Tuesday 3 November 2015

Saint Martin de Porres, OP




Saint Martin de Porres
(Optional Memorial)
November 3
Martin de Porres, OP (AC)
Born at Lima, Peru, on November 9, 1579; died November 3, 1639; beatified in 1837; canonized on May 5, 1962, by Pope John XXIII; feast day formerly November 5.
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  The medallion of Saint Martin de Porres is the work of the Dominican priest and sculptor, Father Thomas McGlynn (1906–1977). Father McGlynn's strong images ...

Even sick animals came to Martin for healing. He demonstrated a great control of and care for animals--  
  a care that apparently was inexplicable to the Spaniards--extending his love even to rats and mice, whose scavenging he excused on the grounds that they were hungry. He kept cats and dogs at his sister's house.

He is the patron saint of interracial relations (because of his universal charity to all men), social justice, public education, and television in Peru, Spanish trade unionists (due to injustices workers have suffered), Peru's public health service, people of mixed race, and Italian barbers and hairdressers (J. White). 



Wikipedia...... 
San Martin de Porres huaycan.jpg
Portrait of St. Martin de Porres, c. 17th century, Monastery of Rosa of Santa Maria in Lima. This portrait was painted during his lifetime or very soon after his death, hence it is probably the most true to his appearance.
Martin of Charity
Saint of the Broom

Monday 2 November 2015

Dom Donald's Blog: All Saints Homily of Fr. Raymond

Dom Donald's Blog: All Saints Homily of Fr. Raymond:     S unday, 1 November 2015 Fr. Raymond Homily All Saints Solemnity 1st. November 2015 ALL SAINTS 2015      Today...

Dom Donald's Blog: All Saints The Church Triumphant 'the life of glory is richer far than the life of grace'

Dom Donald's Blog: All Saints The Church Triumphant 'the life of glory is richer far than the life of grace'

All Soul' Day. The Spirit of Catholicism by Karl Adam (edition 1938 Sheed & Ward, Guest Guest House 1960s).

The Commemoration of all Faithful Departed 
Monastic Lectionary of the Divine Office, 
Night Office 2 November 2015 
  https://www.ewtn.com/library/THEOLOGY/SPIRCATH.HTM   
  The Spirit of Catholicism by Karl Adam (1876-1966)
(edition  1938 Sheed & Ward, Guest Guest House 1960s).
Chapter IX: The Catholicity of the Church

I became all things to all men, that I might save all (1 Cor. ix, 22).

The Church Suffering and the Church Militant constitute in their relations a second circle of most vital activities.  
(pages 140-142) Having entered into the night "wherein no man can work," the Suffering Church cannot ripen to its final blessedness by any efforts of its own, but only through the help of others—through the intercessory prayers and sacrifices (suffragia) of those living members of the Body of Christ who being still in this world are able in the grace of Christ to perform expiatory works. The Church has from the earliest times faithfully guarded the words of Scripture (2 Macch. xii, 43 ff.) that "it is a holy and a wholesome thing to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from their sins." The suppliant cry of her liturgy: "Eternal rest give to them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them," can be heard already in the Acts of the martyrdom of SS Perpetua and Felicitas (A.D. 203) and is represented in numerous sepulchral inscriptions of the most ancient period, while theologians and Fathers of the Church, beginning with Tertullian, have supplied its substantial proof. The theology of the schismatical Greek Church agrees with Latin theology in its belief in the efficacy of prayers for the dead. So fundamental indeed and so natural to man's hope and desire and love is this belief, that historians of religion have discovered it among almost all non-Christian civilized peoples: a striking illustration of Tertullian's saying that the human soul is naturally Christian.

The Catholic, therefore, is jealous to expiate and suffer for the "poor souls," especially by offering the Eucharistic Sacrifice, wherein Christ's infinite expiation on the Cross is sacramentally re-presented, and stimulating and joining itself with the expiatory works of the faithful, passes to the Church Suffering according to the measure determined by God's wisdom and mercy. So the saying of St. Paul that the members of the Body of Christ "are mutually careful one for another" (1 Cor. xii, 25) is nowhere more comprehensively and luminously fulfilled than in the Church's suffrages for her dead children. When, in the Memento of the Mass, in the presence of the sacred Oblation and under the gaze so to speak of the Church Triumphant, she cries to heaven: "Be mindful also, O Lord, of thy servants and handmaids .... who have gone before us with the sign of faith and rest in the sleep of peace," then truly heaven and earth greet each other, the Church Triumphant, Suffering and Militant meet in a "holy kiss," and the "whole" Christ with all His members celebrates a blessed love-feast (agape), a memorial of their communion in love and joy and pain. 
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Karl Adam - EWTN.com

   https://www.ewtn.com/library/THEOLOGY/SPIRCATH.HTM   
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Karl Adam has brilliantly succeeded in achieving his purpose and "The Spirit of Catholicism" now stands as one of the finest introductions to the Catholic faith  ...


