island life- in a monastery

These days I find it hard to even read Catholic news due to the way Bishops, priests and religious are addressed. In my days of writing, there were standards of respect. I have in the past done a Blog on women being called “guys” (Blog 8/26/15) . Interestingly enough, young women today do not like to be called ”ladies” but they have no problem with guys”? Are we just not thinking straight?

I recently read an article on Bishop Robert Barron (see previous Blog) and the writer (from the Catholic News Agency) kept referring to him as Barron. So getting off my soapbox, I decided to do a little research.

According to Marian Therese Horvat, Ph.D.

“the tumultuous and leveling aftermath of Vatican II spelled a death to formalities in the religious sphere. Priests, monks and sisters began to adopt the ways of a world that were becoming increasingly vulgar and egalitarian. Distinguishing titles and marks of respect were considered alienating and only for old-fashioned “establishment” people who were afraid to embrace the “signs of the times.”

Protocal states:

When writing about a Bishop he should be referred to as His Excellency, The Right Reverend Robert Barron, Bishop of Santa Barbara.

A priest should be addressed with his full name: The Reverend Father James Smith or Father James Smith. If he is a religious the initials of his order are added, as S.J. for a Jesuit. Would you greet Father after Mass ad say “good morning Smith”?

A religious womanshould be addressed Sister Benedict Jones, OSB. or in the case of an enclosed nun often the title Mother is used, hence Mother Hildegard George, OSB.

I am making it my mission to write to some of the so-called Catholic news people and give them some hints regarding proper Catholic writing! Perhaps if we begin to have more respect for those who represent Christ to us, there will be an increase in respect for all in our society!

Fraangelico

The youth of today need more and more examples of goodness and a deep love of Christ and of neighbor. The next young woman being considered for sainthood lived what looked to be a normal teenager's life, yet beneath the surface was a hidden life in Christ.

SERVANT of GOD CLARITA SEGURAborn in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on May 15, 1978, was the youngest and only girl in a family with six children. As a child she was independent and docile, with a strong and obedient temperament, generous and detached from her things. She lived in today's world without isolating herself, but without becoming contaminated with its pleasures.

Her plan was to study, marry, have children and form a Catholic family. After God and her family, there were her many friends whom she loved. She was a natural leader among her peers, yet she always tried not to be judgmental but to have respect for everyone.

She was very funny, with a healthy joy. She had a great love for everyone and a solid interior life that made her attractive to all who knew her, seeing her as a young woman with moral principles.

Her relationship with God was totally personal.

Once she said to Him: "The only thing I would need is to be able to hug You and thank You for everything You do for me"

She also had a special devotion to the Virgin Mother expressed in her active participation in the pilgrimages to Luján and San Nicolás.

Two months before her 17th birthday, she was stricken with a virus that went to the heart. Her illness lasted only 15 days, and although very painful, she never complained.

" Although she lived for a short time it was as if she had lived a very long time . " She wrote: " I think Diosito that I can not complain about anything absolutely since I have so much more than I should ...".

"She lived her faith with great intensity and inwardly ...]She trusted in God, she prayed daily, a custom she acquired as a child. I remember that when I was very small, she asked me every night to pray in her bed before falling asleep. " Juan Segura, her brother

“Everything she planned, all her dreams, were impregnated by God. One of the things I saw in her was that she was very clear about what was most important in her life and what was her ideal. And in her approach to people, what she most wanted was to bring them closer to God.” Cecilia Legerén, Coordinator of Catechesis at LosRoblesSchool .

Auxiliary Bishop Robert E. Barron of Los Angeles said his new book addressing the church’s sexual abuse crisis and urging Catholics to “stay and fight for the body of Christ” comes from his “pastor’s heart.”

“It is simply my statement coming out of my whole life as a Catholic - 33 years as a priest, almost four years as a bishop,” he said in a podcast posted on YouTube May 13. The release date of his book “Letter to a SufferingChurch: A Bishop Speaks on the Sexual Abuse Crisis.” The book was published by Word on Fire Catholic Ministries, which was founded by Bishop Barron. He gave an overview of the 125-page book in the podcast with Brandon Vogt, Word on Fire’s content director.

It is his attempt, he explained, to respond to the pastoral needs of Catholics demoralized by the abuse crisis and who are grieving over what it is doing to the church. He said he wants to give them encouragement and hope and show “that there is a clear path forward for us today.”

In the podcast, Vogt tells viewers that Word on Fire’s goal “is to get this book out to as many Catholics as possible and to do that we’re trying to make it as cost effective as possible.”

Bishop Barron said that as the Los Angeles Archdiocese’s regional bishop for the Santa Barbaraarea, he has seen firsthand the grief of many Catholics over the abuse scandal. In the wake of the scandal over former Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick last summer and fall, as he visited parishes in his region, many people “came up to me not so much in anger but in deep grief, I would say, with tears in their eyes, in grief over the church.”

