Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Pope St John Paul II, pray for us



Today is the commemoration of Pope St John Paul II (Karol Jozef Wojtyla) who was canonised in 2014. Here is a photo of a much younger me in Rome (with no grey hair!), together with Fr Bill Edebohls, then Anglican Dean of Ballarat, with Pope John Paul II. This was in February 1994, and we were on our way to the UK for the consecration of David Silk who had been elected Bishop of Ballarat. When the Holy Father died in 2005, the American evangelist Billy Graham - a friend of John Paul II - spoke for millions of people round the world when he said of this great man: "He taught us how to live, and he taught us how to die."

The following is summarised from the Vatican website: 

Karol Wojtyla was born in the Polish town of Wadowice, on May 18, 1920, the youngest of three children. His mother died when he was 9, his brother when Karol was 12, and his father 9 years later. His sister Olga had died before Karol was born.

When he finished school he enrolled in Jagiellonian University, and a school for drama. When the Nazis closed the university the following year, Karol had to work in a quarry and factories to earn a living. During this time he felt called to be a priest, and started studying in the secret seminary of Krakow.

When the war came to an end he continued his studies, and was ordained on November 1, 1946. He went to Rome for further studies, and then returned to Poland, where he served several parishes, and then as chaplain to the university students there.

Karol became Bishop of Ombi and auxiliary of Krakow in 1958, and then in 1964, Archbishop of Krakow. Pope Paul VI made him a cardinal in 1967. As Cardinal Wojtyla, he participated in the second Vatican Council, and the assemblies of the Synod of Bishops. 

On October 16, 1978 he was elected Pope, taking the name "John Paul II". His pontificate was one of the longest in Church history, lasting almost 27 years. He made 104 visits outside Italy, and 146 within Italy. He visited 317 of Rome’s 333 parishes. He held hundreds of meetings with leaders of nations, pilgrims, and faithful. He established World Youth Days as a way to connect with young people around the world.

He promoted spiritual renewal within the Church, through the Year of Redemption, the Marian Year, and the Year of the Eucharist. He proclaimed 1,338 blesseds and 51 saints, and made St. Therese of the Child Jesus a Doctor of the Church. His writings are many, and have informed Church teachings throughout his pontificate and into the present day.  

On April 2, 2005, John Paul II died. More than three million pilgrims came to Rome to pay homage to his remains, some waiting in line for 24 hours to enter the Basilica. He was canonized on April 27, 2014, by Pope Francis. 


SOME OF POPE St JOHN PAUL'S SAYINGS:
The Eucharist is the secret of my day. It gives strength and meaning to all my activities of service to the Church and to the whole world… Let Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament speak to your hearts. It is he who is the true answer of life that you seek. He stays here with us: he is God with us. Seek him without tiring, welcome him without reserve, love him without interruption: today, tomorrow, forever.
Pastoral visit to Young People of Bologna, 1997 full text

The liberating message of the Gospel of Life has been put into your hands… Like the great Apostle Paul, you too must feel the full urgency of the task. […] This is no time to be ashamed of the Gospel. It is the time to preach it from the rooftops!
Eucharistic Celebration of the 8th World Youth Day, 1993 full text

It is Jesus you seek when you dream of happiness; he is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; he is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is he who provokes you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is he who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is he who reads in your hearts your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle. It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow yourselves to be grounded down by mediocrity, the courage to commit yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves and society, making the world more human and more fraternal.
Address of the 15th World Youth Day, 2000 full text

Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors for Christ!
Inauguration Homily of his Pontificate, 1978 full text

We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures, we are the sum of the Father’s love for us and our real capacity to become the image of His Son Jesus.
Apostolic Voyage to Toronto, 2002 full text

We are facing an enormous and dramatic clash between good and evil, death and life, the “culture of death” and the “culture of life”. We find ourselves not only faced with but necessarily in the midst of this conflict: we are all involved and we all share in it, with the inescapable responsibility of choosing to be unconditionally pro-life.
Evangelium Vitae, 1995 full text

Genuine love … is demanding. But its beauty lies precisely in the demands its makes. These demands are precisely capable of making your love a true love.
Message to the young people of Cuba, 1998 full text