Sunday 1 November 2015

All Saints Homily of Fr. Raymond

 
 


Sunday, 1 November 2015

Fr. Raymond Homily All Saints Solemnity 1st. November 2015


ALL SAINTS 2015  

  Today, of course we celebrate, not so much the great saints of the church as the little, every day saints of the church The ordinary every day Christians who have fought the good fight and finished the course; all those ordinary acquaintances of all of us who have gone before us and become part of that great multitude in God's heaven.

In order to join that great company they didn't have to do any great and memorable deeds. But what they did have to do is detailed for us in the list of the Beatitudes that Jesus spells out for us in today's Gospel.

The Saints we celebrated today didn't have to give up absolutely everything like the great St Francis, but they did have to be poor in spirit. Their hearts had to have some degree of freedom from excessive desires for what we call the good things of life.

The Saints we celebrated today didn't have to leave home and family and friends and go off to preach the gospel in foreign lands like the twelve apostles or the great missionaries of Christian history; like St Francis Xavier or St Columba., but they did have to have a great love for their faith and a desire to share it with others, at least in their prayers. That is surely the meaning of "Thy Kingdom come" in the Our Father.

The Saints we celebrated today didn't have to minister to lepers or the plague stricken like St Peter Damien, but they did have to be gentle and compassionate in their dealings with others.

The Saints we celebrated today didn't have to undergo the great interior trials and spiritual darkness of the great mystics but they did have to practice perseverance in prayer and bear all the many troubles and trials that are the way in which we all have our share in the passion of Christ.
The Saints we celebrated today didn't have to forgive great injuries and injustices like the Holy Martyr Stephen who prayed for those who were stoning him to death. But they did have to be merciful and forgiving in their own little ways.  

The Saints we celebrated today didn't have to mediate between kings and, potentates like our own St 8ernrd, but they did have to learn how to be peacemakers in their own little circle of family and friends. And to be a peacemaker in such circumstances can sometimes make heroic demands on the least of us.   
Homily by Fr. Raymond
  

All Saints The Church Triumphant 'the life of glory is richer far than the life of grace'

Product Details  
Monastic Lectionary of the Divine Office, 

Karl Adam - The Spirit of Catholicism. 
  https://www.ewtn.com/library/THEOLOGY/SPIRCATH.HTM  
     
The Church Triumphant (eccles a triumphans).—Hosts of the redeemed are continually passing into heaven, whether directly, or mediately by the road of purification in the Suffering Church. They pass into the presence of the Lamb and of Him who sits upon the throne, in order face to face—and no longer in mere similitude and image—to contemplate the Trinity, in whose bosom are all possibilities and all realities, the unborn God from out of whose eternal wellspring of life all beings drink existence and strength, motion and beauty, truth and love. There is none there who has not been brought home by God's mercy alone. All are redeemed, from the highest seraph to the new- born child just sealed by the grace of baptism as it left the world. Delivered from all selfish limitations and raised above all earthly anxieties, they live, within that sphere of love which their life on earth has traced out for them, the great life of God. It is true life, no idle stagnation, but a continual activity of sense and mind and will. It is true that they can merit no longer, nor bear fruit now for the Kingdom of Heaven. For the Kingdom of Heaven is established and grace has finished its work. But the life of glory is richer far than the life of grace. The infinite spaces of the Being of God, in all Its width and depth, provide a source in which the soul seeks and finds the satisfaction of its most intimate yearnings. New possibilities continually reveal themselves, new vistas of truth, new springs of joy. Being incorporated in the most sacred Humanity of Jesus, the soul is joined in most mysterious intimacy to the Godhead Itself. It hears the heartbeats of God and feels the deep life that pulsates within the Divinity. The soul is set and lives at the center of all being, whence the sources of all life flow, where the meaning of all existence shines forth in the Triune God, where all power and all beauty, all peace and all blessedness, are become pure actuality and purest present, are made an eternal now.
This life of the saints, in its superabundant and inexhaustible fruitfulness, is at the same time a life of the rich est variety and fullness. The one Spirit of Jesus, their Head and Mediator, is manifested in His saints in all the rich variety of their individual lives, and according to the various measure in which every single soul, with its own special gifts and its own special call, has received and employed the grace of God. The one conception of the saintly man, of the servant of Christ, is embodied in an infinite variety of forms. The Litany of the Saints takes us rapidly through this "celestial hierarchy." Beginning at the throne of the most holy Trinity and passing thence to Mary, the Mother of God, and then through the hosts of the angelic choirs to the solitary penance of the great Precursor, St. John the Baptist, it leads us to St. Joseph, the foster-father of the Lord, the man of quiet dutifulness and simplicity of soul. Next to them tower the figures of the Patriarchs and Prophets, primitive and sometimes strange figures, but men of strong faith, of sacred constancy, of ardent desire. Sharply contrasted with them are the witnesses of the fulfillment, the apostles and disciples of the Lord: Peter, Paul, Andrew, James and the rest. And while every name denotes a special gift, a special character, a special life, yet all are united in one only love and in one gospel of joy and gladness. And around and about these outstanding figures what a harvest and rich crop of infinite color and in infinitely divese fields! All holy martyrs—All holy bishops and confessors—All holy doctors—All holy priests and levites—All holy monks and hermits—All holy virgins and widows—All saints of God. It is that "great multitude which no man can number, of all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues: standing before the throne and in sight of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands" (Apoc.vii, 9).