There are five chapters titled: “The Devil’s Masterpiece,” “Light from Scripture,” “We Have Been Here Before,” “Why Should We Stay” and “The Way Forward.” There is a concluding section followed by a “Prayer for a SufferingChurch.”

U.S.

residents can get one copy free by going to the website wordonfireshow.com/letter. Recipients must cover shipping and handling; the site also has instructions for a digital download for those outside of the

United States

Vogt added that parishes and Catholic groups that order 20 or more copies can get them for $1 apiece with free shipping. Other resources include a parish “launch kit,” an FAQ for priests and parish staff, and a five-part video series by Bishop Barron.

Asked his response to a recent Gallup poll revealing that 37 percent of Catholics are considering leaving the church due to the sexual abuse crisis, Bishop Barron said in the podcast that “it broke my heart … but there is never a good reason to leave the church.”

“I understand emotionally, I understand why people feel deep frustration. I feel it,” said, “but there’s never a good reason to absent oneself from the font of grace, to leave the mystical [body] of Jesus [no matter] how badly church people behave or how grave the sin is on the part of church people.”

He added: “My prayer is that these reflections might encourage Catholics who are attempting to navigate today in very choppy waters.”

Tomorrow is the first time we celebrate the feast of ST. POPE PAUL VI. He had a great devotion to Our Blessed Mother and here is his prayer to her.

Van Eyck- L'Agneau Mystique (detail)

O Mary,
look upon the church,
look upon the most responsible members
of the Mystical Body of Christ
gathered about you to thank you
and to celebrate you as their Mystical Mother.

O Mary,
bless the great assembly of the hierarchical church,
which also gives birth to brothers and sisters of Christ,
the firstborn among redeemed humankind.

O Mary,
grant that this church of Christ,
in defining itself,
will acknowledge you as its most chosen mother,
daughter, and sister,
as well as its incomparable model,
its glory, its joy, and its hope.
We ask you now
that we may be made worthy of honoring you
because of who you are
and because of what you do
in the wondrous and loving plan of salvation.
Grant that we may praise you,
O holy Virgin!

O Mary,
look upon us who are your children,
look upon us who are brothers and sisters,
disciples and apostles and continuation of Jesus.
Make us aware of our vocation and our mission;
may we not be unworthy to take on,
in our priesthood,
in our word,
in the offering of our life
for the faithful entrusted to us,
the representation and personification of Christ.
O you who are full of grace,
grant that the priesthood that honors you
may itself also be holy and immaculate.

O Mary,
we pray to you
for our Christian brothers and sisters
who are still separated
from our Catholic family.
See how a glorious group of them
celebrate your cult with fidelity and love.
See also how among another group,
who are so intent on calling themselves Christians,
there now dawns the remembrance
and the veneration of you,
O most holy Lady.
Call these children of yours to the one unity
under your motherly and heavenly aid.

O Mary,
look upon all mankind,
this modern world in which
the Divine Will calls us to live and work.
It is a world that has turned its back
on the light of Christ;
then it fears and bemoans the frightening shadows
that its actions have created on all sides.
May your most human voice,
O most beautiful of virgins,
O most worthy of mothers,
O blessed among women,
invited the world to turn its eyes
toward the life that is the light of man,
toward you who are the precursor-lamp of Christ,
Who is the sole and the highest Light of the world.
Implore for the world
the true understanding of its own existence;
implore for the world
the joy of living as the creation of God
and hence the desire and the capacity
to converse, by prayer, with its Maker,
whose mysterious and blesses image
it reflects within itself.

Implore for the world
the grace to esteem everything as the gift of God
and hence the virtue to work with generosity
and to make use of such gifts wisely and providently.
Implore peace for the world.
Fashion brothers and sisters
out of persons who are so divided.
Guide us to a more ordered and peaceful society.
For those who are suffering,
today there are so many and ever new ones,
afflicted by current misfortunes,
obtain solace;
and for the dead, obtain eternal rest.
Show yourself a mother to us;
this is our prayer,
O clement, O loving,
O sweet Virgin Mary!

Amen.

The typical member of the priestly ordination class of 2019 is a 33-year-old cradle Catholic, according to a recently released survey of 379 of the 481 men slated to be ordained to the priesthood in the United States this year.

St. Louis Basilica

The typical ordinand regularly took part in Eucharistic adoration and prayed the Rosary before entering seminary, according to the survey.

75% of the men were preparing for the diocesan priesthood, with the largest number of responses coming from seminarians in the Archdioceses of Cincinnati and Washington (eight each), the Dioceses of Cleveland and Paterson (seven each), and the Archdioceses of St. Louis, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Newark, and Milwaukee (six each). Among members of religious communities, the largest number of respondents came from the Jesuits (16), Dominicans (11), and Legionaries of Christ (10).

