A Brief Diversion

This will be a very short post (famous last words, I hear you say); I have a few hours and I have to get my Christmas shopping started - almost nothing done.  My Christmas cards are half done, none posted - so friends, I have not forgotten you.   I had better get out and do some shopping or I will be ostracised for my empty hands (my Therese excuse, "I come with empty hands" tends not to work at Christmas).

Anyway, the subject of my post is Biblical.  Having offered Mass, I was tucking in to my breakfast of bread and coffee just a few moments ago (the world seems so different, so much nicer after coffee!) and I was catching up on the news on the Internet.  Fr Z has drawn my attention to a most interesting article: archaeologists seem to have found the ruins of the Biblical cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Read the post here. 

The author details a talk given by the archaeologist at a conference, and he was fascinated by what was revealed.  As he listened, one question popped into his head - as indeed pops into many heads: what happened the cities - why were they abandoned, or were they destroyed?  He notes that the academics in the room were very careful about the "elephant in the room".  Well, the question was asked, and the answer, given by an embarrassed archaeologist, was that the cities were destroyed by what seemed to be a "heat event".

You have to love that!  A "heat event", or in other words, fire and brimstone, hail and damnation, falling from heaven to wipe out the cities of sin because they refused to repent!  Ah yes, that will warm the blood this cold morning.   Notice that, so far, all archaeological investigations and excavations have confirmed what Scripture relates.  We need to take note of that.  We all need to take note: the God of love is not as much of a push over as some modern Christians think. 

I wonder if there is any sign of the pillar of salt?  I'm sure the radical feminists would love to see that.

All In The Words

The great Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception!  A marvellous feast day.  In Ireland, traditionally, it is the country people's shopping day, when they travel up to Dublin to do their Christmas shopping.  While that may sound awful to those who realise the importance of a day of rest - this day was, traditionally the only day the country people could get off.  Farmers work six days a week, Sunday was the day of rest: the Solemnity was the day they did not work even when it fell on a week day, and so they availed of the opportunity to get some of the presents bought for Christmas.  In Dublin some saw it as "Culchie Day" - culchie being the term for country people.  In America you would say "Rednecks". I'll stop there lest this post turn into a dictionary of abusive terms for non-city people, i.e. those who live in "the sticks", etc. (Ahem..)

Moving on quickly.....This wonderful feast day of the Immaculate Conception should be one which unites Christians around the world: it should not just be Catholics who celebrate it, after all the event which we mark is revealed in Sacred Scripture.  Here we come to one of my bugbears - translation!  As we read the Gospel today the Scriptural basis for this feast is, I feel, undermined by the translation.

In Luke 1:28 the Angel Gabriel greets Mary as "kecharitomene" which is translated in the Gospel today as "highly favoured one".  Now while that translation "will do", it is not wholly accurate for the term.  The better translation of the word is "full of grace", and even that lacks the depth of the word which is even more fulsome.  The word means that Mary is now already filled with God's grace in preparation for the role she is to play in human salvation, and that of course points to the Immaculate Conception.   I think we need a better translation for this Gospel.

Today may also be the day when St Bernard and St Thomas Aquinas hang their heads at the celestial banquet and sip their wine in silence, as Blessed John Duns Scotus takes the toast with the Holy Mother.  Blessed John defended the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception when St Bernard and St Thomas had their issues.  Indeed Bernard was up in arms when some churches of the West were celebrating the feast.  No doubt all are friends now, and I'm sure Blessed Pius IX will pop over for a little ribbing at the two Doctors and tell them they took their eyes off the ball.  The lesson: humility.

Indeed that is one of the messages of this feast day: she who was most humble, the handmaid of the Lord, has been raised to great heights and all generations call her blessed, for her dedication to the will of God.  

Happy feast day!

In The Beginning

What a wonderful two weeks we have ahead of us!  The first readings of our Masses are taken from the Book of Genesis.  I have always loved that book, as a child I would read it again and again for the stories, and then move onto Genesis: The Sequel aka Exodus, and then, in the mood for adventure, skip over the three unpronounceables to Joshua and Judges.  

