Psalm 68(69) - one of those Passion psalms

Passion psalms, like the famous Psalm 21, almost seem to describe the Gospel accounts of the Passion of Christ, so they are eyebrow-raising to read through. Psalm 68(69) is like that. Here it is in full, but I've highlighted the bits that I find the most interesting:

"O God, save me; see how the waters close about me, shoulder-high!

I am like one who sticks fast in deep mire, with no ground under his feet, one who has ventured out into mid-ocean, to be drowned by the storm.

Hoarse my throat with crying wearily for help; my eyes ache with looking up for mercy to my God.

Countless as the hairs on my head are my wanton enemies, I am no match for the oppressors that wrong me. Should I make amends to them, I, that never robbed them?

O God, Thou knowest my rash doings, no fault of mine is hidden from Thy sight.

Master, Lord of hosts, shall ill fortune of mine bring shame to those who trust in Thee, make men repent of looking for aid to Thee, the God of Israel?

It is for Thy sake that I have met with reproach, that I have so often blushed with confusion,

an outcast among my own brethren, a stranger to my own mother’s children.

Was it not jealousy for the honour of Thy house that consumed me; was it not uttered against Thee, the reproach I bore?

What more could I do? I humbled myself before them by fasting; and that, too, was matter for finding fault;

I dressed in sackcloth, and they made a by-word of me.

Idlers in the market-place taunt me; the drunkards make a song of me over their wine.

To Thee, Lord, I make my prayer; never man more needed Thy good will. Listen to me, O God, full of mercy as Thou art, faithful as Thou art to Thy promise of aid.

Save me from sinking in the mire, rescue me from my enemies, from the deep waters that surround me;

let me not sink under the flood, swallowed up in its depths, and the well’s mouth close above me.

Listen to me, Lord, of Thy gracious mercy, look down upon me in the abundance of thy pity;

do not turn Thy face away from Thy servant in this time of trouble, give a speedy answer to my prayer.

Draw near in my distress, and grant deliverance; relieve me, so hard pressed by my enemies.

Lord, Thou knowest how they reproach me, how I blush with shame;

Thou seest how many are my persecutors. Heart-broken with that shame, I pine away, looking round for pity, where pity is none, for comfort, where there is no comfort to be found.

They gave me gall to eat, and when I was thirsty they gave me vinegar to drink.

Let their feast be turned into a trap, a net to catch them and theirs,

ever the blind eye be theirs, ever the halting loin.

Pour out Thy anger upon them, let them be overtaken by the tide of Thy vengeance;

let their dwelling-place be deserted, their tents for ever uninhabited.

Who is it they persecute? A man already afflicted by Thee; hard was my hurt to bear, and these have added to it.

Do Thou add guilt to guilt in their reckoning; let them never claim Thy acquittal;

let their names be blotted out from the record of the living, and never be written among the just.

See how friendless I am, and how distressed! Let Thy help, O God, sustain me.

I will sing in praise of God’s name, herald it gratefully;

a more acceptable sacrifice, this, to the Lord than any young bullock, for all its promise of horn and hoof.

Here is a sight to make the afflicted rejoice; to cheer men’s spirits in their quest for God.

The Lord listens to the prayer of the destitute; He does not forget His servants in their chains.

To Him be praise from sky, earth and sea, and from all the creatures that move about them.

God will grant deliverance to Sion; the cities of Juda will rise from their ruins, inhabited now and held firmly in possession,

an inheritance for the race that serves Him, a home for all true lovers of His Name."

 

Daily Masses - feast day of Saint Martha (Wednesday)

I arranged two Masses on Wednesday, because a request came at short notice to pray for the repose of the soul of Al Winandy (+). Mass yesterday was offered first for the deceased members of the Lloyd and Murphy families (++). May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Saint Martha is an interesting Saint, whom we know mainly from two stories in the Gospels, although she, her sister Mary and her brother Lazarus were good friends with Christ and hosted Him at their home in Bethany, on His visits to Jerusalem from Galilee. Bethany was a village just over the Mount of Olives, towards the east, so a short walk from the Holy City. The first story is about the raising of Lazarus from the dead, when Martha made an extraordinary confession of faith, like unto the famous confession of Saint Peter:

"Martha, when she heard that Jesus had come, went out to meet Him, while Mary sat on in the house. 'Lord,' said Martha to Jesus, 'if Thou hadst been here, my brother would not have died; and I know well that even now God will grant whatever Thou wilt ask of him.' 'Thy brother,' Jesus said to her, 'will rise again.' Martha said to him, 'I know well enough that he will rise again at the resurrection, when the last day comes.' Jesus said to her, 'I AM the resurrection and life; he who believes in Me, though he is dead, will live on, and whoever has life, and has faith in Me, to all eternity cannot die. Dost thou believe this?' 'Yes,' Lord, she told him, 'I have learned to believe that Thou art the Christ; Thou art the Son of the living God; it is for Thy coming the world has waited." - Gospel of John, 11: 20-27

The other story is from that house in Bethany, when Martha complains to Christ that her sister Mary won't help with the housework, because she's too busy listening to His sermons. He famously replied:

"Martha was distracted by waiting on many needs; so she came to His side, and asked, 'Lord, art Thou content that my sister should leave me to do the serving alone? Come, bid her help me.' Jesus answered her, 'Martha, Martha, how many cares and troubles thou hast! But only one thing is necessary; and Mary has chosen for herself the best part of all, that which shall never be taken away from her.'" - Gospel of S. Luke, 10: 40-42

That seems to show Martha in a bad light, but it's a difference of approach. Martha's devotion was different - more practical - and Christ was travelling with a whole troop of Apostles and associates. Somebody had to carry those large jars and things around. We find it easier to understand Martha, because most of us are marthas - we bustle around and try to look after people. Christ doesn't mean that we shouldn't do that. It is, after all, necessary. But he points out another, better way. Luke ends on that line, in his story, so we don't know anymore. If I had any imagination at all, I would say that Christ sent Mary off to the housework at once, and Martha took her opportunity at the feet of the Master. For we, all of us, through our lives of prayer, must be both marthas and marys.

