Saint Gertrude the Great 16 November 2011

Pope's general audience . . .

 

http://www.discerninghearts.com/?page_id=1722  

Pope Benedict XVI and
the holy women mystics in Church history

Way to go St. Hildegarde of Bingen….the Holy Father knows!

There has been a strange dismissal of St. Hildegarde over the years, and I am not sure why. This was a woman who was a great mystic, writer, poet, musician, artist…oh you name it AND a Benedictine nun!  Maybe this distancing of Catholics from her is in part because of New Agers, like Anglican Episcopal priest Matthew Fox, [...]  

St. Gertrude the Great, “a very powerful champion of justice and truth

BENEDICT XVI GENERAL AUDIENCE (the entire text translated in English) from vatican.va Dear Brothers and Sisters, St Gertrude the Great, of whom I would  like to talk to you today, brings us once again this week to the Monastery of Helfta, where several of the Latin-German masterpieces of religious literature were written by women. Gertrude [...]

Yes, Yes, Yes, St. Hildegard…once again Pope Benedict XVI speaks

Once again the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI speaks of the importance of St. Hildegard of Bingen. Vatican City – Pope Benedict’s General Audience from Vatican.va Dear Brothers and Sisters, Today I would like to take up and continue my Reflection on St Hildegard of Bingen, an important female figure of the Middle Ages who [...]

Pope Benedict XVI reflects on “the great” St. Clare of Assisi

Vatican City, Sep 15, 2010 Pope Benedict’s General Audience, from Vatican.va Saint Clare of Assisi Dear Brothers and Sisters, One of the best loved Saints is without a doubt St Clare of Assisi who lived in the 13th century and was a contemporary of St Francis. Her testimony shows us how indebted the Church is [...]

St. Matilda, God’s Nightingale, pray for us

  Describing the exemplary life of a 13th-century German nun, Pope Benedict XVIstressed the importance of liturgy in building a close relationship with God. VATICAN CITY, 29 SEP 2010  Pope Benedict’s General Audience vatican.va Dear Brothers and Sisters, Today I want to talk to you about St Matilda of Hackeborn, one of the great figures [...]

Blessed Angela of Foligno – once again our Holy Father brings us a gifted mystic

Thank God for our Holy  Father, Pope Benedict XVI, and his desire to teach us about the heritage contained in our faith.  I love it now, because once again he is lifting up one of the truly gifted women mystics of the Church for all of us to learn from.  I didn’t know much about her, [...]

St. Elizabeth of Hungary “It Is Christ Whom You Have Washed, Fed and Looked After”

From Pope Benedict’s General Wednesday Audience from Vatican.va Dear Brothers and Sisters, Today I would like to speak to you about one of the women of the Middle Ages who inspired the greatest admiration; she is St Elizabeth of Hungary, also called St Elizabeth of Thuringia. Elizabeth was born in 1207; historians dispute her birthplace. [...]

St. Bridget of Sweden…a “powerful example of feminine sanctity”…Our Holy Father hits another one out of the ballpark!

On the eve of the Great Jubilee in anticipation of the Year 2000 the Venerable Servant of God John Paul II proclaimed St Bridget of Sweden Co-Patroness of the whole of Europe. This morning I would like to present her, her message and the reasons why — still today — this holy woman has much to teach the Church and the world.
We are well acquainted with the events of St Bridget’s life because her spiritual fathers compiled her biography in order to further the process of her canonization immediately after her death in 1373. Bridget was born 70 years earlier, in 1303, in Finster, Sweden, a Northern European nation that for three centuries had welcomed the Christian faith with the same enthusiasm as that with which the Saint had received it from her parents, very devout people who belonged to noble families closely related to the reigning house.

St. Marguerite d’Oingt – A “book lover” after my own heart

From Pope Benedict’s General Audience from vatican.va With Marguerite d’Oingt, of whom I would like to speak to you today, we are introduced to Carthusian spirituality which draws its inspiration from the evangelical synthesis lived and proposed by St Bruno. We do not know the date of her birth, although some place it around 1240. [...]

Saint Juliana of Liège, patron of the feast of Corpus Christi (now there is a dream job to have…forever!)