Saturday 31 October 2015

SATURDAY OFFICE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY 31/10/2015

   image2.JPG  
24/10/2015
SATURDAOFFICE OF THBLESSED VIRGIN MARY
Optional Reading for the Period between October anAdvent
sermon of Saint Bernard*
"HAIL, full of grace, the Lord is with you" (L1,28)Notice how the angel did not say "the Loris in you," but "the Lord is with you.For God, whby the simplicity of his essence is equal
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Donald ...
Sent: Saturday, 31 October 2015, 7:33
Subject: Mary Saturday 31 Oct 205

To check Blog.

Sent from my iPad.  
  BLESSED VIRGIN MARY MOTHER OF HOPE

Feast: July 9

Devotion to the most holy Virgin under the title of Mother of Holy Hope has been practiced in the Congregation of the Passion from the beginning.    It was promoted in a special way by the great missionary, Father Thomas Struzzieri, who later became a bishop.  He carried a picture of our Mother of Holy Hope with him on missions. This picture was reproduced and placed in the rooms of our religious so that they might be re­minded to ask our Lady's assistance in their spiritual needs.  The Blessed Virgin thus became the special model and support of our hope, and she remains so. 
                        Mary always shows herself as the Mother of Hope


    One of the titles rightly attributed to the Blessed Virgin Mary is that of Mother of Holy Hope.  Hope is that virtue which anchors the ship of our soul in the stormy sea of this troubled world.  It is a comfort left to us after the fall of Adam, a support in our weakness which encourages us to practice the Christian virtues.   Hope is defined by theologians as a virtue planted in us by God which enables us confidently to expect from God eternal life and the aids that lead to it.  Since Mary possessed this virtue in an heroic degree, she is appropriately called Mother of Holy Hope.

    Instead of looking to worldly patrons, as people generally do, Mary trusted solely in God.  She desired nothing and sought nothing but eternal life and the way to reach it.  The world and all those things that the children of Adam are deceived into admiring and desiring were to her as though not existing.  For her, earth seemed to be a desert, so that even the angels marveled, if one may speak in that way, that she could be so complete a stranger to created things.  They seemed to say: "Who is this coming up from the desert, leaning upon her lover?"
    Although endowed with extraordinary graces and unstained by original sin, Mary never counted on any resource of her own.  Rather, she knew that God is the author of every good thing and the source of all perfection. She confided in him amid the dangers of persecution while she was a fugitive from her own country.  She hoped in him even when she saw her divine Son die on the cross and the apostles dispersed, and she hoped in him when enemies turned on the infant Church, the loving bride of her divine Son.  Supported by this confidence, she remained firm in the midst of what seemed like disaster, and strengthened those who, in their discouragement and need, turned to her as to a mother.  She encouraged the weak, lifted up those who had fallen and urged the strong to ever greater trust.
    We must not think that Mary has resigned from such maternal service in our day. Certainly not!  Even now, from that exalted throne where she reigns in glory, Mary reaches out a mother's hand to those who have failed.  She graciously appears to them in the ways, and meets them with all solicitude, comforting them and giving them courage.  She heartens the good, praying that they may be fearless and unconquerable in the adversities of life.  She inspires pastors and inflames with love the flock they shepherd for Christ.   In a word, she never ceases to exercise her role as Mother of Holy Hope.
                     From the Mariology of Blessed Dominic of the Mother of. God, C.P.  Priest
      Read More: What is Mary's Hope?     
   http://www.passionistnuns.org/meditation/MCMShuhmann/index.htm 