As I grew older I began to understand Genesis and then as I lived in the world I was convinced of the truths it teaches - experience of human life confirms its wisdom.  If we want to understand human nature, it's all there in Genesis.  By a happy coincidence I am reading Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch's commentary on the book and it is bliss, well worth reading. So my understanding of the book, but also of human nature, is deepening. 

In today's first reading we have the story of Creation, a most controversial topic today.  The battle between Darwinian Evolutionists and Literal Creationists is heated.  I share Pope John Paul II's position - evolution is most likely what happened - we see evidence of it every year in the annual bout of flu which makes its way around the world - each year new strains evolve to keep scientists busy trying to find a vaccine.  That said I do not believe the universe is a product of chance, as philosopher Jean Paul Sartre put it after his conversion, but rather created by God who intended it to evolve in a particular way.   At the heart of it, the pinnacle: man and woman.  Reading the account of creation, organised in a liturgical manner, we are led to reflect on the magnificence of God's creative act.  Out of nothing this beautiful universe emerges - out of chaos, order. 

This is something in evolution which, I believe, reveals the intention of God - there is so much order - the laws of nature are not mere chance events, but true laws - ordered.  This might bring us to a reflection on natural law - that natural morality which seeks to move man out of moral chaos into moral order, in harmony with God and his creation, a law which is written in the hearts of men and women.  The whole question of natural law is one much disputed today; just recently I heard an advocate for same-sex marriage decry the brutality and tyranny of natural law in its ordering of human sexuality along the lines of male and female.

That said, it is natural for us to nurture order in our lives and in our liturgy and we can see this process happening in recent years, most particularly during the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI.  After swirling around in the ideological chaos which broke out after Vatican II thanks to misinterpretations, and maybe even the mischievousness of some, the Church is coming back to that order which has always been the hallmark of her life - the order she finds in the Heart of her Divine Founder.  The new translation of the Missal, or as one of my readers called it "the corrected translation", is one element in this return to order, the means through which the Church can overcome the liturgical chaos which has reigned supreme in some places.  

Each reform of the Church re-echoes the creation of the world and Pentecost as the Holy Spirit sweeps across the Church renewing her and preparing her for the mission which is about to unfold.  We live in interesting times, exciting times and, yes, difficult times, but we all have our part to play.

Love Has Let Himself Be Found!

Yesterday the Holy Father dedicated his weekly audience to one of my favourite saints - St Veronica Giuliani, Capuchin Poor Clare and mystic.  St Veronica was a remarkable woman, one who would remind you of St Teresa of Avila, who has left us volumes of profound and insightful works.  Her Diary is one of the most extraordinary Christian documents which gives us a real glimpse of the mystical life - a life we are all invited to enter. 

Like her brother Capuchin, St Pio, she bore the stigmata, and endured years of suspicion and investigation, growing in holiness and earning the deep respect and love of her sisters in the Monastery.  When all censures were lifted, as the Church, having completed an exhaustive investigation, recognised that her stigmata and mystical gifts came from God, she was elected Abbess at the first opportunity, an office she served with great wisdom, simplicity, love and practicality - she may have been a mystic, but her head was not in the clouds.  

St Veronica offers us so many wonderful insights, but my favourite quotation from her is in fact her last - her dying words.  As she looked into eternity, about to leap into the arms of God she said, "Love has let himself be found" - that sums up her whole life, her teaching and her lesson to us.

She was also a great devotee of Our Lady who dictated part of the Diary.  In fact, it was Our Lady who told her that her death was near and so said to the saint that now it was time to call a "Halt" to the writings, which Veronica did.   At the moment those writings are being examined by the Church with the view to possibly declaring her a Doctor of the Church.  Let us pray that she will be, soon.  Veronica is one of the Church's great treasures, but at the moment a hidden one.  Her elevation as the fourth woman Doctor will be a gift to the Church in these times, one who with the other Doctors, brings a unique teaching which will help us grow in knowledge and love of God.  I see in his talk the Holy Father sees her as a great devotee of Scripture, perhaps he is reflecting on a possible declaration, and sees her contribution to the understanding of Sacred Scripture as a possible reason to raise her.