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the origins of Corpus Christi can be traced to St. Juliana of Mount Cornillon. From Pope Benedict’s General Audience from vatican.va Dear Brothers and Sisters, This morning too I would like to introduce a female figure to you. She is little known but the Church is deeply indebted to her, [...]

St. Catherine of Siena, our spiritual “mamma”, teach us to love Christ and the Church with courage

Vatican City –From Pope Benedict’s Wednesday General Audience from vatican.va Dear Brothers and Sisters, Today I would like to talk to you about a woman who played an eminent role in the history of the Church: St Catherine of Siena. The century in which she lived — the 14th — was a troubled period in [...]

Julian of Norwich – “God’s Promises Are Always Greater Than Our Hopes”

“God’s Promises Are Always Greater Than Our Hopes” VATICAN CITY, DEC. 1, 2010 (vatican.va).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today during the general audience in Paul VI Hall. Dear Brothers and Sisters, I still remember with great joy the Apostolic Journey I made in the United Kingdom last September. England is [...]

St. Veronica Giuliani – “a courageous witness of the beauty and power of divine Love”

“In an instant, I saw five brilliant rays of light shine forth from his most holy wounds, and all came to my face.” St. Veronica Giuliani wrote these words more than three centuries ago, describing her mystical experience of Christ. Vatican City, Dec 15, 2010 / 07:37 pm (vatican.va).- Dear Brothers and Sisters, Today I [...]

Saint Catherine of Bologna: Spiritual Weapons Against Evil

Patroness of Artists and Against Spiritual Temptation VATICAN CITY, 29 DEC 2010 (vatican.va) – Dear Brothers and Sisters, In a recent Catechesis I spoke of St Catherine of Siena. Today I would like to present to you another less well known Saint who has the same name: St Catherine of Bologna, a very erudite yet very [...]

St. Catherine of Genoa and the Experience of Purgatory

VATICAN CITY, 12 JAN 2011 (vatican.va) – Dear Brothers and Sisters, After Catherine of Siena and Catherine of Bologna, today I would like to speak to you about another Saint: Catherine of Genoa, known above all for her vision of purgatory. The text that describes her life and thought was published in this Ligurian city in 1551. [...]

St. Joan of Arc “Bringing the Light of the Gospel Into History”

< VATICAN CITY, 26 JAN 2011 (vatican.va) – Today I would like to talk to you about Joan of Arc, a young Saint who lived at the end of the Middle Ages who died at the age of 19, in 1431. This French Saint, mentioned several times in theCatechism of the Catholic Church, is particularly [...]

St. Teresa of Avila shows that time spent in prayer is not lost

TERESA OF AVILA: CONTEMPLATIVE AND INDUSTRIOUS VATICAN CITY, 2 FEB 2011 (vatican.va) – Dear Brothers and Sisters, In the course of the Catecheses that I have chosen to dedicate to the Fathers of the Church and to great theologians and women of the Middle Ages I have also had the opportunity to reflect on certain [...]

St. Gertrude the Great, “a very powerful champion of justice and truth

1 year, 1 month ago Posted in: Devotional Prayer, Pope, Purgatory, Saints, Spirituality, The Discerning Hearts Blog, video 0

BENEDICT XVI GENERAL AUDIENCE (the entire text translated in English) from vatican.va
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
St Gertrude the Great, of whom I would like to talk to you today, brings us once again this week to the Monastery of Helfta, where several of the Latin-German masterpieces of religious literature were written by women. Gertrude belonged to this world. She is one of the most famous mystics, the only German woman to be called “Great”, because of her cultural and evangelical stature: her life and her thought had a unique impact on Christian spirituality. She was an exceptional woman, endowed with special natural talents and extraordinary gifts of grace, the most profound humility and ardent zeal for her neighbour’s salvation. She was in close communion with God both in contemplation and in her readiness to go to the help of those in need.
Pope's general audience . . .

Remembrance Day November 2011

Remembrance Day
Paying their respects Employees of Lloyds gather
in the companys Underwriting Room for a service

Sunday, 13 November 2011.

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Intro;
For today, is Remembrance Sunday,
- whether Armistice Day
- or Remenbrance Day
- or Poppy Day.

The country remembers all the men and women who were killed during two Worl Wars and other conflicts.

In practice, the POPPY tradition is the charity for  War Veterans.

