island life- in a monastery

While they terrify me, I am always fascinated by mystics, especially in our modern times. When one delves deep into their lives, it can be said that basically “there is nothing new under the sun”!

Read St. Faustina’s journal and then go back 800+ years and read the writings of St. Gertrude- it is all there. It is as though Jesus or His Mother sends the same message over and over to each generation, especially when the world is in some state of turmoil – when is it not?

And that message is love God and love one another.

A woman so little known in our day, that there is only one translation into English about her (thanks to the monks of Silverspring in Ireland).

MARIA SIELER led a retired life yet all who knew her, whether in her youth or in her last years of life in Rome, testify that she was a woman of great piety. Only her diary gives us insight into her inner life.

She was born on 3 February 1899 in Winterdorf in the parish of St. Ruprecht an der Raab (Styria /

Austria

). Here she lived as a simple peasant girl. At an early age, her religious life developed, which manifested itself in a great love for Christ and a willingness to sacrifice.

At the age of 20, the Lord asked her to offer sacrifice for the renewal of the priesthood and for the salvation of the Church. It was intended to remind the faithful, especially the priests, that there could be no fruitful apostolate without personal devotion to Christ and without constant struggle for selflessness.

Maria wanted to enter religious life but was rejected again and again, because of ill health. She not only knew physical suffering but also inner darkness and desolation.

Maria did not experience the sufferings of Christ in visions, nor did she have the stigmatized wounds of the Lord. Rather she suffered the inner sufferings of Jesus.

She died on 29 July 1952 in Romeat the age of 53.

Thanks to the efforts of Father Franz Kober the priest of St. Ruprecht, who died on 23 March 2003, the mortal remains of this great woman were brought back to her home from Rome. Many there now see her as an advocate for us and certainly for priests.

I am always interested in learning more about modern day mystics- we all know of Sts. Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross, but what about these modern saints and yet to be named saints, who I think keep the world going. Remember Abraham asking God not to destroy the world if there were ten just men?

EDVIGE CARBON was recently named Venerable by the Holy Father. Born in Sardinia in 1880, she became well-known among the faithful and religious alike for her ecstasies and angelic visions. She kept an extensive spiritual journal in which she recorded appearances from Jesus well as many saints.

Her mother recalled Edvige's birth and told her that on that occasion she had seen a luminous host in the monstrance and said because of this : "If I die, you must receive Holy Communion every day and you should be very good, because Jesus, a few moments after you were born, showed me a host, as I have told you".

Another odd phenomenon that took place after her birth was a supernatural branding of the Cross on her breast formed from her own flesh.

With her Family

Her mother taught her embroidery as a child and she later worked with her father in the embroidery business. She also spent time in the convent of the Sisters of Saint Vincent in Alghero where the nuns led a course in embroidery. Her mother's frail health saw her tend to the education and care of her younger siblings as well as other domestic duties.

Edvige wanted to become a nun in 1895 but her mother disapproved of it and she took this disapproval as a sign of the will of God. From 1896 her visions of Jesus and Mary became ever more frequent. She became a professed member of the Third Order of Saint Francis in 1906 and belonged to an association known as the Friends of St Thérèse of the Child Jesus. She began recording her thoughts in a spiritual journal. Her mother died in 1910 and her responsibilities tripled.

Her spiritual gifts included the reading of hearts as well as the discernment of spirits. She received the stigmata – for she wanted to suffer for the glory of God.

She had visions of St. Gemma Galgani, whom she admired, having attended her canonization in 1940. She also had visits from St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, despite the fact that the priest was in fact alive. Padre Pio knew of her and referred to her as a "saint".

In 1934 she settled in Rome in 1938 where she taught catechism and ministered to the poor and sick. She died of angina pectoris in 1952.

Edvige Carboni was an extraordinary mystic. She spent her life between the natural and the supernatural; between the human and the divine. Jesus, Mary and the saints appeared to her almost daily.

In our own lifetime there are many very holy people - a wonderful sign of hope in the Church and the world- some we will never know!

SERVANT of GOD MOTHER MARY TERESA TALLON is another American born woman, we hope soon to be added to the roster of saints. One of the things I love about her is her emphasis on bringing lapsed Catholics back to the Church. - a passion of mine! In a monastery we each have our gifts. For Mother Catarina is it is evangelization- for me it is taking care of the Catholics!

Julia Teresa Tallon was born on a farm in the MohawkValley near the city of Utica, New York in 1867 as the seventh of eight children to the Irish immigrants Peter Tallon and Bridget Duffy.

From 1879 she felt a strong call to enter the religious life despite the protests of her mother and siblings who did not approve of her decision. Her mother in particular, despite her deep faith, did not approve of her daughter's decision though was powerless to prevent her from following her call.

Regardless of their opinion she joined the Holy Cross Sisters int South Bend, Indianain 1887 and resided with the order at their convent until 1920 after the conclusion of World War I. For thirty-three years she remained with the Sisters teaching a variety of subjects in Catholic schools. Little did she know that God was preparing her for another aspect of religious life - the founding of a contemplative-missionary Congregation for the streets and homes, to teach the faith and counsel, and especially to reclaim lapsed and uninstructed Catholics.

On the feast of the Assumption, August 15, 1920, when she arrived in New York City to begin this work, the Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate were born. She had left the Holy Cross Sisters after obtaining approval from the appropriate ecclesiastical authorities.

Though quiet and retiring by nature, she was strong-willed and courageous (necessary qualities for any foundress), as well as intelligent and reflective. Even as a young girl she was seen to be magnetic, compelling and persuasive. People were drawn to her and held by her fervor and enthusiasm, especially for the things of God.

Her books, personal letters, and numerous printed articles show a deeply loving religious who was unflinchingly staunch and loyal to the Church’s teaching, to the Holy Father, and to the mission God had given her.

