"God loves you as you are ..."

The problem with the observation is not that it is untrue, but that it is always only one part of the story. If God loves me as I am, he would also love me to be a bit better than I am. 

I remember some years ago now hearing a story that Monsignor Paul Watson used to tell. The captain of a large oil tanker sailing at night towards a light in the distance desperately tried to contact that smaller ship to tell it to change course, as his ship was too large to do so. When the smaller ship pointed out that it was in fact a light house, the captain of the oil tanker did not need to then be told what to do. He recognised straight away that it was in fact his ship that needed to change course. Monsignor Watson used the story as a parable of a "first conversion" that might occur as a person encounters the Gospel. It indicated a certain style that is needed in primary proclamation and the first steps in catechesis.

Likewise, if someone pitches up in the confessional for the Sacrament of Penance they have already recognised that they want to change something in their lives. It might be appropriate to be reassuring to that person of God's love for them, and perhaps to indicate the part that God's grace plays in the journey to holiness so that they are not discouraged by their own repeated efforts. But to try to do this by saying "God loves you as you are ..." is to rather miss the point, already recognised by the person in their very presence in coming to confession, that they wish to make at least some effort in favour of a conversion of life.

A cause for reflection, I think, as we start the season of the Church's liturgical year when many will approach the Sacrament of Penance....

Ash Wednesday: A day of prayer and fasting for peace

Pope Francis has made two significant interventions in respect of the war that has broken out in the Ukraine, following the incursion of Russian forces there.

On Friday (25th February), he visited the Russian embassy to the Holy See on the Via della Conciliazione to express his concerns over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.  Whilst this is being reported as an unprecedented move in terms of diplomatic protocol, in geographical terms it is rather like popping round the corner. Reuters report of the Pope's visit is here: Departing from protocol, pope goes to Russian embassy over Ukraine. The Vatican News reporting is here: War in Ukraine: Pope Francis goes to Russian embassy to express concern.  The Reuters report also indicates that, after visiting the Russian embassy, Pope Francis telephoned the Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, leader of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. A report of the phone call is at Catholic News Service: Pope phones Ukrainian archbishop, offers encouragement, prayers. 

Archbishop Shevchuk’s office said that, during the phone call, Pope Francis asked him about the situation in Kyiv and throughout Ukraine on the second full day of the Russian attack. According to multiple news reports, Russian troops were advancing on the capital, Kyiv, where the archbishop has remained.

Pope Francis asked about the bishops and priests in the areas of heaviest fighting, the Ukrainian Catholic press office said. And he thanked the church for its closeness to the people.

“In particular, the pope praised the decision to remain with the people and to be at the service of the neediest,” including by opening the basement of Resurrection Cathedral in Kyiv as a bomb shelter, which already was being used by dozens of people, including families with children.

Already, at the end of the General  Audience on the day before the Russian attack on Ukraine began, Pope Francis had made an appeal for peace, and invited all to join in a day of fasting and prayer for peace in Ukraine and in the world on 2nd March, which is kept in the Christian calendar as Ash Wednesday:

My heart aches greatly at the worsening situation in Ukraine. Despite the diplomatic efforts of the last few weeks, increasingly alarming scenarios are opening up. Like me, many people all over the world are feeling anguish and concern. Once again the peace of all is threatened by partisan interests. I would like to appeal to those with political responsibility to examine their consciences seriously before God, who is the God of peace and not of war; who is the Father of all, not just of some, who wants us to be brothers and not enemies. I pray that all the parties involved refrain from any action that would cause even more suffering to the people, destabilising coexistence between nations and bringing international law into disrepute.

And now I would like to appeal to everyone, believers and non-believers alike. Jesus taught us that the diabolical senselessness of violence is answered with God's weapons, with prayer and fasting. I invite everyone to make next 2 March, Ash Wednesday, a Day of Fasting for Peace. I encourage believers in a special way to dedicate themselves intensely to prayer and fasting on that day. May the Queen of Peace preserve the world from the madness of war.

This appeal was recalled by the Secretary of State to the Holy See in the statement issued after the Russian action began:

This appeal has taken on dramatic urgency following the beginning of Russian military operations in Ukrainian territory. The tragic scenarios that everyone feared are becoming a reality. Yet there is still time for goodwill, there is still room for negotiation, there is still a place for the exercise of a wisdom that can prevent the predominance of partisan interest, safeguard the legitimate aspirations of everyone, and spare the world from the folly and horrors of war.

As believers, we do not lose hope for a glimmer of conscience on the part of those who hold in their hands the fortunes of the world. And we continue to pray and fast — as we shall do this coming Ash Wednesday — for peace in Ukraine and in the entire world. 

Alas! Sin came ...

This if from the "Meditation of the Day" in MAGNIFICAT for 21st March, the fifth Sunday of Lent.