We do not pretend that life is all beauty. We are aware of darkness and sin, of poverty and pain. But we know Jesus has conquered sin and passed through his own pain to the glory of the Resurrection. And we live in the light of his Paschal Mystery – the mystery of his Death and Resurrection. We are an Easter People and Alleluia is our song!
Angelus after Mass, Apostolic Journey to the Far East and Oceania, 1986 full text

Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth – in a word, to know himself- so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves.
Fides et Ratio, 1998 full text

Dear young people, do not be content with anything less than the highest ideals! Do not let yourselves be dispirited by those who are disillusioned with life and have grown deaf to the deepest and most authentic desires of their heart. You are right to be disappointed with hollow entertainment and passing fads, and with aiming at too little in life.
Message to Youth at the World Youth Day, 2002 full text

Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it. This, as has already been said, is why Christ the Redeemer “fully reveals man to himself.”
Redemptor Hominis, 1979 full text

Remember that you are never alone, Christ is with you on your journey every day of your lives! He has called you and chosen you to live in the freedom of the children of God. Turn to him in prayer and in love. Ask him to grant you the courage and strength to live in this freedom always. Walk with him who is “the Way, the Truth and the Life”!
Address at 12th World Youth Day, 199full text


Thursday, October 17, 2019

Their Personal Pentecost



Two Sundays ago (6th October) Bishop Peter Wheatley - retired Bishop of Edmonton and one of the bishops of the Society of S. Wilfrid and S. Hilda - was with us for the Confirmation and First Holy Communion of seven of our parish family. It was a wonderful Mass with great singing and fervent prayer. Bishop Peter preached on the "rivers of living water" to which Jesus had likened the Holy Spirit, flowing from the hearts of his people into the lives of those around us (John 7:37-39).

Those confirmed prayed this prayer each day during the week beforehand in preparation for this great moment. It expresses well the openness of heart the Lord seeks in all his people: 

Father God, help me to be ready for your Holy Spirit to be poured into my heart when I am confirmed. Make me strong in your love; so that I will be able to reach out to those who feel that life has no meaning. Help me to be gentle in sharing with those who are lonely or sad. Whether I live to old age or die young, whatever plan you have for my life, help me to have a firm trust in your wonderful promises. Help me to love you with all my heart, mind, soul and strength, and to love those you send into my life. May your Holy Spirit help me to be brave enough and strong enough to continue the journey I am beginning. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Please continue to pray for those who received their "personal Pentecost" that day: Louise (standing next to Bishop Peter), then in the front row: Phill, Jessica, Jaime-Louise, Tamilore, Blossom, and Oskar. (Click on the photo to enlarge it.)


Wednesday, October 16, 2019

S. Teresa of Avila, Virgin & Doctor of the Church

Today is the feast of S. Teresa of Avila, whose best known writing is a very brief poem known as her “Bookmark”, because it was found in her prayer book when she died:


Teresa Sanchez Cepeda Davila y Ahumada was born in Avila, Spain in 1515. After her mother's death she was sent to be educated by Augustinian nuns, but became ill and returned to live with her father and other relatives. One of her uncles introduced her to the Letters of Saint Jerome, and these inspired her to consider that she had a vocation to the religious life. At the age of 20 Teresa entered the Carmelite Convent of the Incarnation at Avila.

During the sixteenth century many religious communities had lost their original devotion, discipline and openness to God. In many places convent life had become lax. Teresa's convent at Avila was no exception. She tells how she lost her first love for the Lord and embraced the status quo of comfortable convent living. In fact, she struggled with her vocation until after her father's death, and then a number of illnesses. In 1555 she underwent a spiritual renewal in which she saw the risen Jesus, and experienced a mystical transverberation, which she described as the piercing of her heart by an angel. She called this spiritual union with God, her "mystical marriage." She gave herself completely to prayer. 