In spite of suffering from disabling illnesses in the final two decades of her life Mother Mary Teresa carried on the administration of the Congregation, hiding from most who knew her the severity of her illness.

On 10 February 1954 she was critically ill after suffering a fall in her room and spent the next month in pain. She died on the evening of 10 March 1954 just as her community concluded the recitation of the rosary at her bedside.

Before she died she said, “I leave everything in God’s hands, who gave the wonderful vocation. He can give it to someone else as He gave it to me—and more effective than in me … As for me, I’ll be glad to go to God and under Him care for you all. He loves you more than I do.”

The beatification process opened in the Archdiocese of New York on 20 February 2013 under Pope Benedict XVI.

Any one who has followed this Blog, knows that I love to promote new Catholic art, from all cultures and all countries. Interestingly enough the intention of prayer for the month of August from the Holy Father is Artists: That artists of our time, through their ingenuity, may help everyone discover the beauty of creation.

St. George - Nikola Saric (Serbia- Germany)

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19: 1). As creation reveals God’s beauty, so humans, made in God’s image and likeness, create works that give glory to God. The great Russian novelist Dostoevsky wrote that “beauty will save the world.” How? At the end of the Second Vatican Council the bishops told artists: “This world in which we live needs beauty in order not to sink into despair. It is beauty, like truth, which brings joy to the human heart and is that precious fruit which resists the wear and tear of time, which unites generations and makes them share things in admiration.”

Moses- Dr. He Qi- USA

Beauty lifts the heart and brings people together. Pope Francis spoke of “the important and necessary task of artists: to create works of art that bear through the language of beauty a sign, a spark of hope and trust where people seem to give in to indifference and ugliness.” He went on to say: “Architects and painters, sculptors and musicians, filmmakers and writers, photographers and poets, artists of every discipline, are called to make beauty shine, especially where darkness and greyness dominate everyday life; they are custodians of beauty, heralds and witnesses of hope for humanity, as my predecessors have repeated many times.

I invite them, therefore, to care for beauty, and beauty will heal the many wounds that mark the heart and soul of the men and women of our times.” However, artists can be tempted to create what is fashionable or shocking in order to make money or a name for themselves. They can create works that degrade humanity and foster conflict. We pray that artists use their gifts to heal and to give glory to God.

Mother of God- Olga Kovtun- Ukraine

On this feast of St John Marie Vianney, patron of priests, I think it appropriate to introduce a priest little known in our area, but not the midwest.

After College I was associated with the Benedictines of Perpetual Adoration at Clyde, MO, and heard many stories about SERVANT of GOD FATHER LUCAS ETLAN, who is now being considered for canonization.

Born Albert Etlin in Sarnen,Switzerland, the capital of Canton Obwalden in the foothills of the Swiss Alps, where I once stayed a week with the Benedictine nuns. He studied with the Benedictines at the beautiful Benedictine Abbey of Engelberg. While still a student, he met a monk from America who was asking for young men to come to the United States , so in 1886 he left for the US, where he joined the Benedictines in Conception Abbey, Missouri, and took the religious named Lukas.

A talented artist, he painted several of the abbey’s murals. From 1892 until his death he was chaplain to the Benedictine Sisters two miles away from his Abbey. He would daily make the walk, but in the severe winter of 1894 he became lost in a snowstorm. After this he resided at the nuns convent.

His great love for the Eucharist was expressed in a magazine he had the nuns start, “Tabernacle and Purgatory” (today “Spirit & Life”). He had a great love for the Sacred Heart of Jesus and promoted the devotion, which he hoped would be in every Catholic home. He was instrumental in persuading the Sisters to embrace a more monastic way of life with primacy given to the celebration of the Divine Office and to perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

Through the journal he collected funds for European relief during World War I and after the war started a relief service, known as Caritas. Within two months he raised almost $25,000 ( a lot of money in those days) and between 1920 & 1927 over two million dollars were sent to monasteries and convents, seminaries & orphanages, ravaged by the war.

He also raised money for scholarships for 2,800 seminarians among whom 3 became cardinals, five archbishops, 20, bishops and 14 abbots.

On December 16, 1927, Father Lukas offered Mass at the convent in Clyde, and at 8:30 a.m. taught a religion class to the girls of St. Joseph's Academy. He told the girls (in the spirit of St. Benedict): We must at all times be ready to die. We should not wish to live even a single day longer than God wills. Should death overtake us in an automobile, also then we should accept it with resignation to the will of God.

Eight hours later, Father Lukas lay dead at the side of the highway in Stanberry, Missouri, the victim of an automobile accident. At the moment of the crash, he was heard to cry out, "O Jesus, Jesus!" When help came, Father Lukas was already dead, with a piece of his rosary held fast in his hand.

Since his death, Father Lukas has obtained numerous graces and favors for those who have recourse to his intercession.

Our country fair is around the corner and even though I no longer show livestock (Cotswold sheep & llamas) or have the 4–H groups, we none the less participate in some way. Amazingly enough fairs started many years ago- thousands in fact.

Old and New Testament references to fairs are mixed with allusions to commerce, trade, the marketplace, festivals, religious feasts and holy days. Where and when the first fair was held is not known, however, evidence points to the existence of fairs as early as 500 BC.

From the beginning, fairs were commercial in character, where merchants from distant countries would come together, bringing native wares to trade with one another. While it is not clearly explained in Ezekiel or in other biblical references, it is reasonable to assume that "fair" was the name given to the place at which early trading between foreign merchants was conducted.

Scripture records in the book of Ezekiel: "Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of the kinds of riches with silver, iron, tin and lead, they traded in thy fairs." Ezekiel's account of the destruction of Tyre, supposedly written about 588 BC, describes Tyre as an important market and fair center.