And in faith we pray for all souls,

- already, for Catholics, in November praying is a special way in the month of Holy Souls.

The Media massive coverage of Remembrance Day reminds of our part.

All that is small compared to the Mass.

As we offer Mass we pray for all souls.

. . .

[The Mail Online illustrates Remembrance Day with the pictorial of striking photos.

Marshall McLuhan coined phrase ‘medium is the message’ and his theme on publicity making the ‘event’, - the digital real.

In the Mass, the divine presence transcends the ethereal/virtual media].

Packed: The service at Lloyd's is observed with the ringing of the Lutine Bell, the laying of wreaths before the Book of Remembrance and a two-minute silence

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2060237/Remembrance-Day-2011-Britain-comes-standstill-Armistice-Day-observe-2-minute-silence.html#ixzz1dbYemt4w  

+ + +    

Bidding Prayer:

Heavenly Father, hear our prayer,

and Mary, conceived immaculate, prayer for us,

who have recourse to you,

pray for us, 

ESPECIALLY  for all of Remembrance Sunday,

Through ...

YouTube IrishTimes FaceBook Vocations

Glencairn Abbey

  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzDY8qEEi-8 
St. Mary's Abbey
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=_eWu4jQ9RoM 

 http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150295928968366&set=pu.197517703365&type=1&theater

Behind the convent walls

Sat, Oct 29, 2011

The life of a contemplative nun might seem isolated, but enclosed orders are reaching out to communities online using social-networking sites. ÁINE KERR asks what life is like on the inside.

BEFORE THE DAWN and the chapel bells begin to toll, 16 women in distinctive red habits rise in quiet unison to pray. Their day within the enclosed Monastery of St Alphonsus in Drumcondra, Dublin will bring songful prayers, silent prayers, spiritual readings and labour.

For one technologically savvy Redemptoristine nun from Offaly, Sr Lucy Conway, the day will also involve posting updates to the monastery’s Red Nuns website, writing a new blog entry, checking the nuns’ Facebook messages, replying to emailed prayer requests, and partaking in Skype chats. This is the new generation of monastic nuns, who live life away from the eye of the storm in an enclosed private setting, but reach out in new, evolving ways.

Pope Benedict XVI is among their “friends” on Facebook, as are their nieces and nephews, who they keep a watchful eye on via their own personal social-networking accounts. The time spent online is strictly rationed. It tests their self-discipline. Ever mindful of the need to exist in a deep state of contemplation, Sr Conway recently took what she calls a “sabbatical from Facebook”, but soon returned, given the need to promote one of their upcoming monastic experience weekends.

The work day of the 36 sisters in St Mary’s Abbey in Glencairn, Co Waterford, who rise at the appointed hour of 3.45am, follows a similar beat, carefully juxtaposing prayer with labour.   The sisters at the monastery in the Blackwater Valley might follow the sixth century Rule of Benedict but they also have 520 real-time 21st-century Facebook followers. They take responsibility for farming their 200 acres, making Holy Communion hosts and creating greeting cards, while Sarah Branigan (38) takes charge of the online engine and new vocations. “We’re trying to preserve the integrity of contemplative life but we also know we need a certain level of visibility,” says Sr Branigan.

It’s a curious mix. Orders are removed from the bustling world without, yet use Facebook and other mediums as a distant lens on that world. Each order is quick to insist that nothing, including Facebook, TV, radio and email, will impinge on their life of sanctity and prayer. But they concede they need to reach out to potential new recruits, need to be aware of the world’s problems that form the basis of their hourly prayers, and occasionally keep in contact with family and friends they rarely see.

Vocation weekends, organised three or four times a year, operate an open-door policy. Four or five women who see the Facebook posts, website notices and church leaflets travel to Waterford and stay in the on-site guesthouse, which is normally open to the public, in exchange for a donation of their choice. On vocation weekends, it becomes a place for reflection, outside of the timetabled prayers, gospel readings, meals and power-point presentations.

Sr Sarah Branigan (vocations director)
at St Mary s Abbe.

The hands-on monastic experience is a process of “mutual discernment”, enabling the established nuns to get to know a potential new member, according to Sr Branigan.
     “If we feel the person shows potential for a vocation and is suitable, we encourage them to apply. We get references, a medical cert and a psychological assessment,” she says. Not everyone, however, is accepted. And some have been known to leave.