Teresa began to have more spiritual experiences and visions which she, as well as the clergy she consulted, often thought were delusions. But two confessors believed that her experiences were genuine graces from the Lord, and encouraged her to embrace them as such, and to deepen her life of personal prayer and radical discipleship. More than that, they told her to write down her experiences so as to help others understand contemplative prayer. So she wrote the Life of herself (up to 1562), The Way of Perfection and Foundations for her sisters, and The Interior Castle, as a guide for praying people in general. Her writings are intensely personal spiritual autobiographies, and take their place alongside The Confessions of S. Augustine (which had also been a major influence on her). It was mainly on account of her writings that she was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI in 1970. (Teresa had been declared a saint by Pope Gregory XV in 1622.

After many tribulations and much heart-searching, Teresa felt that God was asking her to leave the Convent of the Incarnation and establish St Joseph's, a new monastery that would conscientiously observe the original Rule of Carmel. This she did on 24th August 1562. There was a great deal of opposition to the new Carmel and it was some time before she was able to live there in peace. Many condemned her as having been deceived by her mystical experiences in prayer. Eventually the hostility died down and Teresa was asked to found more of these houses of prayer in other cities of Spain. Over a period of twenty years she founded 15 houses for the nuns and, in association with John Yepes (later known as S. John of the Cross), at least two for the friars. In 1580, the Holy See recognised the Discalced Carmelites as distinct from the other Carmelites. By then Teresa was sixty-five years old, and in very poor health. Even so, she continued her work. The last Carmelite house she founded was at Burgos in July, 1582. On her way from there to Alba de Tormes she became ill. On October 4, 1582, three days after reaching Alba de Tormes, she died, and was buried there.

The parish of All Saints' Benhilton (Sutton) in the south of London, which I serve as Vicar, is in the care of the Bishop of Fulham, the Rt Rev'd Jonathan Baler, according to the provision made available to traditional Catholic parishes following the ordination of women in the Church of England. In October last year, Bishop Jonathan took a group of his priests to Avila in Spain for a week that was really a blend of clergy conference, clergy school and retreat. We were ministered to by Bishop Norman Banks, the Bishop of Richborough, who is the Provincial Episcopal Visitor ("PEV") for many traditional Catholic parishes in the Canterbury Province. Drawing on his own experience, Bishop Norman led us through the spiritual journeys of S. Teresa of Avila and S. John of the Cross. We were fortunate to have been able to visit significant sites that brought alive some of the historical aspects of S. Teresa's life and teaching. Here are some photos. (Click on them to enlarge!)

Here is a photo of the clergy having concelebrated Mass in the Convent of the Incarnation, Avila, where S. Teresa lived for 27 years, and where she was prioress when S. John of the Cross was Confessor, between 1572 and 1576: 



Here is S. Teresa's cell in the Convent:

  
and her kitchen:



After our concelebrated Mass on Thursday 11th October at Alba de Tormes:


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

S. TERESA SAID:
I believe that love is the measure of our ability to bear crosses, whether great or small. So if you have this love, try not to let the prayers you make to so great a Lord be words of mere politeness, but brace yourselves to suffer what God's Majesty desires. For if you give God your will in any other way, you are just showing the Lord a precious stone, making as if to give it and begging God to take it, and then, when God's hand reaches out to do so, taking it back and holding on to it tightly. Such mockery is no fit treatment for One who endured so much for us . . .
(From: The Way of Perfection)

Let humility be always at work, like the bee at the honey-comb, or all will be lost. But, remember, the bee leaves its hive to fly in search of flowers and the soul should sometimes cease thinking of itself to rise in meditation on the grandeur and majesty of its God.
(From The Interior Castle)  

Do not build towers without a foundation, for our Lord does not care so much for the importance of our works as for the love with which they are done. When we do all we can, His Majesty will enable us to do more every day. 
(From The Interior Castle) 

Love does not consist in great sweetness of devotion, but in a more fervent determination to strive to please God in all things, in avoiding, as far as possible, all that would offend Him, and in praying for the increase of the glory and honour of his Son and for the growth of the Catholic Church.
(From The Interior Castle) 

Our souls may lose their peace and even disturb other people's if we are always criticising trivial actions which often are not real defects at all, but we construe them wrongly through ignorance of their motives.
(From The Interior Castle) 

