John Henry Newman's homiletic genius. 'Sincere and Insincere'

  http://www.newmanchaplets.com/about-us/john-henry-newman-a-chaplet-of-conversion/  

Blessed JH Newman

 

Night Office Vigils 

At the Second Reading, the first line from J. H. Newman gave the theme, 'sincere and insincere'.

The antithesis gave an illuminating insight but then left me adrift with Newman's not too clear the alternatives. Then also the Reading left gaps.

It is still all the more demanding for the whole Sermon, to make up from brief  505 words to the Sermon of 4,275 words.

It will be the best occasion to learn the real sense of John Henry Newman's homiletic genius.

A Word in Season, Readings for the Liturgy of the Hours VIAugustinian Press 1995
http://www.newmanreader.org/works/parochial/volume5/sermon16.html

Newman P&P Vol 5 Sermon 16. Serm 16. Sincerity and Hypocrisy 

"If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not." 2 Cor. viii. 12. 

Great, then, is the difference between sincere and insincere Christians, however like their words may be to each other; and it is needless to say, that what I have shown in a few examples, might be instanced again and again from every part of Scripture, particularly from the history of the Jews, as contained in the Prophets. All men, even after the gift of God's grace, sin: God's true servants profess and sin,—sin, and are sorry; and hypocrites profess and sin,—sin and are sorry. 
Thus the two parties look like each other. 
But the word of God discriminates one from the other by this test,
—that Christ dwells in the conscience of one not of the other; 
that the one opens his heart to God, the other does not; 
the one views Almighty God only as an accidental guest, the other as Lord and owner of all that he is; 
the one admits Him as if for a night, or some stated season, the other gives himself over to God, and considers himself God's servant and instrument now and for ever. 
Not more different is the intimacy of friends from mere acquaintance; not more different is it to know a person in society, to be courteous and obliging to him, to interchange civilities, from opening one's heart to another, admitting him into it, seeing into his, loving him, and living in him;
—than the external worship of the hypocrite, from the inward devotion of true faith; approaching God with the lips, from believing on Him with the heart; so opening to the Spirit that He opens to us, from so living to self as to exclude the light of heaven. {235} 

Now, as to applying what I have been showing from Scripture to ourselves, this shall here be left, my brethren, to the consciences of each of us, and a few words will suffice to do this. Do you, then, habitually thus unlock your hearts and subject your thoughts to Almighty God? Are you living in this conviction of His Presence, and have you this special witness that that Presence is really set up within you unto your salvation, viz. that you live in the sense of it? Do you believe, and act on the belief, that His light penetrates and shines through your heart, as the sun's beams through a room? You know how things look when the sun's beams are on it,—the very air then appears full of impurities, which, before it came out, were not seen. So is it with our souls. 

We are full of stains and corruptions, we see them not, they are like the air before the sun shines; but though we see them not, God sees them: He pervades us as the sunbeam. Our souls, in His view, are full of things which offend, things which must be repented of, forgiven, and put away. He, in the words of the Psalmist, "has set our misdeeds before Him, our secret sins in the light of His countenance." [Ps. xc. 8.] This is most true, though it be not at all welcome doctrine to many. We cannot hide ourselves from Him; and our wisdom, as our duty, lies in embracing this truth, acquiescing in it, and acting upon it. Let us then beg Him to teach us the Mystery of His Presence in us, that, by acknowledging it, we may thereby possess it fruitfully. Let us confess it in faith, that we may possess it unto justification. 
Let us so {236} own it, as to set Him before us in everything. "I have set God always before me," says the Psalmist, "for He is on my right hand, therefore I shall not fail." [Ps. xvi. 8.] Let us, in all circumstances, thus regard Him. Whether we have sinned, let us not dare keep from Him, but with the prodigal son, rise and go to Him. Or, if we are conscious of nothing, still let us not boast in ourselves or justify ourselves, but feel that "He who judgeth us is the Lord." In all circumstances, of joy or sorrow, hope or fear, let us aim at having Him in our inmost heart; let us have no secret apart from Him. Let us acknowledge Him as enthroned within us at the very springs of thought and affection. Let us submit ourselves to His guidance and sovereign direction; let us come to Him that He may forgive us, cleanse us, change us, guide us, and save us.

This is the true life of saints. This is to have the Spirit witnessing with our spirits that we are sons of God. Such a faith alone will sustain the terrors of the Last Day; such a faith alone will be proof against those fierce flames which are to surround the Judge, when He comes with His holy Angels to separate between "those who serve God, and those who serve Him not." [Mal. iii. 18.]