The vocation process is rigid. Postulancy, or candidacy, lasts eight to 12 months, novitiate lasts two years, first profession takes the vows of obedience, chastity and poverty for three years, and solemn profession requires taking the vows for life.

Sr Katherine Duncan is embracing what she terms a “simpler life” after training as a midwife and maternity nurse, and working for 10 years as a hospital nurse in Tullamore, Co Offaly. A year working in a compound in Saudi Arabia provided the mental preparation for the enclosed monastic setting that would soon become the norm of life.

“I got to a point in life where I needed to take stock . . . seeing so much suffering and pain as a nurse gives you a different perspective on life. You see people without love, you see the rise in suicide, a lot of despair,” says Sr Duncan.

Despite sporadic moments of questioning, Sr Duncan was socialising, networking and enjoying shopping expeditions and twice-annual holidays. Soon, however, she began to question their worth and importance. “I loved the day of shopping but I began to wonder about that, whether it was satisfying me any more, and it felt empty. I just felt there was more to life. These things just didn’t have the same pull,” she says.

World Youth 2000 events and retreats heralded a dawning realisation. Sr Duncan stopped going to pubs and quit the shopping circuit, choosing instead to spend more time in prayer. Having “ignored the call” for some time and fought with traditional “preconceptions” of nuns, she began to ask two fundamental questions: Is there a God; and I do I have a vocation?   

Sr Fiachra Nutty (49) was also what she calls a “late vocation”, having entered Glencairn Abbey six years ago. The co-owner of an award-winning garden centre in Malahide, Co Dublin, she had been in business for 20 years when she started to face up to the “big 40 that was heading my way”.

On approaching that milestone birthday, Sr Nutty was satisfied she had seen the world, having experienced 26 countries. The next major item on the ambitious checklist was a degree, having left school in her mid-teens. It was while studying for a horticulture degree in Writtle College, Essex that the then businesswoman began to consider an extremely different life.

“It was at Writtle, while sharing a hall of residence with 15 other mature students of many faiths and no faith at all, that I first began to question my Catholicity, spurred on by the informal religious discussions which occurred in the common room from time to time,” says Sr Nutty .

Unsure about the next move, she briefly worked in a garden centre near Cambridge, became involved with a vibrant local parish, and came to know a parish sister who was a Brigidine nun from Ireland. After months of daily prayer and daily mass, attendance at a “monastic experience” in a monastery in Kent and a conversation with a nun who suggested the Cistercian life might suit her, Sr Nutty returned to Ireland and entered Glencairn on January 3rd, 2006 for three weeks to experience the daily rhythm of monastic life. “There wasn’t room for God to get a word in edgeways, so it was a dramatic change,” says Sr Nutty of her former busy life as a businesswoman. “Friends would know me as a great talker . . . I’m sure they were saying to themselves ‘I give her three weeks and she’ll be back’.”

Sr Fiachra Nutty in the garden of the Cistercian
monastery for women at Glencairn

The gathering of so many different characters in one community remains an “endless fascination” for her: “Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I’d be going to bed at half eight, and become a vegetarian.”

Seeing parents just twice a year is the norm. And when a friend’s husband suffered a nervous breakdown and another friend died of cancer, Sr Nutty remained in situ. “You’d love to up sticks . . . it’s terribly hard not to go, but it’s part of life. You knew this when you entered.”

However, when pressed about her former life and the social elements she once loved, Sr Nutty simply insists she was “blessed with a late vocation . . . I saw 26 countries. I would have been a disaster with that sort of wanderlust had I entered when I was younger.” And while other orders have communal recreation time, Glencairn opts for solo time-out, allowing nuns to read and listen to music, sew and paint, check the news headlines while checking their emails. At the moment, they pray for “good leadership” as the Irish presidential elections draw closer.

THE REDEMPTORISTINE nuns in Drumcondra recently stayed up past their usual bedtime to watch the presidential candidates on the Late Late Show . Sr Gabrielle Fox (62) says the community of nuns don’t watch much television, because they simply don’t have the time. “But with something like the presidential elections, we like to inform our consciousness and I would have encouraged the nuns to watch the debate,” says Sr Fox. “I like them to know what’s going on because we are here to pray for the world.”