25% of the ordinands are foreign born, with the most typical foreign countries of birth being Mexico (5%), Nigeria (3%), Colombia(2%), and Vietnam(2%). On average, these foreign-born seminarians have lived in the United States for 14 years and arrived in the US at age 22.

A disproportionately high percentage of ordinands attended a Catholic elementary school (47%), Catholic high school (39%), or Catholic college (38%).

In addition, a disproportionately high percentage were home schooled: 11% were home schooled, typically for eight years, at a time when less than 2% of US children were educated at home. If one assumes that all of the home schooled seminarians came from the United States, then nearly 15% of US-born ordinands were home schooled.

We have 200 priests serving the Archdiocese of Seattle, 115 are Diocesan, 90 religious, and 25 extern/international. There will be 3 young men ordained June 22.

As I have said in past Blogs, I think the only hope for the future of the Church is a return to a deep love for the Eucharist. I was encouraged to read recently of a grammar school in South Bend, Indiana that started an after school club dedicated to adoration of the BLESSED SACRAMENT..

“Our main purpose for starting the adoration club is for students in Kindergarten all the way up to eighth grade to have time to spend time in Eucharistic adoration, to teach them how to use their time in front of the Blessed Sacrament, and [to] really deepen their relationship with Christ,” Katherine Soper, a second grade teacher at St. Joseph Grade School.

Ms Sober said she is excited to offer students an opportunity to pray weekly in the presence of the exposed Eucharistic host. There are now 22 students enrolled in the club, Soper said, but more are expected to join.

The first few lessons will discuss reverence, proper manners in adoration, and expectations. The next series of lessons will review adoration history and miracles.

Afterward, the students will head to the chapel for an hour of adoration. During adoration, students will be led in a rosary, the Gospel, and reflections on scripture. Music will also be incorporated into club, using contemporary and Latin hymns.

“The goal for the Eucharistic adoration time is to give the students a time to reflect and silence. We see a need for students to have a time for silence [and] prayer… These students have a burning desire to deepen their relationship with Christ.”

Young children are hungry for a relationship with God and what better way to start them on a path to holiness.

St. Pope John Paul II wrote from the

Vatican

on May 28, 1996, “I urge priests, religious and lay people to continue and redouble their efforts to teach the younger generations the meaning and value of Eucharistic adoration and devotion. How will young people be able to know the Lord if they are not introduced to the mystery of His presence? Like the young Samuel, by learning the words of the prayer of the heart, they will be closer to the Lord, who will accompany them in their spiritual and human growth.”

The saint's favorite place to pray was before the Blessed Sacrament. In fact, his great love for Jesus Christ would cause him to delay his schedule, which upset his assistants.

St. John Paul knew that the Eucharist was the greatest treasure the Catholic Church possesses.

Most of us of my generation who grew up Catholic, read the works of Gilbert Keith (known as G.K.) Chesterton. Today many know his work only through the Father Brown mystery series on PBS. He is at present being considered for canonization and I personally feel it should be alongside his wife.

The Chestertons were happily married for 35 years. Francesbrought G.K. to Christianity, and twenty years later, he brought Francesto Catholicism. Theirs was a happy marriage of ideas, debate, friendly banter, faith, and love.

A friend recently sent me the interesting biography of his wife Frances by Nancy Carpenter Brown (The Woman Who Was Chesterton). Due to a lack of material on Mrs Chesteton, Ms Brown had to do a lot of digging and much of what she found was in G.K.’s own writing.

Frances Blogg never intended to live a life that would bring her any attention; the promise that she exacted from G.K. that he not speak of her in his autobiography, made clear that she had no desire to be known, hence so little information on her.

But she had such a great influence on G.K. that one could not fully appreciate his life and career without knowing his wife.

Like her husband,

Frances

was a writer, a poet and playwright. Her works long lay in obscurity, except for a few Christmas lyrics. Her plays for children were in demand when she wrote them and there is a demand for them again today. Her poems and plays reveal a woman of deep thought, a spiritual woman, a woman longing for Christ, and especially drawn to Him at the Nativity, when He was a small baby.

To read these works is to understand better G.K. Chesterton’s wife and spiritual companion. A recent publication with her works is How Far Is It To Bethlehem: The Plays and Poetry of Frances Chesterton, compiled and edited by Nancy C. Brown.

The saying behind every great man is a woman, certainly holds true for the Chestertons! I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to know GK better and the woman behind him.

COME HOLY SPIRIT FILL THE HEARTS OF THE FAITHFUL...

D. Werburg Welch- Stanbrook Abbey, England

Today we start the prayers at Vespers for Pentecost, which marks the end of the Easter season.