Daily Masses - the seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary time

Today's Mass intentions is the first instance of the default intention for Mondays (in the absence of requested intentions): for the Holy Father and for the Bishop. Sunday Mass was for the people of the Parish. There was a nice tie in this Sunday's readings at Mass between the desire for Wisdom of the Hebrew king Solomon and the Gospel parables about the 'kingdom of God.' Last week, I was asked about this kingdom of God and how it could be presented to children. I don't think children necessarily have to have the message altered for them, for Christ is quite clear in many places in the Gospels about what the kingdom means. For example, in the seventeenth chapter of the Gospel of S. Luke, he says:

"Upon being asked by the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God was to come, He answered, 'The kingdom of God comes unwatched by men’s eyes; there will be no saying, "See, it is here," or "See, it is there;" the kingdom of God is here, within you.' And to His own disciples He said, 'The time will come when you will long to enjoy, but for a day, the Son of Man’s presence, and it will not be granted you. Men will be saying to you, "See, He is here," or "See, He is there;" do not turn aside and follow them; the Son of Man, when His time comes, will be like the lightning which lightens from one border of heaven to the other. But before that, He must undergo many sufferings, and be rejected by this generation.'" - Gospel of S. Luke, 17: 20-25

The equation is clear: He's talking about his presence. We Catholics may think with reason about the Real Presence of the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, but we're also talking about the Kingdom of God within ourselves. My Kingdom is not of this world, Christ once said. And yet, we call Him the King of hearts, and He says to his adversaries: 

"'...if it is through Beelzebub that I cast out devils, by what means do your own sons cast them out? It is for these, then, to pronounce judgement on you. But if, when I cast out devils, I do it through God’s power, then it must be that the kingdom of God has suddenly appeared among you." - Gospel of S. Luke, 11: 19-20

Once again, the divine presence among men is the kingdom of God, and in so far as men are of one mind with the Lord, that they allow Him to enter into their hearts, the kingdom of God has suddenly appeared among them. There is a parallel with the Wisdom traditions of the Hebrews and the Jews. That's why I mentioned about a parallel with king Solomon's desire for the Wisdom to judge his people well. In this rather humble desire for wisdom, Solomon like his father David echoed the heart of God. This desire for Wisdom is a common thread running through the Old Testament, and it has to do with understanding what God desires for man, what the Law of God, given by Moses to the Hebrews, desires of them. In that Law itself, we hear the call of Israel:

"Listen then, Israel; there is no Lord but the Lord our God, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with the love of thy whole heart, and thy whole soul, and thy whole strength. The commands I give thee this day must be written on thy heart, so that thou canst teach them to thy sons, and keep them in mind continually, at home and on thy travels, sleeping and waking; bound close to thy hand for a remembrance, ever moving up and down before thy eyes; the legend thou dost inscribe on door and gate-post." - Deuteronomy, 6: 4-9

Even today, the Jewish people toil at this ancient precept, literally observing the last command of binding the Law upon their hands and upon their foreheads, and hanging it from the doorways of their homes. In our traditions, this is true wisdom: to know what is desired of us and to act upon the commandment. The Hebrew soul developed a deep love for the Law of God, a love which we inherited and which is expressed in the longest of the Hebrew Psalms, a part of which we had as the responsorial psalm yesterday:

"Perfect in Thy own servant’s heart the knowledge of Thy will. Put off the hour, Lord, no more; too long Thy commandment stands defied. Precious beyond gold or jewel I hold Thy law. Prized be every decree of Thine; forsworn be every path of evil-doing." - Psalm 118(119): 125-128

And then we come to the gospel reading and I can say that the Word of God made flesh is that same Wisdom, long-desired, which is to be written upon our hearts, communicated to our children, carried about with us, etc. If we walk constantly in the presence of God, this is entirely possible. Christ our Lord re-presents the Law of Moses to the people, and we Christians would call it the interpretation, because we know that He Himself gave it to the Hebrew people long ago, through Moses. So, when He describes the reign of God being established in our hearts, when He tells us that this kingdom is more precious than fine pearls, a treasure hidden in a field, Christ is in a way reciting Psalm 118 (he probably knew it off by heart). For when the Law of God is written in our hearts, we are already living in the kingdom of God. And Christ sounds best like the God of the Old Testament, and we may hear His voice in that passage from Deuteronomy above, when He says this: 

"If a man has any love for Me, he will be true to My word; and then he will win My Father’s love, and We will both come to him, and make Our continual abode with him..." - Gospel of S. John, 14: 23

And so the kingdom of God will be there, within him. 

This is Sarah Rafferty's tree...

...which her daughter gave to our garden in her memory, and which Mr. K kindly planted beside the path. Sarah's funeral was two Thursdays ago. May her soul and the souls of all the Faithful departed rest in peace.

On the rosary

I'd not had a good relationship with the rosary until about two years ago. When I was a boy, my parents were very enthusiastic about the family rosary. My father still is. But I had been raised in the catechetical stupor of the last few decades and was never taught about the history of the rosary at church or in school. And it was long and boring, of course, despite my mother calling for it, it was a chore for a child. 

Imagine my surprise when, having acquired an interest in theology and on the way to seminary, I discovered that many priests had the same ideas that I did as a child. The rosary was long, boring, not for them. One priest even told me at length that he didn't consider the rosary to be necessary to his personal spirituality, and that he recited the Divine Office (Liturgy of the Hours) regularly anyway. That arguments refers to the old story that the rosary was the preoccupation of the laity at monasteries, who could not follow the Latin of the monks' daily prayer (the Divine Office). But this argument has been drawn out for some time now and ends up saying that the rosary is puerile and made for simple-minded people. The effect of this attitude has been to take the rosary of the hands of the people and give them nothing in return, for the Divine Office is still rather too much for the ordinary person in the pew. Many other Catholic devotions also suffered a similar decline, alongside the rosary. And now people often don't know how to pray. They want to, but they don't know how.