One of the younger nuns, Sr Monica Boggan (28), believes it’s important for them to know who they are voting for and to take the opportunity to weigh up the best candidate. “Sometimes, you’d have people in the chapel saying ‘we’re lucky to be in here’, but we don’t escape things just because we’re here. We all have our struggles, life isn’t easy.”

Of the 14 nuns in the enclosed order, seven joined in recent years, among them teachers and business women. Two are in their 20s, two in their 30s, one in her 40s, while the rest are aged 50 and over. Unlike other enclosed orders, the Redemptoristine nuns enjoy a later start of 7am. But many of the older nuns, accustomed to a traditional 4am start, still rise early. The younger generation don’t have any appointed time for retiring at night.

Each day, their prayers are guided by emails, messages left in the chapel box and phone calls. And while the nuns live a life of confinement separate to the noisy world outside, a webcam in the chapel enables people to join them online every day for prayer.  
   

Blessed John Duns Scotus Scotland Tuesday 8 November 2011

ZENIT - On Duns Scotus by Pope Benedict XVI www.zenit.org/article-29826?l=english International Centenary Symposium on the Mariology of Blessed John Duns Scotus. Cardinal O'Brien,Mgr Henry Docherty and Fr Willie Mc Fadden with the Franciscan's Immaculate at the Statue in Duns. INTERNATIONAL CENTENARY SYMPOSIUM ON THE MARIOLOGY OF BLESSED JOHN DUNS SCOTUS CHURCH OF OUR LADY AND ST MARGARET, DUNS HOMILY PREACHED BY CARDINAL KEITH PATRICK O’BRIEN WEDNESDAY 10TH SEPTEMBER 2008 INTRODUCTION: It gives me very great pleasure to welcome you all here to Duns this afternoon to our beautiful little church dedicated to Our Lady and St Margaret. I know that you have come on pilgrimage here from the International Symposium being held at Durham University – I would hope a welcome break for you all in the midst of deep theological lectures on various aspects of the life and work of Blessed John Duns Scotus. Hopefully here in this beautiful border country of Scotland where John Duns Scotus was born you will be able to absorb something of the beauties of nature which affected John as he was growing up and no doubt had a considerable influence on his thought. As you know John became a Franciscan; studied at the University of Oxford; was ordained to the Priesthood on 17th March 1291; and continued his studies at Oxford before being sent to Paris. He lectured in Oxford and in Paris for a considerable number of years before he was sent to Cologne where he lectured for some time before his untimely death on 8th November 1308 at approximately 43 years of age and at the height of his maturity. It is the 700th anniversary of his death which we are commemorating at this time. THEOLOGY OF BLESSED JOHN DUNS SCOTUS: With so many theologians around me I hesitate to try to summarise the theology of Blessed John Duns Scotus in a few words. However I quote from the late Father Eric Doyle O.F.M. who wrote in a pamphlet produced for the 7th centenary of the birth of John Duns Scotus: “If one were asked to summarise the vast synthesis of truth created by Duns Scotus, the answer would take no more than a few words – a philosophy of love and of theology centred on Christ”. Perhaps in thinking of the theology of John we should emphasise his teaching on “the uniqueness of each and every individual person”; we should reflect on his theology of “Christ and his relationship to the world”; and thirdly of course we should realise the depth of the teaching contained in “his defence of the Immaculate Conception of our Blessed Lady” almost 600 years before the Definition of the Dogma by Pope Pius IX in 1854. Here in this beautiful little parish church his teaching with regard to the Immaculate Conception is summed up in the stained glass window above my head with the engraving of the words: “potuit; decuit; ergo fecit”; “it could be done; it would be fitting if it were done; therefore it was done!”. SPIRITUALITY OF BLESSED JOHN DUNS SCOTUS: However it is not because of the depth of his theology that we gather today for this symposium and in this little church. It is to thank God for the spirituality of this man. Even in his own time when preparations were being made for his reception of his mastership in theology, the Minister General of the Franciscans wrote: “I authorise to be presented…..the beloved father in Christ... John Scotus. I am thoroughly informed, partly from my own experience and partly from his world wide reputation, of his praiseworthy life, his outstanding knowledge, his most subtle mind, and his other remarkable qualities….” Those words were written over 700 years ago. And it was less than 20 years ago that there was promulgated the decree of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in the presence of Pope John Paul II which declared: “The fame of holiness, the virtues, and the cult from time immemorial, given to the servant of God, John Duns Scotus, professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, born in Duns Scotland towards the end of 1265 and died in Cologne Germany on 8th November 1308”. Many of us here present, including myself, were in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome to share in the joy of the promulgation of that decree of our late Holy Father Pope John Paul II. CONCLUSION: As you gather at the Symposium in Durham University and as we gather here this afternoon perhaps we should give some further thought to the relevance of Blessed John Duns Scotus in our world of today. He is indeed what we might describe as a “saint for Europe”; we should realise how his theological thought can help us in the realisation of the uniqueness of each one of us as an individual; and we should be led on to ever deeper thought of our union as human beings in the love of God and of the role of Our Blessed Lady in our redemption. Underlying it all however should be the realisation that basic to the depth of his theology and the ability to teach of this the “subtle Doctor” there was a good holy man, an exemplary friar, a son of St Francis, a wonderful priest, born and brought up in this beautiful border country of Scotland who grew throughout his life in his knowledge and love of Our Lord and in his desire to serve that same Lord in the simplicity of his life as a Franciscan. May we be strengthened to serve that same Lord and his people with something of the wisdom and simplicity of Blessed John Duns Scotus.                        Cardinal O'Brien and Fr Mc Fadden with the Statue Gifted to Scotus College by the Franciscans.                                                                         Blessed John Duns Scotus.    Rector of Scotus College Bearsden  Fr Willie Mc Fadden thanks the Franciscan's for their generosity and accepts the statue on behalf of Scotus College.      Cardinal O'Brien,Mgr Docherty and Fr Mc Fadden with the Franciscan's beside the Statue. The Statue of Blessed John Duns Scotus in Duns. Photographs -  pictures@paulmcsherry.co.uk