It is clear that some sort of religious activity was companion to the commerce. The Latin world "feria" meaning holy day, is probably the root of the word "fair." Each feria was a day when large numbers of people would assemble for worship. Worship in those early days was centered around temples in great cities, including Ninevah, Athens, Rome and Mecca. These cities were also respected as the great commercial centers of the world. Fields adjacent to these temples were staked out for traders. Religious figures were placed about the fields in order to protect the traders and merchants.

During the early Christian era, the church took an active part in sponsoring fairs on feast days, and as a result, fairs came to be a source of revenue for the church. Possibly, our modern church bazaars possess some rudiments of these religious fairs.

This evolution which blended religion and commerce continued over time and moved into western Europe. Periodic gatherings brought together the producers of all types of commodities for the purpose of barter, exchange and sale. Entertainment and other forms of activity were later added to draw people, thus giving us fairs as we know them today.

In 1765 the first American fair was presented in Windsor, Nova Scotia. Many small fairs were held during the early 1700's in French Canada while under French rule.

Later, Elkanah Watson, a New England patriot and farmer, earned the title, "Father of US agricultural fairs" by organizing the Berkshire Agricultural Society and creating an event known then as a Cattle Show in Pittsfield, Massachusettsin September 1811. It was more than just an exhibit of animals – it was a competition, with prize money ($70) paid for the best exhibits of oxen, cattle, swine and sheep.

Painting of Watson by Cople

Watson worked diligently for many years helping communities organize their own agricultural societies and their respective shows (fairs). By 1819 most counties in New England had organized their own agricultural societies and the movement was spreading into the other states. The nineteenth century closed with almost every state and province having one or more agricultural fair or exhibition.

The core elements of those agricultural exhibitions fairs of the early 1800s are at the heart of the agricultural fair in North America today. Today, over 3,200 fairs are held in North Americaeach year. They provide industrial exhibits, demonstrations and competition aimed at the advancement of livestock, horticulture and agriculture with special emphasis placed on educational activities such as 4-H, Future Farmers of America and similar youth development programs. While enjoying these high-minded pursuits, fair visitors are also able to see, hear, touch, smell and taste the richness and variety of what the world has to offer.

The two times I was in Peru, I attended daily Mass (when in Piura) at the Opus Dei University. I was always struck by the devotion of the people (most were highly educated). I knew basically nothing about Opus Dei, except their founder had just been canonized. There has always been something of a secretive nature about this world-wide organization. The members seemed to me to be very pius yet called to a life walking with Jesus, not only in their spiritual life but also in their professional life.

Chapel in Piura- Photo to right of St. Josemaria

I recently came across a couple who are being considered for canonization and the sister of the husband is also in the works for sainthood. Imagine three from the same clan! All were very involved in Opus Dei.

VENERABLE EDUARDO ORTIZ de LANDAZURI's Cause of Canonization was opened in 1998. He was a prestigious doctor and university teacher in Spain and helped begin the University of Navarra Hospital in Pamplona.

During the Spanish Civl War (1936-1939), his father was condemned to death by the anti-Catholic government. He and his mother and sister spent the night with his father before he faced the firing squad. Later, referring to those days, he said that they had been the most painful days of his life. The event left a deep mark on his soul and was the start of a profound spiritual crisis, the beginning of his inner conversion to God

Eduardo (1910-1985) met his future wife (Venerable) Laura Busca(next Blog) in 1935, when both were working at the King's Hospital in Madrid. She was one of the first women to study pharmacology at the university in Spain.

Due to the war years in Spain, they weren't able to get married until 1941. Eventually they had seven children, and strove to make their family a "bright and cheerful home," as St. Josemaria (founder of Opus Dei) always urged.

On June 1, 1952, he asked for admission to Opus Dei. His contact with the Work meant the start of a serious struggle for continual improvement in his Christian life following the way opened by the holy life and teachings of St Josemaria Escriva, a person he came to love greatly.

As he grew in the spiritual life and his relationship with Christ, his professional life grew as well. People always found him serene and cheerful, even when faced with serious difficulties or in moments of tiredness. He worked exceptionally hard, starting each day with prayer and the Mass.

In Opus Dei he learned the value of fostering a unity of life. He came to see that the care of his family, his study and work, his interaction with friends, colleagues and students should all be deeply influenced by his faith. He found in each activity, done carefully and with order, a way to draw closer to God; it was the offering of his life, turning it into true contemplative prayer.

He showed great care for his colleagues and assistants. For his students he was a teacher and guide not only in professional matters but also in personal ones. He was friendly with everyone and tried to make himself always available. But at the same time he was demanding both on himself and on others because he wanted the talents he and they had received to be used for God’s glory.

Patients found him a true friend, for he paid attention to every aspect of their life to help them attain both bodily and spiritual health.

He retired from teaching in 1983 when he was 73 years old and was soon diagnosed with a tumor on the pancreas. Surgery showed the cancer too extensive for recovery.

From the very beginning Eduardo was aware of the seriousness of his illness and he accepted it, uniting himself ever more completely with Christ’s sufferings on the Cross and offering his life for the Church. In the last two years of his life he kept up his professional contacts, eager to bring many souls to God.

On May 1, 1985, he was brought to the University Clinic at Pamplona, where he had had cared for so many sick people. He died there May 20, while praying the words: “Lord, increase my faith, increase my hope, increase my love, so that my heart may resemble yours!”

His reputation for sanctity quickly spread after his death, a reputation that many people had appreciated even in his lifetime, and every day more and more people ask him to intercede for them with God.

Korean Madonna & Child- Jang Woo Seong 1949

Korea

’s bishops have spoken out "for peace in the Korean peninsula".

In a message sent to AsiaNews to be made public in South Korea on the occasion of the feast day of the ASSUMPTION, which is also Korea’s Independence Day, the bishops slam Pyongyang's missile tests, but also warn of all the "unreasonable provocations" that can increase the tension.