I think we need to pick up our rosaries again. Once, while making my regular confession, the priest confessor asked me to say such-and-such a prayer along with my daily rosary, and took me by surprise. My daily rosary? I'd never been encouraged to take up the rosary by anybody but my parents, certainly not in seminary, except by one or two fellow students over eight years. Then, a little over two years ago, I attended a silent retreat, and a priest put a book in my hand called Champions of the Rosary. I didn't have the time then to read that book, but I fell into the arms of our Lady. Every day since then, except for a day or two (I can remember exceptions), I have said the daily Rosary. And there's nothing puerile about it. It is more effective than the Divine Office (the Liturgy of the Hours). And I'll tell you why. The Divine Office is composed of a generous dose of the Book of Psalms and various readings from Scripture and the writings of holy men and women throughout our history. It is therefore verbose and very tiring. The few members of the laity who busy themselves with it, as was desired by the Second Vatican Council, are to be greatly commended. Many clerics and Religious find it a toil, and it is a duty for us to fulfil.

The rosary is meditative. Fewer words, all of them repetitive allow one who uses it to actually pray. After a while, you are able to move beyond the words to the themes presented, those of the important events in the life of Christ, as seen through the eyes of His mother. As a student at seminary I once met a community of Religious sisters who made rosaries, and they made up the one in the picture above for me. It has all fifteen decades of the rosary on it and is over long, so I rarely use it, but it reminds me to say the whole rosary every day. That daily rosary takes me through all the mysteries of the rosary, usually the joyful mysteries in the afternoon, the sorrowful in the early evening and the glorious later on. I do this for the same reason that I recite the prayers and psalms and readings of the Divine Office. I know that the people of the parish, for whom I am responsible, cannot do this themselves regularly. It takes too long. But I can do it for them and on their behalf.

Daily Masses - memorial day of Saint Sharbel Makhluf and feast day of the Apostle Saint James

Mass was offered yesterday for the repose of the soul of Joe Coleman (+), and may he be forever blessed. Yesterday was the memorial day of the Maronite (Lebanese) monk and hermit, Saint Sharbel, who lived in the nineteenth century and was well-known for his holiness and as something of a miracle-worker. Miracles are still reported today at his tomb, and Mount Maron is one of the places on my list of places to visit. Fortunately, I have a friend there, so I shall one day have a proper visit.

Today is an entirely different order of feast day, for we remember one of the three privileged Apostles of the Twelve. We shouldn't be entirely surprised, perhaps, that our Blessed Lord had favourites. But He did elect Peter as the leader and chose Peter and the brothers James and John to witness the most intimate moments of His ministry: the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1), when He visibly took His place as unifying the Law (in the person of Moses) and the prophecies (in the person of Elijah); His raising of the dead daughter of Jairus (Luke 8: 51); and during the His Agony in the garden (Matthew 26: 37). But there was a little more to it than these men being His best friends. He must have judged them entirely trustworthy. There were some things that He wanted to be broadcast only after His crucifixion, death and Resurrection. And in the Jewish tradition, any type of legitimate report required the testimony of at least two witnesses and preferably three. 

And one of those three Apostles was James, whom we can call impulsive, as also was his brother, for we have the story of them attempting to surpass even the prince of the Apostles, Peter, by acquiring places of honour at the side of Christ in the kingdom of heaven. They also got their mother to ask Him for it. She was closely related to the Blessed Virgin, and so may have been Jesus' aunty. Clever, clever:

"Thereupon the mother of the sons of Zebedee brought them to Him, falling on her knees to make a request of Him. And when He asked her, 'What is thy will?' she said to Him, 'Here are my two sons; grant that in Thy kingdom one may take his place on Thy right and the other on Thy left.' But Jesus answered, 'You do not know what it is you ask. Have you strength to drink of the cup I am to drink of?' They said, 'We have.' And He told them, 'You shall indeed drink of my cup; but a place on My right hand or My left is not mine to give; it is for those for whom My Father has destined it.' The ten others were angry with the two brethren when they heard it." - Gospel of S. Matthew, 20: 20-24

It didn't work, but we can see their spirit of devotion nevertheless, a spirit that led Saint James to be a formidable preacher in Judaea and Samaria after the first Pentecost Sunday. Tradition also tells us that he got across to Spain and appointed some bishops there before his arrest and execution in Jerusalem. He became the first of the Apostles to be thus martyred and his relics were eventually carried to the town in the north-west of Spain that is still called by his name Saint James, in Spanish Santiago, one of the ultimate pilgrimage destinations. Here's a summary:

Bouguereau and academic art

Since this is a personal blog, I thought that I would branch it out a little bit. That's why, in addition to the notes about the regular Mass in the church, I have begun to add items from the various books I read from time to time. And I shall begin to add some bits of amateurish art-work, such as this Divine Mercy thing I did once in seminary.

But this post is about my favourite of all the painters I have ever known. I've only been able to find one biography of him, in the Nottingham City library, and I discovered that he was one of the last academic masters in France in the nineteenth century, before the advent of the new Impressionist movement. Impressionism caused the death of academic instruction in painting and, overnight, popular artists like Bouguereau fell into obscurity. The very museums moved their work into storage, where it was rediscovered decades later. It's only very recently that academic realism has begun to flourish again, through atelier instruction and the classical realist movement. Now impressionist art can be exciting, but it cannot compare with the precision of the old Masters. Here are two of Bouguereau's masterpieces. The first I often use as a background for my mobile telephone screen; it is called the Song of the Angels. The second I always look for when I visit Birmingham, on the way to see my family, for the original is in the City art gallery; it is called Charity.

Messiaen - the Turangalíla symphony

A few years ago, as a Church student visiting the Diocese, I remember expressing to a parishioner at the parish I was living my utter bewilderment at the wide variety in what we could call classical music, both in the instrumentation used, the approaches of composers and the terminology used. I liked the sound of it, but it was rather confusing. She was herself very into classical music, you see, with a well stocked library of recordings. When I had returned to seminary, I was surprised to find one day that she had mailed me an introductory book. This one, to be precise. I began the book at once, but fell away a few weeks later. I just launched right back into it and, years later and with a better understanding of history and culture, I'm powering through it and should be finished hopefully by year end. 