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Friday 30 October 2015

Sr. Patricia FMM. Tribute to Sr. Patricia from Wm.

Site of St. Maur - arch remain
Tribute to Sr. Patricia
 
   
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: William W....
To: nunrawdonald....
Sent: Thursday, 29 October 2015, 15:04
Subject: Re: Tribute to Sr. Patricia



Dear Father Donald,
No epitaph more poignant could have been written for your Sister Patricia than the prayer of devotion of Luisa spelling out a lifetime of experience of love lived in Our Lord.
And the skies revealing the jet stream told you standing there of the mystery of a life lived in Divine Love - heavenwards! for as the skies darkened at Our Saviour's death, the morning arose with light at his resurrection, and the bright skies received him... the Lord of Creation who is so evident in our world.
The leaves in our street are copiously falling, a carpet of wonder as Autumn tells us its message, a time for reflection, and your dear Sister resting in this mystery. 
With love and prayers,
William

----Original message----
From : nunrawdonald...
Date : 28/10/2015 - 05:33 (GMTST)
Subject : Litany of Love in iPad

      Luisa P. - Litany of Love
   
 Over the grave...      Jet stream in sky of Sr. Patricia at cemetery  - arrow straight to heaven.

Sent from my iPad
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Franciscan Missionaries of Mary - WELCOME

www.fmmii.org/

England, Ireland, Scotland and Malta constitute a Province of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary Institute. They share the Franciscan and missionaries ...
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Sancta Maria Abbey: http://www.nunraw.com.uk (Website)     Blogspot :http://www.nunraw.blogspot.co.uk, Doneword :http://www.donewill.blogspot.co.uk    |domdonald.org.uk,   Emails: nunrawdonald@yahoo.com, nunrawdonald@gmail.com

Sr. Patricia FMM St. Joseph's Convent, Rush


  
   
   



Death Notice:
McGLYNN (Rush, Co. Dublin) - October 13, 2015, (peacefully), after a long illness, Sr. Patricia (FMM); 
deeply regretted by her religious community, 
her brothers Fr. Brendan-Nivard and, Fr. Donald (OCSO), her sisters Sr. Noreen, Sr. Mary, Sr. Josephine and Sr. Christina (FMM's), 
extended family and friends. 
R.I.P.
Funeral Mass tomorrow (Friday) in St. Joseph's Convent, Old Road, Rush at 11.30 o'c.  
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Obituary by Sr. Josephine McGlynn, FMM.


SR. PATRICIA MCGLYNN, F.M.M.
R.I.P.

Patricia was born On 27th February, 1937 in Glasgow. She was 'sandwiched' between myself, Jo, and the baby, Christina, so we became known as the three 'wee ones' while Brendan, Noreen, Mary and James were the 'four big ones'In 1939, Mum and the seven of us had to move to West Donegal to avoid being split up and sent to different parts of Scotland during the war. Dad had to stay in Scotland to work and to help in the war effort. We lived in a simple two roomed cottage in the beauty, peace and tranquillity of a small village, Ballykillduff, not far from the breathtaking Atlantic coast. It had two essentials - a Church and a Primary School. We spent 6 very happy years there before returning to Glasgow in 1945 to continue our education.

As I reflected on Patricia's life, the Scripture passage which came to mind was Phil. 3:10-15.

" All I want is to know Christ and to experience the power of His Resurrection, to share in His sufferings and become like Him in his death, in the hope that I myself will be raised from death to Life. I do not claim that I have already succeeded, or have already become perfect, I keep striving to win the prize for which Jesus Christ has already won me for Himself. Of course, my brothers, I do not think I have already won it; the one thing I do, however, is to forget what is behind me and do my best to reach what is ahead. So I run straight towards the goal in order to win the prize, which is God's call through Christ Jesus to the life above."