Alas! Sin came, it entered in, it took hold in us, whence the current reign of death and suffering. It is by them that our trial continues: it is by the suffering that must last unto death, even death on a cross, usque ad mortem, mortem autem crucis (Ph 2:8). The shadow and  light of the cross now extend over our whole path. The cross is the pillar of cloud, a mixture of brightness and darkness, which goes before us: this is what truly matters, and we need only follow it to the end.

“Because of the increase of iniquity, the love of many will grow cold” (Mt 24:12)

Pope Francis' Message for Lent 2018: full text here. It is worth reading the whole. It is hard hitting, not only for those who advocate for the "culture of death" outside the confines of the Church, but for those of us within the Church too.

Like Abbey Roads, I think the message reads as being very prophetic  - and I was particularly struck by the way in which Pope Francis refers to creation itself as a witness to the "cooling of charity":

More than anything else, what destroys charity is greed for money, “the root of all evil” (1 Tim 6:10).  The rejection of God and his peace soon follows; we prefer our own desolation rather than the comfort found in his word and the sacraments.  All this leads to violence against anyone we think is a threat to our own “certainties”: the unborn child, the elderly and infirm, the migrant, the alien among us, or our neighbour who does not live up to our expectations.

Creation itself becomes a silent witness to this cooling of charity.  The earth is poisoned by refuse, discarded out of carelessness or for self-interest.  The seas, themselves polluted, engulf the remains of countless shipwrecked victims of forced migration.  The heavens, which in God’s plan, were created to sing his praises, are rent by engines raining down implements of death.

Pope Francis' remarks about fasting are particularly strong:

Fasting weakens our tendency to violence; it disarms us and becomes an important opportunity for growth.  On the one hand, it allows us to experience what the destitute and the starving have to endure.  On the other hand, it expresses our own spiritual hunger and thirst for life in God.  Fasting wakes us up.  It makes us more attentive to God and our neighbour.  It revives our desire to obey God, who alone is capable of satisfying our hunger.

And, too, his invitation to those who are not Catholics to share with us the venture of the Lenten fast:

I would also like my invitation to extend beyond the bounds of the Catholic Church, and to reach all of you, men and women of good will, who are open to hearing God’s voice.  Perhaps, like ourselves, you are disturbed by the spread of iniquity in the world, you are concerned about the chill that paralyzes hearts and actions, and you see a weakening in our sense of being members of the one human family.  Join us, then, in raising our plea to God, in fasting, and in offering whatever you can to our brothers and sisters in need! 

In a year in which the Catholic Church in England and Wales is holding a national Eucharistic Congress, we might pay particular attention the "24 hours for the Lord":

One such moment of grace will be, again this year, the “24 Hours for the Lord” initiative, which invites the entire Church community to celebrate the sacrament of Reconciliation in the context of Eucharistic adoration. In 2018, inspired by the words of Psalm 130:4, “With you is forgiveness”, this will take place from Friday, 9 March to Saturday, 10 March.  In each diocese, at least one church will remain open for twenty-four consecutive hours, offering an opportunity for both Eucharistic adoration and sacramental confession 

The Word is a gift. Other persons are a gift.

Pope Francis opens his message for Lent 2017 with a call to conversion:

Lent is a new beginning, a path leading to the certain goal of Easter, Christ’s victory over death. This season urgently calls us to conversion. Christians are asked to return to God “with all their hearts” (Joel 2:12), to refuse to settle for mediocrity and to grow in friendship with the Lord. Jesus is the faithful friend who never abandons us. Even when we sin, he patiently awaits our return; by that patient expectation, he shows us his readiness to forgive...

He ends it, encouraging us to renew our encounter with Christ:

Dear friends, Lent is the favourable season for renewing our encounter with Christ, living in his word, in the sacraments and in our neighbour. The Lord, who overcame the deceptions of the Tempter during the forty days in the desert, shows us the path we must take. May the Holy Spirit lead us on a true journey of conversion, so that we can rediscover the gift of God’s word, be purified of the sin that blinds us, and serve Christ present in our brothers and sisters in need. 

The heart of Pope Francis' message is an exegesis of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, an exegesis which put me in mind of the kind of exegesis that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI might have offered.

The encouragement to "serve Christ present in our brothers and sisters in need" prompted another thought on my part. In this message it is reflected in the needs of the person of Lazarus, and in this short exhortation at the end. But, during the Year of Mercy, Pope Francis' particularly modelled the practice of the corporal works of mercy by his Friday visits. I felt that he was trying to teach us that what, in Amoris Laetitia n.306, is referred to as the via caritatis, is at the very heart of the living of the Christian life and the journey into the life of grace. Pope Francis was trying to enhance the value given by the Church to living this way of charity.

My reading of Chapter 8 of Amoris Laetitia is that the discernment and pastoral accompaniment of those whose marriage situations are "irregular" or reflect human weakness is primarily focussed on recognising which of the dimensions of the way of charity can be undertaken within the limits of the particular situation. If we share with Pope Francis a high valuing of this life of charity then, for those in difficult marriage situations, we can also value the accompaniment offered by Amoris Laetitia to take part in this life as allowing them to make substantial progress in the life of grace. The question of access to the Sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion becomes an incidental question to the core question of living the via caritatis (though one can see how progress in the via caritatis can bring one closer to experience of these sacraments).