The colour purple text does not appear  from the Sermon above.

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Parochial and Plain Sermons, Volume 5John Henry Newman

The Glories of Mary

COMMENT:

1. The Glories of Mary by St. Alphonsus Liguori (Online) & other Titles ...

   www.themostholyrosary.com/catholic-books-virgin-mary.htm‎
   

   
   

   Read classic Catholic books (free online) of The Most Blessed Virgin Mary.   

   
   

OUR LADY OF SORROWS AND HER SEVEN DOLORS Feast: September 15

4 Sept 2013 On the main stairs of the Guesthouse, it was an opportune occasion to take down the 7 painting of the Seven Sorrows of Mary, and scan the pictures to keep them for archive.
The future days of the Guesthouse are at the moment in question.

Scanned the irreplaceable  7 Dolors of Mary from 1946(?) Guesthouse,

now where to?

One friend suggests the 7 Pillars on one of the Cloisters.

 I wish if we could find the name of the artist, it may be possible  to replace the bleached prints from the early sun window. 

SALVATION OF THE WORLD

Welcome to the La Pieta homepage dedicated to saving many souls through prayer and devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary

http://lapieta.tripod.com/seven.html  

Seven Dolours (Sorrows) of Mary

This is a devotion instituted in the course of the thirteenth century, in honor of the sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary, endured by her in compassion for the suffering and death of her Divine Son.

   1. Prophecy of Simeon - reflect on and sympathize in the sorrow of our Blessed Lady, when she presented her Divine Child in the Temple, and heard from the aged Simeon that a sword of grief should pierce her soul on His account.
Our Father, Seven Hail Mary's

   
2. Flight into Egypt - reflect on her sorrow when, to escape the cruelty of King Herod, she was forced to fly into Egypt with St. Joseph and her beloved Child.
Our Father, Seven Hail Mary's


 

 3. Three-day Separation from Jesus in Jerusalem - reflect on her grief, when, in returning from Jerusalem she perceived that she had lost her dear Jesus, whom she sought sorrowing during three days.
Our Father, Seven Hail Mary's


 

   4. Meeting Christ on the Road to Calvary - reflect on her meeting her Divine Son, all bruised and mangled, carrying His cross to Calvary, and seeing Him fall under His heavy weight.
Our Father, Seven Hail Mary's

   5. Crucifixion and Death of Jesus Christ - reflect on her standing by when her Divine Son was lifted up on the cross, and the blood flowed in streams from His sacred wounds.
Our Father, Seven Hail Mary's

 6. Our Lord is Taken Down from the Cross (Pieta) - reflect on her sorrow, when her Divine Son was taken down from the cross, and she received Him into her arms.
Our Father, Seven Hail Mary's

    7. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is Buried in the Tomb - contemplate her following His sacred body, as it was borne by Joseph of Arimathea, and Nicodemus, to the sepulchre, enclosed there, and hidden from her sight.
Our Father, Seven Hail Mary's


3 Hail Mary's in honor of the Sorrowful tears of Our Lady
V. Pray for us, O most Sorrowful Virgin
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ
Let us pray:

Lord Jesus, we now implore, both for the present and for the hour of our death, the intercession of the most Blessed Virgin Mary, Thy Mother, whose holy soul was pierced at the time of Thy Passion by a sword of grief. Grant us this favor, O Saviour of the world, Who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost for ever and ever. Amen.

+ + + 

References of the New Testament:

The First Sorrow of Mary: The Prophecy of Simeon at the Presentation in the Temple (Lk 2:22-35)

 The Second Sorrow of Mary: The Flight into Egypt (Mt 2:13-21)

The Third Sorrow of Mary: The Loss of Jesus in the Temple (Lk 2:41-50)

The Fourth Sorrow of Mary: Mary Encounters Jesus on the Way of the Cross (John 19:1; Luke 23:26-32)

The Fifth Sorrow of Mary: Jesus Dies on the Cross (Mark 15:22; John 19:18, 25-27; Mark 15:34; Luke 23:46)

The Sixth Sorrow of Mary: Jesus Is Taken Down From the Cross (John 19:31-34, 38; Lam 1:12)

The Seventh Sorrow of Mary: Jesus is Laid in the Tomb (Matthew 27:59; John 19:38-42; Mark 15:46; Luke 27:55-56)

Return to main page

www.piercedhearts.org

This page is the work of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary

3 THOUGHTS ON “MADONNA OF THE BASS ROCK”

http://lovebloomsbright.wordpress.com/2012/12/22/madonna-of-the-bass-rock/

Posted on December 22, 2012 by jmcluckie

Madonna of the Bass Rock (John Bellany)

Walking along this anonymous, clinical corridor,
I don’t quite know what it is I am looking for,
except that I would be glad to see a little light,
a sign that something glimmers when this road has been so hard.