Pentecost is the celebration of the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, coming upon Mary, the Apostles, and the first followers of Jesus who were gathered together in the Upper Room to celebrate the ‘Feast of Weeks’ which commemorates the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. .

A “strong, driving” wind filled the room where they were gathered, and tongues of fire came to rest on their heads, allowing them to speak in different languages so that they could understand each other.

The Holy Spirit gave those gathered the other gifts and fruits necessary to fulfill their mission to go out and preach the Gospel to all nations. We are given those same gifts to fulfill our mission here on this earth.

Pentecost is the “birthday of the Church” as it commemorates the establishment of the Church through the Apostles’ teachings of the gospel and the baptism of thousands of followers.

Typically, priests will wear red vestments on Pentecost, symbolic of the burning fire of God’s love and the tongues of fire that descended on the apostles.

Jyoti Sahi- India 1983

However, in some parts of the world, Pentecost is also referred to as “WhitSunday”, or White Sunday, referring to the white vestments that are worn in Britain and Ireland. The white is symbolic of the dove of the Holy Spirit, and typical of the vestments that catechumens desiring baptism wear on that day.

In Italy Pentecostal tradition is to scatter rose leaves from the ceiling of the churches to recall the miracle of the fiery tongues, and so in some places in Italy, Pentecost is sometimes called Pascha Rosatum (Easter roses).

In France, there is the tradition to blow trumpets during Mass to recall the sound of the driving wind of the Holy Spirit.

No matter the country or the custom, on this great feast we all need to ask, "What shall we do?" and as Peter replies, "Each one of you must turn away from his sins and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins will be forgiven; and you will receive God's gift, the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38) This is still the message - repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. We, too, are called to preach the good news of Jesus Christ.

The Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words… Romans 8:26

Tomorrow I will have my second cataract surgery, so was thrilled to find this saint to intercede for me. The first surgery, while a success, has not been a piece of cake- so I need all the help I can get- for courage!

BL. MARIA DOLORES RODRIGUEZ SOPENA, born in 1848 in Velez Rubio, Almería, Spain, was the fourth of seven children. Eye surgery at age eight left her with limited sight the rest of her life. A debutante at age 17, Maria did not care for the wordly life, and fearing that her parents would stop her, she secretly began working with the sick and poor. This was a time when a woman of her standing in society would never be found in the neighborhoods of the poor. But Maria’s faith gave her endless confidence, and she was motivated by a desire to have “one family in Christ Jesus”.

In 1868 when she was 20, Maria’s father was transferred to Puerto Rico where he eventually became a state attorney; the rest of the family moved to Madrid, Spain. There Maria found a spiritual adviser and began catechizing women in prisons, hospitals and Sunday schools. The entire family moved to Puerto Rico in 1872 during a time of schism and religious disruption. There she was able to find a Jesuit priest to be her spiritual director. Maria’s poor sight ended an attempt to join the Sisters of Charity, and when she tried to work on her own, the religious upheaval limited her to visiting only the sick in the safety of a military hospital.

When the situation settled she founded the Centers of Instruction and the Association of the Sodality of the Virgin Mary who staffed the Centers. The taught reading, writing and religion, and provided medical help where needed.

Maria’s mother died, her father retired, and the family returned to Madrid in 1877. Maria became the matriarch of the family, found a new spiritual adviser, and resumed her work with the poor and sick. Following the death of her father in 1883, she joined a Salesian convent. That lasted ten days; she realized that the cloistered, contemplative life was not for her.

In 1885 Maria opened a center where the poor could bring social problems to be resolved, and which was similar to a modern half-way house, helping prisoners return to society. The terrible conditions of the poor that she witnessed led to the formation of Works of the Doctrines. Due to anti–clerical attitudes in the 20th century, these became known as the Center for the Workers. In 1892 she founded the Association of the Apostolic Laymen (Sopeña Lay Movement), and in 1893 she received government approval to expand her work into eight poor and crowded Madrid neighborhoods.

She made a pilgrimage to Rome in 1900, and received approval to form a religious institute to continue the work of the Works and Association. With eight companions and co-workers, she founded the Ladies of Catechistical Institute on 24 September 1901 in Toledo, Spain. She founded the Social and Cultural Work Sopeña which received government approval in 1902, papal approval in 1907, and is today known as the Sopeña Catechetical Institute.

Maria was chosen Superior General of community in 1910, and they expanded into the Americasin 1917. Her legacy continues today with her groups working in Spain, Italy, Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, Chile, Ecuador, Mexicoand the Dominican Republic. Those in the community continue to do her work today, wearing street clothes identifying with the poor.

Bl. Maria diedin Madrid in 1918. She was beatified in 2003 and her feast is celebrated January 10.

PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF THE TRINITY

HAIL MARY, beloved Daughter of the eternal Father. Hail Mary, wonderful Mother of the Son. Hail Mary, faithful Spouse of the Holy Spirit. Hail Mary, my dear Mother, my loving Lady, my powerful Queen. You are all mine through your mercy, and I am all yours.