On not blogging

Just before Lent began, someone suggested to me that I should give up blogging for Lent. Which I have done. (I justify posting now on the view that Lent ends on Maundy Thursday evening, a view that I encountered from a quite impeccable monastic source.)

It is interesting to reflect on the experience of not blogging, and herewith some of the thoughts that have occurred to me as the end of my absence from the aether has approached.

1. In a very real way, I have not missed writing for the blog. There have been a few points where something has occurred, and I have thought, "Oh, I might have posted to say this or that". But I have not really missed the additional step of formulating the thoughts coherently, sitting at the keyboard and posting. It is not always necessary to publish an opinion ....

2. I have also found that it is quite possible to live an informed ecclesial existence without reading Catholic blogs. Which thought led me to wonder - somewhere around Laetare Sunday - just how much of what I do find myself reading on blogs can rightly be described as ecclesial gossip. And whether it is some of the more widely-read blogs that purvey the majority of this gossip. Pope Francis is, I think, quite clear about what he considers to be the evil of gossip; and perhaps, in reading blogs, it is easy to become complicit in that evil.

3. It is not at all clear that, by not spending time blogging, I have necessarily spent the time usefully on other things. I cannot say that I have noticed that I do my marking, for example, any more quickly than before.

4. I did receive an appreciative comment just before leaving the aether, and before I had worked out the right way to acknowledge that comment. I must have appeared somewhat ungrateful, not just for not acknowledging the comment, but for then disappearing altogether without explanation. So my apologies to the person concerned. I am back now.

5. All this having been said, there is a small community of Catholic blogs that I characterise by the term "more thoughtful". Of their nature, they are not going to attract huge numbers of readers - they aren't controversial enough for that - but they probably do more to "build communion" than do other blogs. It is to that community that I feel I am now returning.

Colloquium on Baptism in the Spirit

In his message for Lent 2011, Pope Benedict XVI drew attention to the baptismal orientation of the Lenten season. It is therefore appropriate that, under the auspices of the International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services (ICCRS), a colloquium should have taken place addressing the question of "Baptism in the Spirit". ZENIT have a report here, and ICCRS have their own report here (you will need to scroll down the page to find the account of the event itself).

During Eastertide last year I took part in some Life in the Spirit seminars taking place locally, and at that time posted on the idea that Baptism in the spirit should be seen as a particular specification of the grace received in the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation and that this gave it a close parallel to Marian consecration in the tradition of St Louis Marie de Montfort. This theme is clearly articulated in the accounts of the ICCRS colloquium.

Fr Raniero Cantalamessa was one of the speakers at the colloquium, and in part spoke of the ecclesial nature of Catholic Charismatic Renewal. This is pertinent, since the subject matter of the colloquium is not just of relevance to those who take part in the life of the Charismatic Renewal but of relevance to the whole Church.

The preacher noted that in contrast to many other charismatic and prophetic groups in Church history, the Catholic Charismatic Renewal has had a strong ecclesial bent. “It aligned itself with previous renewal movements through the capacity it brought for a change of life, but differed from them in its fidelity to the institutional Church.” He emphasized that credit for this belongs not to the Charismatic Renewal alone but also to the hierarchy, and particularly to the courage of popes Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

Another speaker described how the fathers of the Church wrote about Baptism in the Spirit, relating it clearly to the sacraments of initiation:

Bishop Michel Santier of Créteil, France, observed that for Justin Martyr, Origen and Cyril of Jerusalem, “baptism in the Spirit” was synonymous with Christian initiation. Many of the Fathers regarded the reception of charisms as integral to the sacraments of initiation. Santier quoted St. Cyril, who urged baptismal candidates, “Let each one prepare himself to receive the divine gift (that is, prophecy),” and St. Hilary of Poitiers, who wrote, “We who have been reborn through the sacrament of baptism experience intense joy when we feel within us the first stirrings of the Holy Spirit. We begin to have insight into the mysteries of faith; we are able to prophesy and speak with wisdom.”

Santier noted that the ancient Syriac church, like the Church today, practiced infant baptism and faced the need for a way to “activate” the grace of initiation in adult life. The eighth-century Syriac mystic Joseph Hazzaya, he said, spoke of a “sign by which you will sense that the Spirit received at baptism is at work in you,” and mentioned effects familiar to charismatics today: “a flow of spiritual words” and “a knowledge of two worlds, with joy, jubilation, exultation, glorification, praise, song, hymns and odes.”

It is expected that the proceedings of the colloquium will be published in due course as a book. I look forward to reading it.