The Holy Father's talk can be found here.

Padova

Arrived in Padua today for a few days of prayer and retreat at the tomb of St Anthony.  Be assured that I will remember all those who read this blog in my prayer at his tomb.  If you have any petitions, send your Guardian Angel with them to me. You'd never think it, but you have to tread carefully when it comes to St Anthony: two countries claim him, and give him their own title.  His native Portuguese call him Anthony of Lisbon, and the Italians invoke him as Anthony of Padua and see him almost as a naturalised citizen.  Others know him as Anthony the Opportunist who hides what you are looking for, makes you promise cash to get them back, and then produces the lost object and, bingo!  Pay day!  That is extortion, and we all keep him in business.

Seriously, St Anthony is one of the most loved of all saints, and rightly so.  My devotion to him springs from my inheritance from my grandfather.  Though he had died years before I was born, my grandmother gave me a prayer card which he had cherished in life - it was of St Anthony.  I still have it, carefully preserved.  Apart from his prowess in finding the lost, he is one of the Church's great Scripture scholars and preachers, and as such encourages us to make Scripture part of our daily lives - reading it, meditating on it and living it.

For what it is worth, I am posting the homily I delivered in his Basilica, during the Fraternity pilgrimage to Turin and Padua.  Many of the pilgrims have requested a copy of it, so here it is.  Forgive the typos and mistakes.

Mass at the Basilica of St Anthony (Il Santo), Padua

13^th May 2010

When Friar Anthony from Portugal was asked to preach a sermon at an ordination because there had been confusion over who was to speak, the experience would prove to be much greater than anyone had anticipated.  They did not expect much – he was Portuguese – so not a native speaker of Italian; he had seemed rather quiet, and while faithful to his duties in the kitchen of the hospice of San Paolo, he did not give the impression of being very learned.  Besides, there would be a number of Dominicans present and with their being renowned for their ability to preach, the poor Friar Anthony would be a meagre offering: it would be down to Franciscan humility and spiritual poverty to excuse his efforts.  However, when Anthony began to speak, everyone was taken by surprise, not only was he eloquent, not only was he learned, but he knew the Gospels and Holy Scriptures so intimately that he seemed like a living icon of the Word of God himself.  When St Francis heard of it, he immediately wrote to Anthony, calling him “My bishop”, and asked him if he would become the theologian of the new Order, and devote himself to teaching and preaching. Francis who knew Christ intimately recognised another who knew Christ in the depths of his soul and could entrust to him the formation of the friars. Later, in 1946, when he was declared a Doctor of the Church, St Anthony was given the title Doctor Evanglicus – the Evangelical Doctor - the Doctor of the Gospel.

As we gather in his basilica, near the ark which contains his sacred remains, we come to honour one of the Church’s most popular saints, but also to listen to him as we continue on our pilgrimage-retreat towards the Solemn Exposition of the Holy Shroud.  To seek the Face of Christ – as this is our theme, indeed the desire of our lives, was also St Anthony’s desire.  As he opened the Holy Gospels, therein, living and breathing in the Spirit, he found the Face of Christ:, Jesus, the Word of God present in the Scriptures.  And so Anthony, on fire with this encounter, proclaimed he whom he had met in the Gospels to the world.  A man transformed by the One he met in Scripture, continues to preach right down to our day for all who are prepared to listen.     When he was canonised on the 30^th May 1232 he was not a year dead, such was the popularity and obvious sanctity of this humble friar. This popularity continues, yet for all of it, Anthony’s life and mission remains a mystery to many who see him as no more than an aid in finding lost objects.  The treasure which is St Anthony is not his ability to push the forgetful in the general direction of a lost possession, but rather his ability to lead the faithful on the path to Christ so they may find again the road to heaven and win the treasure which God has stored up for those who are faithful. 