And then I see two familiar things:
A madonna and child,
and that dark, bird-frosted rock,
that almost-island with its history
of prisoners and hermits,
of castles and prisons,
a dark place, and yet a place of some kind of light.

That century-old lighthouse could offer some kind of glimmer to my dark place,
but it is not this light of warning and concern that fixes me in its beam,
but a different light.
It is the light of that child’s gaze.
He fixes me in his steady, contemplative look
and bids me stand awhile and look back.
I look and I recognise.
I look and I hear;
‘I am here. I am life. I am.’

[John Bellany's Madonna of the Bass Rock of 1997 is on display in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, courtesy of Art in Healthcare. I thank them for placing this image in my way when things were hard.]

This entry was posted in reflections by jmcluckie. Bookmark the permalink. 

rosemaryhannah on December 22, 2012 at 9:42 am said:

1. That is painfully true.

   Reply ↓
2. Bene on December 22, 2012 at 12:03 pm said:

   ..”It is the light of that child’s gaze.
   He fixes me in his steady, contemplative look
   and bids me stand awhile and look back.
   I look and I recognise.
   I look and I hear;
   ‘I am here. I am life. I am.’
   This is perfect: the picture shows just that direct yet gentle gaze.

   Reply ↓

THE EXALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST Feast

Saturday, 14 September 2013

Feast of the Church : The exaltation of the Holy Cross, feast

Community Liturgy Office

Commentary of the day : 

Saint Bernard (1091-1153), Cistercian monk and doctor of the Church 
Meditation on the Passion (attrib.), 6, 13-15 ; PL 184, 747 

The glory of the Cross

Far be it for me to glory except in the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ (Gal 6,14). The cross is your glory, the cross is your dominion. Behold, upon your shoulders dominion rests (Is 9,5). Those who bear your cross, bear your glory. That is why the cross, which makes unbelievers quail, is more beautiful than all the trees of paradise to believers. Was Christ afraid of the cross? Or Peter? Or Andrew? To the contrary, they longed for it. Christ went to meet it “like a champion joyfully running his course” (Ps 19[18],6): “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I die” (Lk 22,15). He ate the Passover even as he suffered his Passion when he passed from this world to his Father. He ate and drank on the cross, he was drunk with wine and fell asleep...

From henceforth who can fear the cross? Lord, I may traverse heaven and earth, the sea and dry land, yet will never find you except on the cross. It is there you sleep, there you pasture your flock, there you rest at noonday (Sg 1,7). One who is united to his Lord sweetly sings upon this cross: “You, O Lord, my encircling shield, my glory, you lift up my head” (Ps 3,4). None seeks for you, none finds you except on the cross. O glorious cross, embed yourself in me that I may be found in thee.

JOHN BELLANY, MADONNA OF THE BASS ROCK

 Wednesday 11 September 2013 

http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/books/hundreds-attend-artist-john-bellany-s-funeral-1-3084952

Print this

Hundreds attend artist John Bellany’s funeral

by Rory Reynolds

HE was the highly acclaimed painter whose works of art hanging in galleries across the globe portray the weather-beaten and at times grim Scotland that he adored.   

Hundreds of mourners have attended the funeral of John Bellany, the East Lothian painter inspired by the tragedies of the fishing community he was raised in.

First Minister Alex Salmond and artists Richard Demarco and John Byrne were among those who paid their respects at a packed funeral service in Edinburgh yesterday.

Bellany died on Wednesday 28 August at his studio aged 71. His family said he was “clutching a paint brush in his hand as he took his final breath”.

His three children paid tribute to their father during the celebration of his life at St Giles’ Cathedral on the city’s Royal Mile.

“               ”

BBC broadcaster Baroness Bakewell gave a reading while Mario Conti, Archbishop Emeritus of Glasgow, led the congregation in prayer.

 . . . . . .                