Pope Benedict XVI: Fourth Sunday of Lent

This is Pope Benedict's short reflection on the Gospel for the fourth Sunday of Lent, taken from his Message for Lent 2011:

The Sunday of the man born blind presents Christ as the light of the world. The Gospel confronts each one of us with the question: “Do you believe in the Son of man?” “Lord, I believe!” (Jn 9: 35. 38), the man born blind joyfully exclaims, giving voice to all believers. The miracle of this healing is a sign that Christ wants not only to give us sight, but also open our interior vision, so that our faith may become ever deeper and we may recognize him as our only Savior. He illuminates all that is dark in life and leads men and women to live as “children of the light”.

Benedict XVI: Third Sunday of Lent

This is Pope Benedict XVI's reflection on the Gospel of the Third Sunday of Lent, taken from his message for Lent 2011:

The question that Jesus puts to the Samaritan woman: “Give me a drink” (Jn 4: 7), is presented to us in the liturgy of the third Sunday; it expresses the passion of God for every man and woman, and wishes to awaken in our hearts the desire for the gift of “a spring of water within, welling up for eternal life” (Jn 4: 14): this is the gift of the Holy Spirit, who transforms Christians into “true worshipers,” capable of praying to the Father “in spirit and truth” (Jn 4: 23). Only this water can extinguish our thirst for goodness, truth and beauty! Only this water, given to us by the Son, can irrigate the deserts of our restless and unsatisfied soul, until it “finds rest in God”, as per the famous words of St. Augustine.

Benedict XVI: Second Sunday of Lent

In his message for Lent 2011, Pope Benedict XVI writes the following with regard to the Gospel for Mass on the Second Sunday of Lent:

The Gospel of the Transfiguration of the Lord puts before our eyes the glory of Christ, which anticipates the resurrection and announces the divinization of man. The Christian community becomes aware that Jesus leads it, like the Apostles Peter, James and John “up a high mountain by themselves” (Mt 17: 1), to receive once again in Christ, as sons and daughters in the Son, the gift of the Grace of God: “This is my Son, the Beloved; he enjoys my favor. Listen to him” (Mt 17: 5). It is the invitation to take a distance from the noisiness of everyday life in order to immerse oneself in God’s presence. He desires to hand down to us, each day, a Word that penetrates the depths of our spirit, where we discern good from evil (cf. Heb 4:12), reinforcing our will to follow the Lord.

Benedict XVI: First Sunday of Lent

...the Church, in the Gospel texts of the Sundays of Lent, leads us to a particularly intense encounter with the Lord, calling us to retrace the steps of Christian initiation: for catechumens, in preparation for receiving the Sacrament of rebirth; for the baptized, in light of the new and decisive steps to be taken in the sequela Christi and a fuller giving of oneself to him.

In his message for Lent 2011, Pope Benedict XVI invites the Church to live in a particular way the catechumenal/baptismal nature of the Lenten season. The readings of the Sunday cycle A which are being used this year lend themselves particularly to this.

The First Sunday of the Lenten journey reveals our condition as human beings here on earth. The victorious battle against temptation, the starting point of Jesus’ mission, is an invitation to become aware of our own fragility in order to accept the Grace that frees from sin and infuses new strength in Christ – the way, the truth and the life (cf. Ordo Initiationis Christianae Adultorum, n. 25). It is a powerful reminder that Christian faith implies, following the example of Jesus and in union with him, a battle “against the ruling forces who are masters of the darkness in this world” (Eph 6: 12), in which the devil is at work and never tires – even today – of tempting whoever wishes to draw close to the Lord: Christ emerges victorious to open also our hearts to hope and guide us in overcoming the seductions of evil.

Pastoral Letter on the Four Last Things

Just to cheer you up for the beginning of Lent, here is the pastoral letter of Bishop Thomas McMahon of Brentwood Diocese, read in parishes on the First Sunday of Lent. It has some considerable catechetical meat for you to chew over!

Burying the A .....; Burying Christ In Your Heart

A very beautiful reflection for Ash Wednesday given at St Walburga's Abbey: Burying Christ in Your Heart.

As explained in a footnote to the post:

It is monastic tradition to “bury” the Alleluia for the season of Lent as a symbol of this period when the entire Church refrains from singing Alleluia. The Alleluia is “resurrected” on the Solemn Feast of Easter.

Mother's reflection suggests that we see this as a burying of Christ in our own hearts that parallels his descent to hell on Holy Saturday, to rescue our first parents.

General Audience on Ash Wednesday

ZENIT have posted an English text of the address that Pope Bendict XVI gave during his General Audience on Ash Wednesday. Once again, the Holy Father takes what is "given" in the Liturgical texts and offers a reflection that relates them to the living of the Christian life by those who hear his words. In his homily at Mass later in the day (I will link to an English translation when it is available), he did the same with the text of the entrance antiphon. If we put these addresses together with the message for Lent 2010 I think we will arrive at a rich and comprehensive catechesis on the nature of Lent.