Take away from me all that may be displeasing to God. Cultivate in me everything that is pleasing to you. May the light of your faith dispel the darkness of my mind, your deep humility take the place of my pride; your continual sight of God fill my memory with his presence; the fire of the charity of your heart inflame the lukewarmness of my own heart; your virtues take the place of my sins; your merits be my enrichment and make up for all that is wanting in me before God.

My beloved Mother, grant that I may have no other spirit but your spirit, to know Jesus Christ and His divine will and to praise and glorify the Lord; that I may love God with burning love like yours.

– St. Louis de Montfort

Saturday June 15^th, Archbishop of Paris Michel Aupetit and priests, donned hard hats to celebrate the first Mass in Notre Dame Cathedral since the fire two months ago.

June 15, 2019, Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu’s homily for the beatification of EDVIGE CARBONI(see Blog 7/26/17) , praises her passion for wounded humanity.

The beatification took place in Pozzomaggiore, Sassari, Sardinia, Italy. A Franciscan tertiary, she supported the work of her brothers through her work as an embroiderer, and spent her life alternating between domestic work and prayer. She had extraordinary supernatural gifts and in 1911, the wounds of the passion of Christ appeared on her body.

In his homily, the Cardinal remarked that for many years Edvige Carboni “lived an ordinary life, from the outside the same as that of so many laypeople, but extraordinary in terms of her intimacy with God, her union with Him, to the point of identifying with Jesus in a perfect and transforming union with Him, the spouse of souls. Friend of the poor and the marginalized, she had words of consolation for everyone; she loved to repeat, ‘One must always infuse comfort and hope’”.

“One is struck by the inner fortitude and by the granitic faith with which, first in her town and then in the cities of Lazio following her sister, the new Blessed lived a life in the service of the family and among simple household chores, to which she added exemplary activity within the parish and a fervent apostolate of charity”, he continued. “If we ask what are the strong points of the Christian life of this sister of ours, and which lead her to be an example of welcoming prayerfulness and humble and joyful abnegation, we would say that there are essentially two: constant contemplation of the Crucified Lord and the adoration of the Eucharist. … Only by embracing the cross can one have fullness of life and be capable of radiating light, hope and comfort”.

“This spirituality, Passionist and of the Cross, sustained Edvige in the hardships of her daily life and in the misunderstandings within the family and outside it”, the prefect observed. “All of this could be inscribed in the image of Christ, denied, slandered, and despised. She prayed and asked prayer of the Crucified: addressing the Holy Cross she repeated often, ‘you resolve every bitterness. Bl Edvige shared the Passion of Christ with special intensity, also in the body, in a journey of conformation to the suffering and crucified Christ. Despite the abundance of charisms granted to her by God, she was always modest. The supernatural gifts were not a source of pride to her: she considered herself a small creature, but greatly blessed by divine grace”.

The new Blessed had “a heart that was humble and full of charity, because the long hours of prayer banished any trace of barrenness and spiritual idleness. Through prayer, Edvige performed acts of reparation for those who were in the shadows of sin, and implored divine mercy for those who insisted upon not allowing themselves to be reached by grace”.

“Humble and strong, generous and patient, laborious and proud, Bl Edvige incarnated the most beautiful virtues of the Sardinian woman of the age. Even from her human and Christian lived experience, there emerge facts that make her witness more relevant than ever: Edvige is a valid point of reference for women of today, of every age and every social level. Her simple and profound spiritual experience, marked by charity without limits, boundless humility and ceaseless prayer, is a model that remains current, as it demonstrates that even in a simple and ordinary life, it is possible to experience a solid communion with God and an apostolate characterized by the passion for wounded and disadvantaged humanity”.

Last month (May) Magnificat Magazine gave us an exquisite piece of art in William Congdon’s EUCHARISTIA. It was painted in 1960, one year after he came into the Catholic Church. In a past Blog in Lent (2/28/15), I featured William Congdon’s very powerful crucifixions.

This piece of art gives us an all together different feeling. Here we rejoice, here we have hope!

Note the only real color is the bright red altar, which gives us the Holy Sacrifice. There are some gashes of blue at the side of the monstrance, which perhaps separate earth from heaven?. Choirs of angels fill half of the painting floating upward, while below crowds of faithful worshipers give praise. At first glance it is almost as if they are holding weapons- perhaps a reminder we are the Church Militant?

But the predominant figure is the Eucharist, the center of our faith, our hope and our Savior, His Body given for us.

BL. JULIANA of MONT CORNILLON, born in 1192 at Retinnes, Flanders, Belgium, was orphaned at age 5. She and her sister Agnes were raised by the nuns at the convent of MountCornillon. The canonry seems to have been established on the model of a double monastery, with both canons and canonesses, each living in their own wing of the monastery.