For me this passage sums up Patricia's life andher deepest desires and now- "IT IS FULFILLED", her  deepest desires have been granted. 

She was a lively, outgoing, high spirited lass but was also quick tempered and stubborn at times! She loved sports, games .athletics, dancing etc. I have a lovely photo of her proudly holding a silver cup she won in the championship High Jump at school. We never tired teasing her about an incident which happened when we were quite small.

"The local boys, including our 2 holy monks decided to collect stingy nettles and to chase the girlsWe all scattered, helter skelter screaming - except one - our Patricia!! She bent down quickly started collecting pebbles and started pelting the boys with them! At this point they decided to give up and went away."

She had a beautiful voice and loved music and singing and was always the one who would lead us in song. When the Charisrnatic Renewal came much later, she was in her element. One day Mum realised that Patricia was missing and asked where she was. The answer was "Over the road with the Boyles entertaining them with singing and dancing!" While preparing for her First Holy Communion she was seen distributing 'Holy Communion' i.e. bread to a row of little friends! That was a long time before Vatican II or mention of women's ordination.

As a late teenager, she was an enthusiastic member of the Legion of Mary and delighted in the opportunity to spread God's Word and to encourage people in their Faith. On finishing school, she helped Dad in his business for a few years before entering our Novitiate in Coldash in March 1957. After her First Profession, she did her Nurses Training in London and after her Final Vows, she was missioned to PakistanBy nature Patricia was very caring and compassionate, so she was very happy nursing the poor in our Hospital, St Raphael's in Lyallpur and in St. Joseph’s Hospice for the seriously, physically handicapped of all ages. I believe these were among her happiest and most fulfilling years.

Sadly after twenty years in Pakistan, she had to return to the Home Province due to health problems. A new battle began, not a "battle with the boys" but a battle with ill health due to 'Bipolar' and depression which she faced with the same courage and determination.
visit to Sr. Patricia. Dec 2013
  She was determined to remain faithful to her life of prayer, the active Apostolate and the living out of her "Ecce and Fiat" - come what may! This was evident especially in her' years in Aberdeen. Helen, a good friend from there gave a beautiful testimony during the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the "three wee ones" in Nunraw Abbey in 2008. I don't remember her exact words but they went something like this:
"Patricia is a great Missionary. She regularly visits the elderly and helps them in many ways. She is active in our Parish, is a woman of prayer and is a great inspiration for all of us. She is not afraid to reach out to people, even strangers, if she thinks they are in need and often invites them to our Charismatic prayer. We love herWe treasure herWe need her. Please Sisters, whoever your superiors are, tell them not to move Patricia but to leave her with us in Aberdeen."

She did remain for a few more years but a time came when she needed care so she moved to our Rush Community four years ago and was very happy to do so - feeling she was COMING HOME. Only God knows how much she has suffered from her illness but a big consolation is that she was always surrounded by LOVE. She died very peacefully on Tuesday is" October. Deo Gratias. MAY SHE REST IN PEACE.
   
I can imagine Patricia saying to me now:- "Too many words Jo! It's not like you! Please say the words I want you to say for me, the ones I was not able to speak these past months, the ones I longed to say but could only express with my eyes or a smile!"
What are those words?
"THANK YOU, THANK YOU WITH ALL MY HEART!
                                                  THANK YOU MY BELOVED FMMS, THANK YOU MY BELOVED SISTERS, BROTHERS AND ALL
FAMILY MEMBERS! THANK YOU FAITHFUL FRIENDS!
A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO MY INCREDIBLE CARERS AND STAFF here in St Joseph's for you’re never failing thoughtfulness, your unbounded love and tender care and compassion Words cannot express how much I love you all!        I will certainly continue to pray for you all in Heaven".
In the race for eternal life, Patricia has crossed the finishing line, so as we praise and thank God for her life, we rejoice with her in winning the prize to which God has now called her and in her new found happiness - fully united with the Lord, the Saints, the Angels and of course our beloved Mum and Dad.

AMEN      ALLELUIA      ALLELUIA

   
 
Sancta Maria Abbey: http://www.nunraw.com.uk (Website)     Blogspot :http://www.nunraw.blogspot.co.uk, Doneword :http://www.donewill.blogspot.co.uk    |domdonald.org.uk,   Emails: nunrawdonald@yahoo.com, nunrawdonald@gmail.com