It also means that there'll occasionally be a curiosity mentioned in the book on this blog. Let's begin with Messiaen's Turangalíla symphony. It is known for the impossibly long list of instruments used. If you endure the hour and twenty minutes, have a listen to all those strange sounds.

Daily Mass - memorial of the first bishop of Ravenna, Saint Apollinaris

Mass was offered today for the repose of the soul of Robert Heaps (+), may he be eternally blest. The Saint of the day is the first bishop of Ravenna, the martyr Saint Apollinaris, ordained and consecrated by the Apostle Saint Peter himself. He seems to have been a charismatic figure and a miracle-worker and drew many converts to the Faith, attracting the ire of the traditional Roman religionists. He was on several occasions captured and wickedly treatedly, beaten, stabbed, etc., and eventually succumbed to injuries. We therefore honour him as a martyr. More about him in the video.

Farewell to our year-six pupils

This afternoon, I suddenly heard music on the hill and, looking out the window, I saw a crowd of socially-distanced parents dotted around the car-park. School teachers had lined the pathway going up the hill to the school, and one of them had set a small stereo playing music. The idea was that the outgoing class would descend to their parents, and receive a farewell from their teachers along the way. A very nice idea, I thought, after a final day at school, which they had spent marking the end of their time at primary school.

And I am sorry that I missed them almost entirely. For, having arrived late in the year already, I was only able to see most of them very briefly on one or two occasions, because of the present public health crisis and the associated safekeeping measures.

May everything return to a semblance of normality soon.

Daily Mass - the sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary time

As I got through the end of the famous diary of Sister Faustyna a few weeks ago, the message was the same as at the beginning. That God is Goodness, and his greatest attribute is Mercy, and that the priests don't preach about that enough. When a soul sincerely desires to return to God, she is greeted with enormous generosity, far more than she ever thought she deserved. Well, I've had that on my mind for some time, because that was a rather large book (seven hundred or so pages, with a common theme) and then I saw the first reading today. Let's take the whole reading, including the two lines they decided to omit from the Mass books:

"God there is none save Thou, that hast a whole world for Thy province; and shall Thy justice abide our question? Punish Thou mayst as punish Thou wilt; king nor emperor can be bold to outface Thee. So high beyond our censure, and therewithal so just in Thy dealings! To condemn the innocent were unworthy of such majesty as Thine; of all justice, Thy power is the true source, universal lordship the ground of universal love! Only when Thy omnipotence is doubted wilt Thou assert Thy mastery, their rashness making manifest, who will not acknowledge Thee; elsewhere, with such power at Thy disposal, a lenient judge Thou provest Thyself, riding us with a light rein, and keeping Thy terrors in reserve. Two lessons Thy people were to learn from these dealings of Thine; ever should justice and mercy go hand in hand, never should Thy own children despair of forestalling Thy justice by repentance." - Wisdom, 12: 13-19

I suppose they dropped the lines about punishment being a part of God's acts of justice because that sounds too discouraging, but this whole concept of the just judge would appeal even to a non-religious person who can appreciate the value of corrective punishment in a justice system. And God is the Just Judge, according to the wise man here, His justice finding its source in his omnipotence, and appears harshest when that omnipotence is tested. In the Hebrew mind, there is always the story of the great enemies of the people, such as the Egyptian pharaohs who had enslaved them and scorned their ancient religion. And these Egyptians were dealt a system of plagues as a result. Elsewhere, says the wise man, the Judge is obvious in His leniancy, His kindness, His mercy. Mercy always goes hand-in-hand with justice and, already long before the coming of Christ, we see the paternal relationship of God with his people - these children of His will always encounter His mercy, and avoid His justice, when they are repentant.

So should every human judge be, also, as King Solomon desired, when he asked God for the grace to judge His people wisely. That is one of the earliest stories I remember being told by my mother as a child - that Solomon had been offered wealth and success, but he chose rather to be a wise ruler and wealth and success followed anyway. Our defining prayer as Christians is the Our Father, and the most difficult part of that prayer is the part about forgiving others' trespasses against us, and yet in so doing we are most closely imitating God, who is almost forced by His own nature to forgive, when forgiveness is requested of him sincerely. And this is the essence also of the main parable in the thirteenth chapter of the gospel of Saint Matthew, which is our gospel reading today 

"'...the farmer’s men went to him and said, 'Sir, was it not clean seed thou didst sow in thy field? How comes it, then, that there are tares in it?' He said, 'An enemy has done it.' And his men asked him, 'Wouldst thou then have us go and gather them up?' But he said, 'No; or perhaps while you are gathering the tares you will root up the wheat with them. Leave them to grow side by side till harvest, and when harvest-time comes I will give the word to the reapers, Gather up the tares first, and tie them in bundles to be burned, and store the wheat in my barn.''" - Gospel of S. Matthew, 13: 27-30

He will even allow the bad to grow with the good and sort things out later, for (who knows?) much good may be lost if he were to make away with the bad at once. There is a wisdom in this policy of the farmer of the parable, and it is akin to the wisdom of the first reading - justice and mercy are going hand-in-hand, once more. But mercy comes first, for the farmer will do the just weeding only at the end. That fits in with what Christ said to Sister Faustyna, and what she carefully noted in her diary: Have them apply to My Mercy before it is too late, for then they will most surely encounter My Justice.

Historical psalms

One of our inheritances from the Judaism of the early Church is our daily recitation of the book of psalms (at least by the priests and Religious). One component of Jewish life is the regular remembrance of the great things that God did for the people in the old, old days. Before the Bible was in any way a written document, these stories were preserved by oral traditions, handed down from father to son over several generations. Some of these most ancient traditions still sit in the middle of the book of Psalms. Psalm 104 (105) is one of them and this is it, in full, and I have highlighted some of it. It tells of the passage of the tribes of Israel into Egypt during the time of the seer Joseph, the prelude to the later slavery of the people and their miraculous redemption at the hands of Moses and Aaron in the book of Exodus:

"Praise the Lord, and call upon His name; tell the story of His doings for all the nations to hear; greet Him with song and psalm, recount His acts of miracle.

Triumph in that holy Name; let every heart that longs for the Lord rejoice.