Paul Mc Sherry Photography

St. Gertrude of Helfta "the evening of this life has arrived for me", arrange my magnificent nuptials, evening bid a sweet farewell to my body, my spirit, returning to the Lord

COMMENT. I can dwell on these words.
The underlined words make all too vivid the reality of nearing death,
and all the more the sense of the wonder, "Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!"

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

From: Fr Donald . . .
Sent: Sunday, 6 November 2011, 13:39
Subject: [Blog] St. Gertrude "Behold, the Groom", Mt. 25:1-13. Parable of the Ten Virgins
O my very gentle evening, when the evening of this life has arrived for me, make me dulcetly lose consciousness in you and experience that most blessed rest which has been prepared in you for your dear ones. Let the exceedingly calm and agreeable regard of your beautiful cherishing-love deign to order and arrange my magnificent nuptials. With the riches of your goodness cover... the poverty and impoverishment of my degenerate life. Let my soul dwell in the delights of your charity with exceeding trust.O love, may you then be for me such an evening that my soul may with gladness and exultation bid a sweet farewell to my body; and may my spirit, returning to the Lord who gave it, already pleasantly at rest in peace beneath your shadow. Then, with your own voice... you will say to me manifestly: «Behold, the bridegroom is coming; now go out to join yourself more closely to him that he may gladden you by the glory of his countenance»...When, oh when will you show yourself to me so that I may see and with merriment draw from you, God, the living fountain (Is 12,3)? Then I will drink and will become inebriated with the sweet plentifulness of the living fountain, which distills the delights of the melllifluous face of him whom my soul desires (Ps 42[41],3). O sweet face, when will you satisfy me with yourself? Then I will go into the place of the wonderful tabernacle even to the very aspect of God (Ps 42[41],5); at its threshold my heart is made to groan because I am delayed by my sojourn here. Oh, when will you fill me with g1adness by your mellifluous face (Ps 16[15],11)? Then I will contemplate and warmly kiss the true spouse of my soul, my Jesus.... there where I may recognize you just as I am recognized (1Cor 13,12) and love you just as I am loved so that forever I may see you, my God, as you really are (1Jn 3,2) in your blessed vision, fruition, and possession.