Alexander Moffat, the Scots artist, delivered the eulogy to his long-time university friend.

. . . .“He said being Scottish has always mattered enormously, I carry Scotland in my soul. Wherever I go and meet people, Family, Port Seton, East Lothian then Scotland are the definition of identity, his sense of nation and a starting point for his dialogue with the countries of the world.”

Afterward, those who attended gathered on Parliament Square to exchange anecdotes from his colourful life.

John Byrne, the playwright and artist, was a friend of Bellany’s since they studied at the Edinburgh School of Art.

........... Bellany’s paintings feature in the collections of galleries including the National Galleries of Scotland, Tate Britain in London and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He was awarded a CBE by the Queen in 1994.

Richard Demarco, the arts impresario and promoter, added: “I knew John all my life, we first met when we were students.

He said: “He recovered the great tradition of European painting that goes back to Rembrandt, where the whole agony of the human experience that can be defined in paint.

“On the other hand he also expressed the joy of being alive in his later works.

“His contribution was enormous and he was single minded in his work.”

He added: “The service here today was among the finest I have seen, with so many from Scottish society here to celebrate his life. “He would have been grateful, and proud.”

________http://www.bellany.com/__________________________________

Madonna of the Bass Rock by John Bellany - Gallery - Painting Details

aih-art.com/gallery.php?regno=P853‎  Art in Healthcare  

  MADONNA OF THE BASS ROCK

by  JOHN BELLANY

Madonna of the Bass Rock by John Bellany 

Watercolour 1997  90 x 71 cm Reg. Number P853

This striking watercolour portrays the Bass Rock off the coast of North Berwick, an important landmark in Scotland's natural, political and cultural history. The artist, John Bellany, is a native of East Lothian and his work often displays influence from the coast of the Firth of Forth. John has fully used the liquid effect of watercolours to create a violent seascape, with clashing bands of paint forming waves. The artist has chosen a dark, turbulent colour palette, where blues and greens clash with reds and yellows. The pencil outlines of the original image are still visible, even where there is no painted outline, adding to the rough sense of composition. The outlines also provide detail to the elements of the composition, such as the figures in the lower right corner and the details of the rock itself. Instead of using white paint, which would have been difficult in watercolour, the artist has left space blank in order to create white patches and lighting. The eyes of the figures in the foreground have not been created with solid colour, but rather with a series of concentric circles and crosshatches.
The image is highly stylised, with the oversized facial features and irregular outlines typical of John's figurative work which emulates a time in art history before modern perspective became commonplace. The name and subject matter is reminiscent of traditional Christian artwork, a fitting theme given the Bass Rock's history as a Christian hermitage. A Madonna refers to a depiction of the Virgin Mary, often accompanied by the infant Christ, which was a popular subject in medieval icons. This painting has many aspects that refer to traditional iconography, such as the expressions of the foreground figures, which do not reflect human concerns but divine detachment, with the eyes of the mother and child focused on Heaven. The range of yellow and orange paints used to colour their skin reflects the gold of Byzantine icons, and the bright patch in the mother's hair suggests a rudimentary halo. Yet the form is also subverted: the background represents a contemporary seascape. Far from the beatific ideal of the Virgin, this mother is straggling haired, sunken-eyed, and emaciated: she is not a conventional Madonna, but a post-humanist figure, full of mortal frailty. It is her motherhood that is emphasised, not her divinity. The artist himself underwent a liver transplant in 1989 and mortality and human vulnerability became important themes in John's later work as a result.

John Bellany is recognised as one of the most influential post-war Scottish artists. Born in 1942 into a family of fishermen and boat builders in Port Seton, fishing communities and life by the coast have long influenced his work. He attended the Edinburgh College of Art and the Royal College of Art in London. His work can be found in the Metropolitan Museum and the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Tate Britain in London. In 1994, he received the CBE

The Name of Mary, Thursday 12 September 2013

The Most Holy Name of Mary
(Optional memorial)  

Santissimo Nome di Maria 

 

        St. Bernard says and we say with him: "Look to the star of the sea, call upon Mary... in danger, in distress, in doubt, think of Mary, call upon Mary. May her name never be far from your lips, or far from your heart... If you follow her, you will not stray; if you pray to her, you will not despair; if you turn your thoughts to her, you will not err. If she holds you, you will not fall; if she protects you, you need not fear; if she is your guide, you will not tire; if she is gracious to you, you will surely reach your destination."
(Pope Benedict XVI address at Heiligenkreuz Abbey, September 9, 2007)