On the Lord, on the Lord’s greatness still let your hearts dwell, on the Lord’s presence be your hearts set.

Remember the marvellous acts He did, His miracles, His sentences of doom;

are you not the posterity of Abraham, His own servant, sons of that Jacob on whom His choice fell?

And He, the Lord, is our own God, wide though His writ runs through all the world.

He keeps in everlasting memory that covenant of His, that promise which a thousand ages might not cancel.

He gave Abraham a promise, bound Himself to Isaac by an oath;

by that law Jacob should live, His Israel, bound to Him with an eternal covenant.

To thee, He said, I will give the land of Chanaan, a portion allotted to thee and thine.

So few they were in number, only a handful, living there as strangers!

And ever they passed on from country to country, the guests of king or people;

but He suffered none to harm them; to kings themselves the warning came;

Lay no hand on them, never hurt them, servants anointed and true spokesmen of Mine.

And now He brought famine on the land, cutting off all their supply of bread.

But He had sent an envoy to prepare the way for them, that very Joseph, who was sold as a slave.

Fetters held his feet, the yoke galled his neck,

but he proved a true prophet at last, the Lord’s accomplished word to vindicate him.

Then the king sent to release him; the proud ruler of many peoples set him free,

and appointed him master of his household, lord of all the possessions that were his.

Joseph should teach his courtiers to be as Joseph was, should train his aged counsellors in wisdom.

So it was that Israel came into Egypt, that Jacob dwelt as an alien in the country of Cham.

Time passed, and He gave his people great increase of numbers, till it outmatched its rivals.

And in these He wrought a change of heart; they grew weary of His people’s presence, devised ruin for His worshippers.

And now He sent his servant Moses, and Aaron, the man of His choice,

to bring about those signs, those miracles of His which the country of Cham would witness.

Dark night He sent to benight them, and still His warnings went unheeded.

He turned their supply of water into blood, killing all the fish;

frogs swarmed out of the ground, even in their royal palaces;

at His word, flies attacked them, and gnats all their land over;

hail was the rain He gave them, and it brought fire that burned up their countryside;

He shattered their vines and fig-trees, broke down all the wood that grew in their domains.

He gave the word, and locusts came, grasshoppers, too, past all numbering,

eating up all the grass they had, eating up all the crops their land yielded.

Then, His hand fell upon Egypt’s first-born, on the first-fruits of all they had engendered;

and so He brought his people out, enriched with silver and gold, no foot that stumbled among all their tribes.

Glad indeed was Egypt at their going, such fear of them had overtaken it.

He spread out a cloud to cover them, that turned to fire in the darkness, lighting their journey.

Quails came, when they asked for food; He satisfied their desire, too, with bread from heaven,

and pierced the rock so that water flowed down, running streams in the wilderness.

So well did He remember that holy promise of His, made to His servant Abraham;

in joy and triumph He led them out, His chosen people,

and gave them the lands of the heathen for their own.

There, on soil Gentile hands had tilled, His commandments should be kept sacred, His law should reign. Alleluia."

Medieval music (Hildegard von Bingen)

It's a different sound from anything I've heard before. And I don't know very much about the Benedictine abbess Saint Hildegard von Bingen, a medieval mastermind and polymath, a Saint and a visionary. But here's some of her music, written for a single voice and called 'sacred monophony.'

Daily Masses - ferial weekdays before the nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary time

I haven't been posting here for a while, because I've had a busy type of week, with little time for the computer, and it's not very easy to make posts from the telephone. Phone calls, visits to the hospital, and so on. There was a big funeral on Thursday of one of our regulars, Mrs. S. Rafferty (+), so do please continue to pray for the peaceful repose of her soul. Yesterday's Mass intention was for V. and for Z. P., may they be blessed, and Mass was said today for the repose of the soul of Joe Coleman (+), may he rest in the peace of Christ. 

It has been a colourful week, with the feast days of Saint Bonaventure, the great Seraphic Doctor; and of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on Thursday, special for England because of the legend of Saint Simon Stock. Today came the news of the movement of clergy around the Diocese, with particular import for our deanery here in Derby. We will learn about those moves in our parish newsletters this weekend, I believe. 

The daily Mass and the daily Rosary continue in the church, albeit with the doors shut and no congregation. We shall be able to proceed further when we have assembled a team of volunteers to help with the sanitisation of the church before and planned opening hours, OR if technology somehow gives us a way of eventually managing without volunteers. If this type of device, for example, could be approved for general use by the authorities, it would be a good thing.

Regular posting will resume soon.

Daily Masses - ferial days and Saint Bonaventura

Mass was offered yesterday for the repose of the soul of Carmel Kelly (+), and today for all those who are ill or in some way suffering. May she have eternal rest, with the Saints in light. My new default intention on Wednesdays was originally an intention for the sufferers of the new c-virus, but I've realised from the news reports that, although this new virus is a killer, it compounds existing medical conditions to various degrees. It makes sense then to pray generally for all those who suffer illness or who suffer generally. It also gives me an opportunity to remember the dying, as well. All of this is a serious work of mercy that echoes through the long corridors of the history of the Church. This is one of our primary acts as Christians, to pray for those who often cannot pray for themselves and may have nobody else to pray for them.

Today's Mass honours the great, thirteenth-century Franciscan bishop and scholar, Saint Bonaventura, named a Doctor of the Church for his ability to present his understanding of God and the Church to the rest of us. Once, during my stay at the English College in Rome, the staff there took all the students on a trip to Bagno-regio, where Bonaventura was born. Naturally, he is still remembered there, with a life-sized statue standing in the town. Above all, Bonaventura was a Catholic philosopher, and among the greatest minds of his time. Naturally, his philosophy included God and the Christian life, in a way that we don't expect anymore, because the universities have separated and continue to isolate theology from philosophy at the moment, desperate to insulate the natural sciences from the philosophical and theological sciences. This modern approach would have surprised Augustine of Hippo, Bonaventura, Thomas Aquinas and the other great Catholic philosophers, who tended to integrate faith and reason in their thought, prayer and virtue ethics being important parts of the pursuit of knowledge and illumination and union with God. But Bonaventura was more than a speculative philosopher; he was a bishop, and had to consider the practicalities of theological truth and its impact on the Christian life. Even if his work doesn't work well for modern philosophers, I think the Catholic today would be able to take very much away from it. I shall have more to say about that, when I have gotten to his entry in Pope Benedict's compendium of speeches on the Doctors of the Church.