How many maggots remain in hiding until they have destroyed our virtues. These pests are such evils as self-love, self-esteem, rash judgement of others in small matters, and a want of charity in not loving our neighbour quite as much as ourselves. Although, perforce, we satisfy our obligations to avoid sin, yet we fall far short of what must be done in order to obtain perfect union with the will of God.
(From The Interior Castle)  

The only remedy for having given up a habit of recollection is to recommence it, otherwise the soul will continue to lose it more and more every day, and God grant it may realise its danger.
(From The Interior Castle)

O Lord, regulate all things by your wisdom, so that I may always serve you in the manner that you will. Do not punish me by granting my desire if it offends your love, for I desire your love to live always in me. Help me to deny myself in order that I may serve you. Let me live for you - who in yourself are the true life. Amen.


Sunday, October 13, 2019

Saint John Henry Newman's Published Sermons - Chronological Index


With the official declaration of John Henry Newman as a Saint, there is be a renewed interest in his writings. It is fortunate, then, that so many of his sermons survive, as this index demonstrates. However, a perusal of the dates shows that this is but a selection of his preaching. 

As an Anglican, he preferred to read his sermons, and to be “reverently” and meticulously prepared. When he became a Roman Catholic he read sermons only on special occasions. Although no less prepared, he preached extempore as was the Roman Catholic custom. This was obviously not difficult for him to do. Indeed, we know that most of his own summary notes of his later preaching were written out, not before, but after the sermon in question had been preached. 

Newman's published Anglican sermons are widely regarded as masterpieces of English prose and spiritual reflection. He continued to publish them (and, it appears, sometimes to preach them again) as a Roman Catholic. This chronological index is useful, because it shows a natural development in his convictions, yet at the same time how little his core beliefs changed throughout his life.


Newman's Sermons by date preached 
(or written)

This Index is dapted from: 
http://www.newmanreader.org/controversies/guides/dates.html