St. Gertrude "Behold, the Groom", Mt. 25:1-13. Parable of the Ten Virgins

The Commentary, from Daily Gospel today, leads to deeper and deeper reflection on the 'Exercises' of St. Gertrude of Helfta. 
With acknowledgement.
It asks for further Comment.
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: DGO
Sent: Saturday, 5 November 2011, 17:03
Subject: The Daily Gospel

Sunday, 06 November 2011 Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 25:1-13. Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. Afterwards the other virgins came and said, 'Lord, Lord, open the door for us!' But he said in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.' Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour. Commentary of the day :  Saint Gertrude of Helfta (1256-1301), Benedictine/Cistercian nun  Exercises, no 5 ; SC 127 (©Cistercian publications, 1989)  "Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!" O my very gentle evening, when the evening of this life has arrived for me, make me dulcetly lose consciousness in you and experience that most blessed rest which has been prepared in you for your dear ones. Let the exceedingly calm and agreeable regard of your beautiful cherishing-love deign to order and arrange my magnificent nuptials. With the riches of your goodness cover... the poverty and impoverishment of my degenerate life. Let my soul dwell in the delights of your charity with exceeding trust. O love, may you then be for me such an evening that my soul may with gladness and exultation bid a sweet farewell to my body; and may my spirit, returning to the Lord who gave it, already pleasantly at rest in peace beneath your shadow. Then, with your own voice... you will say to me manifestly: «Behold, the bridegroom is coming;   now go out to join yourself more closely to him that he may gladden you by the glory of his countenance»... When, oh when will you show yourself to me so that I may see and with merriment draw from you, God, the living fountain (Is 12,3)? Then I will drink and will become inebriated with the sweet plentifulness of the living fountain, which distills the delights of the melllifluous face of him whom my soul desires (Ps 42[41],3). O sweet face, when will you satisfy me with yourself? Then I will go into the place of the wonderful tabernacle even to the very aspect of God (Ps 42[41],5); at its threshold my heart is made to groan because I am delayed by my sojourn here. Oh, when will you fill me with g1adness by your mellifluous face (Ps 16[15],11)? Then I will contemplate and warmly kiss the true spouse of my soul, my Jesus.... there where I may recognize you just as I am recognized (1Cor 13,12) and love you just as I am loved so that forever I may see you, my God, as you really are (1Jn 3,2) in your blessed vision, fruition, and possession.

Mary Sabbath

Our Lady of Medjugorje

5 November 2011

Votive  Mass of  BVM

“Mary conceive immaculate” -Mary Sabbath

A thought to begin the Mass, reminded me of Saturday in Latroun Abbey. The monastery stands above the busy junction of the Motorway. Everyday we hear the roar of the traffic of buses, trucks, military tanks, cars. On Saturday we open the window of the Infirmary corridor and we hear the great stillness of silence — the silence of the SABBATH.

The Mass, Missa in Sabbato, suggests  being called the “Mary Sabbath”.

The Friends of Our Lady of Medjugorje sent us The Medjugorje Web for November.

“Mary says,  ‘Dear children, the Father has not left you to yourselves’.” Mary speaks of the Father and of the Son and of her Children. Her words are beautifully and so illuminating.

It is not the language of a young parent, not the that of professional theologian or mystic.

Mary speaks simple words to everyone, from children to those overcoming even those impaired by Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Aphasia …

In the Mass Intercessions,
Mary’s Message ends    I am calling you: pray for your shepherds.

From: Steve and Ana

Sent: 02 November 2011 17:34

Subject: Medjugorje - Our Lady's November 02, 2011 Message

Peace to all! Below please find Our Lady's November 02, 2011 message given to Mirjana.

Our next mailing will be Our Lady's November 25, 2011 message.

God Bless!

Steve and Ana.

The Medjugorje Web

http://www.medjugorje.org

---------------------------------

November 02, 2011

"Dear children, the Father has not left you to yourselves. Immeasurable is
His love, the love that is bringing me to you, to help you to come to know
Him, so that, through my Son, all of you can call Him 'Father' with the
fullness of heart; that you can be one people in God's family. However, my
children, do not forget that you are not in this world only for yourselves,
and that I am not calling you here only for your sake. Those who follow my
Son think of the brother in Christ as of their very selves and they do not
know selfishness. That is why I desire that you be the light of my Son, that
to all those who have not come to know the Father - to all those who wander
in the darkness of sin, despair, pain and loneliness - you may illuminate
the way and that, with your life, you may show them the love of God. I am
with you. If you open your hearts, I will lead you. Again I am calling you:
pray for your shepherds. Thank you. "  