Just stumbled over Pachelbel's Canon in D

This was the piece that launched me into classical music. When I arrived in England for the first time, over twenty years ago, I had no idea about what we call 'classical' music. As a university student in accommodation, I couldn't afford a television, but my father gifted me with an old AM/FM radio. How large it was, compared to the tiny radios we have today. But, when I set the dial to Classic FM, I hardly moved it again. And I remember thinking that this sounded like heaven:

A little about the seventeenth-century, one-hit German wonder, Iohann Pachelbel. He did, of course, write other pieces, both religious and secular, and was a well-known organist and teacher. But most people today remember him for this one, and this one only. Anyhow, I'm going to play it again.

Daily Mass - fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary time

We've settled nicely into Ordinary time, with the regular Sundays and readings of the first lectionary year. Mass was offered today for the people of the parish and the readings were all related to God determinedly producing some fruit among us through the sowing of his graces in the world. It's all spoken through the analogy of a farmer sowing seed. In the first reading, God declares that just as rain falls upon the earth to bring fruit from it, so the word of God will bring forth the fruit which God desires. 

"'Once fallen from the sky, does rain or snow return to it? Nay, it refreshes earth, soaking into it and making it fruitful, to provide the sower with fresh seed, the hungry mouths with bread. So it is with the word by these lips of Mine once uttered; it will not come back, an empty echo, the way it went; all My will it carries out, speeds on its errand.'" - Isaias, 55: 10-11

This introduces the Gospel, and the great parable of the seed thrown on various types of soil in the thirteenth chapter of the Gospel of Saint Matthew. This is one of those parables that don't need to be explained, as Christ Himself elaborated on it, when requested to by the Apostles. 'Why do you speak in parables?' they asked Him. And He replied that grace was required to be able to understand the parables well - the grace that would come to the Apostles and to the rest of us through the Sacraments. 

"'Indeed, in them the prophecy of Isaias is fulfilled, You will listen and listen, but for you there is no understanding; you will watch and watch, but for you there is no perceiving. The heart of this people has become dull, their ears are slow to listen, and they keep their eyes shut, so that they may never see with those eyes, or hear with those ears, or understand with that heart, and turn back to me, and win healing from me.'" - Gospel of S. Matthew, 13: 14-15

Christ is here entirely quoting from Isaias to justify His use of parables. I see here a clear difference between an intellectual understanding of the teaching of Christ (watching, listening) and the grace-filled appropriation and embrace of it by the Christian heart (perceiving, understanding). This idea is built into the parable itself: for the seed to take root, the soil must be rich, or at any rate with the least amount of thorns to choke it. Although he doesn't quite say this, there is obviously some temporary advantage in not being entirely receptive and open to grace: 

"...the man who took in the seed in the midst of briers is the man who hears the word, but allows the cares of this world and the false charms of riches to stifle it, so that it remains fruitless." - Gospel of S. Matthew, 13: 22

That's a difficult line for us, because we are so many of us mired in the cares of this world and charmed by riches and prosperity. Is our growth stifled, does it remain fruitless? As usual, the story doesn't end here, the reading at Mass is long enough. We must continue with chapter thirteen, which continues the theme of verse 22 in a new parable. Thorns and briers of the world stifling Christian development? Christ now speaks of an enemy who sows weeds in God's crop and these cannot be taken up without damaging the crop itself. So, God bides his time; at harvest time, the weed will be burned. Sadly, the crop will not have been as planned, and that's the story of Creation and a summary of the Bible. There is a further sequence of parables in this chapter that draws a picture of the 'kingdom of heaven,' which already exists in the souls which are receptive to grace and have opened up their hearts to Christ. These souls have discovered a great treasure that is worth giving everything else up for; a treasure, that is, which should be prioritised over every other thing.

And Saint Paul's message from his letter to the Romans (today's second reading) convinces us that the toil of the Christian life, the toil of remaining always open to grace and so like a patch of rich soil, is worth it for us. For there is a reward attached to it. We are already producing fruit, but it is a painful process and we seek liberation from it in our final rest, in God. This is what he says, and I'll end on it, as usual:

"The Spirit himself thus assures our spirit, that we are children of God; and if we are his children, then we are his heirs too; heirs of God, sharing the inheritance of Christ; only we must share his sufferings, if we are to share his glory. Not that I count these present sufferings as the measure of that glory which is to be revealed in us. If creation is full of expectancy, that is because it is waiting for the sons of God to be made known. Created nature has been condemned to frustration; not for some deliberate fault of its own, but for the sake of him who so condemned it, with a hope to look forward to; namely, that nature in its turn will be set free from the tyranny of corruption, to share in the glorious freedom of God’s sons. The whole of nature, as we know, groans in a common travail all the while. And not only do we see that, but we ourselves do the same; we ourselves, although we have already begun to reap our spiritual harvest, groan in our hearts, waiting for that adoption which is the ransoming of our bodies from their slavery. It must be so, since our salvation is founded upon the hope of something." - Romans, 8: 16-24

 

Daily Masses - ferial days and more Roman martyrs

We have come to a point where the list of Mass intentions requested by parishioners has come almost to an end. Therefore, I have begun to appoint more general intentions on a weekly basis. A few weeks ago, when the Diocesan vocations service asked us to begin to pray in earnest for vocations every Thursday, I set the Thursday intention to Vocations to the priesthood and Religious life. I now add to that the Wednesday intention for the Sick and those who are suffering, and the Friday intention for Persecuted Christians, especially at the moment the greatly neglected and ignored Church in Nigeria. For the moment, and especially in this time of pestilence, the Saturday intention is for all those persons working in health care, with a particular focus on medical doctors and nurses. So, to summarise, the Masses these last few days and in the comings weeks (unless a requested intention arrives or has arrived) will take this form:

• Wednesday: for the sick and those who suffer
• Thursday: for vocations to the priesthood and Religious life
• Friday: for the persecuted Church, especially at the moment in Nigeria
• Saturday: for those working in health care, particularly doctors and nurses

Today was a ferial day; however, I spotted in the Church's calendar entry for today a significant collection of Roman martyrs. There is a family of seven brothers, who were killed before their mother's eyes, after which she was killed herself. Let's list them out. The brothers were Saints Ianuarius, Felix, Philip, Sylvanus, Alexander, Vitalis and Martial. The mother was Saint Felicity. They suffered under the wicked emperor Antoninus in a variety of ways, such as being raked, scourged, being thrown off a height and beheading. Learn more about them here.