The favorable moment and grace of Lent shows us the very spiritual meaning also through the old formula: "Remember man that thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return," which the priest pronounces when he places ashes on our head. We are thus remitted to the beginning of human history, when the Lord said to Adam after the original fault: "By the sweat of your face shall you get bread to eat, Until you return to the ground, from which you were taken; For you are dirt, and to dirt you shall return" (Genesis 3:19).


Here, the Word of God reminds us of our frailty, including our death, which is the extreme expression of our frailty. In face of the innate fear of the end, and even more so in the context of a culture that in so many ways tends to censure the reality and the human experience of dying, the Lenten liturgy on one hand reminds us of death, inviting us to realism and to wisdom but, on the other hand, it drives us above all to accept and live the unexpected novelty that the Christian faith liberates us from the reality of death itself.

Man is dust and to dust he shall return, but he is precious dust in God's eyes, because God created man for immortality. Thus the liturgical formula "Remember man that thou art dust and to dust thou shalt return" finds the fullness of its meaning in reference to the new Adam, Christ.

One thing, more of principle than of content, struck me about the General Audience address and the homily. It is their nature as Liturgical catechesis. This is particularly true of the General Audience address, where Pope Benedict gives a clear teaching about the marking with ashes and the accompanying texts that are particular to the Liturgy for Ash Wednesday; and in effect invites his listeners to live that teaching as they participate in the Liturgy on the same day. At one level it represents "useful teaching" about the living of the Christian life; but precisely as a Liturgical catechesis, it also enables us to enter more deeply and consciously into the celebration of the Liturgical sign and into its Biblical context. When we do this, the Liturgy comes to life for us and, if we are thinking in the context of the celebration of Mass on a Sunday, we will want to come again and again to experience it. In the context of Ash Wednesday, we will want to put into practice the sign of the ashes throughout the period of Lent.

It is also interesting to realise that Pope Benedict chooses to reflect on the texts of the Liturgy that he celebrates, that is, the Ordinary Form and not the Extraordinary Form. I was interested by the fact that Pope Benedict chose to reflect on both of the texts that can be used during the imposition of ashes, thereby including that which would be used in the Extraordinary Form. But, in essence, Pope Benedict offers a catechesis on the Ordinary Form.

Lent 2010

So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.  For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Working together with him, then, we entreat you not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says, "At the acceptable time I have listened to you, and helped you on the day of salvation." Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

I have added an emphasis to St Paul's urging to the Corinthians (in the second reading at Mass for today) to be true to the grace that they have received because of its echo of a passage from Pope Benedict XVI's message for Lent 2010 (emphasis alsoa added):

So we understand how faith is altogether different from a natural, good-feeling, obvious fact: humility is required to accept that I need Another to free me from “what is mine,” to give me gratuitously “what is His.” This happens especially in the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist. Thanks to Christ’s action, we may enter into the “greatest” justice, which is that of love (cf. Rm 13, 8-10), the justice that recognises itself in every case more a debtor than a creditor, because it has received more than could ever have been expected. Strengthened by this very experience, the Christian is moved to contribute to creating just societies, where all receive what is necessary to live according to the dignity proper to the human person and where justice is enlivened by love.

The Marian character of the Lenten Season (7)

The Commending of the Blessed Virgin Mary

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold your son”. Then he said to the disciple, “Behold your mother”. And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.[1]

This exchange, recorded only in St John’s Gospel, is honoured and celebrated by a particular Mass in the Collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The exchange represents a movement from the ministry of Jesus in his physical body on earth towards the ministry of Jesus in his mystical body that is the Church. It reflects the ending of the Lenten season, where we move into the celebration of the Paschal mystery in the Triduum - Christ’s suffering, his death and then his Resurrection. The Opening Prayer of this Mass demonstrates this, and, in its reference to us being “adopted children” indicates the baptismal character of Lent and of the Easter Vigil:

All-holy Father, you chose the Easter mystery as the way of our salvation; grant that we, whom Jesus entrusted from the cross to his Virgin Mother, may be numbered among your adopted children.[2]

The introduction to this Mass in the Collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary identifies a two-fold commending. Firstly, all the disciples of Jesus, represented by the person of St John, are commended to the care of the Blessed Virgin.

Lord, receive the gifts we joyfully present that they may become the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, who on the cross entrusted all his followers in the person of John to the Virgin Mother as her children …[3]

The texts of the Mass make the connection between this commending and the way in which the Virgin Mary accompanies Jesus in his suffering on the Cross, knowing that it would redeem the world:

The mother of Jesus stood by the cross and tenderly looked on the wounds of her Son whose death she knew would redeem the world.[4]

The first reading for this Mass is from the Second Book of Maccabees, telling how the mother of seven sons watched each of them die rather than break God’s law:

Most admirable and worthy of everlasting remembrance was the mother, who saw her seven sons perish in a single day, yet bore it courageously because of her hope in the Lord.[5]

The mother’s care for her sons is here presented as a type of the Virgin Mary’s care for the sons and daughters of the Church. In our lives we can turn to the Virgin Mary to find that same care, particularly in times of suffering.