The statement is signed by Mgr Peter Lee Ki-heon, bishop of Uijeongbu and president of the Commission for the Reconciliation of the Korean People of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea (CBCK), and Mgr Lazarus You Heung-sik, bishop of Daejeon and president of the CBCK’s Justice and Peace Commission.

In their statement the bishops ask "neighboring countries" (China, Japan, Russia, United States) to avoid a military escalation, or "unrestrained action," which could only cause the "death of innumerable people, the fatal devastation of both sides, the regression of human history, and deep wounds for the whole of humanity.” Everyone is called to engage in "dialogue for peace" and work for the "coexistence of humanity, which is, in fact, the main purpose of diplomacy and politics".

The statement makes a special exhortation to the bishops’ "fellow Koreans" in the North and South to stop using economic resources in “astronomical" military budgets, and use instead at least some of those resources for the "human and cultural development" of the Korean peninsula.

The bishops call on Christians and the peoples of the world to be "peacemakers". Establishing peace in the Korean peninsula could be the "U-turn" that brings peace to the world.

"Let us walk in the light of the Lord" (Is 2,5)

Finally, we urge all brothers and sisters in the world to be attentive, to pray, to respond with good discernment, and to work together cordially to resolve the crisis of our Peninsula. The Church in Korea will never fail to get involved in the problem in question and engage, more than anything, in constant praying.

More about this amazing family. When I did some research on the people up for canonization tho related to Opus Dei, I was astounded- certainly more that in the Benedictine order!

VENERABLE LAURA BUSCA OTAEGUIwas born in 1912 in Zumárraga, in the Basque region of Spain. She was the wife of Eduardo Ortiz de Landázuri. On December 11, 1998, she had the joy of being present, in Pamplona, at the opening of the Diocesan Process on the virtues of her husband Eduardo.

Called “Laurita” by those who knew her well, her life was marked by an extraordinary self-giving in caring for her husband and children, and for many other people, drawing strength from her deep piety and love for God.

In 1935, she obtained a degree in pharmacology from the CentralUniversity in Madrid. That same year she met her future husband, Eduardo Ortiz de Landazuri. After they both lived through the civil war years in Spain, they were married on June 17, 1941, at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Arantzazu. Their marriage was a fruitful one, with seven children.

A warm-hearted and understanding person, she sought holiness in the midst of her daily work as the mother of a large family. She asked for admission to Opus Dei in 1953. Following the advice of St Josemaria Escriva, Laura and her husband Eduardo strove to make their family a “bright and cheerful home.”

From the 50’s she suffered from a painful back ailment, which she bore with fortitude and joyful acceptance of God’s will. She died in Pamplona, with a reputation for holiness, on October 11, 2000.

After a painful illness borne with extraordinary Christian fortitude, she died in Pamplona, with a reputation for holiness, on October 11, 2000.

With Eduardo

The Archbishop of Pamplona opened her Cause of Canonization on June 14, 2013.

The third member of this illustrious family being considered for canonization is VENERABLE GUADALUPE ORTIZ de LANDAZURI, who was born in Madridin 1916, on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. She studied chemical sciences at the CentralUniversity in her home city, and was one of only five women in her area. During the Spanish civil war, she comforted her father, who was a military officer, in the hours leading up to his execution (see Blog on Ven. Eduardo). She forgave those responsible for her father’s death from the first moment. After the war, she finished her university studies and taught physics and chemistry in the IrishSchooland the Liceo Francés, both in Madrid.

At the beginning of 1944, through a friend, she met the founder of Opus Dei, St Josemaria Escrivá, who taught her that professional work and ordinary life can be the place for encountering Christ. Later she would say: “I had the clear sensation that God was speaking to me through that priest.” That same year she joined Opus Dei.

From then on, Guadalupe committed herself unconditionally to seeking holiness and encouraging people to draw closer to God. In Madridand later in Bilbao, she dedicated herself especially to the Christian formation of young people.

From 1950 to 1956 she was in Mexico, where she helped to begin Opus Dei’s apostolic work. It was an adventure that she undertook with generosity and great faith. Those who knew her highlight that her priority was fulfilling God’s will and putting herself at the service of others. Moved by Guadalupe’s encouragement, some of her friends helped initiate activities of human and Christian development, including a center for the training and advancement of farm workers in a rural area in the State of Morelos.

In 1956 she moved to Rome, where she assisted St Josemaria in Opus Dei’s government. After two years, due to health reasons, she returned to Spain, where she took up teaching and scientific research again. She finished a doctoral thesis in chemistry with the highest marks, and was one of the pioneers in starting the Center for Studies and Research in Domestic Sciences.

Later she received a medal from the International Committee of the Rayonne et des Fibres Synthétiques, for a research project on textile fibers. At the same time, she continued carrying out the work of Christian formation provided by Opus Dei. All her actions reflected an eagerness to grow in love for God through her work, her friendships, and her example of joy.

After a long battle with heart disease, she died in Pamplona, with a reputation for holiness, on the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in 1975. She was 59 years old.

Ever since, private devotion to Venerable Guadalupe has continued to spread. According to the postulator, people who have prayed to her intercession have received a wide variety of favors: cures, favors relating to pregnancy and giving birth, finding work, achieving a better balance between work and family, resolving economic problems, reconciliations among family members, and friends and co-workers growing closer to God. May she and her whole family bring peace to her homeland and the rest of our world!

Sometimes we look at the missionary saints of the past and think the days of great missionaries with many conversions is past. This came from the Vaticannews this week.

For 27 years,FATHER GIORGIO PONTIGGA, a 74-year-old Salesian missionary, has been living in Pugnido, a village of eight thousand inhabitants, about a hundred kilometers from Gambela, Ethiopia.

“When I arrived eleven years ago,” Fr Giorgio recalls, “I found about 40 Catholics. After about a year, I started administering baptisms again. A little at a time, with a relatively calm situation and the many activities created in and around the parish, the life of the Catholic community was revitalized. This year, on Easter night, we have reached the figure of 7,569 baptisms.”