The second entry in that calendar for today tells of another two Roman martyrs, the virgin sisters Saints Rufina and Secunda, who perished for refusing marriage, both of them naming the Lord Himself as their spouse. They were tortured, one had her head badly broken, the other was beheaded. Learn more about them here.

The first great coincidence today was that the feast day of these Roman martyrs was on a Friday, so my general intention for the persecuted Church, and especially the Nigerian Church, was dreadfully applicable. Christian families in places like Nigeria are being torn apart, with the multiple murders, abductions, etc., and their sufferings are not dissimilar to the sufferings of the martyrs of the Church of all times, and especially those Roman martyrs listed above.

The second great coincidence today was that the gospel reading of the Friday of the fourteenth week of Ordinary Time (which is today) also deal with martyrdom. Here's the gospel reading and it needs no commentary. These are the words of Christ Himself:

"'Remember, I am sending you out to be like sheep among wolves; you must be wary, then, as serpents, and yet innocent as doves. Do not put your trust in men; they will hand you over to courts of judgement, and scourge you in their synagogues; yes, and you will be brought before governors and kings on my account, so that you can bear witness before them, and before the Gentiles. Only, when they hand you over thus, do not consider anxiously what you are to say or how you are to say it; words will be given you when the time comes; it is not you who speak, it is the Spirit of your Father that speaks in you. Brothers will be given up to execution by their brothers, and children by their fathers; children will rise up against their parents and will compass their deaths, and you will be hated by all men because you bear my name; that man will be saved, who endures to the last. Only, if they persecute you in one city, take refuge in another; I promise you, the Son of Man will come, before your task with the cities of Israel is ended.'" - Gospel of S. Matthew, 10: 16-23

 

Daily Masses - memorial of Saint Maria Goretti and the ferial Tuesday

Masses were offered yesterday for the repose of the soul of Ray Lloyd (+), and today for the repose of the soul of the Reverend J. D. Key (+). I would like to ask your prayers also for the soul of Mrs. Sarah Rafferty (+), who passed away yesterday. May their souls and the souls of all the Faithful departed rest in peace.

I only want to mention Maria Goretti, the saintly Italian girl who suffered a horrible death, protecting herself from a would-be rapist and is honoured by the Church as a virgin-martyr. She is also one of our youngest Saints, and belonged to a rural family in Ancona. She kept house for her family, who worked in the fields. Her attacker stabbed her several times for denying him and she died in hospital. He repented in prison and, when released, sought the forgiveness of her family. He joined a monastery for the rest of his life and lived to see the girl beatified, and canonised (1950). I think that his fate was worse than hers. 

Learn more about the story here. Maria is a very popular Saint in the West and is known as a martyr for chastity/purity, because of her attempt to protect herself from her attacker. And it is well known that she forgave him on her death-bed. The first reading from Saint Paul at Monday's Mass naturally speaks about purity: 

"Your bodies are not meant for debauchery, they are meant for the Lord, and the Lord claims your bodies. And God, just as He has raised our Lord from the dead, by His great power will raise us up too. Have you never been told that your bodies belong to the Body of Christ? And am I to take what belongs to Christ and make it one with a harlot? God forbid. Or did you never hear that the man who unites himself to a harlot becomes one body with her? The two, we are told, will become one flesh. Whereas the man who unites himself to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him. Keep clear, then, of debauchery. Any other sin a man commits, leaves the body untouched, but the fornicator is committing a crime against his own body. Surely you know that your bodies are the shrines of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in you. And He is God’s gift to you, so that you are no longer your own masters. A great price was paid to ransom you; glorify God by making your bodies the shrines of His presence." - I Corinthians 6: 13-20

Paul's theme, as so often mentioned in his letters, is that we have been ransomed/purchased by Christ and we are not quite our own - we belong to Christ. So Christ has a claim upon us and the way we live our lives. This idea becomes more powerful when Paul links it to his Eucharistic theology - through Holy Communion, we are part of the Body of Christ and we cannot join that to a life of sin. So, it's not possible to unite with another through sin and at the same time to unite with Christ in Holy Communion. This underlies the Churches firm position on receiving Holy Communion in the state of grievous sin. And in this reading, Paul zeroes in on sexual sin in a way most people don't want to hear about today. This message of purity is unpopular today, and Saint Maria Goretti paid for defending it with her life. She was twelve years old. This is why we honour her, and may she pray for us all, always.

Daily Masses - the fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary time

It seems to me that since some of our parishioners will have had an experience of Mass at Saint Mary's or at St. Max' this weekend, or will have in the weeks to come, we might hopefully find a team of volunteers soon, and we can plan to open Saint Joseph's, after acquiring all the cleaning materials and obtaining the necessary permissions. It may be that we begin with weekend openings, for it will be easier to find volunteers for those. All information about opening will be communicated via the website, social media and the newsletter.