Secondly, the Virgin Mary is entrusted to the love and care of the followers of Christ. The Prayer over the Gifts for this Mass, quoted above, continues:

… and entrusted her to them as living signs of his own love for her.[6]

This second aspect of the commending of the Virgin Mary asks of us two things. It asks us to love the Virgin Mary with the same love that St John had in “taking her into his home”. And, if we see the Virgin Mary as a representative figure of the Church, it calls us to a love for the Church. Our relationship to the Virgin Mary/ Church should be modelled on that of Christ, who gave himself up for the Church. It will therefore be a penitential love, appropriate to the season of Lent.

At the foot of the cross of Jesus, by his solemn and dying wish, a deep bond of love is fashioned between the Blessed Virgin Mary and his faithful disciples: the Mother of God is entrusted to the disciples as their own mother, and they receive her as a precious inheritance from their Master.

She is to for ever the mother of those who believe, and they will look to her with great confidence in her unfailing protection. She loves her Son in loving her children, and in heeding what she says they keep the words of their Master.[7]

[1] John 19:26-27
[2] Mass of the Commending of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Opening Prayer.
[3] Mass of the Commending of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Prayer over the Gifts
[4] Mass of the Commending of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Verse before the Gospel
[5] Mass of the Commending of the Blessed Virgin Mary, First Reading, 2 Maccabees 7:20.
[6] Mass of the Commending of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Prayer over the Gifts
[7] Mass of the Commending of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Preface

The Marian character of the Lenten Season (6)

The Blessed Virgin Mary at the Foot of the Cross II

The motif that runs through the second formulary of the Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Foot of the Cross is that of the plan of salvation and redemption. The two words - salvation and redemption - are often used interchangeably, as if they have an identical meaning. However, we can see in them a subtle difference of emphasis. We can suggest that salvation means a coming to completion, a fulfilment - and, seen in this sense, the coming of Jesus Christ is the completion and fulfilment of the purpose of creation:

Only in the mystery of the Incarnate Word does the mystery of man come into a true light.[1]

In using the word redemption, the emphasis moves from completion to the restoring of something that was lost; and, seen in this sense, the coming of Jesus Christ is a saving of us from the consequences of sin:

The work of creation culminates in the still greater work of redemption, which in fact gives rise to a new creation in which everything will recover its true meaning and fulfilment.[2]

The references to “new creation” and to “recover its true meaning and fulfilment” imply in this answer of the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church tell us about redemption as a restoration after sin.

Some theologians argue that Jesus Christ would have come in human flesh as the completion and fulfilment of creation (“saviour” in the sense of our understanding fo the word salvation) even without original sin; original sin means that he must also come as a “redeemer” to save us from sin. Salvation and redemption are conflated to become, in effect, the same thing.

We can see this double sense of the plan of salvation at play in the texts of the Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Foot of the Cross II:

Lord our God, you placed at the side of your suffering Son his mother to suffer with him, so that the human race, deceived by the wiles of the devil, might become a new and resplendent creation. Grant that your people may put aside their inheritance of sin and put on the newness of life won by Christ the Redeemer.[3]

The reference to a “resplendent creation” indicates completion, fulfilment, salvation; the reference to putting “aside their inheritance of sin” and to “Christ the Redeemer” indicate the overcoming of sin, redemption. The two are united in the suffering of the Son.

In your divine wisdom you planned the redemption of the human race and decreed that the new Eve should stand by the cross of the new Adam..[4]

Again, the references to a “new Eve” and a “new Adam” imply completion and fulfilment of the creation of the first Eve and the first Adam, salvation. And the reference to “redemption” and “the cross” reflect the restoration from sin, redemption.

The Entrance antiphon brings in to sharper relief the references to the plan of redemption, and to the “decree” referred to in the Preface, and to the “placing” of the Virgin at the side of the Son referred to in the Opening Prayer:

Simeon said to Mary: This child is destined to be a sign which people will reject; he is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel; and your own soul a sword shall pierce.[5]

This destiny continues over into the destiny of the Church:

… she was to be a partner in his passion, and she who had given him birth without the pains of childbirth was to endure the greatest of pain in bringing forth to new life the family of your Church.[6]

[1] Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church Qn.67; cf Vatican II Constitution Gaudium et Spes n.22.
[2] Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church Qn. 65.
[3] Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Foot of the Cross II, Opening Prayer A.
[4] Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Foot of the Cross II, Preface.
[5] Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Foot of the Cross II, Entrance Antiphon.
[6] Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Foot of the Cross II, Preface.

Marian character of the Lenten Season (5)

The Blessed Virgin Mary at the Foot of the Cross I

The Gospel readings at Mass for the third, fourth and fifth Sunday’s of Lent have a particularly catechumenal significance, and must be used when the “scrutinies” of catechumens take place at those Masses. They are, in order, St John’s account of the Samaritan woman at the well (the water that I shall give will become a spring of eternal life)[1]; his account of the curing of the man who was blind from birth (faith as “seeing”)[2]; and the story of the raising of Lazarus (I am the resurrection and the life)[3]. We can here see a baptismal significance of Lent and, implicitly, a penitential character.