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All Souls Comment

Thanks for Comments.
Reference:  From Purgation and Purgatory  

by Saint Catherine of Genoa   

(Classics of wester» Spirituality, pages 71-72.76.78-79.81-82)
has usefully given us the pages from the Classis Western Spiritualiy.
And I am re-reading with more deep soundings.
Donald

Chili Pines, Sun-Set

Chili Pines, Sun-Set

----- Forwarded Message -----  
From: Anne Marie  ...
To: Fr Donald ...
Sent: Wednesday, 2 November 2011, 21:10
Subject: Re: [Dom Donald's Blog] All Souls November 2011

I love your photo of the pines.  The sky is Awesome

Sent from my iPhone

AnneMarie

From Purgation and Purgatory by Saint Catherine of Genoa

(Classics of wester» Spirituality, pages 71-72.76.78-79.81-82)

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Sr.Mary ...>
To: Fr Donald ;...
Sent: Thursday, 3 November 2011, 3:37

Subject: What a beautiful revelation and explanation of Purgatory!

Dear Donald, 

Thank you for all the interesting  Emails. 
I loved the one on the teaching of Catherine of Genoa and had not read it before.

I am awaiting  the November Magnificat but as usual when it will arrive is never fixed. www.magnificat.com

Mary

All Souls November 2011

Chili Pines, Sun-Set

From Purgation and Purgatory
by Saint Catherine of Genoa

(Classics of wester» Spirituality, pages 71-72.76.78-79.81-82)

The souls in purgatory cannot think,

"I am here, and justly so because of my sins,"
or "I wish I had never committed such sins
for now I would be in paradise,"

or "That person there is leaving before me,"
or "I will leave before that other one."

They cannot remember the good and evil
in their past nor that of others.

Such is their joy in God's will, in his pleasure,
that they have no concern for themselves but
dwell only on their joy in God's ordinance.

They see only the goodness of
God, his mercy toward men.

Should they be aware of other good or evil,

theirs would not be perfect charity.

Only once do they
understand the reason for
their purgatory:

the moment in which they leave this life.

After this moment, that knowledge disappears.

Immersed in charity, incapable of deviating from it,
they can only will or desire pure love.

There is no joy save that in paradise

to be compared with the joy of the souls in purgatory.

As the rust of sin is consumed

the soul is more and more open to God's love.

Just as a covered object left out in the sun
cannot be penetrated by the sun's rays, in the same way,

once the covering of the soul is removed,

the soul opens itself fully to the rays of the sun.

Having become one with God's will,

these souls, to the extent that he grants it to them, see into God.

Joy in God, oneness with him, is the end of these souls,
an instinct implanted in them at their creation.

All that I have said

is as nothing compared to what I feel within,

the witnessed correspondence of love between God and the soul;

for when God sees the soul pure as it was in its origins,

he tugs at it with a glance,

draws it and binds it to himself with a fiery love.

God so transforms the soul in
himself that it knows nothing other than God.

He will not cease

until he has brought the soul to its perfection.

That is why the soul seeks to cast off

any and all impediments, so that it can be lifted up to God;
and such impediments

are the cause of the suffering of the souls in purgatory.

Not that the souls dwell on their suffering;
they dwell rather

on the resistance they feel in themselves
against the will of God,

against his intense and pure love bent on nothing

but drawing them up to him.

And I see rays of lightning

darting from that divine love to the creature,

so intense and fiery as to annihilate not the body alone
but, were it possible, the soul.

The soul becomes like gold

that becomes purer as it is fired, all dross being cast out.

The last stage of love

is that which does its work without human doing.

If humans were to be aware of the many hidden flaws in them

they would despair.

These flaws are burned away in the last stage of love.

God then shows the soul its weakness,

so that the soul may see the workings of God.

If we are to become perfect,

the change must be brought about in us and without us; that is,

the change is to be the work not of human beings but of God.

This, the last stage of love,

is the pure and intense love of God alone.

The overwhelming love of God
gives the soul a joy beyond Awords.

In purgatory great joy and great suffering do not exclude one another.

Holy Isle - Lindisfarne