I arranged two Masses this morning, on account of an unexpected and emergency prayer intention that appeared over the weekend. On this fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary time, our readings have led us to reflect on Christ as a refuge for those who suffer, because of our gospel reading today:

"My Father has entrusted everything into My hands; none knows the Son truly except the Father, and none knows the Father truly except the Son, and those to whom it is the Son’s good pleasure to reveal Him. Come to Me, all you that labour and are burdened; I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon yourselves, and learn from Me; I am gentle and humble of heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and my burden is light." -  Gospel of S. Matthew, 11: 27-30

That chapter of Matthew's Gospel is full of detail, for it moves in sequence through Christ's confirmation of the faith of Saint John the Baptist, now in prison, via his emissaries and his public identification of John as the Elijah everybody was waiting for, the Elijah who would prepare the way for the Messiah they were waiting for even more. Immediately after this, Christ scolds his listeners, and especially the Jewish communities of particular, named towns, for receiving neither John/Elijah or Himself, because the two of them did not fit their idea of what the Messiah should be: John was too ascetic for them, Christ too pastoral. Then comes today's gospel reading: having excoriated the Wise of the world (as above), Christ blesses His Father in heaven for delivering the message of salvation in a way that it could be received with simple faith, and without long philosophical justifications (although there is room for that as well, as we know from the history of our Catholic universities). The Faith is simply received because it is attached to Christ's Person, and not simply to a body of abstract thought. We believe because He told it to us, and nobody knows the Truth of the matter better than the Son of the Father Himself.

photo credit: John Gevers Ye royal oxen via photopin (license)

And that is the reason Christ becomes a refuge for those who labour and are burdened in various ways: our religion is not based on a code of laws that have to be observed or we don't get to heaven, as so many think. Our religion is based on a Person who has promised us much, if only we would trust in Him and His boundless Mercy. I remember somebody once pointing out to me that a typical yoke used on oxen is built for two of them. Christ will pull with us. This is part of His promise: He journeys with us, He carries with us. And when we fall into Him, strangely, even terrible suffering begins to make sense, because it is a participation in His own life; this is what I understand from the witness of great Saints. Although many of them were quite scrupulous at first, as they advanced in the spiritual life, it was the love of God that conquered their hearts. After that, they began to lead the life of the Gospel quite automatically, taking up His yoke, as He said, their hearts growing to be more like His. 

"...if the Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised up Jesus Christ from the dead will give life to your perishable bodies too, for the sake of His Spirit who dwells in you. Thus, brethren, nature has no longer any claim upon us, that we should live a life of nature. If you live a life of nature, you are marked out for death; if you mortify the ways of nature through the power of the Spirit, you will have life." - Romans, 8: 11-13

There's a message we don't hear very often. It's from the second reading today. Saint Paul is convinced that Christians are capable - by the grace that is ours, on account of their belonging to the Church - that we are capable of throwing away the temptations of this world, which he calls 'living a life of nature,' and by 'mortifying' our nature and its desires. It sounds a little bit like that Take-my-yoke-upon-you from the Gospel, and there are degrees of this kind of life. Not all of us can live like monks or nuns. Most of us can only live such a life to a certain extent, for we have families, and jobs, and worldly concerns. But holiness is something that is available to us all, even those of us who are not free to leave the world entirely to enter the cloisters. As Paul says, if the Spirit of God lives within us, we should find it easier than most others to live by that Spirit, that is, to follow the Law of God - not as a legal code, but by entering within it and seeing its heart: the Love of God and, what follows it naturally, the love of neighbour.

Daily Masses - ferial days and the feast day of the Apostle Saint Thomas

Having completed the last Mass for the Holy Souls in the sequence of nine on Thursday, Mass was offered on Friday in thanksgiving, on behalf of R. M. C. It was the feast day on Friday of Saint Thomas, as I mentioned; this Apostle is a significant presence in the church, because of the statue we have of him at the back and the large community of Keralites we have in our congregation and at our school. 

The gospel story we had at Mass was, of course, the famous one after the Resurrection, when Thomas missed the first appearance of Christ to the Apostles and declared that he would not believe their story until he had seen the living Christ and given himself proofs of his being of real flesh and blood, and not a ghost. Over the centuries, much light has been made of Thomas' desire to have the undeniable certainty of his own senses. For example, in Saint Thomas Aquinas' famous hymn Adoro te devote, he says:

"I am not like Thomas, wounds I cannot see,

but can plainly call Thee Lord and God as he;

let me to a deeper faith daily nearer move,

daily make me harder hope and dearer love." 

- translated [source]

But Thomas did the rest of us, living further and further away in time from the event, a great boon in two ways. For one, he brought us this particular story, included for us by the Apostle Saint John in his Gospel. And for another, he drew down a particular blessing for all of us from the very Mouth of Christ:

"And Jesus said to him, 'Thou hast learned to believe, Thomas, because thou hast seen me. Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have learned to believe.'"- Gospel of S. John, 20: 29

Pope Gregory I and the Eucharistic Prayer

By the time of Saint Bede, in the eighth century, the Eucharistic Prayer of the Roman Church, called the Roman Canon, had been settled and was not edited anymore. It has survived until today, presented in our books today as Eucharistic Prayer I. Bede tells in the very beginning of the second book of his Ecclesiastical history of the English people how the holy pope Saint Gregory I (called the Great) made at least one addition to the venerable prayer that sits at the centre of Mass. 

Therefore, Lord, we pray: graciously accept this oblation of our service, that of your whole family; order our days in your peace, and command that we be delivered from eternal damnation and counted among the flock of those you have chosen. Through Christ our Lord, Amen. [source]

The above is the portion of the Canon that Bede talks about. The highlighted bits are Gregory's additions. It's nice to note these things. Gregory, of course, is the force behind the evangelisation of these countries, which he carefully followed, as did his successors, throughout the time of the first archbishops of Canterbury.

The Friday coming hosts the feast day of the Apostle Saint Thomas

I think that would be a good reason to have another Mass said in the church for the intentions of our Keralite parishioners. Kerala, of course, preserves a very old tradition of the founding of her Apostolic church by Saint Thomas, who had come to her on a land route through Babylon (Iraq) and Persia, and down from the Indus Valley. This is almost the beginning of the Keralite church's relations with Mesopotamia and the Chaldean patriarchates (which later supplied her with Syriac-speaking bishops until the 1400s and the interruption occasioned by the arrival of the Portuguese ships from around the horn of Africa), for Thomas had done much on his way to India, where he stayed and where he was eventually martyred, near the city of Madras, which the Indians now call Chennai.

More about him on Friday. But here's a nice picture.