Thanks also to Fr Filippo Perin's arrival three years ago, and the support of Don Bosco Missions, the Salesian parish of Pugnido has developed significantly. Today, in addition to the church and the parish house, there are eleven mud and sheet-metal chapels scattered in the surrounding area. In the remote Ethiopia region, where people live with little more than nothing, what the two Salesians encounter is poverty, pillaging raids and refugee camps, but also the enthusiasm of its young people.

Abba Giorgio spent a lifetime in the oratories between Sesto San Giovanni in the Milano area and Chiari near Brescia; he has rediscovered an enthusiasm and vibrancy in the world of Ethiopia's youth since going as a Salesian 47-year-old, after serving in a school for disabled children and as a Master of Novices, first in Dilla, in the South of the country, then in Pugnido.

“It is they who are the mission's protagonists,” he says. “They have incredible strength and enthusiasm, and they transmit joy and the desire to live. Not just the little ones. Even when they grow up, they often attend our oratory, participate in our masses, live with us. And even when they move elsewhere, they always come back to visit us. These young people are a great hope for the future.”

(Source: Mondo e Missione)

Since my college days (in a JesuitUniversity) I have had a fascination with the great English poet GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS. I thank my first year literature professor, Father Smith, SJ, for his introduction Recently I received the book: The Gospel in Gerard Manley Hopkins by Margaret R. Ellsberg.

Gerard Hopkins ranks seventh among the most frequently reprinted English language poets surpassed only by Shakespeare, John Donne, Wm. Blake, Yeats, Dickinson, and Wordsworth. Amazingly enough his mature work consists of only 49 poems. According to Dana Gioia (poet Laureat of California), he was an influence on Dylan Thomas, W.H. Auden, Seamus Hearney and other great poets of our modern time.

While considered one of the major poets of Victorian England, along with Tennyson, Robert Browning, and Matthew Arnold, Gerard Hopkinswas almost unknown until 1918 when his book "Poems" was published, as edited by his friend Robert Bridges, then Poet Laureate.

Born in 1844, in the London suburb of Stratford, Essex, Gerard grew up in London’s Hampstead, among a comfortable family talented in word, art, and music. In 1863 he went to Oxfordwhere he did brilliantly, yet anguished over religion. With the counsel of (Bl.) John Henry Newman, he was received into the Roman Catholic Church in October of 1866. After finishing Oxford in 1867, he taught for some months at Bl. Newman’s OratorySchool near Birmingham.

Gerard entered the Society of Jesus on September 7, 1868, and did his novitiate in London and his philosophy in Lancashire. After a year of teaching in the Jesuit Juniorate, he began theology at St. Beuno’s College in the north of Waleswhere, in the winter 1875-76, he wrote the long ode “The Wreck of the Deutschland”, a poem in memory of five Franciscan Nuns, exiles by the Falk Laws, drowned in 1875.

He was ordained in 1877 and in spite of his long studies he managed eleven sonnets.

Wm. Hart McNichols

In October Hopkins left Wales, a place of great inspiration for him, to teach and minister in Derbyshire, London, Oxford, Bedford Leigh, Liverpool, Glasgow, and Stonyhurst, a Jesuit college in Lancashire.

In 1884 Hopkins went to Dublin as Professor of Greek at UniversityCollege and examiner in the RoyalUniversity. But his chronic depression was magnified by bad eyesight, political irritation, spiritual desolation, and exhaustion from grading hundreds of examination papers.

In 1885-86 he wrote seven sonnets, the “Terrible Sonnets” or “Dark Sonnets,” painful, dark poems with technical perfection.” Yet at the same time he gave us poems expressing patience and hope in Christ, though his final poem describes a “winter world ” in which his “sweet fire” of poetic inspiration has waned. A few weeks later, on June 8,1889, he died, a victim of typhoid fever. At the end he considered himself a failure, yet his few poems were to change the course for

poetry we have today.

Vincent McDonnel

Hopkins’ poems, first published in 1918, grew into fame after the second edition of 1930. “Hailed as experimental and strikingly modern, they display rich music, novel rhythms, clustered words, craggy strength, and poetic power.”(Joseph J. Feeney, S.J.)

One of my favorite’s- and a lesser known poem- is:

Heaven—Haven
A nun takes the veil

    I have desired to go
       Where springs not fail,
To fields where flies no sharp and sided hail
    And a few lilies blow.

    And I have asked to be
       Where no storms come,
Where the green swell is in the havens dumb,
    And out of the swing of the sea.

June of this year

Lithuania

was given a new saint when ARCHBISHOP TEOFILIUS MATULIONISwas beatified.

(Painting by the Polish artist Zbigniew Gierczak, shows him in his bishop's garb under his prison uniform.)

He suffered repeated imprisonment by Soviet communists during his lifetime. While residing in St. Petersburg, he witnessed the horrors of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, but continued to live in the city then renamed Leningrad. In 1923 Father Teofilius was arrested and sentenced to three years imprisonment for refusing to cooperate with the communist authorities. In 1929, Bishop Anton Maleckis secretly consecrated Father Teofilius bishop. That year Bishop Matulionis was arrested again and sentenced to 10 years in a concentration camp in the SolovetskyIslands, Russia.

After four years of hard labor and subsisting on starvation rations, he was released as a part of a prisoner exchange between Lithuaniaand the Soviet Union. from 1933 until 1940, He was appointed as ordinary of the Diocese of Kaišiadorys, Lithuania from 1933 until 1940. During that time he also traveled abroad, visiting Rome, the Holy Land, and the major Lithuanian parishes in the US. While in Chicago, he blessed the monument to the Lithuanian pilots, Steponas Darius and Stasys Girėnas, which was erected in Chicago’s MarquettePark and remains there to this day. He spent 18 months in the USA.