Collect
Grant, we pray, almighty God,
that, for all who celebrate the glorious Name
of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
she may obtain your merciful favor.
Though our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

   http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15464a.htm    

The Name of Mary

The Blessed Virgin Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ, the mother of God.
The Hebrew form of her name is miryam denoting in the Old Testament only the sister of Moses. In 1 Chronicles 4:17, the Massoretic text applies the same name to a son of Jalon, but, as the Septuagint version transcribes this name as Maron, we must infer that the orthography of the Hebrew text has been altered by the transcribers. The same version renders miryam by Marian, a form analogous to the Syriac and Aramaic word Maryam. In the New Testament the name of the Virgin Mary is always Mariam, excepting in the Vatican Codex and the Codex Bezae followed by a few critics who read Mariain Luke 2:19. Possibly the Evangelists kept the archaic form of the name for the Blessed Virgin, so as to distinguish her from the other women who bore the same name. The Vulgate renders the name byMaria, both in the Old Testament and the New; Josephus (Ant. Jud., II, ix, 4) changes the name to Mariamme.

 

Monastic Office of Vigils. Why is Origen not a Saint?

Twenty-Third Week Ordinary Time  11 September 2013

COMMENT:

Why is Origen not a Saint? 

Or at least a revise of the Cause?

                                               ?

This morning the voice for love of Gentiles and Israelites, ourselves, was heard from Origen.

His exactness and precision of enfolding words may buffer us the flow, but his spirit, the gentleness and enkindling of heart,  awakens our hearts.

Or maybe it is Hosea who awakes the Holy Spirit.

After a week of off-putting Readings of the prophet Amos we are relieved by Hosea.

The Origen outreach goes to the souls, mind and heart, each and one, to the embrace of the Father of his children.

WEDNESDAY 11^th Sept. Monastic Office of Vigils.

First Reading

Hosea 1:1-9; 3:1-5

Responsory                                             Hos 2:19-20.16

I will betroth you to myself forever, betroth you with righteousness and justice, with tenderness and love. + I will betroth you to myself with faithfulness, and you will come to know the Lord.

V. When that day comes you will call me My husband; you will no longer call me My Baal. + I will betroth ...

Second Reading      From a commentary on Romans by Origen. [In Rom,. 14, 1151-1152].

God says through Hosea: Those who were not my people I will call my people, and the unloved I will call my beloved. And in the very place where they were told, "You are not my people," they shall be called children of the living God.

This testimony, which the Apostle takes from Hosea, seems to refer in the prophet not to the Gentiles but to the Israelites themselves; but Paul uses a parallel situation as an example to make his point. Just as when the Israelites, abandoned and without hope, were told, You are not my people, and I am not your God, and yet in the very place where they were told, "you are not my people" they will be called children of the living God, so too, he says,

we whom God has called not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles, who formerly were not his people, he has now called his people, and we who were unloved he has called his beloved, and in the very place where we were told, You are not my people, we shall be called children of the living God.

But perhaps the Jews will ask us where it was said to us that we were not the people of God, so that in the same place we might be called children of the living God. For they claim that God said this in Judea, since only there was he known. None of this refers to us because the law speaks to those who are under the law.

But I will tell of a far worthier place in which it was fitting and possible for God to speak. It is hardly appropriate for God to speak in the mountains and grottos and the other places where he is said to speak, and fail to speak in the human mind, in the reason, in the sovereign place of the heart. There, when conscience condemns us, convicting us of unworthy actions that estrange us from God, there, in that same place it is declared, there it is said to each one of us: You are not my people. But if we each cleanse and purify ourselves from those actions, and if the peace of God which is beyond all understanding begins to guard our hearts, there, in the depths of hearts now at peace, we shall with the assent of our conscience be called children of God.   

Responsorq                                            Rom 8:15-16.14

The Spirit you have received is the Spirit of adoption, which makes

us cry out, Abba, Father. + The Spirit himself and our spirit bear united witness that we are children of God.

V. All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. + The Spirit ...

1. St. Origen? - OrthodoxChristianity.net

   www.orthodoxchristianity.net › ... › General Forums › Christian News‎

   29 Sep 2003 - 12 posts - ‎7 authors

   I am not saying that is the case, because I have not read much of either one, but it could explain why Augustine is a saint and Origen is not. 

   + + +