The two girls were initially placed on a small farm next to the canonry. Juliana, after entering the Order at the age of 13, worked for many years in its leprosarium. Agnes seems to have died young, as there is no further mention of her in the archives.

She became an Augustinian nun at Liege, Belgium in 1206working with the sick, in the convent‘s hospital. She became Prioress in 1225.

From her early youth, Juliana had great veneration for the Eucharist (as did many of the women of Liège) and longed for a special feast day in its honor. When she was 16 she had her first vision. She received visions from Christ, who pointed out that there was no feast in honor of the Blessed Sacrament.

Not having any way to bring about such a feast, she kept her thoughts to herself, except for sharing them with an anchoress, Blessed Eve of Liège, who lived in a cell adjacent to the Basilica of St. Martin, and a few other trusted sisters in her monastery.

The messages she received led to being branded a visionary, and accused of mismanagement of hospital funds. An investigation by the bishop exonerated her so she was returned to her position as prioress. She introduced the feast of Corpus Christi in Liege in 1246.

On the bishop‘s death in 1248, Juliana was driven from Mount Cornillon. Nun at the Cistercian house at Salzinnes until it was burned by Henry II of Luxembourg. Anchoress at Fosses.

She died in 1258 of natural causes and was buried at Villiers, France.

She wasbeatified in 1869 by Pope Blessed Pius IX.

The office for the feast was later written by Saint Thomas Aquinas, and was sanctioned for the whole Church by Pope Urban IV in 1264. The feast became mandatory in the Roman Church in 1312.

Having had a very holy Irish priest with us the past ten days (he is stationed in southern California), I am reminded of my favorite monks (well, I can have favorites even though an ocean divides us). These monks have a problem with attracting vocations, but unlike much of the Western world, theirs is they have far too many men interested in their form of monastic life. (See Blog 3/25/2017)

They are traditional Benedictines, but also have added adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament to their daily mission. This is in a spirit of reparation and intercession for the sanctification of priests.

Their life, as ours on ShawIsland, does not involve outside works. They have kept the Latin and Gregorian Chant as we have, as well as Lectio Divina. “It is a sacramental configuration to Christ, Priest and Victim, in his oblation to the Father; and this, in the context of a hidden life, marked by silence and in effective separation from the world.”

As you can see from the recent photo they have grown from just a handful to 13 in only a few years.

This week we celebrate the great feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Here is a saint, new to me, who dedicated his life to fostering this devotion.

BL. BERNARDO FRANCISCO de HOYOSwas born in Torrelobatón, in the province of Valladolidin Spainin 1711. He studied in the Jesuit school in Medina del Campo and entered the Jesuits in 1726. He studied theology in Valladolidat the Jesuit College of Saint Ambrose. This was a decisive turning point in his life.

On August 10, 1729, the Savior, covered with His Precious Blood, appeared to Bernardo, and showing him the wound in His Side, said, “Rejected by humanity, I come to find my consolation with chosen souls.” Bernardo’s experience closely resembles that of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque fifty-three years earlier in the Visitation Monastery of Paray-le-Monial in France.

Jesus told him on May 4th, 1733: "I wish for you to spread the devotion to My Sacred Heart throughout all of Spain." From then on, Bernardo did not live for anything else. On May 14th of the same year, he received what is known as the "Great Promise" from the Sacred Heart of Jesus: "This will always be my place of rest. I will make my home here—the place where I have desired and chosen to be. I will reign in Spain with more veneration than in other places."

"I had great confidence in my prayers and petitions, depending on the intercession of the Heart of Jesus; at present I have no doubt about obtaining whatsoever I ask, if it is for the greater glory of God. I am convinced that at the altar the Eternal Father can refuse me nothing."

The Vision

Bl. Bernardo formed a group of devoted collaborators to communicate the essence of the devotion to the Sacred Heart to others. Bl. Bernardo himself would distribute prayer cards and leaflets and founded many confraternities and associations in honor of the Sacred Heart. His book, “The Hidden Treasure”, was the first book published in

Spain

on the Sacred Heart. But the best way he spread this devotion was through his own holiness, piety, and personal witness to the love of Christ.

On January 2, 1735, Bernardo was ordained a priest, but within the year, on November 29, he died after contracting typhus. He was beatified in Valladolid 18 April 2010. He is considered the “First Apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus” in Spain.

When I was in college I was fortunate to have a wonderful academic counselor (mandatory for all students in my era) who later became my spiritual advisor. It was he who really brought me to a love of the SACRED HEART of JESUS. Little did I know at the time that he had just written and published a book (1959) on the encyclical "Haurietis Aquas” (You Will Draw Waters"), the landmark encyclical of Pope Pius XII on devotion to the Sacred Heart written on May 15, 1956.