In the USA- 2nd from left

With the occupation of Lithuaniaby the Red Army in 1940, he faced further persecution. In December of 1946, he was arrested and imprisoned in the notorious Vladimir Prison and later exiled in Mordovia. He was eventually released in 1956 but was not allowed to resume his duties or even to return to his own diocese. He took up residence in Birštonas.

In 1957, he secretly consecrated Vincentas Sladkevičius bishop. For this “transgression,” the Soviets further exiled him to the town of Šeduva.

Pope (St.) John XXIII bestowed the title of Archbishop to Teofilius Matulionis in 1962 and also extended to him an invitation to attend the Second Vatican Council. That same year, after a police raid of his apartment, Archbishop Matulionis died under suspicious circumstances. His remains were exhumed in 1999 and tests confirmed that he had been poisoned with a lethal injection.

1895 (right)- with brother

On December 1, 2016, Pope Francis declared that Archbishop Matulionis had died “in odium fidei” (in hatred of the faith) and thus approved the process of his beatification, allowing it to proceed. The miracle required for beatification is waived in cases of martyrdom, since martyrdom itself is deemed to be a miracle of grace.

Bl. Teofilius is characterized by his especial loyalty to the Church. Although he constantly faced persecution, he never compromised his faith. He trusted in God and persisted in following God’s will, regardless of the circumstances in which he was placed – prison, concentration camps, exile, his home diocese or abroad. He was a living example of the Christian faith for everyone.

In an April 13 pastoral message, the Lithuanian bishops' conference said Archbishop Matulionis had "lived the Easter message" and that he had consistently shown "peace, confidence and goodness," even to his persecutors.

The Prisoner

Archbishop Grusas said the martyred prelate had "offered up his sufferings for the conversion of Russia," while also "moving the church forward" by instructing clergy to remain with their flock even if it meant persecution and exile. He suggested that Archbishop Matulionis invitation from the pope to attend Vatican II appeared to have been the "last straw" for

Lithuania

's Soviet rulers.

The last Lithuanian to be beatified, Bishop Jerzy Matulewicz-Matulaitis, who lived from 1871 to 1927 and was the founder of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, was declared blessed in Romeby St. John Paul II in 1987.

The church also is seeking the beatification of Bishop Vincentas Borisevicius, who was shot in 1946 for alleged links with underground fighters, and Archbishop Mecislovas Reinys who died in a Russian prison in 1953.

With Children

Archbishop Grusas said, however, that beatifications had been delayed by a lack of canonically trained experts in the Lithuanian church following Soviet rule. He said with recent funding and technical support he hoped the cases of other martyrs could be brought forward.

"We're dealing with recent history, but as we rebuild our church, we're gaining the resources and expertise we need.”

Today on the feast of our Lady’s Birthday, we pray for all who are suffering due to natural disasters, that Mary, Consoler of the afflicted, may obtain from her Son the grace of comfort and mercy.

Lift Up Those Who Have Fallen

Holy One, You are our comfort and strength
in times of sudden disaster, crisis, or chaos.
Surround us now with Your grace and peace
through storm or earthquake, fire or flood.

By Your Spirit, lift up those who have fallen,
sustain those who work to rescue or rebuild,
and fill us with the hope of Your new creation;
through You, our Rock and Redeemer.

- Author Unknown

Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, is in Columbiathis week and yesterday he beatified two martyrs from the country, both of whom were killed in hatred of the faith within the last 60 years.

BL. (BISHOP) JESUS EMILIO JARAMILLO MONSALVE AND FATHER PEDRO MARIA RAMIREZ RAMOS are “a sign of God's presence in Colombia, as promised at the end of the Gospel of Matthew, where it says: “I will be with you always, to the close of the age.” They are “an expression of a people who wish to rise up out of the swamp of violence and bitterness,” the Holy Father said at the Mass.

Bl. Jesus Jaramillo, known for his care of the poor, was a Xaverian Missionary who served as bishop of Arauca. He became a target of the National Liberation Army, a Marxist guerrilla group in Colombia, when he spoke out against their kidnappings and involvement in the drug trade. Members of the guerrilla group kidnapped and killed him on Oct. 2, 1989. He was 73 years old.

Born in La Plata in 1899, Bl. Pedro became priest in 1931. When civil war erupted in Colombia between conservative and liberal groups, he was serving as a pastor in Armero. Local families offered to smuggle him to safety, but the priest refused to abandon his people.

On April 10, 1948, he was dragged out of his church by a group of rebels, who accused him of hiding weapons for conservatives. They lynched him in the town square. He died forgiving his killers.

The Holy Father said the two martyrs are an example of what it means to make reconciliation concrete. “The most powerful protagonists in the peace-building process are those people who have been victims of violence themselves, but have overcome the temptation to act with vengeance.

What is needed is for some to courageously take the first step in that direction, without waiting for others to do so. We need only one good person to have hope! And each of us can be that person!”

“Every effort at peace without a sincere commitment to reconciliation is destined to fail.”

When I made my first retreat at Regina Laudis, contemplating monastic life, I was on my way to Germany, where I would study sculpture. One of the nuns knew a monk in Luxembourg and asked if I would stop to see him, knowing that I was flying direct to Luxembourg. Alas, I did visit the great Abbey, and had lunch there (my first experience of European monastic hospitality) but the monk was in travels. Only much later did I realize how well known he was, and even later able to read some of his writings.

DOM JEAN LeCLERCQ, O.S.B. was a French Benedictine monk, and author of a classic study on Lectio Divina and the history of inter-monastic dialogue.

He was born in Avesnes, Pas-de-Calais, in 1911. As a young man, he entered the Abbey of St. Maurice and St. Maur in Clervaux, Luxembourg. Although he would have preferred to remain a simple monk, he was eventually ordained to the priesthood. He studied extensively at the Benedictine College of Sant'Anselmo in Rome, and at several universities in France, interrupted by two terms of compulsory military service.