The fifth week of Lent, and Holy Week, the sixth week of Lent, change the mood. They draw our attention much more closely to the crucifixion and death of the Lord. The two Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Foot of the Cross reflect this, and are more appropriate to the later weeks of Lent.

Lord our God, in your mysterious wisdom you fill out the passion of Christ through the suffering that his members endure in the many trials of life. As you chose to have the mournful mother stand by your Son in his agony on the cross, grant that we too may bring love and comfort to our brothers and sisters in distress.[4]

This opening prayer expresses an ecclesial perspective that reflects the theme of Mary as Image and Mother of the Church. The Preface of this Mass develops the theme in four stages.

Mary as daughter of Zion, and fulfilment of the promises to Israel:

In your loving providence you decreed that Mary, the mother of your Son, should stand faithfully beside his cross, and so fulfil in her person the prophecies of old, and enrich the world with her own witness of loving faith.

Mary as the “new Eve”, in parallel to Jesus Christ as the “new Adam”:

At the cross the Blessed Virgin appears as the new Eve, so that, as a woman shared in bringing death, so a woman would share in restoring life.

Mary as Mother of the Church/Israel, the two peoples made one in Christ (we can perhaps see the "scattered children" as referring to both the Jewish people and to the Gentiles):

At the cross with motherly love she embraces her scattered children, reunited through the death of Christ, and she fulfils the mystery of the mother of Zion.

Mary as a model and figure of the Church:

At the cross she stands as the model of the Church, the Bride of Christ, which draws inspiration from her courage and keeps constant faith with its Bridegroom, undaunted by peril and persecution.[5]

[1] Jn 4:5-42
[2] Jn 9:1-41
[3] Jn 11:1-45
[4] Mass of The Blessed Virgin Mary at the Foot of the Cross I, Opening Prayer
[5] Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Foot of the Cross I, Preface. cf the introduction to the Mass in the Sacramentary.

Marian character of the Lenten Season (4)

The Blessed Virgin Mary, Image and Mother of the Church

This allocutio refers to two formularies for a Mass with the title of “Mary, Image and Mother of the Church”. Though they are not assigned to the Lenten season in the Collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary, they do nevertheless have a relation to the themes of the Lenten season.

The title of these Masses has two origins that are distinct, but in fact also related. The first is from the chapter of Vatican II’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy which sets out principles for the celebration of the Liturgical year (my emphasis added):

In celebrating this annual cycle of Christ's mysteries, holy Church honors with especial love the Blessed Mary, Mother of God, who is joined by an inseparable bond to the saving work of her Son. In her the Church holds up and admires the most excellent fruit of the redemption, and joyfully contemplates, as in a faultless image, that which she herself desires and hopes wholly to be.[1]

The second origin is Pope Paul VI’s solemn proclamation of the title of Mary as “Mother of the Church” at the end of the third session of the Vatican council. Reflecting on the Council’s Constitution on the Church, with its chapter dedicated to the Virgin Mary, Paul VI considered this a most opportune moment to declare in explicit terms the maternal role of Mary with regard to the Church, and to do so using officially the title of Mary as Mother of the Church:

To the glory of the Blessed Virgin and for our consolation we declare Mary most Holy to be Mother of the Church, that is of all the Christian people, be they the faithful or the Pastors, who call her Mother most loved; and we establish that with this title all the Christian people will from now on offer even more honour to the Mother of God and put before her their supplications.[2]

If we look at some of the texts for the third formulary of the Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, we can see these origins and we can see the aspects pertinent to the Lenten season (my emphases added):

Lord our God, through your power and goodness the Blessed Virgin, the fairest fruit of your redeeming love, shines forth as the perfect image of the Church; grant to your people on their pilgrim way on earth that, with eyes fixed on Mary, they may follow closely in the footsteps of her Son until they come to that fullness of glory, which now they contemplate in his mother, with hearts filled with joy.[3]

The prayer that we might follow in the footsteps of Christ reflects the penitential aspect of Lent. It reflects a theme of Mary as Disciple of the Lord that we have already seen, and which here is implied as a model for the discipleship of believers.

Lord, grant that this offering, consecrated to your glory, may purify your people and fashion your Church more and more in that image of Christ, which it admires and praises in his glorious mother.[4]

This prayer reflects both the baptismal and penitential aspects of Lent in its reference to purification and taking on the image of Christ, thought the baptismal aspect is most prominent.

You have given the Blessed Virgin Mary to your Church as the perfect image of its role as mother and of its future glory. She is a virgin unsurpassed in purity of faith, a bride joined to Christ in an unbreakable bond of love and united with him in his suffering. She is a mother by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit, filled with loving concern for all her children.[5]

Again we can see both a penitential and a baptismal character, the baptismal character being particularly expressed by her title as mother, here referring to her title as Mother of the Church where the previous prayers refer to Mary’s motherhood as motherhood of Christ.