DATE
VOLUME
TITLE
1825 Jan 23
PPS7-5
1825 Jun 12
PPS1-4
1825 Dec 18
PPS8-8
1825 Dec 25 R
PPS8-17 
1826 Jul 2
OUS-1
1826 Aug
PPS1-1
1828 Jun 15
PPS7-16 
1828 Jul 27
PPS7-2
1829 Mar 8
PPS7-3
1829 Mar 15
PPS7-4
1829 May 24
PPS1-15 
1829 Jun 14
PPS1-16 
1829 Jul 19
PPS3-1
1829 Nov 8, 15, 22
PPS7-17 
1829 Nov 29
PPS3-14 
1829 Dec 13
PPS7-15 
1829 Dec 20 E2
PPS1-19 
1829 Dec 20
PPS1-20 
1830 Feb 21
PPS3-6
1830 Mar 28
PPS7-7
1830 Mar 21
PPS7-18
1830 Apr 13
OUS-2
1830 May 2 R
PPS8-6
1830 May 9 R
PPS3-2
1830 May 16
PPS3-3
1830 May 23
PPS3-4
1830 Aug 1
PPS3-5
1830 Sep 5
PPS8-7
1830 Sep 12
PPS8-9
1830 Oct 17
PPS8-13
1830 Oct 24
PPS1-17 
1830 Oct 28
PPS8-12 
1830 Oct 31
PPS8-14 
1830 Nov 14
PPS1-18 
1830 Nov 30 R
PPS2-1
1831 Jan 1
PPS2-7
1831 Jan 25
PPS2-9
1831 Feb 2
PPS2-10 
1831 Mar 6
OUS-3
1831 Mar 27
PPS1-14 
1831 Apr 3 R
PPS2-13 
1831 Apr 24
PPS1-22
1831 Apr 25
PPS2-16
1831 May 8
PPS1-23
1831 May 15
PPS1-26
1831 May 22
SSD-11
1831 Jun 5
PPS1-8
1831 Jun 24 R
PPS2-24
1831 Jun 26
PPS8-5
1831 Jul 3
PPS1-9
1831 Jul 17
PPS1-25
1831 Jul 25
PPS2-4
1831 Aug 24 E
PPS2-27
1831 Sep 29
PPS2-29
1831 Oct 9
PPS1-10
1831 Oct 18
PPS2-30
1831 Oct 23
PPS1-11
1831 Oct 30
PPS1-13
1831 Nov 6
PPS1-12
1831 Nov 20
PPS3-7
1831 Nov 30
PPS2-32
1831 Dec 4
PPS3-8
1831 Dec 11
OUS-4
1831 Dec 25
PPS1-6
1831 Dec 27
PPS2-5
1832 Jan 1
PPS7-1
1832 Jan 22
OUS-5
1832 Jan 25
PPS8-15
1832 Feb 24
PPS2-11
1832 Mar 25
PPS2-12
1832 Apr 8
OUS-6
1832 Apr 15
PPS7-9
1832 Apr 22
PPS1-21
1832 May 27
OUS-7
1832 Aug 26
PPS1-24
1832 Sep 2
PPS1-3
1832 Oct 14
PPS1-7
1832 Nov 4
OUS-8
1832 Dec 2
OUS-9
1833 Jul 21
PPS1-2
1833 Dec 22
PPS1-5
1833 Dec 28
PPS2-6
1834 Jun 8
PPS3-13
1834 Sep 14
PPS3-17
1834 Oct 19
PPS5-21
1834 Oct 26
PPS3-22
1834 Nov 2
PPS3-21
1834 Dec 14
PPS2-25
1834 Dec 21
PPS2-2
1834 Dec 25
PPS2-3
1834 Dec 27
PPS2-17
1834 Year end
PPS2-8
1834 Year end
PPS2-18
1834 Year end
PPS2-19
1834 Year end
PPS2-22
1834 Year end
PPS2-23
1834 Year end
PPS2-31
1835 Jan-Feb
PPS2-14
1835 Jan-Feb
PPS2-15
1835 Jan-Feb
PPS2-20
1835 Jan-Feb
PPS2-21
1835 Jan-Feb
PPS2-26
1835 Feb 1
PPS2-28
1835 Feb 8
PPS3-23
1835 Feb 22
PPS3-24
1835 Mar 8
PPS3-12
1835 Mar 22
PPS4-4
1835 Apr 5
PPS3-9
1835 Apr 12
PPS3-10
1835 May 3
PPS3-11
1835 May 17
PPS3-15
1835 May 24
PPS3-20
1835 Oct 25
PPS3-16
1835 Nov 1
PPS3-25
1835 Nov 8
PPS3-18
1835 Nov 15
PPS3-19
1836 Feb 21
PPS4-20
1836 Mar 13
PPS8-18
1836 Mar 20
PPS4-3
1836 Mar 27
PPS4-6
1836 Apr 1
PPS6-6
1836 Apr 26
PPS6-5
1836 May 29
PPS4-19
1836 Jun 12
PPS4-8
1836 Aug 14
SSD-13
1836 Oct 23
PPS4-14
1836 Oct 30
PPS8-1
1836 Nov 1
PPS8-11
1836 Nov 6
PPS4-9
1836 Nov 13
PPS6-19
1836 Nov 20