With Thomas Merton

In 1946, he began a 30 year assignment to compile the writings of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, during which time he traveled through much of Europeto accomplish his research. An acclaimed monastic scholar, he later traveled around the world, lecturing and studying, before finally returning to Clervaux shortly before his death in 1993, age 82.

Dom LeClercq is perhaps best known for his seminal work “The Love of Learning and the Desire for God: A Study of Monastic Culture”.

He is also the author of many other books, including, "A Humanist Hermit; Blessed Paul Giustiniani" (1951), "Alone With God" (1955), "The Love of Learning and the Desire for God; A Study of Monastic Culture" (1957), "The Spirituality of the Middle Ages" (1969), and nine volumes on St. Bernard, the last of which was published in 1977.

As we pray for the people of Texas and Florida and other places ripped apart by hurricanes and other calamities, I am reminded of a story which has recently come to mind of a nun from many years ago.

In the 1620s, the Jumano tribe in Texas (before it was Texas) were allegedly having mysterious encounters with what they called the “Lady in Blue”, a young lady, dressed in a habit with a blue cape who spoke to them in their native language and instructing them in the Christian faith.

At the same time, thousands of miles away, in a cloistered convent in Spain, VENERABLE MARIA de AGREDAwas reporting mystical visits that would occur during prayer of visits to a tribe of native people in what was then called New Spain. When she came, she encouraged the natives to go to the missions where the Franciscan priests would baptize them.

According to records kept by the missionaries in the area, Sr. Maria’s promptings led as many as 2,000 Jumano natives to be baptized. Most of their ancestors in the San Angelo area are still Catholic, and still have a strong devotion to the “Lady in Blue” who brought them the Catholic faith.

From her cloister, having never traveled to the New World, Sister Maria was able to describe the new plants and animals there, as well as the way the people dressed and painted themselves. She described the landscape as a place where two rivers meet.

Especially remarkable, is her description of meeting a leader with one eye, while the Franciscan missionaries in the area at the time also reported meeting a Jumano leader with one good eye and one bad eye.

According to the Texas Almanac, Friar Alonso de Benavides of the Franciscans in New Mexico was the first to confirm the story of the “Lady in Blue.” He reported the incidents of her appearances to the Spanish court in 1630, and shortly thereafter was able to interview Sr. Maria de Agreda at her convent, where he was able to cross-reference the details of the apparitions from both Sr. Maria and the Jumano natives’ perspective.

Reportedly, the bi-locations of Sister Maria ceased the Jumano native people were able to receive the sacraments.

Two years after her death in 1665 severe damp was discovered in the crypt of the convent in which she was buried. When her coffin was opened her body was found to be completely incorrupt. In the 322 years to 1989 her body was examined 14 times and reported to be intact on each occasion. In 1989 her body was reported to have remained completely unchanged since 1909

Prado, Madrid, Spain

. Many people have visited her including kings, queens, cardinals, bishops, princes, dukes and ambassadors and many of the faithful. She sleeps in the church of the convent to the right of the altar. Her face is now covered by a thin wax mask but her hands are not and are reported to look quite normal.

Venerable Maria de Agreda, who besides her mystical experiences and apparitions was a prolific writer, particularly on the topic of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Her best-known work is “The Mystical City of God: Life of the Virgin Mother of God,” in which she writes about details of Mary’s life that she said came to her in prayer.

For a woman so little known by most of us today, she certainly had an impact in her lifetime as well as the years that followed. There were so many paintings of her, it was hard to choose. We pray she has the same impact today!

Convent in Agreda, Spain

With St. John the Evangelist

So many ask our prayers- illnesses of all kinds, family troubles, etc - so I am always on the look out for new saints that can intercede for those in dire straits. One I had never heard of is ST. ALICE OF SCHAERBEEK (ADELAIDE or ALEYDIS).

She was born at Schaerbeek, near Brussels, then in the Duchy of Brabant, in 1204. A frail child, at the age of seven, she was sent to be boarded and educated at the Cistercian La Cambre Abbey, where she remained for the rest of her life. The name of the abbey is derived from the Latin: Camera Sanctae Mariae (Chamber of Our Lady).

Alice was a very pretty girl, soon showed a high intelligence and a great love for God. She became a laysister at the abbey. However, at an early age, she contracted leprosy and had to be isolated. The disease caused her intense suffering, which she offered for the salvation of sinners and the souls in purgatory.

Eventually she became paralyzed and afflicted with blindness. Her greatest consolation came from reception of the Holy Eucharist, although she was not allowed to drink from the chalice because of the presumed danger of contamination. However, it is said that the Lord appeared to her with assurance that He was in both the consecrated bread and the wine. She died in 1250, at the age of 46.

By decree of July 1, 1702 Pope Clement XI granted to the monks of the Congregation of St. Bernard Fuliensi the faculty to celebrate the cultus of Alice. Devotion to Alice as a saint was approved in 1907 by Pope Pius X.

Thomas Merton wrote that the life of St Alice should be placed in the hands of every monk. He presented her as the perfect illustration of Chapter Seven of the Rule of Saint Benedict, "On the Degrees of Humility".

Father Chrysogonus Waddell (another monk of Gethsemani) ranked her with Sts. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and Elizabeth of Trinity. He saw her as the icon of that particular stream of Cistercian spirituality that expresses Jesus crucified.

There is much sickness and related suffering in our world today. We pray that like St. Alice, we to turn our suffering into good, praying that the Lord in His Mercy will give us the strength to endure and that we know the consolation found in His Body.

Today at Mass we prayed especially for missionaries, which reminded me of this apostle in the south of our own country. Recently we did a Blog on the foundress of Maryknoll Sisters, Mother Joseph Rogers (6/7/17) and here is another related founder to the Order.