Father Dachauer, who himself had a great devotion to the Sacred Heart, gave a simple and clear commentary in order “to help the reader better understand the significance of the Holy Father’s message, and to appreciate the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.”

One is struck by the beautiful insight of Father Dachauer into the threefold love of the Heart of Christ. This book gives a little more of the scriptural, traditional, theological, ascetical and historical background of this most important document on the Sacred Heart.

I know very little about Father Alban J. Dachauer, SJ, except he was from Milwaukee and entered the Society of Jesus in 1931. He received his BA from St. LouisUniversityin 1936 and his MA in German three years later. He was ordained in 1944 and began teaching at Marquettein 1946.

In March, 1956, he was named assistant to the director general of the Apostleship of Prayer in Rome. He retired from that post and returned from Rome in 1958. He had a gift for modern languages, a talent that earned him a post at CreightonUniversityin the language department.

When I lived in Europe in the late 60s, Father had moved back to Rome, so I would visit him.

Being a true German, he was at times stern, but always had a twinkle in his eye, as if he had some marvelous secret waiting to be told.

In 1956 he was recruited to organize a prayer book published under the title "With the Blessings of the Church" (later updated & titled "The Rural Prayer Book" ) - literally, a book granted special permissions by Pope Pius XII to translate the published collection of prayers and blessings from their original Latin to English.

The prayer book written in cooperation with the National Rural Life Conference, included a plethora of blessings, prayers and devotions to mark specific seasons, feast days, holidays and holy days along with events of significance in the lives of simple country people.

The book includes prayers for blessing everything from houses to bacon. “Even in a world where farmers are fewer and those still in the profession are guided more by computers than tradition we can gather for ourselves a simple guide to what Jesus knew when he commended his spirit into the hands of his Father.” Bishop Thomas G. Doran, Rockford, Ill.

Georges Desvalliers, 1905 (France, d. 1950) *

O most holy HEART OF JESUS, fountain of every blessing, I adore You, I love You.

O Jesus, we know You are gentle and that You gave Your Heart for us. It was crowned with thorns through our sins.

Through Your most Sacred Heart, make us all love one another. Cause hatred to disappear among men. Come into each heart. Be patient and persistent with us. O Jesus, make our hearts open to You, in remembering the Passion You have suffered for us.

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, Your are our refuge, our strength, our hope, and our salvation. You are the inexhaustible source of light, of perseverance, peace, and consolation.

Have mercy on us, O Heart of Jesus, and on all that we recommend to You according to Your mercy. We abandon ourselves to You with the confidence and conviction that You will never abandon us either in time or eternity.

Amen

I love this art work, as it does not convey the insipid piety of so many depictions of the Sacred Heart. Here we have raw emotion, Jesus literally tearing His Heart out for us. What more can we say?

* From 1905 on, Georges Desvallières’ return to the Christian faith was progressively confirmed by his own personal reflections, and brought about a radical change in his life. He perceived Christ Incarnate sharing the sufferings of humanity. Perhaps he was iinfluenced by Léon Bloy or perhaps the simple piety of the faithful in the silence of a church, that brought about his conversion?

He painted more and more religious subjects in the framework of his family, and of his daily life. He became a Dominican Tertiary in 1926, while his daughter Sabine was to become, a Poor Clare nun at Mazamet, taking the name of Sœur Marie de la Grâce.

Those of us who were fortunate enough to have a real Jesuit education learned more than just the basics. We learned the Jesuit disciplines of prayer and a life-long love of learning. For me part of this love is in the search for things new that stimulate the mind and the soul. Readers of this Blog know how I like to discover and write about Jesuits, and here is a new one even for me.

DOMENICO ZIPOLI (October 1688 - January 1726) was an Italian Baroque composer who worked and died in Córdoba, in the Viceroyalty of Peru, Spanish Empire, (presently in Argentina). He became a Jesuit in order to work in the Reductions of Paraguay where he taught music among the Guaraní people. He is remembered as the most accomplished musician among Jesuit missionaries.

Domenico Zipoli was born in Prato, Italy, where he received elementary musical training. In 1707, and with the patronage of Cosimo III, Grand Duke of Tuscany, he was a pupil of the organist Giovani Maria Casini in Florence. In 1708 he briefly studied under Alessandro Scarlatti in Naples, then Bologna and finally in Romeunder Bernardo Pasquini. Two of his oratorios date to this early period: San Antonio di Padova (1712) and Santa Caterina, Virgine e martire (1714). Around 1715 he was made the organist of the Church of the Gesù (a Jesuit parish, the mother church for The Society of Jesus), in Rome, a prestigious post. At the very beginning of the following year, he finished his best known work, a collection of keyboard pieces titled Sonate d'intavolatura per organo e cimbalo.