PPS4-10
1836 Dec 4
PPS5-4
1836 or 1837
PPS6-15
1837 Jan 1
SSD-8
1837 Mar 26 A
PPS5-7
1837 Apr 2
PPS4-2
1837 Apr 30
PPS4-5
1837 May 7
PPS4-17
1837 May 14
PPS4-11
1837 May 21
PPS6-23
1837 Jun 25
PPS8-4
1837 Jul 9
PPS4-1
1837 Jul 16
PPS4-13
1837 Aug 6
PPS4-7
1837 Sep 10
PPS5-18
1837 Oct 22
PPS4-12
1837 Oct 29
PPS6-22
1837 Nov 12 & 26
PPS6-9
1837 Dec 3
PPS4-22
1837 Dec 10
PPS4-15
1837 Dec 25
PPS4-16
1838 Feb 11
PPS5-8
1838 Feb 25
PPS4-21
1838 Mar 4
PPS6-1
1838 Mar 18
PPS5-13
1838 Mar 25
PPS5-14
1838 Apr 1
PPS5-15
1838 Apr 15
PPS4-23
1838 Apr 22
PPS4-18
1838 May 6
PPS6-10
1838 May 13
PPS6-11
1838 May 20 & 27
PPS7-12
1838 May 24
PPS6-16
1838 Sep 22
PPS5-6
1838 Nov 4
PPS5-2
1838 Nov 18
SSD-7
1838 Nov 25
SSD-6
1838 Dec 2
PPS5-1
1838 Dec 9
PPS5-17
1838 Dec 16
PPS5-16
1839 Epiphany
OUS-10
1839 Jan 13
OUS-11
1839 Feb 10
PPS5-23
1839 Feb 17
PPS5-9
1839 Feb 24
PPS7-8
1839 Mar 3
PPS5-20
1839 Mar 10
PPS5-19
1839 Mar 31
PPS6-8
1839 May 21
OUS-12
1839 May 26
PPS6-25
1839 Jun 2
PPS5-3
1839 Jun 9
PPS5-22
1839 Sep 23
PPS6-21
1839 Oct 5
PPS6-14
1839 Dec 22
PPS5-5
1840 Jan 12
PPS5-11
1840 Jan 19
PPS5-10
1840 Jan 26
PPS5-12
1840 Mar 1
PPS5-24
1840 Mar 15
PPS6-2
1840 Mar 29
PPS8-10
1840 Apr 12
PPS6-4
1840 May 3
PPS7-13
1840 May 10
PPS7-14
1840 May 31
SSD-18
1840 Sep 22
PPS6-20
1840 Nov 29 & Dec 6  
PPS6-17
1840 Dec 13
PPS6-18
1840 Dec 25
SSD-5
1840 St. Peter's Day
OUS-13
1841 Jan 17
PPS7-6
1841 Jan 24
PPS6-12
1841 Feb 28
PPS6-13
1841 Mar 21
PPS6-3
1841 Apr 9
PPS6-7
1841 Jun 1
OUS-14
1841 Jun 13
SSD-12
1841 Jul 4
PPS8-3
1841 Nov 28
SSD-21
1841 Dec 5
SSD-22
1841 Dec 12
SSD-24
1841 Dec 19
SSD-23
1842 Jan 23
SSD-1
1842 Jan 23
PPS7-11
1842 Mar 25
PPS7-10
1842 May 1
SSD-9
1842 Sep 22
SSD-25
1842 Oct 16
SSD-2
1842 Oct 30
SSD-4
1842 Nov 13
SSD-14
1842 Nov 20
SSD-15
1842 Nov 27
SSD-16
1842 Dec 4
SSD-17
1843 Feb 5 or 12
SSD-19
1843 Feb 19
SSD-20
1843 Feb 26
SSD-3
1843 Apr 30
PPS8-16
Date not known
PPS6-24
1843 Jun 4
SSD-10
1843 Sep 25
SSD-26
1843 Purification
OUS-15
1848 Jan 30
F&P-1
1848 Feb 20
F&P-2
1848 Feb 27
F&P-3
1848 Mar 5
F&P-4
1848 Mar 12
F&P-5
1848 Mar 19
F&P-6
1848 Mar 26
F&P-7
1849 Feb 2
DMC-1
1849
DMC-2
1849
DMC-3
1849
DMC-4
1849
DMC-5
1849
DMC-6
1849
DMC-7
1849
DMC-8
1849
DMC-9
1849
DMC-10
1849
DMC-11
1849 May 31
DMC-12
1849
DMC-13
1849
DMC-14
1849
DMC-15
1849
DMC-16
1849
DMC-17
1849
DMC-18
1850 Jan 15 & 18
SPVO-12


1850 Oct 27
SPVO-9


1852 Jul 13
SPVO-10
1853 Nov 9
SPVO-11
1856
SPVO-1
1856
SPVO-2
1856
SPVO-3
1856
SPVO-4
1856
SPVO-5
1857
SPVO-6
1857
SPVO-7
1857
SPVO-8
1859 Nov 11
SPVO-13
1866 Oct 7
SPVO-15
1870 Jul 31
F&P-8
1873 May 5
SPVO-14
1873 Oct 2
F&P-9