SERVANT of GOD THOMAS PRICE, MM, known as The Tarheel Apostle, for his missionary zeal in North Carolina, was born on August 19, 1860, in Wilmington, North Carolinathe eighth child of Alfred & Clarissa Price, both converts to the Catholic faith. He was raised as a devout Catholic in the midst of Southern apathy toward Catholicism.

With his religious background, he felt an attraction to the priesthood. En route to the seminary by ship, Thomas escaped death in the shipwreck of the Rebecca Clyde. He attributed his survival to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. After the accident, he returned home until January 1877. He was ordained in 1886. Father Price was the first native North Carolinian to be ordained to the Priesthood and was assigned to missionary work in the eastern section of his home state.

In 1898 he established Nazareth Orphanage. His plan was first to help the underprivileged of an area and thereby win the favor of the general population, who would then be more inclined to listen to the message of Christ. Following the success of the Nazareth Orphanage, he organized summer catechizing teams of seminarians.

Nazareth

In 1902, Father Price opened a missionary training house at Nazareth. It was a preparatory seminary whose sole purpose was the education and formation of missioners for the home missions. It was called Regina Apostolorum. He acted as its primary teacher and spiritual director.As time went on, Father Price began to emphasize more and more the need of a seminary for the training of young American men for the foreign missions.

At the same time, Father James Anthony Walsh, of Boston, was developing the same idea. At the Eucharistic Congress in Montreal in 1910, the two priests met and began to formulate plans for the establishment of a seminary for foreign missioners. With the approval of the American hierarchy, the two priests traveled to Romein June 1911 to receive final approval from Pope St. Pius X for their project.

Property was purchased at Ossining, New York, for the site of the new foundation, the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America (popularly known as Maryknoll). Father Price made a countrywide tour of

America

to gain support for the new endeavor. By 1918, three young priests
(James Edward Walsh, Francis Xavier Ford, and Bernard F. Meyer)
were ready for the foreign missions in

China

. On September 7, Father Price went with them as superior to the new mission. From the time of the foundation of Maryknoll, Father Price had understood that Walsh was the one capable of administering and directing the seminary itself, while he himself had always hoped to be chosen as one of Maryknoll's first missioners, and his dream was realized.

Fr. Price on left with Fr. Walsh

This group of first four American missioners in Chinaarrived in Hong Kong in October 1918. They then settled down in Yeungkong (now called Yangjiang) on the SouthChinaCoast. Because of his age and its complexity, Father Price had great difficulty learning the Chinese language and he also suffered from physical ailments. Towards the latter part of 1919, he became seriously ill. As there were no adequate medical facilities in that area, he was brought to Hong Kong for hospitalization.

After a trying trip, he arrived in the British Colony and was immediately taken to St. Paul's Hospital in CausewayBay, an institution conducted by the Sisters of St. Paul de Chartre. The long and arduous journey by primitive means of travel aggravated advanced and serious case of appendicitis. He was operated on 8 September 1919, but it was too late and on 12 September, the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary, he died as a result of a burst appendix. His body was buried in the priests’ plot in St. Michael’s Cemetery in HappyValley, Hong Kong. The date of his death was rather significant, as he had great devotion to Our Lady. He was only 59.

Father Price was known by many for his great love of God, his holiness of life, his devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and his faithful dedication to priestly ministry.

Sometimes when I read something written by a saint, I wonder why I even try to utter a word- they can say so much more eloquently what is in my heart than anything I could ever do, and they inspire me by their faithfulness and love of Christ. One of my favorites (see Blog May 8, 2017) isBLESSED COLUMBA MARMION whose feast is tomorrow. Picking up our theme of adoration in the Eucharist:

'We show our adoration by going to visit Christ in the tabernacle or exposed monstrance. Would it not indeed be a failing in respect to neglect the Divine Guest who awaits us? He dwells there, really present. He who was in the crib, at Nazareth, upon the mountains of Judea, in the supper-room, upon the Cross. It is the same Jesus who said to the Samaritan woman, 'If you knew the gift of God.'.

Bl. Columba Marmion, whom Fr. Benedict Groeschel called "this great and original spiritual writer," has much to teach Catholics of the 21st century. I recommend “Christ, the Life of the Soul” to all. Father Grosehel further added, “ he was deeply imbued with the Church Fathers, and particularly St. Augustine. He built everything on the Church Fathers and offered to us a very beautiful foundation."

Although Bl. Marmion has been somewhat forgotten in recent time, it is important to remember that his books were bestsellers, and were translated into about a dozen languages. As a retreat master, he was in great demand, and was even a confessor to Belgium’s Cardinal Désiré-Joseph Mercier (Blog 5/11/17). Pope Benedict XV kept his book, "Christ the Life of the Soul", on his nightstand.

This brilliant, yet humble abbot is still alive and well and has much to teach those seeking to have a deeper relationship with Christ and like St. Benedict himself, I think he is definitely a man for our times!.

A MYSTIC FOR OUR TIME

MYSTICS IN OUR LIFETIME

AMERICAN FOUNDRESS - CARE OF THE LAPSED

AUGUST PRAYER INTENTION: ARTISTS

BENEDICTINE LOVER OF THE SACRED HEART

FAIRS- OLD AND NEW

20TH CENTURY HOLY FAMILY

FEAST of the ASSUMPTION- PRAYERS FOR WORLD PEACE

VENERABLE EDUARDO'S VENERABLE WIFE

VENERABLE EDUARDO'S VENERABLE SISTER

MODERN MSSIONARY

FAVORITE POET

NEW MARTYR- TIES TO AMERICA

OUR MOTHER'S BIRTHDAY

NEW SAINTS FOR COLUMBIA

A MONK NEVER MET

WOMAN IN BLUE IN TEXAS

PATRONESS OF SUFFERING

THE TARHEEL APOSTLE

BENEDICTINE FEAST