Anthony was born in Lisbon, in Portugal, just beside the ancient Sé, the magnificent cathedral of the city.  In that holy place he was baptised, and in its shadow he grew up in a devout family, discerning a vocation to the priesthood and religious life.  He joined the Augustinian Order and was ordained.  In an attempt to escape the continual visits of his family, he asked to be sent to the Order’s community in Coimbra to dedicate his life to prayer, study and service.  It was there in 1219 that he met a group of five Franciscan friars going out to Morocco to reach the Gospel.   The following year, he was preset when the remains of the five who had been martyred were being brought to their resting place.  Their example inspired him to seek admittance to the Franciscan Order – to leave behind the ease of the Augustinian life and embrace the poverty and simplicity exemplified by the now famous Francis who was still living in Italy and inspiring a real reform in the Church.  Receiving the Franciscan habit in Coimbra, he set out for Morocco, to preach the faith and be martyred, but his health was bad, and he was sent back to Europe – to go Italy, making his way to Assisi for the General Chapter of 1221.  

Looking so sickly when he arrived, he found it difficult to get an appointment – they did not expect him to live long.  However, out of pity’s sake he was sent to work in the kitchens of the Hospice of San Paolo where his skills were discovered.  Once he was appointed theologian of the Order, he spent the rest of his life travelling around Italy and Southern France preaching against the heresies of the day, working miracles and astonishing all by his humility and obvious sanctity.  He drew huge crowds who came for many miles to hear him.  In early 1231 he had his famous vision of the Infant Jesus, and on the 13^th June of the same year, he died in the Poor Clare convent in Arcella at the age of 36.  After a row over where his holy body should be buried, he was brought back to Padua which he had made his base in the last years of his life.  A few years after his swift canonisation this magnificent basilica was built over the chapel in which his body was entombed.   St Bonaventure in 1263, when Minister General of the Franciscan Order, had the Saint’s body examined a few years after his death and found his tongue and vocal cords, the organs of his preaching, incorrupt.

St Anthony of Padua, the teacher of the Gospel urges his listeners, his brothers and sisters in the faith, to put the Holy Scriptures at the centre of their lives, just as he did.  If you wish to know God, if want to see his Face – go to the Holy Scriptures – this was his advice. “The Word of God is alive and active, it cuts more finely than a double edged sword”, so says the Psalmist, reminding us that the Scriptures are radical – that they are not ordinary literature, but the Word of the living God, the place where the Holy Spirit moves and works in a creative way, bringing the reader to an encounter with Christ who is the Word Incarnate.  As the Word of God, we see that between each word of Scripture there are great spaces within which our loving God is present and reaching out to us.   As we enter into the Scriptures, we encounter the living God who speaks to us, and so, if we allow him, he touches us, changes us, transforms us.  As a master of the Scriptures, St Anthony opened himself to the Holy Spirit working in the Word of God, and preaching them, touched the hearts and lives of those he preached to.  One primitive writer called him the “pen of the Holy Spirit”, Pope Gregory IX called him an “ark of the covenant”: Anthony was indeed an ark, because the Holy Scriptures had found a place in his mind and his heart and they led him to a deeper love and understanding of God.  He was a true servant of the Gospel.  The legacy of the Saint of Padua is one in which we are urged to go to the Scriptures and there to acquaint ourselves with the life and teaching of Jesus, with the Spirit moving through those sacred words, and come to see the meaning of our lives. 