If we look at the texts of the first formulary of a Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Image and Mother of the Church, we find similar baptismal and penitential themes. There is, though, an emphasis on the preaching of the Gospel and the drawing of people to the Christ and the Church, in which one might see the catechumenal sense of Lent as preparation for baptism.

God of mercies, your only Son, while hanging on the cross, appointed the Blessed Virgin Mary, his mother, to be our mother also. Like her and under her loving care, may your Church grow day by day, rejoice in the holiness of its children and so attract to itself all the peoples of the earth.[6]

She accepted God’s parting gift of love as she stood beneath the cross and so became the mother of all those who were brought to life through the death of her only Son.[7]

Lord god, we have received the foretaste and promise of the fullness of redemption. We pray that your Church, through the intercession of the Virgin Mother, may proclaim the Gospel to all nations and by the power of the Spirit reach to the ends of the earth.[8]

[1] Vatican II Sacrosanctum Concilium n.103.
[2] Paul VI Allocutio at the Solemn Closing of the Third Session of the Second Vatican Council nn.29-30.
[3] Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Image and Mother of the Church III, Opening Prayer.
[4] Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Image and Mother of the Church III, Prayer over the Gifts.
[5] Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Image and Mother of the Church III, Preface.
[6] Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Image and Mother of the Church I, Opening Prayer
[7] Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Image and Mother of the Church I, Preface
[8] Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Image and Mother of the Church I, Prayer after Communion.

Marian character of the Lenten season (3)

One of the Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary, intended for use during Lent, has the title The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Reconciliation.

Pope John Paul II concluded his Apostolic Exhortation on penance and reconciliation in this way:

I likewise invite you to turn with me to the immaculate heart of Mary, mother of Jesus, in whom "is effected the reconciliation of God with humanity..., is accomplished the work of reconciliation, because she has received from God the fullness of grace in virtue of the redemptive sacrifice of Christ." Truly Mary has been associated with God, by virtue of her divine motherhood, in the work of reconciliation.

Into the hands of this mother, whose fiat marked the beginning of that "fullness of time" in which Christ accomplished the reconciliation of humanity with God, to her immaculate heart - to which we have repeatedly entrusted the whole of humanity, disturbed by sin and tormented by so many tensions and conflicts - I now in a special way entrust this intention: that through her intercession humanity may discover and travel the path of penance, the only path that can lead it to full reconciliation.[1]

In the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the questions about the Sacrament of Penance[2] are presented under the title “The Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation”[3]. In this way, the “path of penance” is seen also as the “path of reconciliation”, as Pope John Paul II suggests.

300. What is interior penance?
It is the movement of a “contrite heart” (Psalm 51:19) drawn by divine grace to respond to the merciful love of God. This entails sorrow for and abhorrence of sins committed, a firm purpose not to sin again in the future and trust in the help of God. It is nourished by hope in divine mercy.

301. What forms does penance take in the Christian life?
Penance can be expressed in many and various ways but above all in fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. These and many other forms of penance can be practiced in the daily life of a Christian, particularly during the time of Lent and on the penitential day of Friday….

310. What are the effects of this sacrament?
The effects of the sacrament of Penance are: reconciliation with God and therefore the forgiveness of sins; reconciliation with the Church; recovery, if it has been lost, of the state of grace; remission of the eternal punishment merited by mortal sins, and remission, at least in part, of the temporal punishment which is the consequence of sin; peace, serenity of conscience and spiritual consolation; and an increase of spiritual strength for the struggle of Christian living.

The theme of forgiveness of sins as reconciliation can be seen in the prayers of the Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Reconciliation:

Lord our God, through the precious blood of your Son you reconciled the world to yourself and at the foot of the cross you chose the Blessed Virgin Mary to be the mother of reconciliation for sinners; grant through her intercession that we may obtain pardon for our sins.

Lord, we offer you these gifts of reconciliation and praise, that through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, refuge of sinners, you may in your mercy pardon our sins and steady our wavering hearts.

In your infinite goodness you do not abandon those who stray from you, but in marvellous ways you call them back to your love: you gave the Blessed Virgin Mary, sinless as she was, a heart of compassion for sinners; seeing her love as their mother, they turn to her with trust as they ask your forgiveness; seeing her beauty of spirit, they seek to turn away from sin in its ugliness…[4]

Our recourse to the Sacrament of Penance, and to practices of fasting, prayer and almsgiving, during Lent can therefore be seen as having a clear Marian character.

[1] Pope John Paul II Reconciliatio et Paenitentiae n.35.
[2] cf the title of the Sacrament in the 1983 Code of Canon Law c.959, and ff.
[3] cf Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church n.296 ff.
[4] Respectively, the Opening Prayer, the Prayer over the Gifts and the Preface.