith.

We believe in an unbreakable and exact continuity,

even with the shortfall in a variegated cosmic nature,

with the certainty of being enfolded

with our essentialist nature noetic and geistlich

accessible and abundantly desirable,

unitable through connaturality to our Source,

which is a Spiritual light in infinitude.

Here the Three are One inseparable yet Triadic

in whjch the Lord has full and divine knowledge of Himself,

permeating the sharpest and deepest knowledge in a human mode,

yet united as unmixed and substantially single;

knowing through the single divine nature

the Godhead of Father and Spirit with their self-knowledge.

He knew this as timelessly real and true

and himself as so divinely united.

Arius's neo-platonising rationalisation

was the echoing of material thingness as separating

with an improper overlapping.

So containing divinely everything in Godhead;

containing all created being and beings through participation,

and rejecting the imagination's productions with separateness of Persons

from a flash of geometry -

in a flash suppressed in the form of our knowing,

yet not in the reality of its single ousia (as unstufflike "stuff").

Our spiritual connatural knowing of this

is through an admission to the (to us) darkness of

what is in itself purest, spiritual light: as such metaphorical,

in the Divine essence's timeless self-knowing,

to which an occasional attrait-attraction

from the all-containing divinity encourges us onward

in discernable soul-surging

towards our material uncontainment- (not point-like) finality.

The way to and through divine darkness is a "night-like illumination"

producing a glancing grasp of "divine delights" (Ps 139,11).

Outgoing from the Persons to the Others is also

instantanious and total return to themselves,

with no trace of Arian loss -

the Trinity is self-coincident.

Yet it contains derivational processes as known,

not in the Triadic self and its selves,

but in the outgoing emanations

of spiritual and material ousia.

Nothing in the Godhead is held back against itself;

its creation responds immediately, seen in Itself, to divine willing and intentionality,

but for what is created it is responsive to willed and creative delaying.

That delay entails a return from creation

from its crowning, stewarding humanity.

The Jewish people sensed a need in all justice

to make that return to the Creative, Choosing and Protecting God

through collective Liturgy and individual prayer.

It was in part converted to the Word of God Incarnated through Mary,

but the greater part kept the primacy with articulated multiple law-giving

held as absolute, even with the prophets' repeated positing of a Messiah,

his life and dying foretold in detail and fulfilled.

John the Baptist preached the imminent fulfillment,

calling for conversion and to take the straight Way which he would show,

leading it to a new and spiritual Jerusalem,

with diamented and impregnable walls and open gates,

its inhabitants prayer-bound in sober ecstasy,

in its Temple whose light-source and the Temple are the Lamb.

John saw him, heard him in his Patmos vision:

"I am the Alpha and the Omega ...

who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty"

For him he wrote letters to the seven Churches of John's Greek-Asian mission,

filled with precise and up-to-date instruction.

Receiving the preaching and worshipping mandate,

Bishops and Priests and their successors

lead the response of humanity through the Church:

Triadic matching the Triadic origination of Triadic gifts,

as surrounding the redeeming sacrifice of the Lamb, and in the Church

recapitulating what he recapitulated on his deicidal Cross.

Eucharistically drawing out a New Creation realistically and kerygmatically

from Him as Altar, Priest, Offering and End,

for the Almighty Father and in unity with the Holy Spirit

what was accomplished once and for all at history's pivotal point

Triadically and with the Son:

"Through Him, and with Him, and in Him",

To which the whole Church associates itself with its "Amen".

Stykkishólmur

18 May 2013

Dear Fr. Edward,

Thank you.

Last week you kindly sent your lines for the Feast of Holy Trinity.

Geeetings and blessings.

Donald

domdonald.org.uk 

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: edward booth ...

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.

St. Bede, the only Englishman to be acclaimed as Doctor of the Universal Church

Bede the Venerable

Saturday 7^th Week Ordinary Time

Community MASS; Introduction by  Fr. A…

Saint Bede, whose feast we keep today, was a man of England’s largest and most notable monastery of the late 7^th century at Wearmout-Jarrow.

In the century before Bede, the Faith had been firmly established in England through two channels; from the north through Iona and Lindisfarne under the influence of St. Columba; from the south through the sending of Augustine to Canterbury by Pope St. Gregory.

Bede  was a devoted adherent of the Roman outlook, but he was also a sympathetic admirer of Celtic  Saints like Aidan and Cuthbert.

Often called ‘the father of English history.’ Bede is the only Englishman to be acclaimed as Doctor of the Universal Church

MAGNIFICAT com

SAINT BEDE THE VENERABLE

The Humility with which to Accept the Kingdom of God

It also sometimes happens that we seek things entirely related to salvation with our eager petitions and devoted actions, and yet we do not immediately obtain what we ask. The result of our petition is postponed to some future time, as when we daily ask the Father on bended knees, saying, your kingdom come, and nevertheless we are not going to receive the kingdom as soon as our prayer is finished, but at the proper time. It is a fact that this is often done with benevolent foresight by our maker, so that the desires [inspired by] our devotion may increase by deferment. When they have advanced more and more by daily growth, at length they embrace perfectly the joys they are seeking.

In this respect we should note that when we pray for those who sin, although we are unable to obtain our request for their salvation, still we are not in the least deprived of the fruit of our petition. Even though they do not deserve to be saved, we will nevertheless be rewarded for the love which we expend on them. And so in such a petition there will be fulfilled for us the promise of the Lord who said, "If you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give [it] to you." We must see that he did not simply say, "He will give [itl" but 'He will give [itl" he says, "to you." Even if he will not give [what we ask for] to those on whose behalf we ask, nevertheless when we mercifully intercede for the lapses of others, he will grant us a reward for our generosity.

Saint Bede the Venerable (+735) was an English Benedictine monk, a biblical scholar, and the first English historian.