St Jerome, another great Doctor of Church tells us that “Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ” – Anthony wholeheartedly agreed with that.  Living in an age when most people were illiterate, and those who could read and write may not have had access to the Scriptures, now as we have now, Anthony’s sermons were completely based on the Word of God.   He told the stories from the life of Jesus, taught the Lord’s teachings, spoke of the Old Testament and led his listeners into a deep understanding of the prophets, all of Scripture pointing to Jesus, the Incarnation and his mission of saving souls through his death and resurrection.  His approach to the Scriptures was rich.  Drawing on the tradition established by the post-Apostolic writers and Fathers of the Church, he saw the hidden treasures of the Scriptures and he opened the vault to admit even the humblest of people to enter into the palace of God’s Word.   We know Anthony as the Saint of Miracles and the Wonder Worker, God gave him the gift of healing and miracles, not to make him a magician in the eyes of the people, but to assist him and to draw people’s attention to what he said: as in the public ministry of Jesus, they were signs.

What is the best way to honour St Anthony?  Do we have to give up our simple devotion to him, ignore him when we have lost something.  No, not at all.  He has already made it clear through his miracles and assistance that he is happy to continue to help us in this little things.   But we must also widen our devotion – make it greater so we will sit and listen to him, as did the people he preached to in life.  And how do we do that?  We may read his sermons – they are available and easy to read – we only have his notes written after his preaching, but they are enough.  But we must eventually – (sooner rather than later I hope) to the Holy Scriptures and put them at the centre of our lives with the Holy Eucharist.  Take your holy picture of St Anthony, and put it in your Bible, and allow him, in prayer, to lead you through the Sacred Words and then help you to meditate on them, to see your own life in them, and come to encounter the Hidden Face of Jesus, the Word of God Incarnate.  St Anthony is a great Doctor of the Church, not for the academics and theologians, but for us, for you: he can be, and should be our teacher in the Scriptures. 

Drawing on St Anthony’s own words, then.  He says that Scripture contains the knowledge that surpasses all knowledge: “Just as gold excels all other metals in excellence”, he writes, “so does the knowledge of Sacred Scripture surpass all other forms of knowledge”.  If we seek wisdom, then again, we will find it in Scripture: he says, “The plenitude of knowledge is found in the Old and New Testaments. Here also is the totality of knowledge which alone teaches wisdom and makes a person intelligent.”   If we wish to love God more, as he reflects on Moses receiving the two tablets of stone from God on Sinai, he says: “These two tablets symbolise knowledge of the Two Testaments… This is the one true knowledge which teaches the love of God, the contempt of the world, and the subjugation of the flesh.”  In his sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Easter, he compares Scripture to a mirror.  He says: “A mirror is a fitting symbol for Sacred Scripture, because in it all of us can see ‘the face with which we were born; whence we were born, as far as the baseness of our origin, what kind were we born, as far as the frailty of our existence, and why we were born, as far as the dignity of our future glory.”  As we find ourselves in Scripture, as we find the Lord, we must begin to listen to God’s word and live it.  In the same sermon, again using the image of the mirror, he warns, “A man who listens to God’s word, but does not put it into practice is like a man who looks into a mirror at the face with which he was born, then goes off and promptly forgets what he looks like”.  If we seek the Face of Christ, we need Sacred Scripture to assist us on our journey – it is the map, the blueprint, the Testament which will bring us to him.

An interesting miracle from his life serves as a good teaching about the life of a Christian.  During one of his preaching tours, a notorious miser and usurer died.  Teaching the necessity to put God at the centre of their lives, Anthony, in fulfilment of the Lord’s teaching that where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Lk 12:34), predicted that the miser’s heart would not be in his body, but with that he treasured most in life.  When they opened his body, the corpse had no heart at all, when he opened his money chest, there was the heart lying in the midst of the miser’s carefully amassed coins.  If our hearts are truly in immersed in Christ, then they will be found in the midst of the Holy Scriptures. 

May the Holy Doctor of the Gospel, our dear St Anthony, the Saint of Miracles, help us keep Christ as the treasure of our lives and bring us to know and love him more.   St Anthony’s last words are appropriate for our theme of our reflections on this pilgrimage-retreat.  As he was dying, after he had received Holy Communion, he kept looking upward with a smile on his face.  When asked what he saw there, he answered, “I see my Lord”.   May that vision be ours also.