For reasons that are not clear, Domenico traveled to Sevilla, Spain, in 1716, where he joined the Society of Jesus with the desire to be sent to the Reductions of Paraguay in Spanish Colonial America. Still a novice, he left Spainwith a group of 53 missionaries who reached Buenos Aires on 13 July 1717.

He completed his formation and sacerdotal studies in Córdoba (in contemporary Argentina) though, for the lack of an available bishop, he could not be ordained priest.

All through these few years he served as music director for the local Jesuit church. Soon his works came to be known in Lima, Peru. Struck by an unknown infectious disease, Domenico Zipoli died in the Jesuit house of Córdoba, on 2 January 1726. His burial place has never been found.

Domenico Zipoli continues to be well known today for his keyboard music; many of them are well within the abilities of beginning to intermediate players, and appear in most standard anthologies.

His Italian compositions have always been known but recently some of his South American church music was discovered in Chiquitos, Bolivia: two Masses, two psalm settings, three Office hymns, a Te Deum laudamus and other pieces.

We have our youth group here this week doing the many work projects, bringing in the hay, the winter's wood supply, building a new shed for farm equipment, etc. , so I am reminded of some new children being considered for sainthood- examples to all youth today!

In April Pope Francis recognized the heroic virtue of a nine-year old Brazilian boy, who “never complained” during cancer treatments, instead offered his suffering to Jesus.

VENERABLE NELSON SANTANA was born on the Ronca Farm in Ibitinga, Sao Paulo in 1955, the third of eight children of farmers, João Joaquim and Ocrécia Aparecida. Because the family lived far from the city, the children received very rudimentary religious instruction from the parents. Nelson went to school only for a few years, on the farm where he lived.

In 1964 Nelson was admitted to the Santa Casa de Araraquara Pediatrics because he had pain in his left arm. In the hospital he received the sympathy and love of the doctors, nurses and other children who were hospitalized, particularly Sister Gennarina Gecchele of the Congregation of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, who noticed the boy's purity and innocence.

She began to teach him the catechism. Nelson responded with great enthusiasm and interest in catechesis. He loved to learn the things of God. He made his first Communion on June 15, 1964, in the chapel of the Holy House of Mercy of Araraquara, where he was hospitalized.

Diagnosed with osteosarcoma, Nelson asked his mother in the hospital one day to “promise Jesus not to complain in the face of suffering and pain.”

His Parents

A nurse and religious sister who cared for Nelson noted the child’s “extraordinary ability” to understand the meaning of the suffering of Christ. The sister made sure the boy continued to receive religious instruction in the hospital, where he also received his first Communion.

When told that his cancerous arm had to be amputated, Nelson that “pain is very important to increase true love and courageously maintain the love already conquered.” (Where do children get these ideas? if not inspired!)

Sr. Genarina had the mission of telling Nelson the seriousness of the situation. Nelsinho (as he was lovingly called) understood very well and answered with confidence: "Jesus can take my arm, because everything that is mine is His too."

Other boys who were hospitalized with Nelsinho understood how much he was suffering and wept, keeping him company by his bed.

Every day he received the Eucharistic and when he could no longer walk alone, he asked to be taken to the hospital chapel, where he stayed in prayer for a long time, as he said "to be closer to Jesus Who is in the Tabernacle."

Those who knew him witnessed in the beatification process that Nelsinho had a great devotion for the Holy Eucharist. He faced with serenity the moment he received the Anointing of the Sick and responded with extraordinary devotion to the prayers of the ritual.

He died on Christmas eve 1964, predicting that Jesus would call him on Christmas Eve. His parents sold everything they owned to pay for medical expenses.

Last Sunday 13 children from a neighboring island made their first Communion (an amazing number for our non-Catholic area). They came to our monastery a few days before for their first Confession and a mini retreat. Venerable Nelson is a good model, so we asked his intercession that these local children grow in their faith and love of Jesus in the Eucharist.

ANOTHER PET PEEVE!

BENEATH THE SURFACE- ANOTHER HOLY YOUNG WOMAN

A PASTOR'S HEART

FEAST OF ST. (POPE) PAUL VI

STATS FOR NEW PRIESTS

CHILDREN IN ADORATION

MRS. CHESTERTON - SILENT WIFE

PENTECOST= A NEW SPIRIT

NEW PATRONESS FOR EYES

DAUGHTER, MOTHER, SPOUSE

OUR LADY OF SATURDAY

UPDATE ON NEW BLESSED- LOVER OF HUMANITY

RADIANT BODY OF CHRIST

CORPUS CHRISTI SAINT

GROWTH IN THE HOLY SPIRIT

JESUIT APOSTLE OF THE SACRED HEART

A JESUIT & THE SACRED HEART

SACRED HEART, OUR REFUGE

JESUIT MUSICIAN

A SMALL BOY WITH A GREAT LOVE